Whats Inside

Letter from Board President 2

Humanitarian Aid: Emergency Aid to Gaza and Refugees from Syria 3

Maia Project: Bringing Clean Water to the Children of Palestine 4-5

Community Projects in Palestine ..6-12 Support for Youth in Silwan, East Jerusalem Sunrise in Dheisheh Refugee Camp Palestine Writers Workshop Rachel Corrie Center Playroom/Let the Children Play & Heal, Healthy Food for Schoolchildren/Zaytoun Womens Kitchen Playgrounds Freedom Theatre

Scholarships .12-13

Public Education ... . 14-17 Teaching Palestine Events Delegations

Donors, Financials and Other Ways to Give 18-21Tribute to Pete Seeger 22

MIDDLE EAST CHILDRENS ALLIANCE

ANNUALREPORT2013

And MECA supported trauma intervention in Gaza schools, a womens cooking cooperative, media training for youth, and schol-arships for 145 university students

As you look through this report, you should take great satisfaction in all that MECA has achieved. Your deep concern for Palestinian and Syrian children and their families makes it possible for them to surviveand even thriveunder some of the most difficult conditions imaginable.

Sincerely,

Eugene Gus NewportPresident, MECA Board of Directors

MECA Board President Gus Newport with Barbara Lubin and Barbaras daughter Liz at MECAs 25th Anniversary Event in May 2013.

CREDIT: S. Smith Patrick

Dear Friend of MECA,In May 2013 the Middle East Childrens Alliance celebrated twenty-five years of pro-tecting the lives and rights of children in the Middle East. This milestone made me feel a little oldsince Ive been involved in the work of the Middle East Childrens Alliance for all of the last twenty-five yearsand incredibly proud of all that MECA has and continues to accomplish.

In 2013 I saw MECA doing all the things it does best: Responding quickly and ef-fectively to emergencies; discovering and supporting innovative new projects; over-coming obstacles to get help to people who need it most; creating partnerships with organizations and individuals on the ground that are both meeting urgent needs and building for the future.

MECA expanded all of its core programs last yearthe Maia Project, direct aid, scholarships, playgrounds, Palestinian community projects, and public educationwhile the war in Syria and the worsening conditions in Gaza put pressing new de-mands on MECAs resources.

As a supporter, you are central to all of MECAs achievements. Id like to share with you some of the highlights of the last year:

Fourteen new water purification and desalination units were installed in pre-schools, elementary, and middle schools; bringing the total number of units to 52, providing safe, clean drinking water to 50,000 children

Thousands of refugees from Syria received free medical care, hot meals, and basic baby and hygiene supplies.

As Israeli military and settler attacks continued in East Jerusalem, MECA helped our partner, the Madaa Center hire a childrens librarian and provide tu-tors and counselors for the many children and youth who have been arrested.

MECA distributed blankets and warm clothes to families in Gaza during and after the terrible flooding in December 2013.

Three new playgrounds were built in Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank.

2

HUMANITARIAN AIDEmergency Aid to Gaza and Refugees from Syria

Nearly two years ago, MECA began exploring how we could best address the needs of people living through the terrible war in Syria. As we witnessed the enormous numbers of people fleeing Syria and arriving in neigh-boring countries with only the belongings they could carry, it became clear that meeting the needs of the refugees was where MECA would focus. We began working with community organizations in Lebanons Palestinian refugee camps that were receiving hundreds of refugees a day from SyriaPalestinians and Iraqis, as well as Syrians.

In March 2013, MECA Director Barbara Lubin visited Lebanon and accompanied staff from Ajial Social and Communication Center and Child and Youth Center (CYC) in Shatila Refugee Camp. MECA has worked with these groups in the past, supporting projects for children and youth, and providing aid for Palestinian and Iraqi refugees in Lebanon. After seeing the condi-tions in the Palestinian camps, and observing the work that Ajial and CYC were doing, MECA gave them $25,000 to purchase and distribute bread and rice, milk and diapers, hot meals and medical visits, lab work, an-tibiotics and vitamins for children and pregnant wom-en. We also worked with the DC-based organization ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid) to ship and distribute two forty-foot shipping containers with $378,512 of donated blankets, school supplies, basic hygiene kits, and baby care kits.

If you have any doubt that MECA is up to this difficult task of getting aid to refugees from Syria, please remember that Barbara Lubin personally brought duffle bags of cancer medicine to children in Iraq during thirteen years of brutal sanctions. Several times she has stood at the Egyptian border for weeks to make sure MECAs aid got through to children in Gaza.

Noam Chomsky

In late November 2013, when terrible rains and the ongoing Israeli blockade combined to cause massive flooding and shortages in Gaza, MECA wired donated funds from supporters to our Gaza Coordinator Dr. Mona El-Farra to provide aid to families who had to leave their homes because of the damage and health dangers. A group of lo-cal volunteers distributed plastic sheets to cover roofs and windows, powdered milk for children, blankets, socks, pajamas, jackets, and other basic necessities throughout the devastated Gaza Strip.

CREDIT: MECA

3

MAIA PROJECT

Bringing Clean Water to Children in PalestineFive Years, Fifty-Two Water Units, 50,000 children

MECA launched the Maia Project in 2009 to address one of the most harmful features of the Israeli Military control and blockade of the Gaza Strip: The system-atic denial of clean, safe drinking water. The impact on schoolchildren was initially brought to the attention of MECAs Gaza Coordinator Dr. Mona El-Farra by stu-dent parliament representatives at Bureij Boys School in Central Gaza. They told Dr. El-Farra that they want-ed to be able to drink clean water at school and asked for MECAs help.

MECA installs water purification and desalination units in community pre-schools and elementary and middle schools in refugee camps. Funds for the units have been donated by individuals or raised by commu-nity groups in the U.S. and elsewhere. In 2013, MECA installed fourteen units and added or continued several key components to the Maia Project: Dr. Said Ghab-bayen, a Gaza professor of water engineering oversees the testing of the water and the monitoring of the units. Safaa El Derawi, also a water engineer, just joined the project and will make regular visits to all units to ensure that they are properly maintained and repaired. She will also continue the Maia Education Project to teach children about the causes of Palestines water cri-sis, their water rights, how to conserve water, and how to take responsibility for the units in their schools.

There was no drinking water in the school but now there is water all the time and I bring a bottle with me to take water home from school.

4

Student at Preparatory A Boys School

CREDIT: Safaa A. El Derawi

We thank MECA for providing healthy water for the kids. We used to buy drinking water and often it was salty and we didnt trust its quality. But now we are certain that our kids are drinking clean and safe water. Sometimes students come from neighboring schools to drink from our MECA unit.

Headmaster, Rafah Kindergarten, Gaza

Maia Units Installed in 2013Name of School Number of Students A Gift fromMaghazi Co-Ed Elementary School A and B 1,693 The Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, Chicago, Illinois and the MECA Bay to Breakers TeamRafah Girls Preparatory School A 1,357 The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project in honor of Karin SandvikNuseirat Girls Preparatory School A 2,278 Nebraskans for PeaceMaghazi Preparatory Girls School A and B 1,129 AnonymousHashem Boys Elementary School A and B 1,900 Norman, Marcella, and Kirsten PedersenNuseirat Co-ed Elementary School A and W 1,800 Constance Bernstein, Marjorie Wright, Ellen RosserJabalia Boys Preparatory School A and B 2,321 The Genevieve McMillan-Reba Stewart FoundationAl-Shajaia Co-ed Elementary School A and B 1,914 Sahar MasudBureij Preparatory Girls School 1,847 The Arab American Community Center - Youngstown, OHDeir Al- Balah Preparatory Boys School 2,078 All Saints School Students and All Saints Church Community in Hayward, CAAl-Fawares, Al Zaitoun 145 Dean Pasvankias and FamilySindibad, Ghabsan Village in Khan Younis 450 Henry Bortman and Dwayne Schanz of San Francisco, CAAtfal Khan Younis, Khan Younis Refugee Camp 161 The Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, WARachel Corrie Kindergarten 332 The Rachel Corrie Foundation

Total Students 19,405

CREDIT: Safaa A. El Derawi

5

6Literacy, Tutoring, Counseling and More for Youth and Children in Silwan, East JerusalemMECA has been working in partnership with the Madaa Creative Center in the Palestinian neighbor-hood of Silwan in Jerusalem. The families of Silwan have been living under constant siege for many years. Their land is being stolen under the guise of biblical archaeology. Israeli settlers have taken over Palestinian homes and every day they harass and attack children and adults alike. Administrative demolitions leave many homeless, and threaten many more. Hundreds of peopleincluding children as young as six and many, many teenagershave been arrested, beaten by police, placed under house arrest, and barred from entering the village that their families have lived in for genera-tions. The nearby settlements security personnel and Israeli soldiers have set up a near-permanent presence in the neighborhood.

So many children are being arrested in Silwan that the Madaa Creative Center has developed programs spe-cifically to meet their needs. In 2013, MECA provided funds for Madaa to send counselors and tutors to the homes of young people who were placed on house ar-rest andin violation of international lawforbidden from attending school. Madaa also provides counseling and tutoring at the Center for children and youth who are struggling with schoolwork, or have missed school because of illness or any other reason.

MECA also supports Madaas library and the new chil-drens librarian Tala Serhan, who says, We read stories and discuss them and then the children express them-selves through writing, drawing, and drama. They need to express themselves because life in Silwan is so difficult.

The first time Ali was arrested, he was eleven years old. He was beaten by the soldiers and held for hours. Later, when he was thirteen, he was put under house arrest, where he remains today. The soldiers or the police come to check at random hours of night or in the morning. Ali says, I used to be a soccer player. I love the game. Stuck at home, Im afraid Im losing my ability to play. I am forbidden to go to school, forbidden to go to the cultural center, forbidden to go to the soccer field. Tutoring and counseling are helping Ali stay in school. And his parents dont feel alone; they feel supported by the community.

CREDIT: Madaa Creative Center

COMMUNITY PROJECTS IN PALESTINE

7Sunrise in Dheisheh Refugee Camp

Shoruq , which means sunrise in Arabic, is MECAs newest partner. The organization is new, but MECA has been connected to Shoruqs leadership and pro-grams for more than fifteen years.

In 1988, MECA built a dental clinic in Dheisheh Refu-gee Camp at the request of community leaders. Since then, we have had an ongoing partnership with mem-bers of the Dheisheh community. In 1999, 2003 and 2005, MECA brought Dheishehs youth dance troupe to the U.S. The funds from these tours helped build a computer center, a women and childrens center, a guesthouse, and the camps first playground. Some of those dancers, and other young community leaders, were determined to continue to provide a place where the leadership of women and youth was respected and programs were developed based on the needs of the community. Together they founded Shoruq in 2012 to:

Advocate for Palestinian refugees rights, repre sentation and demands. Empower Palestinian refugees in utilizing multi media to get their messages across. Improve mental health and psychosocial well being of Palestinian refugee children, youth and women. Provide legal assistance for Palestinian refugees. Ensure Palestinian refugees participation in the local economy and development of their com munities.

With a generous gift from one of MECAs major do-nors, Shoruq has constructed a state-of-the-art audio recording studio with professional grade equipment for training and recording. A group of girls took a one-day workshop in hip-hop and ended the day with a new song and enthusiasm to keep using hip-hop to tell their stories. Shoruq is working with the girls to complete their first CD.

Shoruq staff and volunteers are developing a program that will: provide free legal aid to refugee children; work for reforms in the Palestinian National Authority Juvenile Justice System; and build a community of care comprised of legal and psychosocial professionals, families, educators, and the community at large for children in Dheisheh.

Shoruq works to raise the voices of ref-ugees locally and internationally by par-ticipation in advocacy coalitions, tours in Dheisheh refugee camp for interna-tional journalists and activists, and us-ing art as an advocacy tool. Shoruq has two debka (traditional Palestinian dance) troupes, one for teens and one for chil-dren, who learn dance techniques that enable them to express their thoughts, ideas, and national identity.

Shoruqs guesthouse apartment can house up to ten people and generates income for the organization. We hope you will come and visit!

This is my life the first song recorded in Shoruqs professional audio studio, was a collaboration with U.S. folksinger Carrie Newcomer.

CREDIT: MECA

Palestinian Kids Write, Illustrate, and Tell their Stories

MECA provided funds for the Palestine Writing Work-shops two-part training in February and March of 2013 for youth from Jalazone Refugee Camp. The par-ticipants learned to create original storyboards, large illustrated boards of their own stories. Each Friday and Saturday, they came together at the camps youth cen-ter to work with a local storyteller/writer and illustra-tor. The children discussed identity and relationships to family, community, and the world. They were en-couraged to find their own voices through writing and illustration. Their beautiful storyboards were used for storytelling activities in different communities. The children also had training to help them present their storyboards in front of audiences of children and adults. In May, the kids read their stories aloud at the Festival of Stories and Strange Creatures, which fea-tured a large variety of art activities from puppet mak-ing to face painting, and showcased the storyboards from the children in Jalazone.

The kids read their stories aloud and displayed their work at the Festival of Stories and Strange Creatures. MECA Program Director Josie Shields-Stromsness reported, I was so impressed as they con-fidently read out their stories with emotion and dramatic pauses, keeping us all engaged!

CREDIT: Dina AK

COMMUNITY PROJECTS IN PALESTINE

8

New Playroom for the Rachel Corrie Clinic and Childrens Center

After Rachel Corrie, a young woman from the United States, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 while trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah, Gaza, the Union of Health Work Commit-tees named a new clinic and childrens center after her. The Rachel Corrie Center provides art classes, summer camps, and a variety of other programs for children in Rafah City and Rafah Refugee Camp in southern Gaza. The Middle East Childrens Alliance began working with the center in 2003, before the building was com-plete. In 2013, MECA supported renovation and paint-ing, furniture and toys for a new childrens playroom in the center that will serve Palestinian children for years to come.

CREDIT: Union of Health Work Committees

This is not just about toys for kids. This is about the right for children to play and be in a safe space when so many other things in their life are not safe. When they hear a plane, they get very afraid because they think it is going to bomb them. Rachel Corrie Center Staff

Let the Children Play & Heal

In the beginning of 2013, children in Gaza were still suffering psychologically from eight days of Israeli bombing at the end the previous year. MECA worked with the Red Crescent Society to bring psychologists to work with individual and groups of children at Gaza schools. Meanwhile, MECA continues to support the work that our Gaza partner Afaq Jadeeda is doing to train parents, teachers and social workers about how to help children cope with fear and grief. They also work directly with children, using art, writing, and drama to address psychological problems.

MECA was able to help send psychologists to schools throughout Gaza where they worked with groups of children, all of whom had been terrified, and many traumatized by violence they witnessed or experienced. The psychologists helped the chil-dren express and cope with their fears and sadness.

CREDIT: MECA

9

Felafel Is Now on the Menu!

In 2013, MECA helped purchase supplies and equip-ment for a project in the West Bank village of Masara. A few years ago, a group of mothers and grandmoth-ers took it upon themselves to replace packaged snack foods in the village school with healthy, homemade food, using many ingredients they grow themselves. MECA Project Director Josie Shields-Stromsness de-scribes a recent visit:

I sat with Um Hassan over tea this morning and heard all about the last few months in their kitchen. The women are now able to make and serve warm falafel sandwiches for children! This new nutritious snack made from garban-zo beans is only possible thanks to your support. Theyve increased the quantity of meat pies because the demand is so high. Um Hassan tells me many kids know which days there will be meat pies and they come to school early (starting around 6:30am!) to get one fresh out of the oven. The new equipment MECA supporters helped purchase, including a stove with four burners, a second oven, and a new mixer and juicer, are all being put to good use!The bad news is that there is a water shortage in the village. This is common in the West Bank, where there is an ample aquifer, but Israel controls all water resources and allows Palestinians to use only about 10% of the available water. For the women cooking in Masara, water is an absolute ne-cessity, so MECA is going to help them to buy and install a second water tank on the roof of the cafeteria. You can learn more about Palestinian water rights through the water coalition that MECA works with at ewash.org.

CREDIT: MECA

Zaytoun Kitchen: Traditional Foods, New Income

Last year, on a visit to Gaza, MECA Director Barbara Lubin met Jamila Daloul, president of the Zaytoun (Olive Roots) Association, a new organization in Gaza City to provide women with education, training, and income-generating opportunities. A few months later, MECA decided to support their main project, known as the Zaytoun Kitchen, a cooperative where fifteen women grow, make, and sell traditional Palestinian dish-es and cater special events for urban families and busi-nesses. Running any business in Gaza is challenging but food preparation poses special challenges: shortages of power and cooking oil; Israels ban on many foods and equipment; the unpredictability of supplies through the tunnels to Egypt; the destruction of orchards and agricultural land; and the imposition of strict limits on how far from shore Gazas fishermen can go.

10

In 2013, MECA provided funds for salaries, an oven, a deep freezer, transportation, rent and garden expenses. Ms. Leila, a member of the Zaytoun Kitchen cooperative says, We were forced to cook in our homes to complete our orders. This cost us too much and we had to store vegetables in neighbors refrigerators. We now have a garden to grow fruits and vegetables, and we can cook in larger quantities and store foods safely in the freezer.

CREDIT: Leila El-Haddad, from The Gaza Kitchen

COMMUNITY PROJECTS IN PALESTINE

New Playgrounds in Old Villages

MECA continues our wonderful partnership with Ri-waq Center for Architectural Conservation and their 50 Villages Project to restore historic buildings and revitalize public spaces in Palestine. In 2013, we helped Riwaq build three new playgrounds for children in West Bank villages. And we are already working on plans for two more in villages where families are fight-ing to stay on their lands in the face of Israeli settle-ment expansion. The first new playground in Abwein village, outside of Ramallah, is a fun and enchanting maze of playground structures nestled into some of the ruins from Abweins historic center. Many fami-lies have moved out of this area of the village in re-cent years and Riwaqs rehabilitation work on homes and community centersalong with these great play areasare part of bringing life back to the neighbor-hood.The second playground is in a small village called Nisf Jbeil close to Nablus and is part of the villages first kindergarten. The kindergarten will be run by a local fair trade womens cooperative. In the afternoons and weekends, when the kindergarten is closed, all the children of the village can come to climb, slide, and swing. The third playground in Beit Ur, west of Ra-mallah, is also part of a local kindergarten run by a womens organization.

In all of its projects, Riwaq emphasizes local materials and trains workers in both restoration and new build-ing. Each project creates immediate job opportunities as well as the possibility of long-term employment. For Riwaq, conservation and historic restoration are not about creating museum piecesthey are tools for so-cial and economic advancement, creating spaces where contemporary communities can thrive.

CREDIT: MECA

We like having a playground in our neighborhood and were proud of the way it looks. The playground is very nice and attracts many kids from the old village center and other parts of the village to come play here.

Yazan Batta, 13

11

The Freedom Theatre, Jenin Refugee Camp

Two Palestinian prisoners shovel sand into wheelbar-rows, haul their wheelbarrows over to the other side of the stage, dump the sand out, stumble back to their piles of sand, and start all over again. And again. And again. In this production, the sand is imaginary, but the actions are not: the labor itself is meaningless; it is de-signed to break the mens spirits. In The Freedom The-atres adaptation of Athol Fugards apartheid-era The Island, which toured Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York City, and Washington, DC in September 2013, Faisal Abu Alhayjaa and Ahmed Alrakh play men who have been imprisoned for challenging the unjust laws of apartheidin this case, the apartheid of Occupa-tion. While the production is set in a physical prison, the prisoners real challenge is to survive the intellec-tual and psychological imprisonment of Occupation; to fight the ways in which Occupation circumscribes intellectual freedom, creative thinking, and hope. And they succeed. The characters use theatre as a tool for

fighting the occupation of the mind; similarly, Alhay-jaa, Alrakh, and The Freedom Theatre use theatre as a form of creative resistance. The Freedom Theatre, declared Juliano Mer Khamis, who ran the theatre un-til he was assassinated in 2011, is a venue to join the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation with poetry, music, theatre, cameras.

The Island, Athol Fugards two-man play set in an island prison in South Africa and adapted to the Palestinian scene by the Jenin Freedom Theater.

White House Correspondent Helen Thomas. MECAs Helen Thomas Scholarship will be awarded to a Palestinian woman study-ing journalism in honor of women like Helen Thomas: fearless women who challenge empire and live life unintimidated by authority and power.

Credit: Bettmann/Corbis

12

SCHOLARSHIPS

Investing in Palestines Future

For the current academic year MECA is providing 145 scholarships for undergraduates at ten Palestinian uni-versities in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. Two special funds established by MECA donorsthe Elly Jaensch Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Tree of Life Scholarship Fundalong with contributions from dozens of MECA supporters cover, students tuition and related costs. This year, after the death of White House Correspondent Helen Thomas, MECA decided to honor her by establishing a memorial schol-arship for a Palestinian woman studying journalism.

Meet Nadine Hassan Al-laham, Recipient of MECAs First Annual Helen Thomas Memorial Scholarship.

Nadine is a student at Al Quds University majoring in Media with a minor in Gender Studies at. She travels to Ramallah in the West Bank and Abu Dis in East Jerusa-lem for classes. Just getting to school can be a challenge for Nadine. Like all students who travel to school in the occupied West Bank, she never knows if shell be able to get through Israels numerous military checkpoints. And recently, Nadine says, my university was in-vaded by the Israeli army, and students were arrested. Many times, I have smelled tear gas in the classroom.

Nadine lives with her family in Dheisheh Refugee Camp in the West Bank. She has three sisters and two brothers. She doesnt see her father as often as they both would like; he works fourteen-hour days as a cab driver while her mother takes care of the home and children. Nadine has always wanted to study media and

become a journalist because she feels that not enough Palestinian women are represented in the media. She says, Palestinian women simply receive information and news rather than making it and being part of it The media does not adequately cover womens issues and stories.

Since she was a young girl, Nadine worried that she would never be able to achieve her goals because of the walls of Occupation and society and because of her familys financial limitations. Nadine says, I con-sider myself very lucky to have this scholarship. Its a relief for me and my family to not have to worry about how I will pay for my education.

Nadine is motivated to study gender and media be-cause, The media in Palestine focuses primarily on political issues and does not usually include social is-sues, although the two subjects are intertwined. Many people would come to interview my grandfather about the Nakba, or catastrophe, of 1948, but nobody would interview women about what happened. I want to am-plify the voices of Palestinian women, so that their nar-rative can be heard by Palestinians and others outside Palestine.

Finally, Nadine says, I am very privileged to be a stu-dent at the university and I will do my best to do well in school for myself, my family, and most importantly, for those women who do not and have not had the opportunity to take this path in life. I want to keep the spirit of the refugee camp and show how women have played a very important role in maintaining this spirit. Each semester, I am documenting something impor-tant about women and refugees.

Nadine Hassan Al-laham, recipient of the first annual Helen Thom-as Memorial Scholarship wants to be a journalist because she feels that not enough Palestinian women are represented and seen in the media. She says, Palestinian women simply receive informa-tion and news rather than making it and being part of it. And I have seen how the media does not adequately cover womens issues and stories.

CREDIT: MECA

I want to amplify the voices of Palestinian women, so that their narrative can be heard by Palestinians and others outside Palestine.

SCHOLARSHIPS

PUBLIC EDUCATIONTeaching Palestine

Preparing and supporting educators to teach the his-tory of Palestine has been a focus of our work this past year. MECA Cross Cultural Program Manager Ziad Abbas, along with Jody Sokolower of Rethinking Schools, led workshops at a number of conferences for educators interested in social justice teaching, includ-ing the July 2013 Free Minds, Free People conference in Chicago. Opening activities got participants talking about what keeps them from teaching about Palestine and why they would like to, Ziad used his own fam-ily history as a vehicle, starting long before the Nakba. Then Jody got everyone up and moving, participating in curriculum linking the Israeli wall in Palestine to oth-er walls around the world. Attendees all received cop-ies of the CD Digital Resistancewhich features Palestinian youth from refugee camps in Bethlehem telling their own stories. Jody and another MECA sup-porter, New York high school teacher Keedra Gibba, did a workshop on Teaching Palestine at the March 2013 conference of the New York Coalition of Radical Educators. Ziad and Jody led a workshop on Teaching Palestine through Story at the November 2013 Oak-land conference of the National Association of Multi-cultural Educators. Ziad also spoke at a plenary panel on international issues in education.

Ziad is currently leading a team of educators in con-structing a website that will serve as a resource for teaching Palestine. It will include curriculum, articles about teaching Palestine, and a variety of resources. As always, Ziad Abbas speaks directly to students at high schools and colleges and to religious and community groups throughout the country.

14

CREDIT: Jay Fineberg

In May, more than two thousand people attended MECAs anniversary event with international hero and activist/intel-lectual Noam Chomsky, accompanied by Holly Near and her Peace Becomes You Band at Oaklands historic Paramount Theatre. After MECAs 25th anniversary video, Holly and the band performed an electrifying set, followed by ninety min-utes of non-stop eloquence from Professor Chomsky, speak-ing on Palestinian Hopes, Regional Turmoil. In response to the last question from the audience, Whats your favorite joke? Chomsky replied, My favorite joke is that the U.S. is an even-handed broker.

CREDIT: Print by Jos Sances

15

2013 MECA Events

Raising Funds and Raising Awareness

February, 2013: Tears of Gaza, a Norwegian anti-war movie about the 2008-09 attacks on the people of Gaza, as seen through the eyes of a group of Palestinian children.

CREDIT: Vibeke Lokkeberg

Angela Davis spoke at a benefit for MECA on Palestinian Pris-oners Day, April 17, 2013 with Ziad Abbas, Palestinian refu-gee and journalist, and MECA staff. They both spoke movingly about the connections between political prisoners in the U.S. and in Palestine. Angela recounted meeting teenagers who had been arrested on her recent trip to Palestine and about how Palestinian childrens acts of resistance, including throw-ing stones, are what children are supposed to do in order to avoid internalizing a sense of inferiority that Israel would like to see.

MECA hosted three speakers from Defense for Children Inter-national-Palestine, a leading international organization that defends the rights of children living under Israeli occupa-tion, along with Josh Ruebner, Advocacy Director for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, who spoke about his new book Shattered Hopes: Obamas Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Available at ShopPalestine.org

PUBLIC EDUCATION

MECA showed Welcome to Hebron, the story of seventeen-year-old Leila Sarsour, a strong, intelligent and outspoken student at the Al-Qurtuba School, a Palestinian high school for girls in the West Bank city of Hebron that is surrounded by Israeli military installations and violent Israeli settlers.

CREDIT: Terje Carlsson

In October, Laila El-Haddad, co-author of The Gaza Kitchen delighted the audience with a verbal and photographic tour of Gazas food, traditions, history, and the resourcefulness of people living under siege. She also prepared a delicious dagga salad for all to enjoy. The Gaza Kitchen and Gaza Mom, also by El-Haddad are available at ShopPalestine.org.

CREDIT: Jos Sances

In December MECA and Joining Hands, a Bay Area womens solidarity group, held our annual Holiday Bazaar to showcase traditional Palestinian embroidery, glass, olive wood crafts, ceramics, honey, soap, and much more. During the year, you can Shop Palestine online at www.ShopPalestine.org. Pur-chases provide income for craftspeople, especially women, who struggle every day under Israeli occupation to protect and care for their families.

16

In response to the last question from the audience, Whats your favorite joke? Chomsky replied My favorite joke is that the U.S. is an even-handed broker.

CREDIT: Laila El-Haddad

Delegations to Palestine

MECA Program Director Josie Shields-Stromsness led two delegations inside Palestine in 2013: A tree-planting and educational tour organized by Stop-JNF (Jewish National Fund) a coalition of U.S. and Palestinian orga-nizations; and an educational tour for a group from the Portola Valley (CA) Presbyterian Church. With MECA staff and local guides, participants planted trees; vis-ited Palestinian refugee camps and West Bank villages with no access to water; video-conferenced with youth in Gaza; explored the old cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, Nazareth, and Akka; and met with community activists, religious leaders, and human rights experts.

Main street of Hebron, where Palestin-ians are forbidden. We continue to be absorbed by and consumed with the af-ter-effects of last Mays trip. What we had studied on an intellectual level became real. Our hearts were now touched, which cements what the mind has learned, and which supplies the passion to continue bringing forth the subject to the uniniti-ated.

Robin Polastri

CREDIT: Gian Polastri

17

CREDIT: Alex Safron

We had our first tree planting day in Khirbet Twael, a small farming village that has experienced housing and structure demolition and also violence from settlers coming down the mountain and trying to drive villagers out. We planted a bunch of trees on their land and 112 signs were made with different village names on them to commemorate the ongo-ing resistance to the Jewish National Funds plans to take over more land. Many people young and old gathered to dig into the rich earth and put beautiful saplings into the ground.

Alex Safron and Jonah Aline Daniel

PUBLIC EDUCATION

There are lots of ways to support MECAs work!

Matching GiftsCheck to see if your employer has a matching-gifts program. You may be able to double (or even triple) your donation to the MECA just by filling out a form.

Workplace GivingSign up at work to give through the United Way or an-other work-place giving program. If MECA is not on the list of organizations, you can still choose it.

Gifts of StockYou can make a stock contribution by contacting:TD AmeritradeMiddle East Childrens Alliance, Account No. 883111095 *Please Note: If you want MECA to know you are giving a gift of stock, please contact Deborah Agre. Neither your broker or ours is allowed to give us your name. Email: Deborah@mecaforpeace.org Phone: 510-548-0542, ext. 314

Bequests and Other Planned GiftsRemember the Middle East Childrens Alliance in your will.

Attend MECA EventsMECA regularly holds public events with activists, writ-ers and performers from the Middle East and around the U.S. All funds from ticket sales and contributions go toward our work.

Donate your car or other propertyDonate for Charity will tow your car, handle all the pa-perwork, and sell your carwith the proceeds going to MECA.Call 866-392-4483 or fill out an online form at www.donateforcharity.com. Be sure to select Middle East Childrens Alliance from the pull-down menu on the form.

Make a donation by phone, mail or online at www.mecaforpeace.org/donate.

Board of Directors

Sherry GendelmanHoward LevineBarbara LubinEugene Gus NewportOsha NeumannMichel Shehadeh

Staff

Ziad Abbas, Program Manager for Cross-Cultural ProgramsDeborah Agre, Development DirectorSafaa El Derawi, Maia Project ManagerDr. Mona El-Farra, Director of Gaza ProjectsDr. Said Ghabayen, Water Expert and Technical SupervisorNancy Ippolito, Finance AdministratorBarbara Lubin, Founder and Executive DirectorDanny Muller, ConsultantPenny Rosenwasser, Ph.D., Special Events CoordinatorJos Sances, Art DirectorJosie Shields-Stromsness, Program DirectorSusan Silva, Administrative CoordinatorNawal Tamimi, Volunteer Coordinator

Founding Advisors

Sen. James AbourezkMaya AngelouAnan AmeriDr. Swee Chai AngDr. Fathi ArafatProf. Naseer AruriRabbi Leonard BeermanProf. Joel BeininJeanne Butterfield Prof. Noam ChomskyRamsey ClarkDr. Charlie ClementsDr. Davida CoadyHon. John ConyersAngela Y. DavisOssie DavisHon. Ronald DellumsProf. Troy DusterKathy Engel Samih FarsounLawrence FerlinghettiMax GailAllen GinsbergHon. Jackie GoldbergYvonne GoldenBluma GoldsteinSusan GoltsmanKhader HamideRabbi Burt JacobsonHon. Grantland JohnsonJune JordanCasey KasemYing Lee

Riyad KhouryProf. Mel KingFelicia LangerJerry LevinHoward LevineIbrahim Abu LughodBill MeansHolly NearProf. Hilton ObenzingerJack ODellFather Bill ODonnellMatti PeledAntonio RodriguezMichel RoublevProf. Edward SaidRev. Gus SchultzPete SeegerProf. Hisham SharabiStanley SheinbaumSamir TotahLeah TsemelMarc Van Der HoutAlice WalkerProf. Dick WalkerSharon WallaceHon. Maxine WatersLeonard WeinglassBrian WilsonLeon WofsyTawfiq ZayyadHoward ZinnJim Zogby

20

21

Program Expenses, 70% 1,077,558.00 70%Fundraising Expenses, 22% 336,390.00 22%Administra@ve Expenses, 8% 127,518.00 8%

Total Expenses 1,541,466.00

Program Expenses, 70%

Fundraising Expenses, 22%

Administra@ve Expenses, 8%

The Maia Project 145,996.00 4%Direct Aid 95,172.00 9%Children's Project 344,673.00 32%Medical Aid 201,177.00 19%The Scholarship Program 190,199.00 18%DelegaGon Expenses 49,222.00 5%EducaGon/conferences 51,119.00 4%

Total Program Expenses 1,077,558.00

The Maia Project

Direct Aid

Children's Project

Medical Aid

The Scholarship Program

DelegaGon Expenses

EducaGon/conferences

Individual donors, 73% 1,302,060.00 73.4%Delega:ons Income, 2% 31,202.00 1.8%Grants & Founda:on Income, 3% 47,000.00 2.6%Income from Events, 6% 100,626.00 5.7%Sales Revenue, 5% 85,879.00 4.8%Adver:sing Income, .6% 10,900.00 0.6%Interest Income, .4% 6,695.00 0.4%Medical Supplies in kind, 11% 189,569.00 10.7%

Total Income 1,773,931.00

Individual donors, 73%

Delega:ons Income, 2%

Grants & Founda:on Income, 3%

Income from Events, 6%

Sales Revenue, 5%

Adver:sing Income, .6%

Interest Income, .4%

Medical Supplies in kind, 11%

Revenue

Individual Donors 1,302,060.00 73.4%Delegations Income 31,202.00 1.8%Grants & Foundation Income 47,000.00 2.6%Income from Events 100,626.00 5.7%Sales Revenue 85,879.00 4.8%Advertising Income 10,900.00 0.6%Interest Income 6,695.00 0.4%Medical Supplies in kind 189,569.00 10.7% Total Income 1,773,931.00

Expenses

Program Expenses 1,077,558.00 70%Fundraising Expenses 336,390.00 22%Administrative Expenses 127,518.00 8% Total Expenses 1,541,466.00

Program Expenses

The Maia Project 145,996.00 4%Direct Aid 95,172.00 9%Childrens Projects 344,673.00 32%Medical Aid 201,177.00 19%The Scholarship Program 190,199.00 18%Delegation Expenses 49,222.00 5%Education/Conferences 51,119.00 4% Total Program Expenses 1,077,558.00

Revenue and ExpensesJanuary 1, 2013December 31, 2013

So Long, Its Been Good to Know YouMECA Remembers Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger sang, played, and worked for peace and jus-tice his whole long life. He died at the age of 94 on Jan-uary 27, 2014, just six months after his wife Toshi who was Petes partner in every way. Pete was a Founding Advisor of the Middle East Childrens Alliance nearly twenty-six years ago. He remained a dear friend and supporter who gave three benefit concerts for MECA to raise funds for children in Iraq and Palestine. In a 2006 interview, he said, some of my greatest heroes and heroines are people who have gone to far-away places like Barbara Lubin who started the Middle East Childrens Alliance.

All of us at MECA will miss Pete Seeger a great deal.

Commemorative poster of Pete Seeger for 1994 MECA benefit concert by Jos Sances.

The first person I called and asked to join the Board of the Middle East Childrens Alliance in 1988 was Pete Seeger. Not only did he join but one year later Pete, Marcel Khalife, Holly Near, and Ronnie Gilbert came to Berkeley and per-formed at the Berkeley Community Theatre. The theatre was packed and all 3,200 seats were filled. This was the be-ginning of a twenty-five-year friendship that I will always treasure. I miss you Pete.

Barbara Lubin

22

MIDDLE EAST CHILDRENS ALLIANCE

23

24