CRIC geographical presence in Palestine

The present occupation of the Palestinian Territories, the increasing of forms of violence as expression of humiliation and lack of alternatives, frustration and fear, are leading both parties - Palestinian and Israeli - to a non return situation of instability and suffering.
Despite steps towards the construction of peaceful alternatives have been done, the situation remain critical, and the population need support and help in the different sectors of the social, economic, and political life to cope with the effects of the conflict.

Since 1991 CRIC is working with its partners towards the definition of intervention strategies which could answer to a common global objective in the effort of building social and political alternatives to the chronic crisis in a continually changing panorama. Among the programmes there are numerous interventions carried out together with local associations and NGOs working in the fields of water, agriculture, environment, gender, education, and human rights, in the effort of building and support awareness and peace processes towards political and social opposition to the humiliation of human being in the everlasting war and conflict condition.
With the same aim programmes were carried out with and into the nomad Bedouin communities whose results have been highly important for the democratic participation to the political processes and the institutional support of these communities.

Priorities
Resilience based approach to social problems; approach to education and community training emphasizing the socio-cultural dimension as fundamental for the democratic development of the society; citizenship rights; sustainable development: bio-diversity preservation, water-related problems, food health and security.

General programming principles and main objectives
Taking into consideration the characteristics of CRIC as NGO and the cultural and socio-political peculiarity of the Palestinian territories, the intervention of CRIC in Palestine is based on a two levels activities strategically interconnected:

a) intervention in the Italian territories

b) interventions/activities in the field aiming at the construction of a future of peace, cultural and physical rehabilitation, interchange, promotion of inter-cultural and inter-ethnic dialogue.

1. Building sustainable economic alternatives.
   The Palestinian Territories crisis is characterized, now as in the past, by an impossibility to reach the economic growth and stability due to impositions and limitations caused by the rules governing the Palestinian economic life which are based on international agreements by one hand, and to economic constraints linked to the military occupation and conflict. Both these aspects are leading to progressive impoverishment of the population. Based on these assumptions CRIC strategy focuses on the following intervention areas:
   1. Preservation of Biodiversity
      Economic alternative for increasing the food security of the population and as a development perspective.
   
   
   2. Support and rehabilitation of traditional economic activities
      In continuity with actions in support to the local traditional actions (as sheep-breeding) or rural implemented with Bedouin communities in the past, actions of rehabilitation of the economic activities typical of the nomad and rural population are a central element in the intervention strategy elaborated by CRIC as they are situated in a framework of income generating and diversification of local production.


2. Environment.
   Widely thematic, the environmental field is here intended as actions for the reduction of risks linked to the desertification and water, soil, and air pollution, as well as promotion of alternative technologies for the production of energy, environmental education, environment rehabilitation aimed at the building eco-sustainable development alternatives.
   
   1. Desertification and water crisis
      CRIC undertook different actions to combat drought especially in favour of Bedouin communities in the West Bank desert being this area at very high desertification and survival risk for the traditional communities.
   
   
   2. Biodiversity
      Biodiversity is seriously in danger in all Palestinian Territories: drought, desertification, destruction of the territory due to the conflict, are leading more and more to the disappearing of vegetal and animal species with the parallel introduction of many alien species.
   
   
   3. Environmental restoration
      Pollution caused by plastic materials, toxic elements deriving by military weapons, dispersion of grey and black waters, impossibility of an adequate treatment of urban solid waste, caused countless damages to the environment and represent a serious health and sanitary risk for all the population.
   
   
   4. Animal health
      During the project ECHO/11003 in West Bank, many encounters were realized with Bedouin communities about a very sensitive issue for Palestine: health and management of livestock and breeding. The Food Security project in Khan Younis "Production of fresh pasteurized milk in Khan Younis Municipality" adheres to this aim.
   
   
   5. Environmental education
      Like everywhere, the majority of environmental problems are connected to the awareness and knowledge of the population. For this reason is necessary to follow an educational strategy aimed at increasing the environmental consciousness in the population and proposing, at the same time, a participative approach of formation-information.
   
   
3. Citizenship rights and democratic participation.
   This issue implies the consideration of the self-determination and equality rights all related issues. As far as concerns the processes of democratic participation to development, and the institutional and political processes, the Palestinian Territories are a special case, considering what has been said in this document. For this reason is important to support and strengthen the actors of the civil society, NGOs, Associations in their daily work of involvement and information of the population.
   
   1. Education
      Due to the political situation in which children, pupils, young people, educators, teachers and families leave, education is a very difficult issue in the Palestinian Territories. Processes of learning and transferring the analytic and synthetic elaboration of the cultural, social, political, economic information and thought are seriously endangered persisting the conflict and the military occupation. The education and social operators are often incapable to deal with the continuous emergency. Children feel unprotected by their families and by the institutions.
   
   
   2. Bedouin communities
      As above mentioned, nomad communities are not properly recognized as subject of political identity, at cultural and social level. Often they are discriminated and considered as B category citizens. Action for the respect of cultural, social and political rights of these populations should be undertaken in order to contribute in recognizing their citizenship rights, their lands, their free circulation in the original territories, their right to be nomad.


4. Gender perspective.
   As stated in its mission, CRIC adopts the gender approach as transversal line of action for the re-evaluation and the reinforcement of gender strategies, especially regarding women, and for a territory integrated intervention by strengthening local actors and programmes.


5. Humanitarian assistance.
   The intervention strategy of CRIC in Palestine, where the condition on the ground represented a serious risk for the survival of the local population, is aimed at providing humanitarian assistance as immediate intervention in support to people living in areas of political, social and military conflict or natural disaster, by supporting them at a material and solidarity level. In Palestine, the dialogue with local actors about disaster preparedness is mainly focused on water issue and agriculture, having as partner PHG and UAWC, as well as in the socio-education field.