ANERA revives vocational training in Northern Lebanon

ANERA REVIVES VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN NORTHERN LEBANON

August 4, 2009 Washington, DC - ANERA is pleased to announce a $245,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives to rehabilitate vocational training centers for Palestinian and Lebanese youth in and around the Nahr El Bared Camp in northern Lebanon. The project includes rebuilding the training center in the adjacent area of the old camp that was destroyed during three months of fighting there in 2007.

Two Lebanese community organizations based in the camp will partner with ANERA to carry out the project. The National Association for Vocational Training and Social Services (NAVTSS) and Beit Atfal Assumoud’s National Institution for Social Care and Vocational Training have worked on vocational training and youth programs in the camp for 30 years.

ANERA will help rehabilitate and re-equip the NAVTSS center that will house vocational training programs and host summer recreational activities. Classes will offer training in high-demand skills such as carpentry, aluminum work, nursing, child care, and automotive electronics. The Afaquna Youth Center and multi-purpose workshop will be rebuilt to support youth activities and conflict resolution workshops. The project will support summer and other youth activities to take place within the next six months. In addition, the project will help to equip the Beit Atfal Assumoud computer lab.

“ANERA has been eager to rebuild vocational training programs that can better prepare underprivileged Palestinian and Lebanese youth who face a jobless future without appropriate skills,” said John Viste, ANERA’s Lebanon Country Director. “The program will reach more than 400 youth each year and will help prepare them to play a productive role in their community. This is an important component of ANERA’s overall efforts to support education and youth development in Lebanon.”

More than 433 businesses were directly affected by the 2007 fighting in Nahr El Bared. More than 4,976 jobs were lost. Unemployment is estimated now at 80%, compared to 27% before the outbreak of violence. Under-employment also has been aggravated by the loss of more than half a year of schooling. Many of the most damaged schools have not reopened, increasing the threat of juvenile delinquency, violence and enrollment in militias among school dropouts.

Rehabilitating the youth center will enable ANERA and NAVTSS to bring together Palestinian and Lebanese for training in communication skills, conflict resolution techniques, and approaches to peace building. NAVTSS programs also offer career counseling and job placement.

About ANERASince 1968, ANERA has been a leading provider of development programs in health, education and job creation in communities throughout the Middle East. In 2008 alone, ANERA delivered more than $75 million for programs in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan.
For more information, please contact Laurie Kassman, Media Relations (lkassman@anera.org)

ADC Remembers Sabra and Shatilla

ADC Remembers Sabra and Shatila

Washington DC | September 16, 2008 | www.adc.org | Today, marks 26 years since one of the bloodiest and most brutal massacres in recent history, the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

Twenty six years ago, shortly after the Israeli army seized control of West Beirut, Lebanon, right wing Phalangist militia forces, under the direction of Israeli forces, made their way into the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila located on the outskirts of the city. Once in the camps the militias massacred hundreds of defenseless men, women and children. Israeli troops, who were in control of the area, allowed the militias into the camps, prevented the refugees from fleeing for their lives, and lit the night sky with a continuous series of flares as the killing raged for two days. The US had pulled its troops out of Beirut just days prior to the massacres, and had given a guarantee of protection to the residents of the refugee camps.

Following massive outrage and protest from the international community as well as from Israeli citizens, the Israeli government formed The Kahan Commision of Inquiry. The Commission found that Israel was responsible for participating in the violence and recommended the dismissal of the Army Chief of Staff. Then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was also forced to resign after the Commission concluded that he bore personal responsibility for the massacre, and should never hold public office again. In 2001, Sharon became the Prime Minister of Israel a position he held until he suffered a massive stroke which rendered him incapable of carrying out his duties as Prime Minister.

ADC C President Mary Rose Oakar said, "We must take the time to remember the victims of the horrific Sabra and Shatila massacre. The massacre is a reminder to us all of the tragedy of Palestinian refugees who have been excluded from their homeland for more than half a century and their vulnerability as a stateless people. It underlines the necessity for a just settlement to the refugee issue based on the Right of Return, which is enshrined for all refugees in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention, and was specifically applied to the Palestinian refugees in UN Resolution 194."
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