PARC

While attention was turned towards the recurring promise of reaching a solution based on the American vision of a Palestinian state established along the 1967 borders, we watched with the same eyes as events escalated in the aggression on the Gaza Strip. We saw the year 2008 come to a close with a solution on Israeli terms, making prospects for reconciliation all the more complicated.

Without a doubt, the Israeli operation imposed a new reality in the Gaza Strip. It wrought devastation at many levels and damaged infrastructure across various sectors of society. It will require a great deal of effort from a wide array of actors throughout the Palestinian arena to deal with the consequences of this aggression and begin making strides towards reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. This must also be accompanied by attempts to restore unity in order to overcome the general weariness currently pervading the Palestinian community.

To be sure, the attention that will go towards development and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip will minimize opportunities for moving forward development projects in the West Bank. Indeed, generally speaking, this will also depend on the business philosophy and strategy that the government chooses to employ for carrying it out. As for the agricultural sector specifically, it is certainly one of the hardest hit sectors in terms of damage caused by the Israeli operation. The operation centered on bombing open sites, especially in rural regions, which resulted in an enormous amount of destruction to the agricultural sector. If one also considers the damage done to the water sector and the shortage of agricultural production inputs, then where does that leave the quality of the agricultural sector? We must also take into account the Israeli policies bent on increasing the buffer zone in the Gaza Strip, which will prevent thousands of families from returning to their land, making them unable to realize food security.

On one hand, Israeli obstacles such as isolating the land and its resources as well as the targeting of farmers by settlers, are at the forefront of the injury and obstacles impeding the development of the agricultural sector. On the other hand, however, the agricultural sector also faces the pressing problem of delayed rainfall, which will significantly impact food security at a variety of scales. Despite all of this pessimism, we still hope to make up for the levels of rainfall in what remains of this season, which would provide the opportunity to improve the level of stock groundwater for summer crops.

In light of all of the natural, economic, and political challenges facing our Palestinian rural areas, PARC has decided that through its funded programs for the coming year, it will focus its interventions on serving the rural areas, improving rural opportunities for accessing food, and protecting these areas’ various resources.

In this context, our work will focus on the following priorities:

1. Restoring and rebuilding the agricultural sector in the Gaza Strip in accordance with opportunities and capital available there, even in the shadow of the ongoing Israeli siege.

2. Promoting targeted interventions to improve access to food as well as to improve the usage of limited available water resources.

3. Increasing the role of leading organizations and providing them with the necessary tools to combat drought and Israeli attacks on the rural sector.

4. Improving and refining sustainable models of popular resistance, as well as institutionalizing the work of the popular committees that specialize in boycotting Israeli products.

5. Continuing to enhance PARC capacities, bolster qualified staff, and strengthen the institutional environment.

6. Expanding internal institutional resources and finding the necessary formula for financing the organization’s investment activities.

7. Continuing the campaign to support Gaza, institutionalizing an emergency management strategy for PARC, and supplementing both as much as possible.

8. Leading other civil society organizations in Gaza towards increasing their involvement in reconstruction and development, while also creating an atmosphere conducive to internal reconciliation.