Lebanon: Emergency Appeal 2006

“We are facing a humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale…. We are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and we ask all good people in the world to help us.”
(Olfat Mahmoud, Director of Women’s Humanitarian Organisation, Beirut Lebanon)

"Operation Just Reward" is what Israel called its war on Lebanon in July 2006. Large areas of south Beirut and southern Lebanon were destroyed, with over 1000 people killed in Lebanon and less than 200 killed in Israel.

In July, Olfat Mahmoud, the Director of Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's partner organisation in Beirut, described the situation on the ground:

"The women, children and elderly are terrified and trapped after days of sustained brutal bombing of the entire area around our camp. There is no electricity, no fuel for the generators, no medial supplies and we are in urgent need of food and drugs for the children and the elderly. No one can enter the area as it is extremely dangerous with the bombed airport on one side and the now totally destroyed Shi'ia suburbs on the other...

"It was a scene of total devastation with all the buildings and roads totally smashed. I was shocked and overwhelmed. There was the smell of death and destruction everywhere. I have lived through all the wars in Lebanon since 1960 and this is the most horrific scene I have ever witnessed," she said.

More than 20,000 Palestinians live in Burj el-Barajneh refugee camp, in less than one square kilometre of squalid and impoverished conditions. The majority are families who were expelled from northern Palestine in 1948 by the Israelis. There was no assistance getting through. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was unable to reach the camp and the Palestinian Red Crescent received no financial support after the international funds embargo following the election of Hamas in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Women's Humanitarian Organisation used support from Australian donors to buy emergency food and medical supplies for those families most affected by the Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

REPORT ON APPEAL FUNDING
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's Emergency Appeal for Lebanon raised approximately A$46,000. This funding was directed to support the work of three community organisations on the ground in Lebanon.

Our local partner, the Women's Humanitarian Organisation, received A$31,575 to assist their efforts in providing emergency food parcels and medical relief to those affected by the conflict. Mrs Olfat Mahmoud has written a report on this funding and thanking all our donors for their support [please download report at bottom of page].

Responding to an urgent appeal from the National Federation of Lebanese Trade Unions (FENASOL), A$11,000 was forwarded to assist FENASOL's work providing emergency food parcels, medical relief and school supplies for families in the conflict areas in the south of Lebanon and in the hardest hit southern suburbs of Beirut.

Emergency food packages were distributed to 130 families, each containing basic food items such as sugar, rice, tea, milk, cheese, candles and cooking oil. Hekmat el-Ameen Hospital in Nabatiya was supported with US$2000 in medical assistance. School supplies for 100 students were also provided, containing a school bag, notebooks and stationery supplies.

A kind thank you to the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) New South Wales Branch, Bankstown City Council and Holroyd City Council, who donated these funds.

The staff of the Australian Finance Sector Union (FSU) raised funds for Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA to send to the Al-Huda Society for Social Care, a secular Lebanese community organisation located in Beirut, to assist their relief efforts.

An estimated one million people were displaced throughout Lebanon by the Israeli attacks. Along with other international donations, the Al-Huda Society managed to reach around 13,000 displaced people in Beirut, Tripoli, Saida, the Beqaa Valley, and other villages in south Lebanon such as Aytarun, Marun il Ras, Teereh, Kafra, Srobbine, Rchaf, Beit Lif and Aita Shaab. They were able to maintain a steady supply of food packages, health and sanitary kits, as well as educational material and activities for children during the height of the conflict.

Al-Huda coordinated their work with other local organisations and, following the ceasefire in August 2006, led two truckloads of food packages and water to previously inaccessible villages in southern Lebanon. A combination of paid staff, over 100 volunteer staff and some displaced refugees themselves assisted these efforts. The Al-Huda Society has published full reports of their activities on their website.

© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.
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Last Modified: Sunday, 09-Dec-2007 09:47:33 EST
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