UAWC Established a Public Garden in Al-Hathaleen area
Ramallah- the Union of Agricultural Work Committees established a public garden in Al-Hathaleen area east of Yatta in the Governorate of Hebron within “Moving herders from aid dependence to self-sustaining growth through livestock husbandry development and market expansion (SULALA) project” with the presence of the governor of Hebron, Kamel Hamid, Directorate of Agriculture, representatives of civil institutions, and Al-Hathaleen citizens.
The Governor Hebron, Kamal Hamid, launched the opening celebration and stressed on the importance of working in areas “C” to strengthen the steadfastness of these areas’ citizens
The Chairman of the board of directors of UAWC, Ali Hassouna, focused on the importance of agriculture sector for Palestinians, pointing out that UAWC pays great attention to marginalized areas and areas idified as “C”, where the occupying power continued its flagrant violations of human rights.
The representative of Directorate of Agriculture, Iyad Farajallah, stated that the Ministry of Agriculture’s strategy is to strengthen Palestinian farmers’ steadfastness on their land, especially in marginalized areas, and declared that the ministry supported these areas with $ 25 million during the previous three years.
The representative of Bedouin communities, Ibrahim Al-Hathaleen, clarified the growing suffering of Palestinians living in areas “C”, particularly the lack of water and pasture stressing on the importance of the opening of this public garden for Al-Hathaleen citizens.
The project manager, Grace Odeh, illustrated that this Garden was funded by the European Union and located in the area idified as “C”. Also, she added that this garden is 1.5 donoms and served 500 children living in Al-Hathaleen. In her speech, she stated that UAWC received Israel’s High Court demolition orders for this garden, with the intention of demolishing it after the end of the construction.
The main objective from the establishment of this public garden is to provide a safe and healthy area for children to play, as these areas lack a safe outlet for children, as well as to strengthen the citizens’ steadfastness on their land.
This project comes in light of UAWC’s mission “Empower small farmers, both men and women, as well as their families, and strengthen farmers’ resilience on their lands in an agricultural and public developmental framework at the public level