Rebuilding a Future in Palestine!

in the West Bank -- far from borders, far from the Separation Wall.

In 2003, Rebuilding Alliance received a grant to build a school that would not be demolished. We were introduced to Al Aqaba who needed a new kindergarten. They had just won their case before the Israeli High Court, requiring the Israeli Army to cease training exercises in the village and to remove its training camp from the village gates. The Israeli Army complied -- the villagers were ready to move home, they needed a kindergarten! As we were building, the Israeli Army placed nearly the whole village including the mosque, the medical clinic, nearly all the homes and the kindergarten under demolition order. The village petitioned the High Court again in 2007 and continues to press for the right to issue building permits in accordance with their urban plan -- like any other town in the world.

The village is now completing a 3rd master plan to submit to the Israeli Civil Administration under the guidance of their attorney at the Jerusalem Human Rights and Legal Aid Society.

Al Aqaba was the first school in the Middle East to join Pinwheels for Peace. The children write what peace means to them and draw what it looks like.

When Rebuilding Alliance first visited to plan the kindergarten