Rebuilding to Remain in Palestine

Dear Friend,

I am delighted to send photos of the first three Rebuilding to Remain homes, funded through your wonderful donation!  This past week, when architect Stephen Coyle spoke at a Rebuilding Alliance benefit dinner in Palo Alto California, he reminded me of the incredible work we did with the villagers, designing the affordable, expandable homes that would help them move back to Al Aqaba Village — and now those homes are taking shape (see photos below).

In my last email, I may have explained that Al Aqaba Village received a commitment from the Palestinian Authority to pay for the finishing of each home ($13,000 per unit).  That was before all salaries were frozen when Israel stopped forwarding tax revenues to the P.A. and the U.S. stopped all development funding too.   It seems funds may be flowing once again ... I hope our homes will receive their finishing grants soon.

Thank you for your patience.

Sincerely,

Donna

P.S.   There've been no demolition threats in Al Aqaba itself in the last 9 months.  The village continues to move forward in its rebuilding efforts with the brick factory, an exciting new Women's Building, big sales for the "Herbal Infusion" factory (herbal teas) and more. Meanwhile the UN is reporting an increase in demolitions in Area C, East Jerusalem and the E-1 corridor, so we are developing the U.S. Movement to Save Palestinian Villages drawing deeply on the Al Aqaba model.  Your support has made this all possible.