PALESTINE

Creart in Palestine


Creart is providing psychosocial support to the world’s oldest refugee population in one of the longest and most devastating humanitarian crises in contemporary history.

 

Context

Nearly 5 million Palestinians live under a military occupation that has lasted since 1967 and that systematically denies basic human rights, geographically dividing the state of Palestine into two regions: The West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

With an area of only 365 km2, the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated political entities in the world. Its 2 million inhabitants are almost totally dependent on international aid and more than two thirds of its population are refugees. Conflict, blockade and political isolation have plunged the economy of the Gaza Strip into poverty, food insecurity and the highest unemployment rate in the world. People are subject to restrictions on movement and severe limitations to access essential services.

The situation of children is particularly worrying; children under 3 have lived through at least one war and by the age of 8 have already experienced 3 rounds of armed hostilities. Some 250,000 children suffer from mental health disorders, and one in four needs psychosocial support due to past trauma.

In the West Bank, with 5,500 sq km and a population of about 2.4 million people, the pressure on the Palestinian population comes from the expansion of settlements, settler violence, demolition and confiscation of property and evictions. Bedouin refugees are at risk of being forcibly displaced from their homes.

Jerusalem’s Arab population lives in permanent crisis because of systematic violations of their residency rights, urban planning and basic services.

 

Creart’s intervention

  • We help Palestinians affected or threatened by displacement in Gaza and the West Bank.
  • We provide psychosocial support to refugee and displaced population groups, mainly children and women in vulnerable social situations.
  • We provide training for groups of volunteer educators from local partners in refugee camps and rural peripheral areas in order to provide them with tools for the psychosocial accompaniment of children through art, and thus contribute to the psychological and health care programs of local organizations.
  • We also provide training for groups of counsellors from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).