by Rochelle Gause

We extend our deepest gratitude to all those who contributed to RCF’s fundraising campaign to cover the cost of installing a water purification and desalination unit in a kindergarten at the Rafah Children’s Kindergarten. Because of this effort, 145 children will benefit from having regular access to clean water.

The Kindergarten, located on Salah Edin Street in Rafah, is run by the Early Childhood Education Association. The unit will be built, tested, customized, and installed with local labor in the next three months and will consist of 80% local materials.

Dear Friends,

Palestinian and Palestinian American speakers at Peace Works stand in front of the Olympia–Rafah Mural with Handala. Photo courtesy of Andrew Kadi.

The first half of 2011 has been momentous. We watch from afar in solidarity as people in the Middle East take to the streets with hope and courage, risking their very lives as they demand greater freedom, democracy, and accountability from their leaders.

I did not have the good fortune to meet Rachel Corrie, but as a new board member at the foundation, and a faculty member at The Evergreen State College which Rachel attended, I often wonder what she would have said about this Arab Spring.  In 2003, she wrote to her mother Cindy in an email from Rafah,

I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world. I think it could also be an incredible inspiration to Arab people in the Middle East, who are struggling under undemocratic regimes which the US supports …

Rachel’s words draw attention to the interconnected political realities of the region, such that pro-democracy movements in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, and Yemen, make it increasingly difficult for both Arab leaders and the international community to continue to suppress the liberatory aspirations of the people of Palestine.