Young Arab Leaders (YAL), in cooperation with UNRWA, launches the “Bring Gaza Back” campaign to contribute towards rebuilding Gaza

Published January 28th, 2009 - 00:57 GMT

Young Arab Leaders (YAL) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), have launched “Bring Gaza Back”, a campaign aimed at rehabilitating the children and youth of Gaza and giving them hope for a better future.

The “Bring Gaza Back” campaign seeks to collect monetary contributions that will be handed over to UNRWA for the rehabilitation of the traumatized children and youth in Gaza. The proceeds will be used for rebuilding schools and shelters and to provide psychosocial support to the youth and children of Gaza. The contributions will be collected through a Mashreq Bank account in Dubai. To make contributions to the ‘Bring GAZA Back’ campaign, please visit www.yalforgaza.com

Commenting on the campaign, H.E. Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Chairman, YAL, said: “The Gaza tragedy has caused unimaginable human suffering and its effects have been particularly devastating on youth and children. It is important to work together to bring much-needed relief and restore hope among the people of Gaza. As an organisation that has been on the ground in Gaza for years, the UNRWA is the ideal partner for this campaign.”

Elaborating more on the campaign, Mr. Assem O. Kabesh, Chief Executive Officer, YAL, added: “With this campaign, our aim is to cooperate with UNRWA to reach out to the suffering people of Palestine. Our campaign partners BrandConnection, DDB Dubai, Mashreq Bank, the MBC Group, the Paltel Group, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the YAL Palestine Office and UNRWA, have helped us with their resources, time and efforts to facilitate the campaign, and we count on the general public, civil society organizations, and private and public businesses to back this cause by contributing to the Fund”.

On the occasion of the launch of the campaign, Mr. John Ging, Director UNRWA operations in Gaza said, “UNRWA’s immediate aim is to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of GAZA. In our efforts to help the victims of the war, we look forward to cooperating with institutions from the region and beyond, in order to improve the impact of our assistance. Our cooperation with YAL will further our objectives and help us rehabilitate the livelihood of thousands of men, women and children who have suffered deeply during the three week war. We appeal to everyone’s generosity to donate to this campaign which proceeds will help UNRWA’s programmes in aid of the people of Gaza.”