Our Work In
We mourn the Palestinian and Israelis who have been horrifically killed in the escalating violence, with more deaths announced each day. We will continue to support our partners, including those inside Palestine, who are providing emergency medical care and psychosocial support as casualties mount.
We uphold that true, lasting peace and justice can only come from an end to Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies that have deprived and dehumanized Palestinians for generations. These policies have also made peace for Israelis and Palestinians impossible. Peace cannot coexist with or grow from occupation.
TAKE ACTION: call your member of Congress and demand that they endorse the call for a ceasefire.
Update February 5, 2024
MADRE Denounces Cuts in Aid to Palestine
The Biden Administration’s choice to suspend aid for UNRWA, the largest humanitarian agency in Gaza, is an act of cruelty that compounds the suffering and human rights violations that have already been imposed on Palestinian people. MADRE condemns this decision as an act of collective punishment against Palestinians, one which must be urgently reversed.
This latest UNRWA decision follows a larger pattern. In a report released February 5 by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, titled “International Aid for Palestine: Disproportionate Cuts, Overwhelming Damage,” research reveals that the US slashed bilateral aid for development and humanitarian projects in Palestine by more than 90% between 2013 and 2022. This has been replicated by other Western nations, including the UK which cut aid to Palestine by 70% over the same time period. What’s more, as this report shows, Palestinian women’s rights organizations received less than 0.4% of total aid between 2013-2022.
These systemic cuts have a particularly devastating impact on women and girls, whose health and safety needs are often deprioritized by aid agencies facing budget cuts. Moreover, without the resources to provide essential services and guarantee rights to food, health, water and more, women and girls are especially vulnerable: women are giving birth by cesarean section without anesthesia, malnourished new mothers cannot breastfeed, and mothers are starving themselves to feed their children. These aid cuts are a devastating attack on care infrastructure – hospitals, schools, and shelters – that is vital to meet the needs of a community in crisis and that has been the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza.
Now, rather than advancing policies that meet human needs and protect the most vulnerable communities from starvation, disease and death, US legislators are escalating threats to future UNRWA funding.
We call on the US and all nations who have cut funding to UNRWA to restore this aid as an essential lifeline to millions of Palestinian people, who are displaced, brutalized and still facing an onslaught of Israeli military attacks. We further call for a ceasefire that will halt the killings and make it possible for humanitarian aid and efforts to save lives.
Read our prior statements on the conflict in Palestine here.
Midwives of Peace
When we are pregnant, we dream of bringing a great life into the world. We dream of wellbeing and a healthy lifestyle for our children. Religious fanaticism and militant political parties are not a part of that dream. We are mothers, wives, and daughters, and we don’t want our children to pay the price of war.
We are Midwives of Peace. We are Palestinians, Israelis, Israeli Palestinians, Jews, Muslims and Christians. We believe in peace and in each other. We have empathy for the suffering of all and stand together in compassion, working together towards peace.
We are women and caregivers. We are there with mothers when they deliver their newborns. We see women struggle, sweat, curse and cry and we know the strength and wisdom that women bring to the world.
We have been meeting together for fifteen years. Our group has survived many ups and downs during times of conflict, and we have often feared that the group would be affected by the tensions. But we have consistently kept the lines of communication open, and our friendship has enabled us to overcome the fragility of the hostility between our nations.
On October 7, our world was shattered by the Hamas attack. We witnessed an event that was unlike anything any of us had dreamt of in our most horrific nightmares. In the days after, the retaliation of the Israeli army in Gaza was relentless and terrifying. The suffering was, and still is, heart-breaking.
At first, members of the group from both sides buried themselves in their own shock and pain. Some members left the group. Slowly, things began to change. When the shock began to thaw, we understood that there was no way to really understand the pain of the other, and that all reactions are legitimate. With time, we were able to remember why we joined this group 15 years ago, and that we still love and respect each other very much.
We met on Zoom, and expressed our emotions out loud, making space for a wide range of experiences. We understood that no one has a monopoly on suffering, and that we are all in pain, each in their one way and for their own reasons.
Aisha, one of our founding members, encouraged us with this analogy: “We are like an olive tree, rooted very strongly in the earth. We need to save our tree by understanding all the branches. One year the harvest is good, one year it is not. We can make the tree stronger by taking care of its roots. We are strong; we are women. We can take care of each other, trust one another and talk about our emotions.”
With all that we have been through, we still believe in peace and respect for all. We all have deep wounds that need to heal.
We are praying for the wisdom of a political solution to allow for peace and dignity for all Palestinians and Israelis.
We pray for the emergence of a new kind of leadership that will pave the path to a new kind of communication and thriving coexistence as neighbors.
We are hopeful that all this pain and suffering will end soon.
The Palestinian Medical Relief Society
MADRE’s local partner the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) is a community-based organization that provides health services to women, children, the disabled, and the poor in rural villages, refugee camps, and urban centers in Palestine.
YOUR SUPPORT IN ACTION
As the current emergency evolves, we are mobilizing quickly to provide urgent aid. Despite Israel’s complete siege of Palestine, including blocking people’s access to food and water, our partners in Palestine are providing emergency medical care and psychosocial support as casualties mount from military attacks. Our decades of work in Palestine and our local partners' deep networks mean your support will reach those who need it most.
SUPPORT OUR EMERGENCY WORKAlexandros Michailidis
In early 2023, the Israeli government escalated violence in occupied territories, raining bombs, tear gas, and gunfire on Palestinian neighborhoods. Thanks to our supporters, MADRE was able to supply Palestinian communities with the funds they need for emergency medical treatment and mental health support.
In the West Bank, Israeli military roadblocks and restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement prevent people experiencing pregnancy and childbirth from reaching hospitals and accessing reproductive health care. MADRE supports a grassroots group of Palestinian and Israeli midwives, to demand an end to the occupation that prevents pregnant people from accessing essential health care.
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Celebrate caregivers this Mother's Day
MADRE works with mothers, aunties, grandmothers, and caregivers around the world who lead transformation, and provide healing and shelter where it’s most needed. Show your gratitude for the vital work of nurturing that helps us all grow and flourish, even in the midst of crisis.