NSW PARLIAMENTARY FRIENDS OF PALESTINE TO TRAVEL TO WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP

Ms Voltz said that they would be visiting the El Wafa Medical Rehabilitation Hospital and Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza, the MA'AN Development Centre in Ramallah and the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut to strengthen dialogue and co-operation.

“The Israeli government blockade of Gaza is devastating for the more than 1.5 million people living in Gaza,” said Ms Hale. “Now is an important time to be visiting the Occupied Territories and refugee camps in Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus to see how people are responding.

“I’m keen to see the impact on the nearly 50 per cent of the West Bank population who are being separated from their land or villages or isolated in ghettos as a result of the 650 km long, 8 metre high ‘apartheid wall’ Israel is constructing,” added Ms Hale.

Ms Voltz said the El Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital is the only facility in the Gaza Strip that provides medical support and services for severely disabled Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"At the moment 34,500 Palestinians out of a population of 1.5million people in the Gaza strip suffer from some form of physical disability, " Ms Voltz said. 

"The El Wafa Hospital is the only place where patients can access not only the technical aids needed to live with their disability, but also the social support and community reintegration programs required to help them to live independently back in their communities.” 

APHEDA has provided over $8.1 million to Middle East programs between 1984-2009. These projects have focused on health, with training of Palestinian and Lebanese nurses in Australia. They have since broadened to include many small and large-scale projects for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and Lebanon.

Media Contact: For Sylvia Hale call Colin Hesse on 9230 3030 or 0401 719 124;  Lynda Voltz 0413 382 474 or Peter Jennings APHEDA 9264 9343