Middle East Children's Alliance - MECA

06/09/2026

All eyes on Gaza! Not a cliche! Not a Trend! Not an empty slogan, but a horrible reality that continues to unfold unabated.

DON’T LOOK AWAY!

Gaza is being subjected to more suffering every passing second!

330,000+ Palestinians in 258 displacement sites lost their primary source of clean, safe drinking water in May and early June due to funding cuts. 78% of households experiencing moderate to severe water insecurity. 400,000+ daily cooked hot meals were suspended in May.

Displacement camps in Gaza are facing worsening conditions including increased reports of skin diseases, lice, and bedbugs due to lack of proper hygiene and sanitation materials.

Yesterday, the Israeli genocidal regime closed the border crossings into the occupied Gaza Strip. Patients continue to be prevented from their right to seek medical treatment and humanitarian aid was blocked from entering.

While the closure was later reversed, it reflects a longstanding pattern of using border restrictions and the threat of closure as collective punishment against Palestinians in Gaza.
This comes on top of a brutal 18-year blockade that has devastated every aspect of life in the occupied Gaza Strip.

While the closure was later reversed, it reflects a longstanding pattern of using border restrictions and the threat of closure as collective punishment against Palestinians in Gaza.
This comes on top of a brutal 18-year blockade that has devastated every aspect of life in the occupied Strip.

Israeli genocidal attacks killed 970 Palestinians and injured 3063 since the so-called .

The genocide did not stop, the Israeli blockade is still suffocating occupied Gaza, and we still have a lot of work to do.

We were able to support Palestinians in Gaza with food parcels, hot meals, & water distribution, thanks to the donations we’ve received and the fundraising that was done by kind people like you.

Please be as generous as you can today to ensure this critical work continues.

www.mecaforpeace.org/gaza

06/03/2026

"Fresh Produce Distribution to Palestinian Families in Gaza"

After several months delay due to the and ongoing that has destroyed most of the farm land in , MECA and our local partners were finally able to do another distribution of fresh produce parcels in May.

Part of the project is to provide food parcels to displaced families in the Gaza Strip, a total of 2,300 vegetable parcels were distributed to Palestinian families in Gaza. Each parcel contained seven essential fresh vegetable items identified based on people’s priority needs and availability including tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, garlic, apples, and other key vegetables necessary to support daily household food consumption and improve access to nutritious food items during the ongoing genocide.

This work wasn’t only implemented to address the urgent food crisis created by Israel, but also to support Palestinian farmers and small-scale agricultural suppliers who lost their livelihoods and sources of income during the ongoing genocide.

The project reached 1,300 families in the Middle Area and 1,000 families in the southern areas of Gaza. Priority was given to families with severely limited financial resources, households residing in underserved camps and areas with limited access to services and so on. Some people reported back to us saying, “This support reduced part of the financial burden on us, especially with the rising prices in the market.”

In addition to the vegetable parcels, each family received 3 kg of pressed dates to further support household nutritional needs.

The genocide did not stop, the Israeli blockade is still suffocating occupied Gaza, and we still have a lot of work to do.

We were able to support Palestinian farmers and families thanks to the donations we’ve received and the fundraising that was done by kind people like you.

Please be as generous as you can today to ensure this critical work continues; www.mecaforpeace.org/donate

05/22/2026

Lebanon: Emergency support for children & families

When we reached out to you in March asking for urgent support for families displaced by Israeli attacks in southern , your response was a powerful act of . All of us at MECA want to thank our community for supporting people on the ground with emergency aid.

Working with our two local partners, the funds ensured critical resources reached displaced families in the Bekaa Valley, Nahr El-Bared Camp, and the Burj Al Barajneh and Mar Elias Camps. The aid provided directly through your support included:

- 450 food parcels
- 250 hygiene kits
- 1,150 blankets and 1,150 mattresses
- Hot meals for 70 families for 20 days
- Milk for 250 children (none under two years old, following our policy of not discouraging breastfeeding)
- Diapers for babies, the disabled, and the elderly

Through extreme difficulty, MECA and partners work tirelessly to make immediate relief possible to children and their families. Despite a so-called ceasefire, we continue to see Israeli forces ramp up the systematic destruction of homes, schools, mosques, and other facilities in Lebanon. The thousands of families displaced from southern Lebanon urgently need sustained assistance for food, water, and essential supplies.

Please be as generous as you can today to ensure this critical work continues; visit this link and today: https://shorturl.at/EU5sp

In solidarity,
All of us at MECA

Refugees in Lebanon are facing the devastating aftermath of the explosion in the midst of the pandemic and deep economic hardship.

05/21/2026

Join Sonoma County for Palestine and Middle East Children’s Alliance for a screening of “The Voice of Hind Rajab” followed by a discussion.

Where: First United Methodist Church of Santa Rosa
1551 Montgomery Dr, Santa Rosa

When: Friday, June 5th at 6pm

January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 5-year old Palestinian girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.

This tragic docudrama, written and directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, follows the Red Crescent response during the killing of Hind Rajab by the Israel Defense Forces during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. It stars Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees, Amer Hlehel, and Clara Khoury.

05/18/2026

The Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is pleased to introduce Haleh Zandi as our new Development Director. Haleh steps into this vital role as we bid a heartfelt farewell and extend our deepest thanks to Deborah Agre, who became MECA’s first staff fundraiser in 2003.

Over more than 20 years at MECA, Deborah built a strong foundation of support for Palestinian children and families. Her leadership and dedication have been instrumental in sustaining our programs and strengthening our community of supporters, as well as helping to power our emergency response efforts in during this critical time.

We are deeply grateful for Deborah’s remarkable contributions and lasting impact. At the same time, we are excited to welcome Haleh and look forward to the experience, vision, and energy she brings to MECA’s development work.

Haleh is an Iranian American with over twenty years of experience in community leadership. She is a mother of two children, and she joins us with a deep commitment to solidarity with the Palestinian people. She is the co-founder of Planting Justice, now a large and thriving prison abolition and land rematriation organization. Haleh also brings a wealth of expertise from her time at the Pisces Foundation and Tides Center, where she managed a multi-million dollar climate justice campaign.

With a background in Cultural Anthropology and a career dedicated to social change, Haleh will be an incredible asset as we work together to expand our support for children and families in Palestine.

“I am honored to work alongside our community-rooted partners in Palestine and all of you—our dedicated supporters—to ensure that children in Palestine receive the aid, education, and opportunities they deserve.”

While Deborah will no longer be on staff, she will always be part of the MECA Family and she will join us for the Ride for Palestine in July. You may also run into her in the office or at other events, and hear from her by phone or email. as she looks forward to more time for activism, travel, and long-delayed art projects.

Please join us in thanking Deborah and in welcoming Haleh to the MECA family.

05/15/2026

"78 years of Nakba: Our collective spirit sustains us"

On the 78th anniversary of MECA's director, Zeiad Abbas Shamrouch, shares this powerful testament of the Palestinian plight and calls for solidarity in action.

"Palestinian hate refugee camps, including me. No power in this world can erase the horrific memories that live inside of every refugee. While we hate the camps, we love the collective spirit of the people inside the camps. We grew up with this spirit. It shaped who we are and we breathe it every day. This spirit leads us as we further our struggle to return back to our homes and villages. It sustains our people in and throughout "

Read the full blog & take action:

Today, we commemorate 78 years since the Palestinian Nakba (“catastrophe”), in which three-quarters of the indigenous Palestinian population was forced from their homes to create the settler-colony of Israel, and 78 years of ongoing nakbat (“catastrophes”). It has become even clearer

05/13/2026

"Gaza Diaries: Qusay, Doing his part to keep Gaza Cleaner"

Our colleague Eman has visited the amazing sanitations workers part of our waste management/garbage collection program. And as she spoke with the men keeping Gaza clean, a rather heartwarming story came up. And so, Eman wrote:

"When we asked Qusay about his , he smiled and said it might be “the strangest "

On January 6, our local partner in sent a message to sanitation workers confirming the re-launch of our solid waste collection project in Gaza City, with work set to begin the following day. One of the workers, however, asked for leave before even starting.

Qusay stood between two beginnings. His first day on the job, and the birth of a daughter he had waited more than twelve years for. Without hesitation, he chose to be with his wife and his babygirl.

On January 7, at 6:30 in the morning, Sarah was born.
“Sarah is the light of my life,” he says.

Today, Qusay works as part of the solid waste collection team in Gaza City, helping restore cleanliness and essential services in areas where Israeli forces have destroyed the infrastructure, forcibly displaced Palestinians, and imposed inhumane conditions that severely restrict access to basic waste management services.

Daily, Qusay and his colleagues are able to collect 146 m3 of garbage and waste in Gaza City and al-Mawasi. "

Read the full blog on our website:

  "Qusay - Gaza Cleaner" When we asked Qusay about his story, he smiled and said it might be “the strangest first day of work.” On January 6, our local partner in Gaza sent a message to sanitation workers confirming the

05/07/2026

Water is Life; Support MECA’s Urgent Work in Palestine.

was already facing a severe water crisis before the , but the situation is now life-threatening, especially for infants and children, the elderly, and people with chronic diseases. Because of Israel's ongoing genocide and military , a cup of clean water means a lifeline to children and families in .

Now, as hot weather approaches, the risks of disease and dehydration increase dramatically. With your support, MECA and our partners on the ground can deliver more clean, safe water to those most in need.

Your special contribution will enable MECA to:

1. Deliver 1,000,000 liters of water by truck to displaced families daily.
2. Repair and maintain MECA’s existing solar-powered community water purification units.
3. Deliver water to hospitals, medical centers, and community kitchens.

Despite the extreme difficulty, continuing this work gives strength to people in Palestine, who exhibit amazing ingenuity and resourcefulness. . Without water, people cannot remain on their land or return to it. Please make a donation now so that MECA and our partners can reach more people with safe, clean drinking water.

Please be as generous as you can.

In solidarity,
All of us at MECA

donate at: http://www.mecaforpeace.org/water

05/05/2026

"Against Fragmentation: Finding Palestine Again in Tulkarem"

Our colleague Waed Abbas has visited our different partners in Tulkarm and wrote this reflective piece on the visit. We're sharing snippets of it here:

"For the longest time, I believed that has failed to achieve its aspirations of erasing us.

All these military , towers, barbed wires, walls. All of these racist laws, regulations, policies. All of these military raids, detentions, . All of these Israeli flags scattered every two meters across all of , but especially in occupied and nearby illegal Israeli settlements in the . All of this death they surround us with; it’s all so they can segregate us from each other to dominate us and end our Palestinianness – ideologically and physically. And I thought they have failed, and their failure has kept me going all this time.

But sometimes I feel that perhaps these physical and bureaucratic colonial manifestations did succeed in turning us into “Gazans, West-Bankers, Jerusalemites, 48ers and those distant refugees and exiles” and that we are not a collective of Palestinians.

Then last week my colleague and I visited in the northern part of the West Bank to see our partners and get to know new groups working for the benefit of Palestinian and their families.

It was an extremely long day. We tried to visit and meet as many partners, people, and groups as possible since we never know when more arbitrary closures will be imposed by the Israeli military and/or settlers that will stop us from being able to reach each other. And even though it was an exhausting 14-hour long visit, when I got back home my heart was full, my mind was clear, my body was calm, and my faith in my people stronger than ever."

For the full piece, visit our website here:

For the longest time, I believed that Israel has failed to achieve its aspirations of erasing us. All these military checkpoints, towers, barbed wires, walls. All of these racist laws, regulations, policies. All of these military raids, detentions, torture. All of these Israeli flags scattered every...

05/01/2026

Today, MECA turns 38 years old.

This year, we want to honor the late co-founder of MECA, the awe-inspiring Barbara Lubin on MECA's birthday.

The woman who turned anger into action and sadly died last year on 13 December. To honor Barbara’s amazing memory and legacy, we share a video about her life & a video from children dedicated to her.

Barbara's fierce soul will linger and live through all of the children MECA has served and supported, in the past, present, and future.

In all love and solidarity,

Link to video on Barbara’s life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7-TDjA1cu8&t=47s