In October, UNHCR said that since 2007 the agency had recommended the resettlement of 82,500 Iraqi refugees from the Middle East to third countries, mainly Western. Photo: © Stephen Starr/IRIN
American Task Force on Palestine–The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is a non-partisan organization dedicated to bringing about lasting peace and stability in the Middle East by establishing the state of Palestine alongside Israel. Specifically, ATFP seeks to promote awareness of the far-reaching benefits that Palestinian statehood will have for the United States in the following areas: 1. Enhancing national security, as well as regional peace and stability; 2. The proliferation of American values of freedom and democracy, through the creation of a democratic and constitutional state for the Palestinian people; 3. The expansion of economic opportunities throughout the Arab & Islamic worlds, in an atmosphere of peace and cooperation.
Center for Middle East Peace & Economic Cooperation–The Center for Middle East Peace & Economic Cooperation encourages all relevant parties – Israel, the Palestinians, Arab countries, the United States, Europe, etc. – to reach just and comprehensive peace that will bring an end to the Israeli-Arab conflict. With this mission in mind, the Center’s activities include travel in the region, diplomatic exchanges, and conferences featuring Middle Eastern and relevant international leaders seeking peace. The Center brings Middle Eastern policy makers, American and European officials, and international business leaders together to help provide an atmosphere that encourages a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Established in 1989 by then-Slim Fast Foods Chairman S. Daniel Abraham and then-Utah Congressman Wayne Owens, the Center is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization.
McGill Middle East Program in Civil Society and Peace Building–The McGill Middle East Program in Civil Society and Peace Building provides fellowships to Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian students who earn their masters degree in social work at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, then return to work in the program’s five practice centres in the region’s most disadvantaged areas. Since this unique program began in 1997, 26 graduates have helped Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian academic institutions and NGOs implement innovative and effective rights-based community practice programs in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem, west Jerusalem, Beersheva, Nablus and Amman. The program was founded by McGill University Social Work Professor Jim Torczyner, a native New Yorker who has been teaching at McGill since he earned his doctorate from Berkeley in 1973. In 1975, he founded Montreal’s Project Genesis, now a model of the rights-based community practice social work implemented in the Middle East through the MMEP. Rights-based community practice social work is guided by the following principles: That all individuals are rights-holding citizens; that the state must act inclusively and transparently when it allocates resources; that all citizens have the right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives; and that all citizens have the right to high quality care and services and that failure to provide those services is a violation of human rights. The success of the MMEP practice centres has underscored a growing recognition of the link among human rights, poverty alleviation and empowerment as an alternative to violence in the face of conflict and hopelessness. The five centres serve over 75,000 low-income individuals annually. The centres are supported by the unique alliance of Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian academic institutions and NGOs who comprise the program’s partners in the region: Palestinian Universities An Najah and Al Quds; Ben Gurion University and Community Advocacy Israel; and The University of Jordan and The Jordan Red Crescent. In December, 2003, the Canadian International Development Agency extended its major funding of the MMEP for an additional three years, with the approval of a second and larger grant of $4.4 million toward Phase II of the program.
