It’s time, and in fact, overdue, that we brag a minute about the Atta’a Center for the Rights of East Jerusalem Palestinians.
Daud lecturing in Shuafat Refugee Camp
Over the past year, Atta’a has built on its past success, and grown even past its former capacity. Examples of accomplishments this year include:
- 1,089 one-on-one consultations, 1,004 e-mail, Facebook and telephone consultations. This is a 30% increase in individual consultations over last year.
- At least 4,000 entrances to our web site per month. The Atta’a web site is so popular that an Arabic-language Google search for ‘Israel Ministry of Interior’ lists Atta’a second, only behind the official government site.
- Our Facebook community has seen a 40% increase, from 14,000 ‘likes’ at the end of 2017 to 20,000 today, a 40% increase. Even more important than the number of likes is the high rate of engagement. Atta’a’s Facebook regularly reach 2-4,000 people, including 50 – 100 likes each (active engagement) and numerous ‘shares’. Atta’a generally has at least 2 original posts each week.
In addition to the regular one-on-one consultations, Atta’a provides lectures in the community. On Tuesday, November 27, Atta’a Director Daud Aliyan spoke in the Shuafat Refugee camp, on rights available from the National Insurance Institute, as well as on how to make an appointment in the Ministry of Interior’s (Hebrew-only) appointment system. Atta’a deals with these issues on a regular basis, both on a micro level – empowering individuals to wade through the ‘system’ by themselves – and on a macro level – advocating on behalf of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem when it comes to issues of status, welfare and health care rights, and more.
As a result of Atta’a’s assistance, residents received over NIS 25 million, through payments from the National Insurance Institute, the Welfare Department, the Ministry of Interior and more; from discounts on property taxes and other municipal fees; from being able to legally work in Jerusalem, and more.
Daud tells of one case, which is representative of Atta’a’s assistance:
A woman recently came to Atta’a because her son, who has CP and is in a wheelchair, was receiving a monthly disability stipend of NIS 1,000. We were shocked that a child with such a severe disability was receiving so little. While she was there we asked her about a number of other rights and subsidies she and her family are eligible for – discount on property taxes (worth several thousand shekels), increased disability payments (given the son’s severe disability), a one-time subsidy of NIS-3-4,000, different health care benefits, and much more. In total, she and her family were able to receive tens of thousands of shekels.
Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the Leichtag Foundation for their support of Atta’a.
