Al-Baqa' Center: Defending Palestinian Identity

The first center in Majdal Krum was established in 1992, in response to the increasing engagement of the Palestinian leadership in Israel with Israeli Labor Party politics. Two additional centers were opened later in Yafa and Nazareth. Al-Baqa's major aim is to protect Palestinian identity from the strong cultural and political influence of the Israeli establishment and to work for the design of strategies for the social and political development of the Palestinian community in Israel that do not rely on Israeli state services and the Labor Party. Among the Centers' activities are assistance to Palestinian workers and the study of Palestinian unemployment in Israel (Palestinian Workers' Center, Nazareth); academic and cultural awareness raising activities for mothers and children (Mothers' School, children summer camps); public counseling on issues pertaining to Palestinian property and housing rights; annual collections for the support of Palestinian prisoners' families; and an olive oil project aimed at supporting the Palestinian olive oil production and at protecting Palestinian farmland from confiscation by the Israeli state (marketing, financial aid and volunteer assistance to farmers wishing to plant their land).

Contact: Samya Nasser, Al-Baqa' Center/Majdal Krum, tel. 054-254048.