APN, collaborated with the Palestinian Rural Development Association in the North Western villages of Jerusalem, to carry out several development projects consisting of tree planting, constructing water wells and women empowerment activities. The projects were in support of farmers in Jerusalem and included:

A.    Planting 3,500 trees in Biet Doqo in Jerusalem

3,500 olive, grape and stone fruit trees were donated by Al Shahabi’s family and planted  in the Beit Doqo village, 17 km North West of Jerusalem. 89 percent of the village is classified as Area C (under full Israeli civil and military control) and thousands of dunams of its land have been confiscated by the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

The project planted trees on 100 dunams of land, owned by 32 farmers who support over 211 family members.

B.     Planting 1,700 trees in Sharafat, Beit Safafa and Jerusalemite Villages Adjacent to the Apartheid Wall

Million Tree Campaign volunteers planted 1,500 stone fruit, olive and grape trees in the Shurafat and Beit Safafa villages that lie 5 km South West of Jerusalem. The activities were organized in collaboration with the Board of Directors of the two villages and with the help of students from the Sharafat School and Wakf Al Quds for Care and Development.

Another 100 olive trees were planted in memory of Farouq Mohammad Al Jaajaa, in Beit Sureik that lies along the Green Line and overlooks West Jerusalem. Also, another 100 trees were planted in memory of the late Youssef Al Anzi in the Beit Duqo village.

C.    Women Empowerment Projects

As part of the “Economic empowerment of families in Jerusalem 112 women received 9 training workshops on growing oyster mushrooms in the villages of Al Jib, Badu and Rafat North West of Jerusalem.

The project aims to produce nutritional products of high quality that are easily marketed and offer a significant economic return for women and their families. The project also involves the youth by training a number of university students on marketing the products made by the women in return for a small fee that contributes to their university tuition.

The project is supported by the International Islamic Charity Organization in Kuwait and supervised by Wakf Al Quds in Lebanon.

D.    Constructing Water Wells in the Besieged Village of Beit Iksa

As part of the “Irrigate Palestine” campaign, the Million Tree Campaign dug a new water well in the Beit Iksa village that lie behind the Apartheid Wall and adjacent to the Prophet Samuel Settlement. The well was funded by Shahd, Youssef, and Marwan Mirza in memory of their late grandparents Rustom and Fardous, and by the International Islamic Charity Organization in Kuwait. The project was supervised by Wakf Al Quds in Lebanon.