The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) celebrated 15 years of achievements and hard collective work at its annual dinner held on Dec. 5th, 2015. More than 900 supporters and guests attended the event to the music of May Nasr, accompanied Humam Eid and Bassem al-Jaber. 

A special guest honoured by the event was 77 year old Palestinian farmer Abdel Rahman al-Qassem who after 31 years reclaimed ownership of his land stolen from the Beit Eil colony in the Ramallah region,winning a court order to regain the land which was confiscated by the Israeli occupation authorities. Al-Qassem turned down an offer to receive $28 million and has rejected an offer to receive an American passport in return for giving up his right to the land. 

 

Jordanian female farmer Elham Al-Abbadi was also honored by APN during the event for her role and efforts in developing organic agriculture and training residents in its techniques in her village of Al-Bayyouda in Salt. Farming in the area, which is seeking to achieve self-sufficiency, is almost free of chemical use. 

The dinner’s activities were introduced by presenter and activist Aroub Soubh joined by APN’s deputy president Rami Barhoush and organized in conjunction with 100 supporting companies and institutions.The activities included a speech by APN President Razan Zuayter, followed by discussions and documentaries featuring APN’s achievements and stories of success of Al-Qassem and Al-Abbadi.They were followed by a raffle for a traditionally embroidered Palestinian thobe (dress), bottles of olive oil from the Al-Aqsa compound, baskets of organic products from Al-Bayyouda and books on Palestine in publications of Arab and Muslim travelers and geographic specialists. 

 

In addition to singer Nasr and musician Humam Eid, volunteers from the Palestinian Voluntary Work Committee Mrs Theresa Wolfwood and her husband Gerd were also celebrated along with Mrs. Darah al-Taher and Dr.Bassel Burqan.

 In her speech, President Zuayter noted that APN’s most hard-won achievement in 2015 was endorsement in the Plenary session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) of the Framework for Action on Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises in Rome on October 13th, 2015. CFS is the UN Governing Body that reviews and follows up on food security and nutrition policies.   APN heads global civil society in the negotiations on food security and nutrition in protracted crisis and represents West Asia civil society in the Coordination Committee of the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM). Zuayter said that in this leading role, APN has become well-versed in international negotiations and dialogues, and has succeeded in highlighting the issue of occupation, which was mentioned four times in the document.  Despite objections by the US, Canada and Israel, she said countries around the world finally acknowledged that occupation is one of the root causes of hunger and poverty which needs to be addressed in order to deal with such problems.  

The event aimed at garnering support for APN’s third Million Tree Planting Campaign in Palestine which the organization will carry out in conjunction with its Palestinian partners. The campaign involves planting around 100 thousand tree saplings to replace trees removed by Israeli occupation troops in locations threatened with confiscation, such as those targeted for colony building, bypass roads and parts of the separation Wall.  Another objective of the event is to gain support for APN’s Green Caravan campaign that involves planting tens of thousands of tree saplings on Jordanian lands to fight desertification, enhance food security elements and create income sources for residents of  marginalized areas. Equally important is advancing APN’s efforts to have voice in global policies with respect to the priorities of Jordan, Palestine and pan-Arab affairs.