A Qatar Charity delegation has carried out a field visit to inspect housing that is currently being restored and rehabilitated in Bethlehem, Palestine. This West Bank project is part of the third and final year of the ‘Al-Ra’id’ program implemented in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.
This QAR 16.5 million (USD 4.5 million) program is providing aid to the Palestinians across several areas, including restoration and rehabilitation of housing, health and education, in addition to economic empowerment and income-generating projects. The amount of QAR 3.1 million (USD 850,000) has been allocated within the framework of the program for the restoration and rehabilitation of 143 houses for poor families; which includes adding rooms, such as kitchens and bathrooms while also providing necessary furniture. Houses were visited in the refugee camps of Dheisheh and Aida and the village of Artas in the city of Bethlehem.
Within the program's health sector component, the provision of health care, health insurance and emergency surgery for the benefit of poor households is being provided. In the area of education the program will help pay college fees for poor students and in terms of economic empowerment and income-generation a number of agricultural sector projects related to agriculture and animal husbandry and commercial income-generating support are being implemented in order to help provide the beneficiaries with a continuous source of income.