|
Strategic Vision Palestinian NGOs regardless of their category have played a central role during the past decades in protecting the social fabric of Palestinian society from all challenges, and risks that still continue to threaten its existence and entity. The absence of a Palestinian State has granted NGOs and the NGO sector a particularity unique in its kind, this has distinguished it from the other Arab and international countries. The NGO sector has played a leading role in resisting the Israeli Occupation and facing its discriminatory policies towards the Palestinian land, citizen and institutions. The sector has also played a central role in development under discriminatory and racist conditions. In previous years the sector has borne the responsibility of providing various special kinds of services to the Palestinian people in all locations. NGOs struggled to achieve several goals including the following: Building the basis for a Palestinian, democratic civil society and providing “public” services in the represented homeland prior to the emergence of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, NGOs have contributed in the struggle for national freedom by encouraging society to struggle against the occupation, settlements and oppressive measures, to defend the human and political rights of the Palestinian people and face all attempts aimed to deleting the national identity and marginalize it politically. During the years of the occupation, the NGOs faced various forms of oppression, including compulsory closure, arresting or banning their leaders, and impeding their programs and projects – all of these measures aimed at restricting their work and preventing them from achieving their mission. In spite of this, NGOs managed to remain steadfast and continue serving the innumerable sectors of Palestinian society. |