Palestinian activist raises money to build houses for Syria refugees

Palestinian activist Saleh Azghari has launched the ‘A New Life’ campaign to raise money to build houses for Syrian refugees living in tents.

The Syrian war, which started on 15 March 2011, has forced almost seven million Syrians to become refugees and asylum seekers and displaced 6.7 million inside Syria.

Most Syrian refugees remain in the Middle East where they live either integrated into the local community, like in Iraq, or in informal camp settlements like in Lebanon.

In Jordan roughly 120,000 people live in the Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps.

World Vision has warned that Syrian child refugees are at risk of sexual abuse and exploitation in refugee camps and in informal tent settlements.

As the worst snowstorm in a decade hit Lebanon earlier this month, aid convoys struggled to reach Syrian refugees living in remote parts of the country.

Water dripped through the makeshift roofs of their tents and the people living there struggled without proper fuel or insulation as the temperatures dipped below freezing at night.

Palestinian prisoner Jamal Abu Al-Heija, who has been in prison since 1992, has donated $2,500 to Saleh’s campaign in memory of his son Hamza Al-Heija who was killed in Jenin by Israeli special forces in 2014.

Saleh raised $312,000 in the first few hours the campaign was launched, reported Al Jazeera Arabic, which will provide more than 120 families with a home.

On Instagram Saleh announced that he would donate every house in the name of a Palestinian prisoner.

In 2016 Saleh was detained by Israeli forces for almost two months over his Instagram posts.

 

 

Source: Middle East Monitor

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