Our Aid Work in the West Bank

ANERA first started its work in the West Bank in early 1968, soon after it was occupied by Israel and thereby detached from Jordan. After several years of focusing on the relief needs of refugees from the 1967 war, ANERA began in the mid-1970s to focus on job creation and sustainable development projects for all needy West Bank communities.

ANERA’s office in Jerusalem has focused largely on agriculture and rural development, water and sanitation, job creation, health, and education. Some examples of recent project activities include:

• The UN-funded Relief and Development program is carrying out community-selected projects in economically impacted areas near the Separation Barrier.

• The USAID-funded Emergency Water and Sanitation program has brought access to clean water to more than 10,000 West Bank households.

• The Job Opportunities through Basic Services program, also funded by USAID, implements labor-intensive project activities such as roads and school buildings in the Jericho area.

• ANERA’s privately supported medical in-kind program continues to expand, benefiting health care institutions throughout the West Bank. 

• A major new ANERA initiative, funded by the Canadian government, relates to the psycho-social needs of children aged 6-16 in community centers throughout the West Bank and Gaza.

• ANERA’s private donors have funded an I. T. Center of Excellence at Birzeit University, which joins together with already completed centers in the Jenin, Jerusalem and Hebron areas to provide graduate opportunities in high-tech fields.

Today, with the help of nearly 40 full-time staff members in Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron, ANERA continues to build classrooms and libraries, improve the well-being of children, deliver health care supplies, and much more. ANERA is proud to have cultivated so many excellent partnerships and achieved so much in the West Bank, as well as Gaza and elsewhere throughout the Middle East.