FAQ

  • Philosophy

  • Financial

  • Legal

  • Operational
  • Organizational

    1. The Rebuilding Alliance is an American 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California.  Our mission:  to rebuld war-torn communities and make them safe.   Our vision:  a just and enduring peace in Israel and Palestine founded upon equal value, security, and opportunity for all.   Our values:  We serve peacemakers from all sides and walks of life who take brave steps for justice and understanding.
    2. How does it work?  Ours is a holistic approach to peace-building, combining community-directed rebuilding with grassroots and diplomatic advocacy.   We stretch your every dollar to seed endeavors that make a difference and grow.  Trust builds with each rebuilding project and draws upon a grassroots network to keep the projects safe.  This, we believe, is the stuff Peace and Justice are made of.
    3. Where does the money come from?  It comes from donors like you.  We don’t take government funding.  We proudly rely on grassroots donations for 85-90% of our funding … and we dream of the day when neighbor to neighbor funding can create a micro-mortgage network that rebuilds not just single projects but whole neighborhoods.    .

      4. top

    4. Why should everyone support the Rebuilding Alliance?
    • We rebuild through cooperative civic action that puts those who are affected at the heart of the process.
    • Ability to connect people and orgs and get them involved on an impressive level.
    • We are agile, innovative, and a great place to work.
    • Our new congressional district mapping tool will be a breakthrough in community organizing.
    • We use our projects and the stories behind them as powerful advocates for our mission,
      top

    1. How did the Rebuilding Alliance get started?  The Rebuilding Alliance arose as a response to Israel’s massive destruction of the Jenin refugee camp in 2002.  Far ahead of published news accounts, heart-rending first-person accounts appeared on the Internet of people bulldozed in their homes, and three hundred homes demolished in a week’s time.  We could not stop the destruction, but we knew how to do something that could make a difference: we knew how to help them rebuild.   When grant funding did not come through, our launched our work on our work, running up credit cards much as one might launch a first film.   A then board member of Habitat for Humanity International told us that ours was the most important peace project in the middle east, so we formalized the Rebuilding Alliance as a 501c3 nonprofit in 2003 and convened our board of directors.

      2. top

  • Philosophy
    1. Has your work ever been silenced?   We were recently asked this question when speaking to a local Rotary Club, during the same week that the TRA board met to consider how to respond to a disparaging article online. The best way to respond is with the truth. Our board sent out an appeal to our supporters and drafted a point-by-point response to the article.
    2. Why is the Israeli government destroying the homes of Palestinian families?  Here is the abstract of a report from the Israeli Human Rights group, BIMKOM: Planners for Planning Rights entitled, The Prohibited Zone: Israeli Planning Policy in Area C.  We’ll soon be providing more references and analysis re. policies in East Jerusalem, Gaza, and Areas A and B of the West Bank.
    3. Through carefully planning with each NGO partner agency, multi-signature accountability, and review by our board of directors. For our construction project in Gaza, funds are wired via bank to bank transfer to a separate account for the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme. No funds are transferred out of that account until TRA’s Construction Supervisor, the Sponsoring NGO, and the family sign-off to assure that the construction milestone was met to the satisfaction of all. Our board reviews the sign-off approvals and visits the building site.Milestones include the following:- Negotiation for purchase of land (we usually help the family rebuild on their own land but in some cases, rebuilding there is just too dangerous). – Architectural specifications and drawings – Solicitation of three sealed bids for construction – Opening the bids and selecting a contractor – First construction milestone payment – Second construction milestone payment – Third and final construction milestone payment – Evaluation: What worked? What didn’t? What do we do differently next time? Each milestone is reported to The Rebuilding Alliance home office and reviewed by the Board of Directors. Please remember that due to the uncertainties of the Occupation, every plan requires a back–up plan B – and even the homes and schools we think are out of harm’s way can be slapped with a demolition order on a moment’s notice. Our projects are completed with integrity despite these challenges.

      4. top

    4. No we are not. The Rebuilding Alliance denounces terrorism by individuals, private groups, or states. Our organization also denounces all collective punishment including all house demolitions. Collective punishment is a violation of the Geneva Convention and international law, illegal in territories under occupation. The Rebuilding Alliance actively supports those Palestinians, Israelis, and Internationals who build together in nonviolence just as we actively oppose individuals, groups, and state policies that incite violence.We rebuild the homes of people who have never been accused of any security violation. Our organization is in full compliance with U.S. law and the families we rebuild for are granted visas by the U.S. government to allow them to speak in the United States. Such visas are granted after a thorough background check.

      5. top

    5. Yes. We will expand our geographic focus as resources become available.
    6. Rebuilding is a tangible way to acknowledge what happened, support human rights, and help Palestinian families maintain their human right to their homes. Since the start of Israel’s Occupation in 1967 over 14,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished, resulting in the displacement of more than 100,000 people. From September 2000 to February 2005, the Israeli Army demolished some 4000 homes, an average of 70 demolitions per month. Sometimes, whole neighborhoods were destroyed, such as in Rafah, Gaza, with demolitions continued night after night. In the West Bank, nearly every family who built or expanded their home in Area C (60% of the West Bank) holds a demolition order from the Israeli Civil Authority.

      7. top

    7. Israel’s home demolition policy provides a window into understanding the entire structure of the Israeli Occupation – its policies, effects, and costs – and the Israeli / Palestinian conflict. Likewise, rebuilding homes bring people together worldwide to uphold international law and overcome the injustice of Occupation by refusing to be enemies. March 16, 2003 was marked by the tragic death of Rachel Corrie, an American ISM activist who was killed as she stood between a IDF bulldozer and the home of a physician in the city of Rafah, Gaza (see http://palsolidarity.org/). She is but one of many who seek to save homes and stop the bulldozers. In focusing our attention on Israel’s home demolition policy, we are building momentum for a just peace.

      8. top

    8. Home demolitions are not a natural disaster. Unlike building in a flood zone or on an earthquake fault, home demolitions are the result of man-made policies – and these policies can be changed. The Road Map recently adopted by the Israeli and Palestinian governments specifically requires the government of Israel to end “confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property, as a punitive measure or to facilitate Israeli construction.” Rebuilding Homes requires an end to demolitions, in accordance with the Road Map.There is no insurance for families whose homes are demolished. When their home is demolished, their life-savings are wiped out. While international agencies recognize the scale of the disaster, and work to house landowners made homeless, no agencies have been willing to help homeowners rebuild in assertion of their right to a home on their land. As of May 2003, over 100 families have asked to be added to a Rebuilding Homes waiting list, in full knowledge that rebuilding still holds no guarantee of safety.The risk of re-demolition is real. Despite that risk, rebuilding remains a powerful source of hope for families who have lost everything, a powerful political statement to bring demolitions to an end, and a transformative peacemaking process.

      9. top

    9. Right now we can only rebuild one house at a time by raising 100% of the cost through grassroots fundraising and then building the new home. It is a long process – and especially frustrating because no one in the modern world finances construction this way. But in conflict zones, there is no homeowners insurance, and banks do not provide mortgages or rebuilding loans. When homes are destroyed, families lose everything. I dream of the day when we can finance the rebuilding of whole neighborhoods on both sides of these man-made disasters. I believe there is a way to finance the reconstruction of homes so that the rebuilding process will qualify for a mortgage, and I look forward to the day when we can take on multiple redevelopment projects in Palestine, in Israel, and everywhere where people lose their homes due to the man-made disaster of war and occupation. Our vision for rebuilding neighborhoods is featured in the Changemakers Entrepreneuring Peace international competition at http://www.changemakers.net/journal/peace/displaypeace.cfm?ID=118

      10. top

  • Financial
    1. In the United States, checks may be made-out to “The Rebuilding Alliance” and mailed to: The Rebuilding Alliance 235 Alma Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301 USA To make a secure credit card gift through our web site, please select Donate Now! Please note, online donations are processed through our fiscal sponsor, Global Exchange.In other countries, we ask that you send a money order or cashier’s check in US Dollars or make a donation online via credit card. For wire transfer, please contact us for account details. The Rebuilding Alliance is a 501c3 organization. All donations are tax deductible in the U.S.

      2. top

    2. The usual cost for rebuilding an average 100 square meter (980 square feet) home in the Jerusalem area is $30,000. In addition to this $30,000 are the following expenditures:$6,000 — cost to tell the story of the home to people around the world with a short film, build coalitions to adopt the home, and coordinate urgent action to prevent demolition$2,400 — cost of raising funds for that home $2,100 — cost of administration $2,500 — legal reserve fund (Note: the total cost for defending that house and others near it in a class-action petition before the Israeli Supreme Court will be about $10,000. We also seek to help the family sue for compensation). $43,000 — Total Cost for each home we build Homes outside Jerusalem are cheaper, but in some places, like Rafah, it is still too dangerous to build on the original site. When we must purchase land, as is needed for the Nasrallah family home in Rafah, our project cost rises by nearly $20,000. Also duplexes cost more than single-family homes. The Nasrallah home will house two families, Dr. Samir Nasrallah (the pharmacist) his wife and children, and Mr. Khaled Nasrallah (the accountant) and his wife and children. Schools are bigger, thus more costly than homes. Our kindergarten in Al Aqabah (near Tubas) is 253 sq. meters with a building cost of $35,360. Again, we include educational outreach, fundraising, legal reserve, and administrative cost with the price of each building to set the fundraising goal for each project.

      3. top

    3. All Sponsoring NGO’s submit quarterly reports of income and expenses to The Rebuilding Alliance for review at the quarterly meeting of our Board of Directors. The Construction Supervisor sends regular reports as well. The sponsoring NGO, board members, and volunteers visit the worksite throughout construction period to assess progress to date. TRA’s construction supervisor is responsible for the quality of the project and funds are only transferred when the Sponsoring NGO, the family, and TRA’s construction supervisor are in agreement that the milestone has been met. The family is always included in project assessment and evaluation, as they are their own best advocates.

      4. top

    4. The Rebuilding Alliance actively seeks endorsement for its rebuilding efforts, drawing groups together for fundraisers that build local coalitions for advocacy. We are working to develop a list of endorsers in each congressional district so that representatives will be assured of local support when they publicly take action on behalf of the Rebuilding Alliance. Please invite your place of worship, peace, or service group to endorse the Rebuilding Alliance and contact us to set-up a speaking event or house party.

      5. top

  • Legal
    1. It is very important that families sue for compensation for their loss — and TRA is actively encouraging our families to join such lawsuits. Good news — the courts are finally showing courage. On October 26, 2004, ABC News Online reported that the Israeli Supreme Court has demanded explanations from the army over the scale of the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Rafah region of the Gaza Strip. The Court was responding to a petition filed by the Arab-Israeli rights group Adalah, which accuses the military of having perpetrated “war crimes” with the demolition without military necessity of the large number of houses in the town which borders Egypt.

      2. top

    2. While rebuilding may be illegal under Israeli law, the act of demolition itself is illegal under international law. We seek to assert the primacy of international law as we rebuild to challenge the legality and morality of the occupation and its tactics. The right to a home is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For the last 36 years of the Israeli occupation, there are only rare occasions that a Palestinian with deeds to his/her land, is given a permit to build by the Israeli Ministry of the Interior. The entire Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina has had no zoning or planning since 1968, so not even the streets have been named. Building a home is a right and fair housing law is a requirement to enforce that right.

      3. top

    3. Home rebuilding is a non-violent form of civil protest, in the traditions of Gandhi, Thoreau, and the American civil rights movement. Many of our rebuilding activists are willing to go to jail if arrested by the Israeli authorities. So far no one has been arrested for rebuilding, although people have been arrested for trying to prevent home demolitions, including Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights, and Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. We mourn the death of Rachel Corrie who lost her life trying to block a bulldozer from destroying the home of the Nasrallah family — and we hope that our efforts to rebuild will help realize her goals.

      4. top

  • Operational
    1. Our Sponsoring NGOs submit proposals to TRA’s board of directors to select the building projects. All participating families have gone through an extensive interview process so that they understand the risks they may face in bringing their tragedy to light.Demolition rubble is cleared by a contractor. Volunteers perform initial tasks like assembling materials, and laying cinderblock. A Palestinian general contractor approves designs, supervises construction, and performs skilled work, such as framing and pouring concrete, plumbing, and electrical. Building materials are purchased from Palestinian suppliers. These efforts also contribute to the local Palestinian economy that is devastated by the closures, curfews, and occupation.

      2. top

    2. Each of our projects is built with the assistance of a local Sponsoring NGO. That NGO hires local contractors and works with a Rebuilding Alliance construction supervisor to inspect quality at the time of every sign-off for milestone payments to contractors.

      3. top

    3. Each home that is rebuilt gets media attention. As Americans see the rebuilding of homes and the alliance-building among Palestinians and Israelis who seek an end to the Occupation, they lend support to our efforts. When the homes they build are at risk, they call their congressional representatives and ask them to intervene. With more support, more homes are rebuilt — strengthening the local economy — and more homes are saved from demolition. Homeless families have a chance to restore some normalcy of life and people who work for peace find encouragement and purpose for their creative efforts. We want to show Congress that their constituents are concerned so that they will take action that will make the world safer for us all.

      4. top

    4. Volunteer: If you live in the San Francisco area, join us at our office to help out in a variety of ways especially on mailing days. Houseparty/Speaking Event: Host the Rebuilding Alliance speakers and films at your church, mosque, synagogue, or service club etc. to raise awareness about Israelis and Palestinians working together to rebuild. Form a task force to save one home and go together to visit your congressperson / senators to ask them to make calls on your task force’s behalf. Volunteer in Israel/Palestine: Volunteers based in Israel/Palestine with experience in project management can help define the next “Adopt a Home” project. You will work with Israelis and Palestinians who want to build together, compiling a prospectus for each house demolished. This prospectus serves a vital role in raising funds for the rebuilding, describing the family’s efforts to build their home, why it was demolished, politics of home ownership in that area, and the groups and individuals who will join together to rebuild. Volunteers Everywhere — Come help rebuild! Not only Israelis and Palestinians participate in home rebuilding. Internationals do too. If you have the time, and the means to get there, we can connect you with current projects. Needless to say, this is the most satisfying contribution an individual can make; it’s an experience that could change your life.

      5. top