February 16, 2011

Israel: Partnering in Global Development, by Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, M.K. Danny Ayalon


When Israel was reestablished almost 63 years ago, it adopted the ancient Jewish precept of Tikkun Olam as part of its national philosophy. This term, literally meaning "repairing the world" is an ancient Jewish value of reaching out to those in need and a social instruction to better our surroundings and society.

During its formative years, Israel faced enormous development challenges, including difficult climactic challenges, including water scarcity and the absorption of massive waves of immigrants. Israel in 2010 joined the OECD as a sign of successfully meeting those challenges and moving from a developing to a developed nation.

Israel's seminal ethos was "making the desert bloom" and its first leaders understood that their experience could be replicated in other regions dealing with the challenges of desertification, agriculture in arid conditions and water management.

The Jewish State was one of the first in the world to establish a development agency, MASHAV, Israel's Center for International Development Cooperation. MASHAV was created at the initiative of Golda Meir, Israel's first woman prime minister, after returning from her historic visit in 1958 to the newly created countries in Africa.

Meir felt that Israel had a moral obligation to share its experience in nation-building with others. She felt that Israel could be a role model because, in her words, only a few years after the founding of our state, it "had shaken off foreign rule, and had been forced to find solutions to the kinds of problems that large, wealthy, powerful states had never encountered."

For the next decade Israel was invited to support development programs in African nation-building, in the fields of agriculture, health and community development. This ended in 1967 when African nations were forced to sever relations with Israel by the Arab and Muslim bloc which held an automatic majority in the developing world.

Over the subsequent decades MASHAV did not stand idle and built a reputation in other regions like Latin America, Asia and in Arab nations that signed peace agreements with Israel, like Egypt and Jordan. MASHAV has also assisted our Palestinian neighbors with a focus on human capacity building and institution building.

However, according to the targets set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the year 2000, Africa remains a continent in need of partnership.

The MDGs represent our common humanity, a global partnership for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, to ensure universal primary education, access to health services, gender equality and provide more to millions across the world.

Since its inception, MASHAV's work in the developing world has been guided by the basic approach that development work is organic in nature. Israel is committed to do its utmost to achieve the MDG's for the benefit of the billions who desperately need our sustained collective effort.

To this end, the State of Israel has signed agreements regarding cooperation in aiding developing nations, with emphasis on matters of water, agriculture and health, with many nations.

Israel is partnering with the United States in Ethiopia, with Germany in Ethiopia and Ghana, with Italy in Senegal, Japan and Denmark in the Middle East and we are hoping to sign an agreement with Canada in the near future to assist development in Asia.

Only last week, Israel and Germany signed a Declaration of Intent to plan a joint program in the vital Lake Victoria region of Kenya to improve the ecosystem there for the benefit of the entire area, including Uganda and Tanzania.

Israel, having joined the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) late last year, has a moral commitment to assist the developing world. The Jewish State is hoping to sign many more bilateral development agreements with partner nations in the developed world.

These agreements represent the Jewish State's willingness to extend a hand and cooperate around the world for the benefit of developing countries. This sends a clear and moral message to the people of the world that Israel remains faithful to both its Jewish and universal value system.

January 25, 2011

Haiti: one year after... by Yoel Barnea, former Israeli Ambassador to Uruguay


H A I T I :


O N E Y E A R A F T E R


One year ago, the earth under the Haitian people convulsed and the international community understood that we were all confronted with a major tragedy, that struck a country whose inhabitants have unfortunately a long story of suffering and struggle against poverty and underdevelopment.
The State of Israel, representing the values of the Jewish people and loyal to the principles of solidarity and " Tikun Olam" that guided us during more than three millenaries of our existence, dispatched urgently medical and other aid to the Haitian people and we committed ourselves to continue our assistance and support, together with our brothers in the Diaspora, together with all states and institutions of goodwill, until we can be sure that Haiti and its people are on the right path to heal their wounds and restart their lives, to attain a better future of development, progress and happiness for them , their children and the future generations.
Israel is establishing a Trauma and Emergency Room Unit in the Central Hospital of Cap Haitien (the second largest city, after the capital Port au Prince, situated in the north of Haiti); we are developing projects of assistance in the agricultural field, in coordination with the local Ministry of Agriculture and we are partners in the creation of a clinic for primary medical assistance in Leogane, together with the Sheeba Hospital and other associates. Also we are cooperating with various Israeli NGOs, which are providing assistance and support to the Haitian people in education, health, trauma treatment and primary necessities.
Israel, its people and the Jewish world- we are all very happy and grateful that we could take part in this endeavor, which is also our moral duty to do so- but more than that – it is a special privilege that destiny and the circumstances demand and expect from us. We hope very much that we accomplished our mission satisfactorily and engage ourselves to continue to do so with the same enthusiasm also in the future.
The challenges are still huge, difficult and numerous!!!!!!!!!!!!!