WEST BANK: Hebron charity feeds thousands of Palestinian during the holy month of Ramadan

Record ID: 560576

  • Title: WEST BANK: Hebron charity feeds thousands of Palestinian during the holy month of Ramadan
  • Date: 18th September 2007
  • Summary: CHILDREN WALKING THROUGH CHECKPOINT METAL GATE WITH EMPTY BUCKETS BOYS CARRYING EMPTY CONTAINERS AND WALKING UP STREET
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Religion,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVA1CU4XEKIDLTBPN10FPCKQYMZF
  • Story Text: Workers at the "Takeyat Ibrahim" soup kitchen in the West Bank city of Hebron have rarely seen so many residents flock to receive an evening meal with which to break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
    The charity, which is part of the Palestinian city's grand Ibrahimi Mosque, has been run by the same ten families for centuries. In recent decades, the soup kitchen has been catering to the needy during the fasting month of Ramadan, when the poor from across the city make their way to the kitchen each evening, knowing that a hot plate of food awaits them.
    The soup kitchen used to serve a few hundred families a day, but as the economic situation in the Palestinian territories has worsened in recent years, the number has grown to nearly 3,000 families this Ramadan.
    Severe Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of the Palestinian territories has brought the Palestinian economy to its knees in recent years, with poverty and unemployment at levels unprecedented in recent history.
    "The people here depend on the soup kitchen totally when it comes to their meals. During the month of Ramadan, we feeds thousands of families, honestly. I have been working for the past 15 to 20 years in this place and I have never seen such a situation as during the last few years and this year.
    Last year the stress on us was huge and also this year," head of food storage at the soup kitchen Ammar Khatib explained.
    "What saddens us is the women. The number of women who come to receive meals has increased greatly. And women -- it is known off course that Hebron is a conservative city, and it is not easy for them to come to such a location, but the bad financial situation is what causes the women to come here," Khatib added.
    Israel has defended the restrictions as a means of defending itself against suicide bombings and terrorist attacks.
    But the soup kitchen is not only for the poor. Located alongside the Ibrahimi Mosque, one of the area's holiest sites for Muslims, the soup kitchen also prepares food for the devout who believe the food is a blessing from the Prophet Ibrahim.
    Many children with their buckets and canisters arrive at the soup kitchen to collect food for their families. Staff at the kitchen explain that the children often have difficulty getting to the kitchen during the Jewish Sabbath when the Israeli army imposes a curfew on a part of the city containing Jewish settlers.
    Tremendous work goes into food preparation at the kitchen, and staff end each day with preparing meals for the next day.
    The soup kitchen relies on private donations in the form of produce and meat, and on funding from the Islamic Religious Endowment Authority, the Islamic Waqf.
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