UN ECOSOC Special Consultative Status

Ittijah is the network for Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Israel. Established in 1995, Ittijah was founded in response to a clear and widely felt need for increased cooperating and exchange between Palestinian Arab organizations, both large and small. These organizations play a central and critical role within Palestinian society. They provide support structures and offer services which are not otherwise available due to discriminatory practices and policies of the State.

Ittijah strives to strengthen and empower the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel by promoting the development of Palestinian civil society and advocating for political, economic and social change.

Based in Haifa, Ittijah's mission is to coordinate the activities and strategies of member organizations while fostering the development of members' institutional and organizational capabilities. Ittijah's constituency is its member organizations.

Ittijah has three principal, intertwined areas of focus:

Advocacy: Ittijah works on local (inter-Palestinian), regional (Arab) and international advocacy to promote the unique status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, to highlight their social, political and economic needs through fostering contact with governments, civil society groups and platforms, including supporting bodies, such as donors; other indigenous and human rights groups; unions and solidarity groups.

Among the work Ittijah undertakes in this regard are our regular Ambassadorial study days, hosting of solidarity delegations, fact sheet publications, and conferences.

Capacity Building: Ittijah strives to increase the human, technical, financial and educational resources of its member organizations, through facilitating access to knowledge transfers, volunteer staff, technical and educational resources, and fundraising support.

Examples of our capacity-building work include encouraging the placement of international volunteers at local organizations, fostering knowledge transfers, new organizational cultures and assisting with English language correspondence.

Networking: Ittijah fosters field-based networking (such as women, youth, etc) on local (inter-Palestinian), regional (inter-Arab) and international levels to encourage specialized contact between civil society organizations with similar platforms, skills, expertise and experiences, increasing civil society communication and cooperation.

Ittijah's networking includes fostering the creation of a Youth Network, gathering ten Community-based Associations to exchange skills, experiences and resources to create a yearlong project gathering Palestinian youth from diverse regions.

Ittijah's mandate
Ittijah's mandate to carry out its work is provided through its member organizations, represented in Ittijah's administrative board, monitoring committee, financial committee and executive committee.

Ittijah's profile
Ittijah's inter-Palestinian profile has been asserted and strengthened by the 2000 Cyprus Conference, which brought together, for the first time, Palestinian civil society groups from all parts of historical Palestine and Lebanon, under the direction of the three Palestinian networks in the region: Ittijah: Union of Arab Community-Based Associations, PNGO: The Palestinian NGO Network in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and The Collective Forum for Palestinian NGOs in Lebanon. This conference, sponsored by Ittijah, outlined the indivisible nature of the Palestinian people, warned against divisions imposed upon them, and clearly set out the role of three networks in fostering, advocating and strengthening Palestinian civil society in communication and cooperation with each other. The conference's declaration clearly noted for the first time, the historical role Palestinian civil society institutions play in each area: historical 1948 Palestine, the 1967 Occupied Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the large Palestinian refugee populations in Lebanon.

Ittijah's international profile was bought under the spotlight at the Durban World Conference against Racism in 2001, where Ittijah gathered, facilitated and directed the vision and position of the Palestinian NGOs inside Israel on racism, particularly Israeli-state racism towards Palestinian citizens, and the apartheid the State practices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Our regional profile was brought to center stage in 2002, with the conference, An End to Borders: Arab Civil Society Takes up the Challenge. The conference, sponsored by Ittijah and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, created for the first time, working links between Palestinian civil society organizations inside the Green Line, and their partners in the Arab world. The conference strengthened ties between Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world after 54 years of isolation, misconceptions and estrangement.