KarunaNews Story

At the makeshift Yasser Arafat Charity Kitchen inside an office building in the city of Tulkarem, volunteers tuck seasoned chicken and yellow rice into plastic foam containers. The unpaid chefs hope their labors will provide some joy to displaced Palestinians trying to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. After an Israeli military raid in the West Bank emptied out several urban refugee camps, many refugees have no access to kitchens, are separated from their communities, and are struggling to mark the end of the daily Ramadan fast with what are typically lavish meals. The kitchen has expanded its usual operations to provide daily meals for up to 700 refugees during Ramadan. They include Mansour Awfa, 60, his wife and four children who have been sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor in a relative's apartment and is grateful to “receive meals and aid from some warmhearted people.”