An operations room to collect donations in the Tafaila neighborhood (Al Jazeera)

Amman -

“We have been deprived of everything that could contribute to a real impact on the ground to support Gaza. There is nothing less than generosity with money, perhaps we can wash away some of our shortcomings.” With these words, Musab Al-Harasis, an activist in the Tafaila Neighborhood Gathering in the Jordanian capital, Amman, opened his talk about their experience at work. Relief to support the people of the Gaza Strip, which inspired other tribes to launch similar initiatives.

The tribal relief campaigns included most of the governorates and regions of the Kingdom of Jordan through the formation of popular committees in cooperation with local associations and regional organizations, to which efforts were directed, given the urgent humanitarian need.

Al-Harasis told Al-Jazeera Net how they started their first activity on the ground spontaneously after the bombing of the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, saying, “We went out with a march that included hundreds of people from the neighborhood, until we reached the center of the capital, Amman, and hundreds of Jordanians joined us at the same time when the kingdom was filled with hundreds of thousands.” Jordanians.”

He continues, "After the decline in the momentum of participation in the field street movement for many reasons, including restrictions, security repression, and people’s search for other tools and ways to support their brothers in Gaza, we turned to relief work in parallel with the field movement, which was not interrupted."

The activist added, "We started communicating with those we knew who were relief activists, and we decided to prepare an ambulance and contacted the Miles of Smiles organization for coordination. Then we announced the campaign inside the neighborhood and began collecting money through mosques and popular committees, and through piggy banks that were distributed to schools and children. I also contributed Neighborhood women with gold and gold.

After collecting the money, two people from the neighborhood headed to Egypt to follow up on the car’s arrival, and it actually entered Gaza a few days later, according to Al-Harasis.

An ambulance sent from the people of the Tafaila neighborhood to Gaza contributed to the formation of many initiatives to relief the Strip (Al Jazeera)

An inspiring experience

This work for the people of the Tafaila neighborhood gave a great incentive to many in Jordan, especially after the video of the ambulance’s arrival was published, which contributed to the formation of a number of youth initiatives between different clans and regions in Jordanian cities. This also prompted the people of the neighborhood to expand the scope of their work to include all the needs of the sector.

Musab Al-Harasis confirms that their initiatives have achieved achievements within the Gaza Strip, and he explained this by saying, “Thank God today, and in the third week of Ramadan, we have several iftar tents in various areas of the Strip in parallel with our daily initiatives.”

He added that they are creating relief teams within the sector, and their goal is to reach all displacement centers, prepare lists of delegates, and work on all axes.

To the north of the capital, Amman, specifically in the Sakib area in Jerash Governorate, it was another experience for the Al-Ayasrah clan and the people of the town, where a campaign was launched to collect donations, which has reached, to date, about 40 thousand Jordanian dinars (one dinar equals 1.41 dollars) within a few days.

Haitham Al-Ayasrah, one of the activists in the campaign, says that the main motivator was the experience of the people of the Tafaila neighborhood and the great feelings towards what is happening in the Strip. It was an initiative by a youth group of members of the tribe to form a committee to collect donations, and the welcome was great in the town’s community.

He added, "During the collection operations, we witnessed cases and situations that raise morale, especially when you see a child coming carrying his piggy bank or a day laborer donating his entire daily allowance," noting that this is the beginning, and the campaign will continue, "as the extent of the destruction and need is much greater than what the mind can imagine." .

Brotherhood project

In the city of Irbid, the “brotherhood” project was launched during one of the central demonstrations, and its idea is based on connecting families in the city directly with families in the Gaza Strip, and financial transfers are made to them officially.

Nidal Abu Jawid, one of those in charge of the project, says that the idea launched by the Islamic movement in the city has, to date, been able to connect more than 20 Jordanian families with families in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Jawid points out that the initiatives of families in Irbid are continuing, as a few days ago a truck of canned food worth 20 thousand dinars was transported and carried by the Diwan Bisan clans. There are also a number of tribal committees such as the Al-Obaidat, Al-Omari and Bani Hani clans, the clans of Al-Sarih, Al-Manara, Hattin and others.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Abu Jaweed stresses the great need for all families in the Kingdom to adopt such sustainable initiatives, as “the scale of destruction and tragedy that more than two million Gazans are falling under exceeds all current efforts.”

Tribal campaigns included collecting donations in mosques and through popular committees (Al Jazeera)

"Freedom for detainees"

Activist in the Youth Gathering to Support the Resistance, Khaled Al-Natour, says that given the restrictions on specific movements affecting the field, especially those calling for the occupation not to officially supply goods via the land bridge, relief work was the choice of many, and they found what they were looking for in parallel with their continued street movement.

Al-Natour added, “Even this level of work was not spared from restrictions and security prosecution,” and this is evidenced by what an official in the Islamic Action Front Party told Al Jazeera Net about cases of arrest “in a horrific manner” of some activists on the relief side, as happened with the pharmacist Ahmed Ayesh, who was raided by force. There were dozens of them, accompanied by police dogs, which terrified his children.

Al-Natour says that all movements that are carried out in the street, such as relief work or criticism and expression via social networking sites, are not prohibited by Jordanian law, and this is evidenced by the ruling recently issued by the Jordanian judiciary in the case on the basis of which he was arrested as a result of his criticism of the regime’s relationship with the occupation and the land bridge. The court ruled that criticizing relations with the occupation is not a crime.

He believes that "broad cybercrime laws and administrative detention are being abused to punish those who support our people in Gaza."

Lawyer Hala Ahed confirms in her interview with Al Jazeera Net that all those who were arrested against the backdrop of pro-Gaza Strip activities following the ongoing aggression against them, whether in field or relief work, did not violate the law, noting that those who violate the law and the Jordanian constitution are the authorities that arbitrarily arrest them.

During the past week, with the start of the month of Ramadan, social networking sites witnessed an escalation of campaigns calling on the security authorities to release detained activists in the pro-Gaza movement. The hashtag “Freedom for Detainees” spread on the X website, in which lawyers, activists, and families of detainees published the stories of their relatives, including those who had not met a lawyer. Or anyone from his family for weeks.

Source: Al Jazeera