Israel

Amitabh Behar named Oxfam International’s Executive Director

August 9, 2024

Oxfam International is pleased to announce the appointment of Amitabh Behar as its new Executive Director. Behar is a respected global civil society leader, with three decades of experience and extensive work on human rights, economic inequalities, governance accountability, philanthropy, democracy and social justice. He was selected following a competitive recruitment process.

Behar joined Oxfam in April 2018 as the Chief Executive of Oxfam India. More recently, he served as Oxfam International’s Interim Executive Director.

“Behar is a thoughtful and creative feminist leader, with an in-depth understanding of the causes and complexities of poverty, inequality, discrimination and suffering. We are confident in his ability to convene our confederation, alongside our partners, to deliver our vision for a just and equal world,” said Dr. Aruna Rao, the Chair of the Oxfam International Board of Directors.

Behar said: “I embark on this new chapter acutely aware of the global and interconnected challenges we face in our world today. We require urgent action built on new solidarities, new imaginations, and new dreams to deliver a more equal and sustainable future for all.

“Oxfam carries a rich legacy rooted in working with communities while advocating for systemic change. I am eager to channel our collective energies, boldness, resources, and partnerships in support of peoples’ power for the good of majority of the global population.”

Behar has made valuable contributions to Oxfam’s transformation of its own confederation, decolonizing its decision-making and strengthening its collective structure and policies. He has been widely recognized for his work on people-centric advocacy, governance accountability, social and economic equality, and citizen participation.

Prior to Oxfam, Behar was Executive Director of the National Foundation for India and Co-Chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. He has also served as the Vice-Chair of the Board of CIVICUS and the Chair of Navsarjan (Ahmedabad) and President of Yuva in Mumbai. He currently serves on the boards of several other organizations, including the Global Fund for Community Foundation and the Norwegian Human Rights Fund.

Contact: Rachel Schaevitz, [email protected]

Israel’s blockade of Gaza hits 15 years with no diplomatic resolution in sight

June 21, 2022

The United Nations and all other humanitarian actors have spent 15 years delivering humanitarian support to 2.1m Palestinians blockaded inside Gaza, and yet, there is still no sustained collective political action or will to resolve it.

In those 15 years, the international community has spent an estimated US$5.7 billion in Gaza just to help keep an incredibly resilient population afloat, in impossible conditions.

“The humanitarian relief effort has long become a permanent operation. We are collectively forced into being de facto enablers of an open-air prison,” said Oxfam International Executive Director, Gabriela Bucher, on marking 15 years of the blockade.

“Today, seven out of ten people in Gaza depend on aid. This must change. We look to the UN Secretary-General personally to make the immediate lifting of the Gaza blockade a priority,” Bucher said. “Israel’s control is total, extending down to levels that are frankly ridiculous and punishing – like banning Gaza’s export of tomatoes unless they have had their green tops removed, so they can’t be kept as fresh”.

This month, Oxfam joins a civil society campaign, #OpenUpGaza15. “We need to stop the tragedy of Gaza from continuing to drain all the joy and aspiration of its youth, year upon year. It is imperative that we help the next generation not to be lost to the blockade. Over 800,000 young Palestinians have spent their entire lives trapped within Gaza. They have known nothing else,” she said.

These young people face a 63 percent probability of having no job. For girls it’s even worse – four out of five won’t find paid work. Gaza has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.

“Most all of Israel’s restrictions are motivated by politics, not security. Palestinian families in Gaza are being collectively and illegally punished,” said Oxfam’s Country Director, Shane Stevenson. “Israel bans the export of date paste, cookies, and French fries. It has forbidden 3G and 4G phone data and there’s no PayPal. This is not a place where a young person can be expected to flourish and find happiness.”

#OpenUpGaza15 will feature the everyday stories from 15 young people about their daily deprivations, curbs, and constraints with which they have to deal just to pursue their lives and their interests.

Ahmad Abu Dagga, 15, excels in sciences but fears that he will finish his 12 years of school without ever seeing a microscope in his school laboratory.

Alaa Abu Sleih, 23, was born with a physical disability. A few years ago, the control panel of his wheel chair broke down and he cannot get a new one. The chair tyres are wearing out and he worries how he will get around.

Oxfam’s humanitarian and development efforts in Gaza are all constantly undermined by Israel’s suffocating restrictions on services and the movement of resources and people. 97 percent of Gaza’s piped water is not fit to drink and electricity supply is restricted to 12 hours per day.

“The UN and its member states must become the diplomatic power brokers needed to end this blockade now,” Stevenson said. “All sides must commit to a time-bound plan with actions and strong accountability mechanisms. We refuse to accept that all the effort made to maintain the blockade for 15 years can’t instead be harnessed for good and to consign it to history.”

Rights in Crisis: Israel’s illegal annexation of parts of the West Bank

July 2, 2020

On the announcement of Israel’s illegal annexation of parts of the West Bank Oxfam’s Country Director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel Shane Stevenson said:

“Today millions of Palestinians worldwide have been betrayed by the international community. This serious—and likely irreversible— plan to acquire occupied territory by force is a violation of the most basic principles of international law.

Whether annexation takes place today or tomorrow, incrementally or in swathes, it will throw Palestinian families into indefinite limbo. It will see Palestinians in areas under threat face an increase in discriminatory legal regimes, raids on their homes, separated families, limited access to basic services, more checkpoints, walls and fences, further limiting Palestinians’ already restricted freedom of movement and ultimately fall further into poverty. Shame on those world leaders who did so little to give Palestinians any hope of a life of freedom, prosperity and peace. It is nothing less than a reversal of decades and billions of dollars of development and humanitarian work.

Palestinian communities are at risk of becoming isolated enclaves. The annexation of the fertile land of the Jordan Valley in particular, the food basket of the West Bank, would render a functioning Palestinian State impossible; depriving it of the land and natural resources necessary to sustain itself. Oxfam strongly condemns any annexation of West Bank territory and urges the international community to reject any further steps in this plan. Its
repercussions must be made crystal clear if Israel moves forward with this harmful, illegal act.”

Notes to Editors:

Supporting photography and quotes from impacted Palestinians are available upon request
Oxfam has been working in the region since the 1950s and established a country office in the 1980s. We work in the most vulnerable communities in Gaza, East Jerusalem, and Area C with more than 60 Palestinian and Israeli partner organizations to respond to humanitarian crises, to help communities to earn a living and access resources like food, water and education, and to build a strong civil society.
Spokespeople are available upon request.
Contact: Adeline Guerra in Jerusalem | [email protected] | +972 (0)54 6395 002 | Skype: aguerra.oxfam