In memory of Khaled Daoudi: We can always make a difference

Last Friday, Khaled Daoudi, our Country Director in Palestine, passed away. The following needs to be clarified: for natural reasons; he died of a heart attack. The funeral was held the next day, but his colleagues from We Effect could not attend. They live on the West Bank, and Israeli authorities do not allow travel to Jerusalem, where Khaled lived with his wife and children. 

I am hearing and reading more frequent commentary that we, the news consumers, are numbed by the reporting from Palestine, both about the war in Gaza and the escalating violence in the West Bank. Violent death has become so normalized that only the most extreme events make the headlines. If many people are killed at once. If a hospital is bombed. 

Or if it has incomprehensible humanitarian consequences, as with the recent decision by the Israeli government to halt operations by the UN agency UNRWA. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard describes the decision as a human catastrophe. 

Until last Friday, seven people worked at our Palestine office. It is a team of incredibly professional, dedicated individuals who continue their work despite the violence, despite the insecurity; people who seek and find solutions. They remind us daily that our work makes a difference, even under truly difficult circumstances. 

We Effect works to support the right to food. We assist farmers on the West Bank with business development, sometimes for export, but now mainly for local markets. To put food on peoples tables. To keep the economy going. 

I visited Israel and Palestine two years ago. Outside a village in Nablus, I met Sheria, Bushra, and Wafaa, who were members of the Ard Wzar’ cooperative. These women couldn’t find jobs, so they teamed up with a few others, rented a plot of land next to a parking lot, borrowed money for a greenhouse, and started growing cucumbers. 

The business did well; the market grew, but security was an issue. The village was surrounded by three illegal Israeli settlements, and the women spoke of threats and harassment. The greenhouse was guarded around the clock, as it had been subjected to sabotage. 

Khaled often reminded us that there isn’t just one story about Palestine. There is, however, only one beginning: Peace.