Maya, 46, Palestinian Married, Mother of three Homemaker Lives in Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon “ When I stood on the stage with everyone in my drama therapy group looking at me and listening attentively, I felt something I never felt before in my life. Not being an important person, but a visible person. […]
READ MOREJameela, 50, Palestinian Married, Mother of six Homemaker Lives in Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon “ Until this day, I think about how I carried this tiny child in my arms and ran in the corridors of the Shatila Camp, blindly searching for safety, when I was just 17. We would run from one […]
READ MORESamia, 52, Palestinian Married, Mother of three Lives in Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon “Go out, go to [social] centers and ask if they have programmes or activities that can help you improve in any way. Working on yourself is something essential, and you have to take the first step. Do not be ashamed […]
READ MOREAmouna, 46, Palestinian Married, Unemployed Lives in Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon “Although life can be extremely difficult, I want to say to Arab women to stay strong and keep their faith. We can survive any circumstances we live through, but we do not always have to do it on our own. Intisar Foundation […]
READ MORELiza, 41, Lebanese Married, Mother of one Lives in Burj Hammoud, Lebanon ” The explosion was so powerful that it threw my son and me against the wall. We assumed it was a rocket that struck our house, and I was screaming my heart out, losing control and not comprehending what had occurred. My hand, back, […]
READ MOREHana, 65, Lebanese Married, Mother of two Employed Lives in Ashrafiye, Lebanon ” After the 2020 Beirut blast, I didn’t fall apart but my house did. I had invested a lot of effort and money to make that house feel like home. However, I don’t care about the loses. I have been able to cope with […]
READ MORELamia, 43, Palestinian-Syrian Married, Mother of four Lives Shatila Refugee Camp, Beirut, Lebanon ” Being a refugee has left me feeling defeated in a fight that I have never had a chance to win. ” My name is Lamia. I am a 43 years old Palestinian-Syrian. I studied until the seventh grade. […]
READ MOREUm Ameer, 28, Syrian Mother of one son, Unemployed Living in Beirut, Lebanon ” I felt like I was not a wife, but a maid. My family did not support me or stand by me because they thought it was normal to be treated like this. I felt alone in all my struggles. […]
READ MOREAmal, 39, Palestinian Married, Mother of four Lives in Shatila Camp, Beirut, Lebanon “I used to believe that a woman’s place was in the home, to mop and clean, because my family raised me with the mentality that women could not do this or that. Everything was forbidden. My husband had surgery a […]
READ MOREAfamia, in her 40s, Syrian Married Arabic and the Quran teacher Lives in Tripoli, Lebanon “While I was growing up, due to the backwards mentality in Aleppo (Syria), many people believed that studying was not a good option for girls, hence I was removed from school after 9th grade. After the Intisar […]
READ MOREOfficially registered as a humanitarian organisation with the Charity Commission for England and Wales in 2019, Intisar Foundation is the first charitable organisation in the Middle East dedicated to providing psychological support programmes of drama therapy to Arab women affected by the brutality of war and violence.
Intisar Foundation
Number 22, Mount Ephraim,
Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN48AS
UK Registration Charity Number: 1182384
For more than a month, we are witnessing how international humanitarian law fails to protect Palestinian mothers and children.
Day after day, we have been lamenting and denouncing new acts of violence that brought injustice and the bemoaning loss of innocent lives in Gaza.
And yet, Palestinians in Gaza still face new perils with every next hour.
In writing this letter to the world as a demand for action to end this suffering, I join millions of others who have condemned the continued Israeli aggression and call for an immediate ceasefire.
We at Intisar Foundation also invite you to join us in working on preventing this trauma to linger and gnaw through another generation of Palestinians, and Arabs in general.
The mission of Intisar Foundation is to bring Peace to the Arab world through the psychological recovery of Arab women traumatised by war and violence, which can result in the women stopping the continued cycle of violence inflicted on or by them.
In this way, our work helps Arab homes traumatised by violence become more Peaceful again.
The ripple effect of this outcome can be that Peace flowcharts from one Arab home to another, from one Arab community to another, reaching and affecting our whole region.
In its very essence, therefore, Intisar Foundation’s work has always been about breaking the chains of trans-generational trauma.
While I salute people around the world confronting this injustice – from the world’s best universities, influencers, civil society activists and organisations, to ordinary people taking to streets and social media to raise their voices for Peace – I am now certain that we will not resolve the Palestinian crisis only with ceasefires, humanitarian aid, or rebuilding their homes and neighbourhoods.
We need to recover and protect the souls of current and future generations of Palestinians, and all Arabs, from this trauma.
To that end, Intisar Foundation is committed to turning this terrible man-made tragedy into a healing woman-led victory for Palestine, for humanity!
Intisar AlSabah