This initiative is spearheaded by Ola Alanqar who is a Canadian of Palestinian heritage and has family and friends living in Gaza. Here in her own words is how this initiative came about:

“Thank you to everyone who graciously checked in on me and on my family in Gaza during the past few days.

There are no words that can describe our feelings and what we’re going through. Losing the Abu Al-Ouf family, whom we grew up with, broke me. The loss of whole families, who comprise many generations, has shattered my heart. I’m a parent, living away from my own parents and I just pray that Allah SWT shower his blessings and mercy upon the living and those who are left to mourn their loved ones. We pray that Allah accepts them as Shuhadaa (martyrs), and that they are in a better place now.

I was overwhelmed by the response for my “Dome of the Rock” painting, which was produced in a moment of agony and carried so much emotion for what was going on in Sheikh Jarrah and my beloved #palestine. Not only was I blessed with requests from many of you to buy it, but I was also approached by two of my dear artist friends Naseeba Khader and Farheen Ali to contribute and do something together for the people of Gaza .

Hence the three of us have decided to collaborate where each one of us will contribute a painting from the Al-Aqsa compound (Haram As-shareef) and provide high quality 8x10 Giclee prints of these works for purchase. 100% of the profits will go to locally trusted sources in Gaza city to those most affected by the recent events.

Thank you for joining us in our efforts to do what little we can to help with the rebuilding of Gaza.”

-Ola

Each print is $50 CAD each.

Each print is A4 ( 8 1/4" x 11 3/4") in size and is a high quality Giclee print.

The three original pieces were done using professional watercolour on high quality watercolour paper.

Donation Details

As mentioned, all the funds collected from this initiative will be going to people on the ground through Ola’s personal connections such as her cousins and members in the community in Gaza who are helping out those in greatest need. These are trusted sources and channels that Ola uses often to send money to Gaza.

Why not a registered charity?

- Misuse of money on the Palestinian end is fairly common even though the charities have good intentions and the money collected is sent there properly. According to Ola’s connections who work with charities and in law offices, only 1/3 of the money is properly distributed in the way it is intended to.

- Even though many Palestinians have lost everything they have in terms of their possessions and their families, one thing that they still have is their pride. Most feel too shy and embarrassed to accept money from a charitable organization and are more likely to accept help from those who know them and are living and working in the community.

For these reasons we have decided to go via the route of collecting and sending the funds to people in the community who are working on the ground, directly with those affected.