The Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC) receives the  

Welfare Association Achievement Award – 2007

During a ceremony organized by the Welfare Association on November 16, 2007 in Amman, Jordan, Ms. Rana Nashashibi, Director of the Palestinian Counseling Center, received the Welfare Association Achievement Award – 2007 (The Late Abdul Aziz Shakhshir Award). The Achievement Award aims at recognizing Palestinian NGOs that made distinctive achievements in their areas of operation and services.

Mr. Riad Kamal, member of the Welfare Association Board of Trustees, delivered a speech on behalf of the Head of the Achievement Award Jury Mr. Nabil Qaddoumi, welcoming the audience and extending words of gratitude to the members of the Welfare Association Board of Trustees for their assistance and support to make the dream come true. He also thanked Mr. Akram Shakhshir for donating the financial value of the Award reaching $50,000, and for the members of the Achievement Award Jury: Ms. Samia al-Botmeh, Mr. Walid Nammour, and Dr. Samir Baidoon. He also thanked all members of the former award jury and the general director of the Welfare Association and its team for all their efforts during the past years.

Mr. Kamal then reviewed the nature of work of the Palestinian Counseling Center stating, "The organization we are about to honor today for its achievements and successes had to go through a meticulous process of sorting and selection as there was dozens of Palestinian organizations who were nominated for this award, but only one organization deserved the award and title because it represents a national model and example of the highest standards of excellence in its programs, services, human resources, external relations and financial administration. Moreover, this organization was able to pinpoint and tacked the major challenges facing it and found the right and appropriate solutions for them. This organization was able to prove its distinction in terms of its plans and also in implementing the set plans. The organization we will be honoring today could not accept promises only but worked very hard to implement those promises in the most creative and flexible manner. We present this award to all team members of the Palestinian Counseling Center which we have pride in for its important services to the homeland. They are really an asset and wealth to Palestine."

On her part, Ms. Rana Nashashibi, the Director of the Palestinian Counseling Center, delivered a speech in which she thanked the Welfare Association and its members for their efforts in support of the development process in the Palestinian society and in supporting steadfastness in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Occupied Palestine in 1948, the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and of course their support to the Palestinian Counseling Center.

She talked about the conditions facing the Palestinian people and cause.  She stated, "Our Palestinian people and cause are passing through a phase of hard and sensitive changes with implications that don’t look very promising in terms of offering a better life for the Palestinian individual and society. The current difficult conditions continue to escalate at a high rate. The various parts of the homeland are disconnected and isolated. The occupation controls the time and place factors to the point that it has become easier to travel to a European city than to move sometimes between Jerusalem, Jenin or Nablus or between Tulkarem and Ramallah. The occupation hegemony and intransigence escalated through the total siege and separation between Gaza Strip and the West Bank and through isolating Gaza Strip from the rest of the world. She added, "The frustration and pressure exercised on the Palestinian individual makes him/her very susceptible in his/her immunity system and psychological balance. The Israeli occupation leads a policy similar to behaviorist psychotherapist who tries to create specific psychological patterns and behaviors wiping out the previous knowledge and norms and replacing them with the new desired conduct. The wall, checkpoints and the bypass roads are like the maze which is built by the occupation so as to make our conduct and behavior programmed and predictable along with the expansion of Palestinian burdens which have been linked to the presence of the occupation for so long. There is also the unclear Palestinian political horizon because of the clouds of internal disagreements and splits. The current events at the Palestinian internal front make matters even more dangerous. In addition to the Israeli occupation oppression and the siege, the state of instability and insecurity we are living because of the chaos exercised by some parties is causing a state of imbalance."     

Mr. Riad Kamal, Mr. Akram Shakhshir, Ms. Rana Nashashibi, and Ms. Samia al-Botmeh

Mr. Abdul Muhsen Al-Qattan, Co-Chair of the Welfare Association Board of Trustees announced during the ceremony the allocation of $100 million to establish the Palestinian Memorial Museum to preserve the Palestinian intellectual and cultural heritage.

It should be noted that the Palestinian Counseling Center is a community based counseling and consultancy organization that advocates for positive mental health and well being for the Palestinians in Palestine through the provision of quality care and capacity building. The Palestinian Counseling Center was established in Jerusalem in 1983 by a group of psychologists, sociologists and educational experts to work on developing and improving mental health concepts and services in Palestine.

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