Az-Zababida Municipality: Supporting Citizens and Preserving the Town’s Heritage

Prepared by: Az-Zababida Municipality

The Az-Zababida town has been severely affected by Israel’s policies aimed at dispossessing Palestinians of all their rights and displacing the Palestinian population. Since 7 October, as the aggression spilled over into the West Bank governorates, raids and attacks on the town, including the arrest of citizens, have escalated. While financial constraints have obstructed the progress of development projects, the Az-Zababida Municipality has faced increasing challenges to secure needed financial support and ensure the continuity of efficient service delivery, effective response to local community needs, and support to citizens. 

From the very outset, the Az-Zababida Municipality realised the need for coordination with nearby local government units (LGUs) to address common challenges. It established emergency committees, including representatives of LGUs, civil society organizations, and local community institutions. These committees seek to make concerted efforts and coordinate operations to provide effective and rapid response in emergencies. To this effect, the committees meet the basic needs of citizens, monitor the security situation, and share real-time information across regions. 

Amid the emergency, the municipality has managed to maintain basic service provision. It has focused on enhancing local infrastructure, developing road, electricity and water networks, and creating environment-friendly power plants in cooperation with the local community. 

The Az-Zababida Municipality has taken several actions to support and host workers, who had been employed inside the Green Line when the latest war was waged against the Gaza Strip. It provided basic necessities, including food, water and temporary shelter, to workers who were prevented from returning to Gaza. During the first months of the war, the municipality also provided support, including food parcels and reduced fees on some essential services (e.g., electricity and water supplies) to more than 400 local workers who became unemployed. 

The municipality has attached great importance to the health sector as a key pillar in this situation of emergency and uncertainty. This attention was reflected in providing needed medical supplies and devices to ensure the continuity of operations at health centres. Cooperation with local and international partners was promoted to make sure that medical aid was delivered to those in need. To strengthen social cohesion, the municipality has also played a leading role in facilitating mental health, particularly to children and their families. 

Aware of the significance of socioeconomic resilience, the municipality launched many development projects meant to provide employment opportunities to the local community, especially in gravely affected sectors, such as agriculture and commerce. Initiatives included support and financing of small and medium enterprises through concessional loans or financial grants. The municipality organized public training sessions and workshops to strengthen citizens’ capacity to cope with economic challenges. To promote economic independence in the town, the municipality launched initiatives to support local farmers by providing agricultural inputs and regulating local markets to market their projects. 

Education is another pillar of community resilience. In this context, the municipality has provided school supplies, trained teachers, and developed innovative educational programmes to overcome challenges brought by the security situation. To ensure the right to good education, the municipality sought to provide scholarships to outstanding students through partnerships with international organizations. 

The municipality has not forgotten to address the Israeli violations, which aim to erase the Palestinian cultural and religious identity. To this avail, it has taken proactive steps to protect the historical, cultural and religious legacy and reacted to all attempts of stealing the Palestinian heritage. The municipality restored old churches and mosques, preserved archaeological sites, and organised cultural and religious events to promote citizens’ cultural and religious cultural identity. 

Not only has the Az-Zababida Municipality implemented various measures on the ground, but it also launched a large-scale awareness raising campaign to expose ongoing Israeli abuses against Palestinians and national institutions. The campaign was strategically designed to utilise the municipality’s broad international network in order to highlight these violations on the international stage, advocate for Palestinian rights, and increase pressure on Israel to bring an end to its acts of aggression.