A photograph of some members of the General Union of Charitable Societies (UCS) in Jerusalem, 1986. Shown right to left, standing: Alice Sa‘d, Aline Dabdoub, Fatima Jibril, Salma al-Husseini, Nadia Tarazi, and Samiha Khalil; seated: Yohannes Abu al-Su‘ud, Amina al-Kathimi, Amin al-Khatib, Lydia al-A‘raj, and Musa Khurshid.
The union, established in Jerusalem in 1958, was the first independent Palestinian nonprofit nongovernmental union for civil and charitable societies. Today, it includes around 150 member organizations and continues to work on empowering Palestinian civil society organizations throughout the country. It is based in Beit Hanina, inside the Separation Wall and within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, has offices in Wadi al-Joz, and its constituent organizations operate across Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, the Jordan Valley, Ramallah, and al-Bira.1
In October 2025, Israel forces raided the UCS offices in Wadi al-Joz and arrested both its current and former presidents, Majdi Al-Zughayer and Youssef Qari.2