Medical Aid for Palestinians

UK charity (1045315) working for the health and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees; a company limited by guarantee (03038352)

Medical Aid for Palestinians
Type	Registered charity and private company limited by guarantee (charity 1045315; Companies House 03038352, incorporated 27 March 1995)
Founded	After the September 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre (MAP's own account); registered as a charity 29 March 1995
Headquarters	50 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8RT
Website	map.org.uk

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is a UK charity and company limited by guarantee. It describes its mission as working "for the health and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees", and says that it has offices in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, Lebanon and London. It is a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1045315, and a company limited by guarantee, number 03038352, incorporated on 27 March 1995 and registered as a charity on 29 March 1995.

History

MAP's history page says that the organisation was established after the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut (16–18 September 1982). It states that Dr Swee Chai Ang, an orthopaedic surgeon from London who was working in a hospital in the camp at the time, "joined with fellow medical professionals and humanitarians to establish MAP, in order to send doctors and nurses to work in the Palestinian refugee camps and provide frontline care" on her return to London. The 2024 trustees' report records that the company was incorporated on 27 March 1995 and registered as a charity on 29 March 1995, and that its articles of association were most recently amended in 2016. Companies House records a change of registered office from 33a Islington Park Street, London N1 1QB to 50 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8RT on 11 December 2024.

Activities

The Charity Commission describes MAP's activities as: "MAP works for the health and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees." MAP's website says that it delivers locally led health and medical care, provides emergency medical aid, and "speak[s] out against injustices that prevent Palestinians from fully enjoying their rights to health and dignity". It lists programme areas including medical care and emergency response, health and hygiene, food and nutrition, mental health support, disability inclusion, and women's and children's health, in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, Gaza and Lebanon. Its frequently asked questions page describes it as "a non-political, non-religious and non-sectarian humanitarian organisation". The 2024 trustees' report said that MAP reached "over one million people with urgent aid and supplies" in that year, including 986,000 people in Gaza, 43,597 in the West Bank and 46,045 in Lebanon.

People

MAP's website names The Baroness Morris of Bolton as president, and lists as honorary patrons Dr Swee Chai Ang, a founding trustee, and Helena Kennedy KC, a former president. The 2024 trustees' report also lists Sir Terence English as a patron. The same website, accessed in November 2026, names Steve Cutts as chief executive; the 2024 trustees' report describes him as interim chief executive until August 2025, and records Melanie Ward as chief executive until 5 July 2024.

On 17 September 2025 MAP announced that Cutts had been appointed permanent chief executive from 1 October 2025, having served as interim chief executive.

The 2024 trustees' report, signed on 23 September 2025, names Professor Nick Maynard as chair from 7 July 2025 (having been appointed a trustee on 28 March 2025), Shireen Jayyusi as vice chair and Hilary Wild as treasurer. It records Richard Makepeace as chair from 19 September 2024 to 7 July 2025, and Sarah Eldon as chair until 18 September 2024. MAP's website, accessed in November 2026, lists the following trustees. Companies House records that Sarah Eldon ceased to be a director on 17 August 2026 and that Graham Watt ceased to be a director on 12 October 2026; they are omitted from the current list below.

Trustees listed on MAP's website (November 2026), excluding directors who later resigned at Companies House

Name	Role (as given by MAP)
Professor Nick Maynard	Chair (from 7 July 2025)
Shireen Jayyusi	Vice chair
Hilary Wild	Treasurer
Muna Abbas	Trustee (from 28 March 2025)
Ade Bamigboye	Trustee
Jacob Burns	Trustee
Mike Egan	Trustee
Dina Hashem	Trustee (from 28 March 2025)
Richard Makepeace	Trustee (chair, 19 September 2024 – 7 July 2025)
Dr Ramzi Nasir	Trustee
Mary O'Shea	Trustee
Muna Wehbe	Trustee (from 28 March 2025)
Dr Philippa Whitford	Trustee (from 28 March 2025)

Leadership and public controversy

Melanie Ward was MAP's chief executive from January 2023 until a leave of absence in May 2024. On 5 July 2024 MAP announced that she had "stepped down with immediate effect following her election to UK Parliament".

Years before that appointment, Ward appeared as a speaker at a Union of Jewish Students of the UK and Ireland (UJS) "Bridges not Boycotts" conference in Leeds on 29 October 2017. The UJS listing for the event named her as "Melanie Ward, political activist", on a programme that also included Luke Akehurst, then described as "Director of We Believe In Israel". A UJS write-up of the conference said that the final panel was chaired by Izzy Lenga and featured Ward, Sana Knaneh, Luke Akehurst (there described as representing BICOM) and John Lyndon.

In 2024, Ward's Labour candidacy became the subject of a public dispute with some of the charity's workers and supporters. Imran Mulla, writing in Middle East Eye on 12 June 2024, reported that on 5 June a group of healthcare workers, medical volunteers, supporters and donors had written to MAP's board expressing concern at Ward's candidacy for the Labour Party in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, that the letter had received over 2,250 signatures including from the surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a former MAP trustee, and that those associated with the charity had threatened to refer the organisation to the Charity Commission. According to MEE, the controversy among volunteers and staff concerned Ward's association with Labour under Keir Starmer, including his earlier support for Israel's military campaign and his opposition to a permanent ceasefire, and the letter expressed concern about "MAP being left without an acting CEO at a time of a collapse of healthcare in Gaza". The letter's authors, MEE reported, demanded that Ward resign immediately as chief executive and that Sarah Eldon, then chair of the board of trustees, also resign. Ward told MEE that if she were elected she would work to bring about change for the Palestinian people. MEE also reported that MAP said that if Ward were elected she would not continue as CEO, and that the board had appointed two interim co-chief executives.

In a message to supporters on 18 June 2024, MAP's board said that it followed guidance from the Charity Commission and the Electoral Commission, as well as employment law, when an election was called; that, as with other charities, it placed employees on a leave of absence if they ran for political office; that since becoming a candidate the CEO had had "no involvement in operational decision-making at the charity"; that if elected she would not be able to continue in the role; and that the board had appointed two interim co-chief executives. The board also said that MAP did not support any political party or endorse candidates during an election.

Finances

The Charity Commission records, for the year ended 31 December 2024, total income of £56,552,000 and total expenditure of £35,204,000, with 136 employees, 13 trustees and 101 volunteers. MAP's trustees' report and accounts for the same year, signed by Nick Maynard as chair and Hilary Wild as treasurer on 23 September 2025, give the following figures:

Statement of financial activities, year ended 31 December 2024 (and 2023 comparatives), £000

	2024	2023
Donations and legacies	43,776	30,342
Charitable activities	9,878	3,796
Other trading activities	2,112	518
Investment activities	786	49
Total income	56,552	34,705
Raising funds	10,700	2,246
Charitable activities	24,504	11,926
Total expenditure	35,204	14,172
Net movement in funds	21,348	20,533
Total funds carried forward	46,083	24,735

The financial review states that of the £24.5 million spent on charitable activities, £19 million was spent in Gaza (2023: £8 million), "mostly on emergency response programmes", and that free reserves at 31 December 2024 were £44.5 million. Cash at bank and in hand was £45,153,000. The report said that the number of full-time equivalent staff rose from 78 in 2023 to 133 in 2024.

Electoral Commission register (visits)

The Electoral Commission's register records 15 donations of type "Visit" in which Medical Aid for Palestinians is named as the donor, all to members of Parliament, with visit dates between 16 September 2017 and 29 September 2023 (start and end dates as recorded by the Commission). Most entries describe a "fact finding visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding and Medical Aid for Palestinians". Three entries name Philippa Whitford as the recipient and describe clinical or project work on Palestinian women's access to breast-cancer diagnosis and treatment, or a "multidisciplinary exchange between U.K. and Palestinian clinicians"; Whitford was later appointed a MAP trustee, on 28 March 2025.

Visits recorded with Medical Aid for Palestinians as donor (Electoral Commission register; visit start and end dates)

Dates	Recipient (as recorded)	Amount	EC reference
25–29 September 2023	Kate Osamor MP	£1,695	V0572505
25–29 September 2023	Stephen Morgan	£1,695	V0572359
25–29 September 2023	Fleur Anderson	£1,695	V0572325
12–16 February 2023	Ms Helen Hayes	£1,538	V0566300
20–25 November 2022	Munira Wilson	£1,631.29	V0565166
20–27 November 2022	Layla Moran	£1,631.29	V0565158
27–31 May 2019	Ms Yasmin Qureshi MP	£1,680	V0408178
27–31 May 2019	Naz Shah MP	£1,680	V0406680
27–31 May 2019	Ms Rushanara Ali MP	£1,680	V0406009
13–23 April 2019	The Rt Hon Philippa Whitford	£2,123.08	V0405874
17–20 September 2018	Catherine West MP	£1,725	V0398663
17–21 September 2018	Brendan O'Hara	£1,570	V0398652
16–20 September 2018	Mr Richard Burden MP	£1,660	V0398591
15–21 September 2018	The Rt Hon Philippa Whitford	£1,767.08	V0400188
16–28 September 2017	The Rt Hon Philippa Whitford	£2,561	V0363923

See also

• Palestine Solidarity Campaign
• Campaign Against Arms Trade
• Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding
• Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East