Gaza scrambles for supplies as border forced open

Rami Almeghari writing from Rafah, occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 25 January 2008

Palestinians cross back from Egypt into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip through the bombed metal fence, not seen, that used to separate the two sides of the border town, 24 January 2008. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

Three kids, their mother and their aunt hurried towards the Salah al-Din gate in southern Gaza on Wednesday.

The mother, in her early thirties, explained in a rush, “We are heading to al-Arish [the Egypt border town] to follow my mom and brother who entered today after the borders were reopened.”

The family was not alone; thousands of other Palestinians thronged nearby, on their way to al-Arish, following the blasting through of the Israeli-built steel walls by Palestinian resistance fighters earlier that day. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured from Gaza into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, breathing a collective sigh of relief following a half-year of Israeli closure of all Gaza border crossings.

Those returning to Gaza carried everything from food to livestock. Other Gazans were carrying on their shoulders boxes of another precious commodity in besieged Gaza — cigarettes — the price of which has at least doubled over the past several months.

“We are bringing cigarettes because its cheaper in Egypt,” said one such individual.

The Rafah crossing terminal — the main point of entry into Gaza from Egypt — has been permanently closed since June 2007. On 19 September 2007 Israel declared Gaza an “enemy entity” and began imposing an additional series of collective punishment measures against the population, including sharp reductions of imports, ostensibly in reaction to the firing of homemade rockets from Gaza. However, Israeli public figures have repeatedly stated that the intent of the siege is to put pressure on the civilian population and erode popular support of the elected Hamas government which took control of the Strip this summer.

In a narrow muddy corridor near the fenced-off border, engineer and father of two Ramadan Said al-Na’ouq was heading towards the hole in the border wall in an attempt to get to Cairo to renew his Egyptian residency papers.

“I have been waiting for Israeli permission to travel to Cairo for the past three months; not only me, but 5,000 others are also waiting for the same,” said al-Na’ouq. “What can I say, it’s a golden opportunity for me to have my residence renewed. Otherwise, I will likely lose it in ten days. I only need a couple of days.”

However, it seemed Ramadan wouldn’t be able to fulfill his mission, as the Egyptian authorities closed all routes leading to Cairo, stating that they are only allowing “starving” Palestinians to acquire their needs from al-Arish and have blocked Palestinians from traveling further into Egypt.

With the borders sealed for the past several months, at least 1,500 Palestinians had been waiting on the Egyptian side unable to come home to Gaza, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. As the walls came down, many were able to cross.

Gaza’s crisis reached a breaking point after Israel declared late last week a total closure of all of Gaza’s crossings, including that of fuel, medicine and humanitarian assistance.

Because of the fuel cuts, Gaza has recently suffered an almost total blackout as the the Strip’s sole power plant was forced to shut down on Sunday.

Automobile traffic had been brought to a near standstill after petrol stations have run out of gasoline.

According to Mahmoud al-Khuzendar, deputy-chief of Gaza’s petrol stations society, the limited supplies Israel allowed in were “not enough to meet the essential [needs] of … the Palestinian people, because the supply of diesel is going to UNRWA [the UN agency for Palestinian refugees]. It’s not going for cars, for schools … for transport or all other aspects of life.”

Nineteen-year-old Mohammad Abu Kmail, just coming back from al-Arish, carried fuel, currently as precious as gold in Gaza following Israel’s cutting off of vital imports. “I was asked by my father, who works as a taxi driver in Gaza City, to bring some fuel so that he can earn a living,” Abu Kmail explained. “We are glad that the border is open, so we can at least bring things that are unavailable in Gaza, like fuel, which my father needs to feed us.”

In an interview with Reuters news agency, John Ging, head of UNRWA in Gaza, stated “‘Gaza cannot survive for very long at all without supplies and we are teetering here for the last seven months on the brink of a catastrophe … Israel is the occupying power. It has an international legal obligation to the civilian population here in Gaza as long as it is the occupying power.’”

On Wednesday, the UN launched an emergency appeal calling for $462 million to alleviate poverty in Gaza and the West Bank.

According to the UN, the poverty rate in the occupied West Bank and Gaza as a whole stands at 57 percent, the figure rising to 79 percent when Gaza is considered alone.

Since June 2007, 90 percent of Gaza’s local industries have been forced to shut down, leaving 70,000 laborers jobless, according to the Palestinian economy ministry’s figures.

Mahmoud Abu Marrasa is an unemployed father of five living in the Shati (Beach) refugee camp in western Gaza City. Abu Marrasa depends entirely on UNRWA’s rationed food assistance.

“Once this assistance is cut,” Abu Marrasa said, “my family and I will definitely be destroyed. I might commit a crime at any time in order to ensure there’s bread for my children. Today I am 100 percent [aid dependent].”

Gaza’s fate left to the whim of an Israeli court

Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 15 January 2008

Gaza’s sole power plant.

It’s almost midnight. I rushed to my laptop when I saw the glow of the lamp after almost 12 hours darkness following one of the electricity cuts that hundreds of thousands of Gazans like myself have been subjected to over the past week or so.

As a journalist in Gaza, I was keen to file to my editors a story on the electricity cuts. I did the job, I talked with the people, I collected the material but when I went to my office and sat down in front of my PC, there was no electricity.

I have done my best over the past three days to have my report done in due time. I rented a benzene power generator but as soon as I plugged in my PC, the screen went black.

I came home, switched on the generator once again, and my children happily insisted on seeing their favorite TV program. However, another failure occurred, this time with the satellite receiver.

I tried to appear cheerful in front of my children, the room illuminated by a kerosene lamp. I collected my children, my nephews and niece, who live in the same building, and in lieu of cartoons, I began singing some traditional Palestinian songs and others.

The children were happy, thank God, simply because I knew how to sing. But with so many other situations in Gaza, the solution is not so simple.

At Gaza City’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, there is the infant care ward. They have incubation equipment but urgent care is crippled when there’s severe power failure.

The hospital does possess power generators, but they are for emergency situations and not suitable for day-to-day operation, says Naser al-Sa’di, the director of the infant care ward.

Three-week-old baby Sabrin Doush lies in an incubator in al-Shifa Hospital.

Dr. al-Sa’di took us on a tour of his ward, explaining how difficult the situation is for such babies under his care.

“The life of this three-week-old baby, Sabrin Doush, is threatened. If the power cuts completely, this baby is likely to die. We cannot deal manually with every baby. Therefore, more deaths are likely to happen, unless we have a continuous current.”

In another corner of al-Shifa there are 200 renal failure patients, whose lives are also threatened by the power cuts.

The department does have dialysis machines but such equipment cannot work properly under these conditions.

Dr. Mohammad Shabat, director of the department, is concerned for the lives of his patients. “They need dialysis treatent three to four times a week; electricity is very important here. The dialysis machines make errors during the power outages. Any patient who does not receive the needed dialysis within 24 to 48 hours will likely die.”

And why is the electricity cut? Gaza used to belong to the technical age. But in October an Israeli court decided to uphold the government’s decision to turn off the lights in Gaza as part of the state’s siege of collective punishment against the beleaguered Strip.

The Gaza power plant used to receive EU-funded fuel from Israel. The plant provided 45 percent of Gaza’s daily electricity needs while Israel provided for the remaining amount. Gaza’s sole power plant, all six of its transformers were destroyed by Israeli bombardment in 2006. Then this past September, ostensibly in an attempt to deter the firing of homemade rockets from Gaza into Israel, the state declared the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity,” and the following month it imposed severe cuts of fuel supplies to the coastal Strip, causing additional hardships for the already struggling population.

“The Gaza power plant needs 450,000 cubic meters of fuel to generate 80 megawatts daily. Such a quantity has been decreased to 250,000. The problem can only be resolved by the Israeli government,” says Derar al-Sisi, deputy-director of the Gaza power plant.

Al-Sisi adds, “We have appealed to all concerned bodies, including the European Union, the Palestinian Authority and even to the Israelis, through Europeans, but we have not heard an answer so far.”

In the meantime, we Gazans are trying our best to live normally as our fate is toyed with in a court in Jerusalem.

 A living martyr
Rami Almeghari writing from Shati’ refugee camp, occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 8 January 2008

The al-Khatib family’s last family portrait with Awni. (Rami Almeghari)

“He insisted that we all take a photo; it was the first in the last 12 years since we got married, as if he was feeling his death was approaching,” says Ghada al-Khatib, widow of Awni al-Khatib at their home in al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City.

Awni al-Khatib died a few days of the brain damage he suffered since 1990 when he was shot in the head by an Israeli-fired, rubber-coated steel bullet.

Awni is one of thousands of Palestinians who sustained injuries from such bullets during the first intifada that broke out in 1987.

“Awni’s state of mind has been unstable since we got married as he has always hoped for death rather than staying alive,” Ghada explains.

The young widow, in her twenties, speaks of her husband’s traits, saying was kind and tolerant, to the extent he favored his family over himself.

However, he always prayed to die sooner rather later, she recalls.

Ghada explains that Awni fainted frequently — in the street, at home and anywhere else.

“We have lost a tender and a kind-hearted husband and father, and I don’t think anything in this life can compensate us such a great loss. He had been recently insisting that we sell our house for the sake of paying back some debts. Awni was a very good father; he has always been aware, despite his fatal injury.”

Ghada concludes her talk by saying, “Abu Jehad [Awni] has simply been a living martyr.”

Awni left behind six children, including a nine-month-old daughter, who all live in a small, ill-equipped three-room home off one of the alleys of al-Shati’ refugee camp.

Abdelrahin al-Khatib says that his brother Awni was shot and wounded in the head in the Shati’ camp when he was 16 years old in 1990.

Later on, he was treated at the Israeli hospital of Tal Hashomir for a couple of months. He was moved back to Gaza when his condition stabilized, the rubber-coated steel bullet still lodged in his head.

Following the injury he suffered seizures that disrupted his daily life, and was of an unstable mood most of the time, says Mohammad.

“God has given him mercy,” believes Mohammad.

During the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising against the Israeli occupation, the Israeli army employed several means of suppressing the popular resistance, including firing rubber-coated steel bullets, disabling the bodies of thousands of stone throwers.

According to the Palestinian Wounded Society, 70,000 Palestinians were wounded between 1987 and 1993, 40 percent of them with permanent disabilities. Many suffered brain damage or had their limbs amputated.

The death of Awni al-Khatib is not the first and surely not the last of this type of injury, as there are thousands more “living martyrs.”

Hajj pilgrims stranded in Egypt

Rami Almeghari writing from Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip, The Electronic Intifada, 1 January 2008

Palestinians attend a rally organized by Hamas urging Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing and allow around 2,000 Palestinians pilgrims to return to Gaza, 29 December 2007. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

“We are in a prison. Our situation is so miserable in the arena the Egyptian authorities have placed us in. Yesterday a 45-year-old woman pilgrim died in front of us,” says Nayef al-Khaldi. The 55-year-old al-Khaldi is stuck at an arena turned into a shelter at the Egyptian border town at al-Arish along with more than 1,100 other Palestinians, including high-ranking Hamas members, following the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The pilgrims refused Egypt’s demands that they return to Gaza through an Israeli-controlled border crossing, fearing that they would be vulnerable to arrest and interrogation. Israel and Egypt claim that Palestinians could be smuggling cash to the desperate strip. Around 2,000 returning pilgrims are stranded at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Nuweiba after traveling from Saudi Arabia via ferry.

“It’s hell. The Egyptian authorities should have taken us back to the Rafah crossing terminal instead of placing us in this sports stadium. Our situation is unbearable, as no one seems to care,” al-Khaldi explains in a phone interview.

Almost one week ago, al-Khaldi completed the pilgrimage along with his wife and sister-in-law, with whom he is waiting, suffering the cold winter days and nights.

Cairo at first allowed the entry of the pilgrims through the closed Rafah terminal but now demands these worshipers to enter through the Israeli-controlled crossing. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stated on Sunday that his country wants no embarrassment of the concerned parties.

Palestinian political analyst in Gaza, Talal Aukal, views the Egyptian move as unjustified.

“Cairo’s justification with respect to the emerging standoff is inadequate as any excuses Egypt may produce should not lead to a humanitarian crisis for such helpless believers,” he said.

Aukal believes that such a crisis will take some time as the Egyptian authorities are under pressure from other parties. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who does not have actual control over the coastal region, was reportedly heading for Egypt in the next couple of days to discuss a solution to this emerging crisis. Abbas’s government in the West Bank had earlier proposed a plan to control Gaza’s border crossings, including the Rafah crossing terminal.

The situation of the stranded pilgrims is a reminder of last summer’s impasse when about 6,000 Palestinian travelers were stranded at al-Arish town after Israel closed the crossing to Gaza for three months. The crisis resulted in the deaths of some of the travelers, mostly medical patients who had already received treatment at hospitals in nearby Arab cities, including Cairo.

As the Palestinians face yet another man-made humanitarian crisis, there are mounting fears for the health and safety of the pilgrims.

Thousands of Palestinians staged protests at the Palestinian side of the Gaza-Egypt borderline in Rafah, demanding the Egyptian authorities to allow the return of their family members through the Rafah crossing terminal.

But for al-Khaldi in al-Arish, it’s ultimately not a question of conditions of Egypt but of returning to Gaza. “Whatever services the Egyptians provide us will never relive us. What relieves us is our return back to our homes straight away.”

Gazans say this Eid is the worst ever

Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 20 December 2007

Palestinians visit the graves of relatives in Gaza City on the first day of Eid al-Adha, 19 December 2007. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

A 500-meter-long street in the heart of Gaza City is empty of cars and vehicles, but full of men, women and children. Omar al-Mokhtar Street is considered the largest commercial area in Gaza where people from all over the coastal region have always come to shop, especially during the holiday season.

In recent days, Gaza, like other Islamic communities around the world, prepared to celebrate Eid al-Adha, a major holiday marking the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. Normally a time of joy, this year’s Eid is different from past years because Gaza suffers from the tight Israeli closures on all travel and commercial crossings.

People across this large street spoke to EI, expressing how they view the occasion under the current conditions, mainly the economic siege Israel has imposed since mid-June.

Abu Muhammad al-Khudary, owner of a used clothing store, was sitting idle with a young boy who helps around the shop.

“This year’s Eid is unprecedented, people just come, ask, examine clothes and when it comes to price, they leave things on the table and walk away,” says Abu Muhammad.

Abu Muhammad tells us that in past years, he used to stay open extra hours on the eve of the Eid doing good business, but now he closes the shop much earlier because of the lack of customers.

“What has affected our business these days is the ongoing siege, in addition to people’s inability to buy clothes, whose prices are higher than ever.”

Rajab Mansour, another clothing vendor, stood in front of his stand with arms folded on Monday at midday.

“I have been standing here since 8:00 am, yet I have only sold four shirts, each for only 20 shekels (four dollars).”

Abu Ehab Nassar, owner of a women’s clothing shop in the Shija’ya local market, reputed to be the cheapest shop around, says that people now only buy the basic things and in smaller quantities than ever.

“I have been here over the past 11 years, yet I have never experienced such a recession. It’s because of the siege which has impacted people’s purchasing power and prevented entry of goods. Nowadays, we close the shop by sunset, but in the past we used to stay working until midnight.”

Om Hatem, a housewife from Gaza City, was picking out some shoes for her four children at the Shija’ya market when EI asked her about shopping for the Eid. “In this situation, I can only buy one pair of shoes for each child, yet I used to buy more than one,” she said. “The cuts in our husbands’ incomes over the past year have forced us to reduce our expenditures, and we can no longer guarantee a regular flow of salaries.”

Traditionally on Eid al-Adha Muslims slaughter a sheep, a commemoration of the prophet Abraham’s sacrifice. The meat is often distributed to the needy. But over the past six months of the Israeli closure, many goods including livestock have not been allowed in. As a result of economic hardships and an inadequate supply of livestock, many Gazans are unable to meet what they see as one of their basic religious obligations.

A Gaza taxi driver, who chose not to give his name, said he wouldn’t be fulfilling the tradition this year. “Over the past 20 years, I have always slaughtered a sheep on the Eid, but this year I am not going to take part in the tradition. I cannot guarantee the near future and I have to save money under such crippling economic conditions.”

Media reports suggest that hundreds of livestock have been allowed into the coastal region from Israel via otherwise closed commercial crossings. However, such a small number cannot meet the high demand of Gaza’s 1.4 million population.

Israel claims its closure is intended to prevent Palestinian resistance factions from firing homemade rockets onto nearby Israeli towns. While Israelis are rarely injured by these rockets, Palestinians continue to be maimed and killed on a daily basis by Israeli attacks from land and air.

On the ground it’s the people who are suffering most from the Israeli closure. This human-imposed poverty has left many Gazans saying that this Eid al-Adha is the worst ever.

 “No fuel, no gasoline, no benzene”
Rami Almeghari writing from Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip , Live from Palestine, 7 December 2007

A young Palestinian sits at an empty gas station in Gaza City, 30 November 2007. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

With the majority of gas stations closed in Gaza due to the escalating fuel crisis, a group of local Gaza taxi drivers shared the fuel in their cars’ tanks, for the sake of going back home, rather than earning a living under already dire economic conditions.

Majed Abu Sam’an, a driver of a Hyundai taxi minibus, was parked along with other drivers in mid-day Tuesday, 4 December 2007, siphoning gasoline from his car’s tank into that of another.

“We are helping him so he can go back home, as he has been stuck here in Gaza City since the early hours of morning. We went to all the gas stations but they were closed, no fuel to buy,” says Abu Sama’an, amongst idle drivers at a taxi stop, near Gaza’s Shifa Hospital.

Next to the hospital lies one of the largest gas stations in the city, al-Khuzendar station.

On the roof of the station is a newly installed, well-dressed scarecrow, slightly different from his cousin who can be seen in farm fields to keep birds away.

This scarecrow is not meant to frighten passersby, but apparently to attract people’s attention to the fuel crisis. It was accompanied by many posters affixed to fuel machines reading, “No gasoline, no benzene, no gas.”

The well-dressed roped scare crew is labeled, “the responsible.”

Ma’moun al-Khuzendar, the station owner and a member of the gas station syndicate in the Gaza Strip, explained, “This is a message of protest to all those responsible for our current fuel crisis. Those who are responsible should be held accountable, as we are being forced to close down our stations and stay idle.”

Al-Khuzendar’s station is not a unique case. The majority of Gaza’s stations have been shut down as well.

The current crisis began in October when Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered large cuts of fuel supplies to the coastal region in what he said was an attempt to prevent Palestinian resistance factions from firing homemade shells onto nearby Israeli towns. The fuel cuts shortly followed the Israeli cabinet declaring Gaza an “enemy entity” on 19 September 2007.

Al-Khuzendar said, “Israel used to supply the Gaza Strip with almost one-third of its daily fuel needs, estimated at 160,000 liters. But on Sunday, the Israeli authorities further reduced the amount to 90,000.”

The reduced amounts have prompted the gas stations to shut down to protest to the Israeli measure, said al-Khuzendar.

“Ninety-thousand liters would never meet the needs of life here; we don’t have other alternative sources of energy, we do not have coal or wood. We are dependent on gasoline for all aspects of daily life,” al-Khuzendar added.

He explained that the syndicate of gas traders made all possible contacts in order to smoothly resolve the crisis, yet there was no response to their appeals so they decided to refuse the reduced amounts.

The shortage of fuel in Gaza has also caused other sectors to protest, as scores of medical workers marched in the streets today for concern over the crisis’ possible impact on essential health care.

Gaza’s hospitals have been reportedly scaled back health services due to the crisis.

In response to the standoff, Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups have filed an injunction against the measures with the Israeli high court, arguing that the fuel cuts harm Gaza’s civilian population.

The Israeli high court ruled last week that Israel’s October decision to reduce fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip should remain and the ruling found that the policy does not pose harm to the civilian population.

The fuel cuts are but one of a series of punitive measures imposed on Gaza after the “enemy entity” declaration. Israel has maintained its closure of the Gaza Strip and increased military strikes ostensibly in reaction to the launching of homemade rockets from the Hamas-ruled strip onto nearby Israeli towns.

Several human rights groups have described Israeli polity one of “collective punishment,” while United Nations Secretary-General, Ban ki-Moon has urged Israel to reconsider such actions.

 

“A matter of revenge”: Israel denying medical treatment to Gaza

Rami Almeghari writing from the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine, Live from Palestine, 22 November 2007

21-day-old Ahmad Abu Nada with his mother in the intensive care unit of the Gaza Children’s Hospital. (Rami Almeghari)

“We had been waiting for an urgent referral to an outside hospital for the past six days, until he died today,” said Dr. Ismail Yassin Monday, in response to the death of one more patient at the Gaza Children’s Hospital.

Tamer al-Yazji, a 12-year-old chicken pox patient, died on Monday on his hospital bed after his referral to an Israeli hospital had been delayed.

Dr. Yassin explained that Tamer’s condition had gotten worse over the past few weeks, showing symptoms of blood problems in his brain, so the ill-equipped hospital requested his urgent referral for an MRI scan and follow-up, which meant accessing medical care facilities in Israel or Egypt.

Working in less than ideal conditions with fuel supplies cut and medicine not entering the strip, Gaza Children’s Hospital is currently hospitalizing a number of patients, including many infants and 10 cases of cardiac disease patients.

Director of the hospital’s infant intensive care unit, Dr. Shirin Abed, said that her unit provides care to a number of infants who are in bad need of medication.

Ahmad Abu Nada, a 21-day-old infant, Dr. Abed said, has been suffering from poor suckling since was born and that his condition is getting much worse.

“This baby’s condition has been deteriorating and unless he is referred for [outside] medical care, his brain could be damaged in the course of few days or few weeks, so we ask for help. We filed a request to the concerned authorities for his referral, yet we have not received any response,” she stated.

According to the health care workers at the hospital, usually the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza determines to where a patient will be referred: either to the Israeli Hadasah hospital or to the Palestinian-run al-Maqased hospital in East Jerusalem.

Now that the Hamas government has been in complete control of the Gaza Strip since June, the processing of such medical care transfer requests is taking longer than ever.

Earlier this month, a breast cancer patient died as her entry to Israel for treatment was delayed.

According to hospital officials, Gaza hospitals in general lack basic equipment such as MRI scanners or dialysis machines; therefore, many cases are being referred to outside Gaza every month.

In addition to the delay of access of Gaza patients to outside hospitals, mainly Israeli ones, the internal Israeli intelligence agency, the Shabak (Shin Bet) is reportedly pressuring applicants to give information in exchange for permission.

“Upon arrival at the Erez crossing in northern Gaza, the Shabak officers start interrogating patients, demanding them to give the Shabak information about friends and neighbors. When a patient refuses to give such information, the Shabak sends him back to Gaza,” explained Miri Weingarten of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR), based in Tel Aviv.

Weingarten said that PHR had filed a petition to the Israeli high court requesting three demands: allowing treatment for 11 patients enlisted in the petition, allowing all those in need for referral outside Gaza to travel and stopping the Israeli Shabak’s interrogation of Gaza patients who cross the Erez checkpoint.

“Among the eleven patients we requested for their entry, was Na’el al-Kordi, 21, who died early this week after having been denied access, while four others got the permission, with only two of them managing to enter the Erez checkpoint,” Weingarten added.

Neither the Israeli government, nor the Israeli high court, has yet responded to PHR’s petition or to any other appeals by various local and international bodies to allow smooth access of Gaza patients to treatment outside Gaza.

According to PHR, Israel delays the access of 40 patients every month, thus causing death or deterioration of health condition in many cases.

In September, Israel declared Gaza a “hostile entity,” stepping up attacks on the coastal strip and cutting large quantities of fuel supplies to the 1.4-million-strong population which is dependant on Israel for many basic needs, from water to medication.

Israel cites security reasons for all its actions against the Gaza Strip, namely preventing Palestinian resistance factions from firing homemade rockets onto nearby Israeli towns.

However, in the words of Weingarten, “It is not a matter of security, it’s rather a matter of revenge.”

Mother dies after being denied access to health care

Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 12 November 2007

The Abdelal family in their Gaza home. (Iyad Albaba)

Ayda is yet another victim of Israel’s devastating closure of Gaza.

While her husband, 37-year-old Zakariya Abdelal from the Gaza City neighborhood of al-Tuffah, was receiving condolences from friends and neighbors, their youngest son, 10-month-old baby Mustafah, lay calmly in the corner.

Thirty-one-year-old mother of seven Ayda died after losing her fight with breast cancer, which necessitated chemotherapy treatment currently unavailable in Gaza. Ayda had almost recovered from her illness after the first round of chemotherapy in a Cairo hospital some months ago.

“She used to watch on us at night, give us a hug when we go to school and kiss us, but now she can longer do this. She is in heaven, she is in paradise, no woman can replace her,” her 12-year-old son Yehya said.

Breast cancer claims the lives of hundreds of thousands of women around the globe each year. However, access to treatment that might have prevented Ayda’s death was denied by Israel for political reasons.

More than a dozen people have died as a result of being denied access to medical care, and many more remain vulnerable, especially those in need of specialized treatment outside of the Gaza Strip. Since Israel’s siege on Gaza following Hamas taking control of the strip in mid-June, medial supplies have dwindled and broken medical equipment is not being fixed or replaced as imports have virtually ceased.

“In August she was supposed to take one more dose of chemicals, as her health condition was improving, which gave us assurance. After repeated appeals to concerned bodies, including the [Palestinian] parliament, we could not secure the chemicals [because of Israeli closure],” Zakariya explained.

Zakariya, holding Mustafah at the condolences ceremony, said that no one responded to his appeals until November, so he managed to have her transferred her to a hospital inside Israel, independent of any organization.

“She was allowed to go into Israel after ten days of coordination and contacts, yet her fate was racing her to the hospital, where doctors told us her body couldn’t absorb the chemicals as the cancer had spread all over,” Zakariya added.

Zakariya wonders, “What does a sick person have to do with politics and what do politics have to do with sick people?”

Ayda’s 10-year-old daughter cried continuously in the crowded receiving room, which included people from the recently formed International Campaign to Break the Siege on Gaza. None of the warm feelings and words extended to this newly grieved girl could calm her down.

Chairman of the International Campaign and Gaza parliamentarian Jamal al-Khodary has launched an appeal to humanitarian organizations to immediately intervene to lift the Israeli siege on Gaza and help save the lives of hundreds people in need of treatment abroad or medication inside.

There are now about 1,000 patients in Gaza lacking treatment, among them 350 who must undergo surgeries abroad, according to the campaign. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza has recently appealed for the ensuring of access for said patients to go abroad.

According to the Palestinian Petroleum Authority officials, the fuel supplies have been reduced to almost 70 percent. “We used to receive about 600,000 to 700,000 liters of fuel supplies everyday, but we now receive 160,000 liters, which we distribute to prioritized sectors such as hospitals, water and sanitation plants,” says Ahmad Ali, the deputy chief of Palestinian Petroleum Authority in Gaza.

Saudi Arabia recently announced it would send fifty machines for the treatment of kidney failure. Until such equipment arrives, how many more children will unnecessarily lose their parent?

Gaza’s children deserve life

Rami Almeghari writing from Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 22 October 2007

Palestinians ride a ferris wheel at an amusement park at the Shuhada junction in Gaza City. Shuhada junction was an Israeli military outpost prior to their unilateral “withdrawal” from Gaza in 2005. Shuhada junction was also the site where 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura was shot and killed by the Israeli army in September 2000. (Iyad Albaba)

Places of entertainment in Gaza are few and far between compared with other parts of the world. While the atmosphere in Gaza is becoming more depressed and the economy is crumbling, Gaza’s population was nevertheless determined to celebrate the major Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Sitting in al-Jundi al-Majhoul public garden in central Gaza City are two young children, Mai Sewairej and her brother Sewar. Both are dressed in black and perched on the remains of the wrecked statue of the unkown soldier after which the park is named, destroyed months ago during clashes between the Hamas and Fatah parties.

Mai and Sewar came here to enjoy the Eid holiday in a public place in Gaza. Many other children ran around playing or sitting with their families soaking up the warm Gaza sun.

Besides the gardens, there is another major public entertainment place for Gazans, the Gaza Zoo that was created in 1996.

The zoo, which is the largest in Gaza, welcomes dozens of children and parents during Eid, many more than throughout the rest of the year.

Tamer al-Qerem, a doctor from the Gaza refugee camp of al-Shati’, sat watching the zoo’s two lions as his two young children ran around playing.

“I came here for the sake of my children so they can enjoy some time away from their [miserable] living conditions with the continuous Israeli attacks as well as the factional infighting between Fatah and Hamas,” said al-Qerem.

Al-Qerem explained he does not usually come to the zoo for one main reason, “the lack of good mood or joyfulness amidst Gaza’s dire circumstances because of Israeli actions as well as the Hamas-Fatah infighting that has replaced love with hatred.”

Another man in the gardens, Ahmad Abu Helal, a merchant from Khan Younis, said, “Despite the siege and the ongoing economic deterioration, I brought my children today to the playground, so that they can enjoy some [play] time.”

“You know, my goods have been stuck at commercial crossings that have been closed by Israel; nevertheless, I have decided to come to this place for we have no other choice,” Ahmad told EI.

Rewan, Ahmad’s six-year-old daughter, said she was happy that her dad brought her and her three brothers to the playground where they could run around and have fun.

Sa’ed Khail, a 32-year-old father, sat in the garden while his kids enjoyed themselves near him in the playground.

“Since things have gotten worse in the shadow of continued Israeli attacks and the Hamas-Fatah power struggle, we have been unable to go outdoors for such entertainment. This time I only brought my children to try to help them get relief from the depression caused by our worsening condition.”

Sa’ed, who works for the Palestinian Authority, called for an end to Fatah-Hamas differences and resumption of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, for the sake of the youngest Palestinian generation.

Entertainment in Gaza has suffered over the past several years, with cinemas and theaters closed and cultural centers only operating during a few occasions throughout the year. Cultural events have been occurring less often since the infighting in Gaza began, and with the deteriorating economic situation as well as continued Israeli attacks, survival is the main concern.

The increasing internal violence between Hamas and Fatah as well as the economic embargo on the Hamas-led government have drastically affected all areas of Gaza life — social, economic and political.

As Mai and Sewar got up to leave the gardens they said, “We want to enjoy our childhood, we want this conflict to come to an end.”

Planting seeds of independence

Rami Almeghari writing from Rafah, Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 15 October 2007

Forty-five-year-old widow Sara Zo’rob holds chickens she received from the Save Gaza gardening project at the training hall in the Rural Women Development Society, Kerbet al-Adas village, southern Gaza Strip, October 2007. (Iyad Albaba)

“We have just initiated our small project with an intent to help these simple rural women sustain amidst their families’ harsh economic conditions,” says Yassmin Moor, a young Palestinian-American woman who manages a domestic gardening project in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

The project, which has been a part of the US-based Save Gaza program, is intended to empower poor women in the rural and remote areas of the Gaza Strip.

In the furthest eastern location of Rafah city, an area called Kherbet al-Adas, a local public service facility for rural development has been designated for the training of 20 Palestinian women representing 20 different families.

Chickens and small plants are some of the items provided by Save Gaza for the participants with the hope that the women can create their own domestic gardens and become independent of “Israeli-controlled products and goods.”

“Now … hopefully with these gardens the women can have some of their own vegetables, but also can trade with their neighbors, so we are also building community relations and mobilizing them to move towards sovereignty and sustainability and not have to rely on Israel for anything,” says Yassmin.

Participants have found the project beneficial as most come from poor families or live alone as widows or divorcees.

Sara Zo’rob, a 45-year-old widow and mother of three children, told EI that this new enterprise, however new to them, will help her ensure some basic needs as she has always relied on aid from the local authorities or the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

“This [project] is really great and thanks go to the development society and Save Gaza, as they are offering us a unique chance that would help us be independent,” says Sara.

The project ensures that local Palestinian women, who have uniquely suffered the hardships of the four-decades-long Israeli occupation in Gaza, are being active by taking part in the training.

Ahlam al-Shaer, chairwoman of the Rural Women Development Society, believes that the Save Gaza project is a space for the local women to learn new things, especially amidst shortage of training and assistance programs since Israel put in place an economic embargo on the coastal region after the Hamas government was elected in January 2006.

Currently, 81 percent of Gazans are living below the poverty line and more than half of the population rely on foreign aid for such basic needs as flour, rice, and sugar.

Most in Gaza come from farming backgrounds and the desire to care for the land is something they still carry with them from when their families tended land in historic Palestine. After the dispossessed of historic Palestine with the creation of the state of Israel, the Gaza labor force became subservient to the Israeli economy. Save Gaza aims to bring Palestinians back to their roots and allow these women to rise above Israel’s economic occupation.

Handicapped Gaza woman beats the odds

Rami Almeghari writing from Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 29 September 2007

Saeda Alkhaldi showing her work in the Gaza Strip Society for the Disabled. (Iyad Albaba)

At the age of 24, Saeda Alkhaldi, a woman from Gaza City who suffers from polio, restarted her education starting from elementary school until she had her bachelor of arts six years later. Her will made her strong enough to make her way into academic life, despite her disability.

Now Saeda is a board and staff member at the Gaza Strip Society for the Disabled, where she is in charge of the women’s activities department. Though she comes from a conservative Gaza family, she now enjoys freedom of movement thanks to her confidence.

“I became disabled in the age of three as I had polio which prevented me from having a normal life. At that time, there were very few handicapped rehabilitation centers in Gaza, so I used to learn side by side with normal children” says Saeda.

Saeda’s 67-year-old mother recalls, “When she was 14 years old, she stopped going to school for she found it difficult to cope with the situation, as we could not afford her taxi fare to and from school. Besides, she herself had some kind of [psychological] complications.”

Saeda says, “When I joined the society, there was the inauguration of illiteracy classes, so I became convinced of joining the school. After that, I could in one year earn a high school degree. I currently work for the society, but I don’t receive a salary; everything seems locked down now and even the other staff just work voluntarily, for there is no money.”

Saeda uses her artistic talent to create some crafts and drawings from which she used to earn a living, maintain her independence and sometimes even help her family. A variety of her works are housed at the rehabilitation center and Saeda has participated in exhibitions both inside and outside of the society.

Samir Abu Jayyab, chairman of the center, says Saeda is one of the most active people on his staff and that she is a real example of how people with disabilities can succeed, despite discrimination in the conservative Gaza Strip.

“One of the most notable obstacles faced by the handicapped here is the people’s [perceptions of them]. Families of the handicapped rarely help their children to grow up [to be independent adults]. This goes against our programs and plans of rehabilitation, as such families deal with their disabled kin from only one angle — that they are helpless and are in need of constant assistance,” Samir explains.

Exacerbating the situation, says Samir, is the difficulty of navigating Gaza’s non-handicapped-friendly streets.

There is another major hinderance that emerged in the past couple of years, specifically when the international community placed the Hamas-led government under economic boycott, the center’s chairman says.

“Actually many bodies now, particularly the donor countries, do not support the programming side [of the rehabilitation center], as they always claim that handicapped need, for example, wheelchairs, canes, walkers, etc. … This has definitely impacted our ability to deal with the disabled in a creative way,” Samir says.

Over the past few years, the number of handicapped Palestinians in Gaza has steadily increased, with many injured during factional infighting or as a result of Israel’s unending siege on the 1.4 million-strong coastal Strip.

According to the Gaza Strip Society for the Disabled, two to three percent of the total Gaza Strip’s population are physically handicapped. Of these, about 30 percent are children, while the rate of those generally impacted since the beginning of the second intifada has reached about 30 percent.

May Saeda serve as a beam of hope for the growing number of disabled in Gaza. “When I used to go to a regular school,” Saeda says, “I heard a lot of words of pity from bystanders. One day I returned home extremely disappointed and insisted on not going to school any more.” Hopefully her story will mean that no one else’s education is delayed or is thought of as anything less than an essential member of society.

A bankrupt Ramadan in Gaza

Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 18 September 2007

A Palestinian man sells dates in preparation for Islam’s holy month of Ramadan in Gaza City, September 2007. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

The situation is desperate here in Gaza, the coastal strip that is abundant with nothing except human beings.

Just a couple of hours before Iftaar, the time of day after sunset when Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims around the globe shop to prepare. Gaza’s crowded Khan Younis is no exception.

However, though they may be thronged with people, Gaza’s markets are lacking any holiday festivity or commerce. In the middle of Khan Younis’ Jalal Street, shopkeeper Ahmad al-Agha idly sat in silence, playing with his mobile phone.

“There is no business at all; people are just buying food and drink only. As you see, few people come to purchase anything in my shop, while the majority of them seem to be biding their time before the Iftaar time is due.”

People in the street echoed Ahmad’s words, dismayed over their inability to cope with this year’s Ramadan as the economic siege on Gaza has resulted in high prices and very low incomes.

“The situation is so miserable. There are many stands, but the prices of goods are so high we cannot buy all we need during Ramadan when there are a lot of things that need to be bought,” Sami Abu Taha, a Khan Younis resident, explained.

Jehad Ashour, also from Khan Younis, said, “When my family needs four different things, I can only afford one thing because of my financial situation.”

“I do blame President Mahmoud Abbas for his inaction towards improving our living conditions and by letting many others play with our destiny. As local residents, we have nothing to do with politics.”

The same reaction was voiced by Qassem al-Astal, from the same city, who expressed his dissatisfaction with the status quo in Gaza. He too points a finger at Abbas.

“I blame the Ramallah government for the failing conditions; President Abbas could do nothing to lift the Israeli siege. You know, I am neither a Hamas nor a Fatah supporter.”

In the central Gaza Strip town of al-Nusierat, the scene was no different from that in Khan Younis. Al-Nuseirat is the largest central Gaza Strip area, where trade is relatively large.

Naser Ezzat, owner of a roasted chicken restaurant, was sitting with a few others in front of his shop, while his stove was still full of chickens but his restaurant empty of customers.

Nasser sighed, “Let me tell you that the situation is shit. You see, so far, no single chicken has been sold. I do blame the Abu Mazen’s government [President Abbas's government in Ramallah], whose inaction has led us to such a situation.”

“The only days I sell my goods are the first two days of the payment of [governmental] salaries, when [money is] flowing into the people’s pockets,” Nasser added.

Right in the middle of al-Nusierat’s market, there is a big sweets shop. Under normal circumstances it would do brisk business during Ramadan, as during the special month people like to enjoy sweets after the Iftaar.

Emad Mattar, the owner of the shop, welcomed his journalist visitors despite his gloomy face. Despite its big plates of tempting sweets, the shop was devoid of customers.

“Believe me, people just browse my shop without buying; they just while away their time before Iftaar. In past Ramadans, we used to sell well, but this year, I can hardly sell 10 kilograms a day. It is a really catastrophic situation.”

By the time I left the sweets shop, I was increasingly dismayed over the situation my people are going through; however, in search of a more cheerful story, I entered a grocery in the central Gaza Strip town of Maghazi.

“High prices, shortage of many goods and a lack of customers are features of my shop nowadays. If you compare this Ramadan with other Ramadans, you won’t find any relation. It’s really miserable.”

Dismay, disappointment and despair are defining this year’s Ramadan thanks to the measures of collective punishment Israel has imposed on Gaza over the past three months. Under the guise of security, Israel has completely closed commercial and travel crossings following the Hamas-dominated government’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in June.

Gaza, which Israel only views through the lens of security rather than that of human dignity, is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with 1.4 million living in 360 square kilometers. With no natural resources and all industries paralyzed by Israel’s closures, which has also prevented laborers from accessing jobs in Israel, the population has become increasingly dependant on UN and other foreign agencies’ handouts.

The international Quartet, comprised of the US, UN, EU and Russia, has imposed a crippling economic embargo on the Hamas-dominated government since the group took power after the January 2006 parliamentary elections, effectively punishing the West Bank and Gaza’s civilian population for their democratic choice.