GAZA: ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES (IDF) RAID KILLS EIGHT, INCLUDING A MOTHER AND HER FOUR CHILDREN: Yet this time the Italian Ambassador did not request a suspension of the UN Security Council meeting in protest.
Rome, April 29th, 2008
Yesterday Israeli tank shells killed eight civilians, including a mother, her four children ages seven, six and four, and a fifteen month old baby. They were having breakfast when they died under the rubble of their home in Beit Hanoun, in the northernmost part of the Gaza Strip.
Last Wednesday, April 23rd, a meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to the Middle-East was suspended at the request of Italian Ambassador Marcello Spatafora in protest of a statement by Libyan Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi, who compared “the actual conditions in Gaza to the situation of Nazi’s concentration camps” during the Second World War. I have never said, and never will say, that Israeli policies towards the Palestinian people are the same as those adopted by Nazis against Jews, communists, homosexuals and gypsies. The uniqueness of the Holocaust belongs to our European history, the same is true for the persecutions against Jews, and we have said “never again.” Therefore, I don’t blame our Ambassador for raising objections to comparisons of Nazi and Israeli policies, as made by the Libyan Representative when talking about Gaza.
Yet, I strongly disagree with our Ambassador for not taking any initiative to stop the illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, or to bring the collective punishment of the exhausted civilian population in Gaza to an end. Day after day, we hear of civilians dying, of bombardment, of house demolitions, of land confiscations: why doesn’t our Ambassador feel indignation on behalf of those women, children and elderly who in Gaza have no bread left to eat? And also for those in the Strip who are sick and are dying since they can’t access medical treatment? Or, finally, for those students in Gaza who, having obtained scholarships from renowned Universities abroad, can’t leave the Strip because Gaza is closed and its population imprisoned as in an open-air jail? On April 24th, The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugee aid (UNRWA) was forced to stop food deliveries due to the cut-off of fuel by the Israeli Authorities.
Is this not enough of an outrage for our Ambassador? Isn’t it sufficiently outrageous that Israel has refused to grant exit permits to the 1,562 Palestinian patients who need to leave Gaza for urgent treatments? Or that 133 Palestinians have already died in the Strip because of these refusals? I call on our Ambassador to go to Gaza and to see the little bodies of premature babies who may die for the lack of electricity or fuel due to the Israeli siege, remembering though, that even if he wanted to go he might not be able to: the Israeli Authorities, as the occupier, decide who can enter or exit. Even Nobel Peace Prize winner and former US President Jimmy Carter was recently denied entry.
It’s really time for Italian diplomats, EU governments and the entire International Community stop using indignation as a hypocritical tool for a ‘double standard’ policy. They must start listening and supporting the frequent denunciations of Israel’s human rights violations: denunciations coming from Palestinian, Israeli and International organizations, as well as the UN. Even the World Bank, just yesterday, highlighted the dramatic deterioration of Palestinian economy in the Occupied Territories, where, due to the “restrictions imposed by Israel to the freedom of movement and of access in the West Bank,” 35% of the population lives in conditions of absolute poverty. In 2007 the economic growth fell to zero, with continued stagnation expected in 2008. The unemployment rate is currently 23% in West Bank and 33% in Gaza Strip in spite of the 7.7 billion dollars in aid promised by donor countries.
After 40 years of occupation and 60 years of Nakbah, Palestinians have the right not only to aid but above all a future, a future of justice and peace and the creation of their own State: autonomous, sovereign, independent, based on ‘67 borders, with Jerusalem as shared capital and in peaceful co-existence and in security with the Israeli State. They request not just indignation but freedom, independence, legality and real steps from the Israeli Government and the International Community. These could begin simply by ending the military occupation, implementing UN resolutions (that have languished for years), and by ensuring the respect of universal rights. All this will bring freedom and security to Palestinians and also to Israelis: the children of Sderot will no longer have to live in fear of the illegal barrages of rockets raining on their town.
Further information: Luisa Morgantini +39 348 39 21 465 Rome office: +39 06 69 95 02 17 www.luisamorgantini.net
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel Gaza Update 11.3.08
Access-related deaths of patients referred to medical care outside Gaza are hard to estimate statistically. Since several factors are involved, it is very difficult to define how far the delay or denial of a permit has influenced the final outcome in each case. However, there is no doubt that every delay lessens the patient’s chances of recovery, and denies her or him the right to the best available medical care. The fact that, in Gaza, the delay has nothing to do with medical constraints of any kind, but with external reasons, makes the violation all the more serious and raises questions regarding the definition of the term “security†in the Israeli GSS lexicon. For the individual patient, the difference between receiving a permit and receiving a rejection, or no answer at all, may be the difference between life and death.
An additional constraint is the fact that many patients in Gaza, knowing the current situation at the crossings, prefer to forego the hopeless process, and die at home, their stories untold and their voices unheard.
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has therefore chosen to tell the stories of the deaths of three women and one baby girl, as told by their families. The stories give a small glimpse of the Kafkaesque process, in which the suffering of sickness and the cruelty of a hostile bureaucracy combine to embitter the last days of these people’s lives.
Khadija Al-Aqed, 65 years old, suffered from heart disease, and had a pacemaker implanted in her body in the 1990’s at Beilinson hospital in Israel. In December 2007 the pacemaker stopped working and she was referred urgently to Al Urdun Hospital in Amman, Jordan for surgery. On the 21st of January the family submitted a request for an exit permit to Jordan, via Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing. The Palestinian medical referrals department relayed the request to the Israeli authorities at Erez. Despite the urgency, a response was only received on the 30th of January: Mrs. Al Aqed was denied an exit permit for “security reasonsâ€. On the 10th of February, Mrs. Al Aqed died of cardiac arrest.
Fatmeh Mahdi, 77 years old, was diagnosed with a cancer in her neck in June 2007 at Shifaa’ Hospital in Gaza. In early July she exited Gaza and underwent a series of tests at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel, after which she was told she must return for surgery and commence chemotherapy and radiotherapy in August 2007. From August she repeatedly tried to re-enter Israel for medical care without success. Despite five consecutive requests submitted to the Erez Crossing, no response was received. Mrs. Mahdi’s condition deteriorated. All that her doctors could do was administer painkillers. On the 11th of February 2008, Mrs. Mahdi died due to the spreading of the cancer throughout her body.
Bayyan Abu Hilu, one year old, was born in Al Bureij refugee camp in Gaza. Her parents had previously lost two other children due to a genetic liver disease at an early age. Two months after she was born, Bayyan was diagnosed with a similar genetic condition. In November 2007 she entered Israel with her parents for treatment in the hematology department in Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem (west), and started lifesaving care. After the first stage of treatment, the doctors asked that she return as soon as possible for continuation of care. However, when the family applied a second time for exit permits, the Palestinian medical referrals department told them that the request of the parents had been rejected by the GSS for “security reasonsâ€, and that an alternative companion for the child must be found. Since they had missed their appointment, the family applied to PHR-Israel in January to ask for help with renewal of an appointment at the Israeli hospital. The new appointment was set for 5.3.08 and Bayyan’s father applied again to the Palestinian medical referrals department to relay the request for the permit to Erez Crossing. However, before a response was received, Bayyan died in Gaza, on the 2nd of March 2008.
Fatmeh Al-Ladawi, 45 years old, was a mother of ten children. In September 2007 she was diagnosed at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, as suffering from injury to her spleen, with internal bleeding and infection, following trauma. Fatmeh was referred by the Palestinian Ministry of Health to Al Takhassusi hospital in Nablus, West Bank, for surgery.
In late September 2007 Fatmeh was permitted by the Israeli authorities at Erez Crossing to enter Nablus. However, the necessary care was not available there, and she was sent back home for re-referral. Fatmeh’s condition deteriorated while she waited for a correct referral to a medical center, which was delayed for two and half months. In late 2007 Fatmeh finally received a referral to Maqassed hospital in East Jerusalem, but she was not permitted to exit Gaza due to the closing of the Crossing on the scheduled day of her exit. When the Crossing re-opened, Fatmeh submitted a new request for a permit to go to East Jerusalem. However, this time, the GSS (Israeli secret police) refused to allow her husband to accompany her. She was asked to submit a new request, with a different companion. Only after five days was she allowed to exit Gaza to East Jerusalem with another companion. However, in Maqassed hospital she was told again that the necessary treatment was lacking, and Fatmeh was returned to Gaza after two days. Upon her return, she was led to an interrogation chamber in a basement beneath Erez Crossing, where she was interrogated by the GSS for five hours. Fatmeh was next referred to Ma’hed Nasser hospital in Cairo, but once again encountered obstacles, when the GSS refused to allow her brother-in-law to accompany her to her medical care. Her condition continued to deteriorate. In January 2008 Fatmeh was finally referred to Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv. However, this time the visit of US President George Bush to the region stopped her from leaving, since Erez Crossing was closed throughout the visit, from the 9th to the 12th of January 2008. Only on the 20th of January was she informed that a permit had been issued her, and she arrived at Erez Crossing on a wheelchair, suffering from difficulties in breathing. She was once again led to a GSS interrogation, which lasted several hours. Her interrogators asked her to prove that the purpose of her exit was medical and not other. At the end of the interrogation, and after a total delay of 10 hours, she was allowed to go to the hospital. She was admitted to the hospital in the evening, but it was too late: On the next day, 21st of January, Fatmeh died in Ichilov hospital, Tel Aviv.
Security – personal security – is a universal right, and may not be used as a slogan to justify human rights violations. Universal security for all the people living in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory can only be achieved through political means, by ending occupation and all other forms of oppression in our region.
For further details, please contact Ran Yaron ranyaron@phr.org.il Tel: +972 547577696 or Miri Weingarten, miri@phr.org.il , or +972 546 995199
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Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is a non-party-affiliated, non-profit foundation, whose goal is the advancement and defense of health-related human rights for all the residents of Israel and the occupied territories. This includes residents who are undocumented or who are not recognized by the state.
End the Siege on Gaza
Northern Demonstration
Saturday 2nd Feb 12 noon
BBC Building, Oxford Road, Manchester
Action Palestine, with the support of Stop the War and Palestine Solidarity Campaign, has called a northern demonstration in solidarity with the people of Gaza. The Israeli blockade of Gaza has made life in the world’s most densely populated region in the world even worse in recent weeks. The blockade is an obvious case of collective punishment.
Much of Gaza is once again in darkness, as Israel cut off the fuel to its only power plant. Hospital patients have reportedly died, communications are out, and movement and commerce in an already beleaguered economy have come to a near halt.
Michele Mercier, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Gaza hospitals still had medications “but it won’t last for more than two or three days.” Now, Gazans must also contend with the possibility of already scarce food supplies being cut off. Christopher Gunness of UNRWA, the UN relief agency, said the agency could be forced to suspend food distribution to 860,000 people because of the shortage of fuel and plastic bags.
The New York Times, always to be counted on to provide the right euphemisms, reported that “Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, ordered a temporary halt on all imports into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip late last week. The measure, along with stepped-up military operations in Gaza, was meant to persuade Palestinian militants there to stop firing rockets at Israel.” (Isabel Kershner, “Fuel Shortage Shuts Gaza Power Plant, Leaving City Dark,” 21 January 2008.)
Terms like “measures” and “persuasion” sound so gentle. But they cover up a brutal reality that Israeli leaders are keen to boast about: they are acting with premeditation to inflict suffering on the Palestinian civilian population, and they display an extraordinary degree of callousness for their victims.
“We are impacting the overall quality of life in Gaza and destroying the terror infrastructure,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak boasted.
As news of mounting suffering came out of Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert provided further confirmation that civilians were on Israel’s target list: “We are trying to hit only those involved in terrorism, but also signaling to the population in Gaza that it cannot be free from responsibility for the situation.” With fuel running out, he scoffed, “As far as I’m concerned, all the residents of Gaza can walk and have no fuel for their cars because they have a murderous terrorist regime that doesn’t allow people in the south of Israel to live in peace.”
The punishment of Gaza’s population is apparently succeeding beyond Israel’s wildest dreams. Unnamed Israeli “defense officials” told The Jerusalem Post on 20 January “that food supplies were running low in Gaza and would dry up by the middle of the week.” (“Gaza food will run out by midweek,” 20 Jan 2008). Meanwhile, the Israeli daily Haaretz cited “Israeli security officials” who said “that the electrical supply difficulties in the Gaza Strip were greater than Israel had previously expected when it cut off fuel to the coastal territory earlier in the day.” (“Barak: Gaza to get one-time fuel, medicine delivery,” 21 January 2008.)
Israeli leaders are usually careful to lace their statements with pro forma denials that they are deliberately trying to create a “humanitarian” crisis — though they never define what level of deliberately inflicted suffering might cross that threshold. Gaza’s residents “are hostages of a deranged regime, but there is no real humanitarian crisis there,” said housing minister Zeev Boim, apparently referring to Hamas, not his own government.
The logic seems to be that Israel can do whatever it wants, as long as officials use euphemisms to describe it. As Dov Weissglas, Olmert’s advisor, so notoriously put it when Israel began its strangulation of Gaza in early 2006, “It’s like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die.” But they do die, in large numbers.
Some top Israelis make it clear that they do not actually believe that Palestinian civilians even exist. Yuval Diskin, head of the Israel Security Agency (ISA), or Shin Bet secret police, responsible for hundreds of extrajudicial executions of Palestinians, told the cabinet on 13 January that the army and Shin Bet agents had “killed 1,000 terrorists in the Gaza Strip in the past two years.” By B’Tselem’s count Israel had killed 816 Palestinians in Gaza in the previous two years, of whom 152 were children and many others were adult civilians “who took no part in the hostilities.” Thus, B’Tselem concluded, the “head of the ISA defines every Palestinian killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip as a terrorist.” (B’Tselem, “Head of ISA defines a terrorist as any Palestinian killed by Israel,” 13 January 2008.)
From electronic intifada
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Action Palestine
End the Siege on Gaza
International Day of Action
Saturday 26th January
The Cape Town Anti-War Coalition will hold a protest at 10am in Adderley Street, Cape Town, on 26th January 2008.
This has been declared as an International Day of Action to End the Siege on Gaza.
Action Palestine is organising a coach from Manchester to go to London
for the protest outside the Parliament
Leaving from outside the Students’ union at 9am
The coach will be returning on the same day.
Tickets: £5
Tickets available from the Campaigns office in UMSU.
Join us in protesting against Israel blocking desperately ill Palestinians from accessing medical treatment and its escalating military attacks on Gaza.
Saturday 26 January, 4-6pm Parliament
We are particularly appealing to medical staff to join us in uniform to visibly express their opposition to Israel preventing Gazans from travelling for lifesaving medical treatment.
‘The human catastrophe deliberately inflicted on Gaza by western policies over the past two years is one of the great crimes of the century so far’. Jonathan Steele, Guardian 11 January.
Israel’s illegal, brutal siege of Gaza is tightening, restricting fuel and electricity, and preventing even medical supplies, food, essential construction materials and paper for UN schoolbooks from entering Gaza . With lethal military strikes being launched on Gaza , and Ehud Barak has warned that an Israeli invasion of Gaza is nearing.
Even those who desperately need medical treatment are prevented from leaving. Over 65 Palestinians have died as a direct result of Israel ’s prevention of access to medical treatment. Miri Weingarten from the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said ‘ Israel intends and wishes to punish the general population in Gaza , and they’re not hiding it — in fact, they’ve stated it clearly.’
Dr Ahmed Abu Tawahineh, deputy director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, has pointed out that since last June, only a hundred patients have been allowed out of Gaza to seek treatment – less than 10 per cent of the more than 1,000 applicants.
How long can this inhuman treatment continue unchallenged by international leaders?
Collective punishment is being inflicted upon the Palestinians for voting for a government against the wishes of Israel , the US and the EU.
Call on the British government to end its collusion with these policies, which are imprisoning Gazans and attempting to destroy their lives by limiting access to food, electricity, clean water supplies and medical treatment.
Action Palestine