tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863731436034194972024-03-21T11:48:57.484-07:00PALESTINE HEALTH JOURNALPMRS international volunteers and friends blogging about health and human rights in Palestine...Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-75621649249562075302010-09-21T14:40:00.000-07:002010-09-24T15:47:34.469-07:00Global Peace Index 2010, a Vision of HumanityI thought it is appropriate to revisit the GPI 2010 report today, the International Day of Peace.<br />
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This is interesting, the 4th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI). The results of the GPI for 2010 suggest that "the world has become slightly less peaceful in the past year."<br />
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Check out the peace indicators used and map of results at the link below.<br />
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<a href="http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/#/2010/scor">http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/#/2010/scor</a><br />
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And here is a link to the <a href="http://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/PDF/2010/2010%20GPI%20Discussion%20Paper.pdf">GPI 2010 Discussion Paper</a>. The correlations with economic and societal indicators are interesting, and also the section on the monetary value of peace, and the cumulative effects of peace. <br />
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Do these statistics really help understand the factors associated with peace or inform our methods for the future? What is missing?<br />
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Here is my favorite part of the Key Findings section:<br />
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The economic gains from even modest reductions in violence would easily equal the losses due to the world<br />
economic crisis of 2008/9.<br />
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At a peace symposium, the most peaceful 2 countries shared wisdom and lessons... here are a few lines from that section:<br />
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A “forward focus” is one of the themes that researchers have seen emerge when looking beyond the concrete characteristics of peace and examined the less quantifiable dynamics that has driven each country’s path to peace. Peaceful countries tend to focus on building their future, rather than righting past wrongs. They also focus on getting their own house in order, rather than intervening in others’ affairs. Regionally and globally, the peaceful countries participate in international governmental organizations to harmonize approaches with their neighbors, but not to impose their ways. These peaceful countries realize they are not perfect, as they see better futures they want to build. Their peace is a process of cooperating to meet common aims, not a static state.<br />
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AminehAmineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-54770291363736200102010-09-18T11:04:00.000-07:002010-09-18T14:18:39.352-07:00The Suffering of Palestinian ChildrenYes, I hope the peace talks are real and not another "Yes But" game, for the sake of Palestinian children of Area C. Amineh<br />
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Published in the <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/margaret-atwood-suffering-of-palestinian-children-is-something-both-sides-can-agree-on-1.314309">Haaretz.com</a> on 17.09.10<br />
<b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/margaret-atwood-suffering-of-palestinian-children-is-something-both-sides-can-agree-on-1.314309"><br />
Suffering of Palestinian children is something both sides can agree</a> on</b><br />
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Even Israelis should be able to realize that they are responsible if Palestinian children in Area C are malnourished and worse.<br />
By Margaret Atwood <br />
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More than 40 years ago, a psychiatrist named Eric Berne published a best-seller called "Games People Play" that is still instructive reading for those involved in difficult negotiations or complex debates.<br />
West Bank school children <br />
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Berne defines "game" as "an ongoing series of complementary ulterior transactions progressing to a well-defined, predictable outcome. Descriptively, it is a recurring set of transactions, often repetitious, superficially plausible, with a concealed motivation; or, more colloquially, a series of moves with a snare, or 'gimmick.'"<br />
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All of Berne's "games" are basically dishonest, as they have an ulterior motive, and some are self-destructive as well as destructive to others. The word "game" suggests frivolity, but some games are grimly played and deadly serious - deadly in the literal sense. The term "war games" is no accident.<br />
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One of the games Berne describes is called "Why Don't You - Yes But." In this game, the player complains about a problem, and the dupes - who are conned into "helping" - propose solutions; but for every "Why Don't You" offered, the player comes up with a "Yes But" - a reason why the solution can't possibly work. Finally the helpers run out of ideas and are left feeling stupid and inadequate, and the player wins: His problem is smarter and bigger ... The only trouble is, he still has the problem. But maybe that's the goal he was aiming for all along: maintenance of the status quo, so that he can keep on doing whatever he was doing already.<br />
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Has Israel been playing a very long game of "Why Don't You - Yes But" when it comes to the "Palestinian problem"? Is there a mirror-image game in which Israel itself is "the problem"? Certainly the outside commentators - pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian - are ready with a "yes but" whenever someone they consider an opponent proposes anything like a logjam-breaker. The ideological positions are by now so dug in that the field of discourse resembles the western front in World War I: There are trenches everywhere, and anyone who sticks his head up is met with a barrage of well-worn verbal missiles: "mental defective," "idiot," "criminal" and the like. If some witless innocent lacking a trench wanders into the line of vision babbling of human brotherhood or something seen as equally fatuous, all those entrenched let fly.<br />
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Why anyone considers it an aid to positive resolutions to heave these overblown nouns and adjectives through the air is anyone's guess: If convincing others is the goal, this tactic fails, as the heavers sound like irrational fanatics. It does, however, deter anyone not already entrenched from taking an interest. ("Don't touch it! It's a swamp!" ) Perhaps the adjective-heaving comes from frustration, which is understandable considering the lack of positive momentum. Or perhaps it's a universal human characteristic: Having chosen and dug one's trench, one feels the need to defend it.<br />
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Meanwhile, the game of "Why Don't You - Yes But" goes on. "Return the Golan Heights to Syria." "Yes, but we need the strategic position for security." "Join the whole area politically and give Palestinians equal rights, thus making the state a true democracy." "Yes, but then Jewish Israelis would be outnumbered and unsafe, as in the Diaspora." "Invite Hamas to the peace talks, because nothing can be resolved otherwise." "Yes, but they want to destroy us." "Tear down the punitive walls." "Yes, but then we would get blown up in cafes again." "Acknowledge Israel's right to exist behind the 1967 borders." "Yes, but Israel is not a legitimate state, and anyway all the land is Palestinian by right, and anyone who would accept less is a quisling." "Stop kicking Palestinians off their land and making it impossible for them to reach what land they still have." "Yes, but this is allowed by our laws, and it's for security, and you are an enemy of Israel and also an anti-Semite." "Stop killing Israeli civilians." "Yes, but that's the only weapon we have left." And so forth. Surely the nature of the conversation has to change, on all sides - that is, if it's not really a game of "Yes But."<br />
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I proposed a different sort of game to myself: Would it be possible to choose a subject on which all those entrenched could agree, for which there is a clear solution, and to which there would be no plausible "Yes But" response? Let's give it a try.<br />
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For instance: What about the Palestinian children of Area C? (Area C, for those witless innocents who have never heard of it, is not that part of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority, nor is it Gaza, for which Israel now claims no administrative responsibility other than blockading it. Instead it is that part of Palestine entirely occupied and controlled by Israel since 1967. ) According to a 2009 report by Save The Children U.K. called "Life on the Edge," the rate of malnutrition of the children in Area C is higher even than that in Gaza, and many kids are not only developmentally stunted, but are dying from related illnesses.<br />
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Is Israel responsible for this situation? Yes, because it alone controls the Area C Palestinian population's access to food and its ability to earn a viable living. Is there a "Yes But" that could possibly justify the conditions being imposed on these children? Unless the report is lying, I can't think of one. Even the most wild-eyed extremist can hardly claim that children under the age of seven are terrorists.<br />
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There's a traditional china-shop sign: If you break it, you own it. Israel owns this problem, and Israel should fix it. Or does it really want an international campaign in which every doughnut shop in North America features a collection box, a sad-eyed child holding a dead sibling, and a stack of outrage-generating leaflets? Write your congressman: Tie aid to Israel to action on Area C child malnutrition and deaths? Give at church, save an Area C baby? Or how about: On the Day of Atonement, when considering wrongs to other human beings for which you bear some responsibility, start with the children of Area C?<br />
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As the peace talks begin again, some Israeli help on behalf of the children of Area C would be a signal that those talks are real, and not just another "Yes But" game.Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-66220652321173034522010-07-28T22:09:00.000-07:002010-08-07T19:03:11.078-07:00Where the Hell is Matt? ... Matt is in Gaza with UNRWAEngaging children in play, games and sports increases their sense of social support and have tremendous positive short & long term health benefits on young and older children. UNRWA, like many other agencies working in Gaza, recognize these evidence-based findings and develop and implement many innovative programs to promote psychosocial health among the children of Gaza and the West Bank. UNRWA also strives to show the common humanity Gaza shares with the world. Below is just an example. Amineh<br />
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26 July 2010<br />
Jerusalem<br />
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Celebrity YouTube film maker Matt Harding, whose film “Where the Hell is Matt?” secured over 30 million internet hits, has made a flying visit to Gaza as a guest of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Today, UNRWA released its own film of his visit, entitled “Where the hell is Matt? Matt is in Gaza with UNRWA”. The film shows dozens of kids in Gaza rehearsing and then dancing with Matt, imitating his trademark dance. Within the first few hours, the UNRWA film received nearly one thousand hits on YouTube. <br />
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<object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/iUbw8T4J3s0/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iUbw8T4J3s0&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iUbw8T4J3s0&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br />
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“It was was a massive surprise to see the number of YouTube hits rise exponentially in just the first few hours of its release”, said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness.<br />
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“Clearly, the idea that kids in Gaza are just like kids anywhere in the world is greatly appealing to audiences in the Middle East and beyond.<br />
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“Like the original, Where the Hell is Matt?”, this film celebrates the common humanity that the children of Gaza share with the global community”, said Gunness. “This is an important message: kids in Gaza are like kids anywhere in the world. All they want is to have fun. If allowed to be, Gaza can be a normal place where children can thrive.”<br />
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<b>Background information:</b><br />
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UNRWA's Summer Games, conducted for the fourth year with the full support and involvement of the community, is the largest recreation programme for Gaza’s children, providing a diversified set of activities including sports, swimming, arts and crafts, theatre and drama. The Summer Games commenced on 12 June and will run through 5 August, providing 1,200 summer camps for over 250,000 refugee children across the Gaza Strip.<br />
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The film “Where the hell is Matt? Matt is in Gaza with UNRWA” was shot and edited by blogger Yousef Ahmed.<br />
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To see the film, and access up-to-date photos, videos and commentary on UNRWA and the Summer Games, visit Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unrwa<br />
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For Arabic speakers, a dedicated website provides information on the Games: http://summergames.unrwa.psAmineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-68492218585797391452010-07-22T10:07:00.000-07:002010-07-22T10:11:13.838-07:00The Slow Death of Palestinian DemocracyBy Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi | JULY 21, 2010<br />
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The cancellation of municipal elections in the West Bank marks another setback for democratic institutions. That's bad for Palestinians, and it's bad for peace.<br />
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Palestinian municipal elections were supposed to be held last week. Instead, they were canceled. A statement released by the Palestinian Authority claimed the cancellation was "in order to pave the way for a successful end to the siege on Gaza and for continued efforts at unity" between Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, and the government in the West Bank.<br />
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The cancellation of this election was an unjustified, unlawful, and unacceptable act. It damages democratic rights and makes a mockery of the interests of the Palestinian people.<br />
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But this is far more than an internal Palestinian issue. The only lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians will be based on a settlement negotiated between two democracies -- this was the case in Europe, and it will be the case in the Middle East.<br />
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The Palestinian struggle for democracy has been long and painstaking. Against long odds, we succeeded in constructing a remarkable civil society in order to survive the oppression of the Israeli occupation and to fill the void left by the lack of a central government. We developed parallel nongovernmental health and educational systems, built 17 universities, and established thousands of local community organizations. We even developed grassroots, community-based rehabilitation programs for disabled citizens, which received worldwide recognition.<br />
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The Israeli government has long paid lip service to Palestinian democracy while simultaneously crushing initiatives that produced results it didn't like. In 1976, then Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres offered the illusion of local leadership by launching municipal elections, which were meant to dilute the authority of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).<br />
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To Peres's great surprise, 90 percent of Palestinians voted for pro-PLO, pro-independence electoral lists. Within two years, the Israeli government -- that self-proclaimed paragon of democracy -- deported the election's victors and dismissed the councils.<br />
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With the creation of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s, we hoped to have a true democracy. However, we were forced to endure wild swings between successful popular elections and efforts -- both self-inflicted and foreign -- to crush our fragile democratic institutions. Palestinians waited until 1996 to cast their votes in Palestine's first-ever parliamentary election for seats in the newly created Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). I still remember the smile of one woman, a septuagenarian named Fatema, when she told me, "This is the first time in my life I can vote."<br />
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But that joy did not last. We had to wait 10 years, until 2006, to hold parliamentary elections again. Although these elections were praised by the world -- former U.S. President Jimmy Carter termed them "honest, fair, and safe" -- the results were never accepted by Israel or most Western governments because they did not like the outcome: Hamas emerged with a plurality of the seats. <br />
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Even when Palestinians managed to create a national unity government, which represented 96 percent of the Palestinian electorate, we were kept under siege and embargo. This fact contributed to the protracted conflict between Fatah and Hamas, which led to the internal division between the West Bank and Gaza in 2007. It also resulted in the cancellation of the PLC elections that were supposed to take place in January.<br />
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This is the context in which one must consider the Palestinian Authority's decision to cancel the West Bank municipal elections that were scheduled for July 17 -- and the willing participation of the United States and European governments in the abrogation of the democratic process.<br />
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Most Palestinians accept the impossibility of holding presidential and parliamentary elections without first healing the division between the West Bank and Gaza. It is precisely because of this fact that all Palestinian political parties and civil society organizations, excluding Hamas, agreed on the vital importance of holding municipal elections on time. The only alternative would have been the appointment of new local councils by an executive authority, which itself is not approved by the PLC, thereby further depriving the people of the right to choose their representatives.<br />
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We saw local elections as a way of keeping the seeds of democratic principles and systems alive despite vicious internal disputes. Properly contested municipal elections would have been a means to remind each and every authority that they are accountable to the people. It was also intended to promote nonviolent means for resolving internal differences, by giving Palestinians an opportunity to express their interests through democratic means rather than the use of force.<br />
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The Hamas government prevented voter registration in Gaza, thus stopping elections from taking place there. At first, Palestinian Authority officials correctly decided to go forward with the elections in the West Bank, providing lengthy explanations for why they would not contradict reconciliation efforts. Many gave speeches lauding the role of local elections in building the state. However, it soon became clear that, though Hamas would boycott the election, Fatah would still face tough competition from unaligned, democratic parties. This was evident in all major cities, including Hebron, Ramallah, and Tulkarm.<br />
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Nevertheless, until the elections were canceled on June 10, it appeared that voting would go forward as scheduled. Voter registration took place, electoral lists were formed, observers were chosen -- and then, a few minutes before the candidate registration lists were to be closed, the government in the West Bank announced that it was postponing the election until further notice.<br />
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So, while the government in Gaza prevented local elections, the government in the West Bank canceled them. This has caused great dismay among the people, who never believed the Palestinian Authority's argument that the election was canceled for the sake of intra-Palestinian reconciliation.<br />
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And, of course, it raises a fundamental question about the meaning of "state-building." Doesn't this term mean more than new construction projects, big government buildings, and a larger security apparatus?<br />
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Isn't the lesson from numerous failed states throughout the world that what matters most is the establishment of legitimate, representative democratic institutions? Surely this is a significant part of the reason why India and Brazil succeeded while Somalia, Afghanistan, and others have failed.<br />
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Our democratic shortcomings should not, however, be used by Israel as an excuse for the continued subjugation of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. This cruel Israeli practice is designed to provide an excuse for Israel's complicity in undermining our democracy, while whitewashing the greater crimes of its occupation.<br />
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Palestinians do not want a state in name only, with a flag and an anthem. We want a sovereign nation -- not clusters of Bantustans. And we want a democratic state where we can choose our leaders and our government. We do not want them appointed by foreign powers, who claim to act in our name. A real state requires that people live in freedom and prosperity, with dignity and full rights -- and not with constant machinations from one party or another that subverts this process. Such maneuvering only squelches Palestinians' democratic rights and sets back the cause of peace.<br />
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Mustafa Barghouthi is secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He was a candidate for the Palestinian presidency in 2005. He is the president of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS).Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-1279165435652785942010-07-20T11:02:00.000-07:002010-07-20T11:04:01.438-07:00A look at whats happening on the ground in the Gaza Strip with Michael SlackmanThe following link gives a 20 minute look at what's happening on the ground in the Gaza Strip with Michael Slackman of 'The New York Times' and Mort Zuckerman.<br />
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<a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11130">http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11130</a>Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-906462634705481702010-03-09T15:40:00.000-08:002010-03-09T15:43:12.465-08:00The Silent War: Israel's Blockade of GazaThis is a new film by Medical Aid Palestine. Amineh<br /><br />February 15, 2010<br /><br />Israels blockade of Gaza has been in place for almost three years.<br /><br />Building on existing closures and restrictions, the blockade means the delay or denial of a broad range of items food, industrial, educational, medical deemed "non-essential" for a population largely unable to be self-sufficient at the end of decades of occupation. The blockade prevents access by sea, land and air, effectively closing off a population of 1.5 million Palestinians from the outside world.<br /><br />This short film examines what the blockade means for the people of Gaza, as they struggle to rebuild their lives over a year after Operation Cast Lead. <br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hDcZ57UaGUg&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hDcZ57UaGUg&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-54738265756256273932010-02-25T16:09:00.000-08:002010-03-09T16:15:32.827-08:00In The Wake Of War: Gaza One Year OnAmong many narratives of Gazans, this film depicts the narrative of a women who was pregnant when injured during the war. She gave birth during her 40 day long coma. Amineh<br /><br />Medical Aid Palestine (MAP)<br />February 15, 2010<br /><br />MAP FILMS visit the Gaza Strip and speak to its residents 1 year on from the Israeli Operation 'Cast Lead' that killed nearly 1,400 people. <br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9agQ84dOCKg&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9agQ84dOCKg&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-89992589365955225332010-02-13T14:01:00.000-08:002010-03-09T14:02:33.830-08:00Psychological trauma, nightmares stalk Gaza childrenIRIN, Feb 3, 2010<br /><br />gaza-health.jpg<br />Mona al-Samouni, 12, show a photos of her parents who she witnessed being killed in Israel's assault on The Gaza Strip in January 2009. (Suhair Karam/IRIN)<br /><br />Mona al-Samouni, 12, is depressed and has nightmares about the day - just over a year ago - when she witnessed her parents and a number of relatives being shot by Israeli soldiers in their home in Zeitoun, southeast of Gaza City.<br /><br />Like a number of other children who witnessed horrific events during last year's 23-day Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, Mona has become increasingly withdrawn and silent - common ways of coping with tragedies, doctors say.<br /><br />Statistics about Palestinians who lost their life during the military operation vary, but NGOs place the overall number of persons killed between 1,387 and 1,417. The Gaza authorities report 1,444 fatal casualties, whilst Israel provides a figure of 1,166, according to the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, also known as the Goldstone Report.<br /><br />The killing of Mona's family is one of the most notorious incidents of last year's conflict in Gaza (see BBC slideshow) and was one of 11 incidents investigated by the UN Mission "in which Israeli forces launched direct attacks against civilians with lethal outcome" and in which "the facts indicate no justifiable military objective pursued by the attack". It said Israeli forces "killed 23 members of the extended al-Samouni family" on that day.<br /><br />"There is a significant deterioration in the psychological well-being of Palestinian children who are living in the Gaza Strip, especially after the recent war," Ayesh Samour, director of the Psychiatric Hospital in Gaza, told IRIN.<br /><br />According to a study by NGO Ard al-Insan in Gaza, 73 percent of Gaza children are still suffering from psychological and behavioural disorders, including psychological trauma, nightmares, involuntary urination, high blood pressure and diabetes.<br /> Related Stories<br />refugee-girl-gaza-banner_19.jpg<br />Gaza, one year later<br /><br />Female soldiers break their silence<br /><br /><br />Samour said children in Gaza were being denied a normal childhood because of the insecurity and instability in their environment. He said a culture of violence and death had pervaded their mentalities, making them angrier and more aggressive.<br /><br />A dearth of health professionals in the Strip and a lack of access to medical equipment meant children were not getting the help they needed, Samour said.<br /><br />Basem Naim, the Hamas minister of health in Gaza, said hospitals and primary care facilities damaged during the Gaza conflict have not been rebuilt due to the blockade of the territory under which Israel bans the entry of construction materials, saying they could be used for military purposes.<br /><br />"Health professionals in Gaza have been cut off from the outside world," Naim said.<br /><br />Hussain Ashour, director of al-Shifa Hospital, the main hospital in Gaza City, said they lacked medical equipment and paediatricians.<br /><br />Project<br /><br />Save the Children Sweden and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on 25 January launched the Family Centres Project in Gaza.<br /><br />"The project will ensure that the right to survival and development of children at risk… is ensured through the establishment of 20 Family Centres in different communities of the Gaza Strip," Patricia Hoyos, director of Save the Children in Gaza, told IRIN.<br /><br />"Its main role is to serve a wide population and to provide quality child protection, educational, health and psychosocial services to all those in need of support," she said.<br /><br />© 2010 IRIN [This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.]Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-42913067896647609972009-11-03T19:37:00.000-08:002010-08-07T19:40:28.969-07:00Atlas of TortureThis is worth checking out! The Atlas of Torture website was launched in April 2009 by a group at the University of Vienna. You are invited to send your feedback to the development team if you should you find that any of the information is incorrect or incomplete. <br />
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Thank you. Amineh<br />
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An Independent Project<br />
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The <a href=" http://www.atlas-of-torture.org">Atlas of Torture</a> website is a project of the Human Dignity and Public Security team at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (BIM) in Vienna, Austria. It intends to provide an objective overview of the situation of torture and ill-treatment around the world. The website's content is provided by a team of researches, headed by Prof. Manfred Nowak, who has served in numerous functions as independent human rights expert, including his current appointments as chairperson of a police inspection commission of the Austrian Human Rights Advisory Board, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights. While the Atlas of Torture website builds on the extensive experience of the project's staff, it is an independent project. Any views expressed on the website are solely attributable to the authors in the function as researchers at the Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights.<br />
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Project Purpose & Major Components<br />
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The project's purpose is to:<br />
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* raise awareness of the legal framework governing the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment;<br />
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* compile information on states' (non-)compliance with their obligations under international law to prevent, criminalise, investigate and prosecute cases of torture and ill-treatment;<br />
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* analyse the underlying structural causes contributing to the continuing practice of torture.<br />
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Addressed to human rights professionals in governmental and non-governmental institutions, academics, journalists and the interested public alike, the website hopes to offer a useful resource tool by pooling relevant documentation and jurisprudence from United Nations bodies, regional human rights mechanisms and leading NGOs on the issue of torture and ill-treatment. In addition, summaries and legal analyses provided throughout the website are intended to render existing information more easily accessible. The combination of geographic and thematic approaches is also reflected in the major components of the Atlas of Torture website:<br />
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1. The section Country Situations will gradually be filled with short country profiles, comprising a brief overview of the political and historical context, a synopsis of the most recent official documents regarding the situation of torture and ill-treatment, and a compilation of relevant documentation and jurisprudence.<br />
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2. The section Topicsis designed to offer an introduction to the legal framework governing the prohibition and prevention of torture, as well as to give an analytical overview of related issues such as the non-refoulement principle, the right of victims to remedy and reparation, and other special issues.<br />
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3. The News section keeps track of the latest legal and political developments relating to torture and ill-treatment in international and regional human rights bodies, country specific trends, conferences and other relevant events.<br />
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4. To increase the usefulness of the Atlas of Torture project for as wide an audience as possible, the section Things You Should Know includes a glossary of legal terms, expressions and human rights institutions referred to throughout the website, and refers to further online resources.Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-60732721577115556202009-10-11T21:41:00.000-07:002009-10-16T14:17:52.525-07:00Gaza: The Forgotten Story [Part III]<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link 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mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><b>Shattered Minds and<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>the Children of Gaza [Part III]</b></p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal">By Aditya Ganapathiraju
<br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlPaydYtB6i9OUZDt1MUKWJ1GICFVU2NR0wVdMFFHLLxUmK2B7EcAHLBLgZwLtNwDHXuqrfuj1ktmapPpgk1GT7ubWkYD52pzS9POd5hLzWkS8LqFKhkzB6kc6jCRsvwAmqYmI3t8K_nG/s1600-h/Eman+girl.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlPaydYtB6i9OUZDt1MUKWJ1GICFVU2NR0wVdMFFHLLxUmK2B7EcAHLBLgZwLtNwDHXuqrfuj1ktmapPpgk1GT7ubWkYD52pzS9POd5hLzWkS8LqFKhkzB6kc6jCRsvwAmqYmI3t8K_nG/s320/Eman+girl.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391119172914680562" border="0" /></a>© 2009 Eman Mohammed</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>It’s the most terrifying place I’ve ever been in… it’s a horrifyingly sad place because of the desperation and misery of the way people live. I was unprepared for camps that are much worse than anything I saw in South Africa.– </i>Professor Edward Said 199<u>3</u><a name="_ednref1"></a> [1]</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i>They may be living but they're not alive.</i> – Journalist Philip Riz<u>k [2]</u><a name="_ednref2"></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i>Gaza is a place that needs a million psychologists.</i>— Ayed, a psychotherapist from Northern Gaza [3]</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_ednref3"></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" 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Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Over 40 years of Israeli military occupation have had a devastating effect on Gaza; airstrikes, artillery shelling, ground invasions, jet flybys and their sonic booms have all led to an epidemic of suffering among Gaza’s most vulnerable inhabitants.[4]<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Soon after the recent winter Israeli assault, a group of scholars at the University of Washington discussed different aspects of the situation in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian Territories. <span style=""> </span>Dr. Evan Kanter, UW school of medicine professor and the current president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, delivered a somber talk describing the mental health situation among Gaza’s population.[5]</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Kanter cited studies that revealed 62 % of Gaza’s inhabitants reported having a family member injured or killed, 67% saw injured or dead strangers and 83% had witnessed shootings. In a study of high school aged children from southern refugee camps in Rafah and Kahn Younis, 69% of the children showed symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), 40% showed signs of moderate or severe depression, and a whopping 95% exhibited severe anxiety. Seventy percent showed limited or no ability to cope with their trauma. All of this was before the last Israeli invasion.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, head of the Gaza Community Mental Program, and whom Dr. Kanter described as a “medical hero” working under seemingly impossible conditions, has produced “some of the best research in the world on the impact of war on civilian populations.” In a 2002 interview he said that 54% of children in Gaza had symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress, along with 30% of adults.[6]<a name="_ednref6"></a> The hardest hit were young ones who had their homes bulldozed or who lost loved ones like their mothers, he said. Again, these figures were obtained well before conditions dramatically deteriorated.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Gaza is a land of youth. About 45% of the population is 14 years old or younger and about 60% are 19 years and younger, political economist Dr. Sara Roy said.<a name="_ednref7"></a> [7] With such a young population facing constant violence, the long-term effects are incalculable.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Recent studies by international researchers and the Gaza Community Mental Health program revealed more worrying figures.[8]</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_ednref8"></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" 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Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Of a representative sample of children in Gaza, more than 95% experienced artillery shelling in their area or sonic booms of low flying jets. <span style=""> </span>Ninety-four percent recalled seeing mutilated corpses on TV while some 93% witnessed the effects of aerial bombardments on the ground.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>More than 70% of children in Gaza said they lacked <span style="">water, food and electricity during the most recent attacks, and a similar percentage said they had to flee to safety during the recent attacks.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Additionally, 98.7% of the traumatized children reported that they did not feel safe in their homes. More than 95% of the children felt that they were unable to protect themselves or their family members causing a feeling of utter powerlessness only compounded by a sense of loss over the lives they could have had, safe and boring lives that many take for granted.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">A whole generation is being lost to the horrors of large-scale military violence and a brutal occupation.<span style=""> </span>In front of many distraught members in the audience, Kanter described another study that showed that witnessing severe military violence results in more aggression and antisocial behavior among children, along with the “enjoyment of aggression.”<span style=""> </span>There are similar studies among Israeli children who witness terrorist attacks.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Post Traumatic Stress disorder, Dr. Kanter said, is an “engine that perpetuates violent conflict.”<span style=""> </span>It leads to three characteristic symptoms. <span style=""> </span>The first involves reexperiencing the traumatic events in the form of the nightmares, debilitating flashbacks, and terrifying memories that haunt people for years afterwards.<span style=""> </span>Other people may develop avoidance symptoms in which they become isolated and emotionally numb, deadened to the world around them.<span style=""> </span>The third symptom involves hyper arousal, which may lead to excessive anger, insomnia, self-destructive behavior, and a hypervigilant state of mind.<span style=""> </span>Other maladies like poor social functioning, depression, suicidal thoughts, a lack of trust, family violence are all associated with PTS. </p> <span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:";font-size:11;" >The most recent study however, revealed that in the aftermath of the most recent assault on Gaza an unbelievable <i style="">91.4% of children in Gaza displayed symptoms of moderate to very severe PTS. </i>Only about 1% of the children showed no signs of PTS</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Try to imagine an area with this many people—the city you live in for example—where 9 out of 10 children exhibited symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress. What would daily life be like? What would the future hold for your city's youth? </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Particularly horrifying about the situation is that there is no “post” trauma for most in Gaza. Whereas soldiers who endure traumatic experiences in a war zone can return home to relative calm and seek treatment, the people in Gaza continue to held in what one Israeli rights group labeled the “largest prison on Earth”[10]<a name="_ednref10"></a>—a methodically “de-developed” island of misery isolated from the rest of the world. The fate of the 1.5 million “unpeople” trapped there is of no concern to the occupying army or its international backers<u>.[11]</u><a name="_ednref11"></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This will be the enduring legacy of the Israeli occupation.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One of the most distressing prospects for peace are studies of similar war-torn populations like Kosovo and Afghanistan that showed that military violence often leads to widespread feelings of hatred and the simmering urge for revenge. One can easily predict the future consequences of a large number of young people exposed to this level of trauma. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">As Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj warned soon after the offensive,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote>Palestinian children in the first intifadah 20 years ago threw stones at Israeli tanks trying to wrest freedom from Israeli military occupation. Some of those children grew up to become suicide bombers in the second intifadah 10 years later. It does not take much to imagine the serious changes that will befall today's children.[12]</blockquote><a name="_ednref12"></a> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> Women in the war zone are have a unique perspective to share, yet their story is an all too familiar narrative: violence that leads to anger, vengeance, and the destruction of the bonds that tie a society together. Tihani Abed Rabbu, a mother who lost her teenage son, brother, and close friend, spoke of her fears:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote>What worries me is the safety of my family, my sons and my husband. My husband is going through a difficult time, a crazy time. He wants to affiliate with Hamas, he wants to get revenge after what they [Israel, I think] have done to us. How do you expect us to be peaceful after they have killed my son and turned my family into angry people - as they refer to us, "terrorists." I cannot calm my family down.[13]</blockquote><a name="_ednref13"></a><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Chris Hedges, former New York Times Middle East Bureau Chief, reminds us that, </p> <p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote>A father or a mother whose child dies because of a lack of vaccines or proper medical care does not forget. A boy whose ill grandmother dies while detained at an Israel checkpoint does not forget. All who endure humiliation, abuse and the murder of family members do not forget. This rage becomes a virus within those who, eventually, stumble out into the daylight<u>.[14]</u></blockquote><u></u><a name="_ednref14"></a><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Despite some positive steps towards regaining some sense of normalcy, mostly from small non-governmental groups and international activists, the crushing siege continues and basic conditions of life continue to deteriorate. For many, hope is fading. Despair is spreading. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">“The breakdown of an entire society is happening in front of us,” Harvard specialist Sara Roy warned. Many share Roy’s fears that “What looms is no less than the loss of entire generation of Palestinians,” which she fears may have occurred already<u>.[15]</u><a name="_ednref15"></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the face of this onslaught however, lies a stubborn resistance. This resistance takes many forms—the one most often seen in the US is that of the few who see armed conflict as the only path to liberation.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“While some Palestinians return Israeli violence with further violence,” journalist Philip Rizk said, “the vast majority does not.” Many bear invisible scars but they nevertheless go on with their daily lives: put their children through school, study and try to do well in exams, seek to serve their home and community, laugh and play, and ultimately try to retain their sense of dignity while living under foreign occupation. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">As Rizk observed, “the Arabic word for such everyday acts of non-violent protest is <i>sumoud</i>, which means steadfastness, perseverance.” [16]</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3NlJpSxuSgT8LD-NN5FBhMQVULLC1-vjZqvhyphenhyphenM-H_ZvsjZnwiLEOS158AEmj5l19jhlq8lP8p1ZVe8hBo4ZNNfVQh2qGTW3tZWVMiiU5OALYc7a6_ZP15zXjvxM9wfFxHXJdISar6ySy/s1600-h/Eman+kites.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3NlJpSxuSgT8LD-NN5FBhMQVULLC1-vjZqvhyphenhyphenM-H_ZvsjZnwiLEOS158AEmj5l19jhlq8lP8p1ZVe8hBo4ZNNfVQh2qGTW3tZWVMiiU5OALYc7a6_ZP15zXjvxM9wfFxHXJdISar6ySy/s320/Eman+kites.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391118576683115762" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">© 2009 Eman Mohammed</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i>This essay is a part III of a longer series on Gaza. </i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i>Eman Mohammed is a 21-year old award-winning photojournalist who lives in Gaza. Her photos will be available soon in the Seattle area. For more information, contact Amineh at amineh.ayyad [at] gmail.com </i></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn1"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">1.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >Edwards Said and David Barsamian ,The Pen and the Sword, Common Courage Press, 1994, page 99<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn2"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">2.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“'Gaza wears a face of misery,' Adam Makary, Al Jazeera” April 4, 2009 <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/20094313332943145.html">http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/20094313332943145.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn3"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">3.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Young Freud in Gaza” Al Jazeera, June 18, 2009 <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2009/03/2009319727715344.html">http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2009/03/2009319727715344.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn4"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">4.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Israel’s ‘Crime Against Humanity,’ Chris Hedges, Truthdig, December 15, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20081215_israels_crime_against_humanity/">http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20081215_israels_crime_against_humanity/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn5"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">5.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Gaza: What Next? A Teach-In on the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza” UW Global Health, February 5, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://depts.washington.edu/deptgh/podcasts/gaza_kantor.php">http://depts.washington.edu/deptgh/podcasts/gaza_kantor.php</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn6"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">6.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Clips from Dying to Live, a documentary film by Amineh Ayyad about health and human rights in Palestine. Shot in 2002. <a href="http://palestinejournal.blogspot.com/2009/03/clips-from-documentary-about-health-and.html">http://palestinejournal.blogspot.com/2009/03/clips-from-documentary-about-health-and.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn7"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">7.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Sara Roy - Beyond Occupation” Australian Broadcasting Corp. October 14, 2008, Part 17, 1:03:00<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://fora.tv/2008/10/14/Sara_Roy_Beyond_Occupation#fullprogram">http://fora.tv/2008/10/14/Sara_Roy_Beyond_Occupation#fullprogram</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn8"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">8.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >Gaza Community Mental Health Program <a href="http://www.gcmhp.net/">http://www.gcmhp.net/</a> Additional figures from recent studies reveal the following conclusions (from a June 3 press release): <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 81.75pt; text-indent: -27.75pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >66.6%</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" > of the children appeared to have some symptoms of anxiety and psychological fears. 42.0% of the children expect events similar to those they passed through.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 81.75pt; text-indent: -27.75pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >36.4%</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" > of the children feel disturbance and tension when experiencing events reminding them of the tragic war.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 81.75pt; text-indent: -27.75pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >98.5%</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" > of children did not feel secure during the war due to their sense of powerlessness to protect themselves and the inability of others to protect them.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 81.75pt; text-indent: -27.75pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >61.5%</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" > of the parents indicated the emergence of unusual behaviors among their children (such as continuous crying, and restlessness).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 81.75pt; text-indent: -27.75pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >40.6%</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" > of parents indicated that their children have problems with their peers.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 81.75pt; text-indent: -27.75pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >82.1%</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" > of the children expressed their conviction that Gaza is an unsafe place.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 81.75pt; text-indent: -27.75pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >73.5%</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" > of the children had fears of being targeted and killed. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 81.75pt; text-indent: -27.75pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >76.6% </span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >of children had fears of occurrence of what happened to them during the war.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn9"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">9.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >GCHMP, Thabet, et al., “Trauma, grief, and PTSD in Palestinian children victims of War on Gaza”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn10"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">10.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“ Gaza Prison: Freedom of Movement to and from the Gaza Strip on the Eve of the Disengagement Plan” <a href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200503_Gaza_Prison.asp">http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200503_Gaza_Prison.asp</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“The Gaza Strip-One Big Prison” B’tselem <a href="http://www.btselem.org/Download/200705_Gaza_Insert_Eng.pdf">http://www.btselem.org/Download/200705_Gaza_Insert_Eng.pdf</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn11"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">11.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“’Good News,’ Iraq and Beyond,” Noam Chomsky, ZNet, February 16, 2008 <a href="http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20080216.htm">http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20080216.htm</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn12"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">12.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“A 14-year-old in Gaza has one question: Why?” Eyad El-Sarraj, January 11, 2009, <i>Boston Globe</i> <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/01/11/a_14_year_old_in_gaza_has_one_question_why?mode=PF">http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/01/11/a_14_year_old_in_gaza_has_one_question_why?mode=PF</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Cast Lead: As many as 352 children killed” Defense for Children International, Sept 3, 2009 <a href="http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=917&CategoryId=1">http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=917&CategoryId=1</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn13"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">13.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Women in the war zone: Gaza” Helena Cobban July 7, 2009 <a href="http://justworldnews.org/archives/003656.html">http://justworldnews.org/archives/003656.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Gaza conflict: Views on Hamas” BBC, July 7, 2009 <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8137645.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8137645.stm</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn14"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">14.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Israel’s ‘Crime Against Humanity,’ Chris Hedges, Truthdig, December 15, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20081215_israels_crime_against_humanity/">http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20081215_israels_crime_against_humanity/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn15"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">15.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Destroying Gaza,” Sara Roy, <i>The Electronic Intifada,</i> 9 July 2009 <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10636.shtml">http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10636.shtml</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a name="_edn16"></a><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">16.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“'Gaza wears a face of misery,' Adam Makary, Al Jazeera” April 4, 2009 <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/20094313332943145.html">http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/20094313332943145.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> Adityahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13777320537956842763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-21527224834044004702009-10-11T18:34:00.000-07:002009-10-11T21:55:48.552-07:00Gaza: The Forgotten Story [II]<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" 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{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="">What a Siege Looks Like
<br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">By Aditya Ganapathiraju</span><b style=""><span style="">
<br /></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i>Why are people on Gaza so unhappy? Well, if you had to live in a prison, wouldn't you be unhappy?</i><span style="">— Former CIA officer Robert Baer<sup>[1]</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i>It’s the most terrifying place I’ve ever been in… it’s a horrifyingly sad place because of the desperation and misery of the way people live. I was unprepared for camps that are much worse than anything I saw in South Africa.– </i><span style="">Professor Edward Said 1993[2] <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i>They may be living but they're not alive.</i><span style=""> – Journalist Philip Rizk[3]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="">
<br /><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">“Gaza is an example of a society that has been deliberately reduced to a state of abject destitution,” Sara Roy wrote in July.<span style=""> </span>It has led to “mass suffering, created largely by Israel,” and aided by the active participation of the United States, European Union, and Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. [1]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">The Israeli policy of isolating Gaza from the West Bank has been a gradual process that started in the early 1990s. It tightened soon after Hamas’ electoral victory in 2006, and turned even more devastating after Hamas’s 2007 takeover, degrading the society to the point where 96 percent of Gaza's population of 1.5 million is dependent on humanitarian aid for basic survival. [2]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">This “perverse” situation is unique in international affairs in that humanitarian groups are sustaining the Israeli occupation by providing care for a civilian population and territory whose humanitarian needs and economy are being deliberately decimated for political reasons, with full backing of the Israeli High Court, Roy explained. [3]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">The UN recently reported that 1.1 million people, or 75% of the population there are food insecure.<span style=""> </span>Some 70-80% of Gazans live on less than a dollar a day and the unemployment rate is around 60%. [4]<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">The UN says about 10,000 Gaza residents have no access to a water network - while about 60% -- about 1 million people – don’t have access to water daily and receive water only intermittently.[5] The water consumption of Gazans is less than a third of what Israelis who live a short distance away use.[6]<span style=""> </span>Ultimately, the crippling Israeli siege has degraded the water situation in Gaza to the point that the entire system “could collapse at any minute,” which “could take centuries to reverse,” according to <span style="">International Committee of the Red Cross and UN officials. [7] <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">In a similarly precarious situation, the sewage system is also being prevented from being repaired by the blockage of spare parts.<span style=""> </span>As a result, twenty million gallons of raw and untreated sewage has to be dumped into the Mediterranean every day, according to local officials.[8] </span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">Forty-six percent of all children suffer from acute anemia there, former UN official and international Law Prof. Richard Falk said.[9]<span style=""> </span>He adds that thousands of hearing aids are needed for widespread deafness due to sonic booms from Israeli jets.<span style=""> </span>The restrictions on travel access alone has killed an estimated 260 Palestinians since the blockade escalated in 2007.[10]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">The scale and intensity of his type of deprivation is impossible to convey through numbers, but try to imagine if three quarters of the people in your city could not find enough food and water to feed themselves or their children, where the overwhelming majority of them were unemployed, where nearly everyone lived on less than a dollar a day, and this is crucial, that all of this was the planned result of political decisions of a foreign government that has held you under military occupation for over four decades. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">Even today, the most basic commodities for life still continue to be barred by the Israeli government.<span style=""> </span>Materials like wood for doors or cement for rebuilding in the aftermath of the destruction left by the last attack remained barred.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">No electrical appliances, like refrigerators or washing machines, and no parts for cars are allowed.<span style=""> </span>Also restricted are “fabrics, threads, needles, candles, matches, mattresses, sheets, blankets, cutlery, crockery, cups, glasses, musical instruments, books, tea, coffee, sausages, semolina, chocolate, sesame seeds, nuts, milk products in large packages, most baking products, light bulbs, crayons, clothing and shoes.” [11] <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">School supplies too, are blocked from entering.<span style=""> </span>More than 100 trucks full of stationary are still awaiting clearance to enter Gaza.<span style=""> </span>All of the 387 government-run and 33 private schools, which serve more than 250,000 students, lack essential supplies.<span style=""> </span>Draconian restrictions on glass, wood, and other building materials, has kept the hundreds of schools damaged during the assault remaining in terrible condition. [12]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">When an occupying army blocks, tea, blankets, crayons, and school stationary from entering the “largest prison on Earth,” severely restricts essentials like fuel and medicine, makes travel in and out all but impossible, and exercises complete control over its borders, airspace, and seas, the pretense of “security” seems dubious at best, and suggests that turning Gazans into beggars and Gaza into a “depoliticized humanitarian catastrophe” is precisely the plan.[13]<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">Perhaps former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s advisor Dov Weisglass was describing Israeli policy accurately when he said of the Gaza blockade, “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.”<span style=""> </span>One might ask if he includes the newborn infants, impoverished elderly, and deathly ill among those to be “put on a diet.” [14]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">“What possible benefit can be derived from an increasingly impoverished, unhealthy, densely crowded and furious Gaza alongside Israel?,” Sara Roy asked. [15]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">Six months have passed since international donors pledged almost $5 billion in aid to the devastated territory, yet “not one penny” has actually reached inside the borders of Gaza, according to the UN, mainly due to the tight blockade. [16]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">This “macabre” situation is not the result of an earthquake or flood but rather the predictable consequence of well-planned decisions by Israeli officials, backed by their judicial body, along with complicit Western powers such as the US and EU.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">Israeli Professor Avi Shlaim <span style=""> </span>observed that the major powers were “imposing economic sanctions not against the occupier but against the occupied, not against the oppressor but against the oppressed.” [17] <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The January 2008 testimony of Gaza Community Mental Health Program Director Eyad Al Sarraj offered a glimpse into what the stranglehold of Gaza looked like from the ground:<span style=""> </span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.25in 10pt; line-height: normal;">[The] Israeli military establishment decided to stop power supply and fuel to Gaza… food and humanitarian aid are not allowed in. My step son is on ventilator for asthma every night. What will happen to him when our generator is not running anymore? What will happen to hospitals, vaccines and blood banks? What will happen to patients on dialysis machines, and to babies in incubators? [18]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">This was all before the brutal attacks this winter. The scale of destruction left behind has been covered by numerous writers, human rights groups, and most recently by the comprehensive Goldstone report. What has received little attention though, is the epidemic of mental anguish resulting from decades of oppression.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">[The story of mental health in Gaza is covered in Part III]<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;">“<span style="">If Gaza falls . . .” Sara Roy, the <i style="">London Review of Books</i>, January 1, 2009 </span><a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html">http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></li></ol> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">2.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Destroying Gaza,” Sara Roy, <i>The Electronic Intifada,</i> July 9, 2009 <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10636.shtml">http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10636.shtml</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">3.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Sara Roy - Beyond Occupation” Australian Broadcasting Corp. October 14, 2008, Chapter 8 Making Palestinians Aid-Dependent <a href="http://fora.tv/2008/10/14/Sara_Roy_Beyond_Occupation#fullprogram">http://fora.tv/2008/10/14/Sara_Roy_Beyond_Occupation#fullprogram</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;">“Israeli Supreme Court Fiddles While Gaza Starves” <a href="http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/02/01/israeli-supreme-court-fiddles-while-gaza-starves/">http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/02/01/israeli-supreme-court-fiddles-while-gaza-starves/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">4.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“<span style="">Israel's Gaza blockade crippling reconstruction,” <i style="">Guardian</i>, September 18, 2009 <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/18/israel-gaza-blockade-reconstruction">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/18/israel-gaza-blockade-reconstruction</a> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;">Palestinian Center for Human Rights Weekly Report September 10-16 <a href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/17-09-2009.htm">http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/17-09-2009.htm</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">5.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Analysis: Looming water crisis in Gaza” IRIN News, September 15, 2009 <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86151">http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86151</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;">“Leaked UN report echoes Goldstone and says Israeli blockade is leading to the ‘de-development’ of Gaza” Mondoweiss, September 18, 2009 <a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2009/09/leaked-un-report-echoes-goldstone-and-says-israeli-blockade-is-leading-to-the-de-development-of-gaza.html">http://mondoweiss.net/2009/09/leaked-un-report-echoes-goldstone-and-says-israeli-blockade-is-leading-to-the-de-development-of-gaza.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">6.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Gaza sewage 'a threat to Israel'” BBC, September 3, 2009, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8236733.stm?lsf">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8236733.stm?lsf</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">7.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“MIDEAST: Gaza's Water Supply Near Collapse” <span style=""> </span>IPS, September 16, 2009 <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48464">http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48464</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;">“Who Needs Clean Water?” Pulse, September 24, 2009 <a href="http://pulsemedia.org/2009/09/24/who-needs-clean-water/">http://pulsemedia.org/2009/09/24/who-needs-clean-water/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">8.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style=""> </span>“Narratives Under Siege (17): Swimming in Sewage” Palestinian Center for Human Rights <a href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/campaigns/english/gaza_closure/Narratives%20Under%20Siege%2017.pdf">http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/campaigns/english/gaza_closure/Narratives%20Under%20Siege%2017.pdf</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">9.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Israel’s ‘Crime Against Humanity,’ Chris Hedges, Truthdig, December 15, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;"><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20081215_israels_crime_against_humanity/">http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20081215_israels_crime_against_humanity/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">10.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Israel tightens the noose on advocacy organizations” <i><span style=""> </span>Electronic Intifada,</i> September 23, <span style=""> </span>2009 <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10790.shtml">http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10790.shtml</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">11.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Destroying Gaza,” Sara Roy, <i>The Electronic Intifada,</i> July 9, <span style=""> </span>2009 <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10636.shtml">http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10636.shtml</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">12.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“OPT: Gaza schoolchildren lack basic equipment” IRIN News September 9, 2009 <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86072">http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86072</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">13.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“ Gaza Prison: Freedom of Movement to and from the Gaza Strip on the Eve of the Disengagement Plan” <a href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200503_Gaza_Prison.asp">http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200503_Gaza_Prison.asp</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;">“The Gaza Strip-One Big Prison” B’tselem <a href="http://www.btselem.org/Download/200705_Gaza_Insert_Eng.pdf">http://www.btselem.org/Download/200705_Gaza_Insert_Eng.pdf</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:10;">“<span style="">How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe” Avi Shlaim, Guardian, January 7, 2009 </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">14.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“What aid cutoff to Hamas would mean” Christian Science Monitor, February 26, 2007 <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0227/p17s01-cogn.html">http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0227/p17s01-cogn.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">15.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Destroying Gaza,” Sara Roy, <i>The Electronic Intifada</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">16.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style=""> </span>“Not one penny has reached Gaza” The National, August 31, 2009 <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090901/FOREIGN/708319876/1140">http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090901/FOREIGN/708319876/1140</a></span><span style="font-size:10;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">17.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe” Avi Shlaim, Guardian<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in; line-height: normal;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="">18.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:10;">“Israel declares Gaza "enemy entity" (19 September 2007)” <i style="">Electronic Intifada </i><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/685.shtml">http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/685.shtml</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> Adityahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13777320537956842763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-44636054199964788402009-10-10T21:11:00.000-07:002009-10-11T21:57:09.212-07:00Gaza: The Forgotten Story [I]<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="Edit-Time-Data" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CAditya%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_editdata.mso"><!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* 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div.Section1 {page:Section1; mso-endnote-numbering-style:arabic;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:1248224908; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1295030076 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">By Aditya Ganapathiraju</span>
<br />
<br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">Why are people on Gaza so unhappy? Well, if you had to live in a prison, wouldn't you be unhappy?</i>— Former CIA officer Robert Baer<span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[1]</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">It’s the most terrifying place I’ve ever been in… it’s a horrifyingly sad place because of the desperation and misery of the way people live. I was unprepared for camps that are much worse than anything I saw in South Africa.– </i>Professor Edward Said 1993[2] </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">They may be living but they're not alive.</i> – Journalist Philip Rizk[3]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The situation on the ground in Gaza has continued to deteriorate since January. One of the most densely populated areas in the world, this small coastal strip is home to a million and a half Palestinians, many of them refugees for over 60 years.<span style=""> </span>It is now the worst condition it’s been in since 1967 when the Israeli army took military control of the land.[4]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As numerous scholars and observers have concluded, the Israeli plan for Gaza seems to be to turn it into a depoliticized humanitarian catastrophe,[5] turning the Palestinians trapped in there “beggars who have no political identity and therefore can have no political claims.”[6]<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The Israeli assault against Gaza last winter brought this enclave to the forefront of the news cycle, only to disappear from the headlines in the weeks and months that followed.<span style=""> </span>The attention of much of the world’s dominant media moved on to other issues soon after a unilateral Israeli pullout—planned precisely timed so as not to cause an<span style=""> </span>unsightly distraction from the inauguration of the new American president.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The lack of prominent coverage was not because there was a lack of newsworthy events in Gaza.<span style=""> </span>No, “breaking news is Gaza's middle name,” says freelance journalist Philip Rizk. <span style=""> </span>“But because this breaking news always holds the same kind of information, no one cares to report on it.”[7]</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">“An Eye for an Eyelash”[8]<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Violence in the occupied territories has always been bloody but many longtime observers were shocked by the brutality of winter assault,[9] which killed more Palestinians in the first three weeks than during the entire first Intifada, or uprising against the occupation (1987-1993), prompting the UN to label it “one of the most violent episodes in the recent history of the occupied Palestinian territory.”[10]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The January offensive left 1,417 people dead, 1,181 of which were non-combatants (313 children and 116 women).<span style=""> </span>Another 5,303 Palestinians were injured in the attacks, including 1,606 children and 828 women, many left devastated with life-altering conditions.[11]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The attack, carefully-planned six months in advance,[12] destroyed 60 police stations early on, obliterated 20 ambulances and 30 mosques, in addition to leaving several hospitals bombed.<span style=""> </span>Some 280 schools and kindergartens were damaged, 18 of which were destroyed completely (including 8 kindergartens).[13]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Another 6600 dunams of agricultural land, which Palestinian farmers depend on for their livelihood, were razed (1 dunam=1,000 square meters).<span style=""> </span>In all, some 21,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.<span style=""> </span>An estimated $1.9 billion worth of damage was inflicted, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit report.[14]<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">“What we're witnessing today is an assault, a massacre,” and “not a war whatsoever,” said <span style="">Zahir Janmohamed of Amnesty International on the 15 of January, reminding an audience that this was not a conflict between two equivalent military powers but rather another bloody chapter a long history of “Israel’s colonial operations” in the occupied territories.[15]<span style=""> </span>His views were confirmed by facts on the ground, as one scholar recently observed.[16]</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The systemic and widespread destruction of both lives and infrastructure was not an unintended consequence of the offensive but rather a deliberate strategy derived from the destruction inflicted during the 2006 Lebanon conflict.[17]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The attack followed the “<span style="">Dahiya Strategy,” referring to the Beirut area that was destroyed during the attack on Lebanon in 2006.<span style=""> </span>It concluded <i style="">civilians</i> must pay for their leader’s actions.[18]<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="">The strategy was formalized two months before the attacks by Tel Aviv University's Institute of National Security Studies and urged the use of “<i style="">disproportionate force</i>” ( by definition a war crime) to inflict crushing damage on “economic interests” and “centers of<i style=""> civilian </i>power,” leaving the targeted society devastated and “floundering” in a long reconstruction process.[19] </span><i style="">(for more on the political dynamics involved and actions of Hamas and Israel before and during the attacks, see these papers[20])</i>. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">“Behind the dry statistics lie shocking individual stories,” a group of Israeli human rights groups wrote. “Whole families were killed; parents saw their children shot before their very eyes; relatives watched their loved ones bleed to death; and entire neighborhoods were obliterated.”[21]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The stories of those who experienced the attacks, who lost loved ones, and who continue to suffer, offer another perspective often absent here in the U.S.<span style=""> </span>Some of these stories, which described the toll of war beyond numerical abstractions, trickled out in the British press, where journalists are less ideologically constrained to follow the party line, even despite the Israeli military ban on foreign journalists.[22]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Anwar Balousha, a 40-year-old man living in Jabalyia refugee camp in northern Gaza told British reporters of his personal loss.<span style=""> </span>It was around midnight when an Israeli bomb struck their refugee camp’s mosque with a blast so powerful it collapsed several neighboring buildings, including the Balousha’s home.<span style=""> </span>Of his seven daughters sleeping in a single room, five were killed—buried under bricks and rubble as they slept.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">"We are civilians,” Anwar said. <span style=""> </span>“I don't belong to any faction, I don't support Fatah or Hamas, I'm just a Palestinian. They are punishing us all, civilians and militants. What is the guilt of the civilian?"[23]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">While human rights groups and other observers painstakingly extracted similar stories, the lesser-known narrative of a siege decimating Gaza’s society remained largely untold, confined to the dissident press and humanitarian groups.[24] </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Most stories usually report on the violence and bloodshed between two forces, which are often implied to be equivalent both morally and physically.<span style=""> </span>The day-to-day struggles of 1.4 million Palestinians enduring and resisting a 42-year old occupation do not fit neatly into the standard narrative of events describing the Palestinian-Israeli issue.<span style=""> </span>It becomes easy for many to see ordinary Palestinians as nameless and faceless creatures, characters in a story taking place in a faraway land.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Israeli violence towards Gaza did not begin on the 27<sup>th</sup> of December.<span style=""> </span>As Amnety’s <span style="">Janmohamed observed, the assault included the blockade and other attacks and incursions into Gaza, all of which started well before that Saturday morning in December.[25]<span style=""> </span>The roots of the humanitarian disaster imposed by the Israeli need to be examined,<span style=""> </span>he said, alluding to what one OXFAM official described as “a serious crime against humanity,”[26] a situation where 1.5 million people “are being punished for something they haven't done.”[27]<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">[This is the first part of a series on Gaza, Part II describes life under siege]<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">1.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">‘U.S. and Iran Share an Equal Monopoly on Violence,’” Inter Press Service,<span style=""> </span>January 23, 2009 </span><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=45526">http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=45526</a> <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">2.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >Edwards Said and David Barsamian ,The Pen and the Sword, Common Courage Press, 1994, page 99<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">3.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“'Gaza wears a face of misery,' Adam Makary, Al Jazeera” April 4, 2009 <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/20094313332943145.html">http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/20094313332943145.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">4.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">UN: Gaza in worst condition since 1967” Ynet,<b> </b></span><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3773955,00.html">http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3773955,00.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">5.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">Israel wanted a humanitarian crisis” Ben White, Guardian, January 20, 2009<b> </b></span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/20/gaza-israelandthepalestinians">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/20/gaza-israelandthepalestinians</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">6.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">If Gaza falls . . .”Sara Roy, the London Review of Books, January 1, 2009 </span><a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html">http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">7.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“'Gaza wears a face of misery,' Adam Makary, Al Jazeera” April 4, 2009 <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/20094313332943145.html">http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/20094313332943145.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">8.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->“<span style="">How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe” Avi Shlaim, Guardian, January 7, 2009 </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine</span></a> <span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">9.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >Avi Shlaim, Guardian: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a <b style="">gangster state headed by "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders</b>". I used to think that this judgment was too harsh but Israel's vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the Bush administration's complicity in this assault, have reopened the question.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">Leading Israeli Scholar Avi Shlaim: Israel Committing “State Terror” in Gaza Attack, Preventing Peace,” </span>Democracy Now!, January 14, 2009 <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/14/leading_israeli_scholar_avi_shlaim_israel">http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/14/leading_israeli_scholar_avi_shlaim_israel</a> <span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">10.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >UN OCHA Report “L<span style="">ocked In</span>:<span style="">T</span>he humanitarian impact of two years of blockade on the <b>G</b>aza <b>S</b>trip” footnote 36 <a href="http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.nsf/47D4E277B48D9D3685256DDC00612265/0DFF75BB11E6929285257612004B4859">http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.nsf/47D4E277B48D9D3685256DDC00612265/0DFF75BB11E6929285257612004B4859</a><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">11.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >Palestinian Center for Human Rights Press Release March 12, 2009 <a href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/36-2009.html">http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/36-2009.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">12.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Disinformation, secrecy and lies: How the Gaza offensive came about” Haaretz, Barak Ravid <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050426.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050426.html</a> “IAF strike followed months of planning” Barak Ravid <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050448.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050448.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">13.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >UN OCHA Report “Locked In” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">14.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >Palestinian Center for Human Rights Press Release <a href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/press.html">http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/press.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">15.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“The Gaza Offensive and the Laws of War with Zahir Janmohamed,” The Palestine Center January 23, 2009 <a href="http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/4022/pid/897">http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/4022/pid/897</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">16.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“UN Inquiry Finds Israel “Punished and Terrorized” Palestinian Civilians, Committed Acts of War During Gaza Assault, Democracy Now! <span style=""> </span>September 16, 2009 <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/16/un_inquiry_finds_israel_punished_and">http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/16/un_inquiry_finds_israel_punished_and</a><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">17.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">Israel's Bombing Campaign Will "Send Gaza Back Decades" Jonathan Cook, January 22, 2009</span> <a href="http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/121163">http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/121163</a> <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">18.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style=""> </span>“<span style="">The Dahiya strategy: Israel finally realizes that Arabs should be accountable for their leaders’ acts,” <i style="">Ynet, </i><span style=""> </span>Ynetnews<i style="">.</i>com, 6 Oct 2008 <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3605863,00.html">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3605863,00.html</a> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">19.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style=""> </span>“<span style="">Disproportionate Force: Israel’s Concept of Response in Light of the Second Lebanon War”</span> <span style="">Institute of National Security Studies,</span> Insight No. 74, inss.org.il, 2 October 2008 <a href="http://www.inss.org.il/publications.php?cat=21&page=6">http://www.inss.org.il/publications.php?cat=21&page=6</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">20.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Behind the Headlines of the Gaza Attacks” Aditya Ganapathiraju ZNet <a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/20161">http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/20161</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Foiling Another Palestinian “Peace Offensive”: Behind the bloodbath in Gaza” Norman Finkelstein January 19, 2009 <a href="http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/finkelstein-on-gaza-war-massacre/">http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/finkelstein-on-gaza-war-massacre/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">21.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20090909.asp">http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20090909.asp</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">22.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style=""><script type="text/javascript"> var articleheadline = "Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask"; </script>Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask” <i style="">Independent</i> </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html</a> <span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">Robert Fisk: When journalists refuse to tell the truth about Israel” <i style="">Independent</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-when-journalists-refuse-to-tell-the-truth-about-israel-681622.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-when-journalists-refuse-to-tell-the-truth-about-israel-681622.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">Robert Fisk: Keeping out the cameras and reporters simply doesn't work” <i style="">Independent</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-keeping-out-the-cameras-and-reporters-simply-doesnt-work-1225800.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-keeping-out-the-cameras-and-reporters-simply-doesnt-work-1225800.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">Foreign reporters dub Israel 'military dictatorship'” Ynet<b> </b></span><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3653154,00.html">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3653154,00.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">23.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">'I didn't see any of my girls, just a pile of bricks'” Guardian, December 30, 2008<b> </b></span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/30/israel-and-the-palestinians-middle-east">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/30/israel-and-the-palestinians-middle-east</a><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">24.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“Israel declares Gaza "enemy entity" (19 September 2007)” <i style="">Electronic Intifada </i><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/685.shtml">http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/685.shtml</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">25.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“The Gaza Offensive and the Laws of War with Zahir Janmohamed,” The Palestine Center January 23, 2009 <a href="http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/4022/pid/897">http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/4022/pid/897</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><span style="">26.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“<span style="">Gaza: A humanitarian implosion: A report from eight UK human rights organizations says situation in Gaza worst since 1967” The Real News March 6, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1101">http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1101</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">27.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" >“New Report Finds Gaza Humanitarian Situation is Worst in 40 years” Voice of America News March 6, 2008 <span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-03/2008-03-06-voa24.cfm?CFID=306830593&CFTOKEN=65036790&jsessionid=de30c06e056dbbc788ab7d61273855695769">http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-03/2008-03-06-voa24.cfm?CFID=306830593&CFTOKEN=65036790&jsessionid=de30c06e056dbbc788ab7d61273855695769</a></span> </p> Adityahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13777320537956842763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-33285844423423849012009-07-13T03:35:00.000-07:002009-07-13T04:27:35.227-07:00"People say things are better this summer..."<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwI6rl_Osl2seJUcd6BojiruqpHuy7nYuvgs4u2GOqOAYAl7bwM8EBrMVf39iQ96bsjDEn3mMiok_2AUb2nE3fiPXHmcQXhPhUx6dFvtrhTwrLtbivsmtRcnDLxfsVfxYKp5X7fe__dOK2/s1600-h/soldiers+at+checkpoint+Summer+2009.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwI6rl_Osl2seJUcd6BojiruqpHuy7nYuvgs4u2GOqOAYAl7bwM8EBrMVf39iQ96bsjDEn3mMiok_2AUb2nE3fiPXHmcQXhPhUx6dFvtrhTwrLtbivsmtRcnDLxfsVfxYKp5X7fe__dOK2/s320/soldiers+at+checkpoint+Summer+2009.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357904751962180402" /></a><br />This summer marks the third summer that I have come to Palestine to work with PMRS on a research project on mental health among women in the West Bank. A lot happened this year, including the election of Obama and the bombardment of Gaza this winter (for more on the impacts, check out older entries on this blog and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.emro.who.int/palestine/">http://www.emro.who.int/palestine/</a></span>, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057658.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057658.html</a></span>, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=702&catid=55&pcat=-1&lang=ENG">http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=702&catid=55&pcat=-1&lang=ENG</a></span>.<div><br /><div>People from Israel and the United States have told me that they are hearing that it's better now in the West Bank, especially that checkpoints have eased. So I've been asking Palestinians and looking for myself. Yes, some checkpoints are easier-for example, it was luxurious to drive into Nablus in a regular car without the usual checkpoint, where soldiers wouldn't let cars into the town. But, people in Palestine remind me about the dangers of saying "things are better than..."; the dangers of thinking that easing of abuse for one night or one week signifies real freedom, safety or sovereignty. Why should questions of basic human rights-such as ability to access health care, school, family be reduced to a question of scales of misery? Should Palestinians feel grateful that things are slightly better-knowing that the checkpoints can be reinstated at any time? Knowing, for example, that Atara checkpoint outside of Bir Zeit, which connects Ramallah with a main road, is still manned at the will of the Israelis? Or knowing that many-like the one above from a checkpoint in the West Bank this July- still exists the same as before?</div><div><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMA16Bq7UiDGF8l3bVDnLxthirRIv4Lu_12ZJ7njZ80KGOrUeUNihCMMiO-1OSlx_D-C_xoXAYuME-5Nkaa0O7EO7vb3-5BYh7xQIocACKvw_Eh4xUlm7UcM5Ci0zmy9B5GU3hhyphenhyphenaaP6Kg/s320/settlement+in+West+Bank+2009.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357903889668812818" /><div>The occupation of Palestine and the active de-development of infrastructure and society here continues. Like last year and the year before it, people tell me simply: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">This is not a life</span>. And they say to tell people in the United States. Palestine is not in the midst of a "conflict", it is not even in the midst of a "war"; it is under occupation. The occupation is a military one, for sure. It is also a civilian one, seen in the ever-growing settlements-like the one in this photo from just outside Ramallah. And, even more this summer, I see that it is an economic one. </div><div><div><br /></div><div>Whether or not Obama will mandate <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">real</span> change in Israeli policy is still very unclear. Neither Palestinians nor the few Israelis I've spoken with are holding their breath.<br /><br />What is it we say? Pessimism of intellect/experience, optimism of spirit? For sure, la lucha sigue. The struggle continues and I am grateful for those who lead it, here and at home. </div><div><br /></div><div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfz7WTxFQBUUA3N5Gpq94ZGIjJydaoToUPSyZJbprxGQGLKMfiErBjlqn6AB0ofPG6o4yJYwIUwhX3hFcm9FVLSEvC067or9W7Ki2UZYauZLN9_mHP_JOze9eBdb3-PPXHT0NYkeGAog5R/s320/To+exist+is+to+resist.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357903307094970178" /></div><div><br /></div><div>~in solidarity from Occupied Palestine<br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>Cindy Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10085737007413565368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-86949613502522694862009-07-05T06:45:00.000-07:002009-07-13T09:56:35.703-07:00Cancer trauma inspires Palestinian animation filmBy Mohammed Harmassi<br />BBC Arabic<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A woman from Gaza stands at an Israeli check-point. We can only see her back but it is clear that in shame she opens her top to a female Israeli soldier to show that her breasts have been removed in an attempt to beat cancer. Despite this, she is refused entry to Israel on security grounds.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This is the</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8131398.stm">climactic scene</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> from the first major Palestinian attempt at an animated movie and it is based on a true story.</span><br /><br />But this is not an anti-Israeli rant.<br /><br />There are good and bad characters on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide.<br /><br />The heroine of the movie is called Fatenah.<br /><br />She is a Gazan woman whose dream of finding love and leading a normal life is torn apart by cancer and the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.<br /><br />"Usually Palestinians are treated as numbers, but this is not the case here," said Saed Andoni, the film's producer. "Behind each number there is a long story and that is why we focus on this one individual."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">True story</span><br /><br />The animation tells of Fatenah's fight against cancer; the removal of both her breasts, Palestinian doctors who delayed her diagnosis and Israeli soldiers who delayed her treatment.<br /><br />It also tells of a rare friendship between the Gazan and an Israeli woman, Dafna.<br /><br />The animation is threaded together by a love story between Fatenah and a Gazan man.<br /><br />The depiction of the impoverished coastal strip is condensed into harshly coloured scenes in the 30-minute animation; an Israeli checkpoint, crowded buildings and the sea.<br /><br />Fatenah has large eyes and a small mouth - symbolic of a woman "compelled to a bitter existence but not empowered to speak", says director Ahmad Habash.<br /><br />Fatenah's struggle and friendship with an Israeli woman is based on the real-life story of a Gazan woman named Fatma.<br /><br />Her fight against breast cancer was told by the Israeli group "Physicians for Human Rights" in a 2005 report after the disease killed her.<br /><br />"The report was so unbelievable, that when you read it you feel like it is fiction. It is absurd. You cannot believe that these things happen even though we as Palestinians live in this situation," says Mr Andoni.<br /><br />Health care in Gaza is poor - a legacy of poor training, corruption and shabby equipment.<br /><br />A blockade tightened after militant group Hamas seized power of Gaza in June 2007 has sealed people in, and kept many medical supplies out.<br /><br />But Israel says it continues to allow in humanitarian goods despite the blockade.<br /><br />Seriously ill residents must find treatment in Egypt, Israel, or cross from there to the West Bank or Jordan.<br /><br />But it can take weeks for Palestinian bureaucrats to organise referrals and for Israel to approve entry.<br /><br />Physicians for Human Rights says 12 residents have died unnecessarily from their illnesses after Israeli officials refused their applications to enter since Hamas took power.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Aggressive cancer</span><br /><br />In 2004, 28-year-old Fatma felt a lump in her breast - Palestinian doctors said her cure was in having children or switching bras.<br /><br />Months later they diagnosed aggressive cancer but refused to make a referral for her to be treated in Israel.<br /><br />Fatma defiantly sent her medical report to an Israeli hospital where doctors said she needed immediate care.<br /><br />Israeli activists lobbied defence officials to allow her to enter Israel, but she was frequently delayed and turned back by soldiers.<br /><br />Sometimes, her ambulance was forced to return to Gaza because of fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.<br /><br />The report says the climatic scene in 'Fatenah,' where she is ordered to disrobe before an Israeli woman soldier took place in real-life in September 2004.<br /><br />In the animation, Fatenah's back is to the camera, but she ashamedly reveals a bare shoulder, suggesting she is naked under her long Muslim robe.<br /><br />In reality, Fatma wore a tee-shirt and a stuffed bra because her breasts were removed to try to halt the cancer.<br /><br />She was lying on the floor because she was too weak to stand, and an Israeli soldier yelled at her to dress.<br /><br />The report said she was then sent back into Gaza for failing a security check.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Sullied reputation</span><br /><br />The film makers are at pains to say the animation is inspired by Fatma's story, but it isn't about her.<br /><br />That nuance was lost in deeply conservative Gaza, where Fatma's family say it has sullied their deceased daughter's reputation because of Fatenah's innocent romance - there isn't any kissing or hand-holding - and the brief scene where her animated breast is shown in the movie.<br /><br />The film took almost two years to make in the West Bank city of Ramallah on a budget of $60,000 (£36,400) provided by the World Health Organisation.<br /><br />It will be sent to film festivals around the world and Mr Andoni said he hopes it lays the foundation for what will become a burgeoning Palestinian animation industry.<br /><br /><br />Story from BBC NEWS:<br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8130934.stm<br /><br />Published: 2009/07/03 06:33:49 GMT<br /><br />© BBC MMIXAmineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-52698004617524768262009-06-01T10:38:00.000-07:002010-03-08T10:41:41.845-08:00Justice Must Prevail: An American Doctor's AccountPublished in the PalestineChronicle.com<br />05/29/09<br /><br />By Bryan Saario<br /><br />Following up upon a Christmas donation to Palestine Children's Relief Fund in 2006, I offered my services as a retired oral and maxillofacial surgeon for one of their future cleft palate missions to Palestine/Israel. I was looking for an opportunity to fulfill a sense of not having done quite enough during my professional career to justify the self indulgent life I was living as an affluent American retiree; and in my research of looking for worthy causes, I had uncovered a disturbing scene of utterly neglected children devoid of medical care, living in the desperate conditions of refugee camps in a time warp of 1948 when their grandparents and great grand- parents were forced to flee their farms and homes.<br /><br />I eagerly accepted PCRF’s invitation to participate in a mission to the West Bank, and in April of 2007 entered though fortified gates and checkpoints into Nablus in the (militarily) occupied Palestinian territories and on to Rafidia Hospital where throngs of parents with their children awaited our surgical team. In a dawn-deep into the night schedule we operated on children who had a plethora of developmental and acquired facial disfigurements of cleft lips and palates, deformed and misaligned jaws, and untreated or poorly treated facial and traumatic jaw injuries stemming from the Israeli Palestinian conflict.<br /><br />In my attempt to contribute something of value to a people in need, I found my specific surgical skills to be limited to an assistant surgeon’s role for the many cases which we treated. I soon realized though, that my unmet expectation of being able to find fulfillment in my personal mission was dwarfed by the misery of the people I had come to help. However serious might be the physical maladies that I observed around me, the spiritual and mental impairment caused by sixty years of oppressive occupation was by far the most serious injury to be seen, and it was afflicting the entire Palestinian population.<br /><br />I had expected to see general deprivation in the Palestinian population before I arrived, and that in good part was why I chose to come to this part of the world and contribute in some way, but the desperation and hopelessness that I observed in their plight was overwhelming. It astounded me that a tragedy of this proportion could go on and be glossed over by the main stream media outlets of Western television, radio, and newspapers. Here in Palestine was occurring a human tragedy that matched the greatest injustices in modern history; meanwhile Americans were being led to believe that Israelis are innocent victims of constant Arab terrorism, and all Palestinians are terrorists that inflict rocket attacks and suicide bombers on a civilian population without cause or reason.<br /><br />The Israeli public relations program makes seemingly plausible statements that depict a scenario of Israeli reasonableness and a Palestinian position of irrational and ill founded demands for a just settlement in a well coordinated script with the Western media that belies both reality on the ground and the truth. Nowhere in American reporting is the story of the Palestinian Nakba or Diaspora ever presented on a level that gives unassailable reverence to the preservation of Israeli Statehood at the expense of the Palestinian people.<br /><br />My observations of ongoing, constant oppression of the people in the occupied territories were enlivened by the many stories I heard from Palestinians with whom I came into contact while on the mission, and was given historical context after arriving back in the U.S. and reading The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. In his accounting of the take-over of the Palestinian lands by European Jews in 1947-1948, based upon reports uncovered in Israeli Defense Force files, he described the extermination of whole Palestinian villages in such a way that all romantic notions of Israeli Nationhood were over shadowed by the truth of reality.<br /><br />The ongoing racism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, non judicial executions, house demolitions, confinement within their isolated towns, villages, and enclaves with restriction of travel to anywhere outside their locale, land confiscation, imprisonment without trial, and denial of civil and human rights – are all well documented by United Nations agencies, Israeli and International human rights organizations, and Israeli and Western peace activist groups – so why doesn’t the world community speak out against the Israeli elephant sitting in the living room of human rights violations? The collective will of nations of good conscience forced the compliance of South Africa in regard to democratic reform. Why can that not be done in regard to Israel and its egregious mal treatment of its occupied population?<br /><br />If Israel is to be brought into the community of nations that conforms to upholding basic human rights for all inhabitants subject to their authority, so must its chief progenitor, the United States, be brought into alignment with the force of boycott, divestment, and sanctions. This measure can only be achieved through courageous United Nations leadership accompanied by concurrent enforcement of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 (which provided the basis for the creation of Israel), United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, and United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.<br /><br />The insanity that allows Israel alone to determine the destiny of seven million displaced and dispossessed people must be rectified, and nowhere else can that be better accomplished than in the chambers of the United States Congress. Our Representatives and Senators must be weaned from the financial draw strings of an Israeli First lobby, and made to respond to the wishes of their constituencies that have overwhelmingly stated that we want an even handed and fair American foreign policy to bring justice and peace to the Middle East.<br /><br />- Bryan Saario, D.D.S., M.D., is a retired oral and maxillofacial surgeon. <br />He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-21482732789487787832009-03-23T22:32:00.000-07:002009-03-25T20:05:26.815-07:00Clips from a documentary about health and human rights in Palestine (2002)<embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-2531908433779549308&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed><br /><br />Clips from Dying to Live, a documentary film by Amineh Ayyad about health and human rights in Palestine. Shot in 2002. Interviews with Drs: Mustafa Barghouthi (Palestinian Medical Relief Society), Eyad El Sarraj (Gaza Community Mental Health Program), Ruchama Marton (Israeli Physicians for Human Rights).Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-53811054883154498072009-03-21T15:33:00.000-07:002010-03-01T15:37:11.939-08:00CLOSED ZONE: 'Waltz With Bashir' Animator Makes Film On Gaza (VIDEO)AP | March 4, 2009 02:25 PM <br /><br />RAMALLAH, West Bank -- An Israeli creator of the Oscar-nominated "Waltz with Bashir" released a short film Wednesday about the effects of his country's Gaza blockade on Palestinians.<br /><br />Yoni Goodman said he hoped the 90-second animated film, "Closed Zone," would draw attention to the plight of Gaza's civilians.<br /><br />"People talk about Hamas, but there are many civilians there who are not Hamas supporters but who are suffering from this blockade," the animator said.<br /><br />Israel has kept Gaza's borders largely sealed since the Islamic militant Hamas took over the seaside territory in June 2007. Since then, Israeli has heavily restricted Palestinians from leaving Gaza and limited the goods that can enter.<br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hzqw7oBZT8k&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hzqw7oBZT8k&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br />The closed borders are a major issue in both peace talks and proposals to reconstruct Gaza after Israel's three-week offensive ended in January. Both Palestinians and international aid groups say the borders must be opened to allow in much-needed living supplies.<br /><br />Goodman said he began the film before Israel launched its offensive against Gaza's ruling Hamas militants in December, but the conflict affected the story.<br /><br />The film, a combination of animation and real-life scenes, follows a boy chasing a blue bird while large hands block his way. The hands cut Gaza's borders in the ground with a giant cookie-cutter, then prevent the boy from crossing.Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-32589661488553726792009-01-15T10:13:00.000-08:002009-01-15T13:19:37.138-08:00ISRAEL-OPT: Hotlines support Gaza residentshumanitarian news and analysis<br />UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs<br /><br />RAMALLAH, 15 January 2009 (IRIN) - Palestinians in Gaza, who are becoming increasingly traumatised as Israel’s bombardment of the tiny coastal enclave continues, are reaching out for psycho-social support via toll-free crisis-lines run by NGOs and aid agencies. <br /><br />Residents have been trapped in their homes since the Israeli offensive began on 27 December 2008, without electricity and running water, while sanitation systems have collapsed. Some 56 percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are children.<br /><br />The telephone network - both land lines and the mobile phone network - has been severely damaged but it is still possible, for example, to dial 121 from a Jawal (Palestinian mobile phone company) phone and access the hotlines. Communications tend to improve at night when the number of calls increases.<br /><br />One of the most popular crisis-lines is run by Sawa, meaning “together”, a Palestinian NGO in the West Bank town of Ramallah.<br /><br />“We are receiving 200-250 calls per day,” its director, Jalal Khadar, told IRIN. His staff of 14 are working 24 hours a day to field the calls, which are treated confidentially.<br /><br />Sami (not his real name), a 13-year-old from Rafah, called for support after he witnessed his three friends die in an aerial bombing near his home.<br /><br />“I was playing with my friends when the plane attacked - they were cut to pieces,” Sami told the social worker fielding his call, according to a transcript Sawa retained from the call. “It would have been better to have died with them,” he said.<br /><br />Social worker Abed Rahhal, 28, told IRIN: “We do our best to listen. About 70 percent of the callers are children and most children tell me they are afraid to die.”<br /><br /><br />“There is nowhere safe”<br /><br />Rahhal also fielded a call from Hanan (not her real name), another 13-year-old from Rafah, after the house adjacent to hers was bombed, shattering the windows and doors of her home.<br /><br />''I was playing with my friends when the plane attacked - they were cut to pieces. It would have been better to have died with them.''<br /><br />Ten family members are staying in her grandfather’s home, she said, after Hanan’s family was forced to evacuate their home in Gaza City due to the shelling and bombing.<br /><br />“We are dying - there is nowhere safe,” said Hanan over the phone. “We are so frightened.” IRIN was able to listen to Hanan’s call.<br /><br />“I instruct the callers to take shelter in stairwells, or at least to stand together against the walls,” said Rahhal.<br /><br />The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in partnership with the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution in Gaza, is operating a 24-hour help-line offering support to residents. “Most parents report panic and fear amongst their children,” UNICEF spokesperson Monica Awad, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN.<br /><br />World Health Organization (WHO) mental health officer Ragiah Abu-Sway, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN by phone: “The circling drones make people agitated and nervous. For sure this is psychological warfare.”<br /><br />[ENDS]<br />Report can be found online at:<br />http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82377Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-61039925936689325012009-01-13T13:19:00.000-08:002009-01-15T13:31:20.521-08:00Gaza children increasingly traumatised according to expertsRAMALLAH (WEST BANK), 13 January 2009 (IRIN) - As the Israeli aerial and ground bombardment continues in Gaza, the number of trauma cases is growing, say specialists.<br /><br />“The whole community is vulnerable to the intensity of the attacks and the loss of family members that will not only cause post-traumatic stress disorder, but other mood and anxiety disorders as well,” World Health Organization (WHO) mental health officer Ragiah Abu-Sway, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN by phone.<br /><br />“The reality is that this current violence is already compounding high levels of trauma in children in Gaza,” said World Vision UK’s head of emergency affairs, Ian Gray. “There’s the initial impact on children, which we’re already seeing - frequent bed-wetting, nightmares, and a heartbreaking loss of hope - but there’s also the long-term trauma that will devastate for years to come.”<br /><br />Specialists say the sound of bomb explosions could cause pregnant women to miscarry or have premature or still births. However, bombs are not the only source of trauma: “The leaflets and phone calls [from the Israeli military calling on residents to evacuate their homes] are also traumatising,” said Abu-Sway. <br /><br />According to the Gaza health ministry, as of 12 January 910 Palestinians have been killed, including 85 women and 292 children. Some 4,250 people have been injured, including 1,497 children and 626 women.<br /><br />“People are vulnerable, frightened and defenceless,” psychiatrist Eyad Al-Sarraj, director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme which operates three mental health clinics in Gaza, told IRIN by phone. “People are in a state of heightened anxiety, on constant alert due to the bombing.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__TKi6roz4xM/SW-qPmKvoBI/AAAAAAAAAbk/7zl8lAiRhhI/s1600-h/Gaza+2009+MAP"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__TKi6roz4xM/SW-qPmKvoBI/AAAAAAAAAbk/7zl8lAiRhhI/s320/Gaza+2009+MAP" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291635272103993362" /></a><br /><br />Trapped<br /><br />Residents have been trapped in their homes since the Israeli offensive began on 27 December 2008, without electricity and running water, while sanitation systems have collapsed.<br /><br />“Children are scared, cold - particularly at night - and trapped,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Merixie Mercato, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN. “It’s going to take time and a great deal of support for them to recover.”<br /><br />Since the ground invasion began on 3 January, 85 percent of the mobile phone network is down and a huge number of fixed lines are damaged or lack electricity, reported OCHA. This further isolates the population and causes them heightened anxiety, say specialists.<br /><br />As of 12 January, 28,116 residents had fled to 36 UNRWA (UN agency for Palestinian refugees) shelters, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which says tens of thousands have sought refuge in other locations.<br /><br />However, there are few safe places to flee to: As Hamas runs the civil police, schools and hospitals it is difficult for civilians to find an area without a Hamas institution, say local residents.<br /><br />Dwindling food, water supplies<br /><br />Dwindling food and drinking water supplies are causing widespread panic, according to residents.<br /><br />Hashem (who did not want to give his last name), a 24-year-old pharmacist from Gaza City, feels isolated without electricity, depending on his friends in the West Bank to relay the latest news via telephone.<br /><br />“I can hear the bombing from inside my house in Tal Al-Hawa. Every window in our home has been shattered,” Hashem told IRIN by phone. “People are hysterical, suffering from terrible anxiety - there is no safe place in Gaza, even at home.”<br /><br />Three of the five community mental health centres run by the health ministry are operating in Gaza for a limited duration during the mornings. One centre was damaged by the bombing and another, surrounded by Israeli forces, cannot be accessed, said WHO’s Abu-Sway. UNRWA is offering psycho-social counselling at its emergency shelters, he said.<br /><br />UNICEF, in partnership with the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution in Gaza, is operating a 24-hour toll-free help-line offering support to Gaza residents. “Most parents report panic and fear amongst their children,” UNICEF spokesperson Monica Awad, based in Jerusalem, told IRIN.<br /><br /><br />[ENDS]<br />Report can be found online at:<br />http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82335Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-44572367593252714332009-01-10T14:12:00.000-08:002009-01-10T16:15:21.703-08:00Meet the children left to die among the bodies of their parents and families<embed src="http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1184614595" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=6709226001&playerId=1184614595&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed>Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-3824222728661281522009-01-09T15:25:00.001-08:002009-01-09T15:25:42.756-08:00Toll on Gaza's children 3:53 Louis-Georges Arsenault of UNICEF's Emergency Programmes tells CNN Gaza children are facing an unbearable situation.<script src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/js/2.0/video/evp/module.js?loc=dom&vid=/video/world/2009/01/09/intv.arsenault.gaza.children.cnn" type="text/javascript"></script><noscript>Embedded video from <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video">CNN Video</a></noscript>Cindy Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10085737007413565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-24946728346232372682008-11-12T12:36:00.000-08:002008-11-28T12:45:34.046-08:00New Restrictions on Mobility of Medical Personnel in the West Bank<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As of Sunday, November 2nd, 2008, new Israeli army guidelines are in force, requiring Palestinian medical personnel from the West Bank who work in Jerusalem hospitals to come in only through the Qalandiya checkpoint in Ramallah. Medical personnel from the West Bank are prohibited from coming to work through other checkpoints, even if these are closer to where they live.<br /><br />Since November 2nd, 2008, many medical personnel who have been prevented by the military authorities from going to work have contacted Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, the Palestineian Medical Relief Society. Today, Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, about 100 Palestinian medical personnel held a demonstration at the Qalandiya terminal to protest the new restrictions.<br /><br />Requiring all Palestinian medical personnel to come to work via the Qalandiya terminal forces them to go through many checkpoints inside the West Bank, spend many hours on the road and on long lines at the Qalandiya terminal, which is more crowded than any of the other checkpoints on the West Bank, in order to get to work. This, despite the fact that they carry documents authorizing them to travel to their workplaces in Israel.<br /><br />Not only does this new regulation disrupt the schedules of these medical personnel, delays them and makes them late for work, but it also disrupts the orderly operation of the hospitals in which they are employed, rather than making it easier for this segment of the work force that needs accessible, fast and unrestricted passage through the checkpoints.<br /><br />This restriction is another addition to the ongoing Israeli policy intended to weaken the connection between Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem and the population of the West Bank, in an attempt to harm their special status as Palestinian institutions operating in Jerusalem. Using “bureaucratic” methods and/or “security” arguments for political purposes is an attempt to deceive everyone involved as well as the international community, and in fact represents a change in the status quo in Jerusalem that Israel has committed itself to preserve.<br /><br />Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society demand that this restriction be lifted immediately, and calls upon the Israeli medical community, and the international medical community, to intervene now in order to protect the right of Palestinian medical personnel to travel freely for their work.<br /><br />For additional information please contact Mr. Ran Yaron, Director of the Occupied Territories department, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Tel. +972-(0)54-757-7696, e-mail: ranyaron@phr.org.il<br />Or Ms. Bahia Amra, External Relations Department, Palestinian Medical Relief Society- Ramallah. Tel. +972- (0)59-994-0073, e-mail: bahiaamra@hotmail.com </span></span><br /></span>Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-16917344147235999552008-10-28T12:59:00.000-07:002008-11-03T13:05:36.031-08:00International participants in conference on Gaza siege denied entry<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><p class="ntext" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 6px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; ">Oct. 28, 2008</p><p class="ntext" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 6px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; ">Jerusalem / PNN - The Israeli administration denied entrance to a major group of international academics, physicians and health professionals seeking to participate in a Gaza Strip conference.</p><p class="ntext" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 6px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; ">“Siege and Mental Health, Walls vs. Bridges” will now be held via video conference on Monday and Tuesday instead of face-to-face due to the siege it intends to discuss.</p><p class="ntext" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 6px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; ">Although the 120 slated participants in the Gaza Community Mental Health Program conference had applied for prior permission to pass the Erez Checkpoint, Israeli forces denied all entry permits without offering a reason.</p><p class="ntext" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 6px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; ">Participants issued a statement reading in part, “We, the conference participants, protest this last-minute decision by the Israeli authorities and regard it as a deliberate attempt to stop professional communication and exchange between the international medical community and Gaza medical professionals.”</p><p class="ntext" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 6px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; ">At a Sunday press conference in East Jerusalem, Professor Alice Rothschild, Harvard Medical School, USA, Professor Dr. W.H.G. Wolters, the Netherlands, Professor Federico Allodi, University of Toronto, Canada, Dr. Ghada Karmi, University of Exeter, UK, Professor James Deutsch, University of Toronto, Canada, Judy Deutsch, psychiatric social worker, Toronto, Canada, and Dr. Eyyad Sarraj, of Gaza who spoke via telephone today, expressed their protest.</p><p class="ntext" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 6px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; ">The two-day conference, co-sponsored by the World Health Organization, will cover the impact of the ongoing Israeli siege on physical and medical health in the Gaza Strip. Prepared presentations include work on violence, social stress, poverty and children’s mental health. After being denied entry permits for Gaza the international participants decided to come to the West Bank in a stated show of support for the besieged residents of the Gaza Strip. They will join in the conference via video from Ramallah.</p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:14px;">A request for entry for 80 of the international experts from countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Holland and Italy was submitted to the Israeli administration by the WHO Gaza office on 28 September. But on 13 October the Israeli military at Erez informed the WHO that all of the requests were denied without giving any reason.</span>Amineh Ayyadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07560178716951134028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-57888005066978994142008-08-02T12:22:00.000-07:002008-08-02T12:36:14.084-07:00Settlements<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxVfRqCDgnk8X8CmPtpfNH5RDK1WkovTUyBWpIy_QKRyGah6DERK6S_qvUnb_Q0XfO0nqOEUR-qfA4MvQS8lcknBRl7ORYnp4_gyATdhwhGKYGDoYZ_JXo3bBsMc6BFBE6R5vY-5tlQkS/s1600-h/DSCN2555.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxVfRqCDgnk8X8CmPtpfNH5RDK1WkovTUyBWpIy_QKRyGah6DERK6S_qvUnb_Q0XfO0nqOEUR-qfA4MvQS8lcknBRl7ORYnp4_gyATdhwhGKYGDoYZ_JXo3bBsMc6BFBE6R5vY-5tlQkS/s200/DSCN2555.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230005198046875026" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Mechanisms of Israeli rule in the West Bank include control of the movement of populations along roads through checkpoints, random arrests and detainments, and home demolitions. The occupation also takes on a civilian aspect, as Israeli settlers move into Palestinian areas, a practice that began in 1967 and now amounts to 450,000 settlers in 149 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. While settling civilians into occupied terrorities is contrary to international law, the settlement population continues to grow at a rate of more than double that of the population expansion in Israel; growth rate averages at 5.5% a year between 1987 and 2004 (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), 2007b).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRl7XWtXaf9alre1HlCtdJumYjrBry6QlMi-xXT1M05WuBDXVt357RlJQui3PXseNhX_4PiBpaLbM_egNkjzVL6AZpRw6M6leAioF1vVt4LlChd51i_uKHwCkoKTK3g5mZrEnJMRcgrLR8/s1600-h/DSCN2569.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRl7XWtXaf9alre1HlCtdJumYjrBry6QlMi-xXT1M05WuBDXVt357RlJQui3PXseNhX_4PiBpaLbM_egNkjzVL6AZpRw6M6leAioF1vVt4LlChd51i_uKHwCkoKTK3g5mZrEnJMRcgrLR8/s200/DSCN2569.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230005190977294818" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The now more than 149 Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank are an integral component of the Israeli closure policies and practices. Despite the 4th Geneva Convention prohibition on moving civilian populations into occupied territories, the settlement population in Palestine increased by almost 150% between 1987 and 2004, now totaling 450,000 (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), 2007b). The United Nations Security Council and the International Court of Justice have declared the continued establishment of settlements illegal. These settlements are linked to each other through a comprehensive network of roads and tunnels, on which Palestinians are not allowed to travel.<br /><br /><br />In the time between last summer and this summer, settlements in the West Bank ap<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3pK2A3PN4hAIGLDLbLI4v_cpGT1M3eX9oHCEXBYKT2WMr70lY2MEwxTXxa-dignx7yuyodN0Bi18nFYe-94NopTl5JDSOaIRUzebFPPR9coVmHc2MevzbSqfLlCIEISaGuwzVNIsAuR4/s1600-h/DSCN2561.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3pK2A3PN4hAIGLDLbLI4v_cpGT1M3eX9oHCEXBYKT2WMr70lY2MEwxTXxa-dignx7yuyodN0Bi18nFYe-94NopTl5JDSOaIRUzebFPPR9coVmHc2MevzbSqfLlCIEISaGuwzVNIsAuR4/s200/DSCN2561.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230005191442183058" border="0" /></a>pear to have increased. In a recent trip with the mobile clinic, I saw many road signs with the Arabic either crossed out or covered with stickers advertising settlements.<br /><br />News of settler violence has increased sharply. Ha’aretz ran a story this morning about a settler who threw a brick through the car of a Palestinian woman and her smal child. In the evening, Ma’an News reported that Israeli settlers attacked a wedding partyi in Al Khalil (Hebron), and pushed a 15 year old Palestinian boy from his roof, breaking ihis back. (http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30999)<br /><br />On the 25th of July Ma’an News reported “three Israeli settlers, one masked and wielding a stick, pursued 14 Palestinian children who were on their way to a summer camp.” Although there had been an arrangement that Israeli military would excort the children, military personeel never arrived to do so. A few days later, there were reports that American solidarity workers from Christian Peacemakers who arrived to escort the children had been attacked by settlers so severely that one had to be taken to the hospital to treat a head injury he sustained. (http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30855)<br /><br />In all sorts of settings in Palestine, acts of violence are often extreme and sudden-house invasions, arrests, beatings. But there is another sort of violence that is slower, often more deliberate, and sustained over time. Through research we’ve been working on this summer we’ve heard many stories from women about the unrelenting stressors of occupation that rarely make the news. Settlements, perched on hills surrounding Palestinian villages, connected by roads accessible only to Israelis, suffocate both the tangible resources in Palestine and the ability of one’s mind to relax and simply enjoy a view. There was only one village in Palestine where I had the pleasure of looking at simple hills of Palestine. It’s a valuable and rare memory...sitting on a roof, eating watermelon, imagining what it must have been like before all of this...<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvnBJS8E00yqChHZlNZDjwj57p73c-UvwGgNOeRiPeT8qhrsVZvknHBezf8eaqQjdwtVk6RbxN-nMrgkzceS7BCIIMqLD6b989pEkdK5ahozRie54xH8kY_btLNK3_qBgMCSDjHAzCoutw/s1600-h/DSCN1379.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvnBJS8E00yqChHZlNZDjwj57p73c-UvwGgNOeRiPeT8qhrsVZvknHBezf8eaqQjdwtVk6RbxN-nMrgkzceS7BCIIMqLD6b989pEkdK5ahozRie54xH8kY_btLNK3_qBgMCSDjHAzCoutw/s200/DSCN1379.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230005198166384594" border="0" /></a></div>Cindy Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10085737007413565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886373143603419497.post-4543733035188176762008-07-29T12:25:00.000-07:002008-07-29T12:28:23.337-07:00Ten-year-old boy killed by Israeli forces during clashes in Ni'linMaan News Agency<br />Date: 29 / 07 / 2008 Time: 19:59<br /><br />Ramallah – Ma'an – Ten-year-old Ahmad Husam Yousef Musa was killed by Israeli forces on Tuesday evening during clashes in the village of Ni'lin, west of Ramallah.<br /><br />Eyewitnesses reported that the child was shot in the head and died immediately. His body was transferred to Ramallah hospital.<br /><br />The former mayor of Ni'lin, Muhammad Srour, told Ma'an that while the Israeli bulldozers were finishing their daily work on the separation wall in the village, Israeli troops fired live ammunition directly at demonstrators who had gathered at the wall construction site.<br /><br />Ni'lin residents have staged daily protests and marches against the separation wall, which is being built on the village's land. Some 77 demonstrations, sit-ins, and protests against the wall have been held in the village so far. The Israeli military frequently responds by shooting tear gas, sound bombs, rubber-coated metal bullets and live ammunition towards demonstrators and bystanders.<br /><br />The Israeli wall will confiscate some 2,500 dunams of land belonging to the village, whose residents depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. A dunam is 1,000 square metres or approximately a quarter of an acre.<br /> <br />-http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30905<br /><br /><p> <b>JERUSALEM (CNN)</b> -- Israeli soldiers Tuesday fired shots near a group of Palestinian youths during a demonstration in the West Bank, killing a 9-year-old boy, eyewitnesses told CNN.</p> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <!--endclickprintexclude--><p> The Israeli military released a statement saying it is "conducting a careful and thorough examination" into the reported incident, including a joint medical investigation with Palestinian medical personnel. </p><p> The military said the head of Israel's Central Command, Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni, "is following the investigation closely." </p><p> The incident happened during a demonstration against an Israeli security barrier near the village of Nil'in, which is near Ramallah.</p><p> There have been numerous demonstrations near the village in recent months against the security barrier that Palestinians say will result in the seizure of their land.</p> Israel says the security barrier is necessary to prevent terrorists from entering Israel and taking lives. But Palestinians say the barrier is an illegal land grab that also restricts them from traveling to work in Israel.<br /><br />http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/29/israel.palestinians/index.htmlCindy Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10085737007413565368noreply@blogger.com0