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October 1, 2003:
Mohammed's younger brother Issam was seriously injured and was taken to the hospital about a week ago. His leg was amputated and he is undergoing medical treatment.

October 18, 2003:
Mohammad's younger brother, Hussam Al-Mouhagir [17 yrs old], was killed by the Israeli army today. Hussam was sitting at home when he was shot in the face, chest, back, legs. He had nothing to do with any violent or even political movement. Hussam's crime is that he was a Palestinian.
— The webmaster

RAFAH TODAY

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28 January 04

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In the last few days the shelling and the shooting have not stopped in the Rafah Cam p.
There was a large number of demolished houses in most of the areas in Rafah. It seems a routine, daily attacks, demolishing houses and no one would cares. Peter Henson, the UNRWA commissioner general, visited us a few days ago to make things clear here for the media. He came with a large group of UN members and journalists.. and visited demolished houses and the refugees in their tents and listened to the pain and suffering of the people in Rafah Refugee Camp. He came to deliver 32 houses for 24 families that was built as compensation instead of the houses that were demolished in the Khan Younes Refugee Camp. That compensation project failed because of the Israeli policy when they target the new houses that were built by UNRWA in Tal Al Sultan area. It was through that method that the Israelis killed the UNRWA activities in the Rafah Refugee Camp, and the only thing that they were able to do is provide the families with tents... some times..

I did an interview with Mr. Henson and asked him about what he thought of the situation in Rafah, and he answer ed: "This is not the first time we see destruction in Rafah.. it has been ongoing, and I don’t know how many times I have been down there and seen another camp completely flattened, seen people bereft of everything they have. It is actually quite
shocking to see the belongings. I have collected things like children's exercise books from schools and other personal belongings.. little mementos like that remind you of the experience of children being woken up at two o'clock at night by a bulldozers running over their house.You have a very striking picture of people fleeing. But fleeing to where? If
you are in Rafah, you can't go south because there is the border, you can't go west because there is an ocean, and you can't go north and you cant go east because there is no where to go. You can't get out of Gaza. So, many times over there is no longer anywhere to where you can flee. There are people gathering their belongings, house items like mattresses and kitchen utensils and so on, onto donkey carts, there was a big traffic jam of donkey carts trying to get away. It was very much this mixture of fear and palpable anger"

On the other hand, most of the homeless families used the opportunity of his visit to search under the rubble of their houses for their belongings and furniture, but that was not too long, because the Israeli watching tower began shooting in less than 100 meters where Mr. Henson and his group were standing, which forced him and his group to leave the area to another place..

As Mr. Henson recived some flowers from one of the Parliament children, Asma ( 8 yrs) gave him a bourquet of flowers written on it two words in Arabic" Rafah is consignment", and she asked him to build her a house near the rubble of her damaged house and said she wanted to live in peace, and far from Israeli aggressions.

The weather here is raining and some children are sitting in white tents that do not really protect them from cold and raining..

Peter Hensen, UN commissioner general and other internationals
during their visit to the damaged Rafah Refugee Camp

20 January 04

During the past few days, it was full of attacks, incursions and crimes, from western Rafah to Eastern Rafah there is no house that has not somehow been affected by the Israeli crimes, from the north of Rafah and the south of it would be hard for you to understand what is happening.. it was like an earthquake, damaged houses here and there. Three days ago the Israel i Army demolished a part of Al Tawhid mosque, and today they demolished the rest of it..

Two days ago, the IDF demolished three houses near the Morage settlements, and another few houses were demolished, leaving the children of Al Jaria and Al Malahay families without homes in the cold weather. They also demolished many olive trees and two other gardens of chickens and sheep in the same area..

On the other hand, the Palestinian Human Rights Center appealed to the international community to crack down on the Israeli Army in Rafah, as that decision came a few hours after the Israeli withdrawal from Rafah Camp leaving 10 demolished houses, a large number of injured people and another 5 partially demolished houses.. As the Palestinian Human Rights Center says, Rafah has largest number of demolished houses. In addition to that, the Israeli policy of demolishing houses is a war crime against international laws for human rights, but the international community is not speaking up. which is encouragin g the Israeli government to continue to demolish houses.

In the last attack in Rafah Refugee Camp, Israeli soldiers severely beat 15 year old Yehya Ibrahim Qandil, and his brothers 17 year old Ali, and 27 year old Mohammad last night northwest of Rafah City. According to medical sources at Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hospital they are all suffering from broken legs and arms. That crime comes after yesterday’s crime, where the Israeli Army which is armed with international weapons and under a massive
shelling from cannons, they demolished over 20 houses, and at least 6 people were injured.. The tanks and bulldozers withdrew just two hours ago since yesterday leaving many families demolished houses, injured people and many people in the tents..

Maybe it’s easy to read these words, just as you are sitting in your house, but can you imagine just for a moment if that child who lost his house is your son, your brother, or your sister? !

During that moments, the Israeli Army began in a new attacks just few hours after they withdraw from Block “O” area in Rafah and began in Tal Al Sultan area where they are still continuing up till that moment 4:37 PM. The injured people are 12 years old Mohammed Mahmoud Musa, Mohammed Abdelmajeed Abu Deban (9), Mohammed Darwish Saqer (9), and another old woman whom we do not know a name for. Abu Yusif Al Najjar hospital
says, that the injured people were seriously injured in different parts of their bodes, as the medical workers thought that the injured children were injured by a bomb which was as a toy form in Tal Al Sultan area..

According to the UNRWA office, the known houses that were demolished up till this moment belong to: Hamed Qeshta, Mohammed Qeshta, Ibrahin Qishta, Hamadan Qishta, Mohammed S Qusehta, Saeed Qieshta, Farid Queshta, Hesham Qeshta, Masoud Qeshta, Said S Queshta, and finally Hussam AL Shaer, in addition to other fam ilies who are not known up till that moment.. As the result of the whole attack there are 31 demolished houses, in addition to 5 partially demolished houses, and demolishing trees and damage the water supplies, electricity and phone lines..

Rafah families appeals to the world to stop what is happening here. Um Samir AbdeAl sits in the rubble of her house raising her hands towards the sky and weeping:” Is that legal what these criminals are doing against us? what did I do?! What did I do when the drunk bulldozer drivers demolished my house in less than 5 minutes?! Where are you Arabs? where is Human Rights? Where is world? where are those liars?” She also called on international journalist friends by saying”: What are you doing here?! You are all merchants, just coming here to cover for your own benefits and not for the sake of peace and justice. You were taking many photographs... what do we get from your photographs? The result is nothing but more incursions and attacks.”

Um A maar sits in the rubble of her house, weeping and crying because of what happened with her and her family. She began weeping and saying: ”They demolished the house, they demolished the furniture, they killed my son, they shot my son’s child, they removed us
from the earth, they don’t have a brain... where I should go? waiting for UNRWA mercy to bring me a tent, or Red Cross blankets?!, I don’t want anything. I want my house, my house and that’s all, my house, I want to sleep in that rubble now, I don’t want to leave. I want to die under the rubble of my house, but I will not leave. I will ever never leave. These Israelis came as our guests in 1948 and we hosted them, and is this the result of our hospitality?! That is the result: we became homeless and our guests became the owners of the land?!! No, no no I will not leave, I want to die here in this corner that I used to sit in all my life.”

That is the life in Rafah Refugee Camp, the Israeli soldiers shoot at every moving thing, even animals. Here is the end of the world, here is the place where they killed the truth, they killed Tom Hurndel, Rachel Coriee, and James Miller..

14 January 04

A new crime in the Rafah Refugee Camp: while the weather was very cold and raining, Israeli bulldozers demolished 10 houses in Block “O” area in Rafah Refugee Camp leaving all these families without any shelter..

Acording to Aby Yousif Al Najjar Hospital ”the Israeli Army shot 5 people, 3 of whom were children and two adults, one of them Osama Al Atrash (34) who was seriously injured in his head and leg.” An Ambulance driver said: ”Our ambulances weren’t able to reach the injured people while it was raining because all the streets were flooded with water which make it difficult for us to reach the injured people and transfer them to the hospital.”

Israeli soldiers also forced the Ghoneem family to leave their homes during the very cold weather. They beat the owner of the house when he tried to risk his life and bring blankets and clothes for his children.

That is simply the life in Rafah, homeless people every where, if you turn your face anywhere you will hear moaning and suffering which clear in the faces of the p eople.

As usual civilians are victims of the international technology: they are the victims of thoaw F16s, apaches, bulldozers, tanks that had been developed in countries that always talk about freedom, while they develop weapons and test them in Palestine and Rafah. I don’t know.. but aren't they ashamed of building their security through the blood of innocent
children?!

imagine how life will be in that house since the Israeli
occupation forces built a new watch towerr opposite to it. The house is
empty because the soldiers have been targeting the people who were living in it by
shooting the lights at night, and by shooting the water tanks and
demolishing the water pipes under the ground. The people were forced to
leave that house empty.

8 January 04

Hamed Abedelal (11) trying to get his bicycle out from the rubble
of his house which was demolished few months ago in Block O area in Rafah
Refugee Camp. Hammed has 13 brothers. He is one of the youngest of three children. His
father was shot in his neck, and his four brothers were injured. One of them who was burnt when their house get burned from the Israeli bullets. As a result, they became a few of the thousands of families who lost their homes, and who live in tents.

Breaking news: the weather is very cold now. It is raining and the people are leaving their houses in Hay Al Salam becuse of shooting from Isareli watching towers. Today they killed 47 yeras old man "Mahmoud Al Kurd" in Rafah Refugee Camp, leaving a dozen children who he cared after.

Still Israeli incursions continues. The Israeli Army attached one of the houses in West Rafah that belonged to Jaber Abu Shosha and two other houses were demolished in the south of Rafah Refugee Camp. This crime followed another where 7 Israeli tanks and 2 bulldozers came from the Israeli militant point near the entrance of Rafah and they demolished a house that belonged to Sultan Abu Snida, and another house that was related to Abdel Aziz Abu Shosha. They also partially demolished houses in the same areas which forced the people to leave their homes.

Another 8 tanks and two bulldozers attacked another area near the damaged international Gaza airport and left a large number of olive, cashew-nut and olive trees demolished, in addition to the punishments that the people received at the hands of the soldiers who beat the children and the women who weren’t able to escape from their homes.

< font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">During that times shelling continued in Block “J” Refugee Camp in Rafah when two Israeli bulldozers began removing the rubble of the damaged houses by burning holes and putting the rubble of the damaged houses inside it in order to appear as there if there were no houses before.

The last attack in Al Shawka area in Rafah was no different from other incurions. Two days after the attack they left 6 demolished houses that had included 31people, and partially demolished 3 houses in addition to demolishing the main streets in the area.

As usual there was no reason for the attacks except allegations that there are illegal tunnels smuggling weapons. The people here are denying it and, according to one of the citizens who prefered not to give his name: ”That attack was for demolishing old water wells that provide the area with water, and they came here only to demolish that water well and not tunnels as they said.”

1 January 04

Evening: the Rafah people are appealing to the media just two hours after the attacks on
Khan Younes when the tanks and bulldozers moved from Khan Younes into Rafah. They had a map that they were showing to the people in Rafah, near the Jewish settlement of Morag. Israeli soldiers began a step of appropriation of thousands of homes because they want to build a new iron wall which will divide Rafah into two parts..

Morning: They demolished the houses and killed a massive number of people; demolished the trees, blocked the roads, shelled the houses while people were sleeping in them, made a news watching towers and checkpoints, targeted journalists, medical and relief workers.. All these are crimes that they have committed and the world has known about for a long time. Changing faces of governments doesn’t mean changing poli cy, because it’s the same terror that aims at killing and murder.

Those are the crimes of the Israelis. The Israeli occupation is awful... they have professional soldiers, who, it seems, have graduated from an international school that taught them how to commit outrageous acts against Palestinians. This was clear in the murder of so many children in Rafah. Yahi Al Eid (8 yrs) was killed two years ago when he touched a small toy near the border line.. because it really was a bomb. Talking about this child will not give you the real image of him.. it will not show you the ambulance workers collecting parts of his body from all over the place. People, it seems, do not want to see the truth. They don’t want to see what is happening every day against human rights..

After all those crimes, and this large number of demolished houses, what is the result?
Answering that question was very clear on the streets of the Rafah Refugee Camp, when the weathe r was very cold and raining, and a large number of homeless people were leaving their tents because their tents were unable to protect them from the cold weather, wind and rain..

Maybe it’s easy to read these words, but it won't be easy to live one hour with those families. The homeless families took their tents and put them at the entrance of Rafah and blocked the roads and streets when the news about a new attack in Rafah and Khan Younes came. They blocked the roads and did not allow the political manger of President Arafat's office, Ramzi Khouri, and Gaza City governor Mohammed Al Qidwa to come in. Another minster, N. S, escaped from the homeless families in his jeep as he refused to listen to the pains of the homeless people.

Homeless families were asking the senior officials from PA: ” Where is the money that you got from the people? Have you not had enough of that money used outside of Palestine in international banks for your personal be nefit?”

Hussein Zanoun (52 yrs) whose house was demolished in the last attack in Yebna said: “ I don’t have any place to live in and that tent didn’t protect me and my children who are going to have their midterm exams soon."

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