Unexpected Five at Al Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital:

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A 25 year old mother lies down, recovering after giving birth to quintuplets, a highlight of Gazan news amidst the internal family disputes occurring in the Khan Younis refugee Camp in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

In Al Shifa’s Cesarean department, Laila Abu Nofal delivered four baby boys and a fifth unexpected gift: a baby girl.

Mohammed Nofal, the 28 year old father of the newborn babies, mentions in an interview that while his wife had taken hormone treatments to get pregnant, they never expected to have five babies at once.

The five babies cause a commotion in Al Shifa’s maternity ward, where the newborns lie side by side, five new heads in a line. This brings to mind a similarly phenomenal event last year, when a woman had six babies in the same Gaza Strip hospital.

Mohammed Nofal mentioned that he already has one five year old girl and another six year old boy. When asked if they had named the newborns yet, he replied that everyone in the family had chosen names for the five infants, deciding upon: Mohammed, Ahmed, Hussam, Abdullrahman, and Iman, for the baby girl.

The crucial question remains whether Mohammed Nofal will be able to raise their five new babies, especially as they will require special care. Mohammed works as a policeman in Gaza, and like the rest of Palestinians working for the Palestinian Authority, he has not received his salary for many months, since sanctions were imposed by the US, Israel and the EU. Even if he is receiving his salary, $460 is not enough money for milk and other expenses for all his children. He wonders how he is going to raise his quintuplets, when, additionally, his parents also need help.

Only if the sanctions imposed on Palestinians by the international community are lifted will the challenge of providing for his extensive family become more feasible. The extreme poverty of most Palestinians in Gaza is so severe that in addition to the lifting of the sanctions, humanitarian funding is necessary, so that the new born babies can count on a bottle of milk, and malnourished children throughout the Strip can avoid irreparable damage.

On one side of Gaza, in Gaza City, new babies are born; but in Khan Younis, another five people were killed in a family dispute. And, according to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, another 45 Palestinians were injured.

Everyday, people are killed in the Gaza Strip, but people are still getting married, despite the grave situation; people are still having children, as all believe this appalling situation can’t last forever. Perhaps those newborn babies will enjoy a safe and unoccupied Palestine. But only if ‘civilized’ countries want them to; only if the international community
truly wakes up and takes decisions to end the embargo on Palestinians, restore our right to earning a livelihood, and compensate the great losses we have suffered as a result both of the sanctions and Israel’s ban on fishing and exporting.

19 February 07

Love Exists but Few Flower Sales Expected

Flowers for Valentine

Flowershop owner arranging his flowers

A Palestinian man bringing flowers to his family

Valentine Day in Gaza

Valentine’s Day is coming to Palestine… but the shops are not expected to be open selling flowers as in Europe, the US, or elsewhere throughout the world. While Arab societies like Palestine in the past did not customarily celebrate Valentine’s Day, a small number of people, in certain areas of occupied Palestine, nonetheless, now do celebrate it.

In the Rafah refugee camp, flower shop owner, 27 year old Iyad Abu Shra'ar, meticulously selects flowers to display outside of his small shop, in preparation for Valentine’s Day. "I started preparing for the occasion for many days ago—generally, I look forward to this day every year, as I can sell bouquets for 8 NIS ($2 US) instead of the 4 NIS on a normal day." Despite his expectations, Abu Shra’ar doesn’t deny that flower sales here are but a modicum of sales in many other parts of the world on the Hallmark day of love, as very few buy flowers.

Standing outside of his shop, Ala Abu Sereh, 25 years old and a student at Al Azhar University, comments on Valentine’s Day: "It's a day like any other day—and we should not make a big deal over it." After a pause, he continues, saying "In any case, philosophies and religions principles around the world encourage people to have good relationships with one another, based on love and forgiveness."

Others might agree with him on the de-prioritizing of the day, as many of the people who see the flowers, remark dryly:" It's not as if we have the money for food and clothes, so why even consider buying flowers?"

Many young Palestinians are not as optimistic for Valentine’s Day as youths around the world—possibly for religious reasons, but more likely due to the suffocating political and security reality in the Gaza Strip.

Aseel, a 23 year old female student at Al Aqsa University, disagrees: "Valentine’s Day is a nice occasion for me and for all youths seeking a way out of this grave situation; it’s a temporary breath of fresh air from the daily worries, sorrows, and tensions" she says. "On this day, we should consider looking for happiness and renewing the stifled love buried deeply inside ourselves, and I do believe that offering beautiful flowers to someone is the best way to express our love on such a day."

"I believe that love does not happen just for one day, but everyday, as between husband and wife, son and father, father and daughter, brother and brother," she adds. Continuing, Aseel says: "Love is a beautiful thing, quite apart from the violence and terrorism which the US and Europe accuse us of—so we should express our love in every day, every minute, and everywhere, whenever there is chance."

Away from Rafah’s poverty, in Gaza City where the life is a bit better, some Christian Palestinian families in do consider this day special; various shops are decorated with red flowers, words below declaring “I Love You.”

Sameh, 34, who prefers for safety reasons not to reveal his family name or his job, graduated from a West Bank university where he fell in love with a girl from the West Bank who he used to study with in Ramallah. But his love continues to linger there: "My heart is still there—it's painful to think about it now, on this day of love, when I can't reach my dearest girl friend," he laments.

"We used to go to restaurants together when I was a student. Keeping in touch by telephone is never enough, especially in such bad circumstances," he says, avowing that he will never marry, save for this girl who he refuses to name.

"I have not been able to see her since 2000, and now the Israeli Occupation Forces do not give me permission to go there."

Sameh and his sweetheart are but one of many separated loves divided by the Israeli checkpoints. But Sameh, against the military occupation, has a weapon named "Love" and retains the constant hope to eventually see his girlfriend.

11 February 07

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Palestinian women celebrating in Gaza
Celebrations in the streets

Seed of Hope Planted with new Palestinian National Unity Government: But is there water to help it grow?

"I have been waiting for this day for so long—I can't believe that it's happening: a ceasefire! Today we should celebrate," exulted a 23 year old Gaza City man, draped half out of the car he rode in, Palestinian flags waving. All around, the honking of cars celebrated the Mecca agreement between Palestine’s two largest parties, Hamas and Fateh.

Throughout the Gaza Strip, celebratory gunfire rang out and fireworks lit the skies of the violence-plagued region, following the signing of a Hamas-Fatah power-sharing agreement that seems to have pulled the two sides back from the brink of civil war. As soon as the deal had been reached, with Fatah and Hamas leaders shaking hands before television cameras, Palestinians took to the streets, this time not protesting, but celebrating the success of forming a national unity government.

Umm Ibrahim, 62, from Rafah, stated: "Now, I hope that the US and Israel have no further excuses to cut aid to Palestinians. We hope this agreement will end this grave situation and our suffering." She added: "We will keep hoping, and we congratulate both parties and encourage them not to let enemies destroy them, as all our bodies suffer the same pain."

However, there are serious doubts that the new unity government agreement will be enough to persuade the EU, the United States, Israel, and other countries to lift their economic and political embargo on the Palestinians. The boycott, which started following the democratic election of Hamas, January 25, 2006, sees approximately $1 billion in foreign aid frozen annually, not to mention roughly $500 million of Palestinian taxes collected and withheld by Israel.

As part of the reported deal, the two sides would divvy up cabinet posts — nine for Hamas, six for Fatah, and four to independents — in a government to be headed by the current prime minister and Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Significantly, in compliance with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ demand, Hamas would also agree to “respect” previous international agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), including the 1993 Oslo agreement which Hamas has rejected from the start. Both parties agreed to rebuild the PLO, which is the only representative body for Palestinians.

Significant Timing

The Mecca agreement comes as Palestinians have taken to the streets, together, in the past few days, to protest against excavations around Jerusalem’s Al -Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. After Friday prayers, indignation flared at Al Haram Al Sharif as hundreds of Israeli riot police entered the mosque compound, where Palestinians under the age of 45 had been barred entry. Police used stun grenades and tear gas to clear the crowds, arresting protesters. Over 20 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police. While Israeli officials state the excavations are “necessary renovations” and are far away from the mosque, Palestinians maintain that important structures have been destroyed and that the digging could damage the foundation of key parts of Al-Aqsa. The timing, if nothing else, is significant, the destruction having started in the midst of heightened tensions. Even if Israeli claims are true of having planned the reconstruction earlier, it remains clearly strategically timed to inflame tensions, as past excavation attempts have (1996, 2000), disdain Muslim religious sensitivities, and further demoralize Palestinians.

A Significant Location

President Abbas, of Fatah, and Khaled Meshaal, leader of Hamas now exiled in Damascus, signed the deal in a Mecca palace, overlooking the Great Mosque which houses Islam’s holiest shrine, the Kaaba. In attendance were Saudi King Abdullah, various government members, and representatives from both Hamas and Fatah.

Meshaal said the Mecca accord, “will unify our ranks. There is a commitment and unity. We will preserve this partnership.” More than 290 people were killed and injured in Gaza in the four days of inter-factional fighting that preceded the emergency talks.

While ceasefires and unity agreements between the feuding factions have been struck before, only to dissolve into more in-fighting, Meshaal promised this accord would not be broken. “I tell those who fear that the fate of this agreement will be the same fate of the old ones…we have pledged our allegiance to God at this sacred place and we will go back to our country fully committed to it.” He spoke live on Al Jazeera TV during the meeting.

Near the end of the meeting, a letter was distributed from president Abbas, asking Haniyeh to form a government that would “respect international resolutions and the agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization.” Abbas had sought to have the word “abide” inserted instead of “respect,” but was rebuffed by Hamas, which had maintained that it would not explicitly recognize the state of Israel in the agreement.

The Future in Question

Even if the deal succeeds in ending the intra-Palestinian violence, questions remain over whether it will be enough to end the international aid boycott that has deprived the Palestinian Authority of hundreds of millions of dollars, rendering the lives of Palestinians further grievous, when 70% of Palestinians are already living under poverty line, and 25% of Palestinian children are malnourished, according to numerous sources and statistics.

In response to Hamas’ commitment to “respect” rather than “abide by” previous agreements, US officials remain ambiguous on whether the freeze on aid money will remain, stating the administration will wait until a February 21 Quartet meeting in Berlin. Tom Casey, State Department spokesman, said: "the US position on Hamas hasn't changed. It's an armed terrorist organization and that places restrictions on US activities and US engagement."

Among Palestinians, hopes are rising again, the two main parties having brokered a calm. Will this be an opportunity for Palestinians to have peaceful lives, to know healthy standards of living, to have enough food to counter the severe levels of malnutrition and starvation? These are question that urgently need outcomes. The involvement of peace-brokers is required in such times. The US, Israel and the EU now remain key “deciders” on the progress of peace. Will what they decide be in the interests of a true peace which respects and compensates Palestinians for their long suffering?

7 February 07

Return to the Gaza City Mortuary:

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Palestinians in Rafah call for end to internal fighting and replace it by brotherhood

Palestinian child pretending being injured during a protest demonstration in Rafah

Palestinian teachers protest internal faction fightings and political fanticism in Rafah

Palestinian passangers waiting to cross Rafah border into the outside the world as the border has been closed for nearly a month

Palestinian children burning plastic wepons as a symoble of ending fighting

Palestinian children feigning death during a protest against internal fighting in Rafah Refugee Camp

“For what crime are we being cold-bloodedly killed? we are only passing by, with no connection to Hamas or Fatah,” said the mother of one of the children killed during Hamas-Fatah clashes in Gaza City few days ago.

Inside Al Shifa hospital, the mother had come to see the body of her child, Anas, killed in the fighting. Young men carry Anas’ body, taking it from the refrigerator to the funeral. The mother screams, before collapsing, "For God's sake, please, please let me have a last look at his body, for just one minute!" She continues screaming and crying, her cries heard throughout the hospital.

It starts me thinking. Why should all those kids and innocents be killed?

It seems to be Madam Secretary Rice’s new Middle East plan: ship weapons from the US to support Abbas so he can fight Hamas. This, no doubt, causes tragedies in Palestinian streets. Wherever you go, you see people are devastated and so terribly scared that any shred of hope disappears every time there is the possibility that such clashes might end.

Saudi Arabia invited both Fateh and Hamas for talks. These negotiations are considered to be the last chance, among nine previous attempts, to stop further bloodshed. But the coming days will show Gaza’s future: will a coalition national unity government be formed, or will the violence continue? Forming a national unity government, however, means that it will be up to the US administration whether or not to approve the government.

"Enough is enough—we are scared, there are no results on the ground, we need to live. I can no longer go out of my home—there is shooting and fighting everywhere and it scares our children," said a 52 year old woman, just leaving her house after a ceasefire announcement between the two main political factions.

There is little doubt that hidden agendas lie behind most of the recent chaos and fighting in Gaza. With each ceasefire agreement from both Fateh and Hamas come unidentified people breaking the ceasefire by starting clashes in some areas, leading to other rounds of violence and destruction.

In Rafah, the Children's Mini-Parliament took to the streets in a large demonstration, asking both parties to end the fighting immediately. The children, protesting against the internal fighting, appealed to all parties to find an end to all the damage, damage which the children call, "a free gift to the Israeli Occupation."

A shaky ceasefire between warring Palestinian factions in Gaza teetered but then appeared to take hold on Monday as the guns, mortars and grenades fell silent for the first time in days. As quiet returned to Gaza City's streets, residents ventured tentatively out of their homes amid the first bout of calm since Thursday.

Yet, in the coming days, a new round of violence is expected, due to damage from Israeli excavation work to Islam’s third-holiest shrine, Al Aqsa mosque, from Israeli excavation work near a compound housing the mosque.

The governing Hamas movement said "any assault" on the sacred mosque "will lead to a termination of the limited ceasefire" declared in November and would spark "a volcano of anger."

Israel's opening of an entrance to an archaeological tunnel near Haram Al Sharif in 1996 triggered Palestinian protests and led to clashes in which 61 Arabs and 15 Israeli soldiers were killed. Many Palestinians fear that this recent Israeli excavation will open an endless round of violence in protest to the violation of Islamic sites.

This morning, Al Jazeera TV and other eye-witnesses said that two bulldozers began breaking up parts of the pavement at the foot of the ramp next to Al Aqsa Mosque, damaged by a snowstorm and an earthquake in 2004, to clear the way for what the authority called a "salvage excavation."

Today there have been large numbers of demonstrations throughout the Gaza Strip. One women’s demonstration asked for the protection of Al Aqsa. Palestinian academics, as well, asked the world to stop such excavation actions, and appealed to all Palestinians to protect Al Aqsa mosque.

"This is where we should all be united. Instead of internal fighting, we need unity to end the violation of our holy Islamic sites," said a Palestinian teacher who preferred to remain anonymous.

The coming days may very well show new rounds of violence which might not end easily, despite the shaky truce between political factions that now exists.

3 February 07

Violence in Gaza is increasing in the last 48 hours

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Al Abbas police station right after the attack in Gaza City	Burned police cars during the attack in Gaza	Militants affiliated to presidential guards unit stop a cab close to their building in Gaza
Militant clashes between factions in Gaza	Palestinian militants blcoking gaza roads	Palestinian police offices were set on fire by militants affilaited to Hamas
A Palestinian house being demolsihed during the clashes	The library of the biggest University is set on fireby militants in Gaza City	This is the main junction for the university would have normally been busy with students. It is now a ghost town

Not yet 24 hours had passed on the cease-fire agreement between political factions Hamas and Fateh before clashes again erupted throughout the Gaza Strip.

This time, however, the infighting has resulted in 290 dead and injured Palestinians within a span of 24 hours, according to medical sources in Gaza. Most of the victims were civilians.

The deadly clashes re-began when Hamas gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying US-funded and manufactured weapons to US-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' guard unit in the Gaza Strip. Hamas gunmen managed to confiscate two trucks, loaded with weapons, tents, and generators, heading to Abbas. Even so, presidential guards managed to get the other trucks into Gaza City, via Kerem Shalom crossing, three kilometers away from Rafah.

Fateh and the Palestinian Authority (PA) claim that these trucks carried only supplies for the PA, and not weapons.

This has created tension and worsened the situation all over, as the militant build-up lies in the middle of the Gaza Strip, where the two trucks were confiscated. Fighting between Hamas and Fateh militants has broken out throughout Gaza, where all roads were closed.

A Palestinian intelligence chief loyal to Fateh was killed Friday in a Hamas attack against security service headquarters in the north of the Gaza Strip.

General Abdelqader Salim, in charge of intelligence in northern Gaza and deputy commander for the entire Gaza Strip, died in the attack in Jabaliya.

"Between 40 and 50 new recruits of the presidential guard were wounded and there are perhaps some killed," an official of the elite, Fateh-loyal Force 17 security service said by phone interview, on condition of anonymity.

Around 500 new recruits of Palestinian president and Fateh party leader Mahmoud Abbas’ force are being trained at the base, the same source added.

Abbas’ guards occupy Palestine’s largest university, the Islamic University in Gaza city.

PA president Abbas’ guards late Thursday occupied Gaza's Islamic University.

The forces destroyed many areas of the Islamic University,
including the largest conference hall and classrooms, as well as setting fire to the university campus. Different political factions clashed immediately with the presidential guards. Hamas’ main radio station claims the presidential guards stole equipment, computers, and university campus assets.

The presidential guard decided to move in on Hamas after they and other factions’ militants fired mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades at the offices of the Palestinian presidency in Gaza City.

Eight ceasefire agreements have left both sides smiling and shaking hands for TV cameras. But on the ground, the situation is getting much worse, as both sides provoke each other; one bullet is more than enough to shatter the truce.

Umm Kamal, a 48 year old mother, said while in a taxi “Oh God, they are all our sons, Hamas or Fateh, they are ours.”

“This is helping Israel, for the sake of God, I’m asking all our sons not to let the Israeli agenda succeed, enough blood shedding—I’m not able
to go to walk in the streets because of such clashes,” she added.

“You see, America is sending weapons to Abbas to fight Hamas and Palestinians, and this is the allegation of what the US called democracy,” the taxi driver commented in response, with a tone of frustration, stopped where he was by gunmen’s in-fighting on the way from Khan Younies refugee camp, in the south of Gaza.