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| Gaza City in November |
Gaza City |
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| Hamas supporters demonstrate against the decsion by the Israeli Supreme Court which gave the government one week cut off poewe on Gaza |
Palestinian fishermen fishing as Ashkelon port can be seen in the background of the photo. One Palestinian fisherman was criticaly injured today |
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| Palestinian unity and end to Israeli siege |
Palestinian women call for unity |
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| Protest close to unknown soldier area in Gaza City |
Women attend a protest demanding Hamas and Fatah for dialogue in Palestine |
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| Palestinians calling for Palestinian unity between Hamas and Fatah factions |
Hamas supporters demonstrate against the Israeli siege on Gaza Strip |
Electricity Cuts Spell Impending Humanitarian Disaster
Israel plans to greatly reduce the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip beginning December 2, according to Jamal Al Dardasawi, spokesman of The Palestinian Electricity Company. Although Israel has given advance notice of its plans, this pre-punishment time will do nothing to alleviate the catastrophic consequences which will ensue, given that borders and firmly shut and Gazans will have no way to prepare and compensate for this vital loss.
The announcement of Israel’s latest collective punishment of Gazans comes despite denunciations and vocal outcry from Palestinian and international human rights groups recognizing as collective punishment the policy of cutting back utilities to Gaza.
The Gaza Strip is facing increasing hardships as a result of Israel’s closure of Gazan borders and the consequent near-complete shutting down of Gaza’s economy since last June. Several weeks ago Israel began cutting back on fuel supplies, but planned electricity reductions were delayed by an order from Israel's attorney general, who expressed concerns about humanitarian harm.
Irrational Rationalizations
Initially, Israeli officials rationalized the utilities cutbacks as a way of persuading the Palestinian population to pressure Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets at southern Israel. Following an uproar over the prospect of further harming the already poverty stricken Gaza population, Israel said the cutbacks were part of its disengagement from Gaza, when Israel withdrew its troops and dismantled all Jewish settlements in the summer of 2005. Yet, this explanation holds little veracity, as Israel continues to militarily occupy the Gaza Strip with its near-daily invasions and killings all over the Strip.
Israeli human rights group, Gisha, projected that electricity cuts would “cause certain and serious harm to the health and well-being of Gaza residents.” Sari Bashi, Executive Director of Gisha, said there was “no physical way to reduce electricity supplies to Gaza without forcing power outages for hospitals, clinics, water wells, sewage treatment plants and schools.”
Al Dardasawi reported that “Gaza depends by 65% on Israel’s electricity. The rest comes from fuel, which also comes through Israel.” He stated that this will cause enormous harm to Palestinians, and will greatly affect their daily life, in terms of cooking, refrigeration, not to mention the running of hospitals.
A mother of 6 children, Asma Talal said she was concerned about this shortage of electricity: “What are we going to do, live with no refrigerators to keep our food? And how is a house going to function with no electricity?” she asked. “This makes people more violent and doesn’t bring peace, not to Palestinians and not to Israelis,” she added.
Even the Dead…
Israel’s siege is not only creating a living Hell for the 1.4 million living in the Gaza Strip: the dead are also affected. In addition to the very vital food and medical supplies which Israel is preventing from entering Gaza, cement and building materials are also being denied entry. As a result, those who die, an increasing number of who are killed by invading Israeli forces or border closures, will have no burial place. Without the cement for graves, it isn’t possible to adequately construct gravesites.
More than ever, this makes Gazans wonder, how and when is this siege going to end, if we don’t even have cement to build graves to bury our dead, casualties of this international siege on us? Is there any humanity left, when the world only remains glaringly silent on starving and killing Gaza in every way possible? Our basic needs have been starved. Our education is being rendered impossible, here and abroad. Our dead have no peace. And why? Only because the people have voted for Hamas, a political party whose participation in the 2006 elections was not largely contested until after their successful and transparent election?
Yesterday, Palestinian farmers went to the streets, throwing out flowers and strawberries, goods which Israel is not permitting to move beyond heavily locked-down borders. With these borders still closed after so many months, farmers instead gave flowers to feed the cows, camels and sheep.
Thus, the siege has also hugely affected the Palestinian farmers who depend on and wait for the flower and strawberries season to export their goods to European markets. The loss is substantial, estimated at millions of dollars, as Gaza normally exports 60 million flowers each year. This time, instead of generating a much-needed income for the economically and basic foodstuff-starved Gazans, flowers, trampled and useless, were thrown to animals for nourishment. In the end, the animals came out better than we Gazans.
Today, Israeli troops killed two Palestinian farmers near the fence on the Gaza Strip's northern border with Israel, Palestinian hospital officials said today. Both of them are brothers and in their early 40s. The farmers were working in their land, and other fisherman was injured and in critical conditions at Gaza's based hospital.
There was no way that 20-year-old Gaza resident Nail Al Kurdi could hide his pain for a long time. He died, succumbing to his cancer, last weekend while awaiting approval to enter Israel for medical treatment at Israel’s Erez crossing.
Physicians for Human Rights, an Israeli peace group, has been working to get seriously ill Palestinians out of Gaza, past closed borders. Lately, however, many of their requests to the Shin Bet security service have been denied. Israel has been refusing entry permits to many cancer patients with serious cases who soon after end up dying. As happened with Nail, who died under the rationalization: “denied for security reasons.”
The rights group said Sunday that they had been submitting requests to allow Al Kurdi’s entrance into Israel since July, but each appeal was rejected. In light of the state’s refusal, the group petitioned the High Court of Justice for the right to bring Al Kurdi in for treatment. In the end, he was not granted an entry permit to an Israeli hospital, and as a result he died. His is not the only case in Gaza: the following day, an 8 year old boy died waiting for medical treatment in Israel. The boy had the vital permit but was turned back repeatedly at the border, dying as a consequence.
It is estimated that there are another one thousand people who need outside healthcare, many of whom have cancer and head diseases, in addition to those who were injured during the on-going Israeli attacks. Moreover, while many have died waiting for outside healthcare, many others are no longer able to get the medical attention they need in Gaza, due to the shortages of medicine which has affected the capacity of hospitals in Gaza.
Protests Within
Palestinian factions have continued launching home-made rockets towards Israel, stating that these rocket attacks are against the killings and daily crimes committed by Israel. No injuries were reported on the Israeli side. Yet, Israel responds with military might, and so it goes on.
Patients protested in Al Shifa hospital, but it seems to be that the world turned a deaf ear and blind eye, a sign: we don’t care even if you die.
Last week, at Arafat’s rally, 8 Palestinians died and many were injured when clashes started between members of Palestinian police and crowds. Both Hamas and Fatah have been exchanging accusations of responsibility. Dismissed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Hanyeh has called for an “investigative committee” to determine the cause. He has also called for the release of all detained people who took part in Arafat’s rally but who were not involved in Monday’s riot.
On-Going Lockdown
Gaza has been fully under siege since Israel dubbed the entire Strip and its 1.5 million civilian residents a “hostile entity.” The grave situation has affected people in all realms, including in general aspects, such as buying a small thing like washing powder or cleaning liquid. “I can't stand it; Israel is not even allowing this into Gaza. What do they expect us to do, not to wash our dishes after we eat?” said 45 year old Abu Ghassan from Gaza City, commenting on the Israeli siege. His wife added: “It’s not only that, but also food prices have gone up, and the same for medicine, transportation fees and every basic thing that we depend on for everyday life.”
With Gaza’s grim situation getting even worse than ever now, people are hoping that the Annapolis peace conference will bring good news to their lives and put pressure on the Israeli Occupation to stop starving Palestinians. But will this pressure really come from the US administration?
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| Cancer patient Laila Elewah Palestinian woman taking part in a protest as she is not being allowed to get medication into Israeli hospital |
Palestinian boys dressed as late leader Yasser Arafat during a rally marking the third anniversary of his death |
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| Palestinian kids holding photos of their fathers asking to release them from Israeli jails |
Palestinians attend workshop enhancing the concept of right to reuturn for Palestinian refugees |
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| Palestinians carry the body of Mohammed Siam during his funeral in Rafah |
Palestinians carrying the body of a Palestinian young man injured during an Israeli airstrike in Rafah |
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| Protests all over the strip |
Relatives of Mohammed Siam mourn his death after he was kiled by Israeli warplanes |
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| Relatives of Mohammed Sian mourning his death. He was killed in an Israeli air strike |
Three years since the death of former Palestinian President Arafat |
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| Hamas movement supporters take part in a pro-Hamas rally the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip against the siege on Gaza |
Three years after Arafat's death |
Israel’s Wrath Before Annapolis
More than 20 tanks and bulldozers attacked a Bedouin village in the north of Gaza near the border with Israel, detaining male residents over 16 years of age. The men were called out of their homes, for interrogation, by loudspeakers. This is an area which the Israeli Army invades on regular basis, only a few minutes away from the border. During this latest invasion, many of the detained men were arrested.
Residents said that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has sent tens of the arrested civilians to unknown locations, adding that IOF bulldozers also demolished agricultural fields and greenhouses.
A further two Palestinians were killed in the Eastern part of Gaza City. The killing took place when Israeli snipers opened fire on two men, who died immediately after. Israel claims that the men were planting explosive devices; however, no Palestinian sources have confirmed the allegations. In the meantime, Israel is threatening to carry out a massive scale attack on Gaza Strip immediately following the Annapolis peace conference in November.
Saturday afternoon, Israeli warships targeted a Palestinian doctor in his car, hitting the vehicle with a missile. The doctor, Walid Salih, incurred serious injuries to his head from missile shrapnel.
Unknown Sources Bomb Public Sites
An explosion ripped through an internet cafe in Gaza City overnight, not resulting in any casualties. This is the latest in a string of blasts targeting entertainment venues. Extensive damage was caused to the Al Marsa cafe, a popular coed hangout for youths, located next to Al Aazhar University and near other universities.
On Monday, an explosion damaged a popular fast-food restaurant, Big Bite, in Gaza after closing hours, and last week a blast targeted a women’s hairdressing salon.
Meanwhile, Palestinian police are still investigating and looking for those responsible for the various bombings. These events bring to mind the feeling of Gaza in the 1990s, when it was a much more conservative place.
From Sunday, a new round of electricity shortages will start in Gaza. This comes in addition to the shortages of medicine: UN sources stated that 93 types of medicine are depleted in Gaza, up 30 % from last month when it was around 62. Currently, there are shortages of goods and the prices of foodstuffs have soared during the siege. Even bread and the cost of transportation are beyond the reach of many who have no means of income under the Israeli economic siege.
Palestinians in Gaza Strip mark the third anniversary of former president Yasser Arafat’s death.
The US administration has given the “green light” for an extensive Israeli military operation in Gaza, according to an article quoting diplomatic sources in the Lebanese newspaper, Al Akhbar, Saturday.
The sources added: “Washington’s approval undermines the negotiations for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement ahead of the Annapolis peace conference.”
The approval also begs the question, what value lies in Condoleeza Rice’s many stop-overs in Israel and the West Bank now?
According to Al Akhbar, diplomatic sources cited Israel as having relayed intelligence reports to Washington explaining the pressing need for an extensive incursion, in response to the “escalation in the activity of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.”
To the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians of the Gaza Strip, this outspoken support for a massive Israeli assault on Gaza is an appalling contradiction to the US administration’s calls for peace. The belief amongst the long-besieged population is that a major attack on Gaza means more bloody massacres and increased starvation among Palestinians, at a time when all borders are long-closed and the entire Strip is already suffering from near-daily Israeli military incursions, leaving dead and severely injured on an almost daily basis.
Israel Using Internationally Banned Weapons on Civilians
In southern Gaza’s Khan Younies, civilians’ bodies lie torn apart and scattered: fragments of flesh, arms, fingers, and even heads are strewn all over the ground as well as under the rubble of the just-bombed police station. This grotesque scene is not a new one for the people of Gaza, whose battering goes unnoticed in the press, smothered, ironically, by talk of Israel’s security and overtures for peace with the upcoming US summit.
Israeli warplanes fired two rockets at a Khan Younies police station, killing 4 policemen from the force of Gaza’s dismissed Hamas government. Israeli military sources commented on the crime: “the air strike, relatively rare recently, is an indication that Israel will not continue to exhibit restraint towards the firing of mortars at Israeli population centers.” Human rights groups in Gaza have documented the killing 15 Palestinians in the Strip in this week alone –results of the restraint Israel has exhibited? –from Israeli aerial and land bombardments which have targeted civilian areas.
“We were inside our house and then suddenly we heard an explosion. My children were terrified; it felt as if the bomb hit our house, but we realized it struck the police station nearby our house,” recalled Said Abu Abed a 32 year old father of three.
Israeli-fired rockets hit the entrance of the police station, in New Abasan to the east of Khan Younies. The 4 policemen on guard duty in the outside gate were killed immediately, their bodies shredded to unrecognizable fragments, making identification difficult for medical workers. They were later identified as aged 21, 22, 23, and 25.
In an interview in Gaza, Khaled Radi, the spokesman of Ministry of Health, confirmed that the Israeli helicopters are targeting civilians using internationally prohibited weapons. “Israel used nail rockets, which made deep wounds, tore apart and burned the bodies of the four policemen yesterday.”
“That Israel uses such prohibited weapons and targets civilian police is an indication Israel doesn’t want stability in the region, as the job of those policemen is to keep law and order in Gaza,” added the spokesman.
Countless such Israeli attacks continue to ravage Gaza, while at the same time Palestinian factions continue launching homemade rockets and mortars towards southern Israel.
“Enough is enough. Israel has crossed all lines by attacking our houses and killing our sons,” said 42 year old mother, Umm Helmi, from Khan Younies, traumatized by the Israeli rockets. “Israel terrifies our children and is starving us to death,” she added.
Earlier on Tuesday an Israeli rocket hit a house in the northern Gaza, injuring at least two children. The Israeli Army however, claims that the rocket misfired, hitting the house.
Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli Army invaded Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip close to the border with Egypt. Eyewitnesses report that a curfew has been imposed, meaning people cannot leave their houses at all, for food, medicine, work…
“We are trapped inside our house, and still the Israeli soldiers are going from house to house, attacking and arresting people in our neighborhood,” said a Rafah citizen over the phone, remaining anonymous out of fear for his security.
Border Closures and Power Cuts
Israel controls all Gazan border crossings, of which the two main commercial crossings, Karni and Rafah, have both been closed since June, and the remaining crossings fully-closed since September. These closures have made prices for basic necessities, including food, skyrocket, and have additionally denied passage to at least 100,000 Palestinians since June alone.
This week, Israel began to further strangle Gazans, reducing the amount of fuel pumped to Gaza. Israel’s plan to additionally reduce power supplies has been put on hold by Attorney-General, Menachem Mazuz, who at the same time gave full support to other sanctions imposed on Gaza, according to the IRIN, the UN news agency.
“Israel is not punishing Hamas, they are punishing us, the people who are living in Gaza. This is insane,” said Palestinian teacher, Adli Mahmoud, from Gaza, commenting on shortages of electricity in Gaza Strip after the Israeli-imposed sanctions. According to B’Tselem, Gaza was able to generate half of its electricity needs until its main power plant was bombed by Israel in June, 2006, one of many actions to destroy the infrastructure and render Gazans dependent on outside aid and resources. Now, the UN’s OCHA reports that Israel provides over 60% of Gaza’s electricity.
United Nations and European Union delegates have urged Israel not to impose “collective punishment,” illegal under international law, on Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.
Further Carnage in Gaza:
Israeli airstrikes killed four Palestinians in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, and militants fired rockets towards Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the killings and accused Israel of endangering talks at a time when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was pressing diplomacy in Jerusalem ahead of the upcoming international peace meeting.
Three of the dead were factory workers, torn apart when an Israeli tank shell exploded near the area where they changed clothes for their factory job. The dead were named as Zaher Al Huar, 40, his son Yussef, 18, and Mohammed Abu Habib, 22.
Another Israeli air strike killed Bassem Khadur, 25, from the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, while one other Palestinian was critically injured.
Early Saturday morning, another Palestinian police officer, Mohammad Siyam, 22, was killed and three others injured in the latest Israeli airstrike, which targeted a civilian car in Morag, near Rafah.
Also near Rafah, Israeli naval vessels fired on Palestinian fishing boats off Rafah’s shore, on Monday morning, seizing four Palestinian fishermen
The litany of Israeli air strikes and resulting Gazan civilian deaths, the land incursions with shelling from tanks, the destruction of agricultural land, the deaths at closed borders, all go on and on, from long before most likely until long after the November peace conference.
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