CRI DE LIBERTÉ

16 juillet

1h30
Une forte explosion me réveille, ma fille de 13 ans est terrifiée et se cache la tête sous les couvertures. J’allume la petite radio transistor, et j’apprend que les avions F16 ont frappé l’édifice des Affaires extérieures avec un missile, c’est la deuxième fois en une semaine. J’ai immédiatement pensé à Fawaz et Nawaf, mes amis d’enfance et leurs familles, je n’ai pas eu le courage d’essayer de les contacter. Le son de l’explosion était trop fort, il a fait trembler mon appartement qui est pourtant à plus de 500 mètres de là…

7h30
Après avoir essayé en vain de dormir, je décide de me lever, et je me précipite vers la maison de mes amis. Ils n’étaient pas blessés mais la scène était choquante. Fawaz était effrayé, incapable de se concentrer, son frère et les enfants étaient traumatisés, il m’a montré le jardin, où de vieux arbres ont été complètement détruits. Les vitres de leur édifice et le jardin étaient couverts par les ruines et les débris du ministère des affaires extérieures. Pourquoi diable frapper le même bâtiment deux fois dans la même semaine, il ont fait la même chose avec le bâtiment du ministère de l’intérieur, près de chez mon amie Hoda.

C’est une punition collective massive, systématique, planifiée et terrifiante.

Pas d’électricité, pas d’eau, pas de lait pour les enfants, pas de sécurité, des frontières fermées, à l’intérieur desquelles 1.5 millions de personnes sont enfermées dans leur propre pays. 4 semaines de bombardement continu, en provenance de la mer, de la terre et des airs, qui ciblent les populations civiles : 110 personnes ont été tuées en 3 semaines (dont 45 étaient des enfants), des centaines ont été blessées. Le soldat kidnappé n’était qu’un prétexte pour une attaque systématique et planifiée d’avance, et cette punition collective n’est qu’une tentative désespérée par les IDF (Israel Defence Forces, l’armée israélienne) de détruire notre volonté et notre détermination d’atteindre nos buts nationaux, mais ils ne réussiront pas, ils ne réussiront pas, et devraient tirer des leçons de l’histoire.
Nous somme parfois fatigués, et il nous arrive de nous plaindre, mais heureusement les Palestiniens et les Palestiniennes n’ont pas la mentalité des victimes, ils ont la mentalité des combattants pour la liberté (freedom fighters), et avec l’aide d’autres gens qui se battent chaque jour contre l’injustice, avec votre solidarité, nous allons vaincre.

19 juillet

16h00
Camp de réfugiés de Almagazi, à l’est de Gaza
C’est la deuxième journée de l’incursion de l’armée israélienne dans le camp Almagazi, dans le milieu de la bande de Gaza. Il y a des bombardements qui viennent de la mer, de la terre et des airs, 9 personnes ont été tuées, au moins 45 civils ont été blessés dans les premières heures de l’incursion. Pas d’eau, pas d’électricité, les hôpitaux peinent à prendre soin des blessés dont le nombre augmente, l’urgence fonctionne uniquement avec une génératrice.
Village de Beit Hnoun, au nord de Gaza
L’armée est sortie du village, après avoir démoli 40 maisons, tué 12 personnes et blessé des dizaines d’autres, en plus d’avoir détruit d’importants espaces de terres agricoles, blessé 2 journalistes et 2 membres d’équipe de secouristes. Notre équipe à l’hôpital Al Awda était débordé par le nombre des blessés. L’armée est restée 3 jours dans le village, et a laissé derrière elle une grande destruction. L’équipe de l’ONU-OSO a indiqué que plusieurs familles ont grand besoin de nourriture pour bébés, qui n’est pas fourni par l’ONU, je vais m’assurer de distribuer ce lait à travers MECA (Middle East Children Alliance) dès demain.

Alors que j’écris, on peut entendre de grosses explosions successives en provenance des bateaux militaires et des hélicoptères Appache, en plus du son des drones. Sans électricité, ce n’est pas évident d’écrire, à la lumière d’une chandelle ou de la lampe à kérosène.

En toute solidarité,
Mona ElFarra

17 juillet

17 juillet
À perte de vue, que des ordures
La pénurie d’essence a obligé les camions à ordure d’arrêter temporairement la collecte, il y a donc des ordures qui encombrent les rues de chaque ville à Gaza, et qui posent une menace sérieuse pour la santé et l’hygiène. Hier seulement, je regardais à ma fenêtre et j’ai vu des enfants fouiller dans une pile d’ordures. Demain j’ai convoqué des représentant-es d’organisations palestiniennes pour mettre en place un système de collecte des ordures bénévoles pour alléger le problème.

Visite au Ministère des affaires extérieures
Hier dans la nuit je me suis réveillée à 1h15 du matin. Il y a eu un gros boum!, puis le son d’un avion qui passait au-dessus de nos têtes. Quand j’ai allumé ma radio à piles, j’ai appris qu’un avion F16 a bombardé le ministère des Affaires extérieures pour une deuxième fois.
Ce matin je suis allée voir les dommages et visiter mes amis qui habitent dans l’immeuble voisin du ministère. Ils n’ont pas été blessés mais tout leur quartier est plein de décombres. Ils venaient à peine de finir de nettoyer les dommages du dernier bombardement, 5 jours plus tôt.

la version française du Boston Globe Article

Depuis l’enlèvement de Gilad Shalit, le soldat israélien, la Bande de Gaza a été soumise à une opération militaire de grande envergure, connue en Israël sous le nom de « Pluie d’été » (Summer Rain). Puisque Israël a bombardé notre unique centrale électrique, et puisqu’il faut de l’électricité pour pomper l’eau, la majeure partie de Gaza n’a plus accès à l’eau potable. Dans la chaleur de notre été, de la vraie pluie serait pour nous un cadeau du ciel.

Pour le monde extérieur, la décision peut sembler facile pour les Palestiniens : laissez partir le soldat et le siège va se terminer. Pourtant, pour nous les habitants de Gaza, même confrontés à cette violence extrême, une autre décision s’impose – pas avec facilité, mais avec détermination. Shalit est un soldat, qui a été capturé dans le cadre d’une opération militaire. Aujourd’hui, 122 femmes et 400 enfants palestiniens sont détenus dans les prisons israéliennes. Ils ont droit à leur liberté tout autant que Shalit. Leurs familles ressentent la douleur de leur absence, tout autant que la famille de Shalit. Ainsi, alors que nous subissons la « Pluie d’été » d’Israël, la plupart des gens de Gaza veulent que le soldat reste détenu – pas blessé, seulement détenu – jusqu’à ce que nos femmes et nos enfants soient libérés.

Nous allons payer le prix fort, et ce pendant longtemps après que les bombes se soient tues. Je commence déjà à perdre la notion des jours et des nuits, à compter les bombes qui sont tombées. Depuis que la centrale électrique a été détruite, nous devons vivre sans électricité. Celle que nous réussissons à obtenir est aléatoire, une heure ou deux au plus, juste assez pour recharger nos ordinateurs portatifs et nos cellulaires qui nous permettent de ne pas perdre complètement le contact entre nous et avec le monde extérieur.

En tant que médecin, j’ai peur pour les hôpitaux, pour nos patients. Vingt-deux hôpitaux n’ont plus aucune électricité. Ils doivent fonctionner uniquement avec des génératrices – mais les génératrices fonctionnent avec du combustible, et nos réserves de combustible sont dangereusement basses. Nous en avons assez seulement pour quelques jours de plus. Mais nos frontières sont fermées hermétiquement, et aucun combustible ne peut entrer dans notre territoire. Des centaines de chirurgies ont été reportées. Les vies des patients qui dépendent de machines, des enfants aux soins intensifs, des patients en dialyse rénale et de bien d’autres sont menacées par le manque d’électricité. Nos pharmacies étaient déjà presque vides à cause de la fermeture des frontières et des sanctions économiques qu’on nous a infligées. Le peu qu’il restait a été perdu parce que les médicaments devaient rester réfrigérés.

Plus de 30 000 enfants souffrent de malnutrition aujourd’hui, et ce nombre ne va qu’augmenter alors que la diarrhée se répand à cause de la pénurie d’eau potable et des hauts taux de contamination de la nourriture.

En tant que mère, j’ai peur pour nos enfants. Je peux déjà voir les effets du bruit continu des bombes soniques et des bombardements d’artillerie sur ma fille. Elle a 13 ans et elle est agitée, paniquée. Elle a peur de sortir, mais est frustrée de ne pas pouvoir voir ses ami-es. Lorsque les avions israéliens brisent le mur du son, ce qu’ils dont à toute heure du jour et de la nuit, le son qu’ils produisent est terrifiant. Mon lit tremble énormément. Ma fille saute au lit avec moi, frissonnante de peur. Puis, nous finissons toutes les deux blotties sur le plancher. Mon cœur bat à tout rompre, mais je dois pourtant rassurer ma fille, pour qu’elle se sente en sécurité. Elle a désormais compris que nous devons nous rassurer l’une l’autre. Elle sent ma peur. Lorsque les bombes explosent, je tressaille et je hurle. Je ne peux pas m’en empêcher. Je suis une docteure, un femme d’un certain âge, mature. Mais lors des bombardements soniques, je deviens hystérique. Je ne suis après tout qu’un être humain, et nous avons tous un seuil au-delà duquel la peur et la douleur prennent le dessus.

Cette agression va laisser des cicatrices sur la psychologie de nos enfants pour plusieurs années à venir. Le fait d’instiller la peur, la colère et le deuil dans nos enfants ne va amener ni la paix, ni la sécurité pour Israël.

Plusieurs d’entre nous ici à Gaza pensons que l’opération « Pluie d’été » était planifiée d’avance par Israël, que le kidnapping de Shalit a été utilisé comme prétexte. Israël a attaqué Gaza à peine quelques heures avant la signature d’un accord de consensus national signé par le Fatah et le Hammas, un accord qui aurait pu mener à des négociations entre Palestiniens et Israéliens. Pourtant Israël sait bien que pour que des négociations fonctionnent ils devraient abandonner son désir de garder le contrôle de la terre et des ressources palestiniennes. Nous, à Gaza, pensons que le but de la campagne militaire d’Israël contre nous n’est pas la libération de Shalit. Leur but est de faire tomber notre gouvernement démocratiquement élu et de détruire notre infrastructure, et avec elle notre volonté d’obtenir nos droits nationaux, nos droits sur les petits morceaux de territoire qui nous reste. Même si ne vivons pas avec facilité, nous vivons avec détermination. Jusqu’à ce que le monde force Israël à reconnaître nos droits sur notre territoire et à chercher une paix qui donne à la fois la liberté et la sécurité aux deux peuples, nous allons tous continuer à payer le prix.

version française du blog "From Gaza, with Love"

Thank you to Anais from Canada for generously translating my writing!

Je suis une médecin de profession, mais m'a pratique a fait de moi une militante pour les droits humains et les droits des femmes. J'habite dans la Bande de Gaza, en territoire occupé.


Note de la traduction
Vous consultez présentement la version française du blog « From Gaza, with Love », de la Dr Mona El Farra.. La traduction est bénévole et non-professionnelle, et a commencé au mois de juillet. Tout le blog n’est pas disponible en français, nous tenterons plutôt de le mettre à jour et de faire du rattrapage si c’est possible. La traduction est faite à partir du Québec, ce qui sera peut-être reflété dans certains choix de vocabulaire.

27 mars
Bonjour à vous tous,
J’ai toujours voulu avoir un blog, dans lequel je peux écrire, ventiler et parler au monde entier de ce qui se passe en Palestine, un blog qui serait ma fenêtre sur le monde, dans une grande prison comme Gaza. Nous devons continuer à vivre, ou du moins à essayer de vivre, pendant que tout le monde nous demande « Mais comment faites-vous pour vivre à Gaza sous l’occupation? », oui nous pouvons, oui nous l’avons fait, et pour encore plusieurs années nous allons continuer à lutter et à résister à l’occupation, jusqu’à ce que la justice prévale. Un jour notre pays sera vraiment libre, et tous nos efforts seront concentrés pour améliorer la qualité de vie pour les Palestiniens qui souffrent depuis de décennies, mais qui jamais n’ont eu l’attitude de victimes, qui jamais n’ont attendu pour la charité du monde. Nous avons toujours été des combattants pour la liberté (freedom fighters) et nous allons continuer notre lutte vers la liberté. Durant mon court séjour en Grande-Bretagne, où j’étais invité par un groupe de femme de Sheffield à l’occasion de la journée internationale des femmes du 4 au 15 mars, j’ai promis à mes camarades et sœurs de Sheffield que je commencerais ce blog dès mon retour, c’est donc ce que je fais avec l’aide de ma nièce Leila, et les encouragements de mon fils Mohammed, qui m’a toujours donné beaucoup de support pour mon travail et mes différentes activités, ma fille Basma est aussi très patiente avec moi quand j’utilise l’ordinateur, et corrige mes textes.
Je vais donc vous tenir au courant, je suis très occupée avec la campagne sur le lait, qui requiert beaucoup de travail. Nous avons plusieurs bénévoles pour distribuer le lait et s’assurer qu’il arrive jusqu’au familles les plus pauvresé
Avec amour, en toute solidarité.
Mona ElFarra

Bad news I'm sorry

THE MOTHER I MENTIONED IN MY PREVIOUS STORY COULDN'T MAKE IT. SHE PASSED AWAY 3 HOURS LATER LEAVING BEHIND HER HUSBAND SAMIR AND THEIR 2 CHILDREN. ONE OF THE GIRLS WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED AND IS STILL AT THE HOSPITAL.
SOMIA, THE MOTHER, WAS HANGING UP THE CHILDREN'S CLOTHES AT HER HOME IN JABALIA WHEN SHE AND HER CHILDREN WERE HIT BY THE MISSILE. SOME NEIBOUGHERS TOLD ME THAT THE BABY WAS NEXT TO THE MOM, INSIDE HER PUSHCHAIR.
I'M UNABLE TO VISIT THE FAMILY.
I HAVE NO WORDS.

WITH LOVE AND SOLIDARITY
MONA

home sweet home ...I wonder

All that is happening right now in Gaza


Wednesday
26th of July
6:45 pm
Al Awda Hospital Emergency Room
Jabalia refugee camp

Shahd, an 8 month baby girl, and Maria, a 4 year old child, arrived at the hospital dead.

Somia and her remaining two daughters arrived at the hospital suffering from serious injuries. The 2 girls are now in the operating room where doctors are trying hard to save their lives. The mother’s injuries are very critical; she was referred to Gaza City's central hospital, Al Shifa, for treatment.

Samir, an extremely traumatized husband and father, was unable to believe what happened to his family.

Early this evening an Israeli army tank launched one missile at this family’s home inside Jablia refugee camp. The Israelis are conducting a large-scale raid against the camp and the eastern part of Gaza City.

This assault started in the early hours of this morning. At 4 am loud explosions from the sea, air and land woke me and all the of Gaza City and Jabalia's citizens. I did not know what was happening until I switched on my little battery powered radio. The death toll reached 24, a number that might increase. Tens of injured are being sent to all of the town’s different hospitals including Al-Awda in Jabalia.

Many homes were demolished, many places are hazardous to reach. The roads are deserted and the general mood is anxiety and insecurity. Many children lost their parents, many parents lost their children. Our news isn’t covered; people are feeling disappointed, devastated and abandoned by the world’s reaction, especially the governments.

Your solidarity is highly needed at these times. Please spread the truth - the Israeli occupying force is using excessive force in Gaza and Lebanon.

End occupation! End the aggression against Palestinians and Lebanese!

Yours in love and solidarity,
Mona

some photos to share

Top photo: my daughter, sondos, with her friends who live next to the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The children were sad to see the trees destroyed by the big blast.

Bottom photo: Some of the girls inside New Horizon Center in Nuseirat refugee camp

During my visit to a children's center in Nusseirat refugee camp, the sound of artillery shells being fired at the nearby AlMagazi refugee camp was loud. The girls inside the center took me around to see their arts and crafts activities. The most moving one was the dream tree in which girls age 11-14 expressed their dreams of safety, education, sports activities, reading good books, traveling, going to the seaside, visiting friends relatives, having electricity and good drinking water, etc...

One of the girls said, "We will never give up dreaming. I dream of living in Yafa where my family lived before 1948. My grandmother tells me how life was great in Yaffa and I dream of going back. Nobody can stop me from dreaming, nobody should take my dreams away."

The girls danced to the music of Palestinian folklore and I passed message of love and solidarity from friends allover the world who believe that Palestinian people have the right to live in dignity, by achieving their national goals of freedom and self-determination. Meanwhile, the Israeli's artillery shelling continued.

As I started my journey back to Gaza city, a drone was in the sky and gunboats were
patrolling the sea. Driving on the rough side road, I passed by the destroyed bridges and paralyzed power plant and I thought of the drawings I saw in the center of army tanks, dead, injured, funerals, masked men.

I dream of the day when I shall be able to see children's drawings of green spacious parks, meadows, sports activities and safe seaside.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006
'Never again' gone mad in Israel
By SANDY TOLAN
GUEST COLUMNIST
In the name of forcing the release of a single soldier, Israel has seized members of democratically elected government; bombed its interior ministry, the prime minister's offices and a school; threatened another sovereign state (Syria) with a menacing overflight; dropped leaflets from the air, warning of harm to the civilian population if it does not "follow all orders" of the Israel Defense Forces; loosed nocturnal "sound bombs" under orders from the Israeli prime minister to "make sure no one sleeps at night in Gaza"; fired missiles into residential areas, killing children; and demolished a power station that was the sole generator of electricity and running water for hundreds of thousands of Gazans.

Besieged Palestinian families, trapped in a locked-down Gaza, are down to one meal a day, eaten in candlelight. Yet their desperate conditions go largely ignored by a world accustomed to extreme Israeli measures in the name of security.

"Wake up!" shouted the young Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer from Gaza on San Francisco's "Arab Talk" radio in late June. "The Gaza people are starving. There is a real humanitarian crisis. Our children are born to live. Don't these people have any heart? No feelings at all? The world is silent!"

For the Palestinians, Omer's cry speaks to a collective understanding: That the world sees the life of an Arab as infinitely less valuable than an Israeli's; that no amount of suffering by innocent Palestinians is too much to justify the return of a single Jewish soldier. This understanding, and the rage and humiliation it fuels, has been driven home endlessly through decades of shellings, wars and uprisings past.
Indeed Omer's plaintive words form a mantra, echoing all the way back to the first war between the Arabs and the Jews.

The Arab-Israeli war of 1948, known in Israel as the War of Independence, is called al-Nakba, or the Catastrophe, by Palestinians. During the 1948 conflict, more than 700,000 Palestinians fled the violence or were driven from their homes. In the middle of July, when temperatures exceeded 100 degrees, more than 30,000 Arabs marched into exile, some for more than 20 miles. Many never made it; those who did were certain they would be coming back in a matter of days or weeks. Fifty-eight years later, they remain in exile.

Some refugees wear the keys to their homes around their neck; others tell stories of golden fields, or of a lemon tree whose fruit grows larger in the memory with each passing year.

Fifty-eight summers after the Nabka, as U.S.-made weapons pound Gaza from Israel, a déjà vu settles on the old men and women of the refugee camps, and in the vast diaspora beyond, reminding them of yet another bitter anniversary.
The latest attacks by Israel in Gaza, ostensibly on behalf of a single soldier, recall the comments by extremist Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, in his eulogy for U.S. Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 massacred 27 Palestinians praying in the Hebron mosque. "One million Arabs," Perrin declared, "are not worth a Jewish fingernail."

Israelis, too, are a traumatized people, and their nation's current actions are driven in part by a hard determination, born of the Holocaust, to "never again go like sheep to the slaughter." But if "never again" drives the politics of reprisal, few seem to notice that the reprisals themselves are obscenely out of scale to the provocation: For every crude Qassam rocket falling harmlessly, far from its target, dozens, sometimes hundreds of shells rain down on the Palestinians. For one missing soldier, a million and a half Gazans are made to suffer. In Israel, today, it is "never again" gone mad.

The irony is that, contrary to making themselves more safe, the Israelis, just like the Americans in Iraq, are only sowing the seeds of more hatred and rage.

Sandy Tolan is author of "The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East" and a professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California-Berkeley.

CRY FREEDOM GAZA DIARIES

CRY FREEDOM

16th of July, 1.30 am
A loud explosion woke me up. Sondos was frightened and covered her head with the blankets. I switched on my the little transistor radio - the f16 hit the ministry of foreign affairs building with one rocket. This is the second time in less than one week. Straight away I thought of Fawaz and Nawaf, my childhood friends and their families, but I did not dare to contact them! The sound of explosion was too strong , it shook my flat (500 meters away).

7.30 am
After struggling to sleep, I decided to wake up, and hurried to my friends’ house. They were not injured but the scene was shocking. Fawaz was startled not focusing so his brother, and the children, he took me to see the garden, many old trees were completely destroyed as were the windows of their building. The garden was full of rubble from the ministry of foreign affairs building.

Why hit the same building twice in one week? They did the same with ministry of interior building, which my friend Hoda lives too close to. It is a form of systematic collective punishment through terrifying the population.

No electricity, no water, no milk for babies, no safety, closed borders. 1.5 million people captured in their own country with continuous shelling from sea, land and air against civilians targets. 110 were killed in 3 weeks (45 were children) and hundreds more were injured. It is a well-planned systematic assault and collective punishment against the whole population; it is a desperate trial by the IOF the Israeli occupying forces to destroy our will and our determination to achieve our just national goals. They will not succeed.

We get tired sometimes, we complain other times, but fortunately Palestinian people don’t have the psychology of victims. We have the psychology of freedom fighters, and with other people who fighting daily against injustice, and with your solidarity we shall overcome. With every pain and suffering, we cry freedom freedom, freedom.

Gaza today 19 July
4pm
Al Magazi refugee camp, eastern Gaza
Today is the second day of IOF incursion into the Al Magazi camp in the middle of Gaza Strip. They are shelling from the sea, land, and air. Nine people have been killed and at least 45, mainly civilians, have been injured in the first hours of the incursion. There is no water, no electricity; hospitals are struggling with increasing causalities, and working in this emergency with an alternative power supply and exhausted medical stores.

Beit Hanoun village,northern Gaza

The IOF withdrew from the village after demolishing 40 houses and killing 12 people. Tens more are injured and large areas of fruitful agricultural land was also destroyed. During the incursion 2 journalist were injured as well as 2 health emergency team workers. Our surgical team at Al-Awda hospital was overwhelmed with the large number of the casualities.

The army stayed for 3 days in the village and left in its wake great destruction. The UN OSO team reported some very poor families are in great need for baby formula but the UN doesn’t supply this sort of milk. I shall make sure to distribute this milk via the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) tomorrow.

While I was writing, I heard several big successive explosions from the gunboats and apache heliocapters in the sky, as well as the sound of drones. There is no electricity. I don't find it easy to write with the candle light and the old-fashioned kerosene lamp.

In solidarity
Mona ElFarra

All I see is garbage

The shortage of fuel has forced garbage pickups to temporarily stop so there is garbage overflowing in the streets of every city and town in Gaza threatening health and hygiene. Just yesterday I looked out my window and saw small children wading through a garbage heap. Tomorrow, I've called together representatives from Palestinian organizations to set up some voluntary garbage collection to alleviate this problem.

Visit to Ministry of Foreign Affairs this morning

Last night I woke up startled at 1:15am. There was a loud boom and then the sound of an airplane over head. When I turned on my battery powered radio (there was no electricity) I found out that F16s had bombed the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the second time.
This morning I went to see the damage and to check with my friends who live in the building next door. They were not injured but their whole neighborhood is littered with rubble. They had just finished cleaning up after the bombing 5 days ago.

my article in Boston Globe Monday 10th of july

By Mona El-Farra



Since the capture of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to a large scale military operation, what Israel calls Summer Rain. Because Israel bombed our power plant, and we need electricity to pump water, most of Gaza now has no access to drinking water. In the heat of our summer, rain would be a blessing.

To the outside world it might seem like an easy decision for Palestinians: let the soldier go and the siege will end. Yet for us Gazans, even in the face of this extreme violence, another decision comes, not with ease, but with resolve. Shalit is one solider who was captured in a military operation. Today, 122 Palestinian women and 400 children under 16, are inside Israeli prisons. They deserve their freedom no less than Shalit. Their families mourn their absence no less than his family. So while we suffer Israel's Summer Rain, most Gazans, want the soldier held - not harmed, only held -- until our women and children are released.

We will pay a high price, long after the bombing has stopped. I am already starting to lose track of days and nights, of how many bombs have dropped. Since the main power plant was destroyed, we have had to live with no electricity. What we get is patchy, an hour or two at most, just enough to recharge our laptops and mobile phones so that we do not lost all touch with each other and with the outside world.

As a physician, I fear for the hospitals, for our patients. Twenty-two hospitals have no electricity at all. They have to rely on generators. But the generators need fuel to run and our fuel supplies are running dangerously low. We have enough for a few days at most. But our borders are completely sealed so no fuel can get in. Hundreds of operations have been postponed. The lives of patients on life support machines, children in intensive care, renal dialysis patients and others are threatened because there is no power. Our pharmacies were already nearly empty because of the closed borders and economic sanctions inflicted on us. What little supplies were left have gone bad because they needed to be refrigerated.

More than 30,000 children suffer from malnutrition today, and this number will increase as diarrhea spreads because of the limited supply of good clean water and high rates of food contamination.

As a mother, I fear for our children. I can see the effects of the continuous sonic booming and artillery shelling on my daughter. She is 13 years old and she is restless, panicked. She is afraid to go out, yet frustrated because she can't see her friends. When the Israeli planes break the sound barrier, which they do at all times of the day and night, the sound is terrifying. My bed shakes tremendously. My daughter usually jumps into bed with me, shivering with fear. Then both of us end up crouching on the floor. My heart races, yet I need to pacify my daughter, to make her feel safe. Now she knows that we need to pacify each other. She feels my fear. When the bombs sound, I flinch and scream. I can't help myself. I am a doctor, a mature, middle-aged woman. But with the sonic booming, I become hysterical. I am only human after all, and we all have our threshold for fear and pain.

This aggression will leave scars on the psychology of our children for years to come. Instilling feelings of fear, anger and loss in our children will not bring peace and security to Israelis.

Many of us in Gaza believe that Israel's Summer Rain was pre-planned, that Shalit's capture is being used as a pretense. Israel attacked Gaza within hours of a national consensus accord signed by Fatah and Hamas, an accord that could have led to negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis. Yet Israel knows that for negotiations to succeed it would have to give up its desire to maintain control of Palestinian land and resources. We in Gaza believe that the goal of Israel's military campaign against us is not Shalit's release. The goal is to bring down our elected government and to destroy our infrastructure, and with it our will to secure our national rights, even on the small pieces of land that remain to us. Though we do not now live with ease, we live with resolve. Until the world pressures Israel to recognize our rights in our land, and to pursue a peace that gives freedom and security to both peoples, we both will continue to pay the price.

ministry of health statestics,injured and dead in Gza

Yesterday the Palestinian Mininstry of health officially declared that the number
of martyrs is 82 people and 271 injured from 30 - 6 - 2006 to 12 - 7 - 2006. Among
the martyrs 22 children. The number is expected to increase because there are
still casualties in the intensive care units.


2am 13 july 2006
2 successive big explosions wakened me up,sondos jumped quickly to my bed , frightened, shivering and covered her head,with the blanket,it was too big explosion,but not sonic booming , i am an expert now , the power was of, it was great blessing last night we had it for 5 hours ,i switched on the local radio,the Islamic university building was hit ,as well as the Fireign Ministry building ,200 meters from my place ,i decided to write in the morning , my daughter was too frightened , i felt strong enough to stay by her side.


in love peace and solidarity
Mona

My visit to Attar Family 11.7.2006

Dear all
I feel emotionally strained, after visiting the Attar family, in Beit Lahia village North of Gaza, it was my second visit, I went there with 2 of my colleagues with some little presents for the kids, 50 kids received little parcels donated from MECA for peace (USA people).
The Israeli army reoccupied the village, for continuous 3 days, it was part of its military operation in Gaza, during these three days, the army made great damage into this family 3 storey building, before occupying it, to use the roof as a base for snipers, 40 members of this extended family were kept in one room, unable to go out for 3 continuous days, with no water no electricity, I was told, that the whole family were forced to get out of their house, they stayed in the very hot afternoon sun, for 4 hours at least,infront of their house, then they were kept in that room, for three days, I met 40 children ,5 at least are infants and a twins, feeding those babies was big problem(you can see some of the photos in previous bog).
I met 7members of this family, with visual impairment disability,
It broke my heart, when I asked the grandfather of this extended family, why do you think they have chosen your home? He answered me simply, I only have children and people with special needs, I am soft target, he did not know that his house position is strategic location for snipers, it lies on a hill that overview the whole village, it is just right place for snipers,
One of the small girls hold my hand, and said: look there, we were in the sun for long period, next to the donkey place, it was hot I was thirsty, my baby brother was crying, and I was terrified, I wet my pants,
What happened with this family is happening everyday in Gaza, with different shapes, those children will suffer from PTSS, and waiting for years ahead to be healed, as an outcome the hatred will grow, inside themselves, with painful memories, I
I handed the gifts to the kids, telling them it is from American people who care, and thinking of you, they are not the American government that helps this army to have free hand in our country,





I always think of the safety of the Israeli kids and civilians, and I am totally against hurting civilians, but I do believe that the comparison of suffering is unfair, and not objective, I have an offer for Israel to send 1.5 million Israelis to live in Gaza, under those circumstances!!!!!!!
, Any way both of us suffer, it is an outcome of injustice and occupation

In love and solidarity
Mona



Ps while writing, my daughter shouted with joy, electricity is on, we did not have power for continuous 24 hours. and another family in the middle of Gaza is appealing via the local radio for help, they are trapped with the same situation of attar family and ,a woman gave birth while under siege

visiting the injured at AlAwda Hospital -Jablia refujees camp

photos from my solidarity visit to north of Gaza after withdrawal of the israeli army

with the children of Attar family -Beit Lahia north of Gaza

my solidarity visit to Beit Lahia village

my solidarity visit to Beit Lahia village

Fishing boats subjected to the Israeli army fire

Dear all
it is 11am , Monday , no electricity in my apartment for the last 18 hours ,I'm at home , I shall write in my next blog about my yesterday visit to AlAwda hospital in Jabalia Refujjee camp,but now I would like to share with you quickly what I have seen in front of my window , in the last 15 mintues
you know that the Gazan fishermen , were not allowed to go fishing , since the start of the recent assault against Gaza , fish is expensive , and scarce (can you believe it , fish is expensive in the markets of sea town like Gaza), now it is the season for the most cheap fish that most Gazans can afford , it is called Sardine fish , it is small and tasty ,cheap and very popular too , for the last 2 weeks , no fish boats were allowed into the see , even for short depth , today I watched desperate fishing boat , literally under my window ,may be 150 meters inside the sea , all of a sudden , I started to hear heavy shelling , shooting , quickly I asked sondos9my daughter ) ,to move to the back of the flat , and with a quick glance , I could see the Israeli gun boat firing around the fishing boat, which had to go back to the port ,it was not hit , it was an alarming shooting !!!!!!I'm sorry I didn't tell you before about the suffering of the fishermen , as well as the farmers , workers , students all Palestinian living under occupation what a releif ,THE POWER IS ON ,I need to hurry up now charge my mobile , laptop,torch , and do quick washing , and have a shower too,it is valuable,and big treat those days to have a nice shower , with scarce water and patchy power , after that iam going to an important emergency meeting , to see how can we help beit lahia village people , and the Rafah Bedouin people who were displaced because of the recent attack into their villages and communities .

in love and solidaroty
Mona ElFarra

the second day of the military operation into north of Gaza

the Gaza hospitals medical resources is criticaly decreasing , the number of casualities increses as the operation continues , in 2 days 34 Palestinian were killed , , of the many injured 33 were children , the city 3 hospitals are working round the hour they urged people to donate blood,i told you earlier on that the civilians are not avoided,it is a battle that lacks the balance of power , with the resistance men and their comperatively limited weapons , and the most powerful army in the region, with the full support of the USA

i was at AlAwda hospital this morning , the staff enjoys good spirit, but they are exhausted, they complained of their worries regarding the shortage of the fuel that runs the electrical generators,it has to be used for the ambulances too,it was quite in the morning , casualities started to arrive in the late afternoon, i shall be there tommorow ,

i hate war , it is ugly so is the occupation

in love , peace and solidarity
Mona

My Mother

I did not tell you before about my mother, she lives in Khanyunis, 22 km to the south of Gaza city. I was born and brought up there, until I was 16, when I left to university in Egypt,
My mother is 84 , she is living alone after the death of my father , and she is physically disabled ,she is well looked after ,I visit her whenever I have time , and this happens twice weekly at least , my elder sister lives next door and since the start of the "summer rain" operation , by the occupying Israeli forces, I couldn’t reach her, I was overwhelmed with the situation beside, that the 2 bridges that connect Gaza (north)and khanyunis in the south ,were destroyed in the 1st few hours of the military assault, as well as the power plant , I was afraid to use the unreliable side roads ,I was not ready to risk by leaving sondos alone ,with all the consequences ,air raids , sonic booming , no power ,complete road block, and staying away of my daughter and my work.
Despite all what I mentioned ,my mother alone , living her own world being old and disabled, was unable to find any excuse for me ,she thinks i am super woman and can do miracles , she kept phoning me asking to visit her, my sister asked me not to risk it ,
Knowing that the operation is focused now in the north , in the beginning ,it was mainly in the south were the soldier was captured , I decided to take the risk , it is Friday, I went to visit mother ,she was grumpy unsatisfied with my quick visit.
My mother is a retired head teacher ,she lived through all the Israeli Palestinian conflict stages , she eye witnessed what was happening in Palestine during the British mandate, ,and how Israel was founded on the ruins of the Palestinian people , who were forced to flee and were up rooted from their villages and towns that was later on occupied by jews from allover the world and Palestinians became refugees , , Israel was founded with the myth of land with no people for people with no land !!!


My mother remember all this , with nostalgia , she also remembers the Moses family a Jewish lawyer family ,that were my parents friends ,in Yafa (Jaffa) or Haifa i am not sure, next time I visit mother I shall be more sure.


Mona

HADEEL AT THE HOSPITAL WITH MONA

DOCTors of AlAwda Hospital in the operating room

ALAwda Hospital -Amulance just arrived ,from battlefeild

doctors of AlAwda Hospital in the operating room

The Israeli military army rolling into North of Gaza

Dear all

To those who send very long and offensive comments BUT NOT DEMORALISING AT ALL, sorry I don't have the time to read it , so please save your time and energy , I'm very busy with the humanitarian situation here ,trying all the time to offer the most I can for my community and I need to focus ,beside the fact that I need to keep my laptop charged.


it seems that the Israeli military operation escalating,1.30 pm our local time , casualties started to reach the AlAwda hospital(Jabalia refujee camp) ,the hospital medical team received 13 civilians seriously injured and 2 dead militia men
the hospital 3 operating rooms worked with its full capacity , for continuous 5 hours,
I was told by Mr. Abusaada ,one of our ambulance drivers that,they evacuated the injured under heavy fire,Mr. abusaada , told that they were working under fire ,I always think of him and others and how they work under the most difficult cirumstances , the worse ,he faced when he evacuated the Galia family from the beach 3 weeks ago, today he told me , he was not allowed to reach one of the injured , who bled on the ground for at least half an hour (when one mitue can make a difference for bleeding case ) ,before passing away , other hospitals received 15 injured civilians as well , different ages ,no children,were hurt in this incident , I hope I will not give news about dead or injured children,
15 Palestinians were killed today in Gaza strip during the early hours of the morning.
my main concern now is to find away to get medications and medical supplies through the borders ,into Gaza , the hospital medical resources is exhausted, the borders are completely sealed,some very crucial medications are lacking.
,the Rafah borders in the south ,was opened today for 3 hours , there are at least 2000 Palestinians on the Egyptian side ,waiting to enter Gaza , they have been waiting since last Sunday , when the summer rain operation started,internationals were asked to leave Gaza,via Eretz checkpoint , that was opened for 2 hours only(for us here in Gaza this is alarming sign),karni checkpoint (the commercial checkpoint) was opened to let in some stuff for 4 hours,may be to let in more candles , transistors and torches,

it seems that this business is booming in Gaza those days , on my way back from the hospital , I could see people queuing to purchase candles


Mona ElFarra

The Israeli military army rolling into North of Gaza

Dear all

To those who send very long and offensive comments BUT NOT DEMORALISING AT ALL, sorry I don't have the time to read it , so please save your time and energy , I'm very busy with the humanitarian situation here ,trying all the time to offer the most I can for my community and I need to focus ,beside the fact that I need to keep my laptop charged.


it seems that the Israeli military operation escalating,1.30 pm our local time , casualties started to reach the AlAwda hospital(Jabalia refujee camp) ,the hospital medical team received 13 civilians seriously injured and 2 dead militia men
the hospital 3 operating rooms worked with its full capacity , for continuous 5 hours,
I was told by Mr. Abusaada ,one of our ambulance drivers that,they evacuated the injured under heavy fire,Mr. abusaada , told that they were working under fire ,I always think of him and others and how they work under the most difficult cirumstances , the worse ,he faced when he evacuated the Galia family from the beach 3 weeks ago, today he told me , he was not allowed to reach one of the injured , who bled on the ground for at least half an hour (when one mitue can make a difference for bleeding case ) ,before passing away , other hospitals received 15 injured civilians as well , different ages ,no children,were hurt in this incident , I hope I will not give news about dead or injured children,
18 Palestinians were killed today in Gaza strip tens were injured ,mainly in the north of Gaza
My main concern now is to find a way to get medications and medical supplies through the borders ,into Gaza , the hospital medical resources is exhausted, the borders are completely sealed,some very crucial medications are lacking.
,the Rafah borders in the south ,was opened today for 3 hours , there are at least 2000 Palestinians on the Egyptian side ,waiting to enter Gaza , they have been waiting since last Sunday , when the summer rain operation started,internationals were asked to leave Gaza,via Eretz checkpoint , that was opened for 2 hours only(for us here in Gaza this is alarming sign),karni checkpoint (the commercial checkpoint) was opened to let in some stuff for 4 hours,may be to let in more candles , transistors and torches,

it seems that this business is booming in Gaza those days , on my way back from the hospital , I could see people queuing to purchase candles


Mona ElFarra

3 am in gaza

it is dark ,sondos is a sleep , i canot go to bed , i have no batteries for my transistor,i donot know where is Hoda , my mobile needs to be recharged , i have no power,iam restless ,anxious ,and helpless too
i love you all , i feel iam not alone , when iam writing to all of you ,and you are far far away

my laptop is gasping too

Mona

Hoda my friend building is hit again

Gaza 1.45 am 5th of July
Big explosion,very big and so loud, I'm fully awake , so sondos (my daughter) ,we hardly can see any thing it is very dark , the drone hit the ministry of interior building again with 1 missile ,that completely destroyed the building , as I hear the news from the local radio, it is very dark , I contacted Hoda,my friend,she lives next to the building ,to find her hysterically screaming , shouting in pain,trapped under her broken windows, all the windows,of her flat broke ,the fumes fill the place , she is waiting for the emergency team to evacuate her,I can hear the hysterical sounds of her neibours,over the phone ,I feel helpless, don't know what to do,for my friend , I phoned again to offer help , she told me that she is ok , I know she is not , 5 of her neiboughers were injured , some of them the terrified kids I mentioned in one of my previous blogs ,I visited Hoda 4 hours ago , we both were tense , a third friend asked us to talk about anything but not politics ,or what is going on in the Palestinian scene ,we tried to , but couldn't , I left her , walked home , only 5 minute from my place

the aeroplanes sound is high in the sky, can't reach Hoda, because I cannot leave my daughter alone , and I expect more air raids , I'm sure some other friends are with her now , she lives alone .While writing I can hear another explosion , they hit an empty children school in another neibourghood.

I have no analysis may be you try to help me to know , why to hit an empty building twice ,
I can see it as desperate eager to revenge , humiliate and intimidate us ,
They will not succeed.

yours in love and solidarity
Mona

Facts and figures -impact of the current Israeli raids -health

Facts and figures about the impact of the current Israeli raids
against Gaza on Health



We in Gaza face great pressure on the basic services and humanitarian
situation. For those who need to be reminded, since the start of this
Intifada (Sept. 2000) Gaza’s economy has been severely affected by
the continuous Israeli atrocities: road blocks, borders closures,
destruction of agricultural areas, and home demolitions. The current
rate of unemployment is as high as 60% of the population. The vast
majority of Palestinian families are living on humanitarian aid and
an increasing number of families live under the poverty line, with
many living on just two dollar/family daily. Gaza is very small
place, smaller than a swing for a cat. It is just it is 360sq km with
1.5 million residents so we have a very high population density.



Since Israel withdraw from Gaza in september 2005, with the so-
called one sided disengagement plan, the only changes were no
checkpoints inside Gaza and the Rafah border crossing, which we use
for traveling to Egypt, was opened.

In January 2006, we had an election.the people majority elected a Hamas government
, since that date nearly 4 months ago, economical and political
sanctions were imposed on the Palestinian people as punishment for
their democratic choice. the choice was an outcome of the occupation
practices with the American government’s support ,and corruption of the
Palestinian government after the Oslo accord.

The four months of economic sanctions has increased the health problems and
we in the health field face a collapsing health system. We do not
have medications in our stores and had to prioritize the surgical
operations due to lack of medical supplies. The last thing we needed
is the power cut off and the complete sealing of the Gaza Strip
with the economical sanctions,poverty level increased
you all know, poverty has a direct effect on health, and when people
are hungry, they save their cash for food, which will consequently
affects their expenditures towards health.,this puts extra presure on the health system,already weak and ineed for larger resources to b erevived,

Here are some facts and figures about the effect of the power cut
off, the economic sanctions, and the Israeli operation in Gaza on
health:

1. 112,000 patients with chronic diseases who need routine
medications are not sure to get these medications at all and if they
do receive the correct medications, it might be expired due to lack
of regular electricity where it is stored in the refrigerators of the
medical facilities. Cancer patients, diabetic patients, and people
with heart disease are few examples of the many cases.

2. 22 hospitals are currently depending on alternative electric power
generators. Bear in mind that those generators need diesel fuel and
the hospitals donot , have enough diesel ,we depend on Israel
. We live under israeli occupation and
therefore must get all our basic needs via Israel.including fuel



3. 200 daily surgical operations will be postponed.

4. 250 renal dialysis patients’ lives are threatened because the
supply of dialysis solution is running low.

5. 30,000 children suffer from malnutrition. This number will
increase as diarrhea spreads. There is a limited supply of good clean
water and high rates of food contamination; diarrhea is expected to
rise by 15% as an outcome of lack of clean water and good hygiene
.
6. Premature babies on life support machines are awaiting death
sentences and the number of deaths for preterm deliveries will
increase as well.



7. Children are lacking proper sleep and proper recreation. They are
feeling insecure all the time and have to live with the non-stop
sonic booming and artillery shelling. A number of those children will
continue to suffer from different psychological problems or drawbacks.



(Source: Palestinian Statistics Bureau)




tonight ,the israeli army intend to make big incursion into beit hanoun village , north of Gaza,

the soldier has to be freed , so the palestinian political prisoners ,

I AM Ok

Dear all
iam a representitive of a just and noble cause , nothing whatever will frighten me , my fellow freinds are those who are resisting all kinds of injustice worlwide , including Palestine i stongly beleive in what che Givara said ;
when you are shaking with anger,seeing injustice imposed on some body ,far away,then you are a comrade and a real human,(plz some body help me to get the right phrase)
what happened to the jews and others during the ww2 , is shameful crime against humanity
it is awful and realy backward, to judge people according their , colour , race, religion...we shall all work together for a brighter future for all the children of the world.
in soliarity
mona Elfarra


please make sure iam ok ,i just go into phases,but will never surrunder to despair.

COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT AND STATE TERRORISM

Dear all
my freind hoda , lives next to the ministry of interior building , in Gaza, that was hit last night with 2 rockets ,the attack occured 2am yesterday,please forgive me about the accuracy , l am starting to lose track of days and nights , and how many times we were attacked , hoda told me that the whole building was shaking ,she went out ,with her pyjamas , all the residents were out in their night wear ,children faces were too pale ,some of them were crying hystiricaly,the fume filled the place , the flat next door were largely damaged(it is the next to the building that was targeted),where a fmily with 6 children live ,there was large fire, the firee brigades used her flat , to put off the fire, the Ministry of interior building was empty during the attack !!!!,the aim was revenge and destroyingof the building ,i live 150 meters from Hoda place , no body is safe no one is immune .what happened with Hoda reminded me with the night when Late president ARafat headquarters in Gaza were attacked , 2 years ago, i live nearby , and too close , that night 37 shelling hit that building,


the power is still of ....we had it for 3 hours yesterday,enough to recharge my labtop,and mobile phone andto do some cooking
,i am highly concerened about the hospitals, the fuel supply to run the local generators is running down ,the borders are copletely sealed since the attack , no fuel was allowed inside gaza since that date,the medication and medical supplies are running down too,we donot have enough strategic storage , because of the previous ongoing sanctions , our drug stores are exhausted , the water supply is scarce too , we need to rationalise our wter use ,we are going through big humanitrian disaster ,


Sonic booming
when the get fighters ,go fastly through the sound barrier, we expereince this sort of terrifying raids at least 7 times ,in different times of the day and night,many international human rights orgs. appealed to Israel to stop this raids.knowing its harmful effect on people , they never used it before withdrawal from gaza

how can i let you know what is my personal feelings , during this raids,if iam sleeping my bed shakes tremendously,my dauhgter jumps to my bed,shivering with fear then both of us end up on the floor ,my heart beats go very fast , and i had to pacify my daughter , now she knows we need to pacify eachother , she feels my fear, if iam awake i flinch up and scream loudly , i cannot helpmyself , ok iam a doctor and mature middleaged woman with large experience and an activist too,but with this booming i go hystirical ,after all we are all humans and each have its own threshold ,hearing the sound of breaking windows is frightening too , many tin roofs in the refujee camps colapsed on the heads of families , as a result of this booming ,hospitals received large number of phsychologicaly traumatised children.


1.5 million residents in Gaza face COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT, feelings of hate will grow larger,and all these assaults and savage agressions against population , will not bring peace or security to Israel , only justice peace wil.

Israel is talking about security of its citizens ,against militiamen,who are armed with some home made fire sticks rockets,
Israel is talking about terrorism , what can i call this soonic booming and power plant attack , but STATE TERRORISM

yours in love and solidarity
Mona ElFarra