From Gaza, with Love

Sunday, December 17, 2006

iam sad and not proud

18th of december gaza 10 am sunday -7pm

iam sad , angry , and not proud of what is going on in Gaza streets at the moment , Palestinian Palestinian fight and , Israeli occupation watching us with the famous old policy of occupation , divide and rule ,what a waste of energy and efforts toward acheiving our national goals , towards free and independent Palestine, towards acheivment of peace that is based on justice ,
i couldnot go to my work , i was confined to my home , i live too close to the presedent home and office actualy i could see the presedent guards from my window ,it was not safe for me to have a quick look the shooting between the fatah and hamas, the two fighting parties was too feirce ,
iam hoping that this unnecessary fight will end soon and will not lead to a civil war
the only exit out of this dielema is a national unity goverment , with the participation and input of the different parties , a goverment that have the power, the determination and wisdom to lift the sanctions , and force the world to support the Palestinian anlianable national rights ,

Monday, December 11, 2006

Apeal from Gaza

From Gaza, where we write as different health NGOs and individuals working
in the health field, we send our deep feelings of appreciation for your
gathering . We see it as a genuine attempt to say “stop – enough of
ongoing health violations of human rights by Israel”. These have greatly
> intensified during the last 4 months of the ongoing Israeli military
> operation against Gaza.
>
> During the latest assault against the village of Beit Hanoun in the north
> of Gaza, civilians were greatly affected by the brutal practices of the
> Israeli army during six continuous days. Women in labour gave birth on the
> road while waiting for permission to go to hospital. Some of the injured
> bled to death while waiting for the same permission. Four emergency health
> rescue officers were killed while on duty and wearing clearly visible
> uniform. Within the last 4 months, the movement of ambulances was greatly
> hindered by the army.
>
> We, the Palestinian health providers in the non governmental sector
> express our deep concern at the rapid deterioration of health conditions.
>
> A whole nation of 1.4 million is living under disastrous humanitarian
> conditions. We have endured without electricity for a continuous 4 month
> period, we watch daily as increasing numbers of cancer patients die while
> waiting to cross the borders for futher treatment in Egyptian hospitals –
> they were denied the right of treatment because of the imposed border
> closure between Gaza and Egypt. Economic sanctions imposed by Western
> governments have left 70% of Gazans living below the poverty level . As a
> consequence 42% of Gaza children under 5 years of age suffer from iron
> deficiency anaemia. Post traumatic stress disorder has reached 60% amongst
> children in the north of Gaza , where the atrocities reached their
> maximum.
>
> Medics are working under fire. Many hospitals were either randomly
> attacked or besieged, preventing the injured from reaching them as
> happened recently in Beit Hanoun.
>
> It is time now for all of us who believe in justice and peace, believe in
> humanity as one family, and in solidarity between health workers
> worldwide, to take a further step and stronger stand – a non violent act
> of sanctions against Israeli health institutions, those various
> universities and hospitals that support the inhuman acts against
> Palestinian people through the Israeli occupation. At the same time we
> need to strengthen our relations and bonds with those courageous Israeli
> health institutions and organizations who refuse the brutal acts of the
> Israeli occupation and work hard for peace and stability in the region,
> based on recognition of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights.
>
> From our big prison where we are incarcerated in our own country, where we
> do not feel that any place is safe or anybody is immune, where we cannot
> even protect our children or our patients, we thank you for your
> solidarity. We hope for a better future for generations to come when this
> conflict ends and this Israeli occupation passes into history, along with
> the South African apartheid regime.
>
>
> [signatures to follow]

Palestinian Non govermental organisations networking(PNGO)
health sector organisations of PNGO
union of health work committees
Palestinian red crescent society
Gaza community mental health programme
union of Palestinian health welfare committees
medical releif society
Univeristy Teachers' Association-Palestine
The Idependent Palestinian Association for Tracking Israeli War Criminals
The Arab Forum
The Nasserist Current

Palestinian red crescent society

AlAWDA hospital .emergency room nurses and doctors-jabalia refujee camp
>> . ambulance drivers of AlAwda hospital
community based rehabilitation center
>> union of palestinian women committees
adameer for human rights association
middleast children alliences -Gaza
DR. Mona Elfarra
dr. rmuhanna
dr. yuosef moussa
dr. aed yagi
dr. tayseer sultan
and many more living and working in Gaza

for more information plz contact
dr. Mona ElFarra -Gaza- AlAwda hospital health and development consultant
, human rights nd women aactivist in Gaza
mona@gaza-health.org

Can any body answers Ghassan Abdullah?

Why is Israel separating me from my wife? asks Ghassan Abdullah
Date: 07 / 12 / 2006 Time: 15:58


Originally published on The Electronic Intifada
6 December 2006

Israel has decreed that my wife and I can no longer live together. I am
Palestinian and she is Swiss and we have been married for 28 years. She
was recently given two weeks to leave the occupied Palestinian
territory. The Israeli Ministry of Interior wrote on her Swiss passport:
"LAST PERMIT." We have been living together in Ramallah for 12 years. We
came in 1994, when, after the Oslo Agreement, we were encouraged to move
to the West Bank by the prospect of 'peace' and development.

My wife Anita speaks Arabic, likes the landscape, cooks Arabic meals,
and she cares for my grandfather's village house -- an old stone
building and the plants around it -- more than I do. She votes in
Palestinian elections as the spouse of a Palestinian. She is active in
serving the local society in public health. She has numerous friends
here and considers it home. She still has her valuable European element
and contacts, but she doesn't want to be separated from this environment
or from me, and I certainly do not want to be separated from her. Our
children are grown up and work abroad, but they are also not sure they
will be allowed to visit us here. On her way to visit us in Ramallah a
few months ago, our daughter, who has a Swiss passport, was delayed for
six hours at Tel Aviv airport and grilled when she landed. She was
lucky. Others are deported to where they took off from, often spending a
night or more at the notorious detention 'facility' at the airport.

For the past 12 years, Anita has managed to stay here by diligently
renewing her permit or leaving and coming back every three or six months
to comply with the Israeli 'law' that applies in the occupied
Palestinian territories. She is fighting now to stay here by going to a
lawyer and to the Israeli courts, hoping for an injunction to be able to
stay until a verdict is reached. She is also in touch with her embassy,
and she has joined others in the same predicament in addressing the
European Union and the American consulate, and in talking to human
rights organizations, both Israeli and Palestinian, and the media.

We don't know what to do. But whatever it is, we have to do it quickly.
What do we do about our shared life, our papers and accounts, the
hundreds of little things that we have grown to share? What do we do
about the new apartment that we made the 'mistake' of purchasing at the
wrong time? She was keyed up about what tiles to choose and how to model
the kitchen. We can't believe, or accept, that we are going to be
separated. We believe it though, when we are reminded by other 'mixed'
couples or families around us who have, and are being, separated.

Since last spring, the Israeli occupation authorities have been
increasing the squeeze on holders of foreign passports by denying them
entry into the Palestinian areas. Those affected include Palestinians
with foreign passports or foreign wives, husbands, children, parents and
other relatives. They also include foreign nationals, who come to teach
at universities, work or volunteer with local or foreign
non-governmental organizations, experts with various projects often
funded by European countries, sympathizers or human rights activists.

Bitakhon is the magic word in Israel. In the name of bitakhon, or
security, Israeli authorities can take any illegal, inhuman, immoral or
aggressive measures against the Palestinian population under military
occupation. They can throw the word bitakhon at any European or foreign
diplomat who questions any of their measures, even when those measures
go against human rights, international and humanitarian law, or the
Fourth Geneva Conventions which govern the conduct of occupying powers
towards the occupied population. It seems sometimes, to Palestinians,
that a third rate official at any Israeli ministry can frighten the
whole of the European Union and its officials by invoking the 'security'
of Israelis, or by hinting at what Europe did to the Jews.

My wife is not the only one to have been given an ultimatum this last
week. Dozens of other wives, husbands and children who have been living
in the West Bank for years, renewing their Israeli-issued 'visitors'
permits every three months, have been given short extensions, none of
which exceed the end of this year. Children will have to be taken out of
schools and will be separated from their parents. Mothers, fathers,
sisters, brothers and grandparents of the cherished local extended
families will be torn apart. Hundreds of others are also waiting their
fate in the coming days and weeks. Thousands have been denied visits
this last summer to their families and homes and roots. Summer is often
the season for marriage of Palestinians divided by different passports
or IDs and festivities used to fill the summer nights with music and
dance. Not in the summer of 2006.

The Israeli occupation does not stop at confiscating the land. I feel
occupied in my shirt pocket. My 'Palestinian' identity card is issued by
Israeli authorities. They control the Palestinian civil population
registry. Every birth, death, marriage, travels in or out, is controlled
by Israel -- even in Gaza, disengagement withstanding. Of course, they
control the water, the roads and the movement of people within the West
Bank through hundreds of barriers and checkpoints. They uproot all the
trees that they decide are in their way, that are in the way of the
Apartheid Wall cutting its way into the flesh of our land, or in the way
of their colonial settlers who decide to take over yet another spot of
land or hill top that pleases them.

Why are the Israelis attacking mixed marriages of Palestinians? Before
people fall in love in Palestine now, they ask about what ID each holds
and from where it is issued. They do not want to build a life at risk of
being torn apart from the start.

-----------------
Ghassan Abdullah is a computer adviser in the West Bank city of Ramallah