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copy and paste http://www.imemc.org/article/53744Israeli forces invade East Jerusalem village, abduct three children Sunday March 30, 2008 01:51 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC NewsOn Friday morning, Israeli forces invaded the al 'Eizariyah town east of east Jerusalem, broke into several homes, searched them and abducted three children The children were identified as Mohammad Daoud Far'un,15, Husam Hassen Basah,16, and Adham Hisahm Shatarah, 15, took them to unknown destinations, and then withdrew from the town.January 08 January 30th Medical Crisis in GazaFaeces Change the Face of Gaza By Mohammed OmerGAZA CITY, A stream of dark and putrid sludge snakes through Gaza’s streets. It is a noxious mix of human and animal waste. The stench is overwhelming. The occasional passer-by vomits.Over recent days this has been a more common sight than the sale of food on the streets of Gaza, choked by a relentless Israeli siege.Hundreds of thousands of Gazans, almost all of its able male adults among a population of 1.5 million, crossed over into Egypt last week to buy essential provisions – and a new lease of life. That has staved off starvation. But streets continue as sewers.The rain has not helped. The sludge has spread, and the stench with it. Starved of timely income and essential supplies, municipal services have all but ceased."The smell," says Ayoub al-Saifi, 56, grimacing as he holds a handkerchief over his nose and mouth. "The stench of the sewage…my wife has asthma, and she can't breathe."Saifi lives next to what has become a newly formed pool of waste. This used to be the street leading to home. "It's getting worse day by day," says neighbour Said Ammar, an engineer, and father of four.The sewage treatment plant in al-Zaytoun neighbourhood in Gaza City requires 20,000 litres of fuel a day. Last week Israel ceased delivery of all fuel and supplies to Gaza. The consequences have been catastrophic.Without fuel to pump it away, the waste backs up, flooding the streets and clogging the plumbing. The local ministry of health has declared this an environmental catastrophe.Doctors have warned that a medical catastrophe could follow by way of spread of cholera and other diseases. That is at a time when not even life-saving medical services are on offer any more."We have to choose between cutting the electricity on babies in the maternity ward, cutting it to heart patients, or shutting down our operating rooms," says Dr. Mawia Hasaneen, director of emergency at al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza.The World Health Organisation released a statement Jan. 22 warning of serious health difficulties arising in Gaza Strip, isolated by the Israeli siege, the Egyptian border and the Mediterranean Sea."Frequent electricity cuts and the limited power available to run hospital generators are of particular concern, as they disrupt the functioning of intensive care units, operating theatres, and emergency rooms," the WHO said. "In the central pharmacy, power shortages have interrupted refrigeration of perishable medical supplies, including vaccine."Christine McNab, acting director in the communications department in Geneva adds that "our current concerns are about the supply of electricity to health facilities, the ability to move medical supplies into the region, and the ability of people to seek care outside of Gaza."McNab notes that even if the full blockade is lifted, additional measures would need to be taken by the international community against any further disruptions.Israel has blocked off fuel and supplies to Gaza because it says it faces rocket attacks from the Palestinian area, which elected Hamas, the Palestinian party that does not recognise Israel.Official Israeli sources say that about 150 homemade rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel since Israel commenced this latest raid. Two Israelis have been slightly wounded and several others treated for shock.Israel has retaliated with firing from tanks and attacks by F-16 aircraft firing Hellfire missiles into Gaza's neighbourhoods. At least 76 Palestinians have been killed, and another 293 injured since Jan. 1, officials here say.Through the suffering, many Palestinians still do not blame Hamas."Hamas has never been the problem. The occupation has always been the big problem," says Ammar. He instead blames Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who administers the West Bank Palestinian area, and who has been in talks with Israel."Abbas doesn't deserve one percent of the respect that (former Palestinian leader Ysser) Arafat earned. Israel will never find someone as good as Arafat. He gave them a historical chance at two states. Yet despite this, they (Israel) laid siege to him."Rajaa Shalil, 38, and mother of four in Rafah at the Egyptian border, says "my respect for Hamas has increased more than ever. I love them for their empathy for the weak."But not all of Gaza's residents feel this way. "Both Israel and Hamas are the reason for this," says resident Abu Mohammed. "Before, we were all in better conditions, but since Hamas took over Gaza they have been unable to handle it." January 26th Man buying softdrinks from Egypt since they ran out of stock in Gaza due to the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza Palestinian boys buying gas tanks for cooking A Palestinian woman and her daughter smiling as they went to buy matresses and clothes from Egypt Palestinian children sitting on the bombed wall between Rafah and Egypt. A Palestinian boy buying sheep from Egypt for one USD dollar. The iron wall is down and border is open for Palestinians Palestinian woman on a donkey cart going to the Egyptian city of Al Arish through the Rafah border Two relatives hugging for the first time. They had not seen each others in many years. Other women buying blankets and carpets from Egypt after many months of blockade on GazaA Taste of Freedom“I finally taste freedom now–at least a temporary freedom of movement,” a 32 year old Gazan man rejoiced, the Gaza-Egypt border newly opened. Thousands climbed over Israel’s downed Wall, a Wall which encompasses and contains the Gaza Strip. The hungry, assaulted, and ignored crowds clamoured into Egypt to stock up on daily goods, basic foods, and medical supplies.In Rafah, crucial shipments of daily living necessities including even packages of cement, spare auto and vital machine parts and fuel, flowed from Egypt into Gaza across a border rendered wide-open since Wednesday. Early Wednesday, militants blew down portions of the concrete and steel wall, allowing hundreds of thousands of Gazans, many caged-in for nearly 18 months, to stream into Egypt for shopping and a luxurious whiff of freedom.Egyptian border security guards initially simply stood by as huge crowds surged into Egypt, but on Wednesday, they attempted to ease the chaos of traffic, directing the countless pedestrians, donkey carts and bicycles.24 Hours Awake!Rafah has been awake 24 hours a day lately, a new phenomenon: usually by sunset people are home, hoping to avoid being targeted by Israeli attacks. In a border town such as Rafah, in southern Gaza, security is risky, to say the least, after sundown. Yet now, masses –hundreds of thousands!!—of people choose to go shopping even in the middle of the night. If not shopping, then people meander to “breathe fresh air,” as one young man replied, en route home with cheese and milk.Israel declared it would not send emergency shipments of fuel into Gaza on Thursday as it had initially promised earlier in the week. The fuel is vital to running Gaza’s main power plant, shut down last week after Israel imposed a complete closure on Gaza in what Israel says was a response to the launching of home-made rockets towards Israel.With the newly-opened border, Israeli officials have said that as long as Gazans are getting supplies through Egypt there is no need for Israel to send shipments. This step is seen by people around the world as Israel's sneaky way of relinquishing responsibility for 1.5 million Gazans, in a region which until 2005 Israel occupied, but which even now many contend Israel continues to militarily occupy.The spokesman of Hamas has denied involvement in having blasted holes in the border. Hamas says, however, that it the prison break is a ‘normal reaction’ from a population which has been increasingly starving, dying, and destitute since Israel imposed its blockade. The closures, which were tightened after Hamas took control over Gaza last June 2007, have led to internationally-recognized severe shortages of food supplies, drinkable water, cement, fuel and electricity necessary for medical and daily functions, as well as cigarettes and many other basic things. Something as simple as candles has become an impossible luxury in Gaza’s markets.As I write now, Gaza rejoices, enjoying a moment of fresh air, a brief, and unusual, respite, from the near-daily Israeli attacks resulting in Gaza civilian bloodshed. But despite the joy from the open border and the vital goods which can be bought in Egypt, tragedy remains in Gaza: late Thursday night and early Friday morning, Israeli warplanes killed four more Palestinians in the on-going assault on Gaza which has seen 68 killed and over 165 wounded in just the first weeks of January alone. Gaza, as the world, watches with apprehension to see how Israel will react to the act of basic human desperation and frustration which led to breaking down the Wall last Wednesday.January 25th Update: Mid night - Rafah time [8pm EST on the 24th of January]: while more than 350,000 people are crossing through to Egypt, an Israeli air strike on a car killed at least two Palestinians in Rafah. Both bodies were transfered to Abu Yousef Al Najjar hospital . No injured were reported, but it is beleived that both members are Hamas members are were patrolling the borderline according to Palestinian sources. Shooting can be heard from time to time while Israeli warplanes are hovering above, but Gazans are still flooding to the border towards Egypt to get the food and medicine that they all need from Egyptian Rafah and Al Arish.January 24th update Update: 10pm Rafah time: [6.49pm EST]: I received this message from Mohammed: "shelling now on the border, some were killed."January 23-24 Osama Al Baba, 11, drawing during the electrcity blackout in Gaza Mustapha al Jamal from Rafah Refugee Camp Gas station owners with no fuel in Gaza Strip Children during shortages of electrcity in RafahGAZA: No Rights, Little MercySeventy-six-year-old Mustapha al-Jamal goes door to door, looking for help in finding medicines for his son. AL-JAMAL PLEADS FOR HIS SON’S LIFE. At home, the 53-year-old son Yahya al-Jamal lies back, staring at the ceiling. By his side, an oxygen cylinder keeps him going for now. "My son's condition continues to worsen," Mustapha says. "We've been waiting two months for the medicines." Last year Mustapaha's 44-year-old daughter, a mother of six, died of breast cancer. She had been recovering, but the Israeli siege blocked supply of medicines, and no one could then save her. Mustapha sees the same happening again. Yahya's cancer started in his kidney, spread to his right lung, and now affects his liver. Twice, on Jul. 20 and Oct. 2 last year, Yahya was allowed passage to Sourasky Medical Centre in Tel Aviv. On the second visit the hospital agreed to give the family 28 tablets worth 35,500 shekels (9,000 dollars). Transfer to an Israeli hospital now could give Yahya medication and hope again, but Israeli officials have refused passage for medical care, citing the oxygen cylinder as a 'security risk'. The medicines given to Yahya earlier were no donation; Israel deducts the cost of medicines for Palestinian patients treated in Israeli hospitals from the taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA).Israel retains rather than disburses the bulk of such payments. The PA continues to pay for medication whenever possible. Now that Israel has declared Gaza a 'hostile entity', it shut its borders, preventing travel from Gaza to hospitals in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the West Bank (the west bank of Jordan river, the Palestinian area under Israeli occupation since 1967). Palestinian ministry of health spokesman Khaled Radi has confirmed that "72 people have died as a result of medicine shortages and not being permitted access to medical care." Among them are women, elderly people and children. "If proper medication was available, Jamal's case would not be as bad as it is now," says Dr. Iman Abu Ouan, one of the doctors treating him.Dr. Quan says the hospital in Gaza where she has been treating Jamal has two radiology rooms for up to five cancer patients. That is simply not enough. And lack of beds forces patients to recover from treatment lying on the floor, with blankets from their own homes, she said. Others in need of care are asked to leave. This means essential care is often not possible. "In several cases known to us, people with security clearance, and carrying exit permits, were called to interrogation by the Israeli secret service (GSS, Shabak) at Erez Crossing, and asked to give information on suspects as a condition for accessing care," Miri Weingarten, Israeli spokeswoman for the group Physicians for Human Rights."If they failed to provide the information they were turned back to Gaza and told they would not receive permits again," she said. "This deliberate withholding of medical care for non-medical reasons is completely unjustifiable and could represent cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under the UN Convention Against Torture," said Weingarten. January 20th Aftermath of the bombing by Israeli helicopters: half a body Body parts collected in a truck Flesh colleceted in Gaza Half body Human flesh of different people arrived at the hospital Flesh, arms and legs in a truck during last attack on Gaza. A murdered child Killed by Israeli warplanes unidentified body parts Palestinian children watching the remains of flesh of someone who was killed Palestinians inspect a damaged car by Israeli F16s in Gaza Car targated by Israeli warplanes in GAZA Family member mourns the death of Maryam Al Rahel who was killed with her son on their way home on their donky cart Farwell moments during funeral of Maryam who was killed while she was on her donky cart with her son Saleh Funeral in Gaza City as women mourns Hamas gunman standing during an Israeli attack on Gaza Just destroyed by Israeli warplanes in Gaza Palestinian gunman killed by Israeli snipers Palestinian children gathering around a car which was bombed in Gaza by Israeli warplanes Palestinian mourners carrying the body of Mohammed Al Rahel during a joint funeral with his mother Maryam who was killed by Israeli warplanes Palestinian youngman running from an Israeli rocket which hit one of the houses in Gaza CitySo Many Tragedies in Such Little Time Where to start…, what to talk about…? The crippling electricity shortages, affecting hospitals as well as civilians? The air strikes & on-going, daily bombings by the Israeli army, their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and police stations…? Israel’s non-accidental, enforced starvation of 1.5 million people by closing off ALL borders and not allowing in even UN aid, let alone basic medicinal, food, and construction needs…? Shortages of fuel have re-surfaced in Gaza: most of Gaza has no electricity and even more importantly, the shortage of medicine in Palestinian hospitals continues to increase, with the Ministry of Health reporting a looming humanitarian catastrophe. Or should I begin with the bomb which just hit a wedding close to the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City, with 15 apartment buildings within the bomb’s target range? One woman was killed and 47 others were injured –mostly children and women who had been inside their homes or playing on the street!! Scenes of children injured, bleeding and crying just moments after they had been enjoying a wedding celebration in a Gaza wedding hall…a horrific sight likely to go without mention of that in most news sources. The injured were evacuated to Al Shifa hospital, where it was then hard to find enough beds and blankets for them, with children crammed three to four on a bed due to overcrowding. Earlier Friday, Israel closed its border with the Gaza Strip to all traffic in what officials say is response to cross-border rocket fire, preventing even UN humanitarian supplies from getting in. The decision came after Israel vowed to broaden its military campaign against Gaza militants who have fired more than 110 home made rockets at southern Israel in the last three days resulting in the injury of two Israelis. In contrast, 19 Palestinians were killed in one day last Wednesday during another Israeli attack, this one targeting the eastern part of Gaza City. These are the latest attacks, but not the only: since the visit of US president and ‘peacemaker’, George Bush, within only 74 hours, Israel has killed 37 people and injured more than 90. Those numbers, which could again go up at any minute, were confirmed by Khaled Radi, the Ministry of Health spokesman in Gaza. Radi also said that Israel is using internationally illegal weapons, which makes it impossible for people to identify the bodies of their relatives as they have been destroyed to unrecognizable ends. Among the tens killed were a 13 year old boy and his father and uncle, killed in what Israel claims was “a mistake”. Another Israeli attack killed a mother, Maryam Al Rahel, and her son, Mohammed, who were on a donkey cart when an Israeli warplane bombed them. Their bodies, like so many others, were rendered into small pieces of flesh, scattered everywhere! An Even Blacker Night! I and some journalist colleagues went to offer condolences to a journalist friend of ours for the death of his cousin as a result of medicine shortages on Wednesday. While on the way, there was a lot of shooting going on, from funerals and demonstrations. Later, as we were starting to drive off from our parking spot, Mohammed, another journalist, suggested waiting for a moment. But as others preferred to not wait around, we eventually left. After we had gone just a few minutes down the road, we learned that the place where our car had been parked had just been bombed, targeting and killing two Palestinians, injuring another three. “It could have been us who were killed,” one of the journalists said to me. I answered: “Thanks to God, it wasn’t. But this is so sad; it must be terrible for their families, with children left behind and no one now to support them.” Update on Killings As predicted, the death toll has risen since I began this report: another two have been killed in northern Gaza, and another 4 badly injured. Israeli Ministry spokesman, Shlomo Dror says that: “It's unacceptable that people in Sderot are living in fear every day and people in the Gaza Strip are living life as usual.” And I wonder, what exactly does he consider “life as usual”? For if he means it is normal that over 35 civilians should be killed in 4 days, an entire population should be on the verge of starvation and should be forced to shiver through winter nights without electricity or sufficient blankets, that hospitals and medical centers should be forced to shut down or operate at sub-par capability and without needed medicine, food, blankets, and even space,…the list goes on…well then yes, we are living life as usual. January 13th A Palestinian medic evacuates a boy wounded during an Israeli army incursion east of the Bureij refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip Palestinian men carrying a coffin during protest calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails Palestinian woman entering Gaza Women call for release of their sons and relatives from Israeli jails Palestinians protest in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah asking Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing to pilgrims Palestinians protest President Bush'S visit to Palestine Palestinian women lamenting the death of a Ppalestinian man Palestinian young man wounded by Israeli Occupation Forces Palestinian woman holding photo of her father who is in Israeli jails. Palestinian women in Rafah crying during the funeral of Abdullah Qeshta Palestinian kids weeping during the funeral of their relative Abdullah Qeshta who was killed by Israeli rockets in Rafah Palestinian man holding photo of Marwan Al Barhouti whos in Israeli jails for many years Palestinan woman in a funeral. Palestinian girl injured by Israeli tank shells in Khan Younies All people in one coice open borders and let us have freedom of movment Girl taken into hospital during Israeli attackIn exclusion, Hamas countsAs US President George W. Bush began talks Thursday with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas supporters in Gaza were determined to make their absence count.Leaders from the Palestinian party Hamas that won the elections in Gaza two years back have inevitably not been invited to meet Bush. The US considers Hamas a terrorist organization.Hamas took control of Gaza by force from the Fatah party headed by Abbas in June last year, about a year and a half after it swept the polls in January 2006.As Hamas leaders and supporters see it, Bush's talks with Abbas can count for little if they are kept out. And so with Abbas's talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert just ahead of Bush's visit.The visit is "no more than an attempt by Bush to boost his image before he leaves office," Dr. Salah al-Bardawil, spokesman and member of the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council told IPS.In an interview with Israeli Television on Sunday, Bush said that before the end of his political career he wants to urge Israel and the Palestinians to reach a final agreement on establishing an independent Palestinian state.Hamas is not convinced. "Bush can't sincerely be speaking about a Palestinian state, since Israel has always refused to define distinct and clear-cut borders for, and thus recognize, a viable Palestinian state," Bardawil said."One must ask what kind of country Bush is talking about when Israel insists on -- and the Bush administration tolerates -- expanding and building illegal Jewish settlements, building an internationally illegal apartheid wall, and depriving a country of its water and economy."While the red carpet was being laid for Bush in Ramallah for the meeting with Abbas, Israeli siege of Gaza, less than two hours drive from Ramallah, continues. Bush's visit has again highlighted the divisions between Hamas and Fatah - and between the two big Palestinian areas, the Gaza Strip ruled by Hamas and the West Bank ruled by Fatah. "Bush is not welcomed by Hamas, nor by the majority of Palestinians," Bardawil said.On the other side, West Bank based Fatah leader Saeb Erekat said Fatah, represented by Abbas and Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, will ask Bush to pressure Israel to stop its expansion of illegal settlements and its military operations in the West Bank and the whole of the Gaza Strip.PA and Israeli negotiating teams held two rounds of talks immediately after talks in Annapolis in the US in December, but failed to produce any tangible progress, mainly due to expansion of Israeli settlements.The settlements on Palestinian land captured in the 1967 War are one of the most controversial issues in the decades-old occupation and conflict."While we are not optimistic about the intentions of President Bush's visit, we do hope that he will work to end Israeli military practices and attacks, the building of the segregation wall, and to end the building and expanding of the hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts," Zakaria al-Agha, one of the few senior Fatah leaders left in Gaza told IPS."The illegal Israeli practices contradict President Bush's professed vision for peace," he said. But while some of the Fatah and Hamas language is similar, it is Bush and Abbas who are talking to one another. In the eyes of many Palestinians, Hamas has gained legitimacy through this exclusion, while Fatah has lost its own in talking to Bush.Bardawil said "this visit aims to empower Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] against Hamas and its government in Gaza." But, he added, that "while trying to put pressure on Hamas, Bush really knows that no solution exists without Hamas."Suspicions abound over Bush's visit. Bardawil said Bush "aims to empower what he calls the 'moderate trend' in order to use the people for his plans to attack Iran in the future."Both Hamas and Fatah members are watching closely to see what emerges on the ground from the visit. "President Bush wants to show that he is working for two states, Palestine and Israel," said Agha. "But we want to see action, not just pretty words."A measure of action will be what Israel does on the issue of the settlements, the status of disputed Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees, and the borders of a future Palestinian state. =========== Latest updates on Gaza: Unknown militants attacked private school in Gaza, named the American School in the north of Gaza, where they smashed windows, burned school buses and looted computers belonging to a private American school in Gaza. Sources beleive this is a message that President Bush is not welcomed into the area. It's not clear who toke responosbility of such attack. Meanwhile, as afetr the viusit of President Bush, attacks contines on Gaza, and number of 68 people died as a result of medical shortages and not being allowed out for medication. In an interview with Dr. Mawaia Hassaneen he confirmed that 78 people killed and other 263 were injured in both Gaza Strip and West Bank since since Annapolis conference. Gaza is living in grim situations with the ongoing siege, shortages of fuel and electricity for 9 hours on daily basis on each area of Gaza Strip, sometimes it could be even longer than 9 hours per day.All images on this site are ©copyright RafahToday. If you wish to use any image, please contact us for written permission site by Virtual Activism