Report from ISM Gaza Strip as Israeli rockets hit Gaza

By Sharon from Australia

3pm from Gaza city

I was at home beside the small Gaza port, eating a bread and jam breakfast, when the rockets began to fall at about 11am. Six or seven deafening explosions occurred not far from my building, which rocked from the impact, smoke and dust filling the air. This occurred just as the children were on the streets walking back from school, and when I went out onto the stairs, a terrified 5 year old girl ran sobbing into my arms.

Vik (Italy) later ascertained that these rockets had targeted the port police station, and also the “President’s Palace” nearby, killing about 20.

At the time of the attacks, Eva (Canada) was on Omar Mukhtar street where a police station had just been hit, and witnessed a last rocket hit the street 150 m away where crowds had already gathered to try to extract the dead bodies. The street was littered with rubble, making it difficult for ambulances and cars to get near enough to take bodies away.

Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city is full of dazed, wounded people – and also, we are told, pieces of what were people. Two from our group are currently inside documenting. Eva stood outside the hospital, watching as car after car, as well as the small number of functional ambulances, rushed into the hospital, Gaza’s main hospital, bringing the dead and the severely injured.

We also have a team documenting in Rafah. We are hearing that over 100 are dead and over 200 wounded. Several of the police stations that were targeted were having training days, but the dead and wounded include civilians and children.

Human Rights Defenders speak from Gaza as Israel kills over 200 people

27th December 2008 – Human Rights Defenders from various countries are present in Gaza and are witnessing and documenting the current Israeli attacks on Gaza. Due to Israel’s policy of denying access to international media, human rights defenders and aid agencies to the Occupied Gaza Strip, many of these Human Rights Defenders arrived in Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement’s boats that have repeatedly broken the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

“At the time of the attacks I was on Omar Mukhtar street and witnessed a last rocket hit the street 150 meters away where crowds had already gathered to try to extract the dead bodies. Ambulances, trucks, cars – anything that can move is bringing injured to the hospitals. Hospitals have had to evacuate sick patients to make room for the injured. I have been told that there is not enough room in the morgues for the bodies and that there is a great lack of blood in the blood-banks. I have just learned that among the civilians killed today was the mother of my good friends in Jabalya.” – Eva Bartlett (Canada) International Solidarity Movement

“The Shifa Hospital is already overwhelmed with injured people and does not have the medicine or the capacity to treat them.” – Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish and British) Free Gaza Movment

“The morgue at the Shifa hospital has no more room for dead bodies, so bodies and body parts are strewn all over the hospital.” – Dr. Haidar Eid, (Palestinian, South African) Professor of Social and Cultural Studies, Al Aqsa University Gaza

“The bombs began to fall just as the children were on the streets walking back from school. I went out onto the stairs and a terrified 5 year old girl ran sobbing into my arms.”- Sharon Lock (Australian) International Solidarity Movement

“This is incredibly sad. This massacre is not going to bring security for the State of Israel or allow it to be part of the Middle East. Now calls of revenge are everywhere.” Dr Eyad Sarraj – President of the Gaza Community Mental Health Centre

“As I speak they have just hit a building 200 metres away. There is smoke everywhere. This morning I went to the building close to where I live in Rafah that had been hit. Two bulldozers were immediately attempting to clear the rubble. They thought they had found all the bodies. As we arrived one more was found.” Jenny Linnel (British) International Solidarity Movement

“The home I am staying in is across from the preventive security building. All the glass shattered here. The home has been severely damaged. Due to the siege there is no glass or building materials to repair the damage. This is more than just collective punishment.” Natalie Abu Eid (Lebanon) International Solidarity Movement

Human Rights Defenders in Gaza:
Dr. Eyad Sarraj: (Arabic and English)
Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish and English)
Dr. Haider Eid (English and Arabic)
Sharon Lock (English)
Vittorio Arrigoni (Italian)
Fida Qishta (English and Arabic)
Jenny Linnel (English)
Natalie Abu Shakra (Arabic and English)
Eva Bartlett (English)

For more information contacting the people in Gaza please contact:

Adam Taylor (ISM) – 972 59 8503948 or email palreports@gmail.com

Soldiers attack international HRWs in Hebron

On Christmas Eve, Dec. 24 at 10:40pm, three international human rights workers (HRW’s)were assaulted by a group of six soldiers on the roadway after the Jewish cemetary in the Tel Rumeida district of Hebron.

The HRW’s had just returned from celebrating Christmas Eve in Bethlehem and had been denied entry through Checkpoint 56 to the roadway leading up to their residence.

The HRW’s used an alternate route to reach the roadway leading to their residence, climbing up an embankment and entering the roadway at the corner near the Jewish cemetary. As they entered the roadway, they were met by a group of six soldiers including one whose face was covered by a black ski mask. The soldiers yelled at the HRW’s in Hebrew and then began shoving them back towards the embankment.

One of the HRW’s was then kicked in the back as he retreated and another was kicked in the crotch and then pushed over the rocky drop-off. After waiting for the soldiers to depart, the HRW’s then returned to their residence via another route.

The area past Checkpoint 56 has been declared a closed military zone through Dec. 31, 2009 and internationals have been repeatedly denied entry by the soldiers at the checkpoint and the police, but it has been understood that the internationals could still access their residence via an unofficial route including another roadway and trail through a field. The police officers denying entry at #56 in the past have told internationals to use the alternate route.

It is believed by the HRW’s that the military closure is illegal in that it is a long standing order in a residential area denying internationals access to their contracted residence. Their is no current military conflict and Palestinian residents are permitted passage through the checkpoint to their residences although harassment is a common occurrence. The singling out of internationals appears designed to eliminate witnesses to abuses committed by Israeli settlers, police and military. The HRW’s are determined to maintain their presence in hopes of helping to curtail such abuse.

Settler youth spray burning liquid at Palestinian man in Hebron

On the morning of the 24th December, a settler youth attacked a Palestinian man outside the Beit Hadassah settlement in Hebron.

The man, who works as a caretaker at the Palestinian Qurtuba School, was running an errand in to the city centre. On returning he saw a settler boy around 12 years old chatting with the soldier on duty at the checkpoint. When he passed them the kid sprayed him with some liquid from a syringe. He protected himself with a piece of paper. Despite his efforts some of it hit his face, burning it.

When we asked the soldier why he didn’t interfere, he replied, “I didn’t notice it”.

Qurtuba School in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood is constantly subjected to violent attacks of settlers. The settlers are known for using their minor kids who don’t risk any penalties, when they attack the school, the staff and pupils. This attack occurred during the Jewish Hanukkah when the settler kids don’t go to school and therefore have more time to harass the Palestinians.

The Israeli army has declared a closed military zone around Qurtuba school, which effectively prevents international human rights observers from entering it. The activists from ISM whom keep a presence around the school work under a constant threat of being arrested.

IMEMC: Christmas tree lit in protest tent in Jerusalem

To view original article, published by the IMEMC on the 23rd December, click here

Archbishop Moneeb Younan, of the Lutheran Church in the Holy Land and Jordan, lit a Christmas tree on Tuesday in a protest tent in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem. He was joined by Jerusalem governor, Adnan Al Husseini and resident Um Kamel Al Kurd.

Al Kurd was forced out of her home by extremist Israeli settlers. Since then, the Israeli authorities have removed her protest tent a total of three times.

Archbishop Younan said that this feast should be the time that human rights are returned, and the oppressed have a taste of freedom and justice.

Dozens of residents, including children, attended the symbolic act. The children in attendance received gifts.

Governor Al Husseini gave his best wishes to the Christians celebrating Christmas, “today we celebrate the birth of Christ while his essence is passing through this historical place”. He added that the Palestinians; Muslims and Christians, are facing oppression by the Israeli occupation, and are determined to remain steadfast in their land.

On his side, Archbishop Younan said, “we are lighting this tree because we are looking towards the light of peace and justice, and we believe that peace starts in Jerusalem. Today’s symbolic act resembles the Palestinian unity, the unity of Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem for thousands of years.

Meanwhile, Um Kamel said that she will never forget this night, and expressed hopes that the coming feats for Muslims and Christians will be celebrated with prevailing peace and justice in the region.