Tag: Gaza - Page 124 - International Solidarity Movement

Scrap collector injured in the North

26 February 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

As his family was hungry but running out of cooking gas, Khaled Mohammed Al-Hsunmi (37) went out to collect wood. Cooking gas in Gaza is scarce and expensive (the siege does not allow much gas to enter), so Khaled regularly goes on a hunt for wood. Burning wood is plenty near the border, so he headed in this direction. The 26 of February he was at approximately 450 meters from the fence when an Israeli sniper hit him with a dum-dum bullet. The bullet, which explodes on impact and is illegal under the Geneva Convention, scattered the bones of his right lower leg.

“I have a family of nine. My eldest son is 10 years old and my eldest daughter is 18. I used to be a farmworker, but in the past two months nobody has called me,” sighs Khaled.

He had a surgery with external fixing to solidify his bones. Probably Khaled will need another surgery after a year to transmit parts of his hip bone to the scattered leg bones.

It is not the first time that his family has been put under live fire. His 18-year old nephew, Bilal Shaban Al-Hsunmi, is one of the two people visiting him in the hospital today. Bilal was himself injured on December 11th, 2010, while working as a scrap collector 350 meters from the border. Bilal still walks around with the metal fixing on his leg. He was hit by a dum-dum bullet too and is also waiting for a transplantation surgery to fix his scattered leg bones.

Bilal explains how his two elder brothers were also shot at by the occupation forces while working, which has put the entire family without an income, because the three of them were the only ones with work.

Khalil’s second visitor’s leg is also wrapped in external metal fixing. It is Mohamed Smail Al-Khamadaw (34), Khaled’s neighbor. On November 19th he was also hit by a bullet while collecting rubble 350 meters from the border. “The only thing that kept my leg together was the skin: the bones were shattered to pieces”, says Mohamed. “Nobody else in my family has a job. May God help us find a way to survive.” When he was asked whether he has a message for the outside world, he replied without hope: “I have no message. Any message is useless: Israel will continue doing whatever it wants to do. Anything I’d say won’t make any difference.”

Today’s attack exemplifies yet again Israel’s escalating assault on workers in the border area: since the beginning of November, approximately 40 people have been injured in the buffer zone: the no-go zone as declared by Israeli military that runs along the Gazan side of the border in a swathe 300 to 500 meters wide. However, according to the United Nations, this “high risk” zone stretches up to 1500-2000 meters. The total area amounts to 35% of Gaza’s arable land. Almost nobody enters the no-go zone, so most of the cases of injured or killed people in the last period have been in the high risk area, though it is not clearly defined nor explicitly declared by the occupation forces.

Three killed in Gaza buffer zone

22 February 2011 | ISM Gaza

Ashraf Abdellatif Iqtifan was born in Gaza City in 1980. He grew up surrounded by five brothers, two sisters, and everyday violence. When Ashraf was eleven years old, his 14-year-old brother Rami, who on his slightly yellowed photo smiles cheekily and brightly into the camera, threw a stone at an Israeli soldier whilst Gaza was occupied by Israel. A soldier standing next to them saw this, he took his gun and shot Rami between the eyes, the bullet got stuck in the brain. The brain-dead boy was brought to Israel, the family got him back cut open, all organs – even his eyes – were missing. The parents went to court and won. The soldier who had shot Rami, was sentenced for manslaughter of a child to 15 days of prison. Yes, days. He was also demoted two ranks.

But in spite of everything, Ashraf dreamed of a better life in Israel. When he was 19 years old and Gaza was not yet a jail, he managed to escape. He went to Tel Aviv and began to work as a dishwasher. His salary may not have been high, but it was enough to feed his entire family in Gaza; after the blockade none of them have work anymore. For 12 years Ashraf lived and worked in Tel Aviv.

But five months ago, the horror from which he had escaped all those years came back to him. He was stopped by the police, and when looking into his passport, they noted that he was from Gaza. Shortly afterwards Ashraf was back in his hometown. But the joy of reunion lasted only very briefly. Ashraf found his family in poor living conditions, and now absolutely no money came from outside, no one had work anymore. He began to accompany two young men from the extended family, Fathi Jihad Khalaf, 21, and Ar-Tal’at Ruwagh, 25, by collecting stones, so that at least some money came in. They went every day into the area of a former Israeli settlement in northern Gaza, near the border with Israel.

But the missing money and the related concern of no longer being able to care for his family was not the only thing that made Ashraf so desperate. Every day he looked across to the country that had been his home for many years, where his work was, his flat, his friends, his life. “No, Ashraf was not married,” says his father, “that wouldn’t have been possible. I have to approve the marriage, and the whole family must be present at the celebration”. He had begun to plan a marriage for his son, he suggested possible partners. But each time Ashraf refused with some excuse or changed the subject. Maybe after so many years, he deviated a bit from his tradition. Perhaps contrary to father’s firm conviction a girlfriend did wait for him in Israel, who knows, maybe he even had a family there.

And so he developed a plan that was so stupid and naive that you have the urge to shake him and his two friends with whom he was collecting stones, when they hadn’t already paid for this stupidity with their lives.

One can imagine Ashraf raving to his friends about the better life in Israel, about the opportunities they would have there, about the freedom. And these two guys who should have known it better, who were confronted with the violence of the Israeli military in the buffer zone on a daily basis, suddenly believed they knew the area well enough to see an opportunity. These two young men should have known better. They all should have known better.

“Maybe he thought that the soldiers at the border were just as the people with whom he used to work in Tel Aviv, maybe he thought that they wouldn’t immediately shoot him”, his father said quietly.

Whatever Ashraf thought, he wanted to return at any rate. On the night to the 17th of February he and his two new friends set up to their way to the border.

Did they really believe that this would work out? Ashraf perhaps hadn’t realized yet that Gaza had become a high security prison during the long years of his absence. They hadn’t even reached the border when they were fired at – by a nearby gunboat on the water, by a drone from the air and a tank at the border. Half of Arafat’s head was missing when the three bodies could finally be rescued four hours later, around six clock in the morning. No weapons were found, neither on the bodies, nor in the close surroundings.

“I don’t know if he told anyone of his friends in Israel about his plan,” said his father. “He didn’t even tell me that he would try it that night.” The declaration of the Israeli military stated that they “thwarted a terrorist attack”, the men would have been caught, “deploying explosives at the border”. And that’s how the story was probably in the Israeli media. Did Ashraf tell his friends about his plan? Have they read the news? Do they know that he is dead, that Israeli soldiers didn’t prevent a terrorist attack, but killed their friend, who wanted to go back? Ashraf, does that name ring a bell to you, you inhabitants of Tel Aviv? Was he your employee, or the man who washed your dishes in your favorite restaurant, perhaps you’ve seen him on the way out? Was he your friend, partner, perhaps even father? The man who was sitting next to you on the bus, the guy with whom you started a conversation in the long queue at the supermarket? He’s dead. Have you thought of him as you read the news about the last thwarted attack from the terrorists? About three more deaths on the long road to adequate safety? Ashraf was on his way home.

“I only have you to count on.”

24 February 2011 | Vera Macht, ISM Gaza

“I only have you to count on. From now on, my children depend on you.”
This was the desperate call of a man who sees no way out for himself and his children, and we ISM members who came to his phone call, received it in helpless silence. It is not the first time that we have visited this family, and every time we go home more horrified.

The last time we were there was on the 14th July 2010, a day after his wife died; was murdered, there is no other way to say it. Nasser Jabr Abu Said lives in Johr al-Dik, 350 meters away from the border with Israel. On the evening of the 13th July, Nasser’s wife was in the garden with two other women from the family when they were fired at with artillery shells from a nearby tank. They used flechette shells, which explode in the air so that five- to eight-thousand nails shoot out of them, piercing everyone and everything in a cone of 300 by 100 meters. They are also illegal under international law.

Nasser’s wife was not injured, but the Nasser’s sister was wounded in the shoulder, and a third woman, Sanaa Ahmed Abu Said, 26, was wounded in the leg. The family took shelter in the house and called an ambulance, which was unable to approach because it was stopped by machine gun fire from the nearby Israeli soldiers. At this point, the 33 year old wife of Nasser, Nema Abu Said, realized that the youngest of her children, Jaber, was asleep in the garden. As Nema ran outside to bring him to safety, she and her brother-in-law were pierced by the nails of another flechette shell. It took four endless hours before the ambulance finally got the permission to help the family, but by then Nema had died.

When we first visited the family, no one had yet had the heart to explain to Jaber that his mother had died. He kept asking for her while we were there, but how do you explain something like that to a three year old child?

When we went this time, all the children knew only too well what had happened. Nasser explained that he could no longer live in the house because of the almost daily incursions; bombs and shootings have destroyed their damaged psyche and now they wake up every night, screaming from nightmares and having wet the bed. UNRWA rented a tiny apartment for the family – right next to the cemetery where the mother is buried. “I couldn’t get my children away from their mother’s grave. It happened more and more that I suddenly noticed at night that one of the children had gone, and I found them crying in the cemetery, I knew I couldn’t stay there any longer”, Nasser told us.

His alternative is disconcerting. He has pitched a tent, funded by the Red Cross, a few hundred meters away from his old house. The Red Cross also brought three blankets. When Nasser requested more aid he was told that he had already been helped. UNRWA told him that they could not finance a new house. Although they also recognized that the danger was too great to stay in the old house, they said that the old house would first have to be destroyed. Until the house is destroyed, they won’t act.

In this tent, amid the rain of the winter, Nasser now sleeps with his four sons and his daughter, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10-years-old. They sleep on only two mattresses because he has to burn the old mattresses every few weeks, as every night they are wetted by the children. There is not enough money for new mattresses, for a sufficient amount of blankets, clothes and school uniforms for the children, or for their transportation to school. He doesn’t dare to send them to school before it’s light, which means that they miss two hours of lessons every day. “They urgently need psychological care,” says Nasser quietly; he didn’t know where to start when we asked him what he needed the most. They received psychological care for a short while, and the psychologist diagnosed that they remained mentally in the state which they were in when their mother died. When a few days ago the bombs fell – one of them near the house – the children’s screams woke up their father.

They need the continuous care of their father, but that is not the only thing that prevents him from earning money. Nasser can’t farm his land any more: it was too often flattened; it is situated mainly in the inaccessible buffer zone; and he lacks the resources to be able to start farming the rest of his land. He doesn’t have the money for seeds to plant something. “I would love to plant eggplants again, cabbage and watermelons. Also, sheep would be a big help. But my water system is completely destroyed from the bombs, and I lack the money to rebuild it.”

“I am an old man,” Nasser Abu Said says, 37 years old, “to me it is no longer important, but what about my children? Don’t they have the right to life, the right to grow up in safety and with some joy?”

“From now on, my children depend on you,” this sentence stays in your mind. And so I do what is in my power. I write about it. Nasser’s misery concerns all of us. This wasn’t fate, that wasn’t a natural disaster. A few years ago, Nema and Nasser Abu Said were a happy and content family.

Action Alert: tell Egypt to open Rafah crossing

19 February 2011 | Gazan human rights organizations

The International Solidarity Movement has received a request from Palestinians in Gaza that concerned people contact the Egyptian embassies to ask them to reopen the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. They have prepared a statement which you can sign and fax to your embassy in order to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis caused by the closing of the crossing. Below is the email correspondence, and a link to a document containing the statement.

“Please read this letter from Gaza and try and get an organisation/civil society group to endorse it or sign it individually and send it on to your Egyptian embassies. It’s about the continuing Rafah crossing that seems to be the last thing on the Egyptian agenda now. Thousands of Palestinians are stranded at the Cairo airport, and all over the world. Some have gone on hunger strike and the last decision taken by the deposed government was to ban Palestinians from renting in Egypt. You could also send the letter to your local Member of Parliament or representative.

We call on you to sign the attached letter and fax it to the Egyptian embassy where you are based. If you don’t have a fax, please email. Obviously in light of recent events recommencing the movement of goods and people through both directions of the Rafah border with Gaza is a priority, given the devastating effects of the blockade of the Gaza Strip now inside its fourth year. Demand immediate action.

Best,
Palestinians in Gaza

The London Fax number for the Egyptian Embassy in UK is: 020 7491 1542
TEL: 020 7499 3304/2401
The Washington Fax number for the Egyptian Embassy in US is: 202.244.4319, 202.244.5131
TEL: 202.895.5400
The Dublin Fax number for the Egyptian Embassy in Ireland is: 00353-1-6683745
TEL: 00353-1-6606718

Some other Egyptian Embassy contact details can be found here:
http://egypt.embassyhomepage.com/”

“Open the Rafah crossing” letter

Israeli troops kill Gaza fishermen

17 February 2011 | Al Jazeera

Israeli soldiers have killed three Palestinian fishermen along the Gaza-Israeli border, Palestinian medics have said.

Gaza’s ministry of health said on Thursday that the men were killed overnight in the north of Gaza, near Beit Lahiya, while they were working with their nets on the shore.

The medics said that the victims were shot by Israeli forces before dawn.

But the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in a statement said the men were “militants”.

“Overnight, an IDF force identified a number of Palestinian militants approaching the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip, in an attempt to plant explosive devices.

“Thwarting the attempt, the force fired at the militants, hitting three of them,” the statement said.

Residents said they had heard gunfire in the area.

Adham Abu Selmiya, a spokesman for the Hamas-run emergency services, told AFP news agency that the men died after being hit by a tank shell and machine gun fire in an area called Al-Waha which lies close to both the shore and the northern border with Israel.

Abu Selmiya identified the men as Jihad Khalaf, 20, Talaat al-Awagh, 25 and Ashraf al-Kteifan, 29.

Israel often carries out strikes against Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Increased tensions over the Gaza border have raised concerns about a new Israeli invasion of the coastal enclave like the devastating 22-day offensive which began at the end of December 2008.

Fourteen hundred Palestinians were killed in the operation, more than half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis, 10 of them soldiers, also died.