Tag: Gaza

About 80 international, Israeli and Palestinian protesters gathered at the Erez crossing to the Gaza strip on Sunday to demonstrate against the Israeli government’s denial of entry for health professionals planning to attend the International Gaza Community Mental Health Program Conference.

Multiple armed border police pushed the protesters back from the fence of the crossing as demonstrators asked to be permitted entrance during the hour and a half demonstration which was otherwise allowed to occur with little interference from the authorities.

The conference, which was to occur on the 27th and 28th of October in Gaza City was forced to be held in Ramallah with lectures performed through video-conference with the participants in Gaza. The conference’s focus was on the mental health issues resulting from life under the siege entitled “Siege and Mental Health, Walls vs. Bridges”. Mental health professionals from around the world were scheduled to present lectures focusing on the many ways in which military occupation in Gaza and all over the world affects mental health and hold a professional and academic dialog on solutions to the issues.

The demonstrators on Sunday not only expressed their rejection of Israel’s actions in regards to the conference, but also on medical treatment of Gazans as a whole. Immediately after the start of the siege in 2007 the Israeli government has exercised a more than 20% decrease in the issuing of medical permits, leaving only 69% of applicants with a permit to enter Israel. Even when a patient is issued a permit they are often subjected to lengthy security checks at the crossing where it is known that Israeli authorities pressure them for information in exchange for their exit. Furthermore the health system within Gaza is in need of many vital supplies that due to the siege are routinely impossible to obtain. Multiple human rights and international medical organizations, including Physician’s for Human Rights have filed petitions against Israel’s actions as an occupying force, which are in a direct violation of the Geneva Convention.

As several representatives from the conference spoke at the end of the demonstration they stressed the fact that their work at the conference was in no way politically affiliated, rejecting claims made by some Israeli sources that it was sponsored by Hamas. Those who spoke instead insisted that they were invited by the Palestinians in an attempt to exercise their academic freedom on an important issue and that the Israeli government’s denial of their entry points to what they must be attempting to hide from the international participants, many of them carrying signs asking “what are you afraid of?”. The representatives finally asked that those present continue to pressure their home countries for a change in policy towards the human rights violations being committed in regards to medicine in the Gaza strip, an issue that can no longer be ignored.

This is a compilation report of various times ISM Gaza Strip volunteers have spent with farmers in Al-Faraheen Abasan Al-Kabeera, near Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Palestine

There is a “Buffer Zone”, declared by the Israeli occupation force army, along the entire eastern “border” of the Gaza Strip. Entire farms within 300 to 500 meters distance inside this “Buffer Zone” have been destroyed by Israeli occupation force soldiers in the past few years, since 2005. On 27th and 28th April and 1st May 2008 the Israeli occupation force soldiers invaded Al-Faraheen Abasan Al-Kabeera and bulldozed many farms and demolished some houses. During these incursions all the trees, crops, irrigation pipes, and hot houses were bulldozed into the ground. Rich agricultural farm land turned into desert. Olive trees decades old, citrus trees, date trees and many crops of tomatoes, eggplant, chili peppers, green peppers, okra, carrots, lettuce, etc, providing livelihood and food for the families of the Gaza Strip gone. In addition, chicken farms and herds of sheep and other animals were killed by the soldiers too. The destruction of these farms has made many families totally dependent on food aid and has turned the farmers penniless. Most if not all of the farmers cannot access their land and they can’t graze their herds, but must feed them grains, which is not suitable food source for animals that should be grazing. The farmers will be shot at if not shot and killed if they attempt to just go to their land.

Some ISM volunteers have spent time with one family living in Al-Faraheen Abasan Al-Kabeera. They usually arrive during the day to establish an international presence and stay the night too. They are there as witnesses to the human rights violations by the Israeli occupation force soldiers. During these times other farmers have approached the volunteers to inform them of their losses inflicted upon them by the various invasions of the Israeli soldiers.

On Friday 24th October, at 9:00am, in the Al-Faraheen Abasan Al-Kabeera area at Israeli occupation force soldiers shot at one woman and two men who were working on their farm outside of the “Buffer Zone”, they were more than 300 meters from the border fence. Then at 10:00am a farmer was working his land in the “Buffer Zone”. One jeep drove to the fence marking the “border” that Israel established, a soldier got out and fired two shots, then another five shots. The farmer left the field and the work he was doing and went back to his house. He waited twenty minutes and then came out of his house to return to work his land. This time the soldier in the one jeep fired many shots. The farmer stopped working his land for the day and went back home. Later on, another jeep drove to the fence northeast of the previous location, and fired lots of shots, maybe 50. Why would soldiers shoot into an agricultural field while farmers work their land? Why would soldiers shoot 50 shots into an agricultural field
while nobody is there?

Wednesday 22nd October, 2008 – off the coast of the Gaza Strip.

Three international human rights observers (HRO’s) accompanied three Palestinian fishing vessels from the port of Gaza City, as they trawled offshore in Palestinian territorial waters.

At about 08:30 (approximately 8 nautical miles from the coast) a Palestinian fishing boat with an international HRO on-board was intercepted by an Israeli gunboat. Despite the international presence, made clear via VHF radio following a request by the Palestinian captain, the Israeli gunboat started to fire its machine guns very close to the fishing boat. This of course constitutes a breach of the current ceasefire agreement. Some of the bullets were hitting the water, not further than three metres from the bow or the stern. There was at least one occasion where an explosion was heard behind the fishing boat, probably from some kind of charge thrown to damage the nets. After being attacked for several minutes the fishing boat stopped. The Israeli captain shouted orders or threats to the fishermen, while the machine guns were pointing at the boat and finally the fishing boat turned and began to sail towards the coast.

At the same time, about ten nautical miles from the coast, another Palestinian fishing boat carrying a second international HRO was experiencing a similar assault. Shots were being fired extremely close to the fishing boat, just two metres or less from the boat itself. The attack continued until 10:20. The navy fired different types of weapons including a cannon. They shot several times in an attempt to destroy the net and its metal cables. Finally, the fishermen retrieved their net from the water earlier than they would have otherwise done.

Meanwhile, the first boat changed its course again, sailing away from the coast and trying to approach a fellow Palestinian fishing boat which was being attacked by another Israeli gunboat (numbered 912). The initial gunboat repeated its attack, but stopped after a while and just followed. All four boats were heading in a southerly direction, more or less parallel to the coast. Later at about 10:30, gunboat “912” attacked the fishing boat with shots, again fired very close to its stern, forcing the fishermen to retrieve their nets and head towards shore. For the next hour or more, the fishermen attempted to drop their nets again at least twice, but were prevented from doing so by the shooting from the Israeli gunboat. They managed to do so only when they were even closer to shore (about 5.5 nautical miles).

From about 11:00 to 11:30 a Palestinian fishing vessel carrying a third international HRO was harassed in a very similar fashion by an Israeli gunboat marked “832”, approximately five nautical miles off the coast of northern Gaza. At about 11:20, in a different location, the boat accompanied by the second HRO suffered another attack, and yet another at 12:30.

At 13:00 the naval gunboat “832” withdrew from the area where the boat with the third HRO was trawling (about nine nautical miles offshore) and was replaced by yet another gunboat, this time marked “840”. This fishing boat then experienced a two-hour long onslaught which lasted until nearly 15:00. This included a volley of shells fired from the cannon mounted on the foredeck of the gunboat from 14:15 to 14:20 as it advanced on the fishing boat. The flash from the cannon was observed by the HRO onboard. Gunboat “840” proceeded to pursue the fishing vessel as it headed north-west, firing intermittently and at one point deploying an explosive device in the water. When the engine on the fishing boat failed, “840” circled it repeatedly until the fishermen managed to complete their repairs, then opened fire once more as soon as it got underway. This fishing vessel stayed determinedly on its chosen course until it reached a distance of twelve nautical miles offshore.

In the afternoon, the first fishing boat was again in the north, off the shore of Gaza, when the HRO on-board noticed an Israeli gunboat harassing a fleet of six Palestinian fishing boats. When the observer’s boat went south and approached the fleet, it was also attacked with a barrage of shots across its path. However, it continued without changing its course. Later in the afternoon, about seven nautical miles from the coast, the attacks on the second boat continued every hour, until 16:30. Most of these attacks were carried out by gunboat “912”.

Finally in the evening, after sunset at about 17:30, the HRO on the first boat noticed something like a red flare in the sky. A few minutes later a spotlight was seen for some seconds. Then at about 17:40 an Israeli gunboat with no navigation lights (in clear violation of international maritime protocol), suddenly approached the fishing boat and started to shoot over it (also using tracer bullets). Then the Israeli gunboat used its spotlight, obviously noticing the international human rights observer wearing a fluorescent vest, but despite this began to circle the Palestinian fishing boat, creating waves which destabilised it, making it difficult for the fishermen to pull in their nets. Although it was obvious that the fishermen were preparing to leave, the Israeli gunboat continued to shoot extremely close, in front of the bow, over the roof and particularly behind the stern of the fishing boat putting in risk the life of the fishermen that were working in the immediate vicinity. The attack finally ended only after the nets were pulled in and the fishing boat started to sail full speed towards the port of Gaza.

The HRO on the second boat reported seeing a number of fishing boats come under attack during the day, but none more so than the one he was accompanying. It is probably no small coincidence that this was the same boat which was severely damaged by the Israeli navy a few weeks ago when it was purposefully rammed by a gunboat. By the end of the day this HRO had counted nineteen assaults on his vessel alone, three of which came within a metre of the boat – closer than ever before. This included three incidents of cannon fire, also very close to the boat he was on. He noticed that the Israeli commander received orders by phone prior to the closest shooting as if there was a new, more aggressive strategy against the Palestinian fisherman, despite the international presence. It is important to see if this is really a new strategy, or just a reflection of the soldiers’ mood on this particular day. However, shooting so many times and in such close proximity to the boats could easily have resulted in one of them sustaining a direct hit. Fortunately, at the end of the day no-one was injured, no boats were damaged and the fishermen had a decent catch.