Tag: Gaza

Real World Radio: Hernan Zin live from Gaza

Real World Radio interviewed Hernan Zin, an independent journalist who lives in Spain. Zin has been traveling around the world for 13 years —as he explains in his own blog — in order to “give voice to the excluded, the marginalized, those who are in the final step of the social ladder”.

He is currently reporting on armed conflicts, that’s what took him to Palestine. From there, he spoke about what is happening in Gaza, about the terrible situations that the civil population have to face everyday, where the heat coexists with the lack of food, the lack of medicines, the lack of power… the lack of nights without bombings, the lack of streets without dust, which keeps falling from the structures of the buildings.

Zin explained very clearly what we are talking about when we speak of Gaza.

“Literally, it is a 45-km long strip, surrounded by Israel, by walls and electric fences. Then, they control what goes in and out and they have imposed a brutal blockade that is destroying the civil population, and especially and as usually, the poorest people”.

Since his arrival in Gaza, Zin has watched the destruction caused by the Israeli blockade, which has ruined the Palestinian people; fishefolks that have been prevented from going to the sea by the Israeli Army for over 50 days; farmers submerged in a deep crisis, because half of Gaza’s cultivable soil has disappeared. And everything is surrounded by non-stop death, something reminded every second by the sound of the airplanes.

“If the Israeli States has a conflict with Palestine, it has to solve it by means of dialogue and not by punishing the civil population”, Zin argued. He added that “the elderly people, women, children whose death I have witnessed in these two months, who are starving, who do not have medicines to go to the hospital, who cannot leave the country to have surgery, who do not have to pay for all of this”.

The military operation led by Israel the day after the kidnap of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (known as “Summer Rain”), the vision of the Palestinians of ruling party Hamas and the arrest of Lebanese lawmakers by Israel, the marginalized role of the international community in the conflict—which shows a “double standard”, according to which an Israeli and a Palestinian life are not of equal worth—were some of the issues discussed by Zin at the interview, during which he tried to make this war, that has been forgotten by the West, visible.

Hernan Zin an Argentine born journalist has written and directed documentaries for El Mundo TV and TVE, published stories and reports all over the world and written books that have been published by several editorial houses.

Baltimore Sun: “Unilateral Action by Israel Spawns Violence in Gaza”

Published on Thursday, August 17, 2006 by the Baltimore Sun (Maryland)

by George Bisharat

SAN FRANCISCO – With the spotlight on Lebanon, another Middle East milestone is passing largely unnoticed. However, its lessons are just as important. A year ago this week, Israel began implementing its unilateral Gaza disengagement plan — yet the region is beset by violence. Why did withdrawal of 8,500 Jewish settlers from Gaza lead to more conflict? Can Israel withdraw from Arab territories without inviting attack?

Last August, Gaza Palestinians greeted disengagement with both cautious hope and cynicism. They relished freedom from the daily humiliations of military occupation. Students longed to study, children to frolic on the beach, and entrepreneurs to build businesses. Yet many also saw disengagement as an expression of racial preference for Jews. Israel could not annex the Gaza Strip without absorbing 1.4 million Palestinians, thus jeopardizing its status as a Jewish state.

Israel marketed disengagement to Americans as a step toward peace, but Palestinians remembered the October 2004 comment of Dov Weisglass, adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: “The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that’s necessary so that there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.”

Why would Israeli politicians subvert negotiations with Palestinians? Perhaps because no Palestinian leader could agree to Israel’s planned takeover of Jerusalem and much of the West Bank.

Thus, the Gaza “disengagement” plan is also the Jerusalem and West Bank “expansion” plan. The number of Israelis settling in the West Bank this year exceeds the number withdrawn from Gaza.

Further conflict, therefore, was inevitable.

Moreover, while Israel decolonized Gaza, its military occupation continues. Israel still controls the entry and exit of people and goods into the region, patrols its coast and airspace, oversees its water, fuel, electric utilities, and sewage, and enters it with military forces at will. Under international law, “effective control” determines whether a territory is occupied.

Since the January Palestinian elections, hailed as the fairest in the Arab world, Israel has strived to undermine the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, withholding $50 million to $60 million monthly in tax revenues owed to the authority. The U.S. and European Union have followed, halting aid to the Palestinians until the Hamas government renounces violence, recognizes Israel and pledges to honor prior agreements of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas has not yet bowed but has repeatedly signaled willingness to negotiate.

Of course Hamas should not just halt violence — it had suspended military operations for 17 months, until June — it should also renounce it. But shouldn’t the same standard apply to both parties? Shouldn’t recognition and respect for prior agreements be reciprocally required of Israel, which denies Palestinian national rights and regularly violates the Oslo accords?

Palestinian civil servants have gone without salaries since January. Gazans have suffered serious deterioration in nutrition and health. The special U.N. rapporteur on conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories warned in June of an impending humanitarian crisis, saying, “In effect, the Palestinian people have been subjected to economic sanctions — the first time that an occupied people have been so treated.”

On June 24, Israeli troops entered Gaza and abducted Dr. Osama Muantar and his brother, Mustafa, alleging they were members of Hamas. The two joined some 9,000 Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails. Many have not been charged with a crime and more than 100 are minors.

The following day, Palestinian groups attacked an Israeli army post, killing two soldiers and capturing a third.

Since then, Israel has laid siege to the Gaza Strip, closing it to travel and trade and abducting 64 Hamas officials, including Cabinet ministers and parliamentary representatives. Its jets have bombed roads, bridges, government buildings, Gaza’s main electrical generating plant, homes, fields, orchards, workshops, and offices. To date, 184 Palestinians have been killed, including 42 children, while another 650 have been wounded.

In 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula as part of a comprehensive peace agreement with Egypt. Twenty-four years of peace on that border followed. But unilateral redeployments that only shift the character of Israeli control over Palestinian lives will never yield such results. Unilateralism — wherein the legitimate interests of the other party are ignored — is the flaw, not withdrawal.

Would Americans remain quiescent if a neighboring power sealed our borders and airspace, suffocated our economy, expanded into our most desirable lands and attempted to throttle our democratically elected government?

We should counsel Israel to abandon unilateralism and unremitting violence against civilians. Negotiations based on respect for international law and equal rights offer the only way to lasting peace.
George Bisharat, a professor of law at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, writes frequently on the Middle East.

AP: Gazans Protest Journalists’ Abduction

Associated Press

Palestinian journalists in Gaza protested on Saturday against the kidnapping of a Fox News correspondent and cameraman, as concern about the men’s safety grew.

Cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, and American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, were snatched Monday from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City.

More than two dozen foreigners have been abducted by Palestinian gunmen, usually in an attempt to settle personal scores, but almost all have been released within hours. This is the longest that foreigners have been held. Security officials are especially concerned because all the armed groups have denied involvement and no demands have been put forth.

About 30 members of the Palestinian Journalists’ Union gathered outside the parliamentary building in Gaza, holding up signs demanding the men be freed. Other signs called for security in Gaza, where armed men wander the streets freely.

Jennifer Griffen, chief Fox News correspondent for the Middle East, called the kidnapping a “test for the Palestinian people.”

“We don’t care who kidnapped them, we want them returned unharmed. This is a very serious case for the Palestinians, for the Palestinian Authority,” Griffen said.

Khaled Batch, a leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group, said kidnapping members of the media “silenced the voice of freedom and justice.”

“We … have experienced oppression and denial. We don’t want to practice this pain and suffering on others, on other wives and people,” Batch said.

Rafah’s Remains after “Summer Rains”

“Everybody hopes to have a good life and a future. We love our children, mothers, and fathers, we love our families, like you. And we feel sad when somebody is killed. We are humans of flesh and blood. Think of that for a minute please,” says Fida Qishta a journalist and resident of Rafah, Gaza Strip.

The military withdrew from Rafah early yesterday morning, and returned yesterday night. They are now present at the airport and the outskirts of Rafah. The destruction that they have left behind since last Thursday, August 3rd, consists of 13 killed, including three children one of which was a three-day-old infant. Over 200 dunams of agricultural land, mostly olive and palm trees, have been completely destroyed.

Fida reported that at least 5 buildings are completely annihilated. It is still dangerous to go to areas which have been destroyed to assess the exact damage. Even before this incursion, residents of Rafah have had only 2 hours of water every four days and electricity for one hour each day.

“Never rely just on information from the stronger side,” Fida implores, “Hearts can tell what information is accurate and guide people to the truth. Truth can tell us how to reach justice and peace.”

An additional consequence of Israel beginning its “Operation Summer Rain” in Gaza, was the closure of Rafah Crossing on June 25th, 2006. This has resulted in a catastrophic humanitarian situation for thousands of Palestinians stuck on the Egyptian side of the border crossing and hundreds of travelers stuck inside. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that because of the closure five patients, including 2 women and 3 children, died due to the deterioration of their health, the inability to return to the Gaza Strip, and the inability to refer them for treatment abroad.

The Center also noted in a press release from August 3rd that nearly 7,000 Palestinian travelers are forced to stay in Egypt, including 400 in the exit terminal at the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing. 500 Palestinians returned to the Gaza Strip in exceptional circumstances when the border fence was breached by resistance forces on 14 July 2006. And nearly 6,000 travelers returned to the Strip on 18 July 2006 when Israel allowed the temporary opening of the Rafah Crossing for returnees only.

Nearly 15,000 Palestinians are now waiting for the reopening of the Crossing, including hundreds of families who live abroad and are in the Strip for family visits. They face the threat of losing their residency visas in the countries where they work and live. In addition, hundreds of patients are awaiting the reopening of the Rafah Crossing in order to travel for treatment in Egyptian hospitals for ailments and conditions that cannot be treated in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of students are waiting for the reopening of the Rafah Crossing in order to resume their studies abroad. And hundreds of recent secondary school graduates who want to pursue university studies abroad are also waiting for the reopening of the Rafah Crossing. The work of governmental and civil society organizations was affected by the closure, especially the areas that require external travel and co-ordination.

Thousands of Gaza Strip residents who traveled abroad before the closure are forced to wait for the opening of the crossing in other countries, especially Egypt.

Rafah Tonight and The Morality of the Israeli Army

By Mona El-Farra from her blog From Gaza, With Love

12:30 am 4th of August
The Israeli army continues its military operation, in the south of Gaza (Rafah town). Army tanks are heading into the refugee camp under the cover of helicopters that fired several shells. At least 4 civilians were killed including a woman and 2 children. Tens of severely injured are reported to be received at the Rafah’s only hospital. The number will increase. Many of the in-patients were discharged to make space for the injured. The shelling is too severe, as I was told by colleagues there, ambulances can’t reach many of the injured, the army tanks are very close to the hospital, one of the houses was specifically targeted.

It seems that the military operation into Rafah will continue…….as noticed by the increasing number of the army tanks in the area.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

The Morality of The Israeli Army
Gaza Strip 1st of August 2006

Today the Israeli Occupying Forces redeployed into the area south east of Rafah, targeting Alshoukas village. They launched a big military operation against the village in a desperate attempt to demolish alleged tunnels. At least 50 army tanks along with helicopters and drones took part in this operation. What concerned me is that 8 people were killed, amongst them 2 Palestinian fighters, and the rest were civilians including one boy age 11. Twenty-six people were injured, ten are in serious conditions.

The health emergency teams were not allowed entry to rescue the injured for 12 hours, leaving the injured to face their destinies. I am sure, as are my colleagues at the Rafah hospital, that this inhuman act increased the number of the dead and seriously injured. During the operation, ambulances were also attacked by shelling at the hospital’s gate. Tens of families in the village were forced to leave their homes; children, women and men left their homes because the shelling was too severe.

What of morality? Of the Fourth Geneva convention and its charters regarding civilians and the safety of health teams working during war times? This accord means nothing and is not respected by the Israeli army. For us here in Palestine, we know very well that Israel, with its colonial-Zionist ideology, aims to kill more and more Palestinian civilians. During its so called military operations to “defend its security”, hundreds of civilians including entire families were unnecessarily killed.

Israel aims to break the Palestinian people’s will and determination to achieve their inalienable nationals goals. I said before they will not succeed and I am saying it again and again. It is impossible to control an entire nation using collective punishment and continuous occupation. It is impossible to confiscate an entire nation’s right of freedom and self-determination. Israel and the United States should read history lessons.

Here in Gaza City the artillery shelling continued in the east and north. We don’t have air raids shelters, we don’t have electricity, we don’t have clean water. The war boats patrol the sea and the helicopters continue their shelling at all times of the day. Lately, Israel has also been distributing of flyers against resistance movement.

I was in the Omar Elmukhtar high street and watched the sarcastic expression on the faces of a bunch of teenagers as they picked up these flyers and read them. I remembered myself as a teenager during 1967 war time. I read the same sort of flyers and laughed. Israel aims to make Palestinian people hungry, thirsty, to make us face humanitarian disaster after humanitarian disaster, and dependent on the world’s sympathy.

We are a nation with a noble cause; we resist injustice and occupation. We are not alone and we know that very well. What we face is the most ugly version of the United States’ imbalanced policies in the Middle East. The immorality and injustice of these policies will reflect itself on the future of USA, let us wait and see.

P.S. I was asked by some of you why I keep referring to the Israeli army as occupying army. This is the truth AND I AM SAYING THE TRUTH. The disengagement plan from Gaza last Septemper did not end the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. All it has meant for me is that I can visit my mother in the south (20 km drive) without passing through the Israeli checkpoints. But I am still under the threat of the jetfighters, sonic booms, and continuous shelling from the north and east. Israel still has control of the commercial borders and has closed them at will causing shortages of baby formula, bread, food, and medicine. Israel and the rest of the world have imposed economic sanctions on us as a collective punishment for our choice during the January election. How would you define the above but occupation?

In love and solidarity,
Mona