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A Sewage Tsunami Hits Northern Gaza Suffers
Hundreds of families have fled from their houses in the village of Umm Al Nasser, in northern Gaza, after a tsunami struck, leaving many dead and many missing. Adding to the misery, houses are submerged, drowning in waste water from a ruptured water treatment reservoir. The burst flooded the village with the noxious sewage, rendering the area foul-smelling and exposing residents to potentially serious health risks. In an interview with the spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Khaled Radi, today, he stated: ”The Ministry of Health has announced a state of emergency in Gaza hospitals.” He placed responsibility on the Israeli Occupation Forces which had bombed the sewage water treatment plant some months ago. He mentioned also: ”we have previously warned about the possibility of the current situation, but we could do nothing to prevent the dangerous consequences of the tsunami and damaged reservoir, especially as we are under severe sanctions and military control at the time being.” According to the same sources, among the people found dead were a 70 year old woman, another two unidentified women, and two children, one of whom was one year old, the other two years old. Beside those dead, many are missing, with no indication of whether they are alive or not. Survivors clung to wooden doors floating on the putrid waters while rescuers paddled through the village in makeshift boats in search of victims. The area, Umm Al Nasser, is also known as a Bedouin village where many families live under very meagre and difficult conditions, a northern Gaza Strip area where the poorest live. "We woke up at 9:30 this morning with sewage gushing into our house. It was uncontrollable; the foul water we see and smell everyday was breaking into our houses, our bedrooms, where we could not resist it,” said a 56 year old woman in the area who is among the known survivors. The mayor of the village, Ziad Abu Thabet, said that 70 % of the Umm Al Nasser village's mostly ramshackle homes had been buried in raw sewage. Other Palestinian officials blame the damage on shoddy infrastructure. Abu Thabet called on all municipalities to gather and to face the crisis together in order to save the lives of Umm Al Nasser villagers. Fire Department rescue teams were the first into the water, and were able to rescue many people. Ministry of Health spokesman Radi also mentioned that he is very concerned that the crisis will bring new diseases to the population which Palestinian hospitals will not be able to handle in the long run. Meanwhile, he pointed out: ”It’s time for serious steps to lift the embargo imposed on Palestinians.” The Minister of Interior went immediately to the location to observe the situation. While he was there, a group of militants started shooting at his delegation. Some injuries were reported in the incident. A Palestinian journalist said in an interview, "the stinking sewage odor alone is enough to make people, particularly children, sick and susceptible to diseases." Now the many homeless families are in the streets, with their houses completely destroyed in the new Gaza Tsunami in northern Gaza. This new Tsunami adds to the already serious health and humanitarian crises in Gaza, posing an additional environmental threat in the north of the Gaza Strip. 25 March 07Stoking the Fires of Turmoil in Gaza
In an act which only adds to the chaos in the Gaza Strip these days, over 50 fishermen were recently arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces while fishing along the southern Gaza beach of Rafah. Palestinian sources said that most of the fishermen were released later on. Nonetheless, the daily shelling continues from the Israeli Occupation Forces' warships constantly patrolling Gazan waters. This has made it difficult for fishermen to go as deep and often as they need into the Palestinian Mediterranean sea, veritably the only source of income to thousands of fishermen. Abu Hamam, 42 years old, reported: ”My five children are expecting me to come back with food for them, some fish to feed their stomachs. It’s useless; my boat was damaged by Israeli gunfire.” He added: “What is their goal in targeting us? We are peaceful fisherman civilians whose aim is to feed our kids. But now, due to the fishing restrictions and the targeting of fishermen, we can no longer feed them.” Abu Hamam, the Rafah-based fisherman, returned to his house without one single fish. With no food and no money, he can no longer afford the daily expenses of his family. He confided: ” I have no money, no bank account, no income; all I have is my simple house and fishing boat, the boat has been damaged and I have no funds to repair it or buy a new motor, so what should I do? Should I start begging in the streets?” he questioned. “No, no. We will not beg. Our dignity and pride still exist,” affirmed one of his friends, a fisherman luckier than Abu Hamam to not have been fishing off the beach when the shooting took place. Meanwhile, deadly fighting between Fatah and Hamas has left a toddler dead in northern Gaza. According to Kamal Adwan hospital medical sources, the two year old Hassan Abu Nada was killed by crossfire, his grandmother wounded. The little boy was the fifth person to be killed in internal fighting in the last two days. Rami Abu Srour, also killed, was the reason for fighting to errupt in the northern part of Gaza. The clashes continued after Hamas declared, in a leaflet, that Abu Srour caused his own death when a mortar home made rocket exploded as he prepared to fire it. Most of the other deadly cases involved Palestinians killed as a result of family conflicts, versus conflicts of political parties. The situation was grave in northern Gaza by the time I arrived there near sunrise. Fighting had taken place and ambulances had started moving throughout the camp, evacuating the causalities. Tragically, it seems that random fire never differentiates between the young or the elderly. Peace Activist’s Death Honored in Tears and Memorial
The killing of American peace activist Rachel Corrie was honoured in a fourth anniversary memorial held by a group of Rachel’s Gaza friends, the children of Rafah. Rafah was where Rachel was killed while protecting the houses of Gazan civilians. The Rafah refugee camp Mini Parliament Children took the initiative to honor Rachel Corrie, establishing a permanent exhibit about her which includes photos and personal belongings. Rachel’s friends and the children of Rafah attended and participated in the memorial, many among them crying over the loss of the courageous Corrie. The Mini Parliament Children have engaged in different activities supporting peace and solidarity among Palestinians. Aside from the annual memorial anniversary for Rachel Corrie, held some days ago, other activities are being organized: are against corruption, internal fighting, and the daily aggressions by the Israeli occupation forces. At the anniversary memorial, the children cried out: “Rachel Corrie died as a Palestinian” and “Rachel, comeback, we need you.” Children then put wreaths and olive branches on her symbolic coffin, carried by the Palestinians youths. Amal, a nine-year old child stated: ”Rachel died, but she is still in our hearts.” They paused for an interview in Rafah, then continued carrying the coffin, Amal adding: ” She is a hero for all of us, a hero for Americans and Palestinians.” When she asked if she had a message to Americans, she said: ” My message is for Rachel’s parents. We wished they were able to come and attend this year’s anniversary with us, but we send them our best wishes and respect.” Farwells and Tears Again The children's spokesperson, 14 year old Ameer Barakah, spoke to a group of reporters in Rafah after adding some flowers to Rachel's symbolic coffin. He carried a large poster of her, and his eyes flooded with tears when gazing at the photo again and again. Finally, he stood proud, wiping his tears, and spoke: “A long time has passed since then, but she is still in my mind, and every day I remember her wide smile and how she used to come to this Children’s Mini Parliament and sit with us, talk with us, and share gifts of toys and clothes with all of the parliament children.” ”She was the only American eyewitness of the daily Israeli crimes targeting children and civilians' houses; but the Israeli Occupation never wants its daily aggressions documented,” Amer added before moving on to re-join his friends in carrying Rachel's coffin. In fact, Rachel Corrie was not the only American citizen to witness the crimes, nor, sadly, the only international activist to be killed. Tom Hurndall, a British peace activist was also killed in 2003 by Israeli Occupation forces while in the Rafah refugee camp, in an area close to the border. Similarly, UK film-maker James Miller was targeted in Al Salam neighborhood, Rafah, killed while working on a documentary film about Palestinian homeless families. Miller came here through my website, after he had sent an e-mail to RafahToday stating that he was very touched by the photos and stories he sees on the Rafah Today website, and he wished to come to Rafah to begin making a documentary film on the tragedies of homeless families, particularly the homeless children. Only days after he arrived, Miller was killed by Israeli fire in the night. He was screaming in English: ”Stop shooting, I’m here,” but the shooting continued, and that was the end of his mission. Killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces, his body was then taken by the same Israeli tank which had shot at him. National Unity Government: But is it Too Early to Congratulate Palestinians? In political developments, the new national unity government was set to clear the final, formal hurdle today before taking on the challenge of persuading a skeptical world to end a crippling, more than one year boycott of the Palestinian government. Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who presented the government’s program to parliament, said at Rashad Al Shawwa Centre in the middle of Gaza City that the coalition wants to set up a Palestinian state in the lands occupied in the 1967 war. Among the issues he raised was to reduce the costs and expenses of Palestinian Government-run organizations and ministries. He added that the “Palestinians affirm the right to resist occupation, but will also seek to expand a truce with Israel.” Haniyeh’s speech was, in the opinion of many Palestinians, quite convincing. Thus, now it’s a new Palestinian government, comprised of all colors and factions of Palestinians, and considered by many Palestinians in the USA and other countries as an open and valid invitation to lift the sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority. Whether this demand will bear fruit, no one knows, but Secretary Rice's visit to the region might bring the hoped-for answer by next week. In other related news, according to sources in the Palestinian National government, I have been told that the Palestinian prime minister received promises from different European countries who intend to lift the siege on the new national unity government. In the past year, the situation has been undeniably grave, plummeting to such a level that Palestinians can no longer accept living under the poverty line: 80% of Palestinians live in poverty in Palestine, a recent result of to the US-led sanctions imposed on Palestinians. In the last year, the security situation has gone from bad to worse: kidnapping foreign journalists, attacking ministers' houses and offices, blocking roads, and shooting at foreign delegations seems to be the work of new militant groups in Gaza who aim to make a chaos which doesn’t help Palestinians. BBC reporter Alan Johnson still remains kidnapped by Palestinian militants, with no news given on who is behind the incident. Fateh, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front, Democratic Front, and other political factions have all strongly condemned the kidnapping, which mainly aims to scare away foreign journalists. The same condemnation was also given by the same groups on the recent attack of a UN delegation, when a group of unknown militants shot at the convoy of UNRWA head of operations, with headquarters in Gaza. 13 March 07Rafah Border Briefs: another temporary opening
The policeman was quite busy when I called him to ask what was going on; rumors were circulating that the Rafah border had suddenly been opened, and that many people had been injured, one dead. "Hold on a minute, Mohammed,” the officer said, “there are people shooting at each other and clashes going on." Later on, as he was stamping passports for people leaving Gaza, the police officer explained that this time the border had closed immediately and the EU observers had evacuated the area. This opening was an unexpected one, a rare event, announced to have been open for four days. But due to the enormous number of travelers who rushed to the border, only a proportionately small amount of people were able to make it out of Gaza. Seven were injured, and an elderly man, over 60 years old, on his way to Cairo for medical tests, died of heart attack while waiting for the border to open. Thousands of people stampeded the Rafah border, among them children, women, and men, many of whom had been waiting for extended periods for the border to open, in order to get outside for things like medication and medical appointments, with resources non-existent or scarce in Gaza. Among those waiting masses, Falsteen, 22, along with her father, had had to sleep at the border for three days in hopes of being among the limited number of those crossing, so that she could go for her medical appointment. If she missed it, then it would mean no less than 6 months wait for a new appointment: "I'm on my way for eye surgery. It's exhausting to wait for three days, sleeping here on the road with no basic services or water, waiting in vain to cross" she said. Her father continued: "I have lost patience. It's not fair; why should we suffer like this? Why close the border? Where are our human rights, and where is the international community?" He had a lot of questions, for which I had no answers. The Rafah border closed anew, yet as militants closed in, Palestinians also crowded one another at the terminal, desperate to get their relatives travel outside. The police have been trying to keep order, but many believe that the police are the source of problems, allowing certain people to pass on a basis of favoritism. "If you have money to pay off such guys at the border, you will travel; but I have no money, I have only God in my side" one woman related, in tears. There are such claims of dishonesty, with no proof that there is corruption on the border. In any case, it is impossible to get out of Gaza these days, as the border is long closed by now. People will have to wait for the next time Israel deigns to give approval for European Union observers to go to the Rafah border. The final decision is, of course, Israel's. On November 25, 2005, an agreement on the Rafah border was brokered by the Under Secretary of State, according control of the Rafah-Egypt border to Palestinians and Egypt, along with European observers. Yet, as soon as Hamas won the democratic election, Israel closed all borders, thereafter only opening the Rafah-Egypt border on sudden and very rare occasions, for short periods. Sometimes, an opening is announced about a day or two ahead of the event. But the reality is different from what is being reported in the media. Cross-border movement is video-taped on a regular basis, so that all activities inside and outside of the border can be watched live via cameras in Israel. Those thousands of people waiting at the border: when they will cross? When will the student go cross to attend his university outside the Gaza Strip? When will the patient waiting to cross to Egypt for medication be permitted this necessary luxury? Or the brother who has not seen his sister for ages, when will he be able to cross? Or even the man married to a foreign woman who, along with their children, can now no longer enter the Occupied Territories... As with many hundreds of families, he instead, has to go to Cairo or another country to meet them. Just as all these questions remain, unanswered, for Israel to answer, so too the border remains closed, for Israel to decide to open. The situation in the Gaza Strip has been very grave. Numerous people
were injured in different places throughout the Strip, and numerous
Israeli tanks and bulldozers are amassed at the border between Egypt
and the Gaza Strip--many believe that this is the start of a bigger
attack on parts of Gaza. 5 March 07In the Name of Islam? Or is it Vilifying Islam?
A number of sudden, unsolved attacks in the Gaza Strip have left unexplained the bodies of three Palestinian women, allegedly executed by unidentified militants. Last week, the body of a 31 year old woman was found close to the Salatin area, west of Beit Lahi. The second, 45 years old, was left in the Al Darraj area of Gaza City. And a third victim, 40 years old, was found on Al Nafaq street in Gaza City. Officials say that the three women were killed all in the same methodical way: one bullet to the head and another to the chest. Investigators say the women were prostitutes, and that, while no group has claimed responsibility, officials are investigating whether the women were killed by the Swords of Islamic Righteousness, an obscure group whose alleged aim is to rid Gaza of Western influence which, according to statements attributed to the group, may been seen as a corrupting influence. A leaflet accredited to the Swords warned: “Go back to Allah and away from all these dirty, corrupting behaviors, otherwise you will never endure the fires of hell and the torture at the end of your life.” The admonition was left after an unidentified attack, also accredited to the Swords, on a Gaza City Internet cafe. A Palestinian board-member, who prefers to remain anonymous, was obviously worried by such crimes saying: “This is affecting a lot of people, and we fear that if this continues, then it will be a hidden war by militants.” The bombings attributed to the so-called Swords have mainly been closed Internet cafes, music and DVD shops, clubs and other Gaza Strip modern cultural targets. No one knows for certain who the Swords of Islamic Righteousness
are, but the attacks on wedding parties, and on different celebrants,
have increased markedly. Gazan eyewitness Abu Mahdi, 43, related
one of the incidents: a These vague and unknown incidents occur, but all Gazans learn is
that one was killed here, another injured there; an internet café
was bombed here, a CD shop targeted over there. Or we learn of the
kidnapping of the owner of an internet café where young people
sit and pass the time. These events are all still nebulous and unknown,
but they bring to mind the ‘80s before I was even born, when
the situation were more or less similar. The aim is to make Despite the warnings which have been attributed to the Swords of
Islamic Righteousness, it is worth considering the uncertain nature
of the group’s identity and who stands to benefit from further
chaos in already shell-shocked Gaza. The Palestinians I know yearn
for calm and peace, are open to change, and simply want to get on
with their lives, as much as they can in the present circumstances.
Yet further disruption, attributed to this unidentified mystery
group, only prolongs the process of achieving peace, giving fodder
to those who would find reasons not to end the economic These events fall during a media blackout in Palestine which leaves journalists finding it difficult to report, first because circumstances are unclear and vague, and second, because a journalist reporting on this risks putting his/her life in the dead centre of the target. |
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