a viagem épica a Gaza

fonte:Palestine Chronicle
No Headlines As Epic Journey To Gaza Nears End






British convoy enters Gaza, Monday, March 9. (Aljazeera)

By Sonja Karkar

An epic journey across eight countries is nearing its end. Gaza is almost within sights of the weary drivers and their navigators. On Day 21, the British convoy leaders decided to by-pass the towns of Benghazi and Bayda in Libya after consulting with Libyan officials to cut the time it would take to get to Gaza. This meant a desert crossing of some 400km - enduring not what many would think to be hot and stifling conditions, but rather the bitter cold of winter winds unbroken by vast expanses of emptiness. Perhaps few thought of what would await them on this journey when they first set out, but certainly, despite the hardships no one is complaining. What the Palestinians in Gaza are suffering is so much more and that is uppermost in everyone's minds.

Nevertheless, poor and oftentimes non-existent phone signals, no landmarks, breakdowns, sandstorms and security restrictions are just some of the hiccups that have made the epic journey a writer's dream story - after all, there are some 300 people sharing in the experience and each with their own story to tell. Under normal circumstances, it would be splashed across pages and TV screens in large headlines with a blow-by-blow account of various travellers' tales. Not so on this voyage. The media is strangely silent, seemingly uninterested even in the historic opening of the border between Morocco and Algeria that has been closed since 1994.

The first time The Guardian decided to cover the convoy's journey was to paint a negative picture of the successful progress made through eight different countries by reporting gossip picked up from the blogosphere. (1) Undeterred, George Galloway's office responded to the malicious rumours of graft and corruption by reminding people that the intrepid volunteers who have come thus far "deserve celebration, not denigration by The Guardian."

Everyone knew why they were going. The 100 aid-filled trucks would never be enough to make a difference to a starving population of 1.5 million people (although the few that will benefit is surely better than nothing). No, it was not just about aid, but about sending a message to the world that there are people who care about what happens to the people of Gaza. It was about some 300 volunteers who have been prepared to sacrifice time and the comforts of home for fellow human beings they do not know, hoping that their trek would resonate with the world's conscience and make a difference to how governments respond to the plight of the Palestinians.

Well all that may have happened if the media was on side, but they are clearly not. And that is not surprising when the media mogul Rupert Murdoch blithely announced yesterday (2) that Israel should be welcomed into the NATO alliance saying "in the end, the Israeli people are fighting the same enemy we are: cold-blooded killers who reject peace, who reject freedom, and who rule by the suicide vest, the car bomb, and the human shield." That is obviously how Mr Murdoch sees the 1.5 million Palestinians who have been left to rot after Israel's 22-day merciless bombardment of Gaza's impossibly cramped cities, neighbourhoods and farming lands. No compassion there for the women and children, the sick and the aged, the doctors, teachers, health workers and hundreds of thousands of ordinary people trying to make sense of Israel's illegal collective punishment.

I wonder how long Mr Murdoch would have survived under the blistering phosphorous rain exploding from Israel's war planes, or how he would have liked Israel's conventional bombs dropped down on him with no safe place to which he could run, or how long he would last on Israel's enforced "diet" on the Gaza population before the griping hunger pangs begin to drive him crazy, or how he would cope without any pills when illness begins to prey on his ageing body and mind because Israel refuses to allow medicines in or patients out. But of course, Israel and Mr Murdoch already have a cosy relationship so he will never have to suffer what Israel is making the Palestinians endure. And the world is not being told because Mr Murdoch's media empire is colluding in Israel's crimes by ignoring the human disaster in Gaza that lurches from doom to death without a word of outrage or calling Israel to account. Well may Mr Murdoch sit comfortable in the twilight of his life propped up by his trainer, herbalist and beautician, but their miracles alas for him are finite, and he too will wither and pass the way of all of us when his time comes. The Palestinians though will endure from generation to generation, no matter how many bombs are dropped on them or how silent the world remains. They will outlive Mr Murdoch and Israel's never-ending parade of corrupt politicians to whom the rest of us are expected to bow and scrape as if we owe them some allegiance for our very existence.

When will we wake up? When will we say "enough?" When will we realise that we are being deluded in the world's biggest charade of lies and cover ups to preserve an internally decaying Israel? Is the ethnic cleansing of 1.5 million people not enough for breaking news headlines, news alerts, and daily updates? Obviously not yet. Instead, we are sacrificing the Palestinians to rest easy in our beds without the hassle of defending ourselves against the usual diatribes unleashed whenever Israel is criticised? Be assured that these diatribes will not stop with the demise of Palestine. The more we close our eyes and turn our backs, the more we will find ourselves unable to raise a whimper about the bigger targets Israel has in its sight and more people will suffer and die on the flimsy pretext of Israel's security.

The aid convoy is in Egypt now and the question is will Egypt let them into Gaza? They probably will and then what? If they're lucky the aid will be distributed, the now battered vehicles will be left for a limited life in Gaza and some 300 people will know what they always knew - that the Palestinians are being cruelly subjected to a life of universal contempt and utter humiliation in the open-air prison Israel has created with the world's help. They will return home to families and communities and tell them their stories and some of them will be heard far and wide, but no thanks to the media usually so adept at shaping public opinion.

Really, it is up to everyone of us who knows what is happening to spread the word. Tell your family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, and acquaintances about the amazing 5000km trek from London to Gaza. Tell your local communities, church groups, schools, volunteer organisations, talk-back radio. Write and talk and ask for help: never be afraid to speak up for human rights. One day your own rights may be in jeopardy.

What this convoy has achieved is worth celebrating, just as those first lone boats which sailed into Gaza, deserve our admiration. There are indeed people who are willing to act on what they believe, and if we cannot do it, let us at least give them resounding support and encouragement for trying to make a difference against the might of institutionalised power. The ripple effect has a way of creating a tsunami and that is what Israel fears most. Do not believe for a moment that things cannot change for the Palestinians: they said the same thing about the African slaves in America, apartheid in South Africa, child labour in the factories in England and the coal mines in Wales, the emancipation of women, indentured servitude in the colonies, the demand for an 8-hour day, the oppression that stirred resistance and revolutions, and the list goes on. None of these things would have changed or come about if people had remained silent and inactive. The Palestinians though need our help because they are in prison. They are not the "cold-blooded killers" that Mr Murdoch propagates through his media outlets, just people like you and me, yet all the more extraordinary because they will not be intimidated into oblivion. And, it would serve us well to remember that none of us would be either, if faced with same cold, stark reality.

- Sonja Karkar is the founder of Women for Palestine and co-founder and co-convener of Australians for Palestine. She has written numerous articles for newspapers, magazines and on-line journals in support of Palestine. She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact her at: sonjakarkar@womenforpalestine.org.

Notes:

(1) See Guardian.

(2) "Murdoch backs Israel's NATO bid" by Carly Crawford, The Herald Sun, March 6, 2009

de repente a casa desapareceu

Suddenly, home was gone
Eva Bartlett, The Electronic Intifada, 9 March 2009

A bullet-riddled home near the "buffer zone" in southern Gaza. (Matthew Cassel

BEIT HANOUN, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Dates in the calendar to mark the rights of women mean little to Manwa Tarrabin, 56, and her two daughters. They have lost home, and any rights to it.

Until 17 January, they were living in a small bungalow in the al-Amal quarter of Beit Hanoun, within 200 meters of Gaza's eastern border, in a region declared by the Israeli authorities a "closed military zone."

Prior to the three weeks of Israeli air, sea and land attacks on Gaza it had been a tidy home at the top of a slight rise, surrounded by open fields and a smattering of olive and fruit trees. Following the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the house is a pancake of angles and debris, one of 80 homes demolished in the Beit Hanoun border area.

A dirt path leading to the Tarrabin house crosses agricultural land torn up by tank and bulldozer tracks, and passes numerous former homes, likewise demolished on the day before Israel unilaterally declared a ceasefire.

A farming and herding family, the Tarrabins lived off what their sheep and goats produced, and what they could sow in the fertile agricultural land around them. After the attacks began on 27 December, they continued to stay in the house. On the afternoon of their forced eviction, Manwa and her daughter Sharifa, 22, were in the house.

"I was so scared when I saw the tanks. My heart dropped to my feet," Tarrabin said, recounting how the Israeli army demolished her house.

"It was around 2:30pm on 17 January, and we were inside our house when I heard the tanks. There were four of them and two bulldozers, one of them very, very large. The Israeli soldiers shouted at us over a megaphone to leave the house.

"They told me our house was now in a closed military zone," Manwa said. "They said it was a 'decision from the top' and that we had to leave immediately and walk towards Gaza. I refused, and tried to negotiate with them for time to gather our belongings. They refused."

Tarrabin said she and her daughter were forced from the house with only the clothes they were wearing, without even time to take their identity cards or personal items.

"We walked down the track from our house and when we were far enough away, I stopped to watch the soldiers." At approximately 5pm, less than 12 hours before Israel declared a ceasefire, Israeli soldiers bulldozed the Tarrabins' house.

This demolition came in an area that had been under Israeli military control since early January after Israeli tanks rolled over the border.

Since 2000, areas all along the internationally-recognized green line marking the boundary between Israel and the West Bank have been off limits to Palestinians. The area was unilaterally declared a "buffer zone" by Israeli authorities. This zone was expanded from 150 meters to 300 meters, with Israeli soldiers shooting at farmers and residents in the region as far as 600 meters away.

In tandem, Israeli bulldozers and tanks have deliberately destroyed thousands of dunams (one dunam equals 1,000 square meters) of Palestinian farmland within and well beyond the "buffer zone," as well as the poultry and other farms in the region, some even 2.5 kilometers from the border with Israel.

On 17 January Israeli authorities again unilaterally extended the "buffer zone," increasing the off-limits area to a kilometer from the green line. The 80 houses leveled in the Beit Hanoun "buffer zone" rendered an approximate 400 residents homeless and landless.

The Tarrabin family had already lost much of their grazing and agricultural land to the "buffer zone," yet like the majority of those living within its limits, they have no option but to risk injury and possible death in returning to live and work on the land.

On 29 January, for the first time since the demolition, Manwa and Sharifa returned to their destroyed house in the now very high-risk region, accompanied by international human rights observers and a film crew.

To either side of the ruddy dirt path to the Tarrabin home, recently demolished and uninhabitable houses littered the landscape. "That house belonged to the Khadera family," said Manwa, pointing to the remains. "The mother was killed in the shelling.

"There were goats and sheep at the bottom level of this house. Soldiers bulldozed the house with the animals inside," said Manwa, pointing to a house where its elderly owner was tending a small fire for tea next to the broken structure.

Down the track a little further, the Wahadan family house was now rubble. "They destroyed the house, the water well and its pump too," said Saber al-Zaneen, a local aid worker.

Not far from the Tarrabin house, the Abu Jeremi family house stands intact. Revisiting their home for the first time since they were evicted by Israeli soldiers 27 December, Freije Abu Jeremi said their rabbits, chicken and sheep were slaughtered when Israeli soldiers demolished the animal shed.

According to al-Zaneen, Beit Hanoun region is one of the most fertile areas in Gaza. "These flat fields around us once held around 750 dunams of olive, lemon and palm trees," he said, gesturing towards the land rendered desolate since the encroachment of the "buffer zone." "People from all over Gaza had work here."

At her ruined home, Manwa Tarrabin quickly realized that her hopes of retrieving a change of clothing, identification papers, and her cash were futile: they all lay buried beneath an unmovable slab of concrete. To reach them will require a bulldozer, impossible because no non-Israeli bulldozer can enter the region under Israeli military control.

Among the crimes of war Israel is being accused of are the intentional destruction of civilian property, illegal under international human rights law and humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention. Such destruction has been common also in areas outside Beit Hanoun, such as the Abed Rabu region east of Jabaliya and the Attatra region in the north-west of Gaza, besides Gaza City itself.

The organization Save the Children estimates that 100,000 people (56 percent of them children) are homeless following the attacks.

Sharifa and Manwa Tarrabin left swiftly after they arrived at what was home after Israeli soldiers fired four shots in the direction of the group digging through the rubble of her house. "They were close," said al-Zaneen. "I heard the bullets whiz past."

The family has since relocated to a relative's home in Khan Younis, far from their broken home.

All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2009).

Fonte:EI

Quando cada dia é um dia da mulher

fonte:EI


Where every day is a woman's day
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler, The Electronic Intifada, 9 March 2009

BEIT SAHOUR, occupied West Bank (IPS) - We've been warned she's a "harsh case." Hesitantly she enters, a withdrawn smile hidden behind glasses and a canopy of thick black hair. Impassively, she tells her life story -- as if it's about someone else entirely: she's 19. Since seven, she's been sexually assaulted by "an influential family relative."

He used to tell her what they were doing was "normal between a man and a woman." She felt secluded from her own family by a vow forced upon her not to reveal their "little secret": "I didn't know what to do -- he's so well-known in our community. I couldn't speak to my dad whom I love so much. My mother was of little comfort. I was afraid."

Last year, she heard two younger sisters suffered the same ordeal. But, they were now married, whereas she remained at home, alone in her helplessness. Two months ago, she left, "not knowing where to go."

Finally, she found a haven within the ochre walls of this new complex on a Bethlehem hillside looking down on the rugged Judean desert -- the Mehwar Centre for the Protection and the Empowerment of Families and Women. At this center every day is a woman's day, every week a woman's week.

Mehwar means "the core" in Arabic. The center shelters Palestinian women and their children seeking refuge from difficult domestic circumstances within the conditions that typify Palestinian reality.

Najmlmolouk Ibrahim, the center's director, gently caresses the cheek of the woman "with no name." "They're referred by the police, by relevant government agencies or NGOs [non-governmental organizations]," she says. "Sometimes, they find us on their own. Shelters are usually secret places. We choose instead to send a strong message: this is an open space, not only for victimized women, but also for their community. Violence should not be a secret. It must be dealt with."

Mehwar is the first Palestinian center providing integrative answers to domestic violence. At the center they not only protect physically and sexually abused women, they seek "to empower" them to play a defining role in society.

An Italian Cooperation Office trust fund administered by the World Bank, the center has, since its inauguration in 2007, cared for 84 women. The first such Middle East pilot project, Mehwar is open to all women and children in conflict situations. "They come to us from all walks of life and society, from wealthy and poor families, better or less educated, from refugee camps, villages and cities around the West Bank," says Ibrahim.

The haven's 35 rooms are arrayed around a peaceful patio, alongside a nursery for children from the local community, a clinic and a discussion hall which doubles as an exhibition space for their home-made products. "We're a temporary platform -- ideally women stay for a year but we're flexible," says Ibrahim. She is supported by a staff of qualified social workers, vocational trainers and teachers, a doctor, a psychologist and a family rights lawyer.

A day in the life of Najmlmolouk is a day at Mehwar. She lives nearby with her husband, the Palestinian author Nasser Ibrahim, and their two daughters. Already at work by 7:30am -- "after which I haven't a single free minute" -- her day unfolds with emergency meetings, calls to partners, follow-ups with the police, handling threats. "There's enormous pressure from families for a woman 'to come home' before she reveals her story, so we forbid family visits before she's had a chance to open up."

A day in the life of the center is a strict regime of activities. To infuse a lost sense of community, domestic responsibilities are shared equitably. There are discussions about social concepts -- the meaning of family, violence, honor and prostitution. The most traumatized undergo psychotherapy, "learning to regain self-confidence and self-esteem, to express their needs, to define their skills, their self," says Ibrahim.

Until recently, before the center felt the global financial downturn, vocational skills -- pottery, English and computers -- were taught. "We've trained hairdressers, medical staff, seamstresses and designers. Some women plan to continue their medical studies; others are employed as secretaries, cooks, or vendors," says Ibrahim.

Mehwar operates also as an outreach platform. "We aim to infuse the family with serenity, for children to get attention, women their dignity. Students, educators, parents, doctors visit the Centre to teach, and to be taught. We're trying to develop procedures and policies of community awareness by working with the Ministry of Social Affairs, with police officers and judges.

"Palestinians used to 'solve' cases of abuse through contacts with heads of family-based clans. We're against that patriarchal system. Going public is the best protection. But our laws are archaic. So, we're pressing for an overall personal legal and penal code against violence, and for its implementation. If not, we'll be trapped in a vicious circle."

Still, there are hopeful signs. A national committee charged with increasing the number of shelters and improving laws has been established. Mehwar cooperates with a special police unit for family protection. A girl can only be questioned by a female police officer. But Ibrahim recognizes that determination and patience are needed. "Changing patterns of behavior takes time -- perhaps a full generation. And, religious leaders could play a more positive role, simply by instilling moral values that ought to be inherent in family relations."

Nor is the prosaic test of their journey back to society -- setting "wounded" women "free" -- without dilemmas. Some are scared to remain alone, and want to marry at any cost to be protected from the risk of being abused again. "We don't lose touch," Ibrahim says. "We offer external counseling."

And the woman who's agreed to let her wounds speak openly? She's begun the painful process of filing a legal complaint, but remains consumed by an irresolvable desire to punish the perpetrator of her torments: "He's not human, I want him dead!"

The center, though, has also given her hope: "Here, I feel secure; here I'm not alone. I can speak out, and I'm heard. Our pain is shared. I want to study, be a doctor. I want to succeed."

All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2009).

Os médicos lutam para tratar os feridos da guerra de Gaza

fonte:EI




Doctors struggling to treat Gaza war wounded
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 8 March 2009

Salman Salama, 14, lies in al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in northern Gaza. (Erica Silverman/IRIN)

GAZA CITY (IRIN) - Mohammed Abu Shabah, aged 22, lies in al-Wafa rehabilitation center in northern Gaza, paralyzed from the waist down after a missile fired by an Israeli drone on 11 January left pieces of shrapnel near his spine. Doctors at the center, Gaza's only rehabilitation hospital, fear removing them could lead to complete paralysis.

"I was just walking down the street," said Abu Shabah, recounting the incident near his home in Rafah. He was eventually sent to al-Madee military hospital in Cairo for emergency care.

He needs, his doctors say, a vasotrain machine to improve blood circulation to his limbs and a urodynamic machine to measure bladder capacity, but both machines are currently unavailable in Gaza.

"They were destroyed by Israeli tank fire on 15 January," Tareq Dirdes, head of the men's unit at the al-Wafa centre, told IRIN, adding "the machine's keyboard was hit by shrapnel, and there are no spare parts available."

Some 2,315 (43 percent) of the injured were wounded by shrapnel, and spinal cord injuries are common, according to the health ministry.

Hospital staff told IRIN they were struggling to provide medical care with intermittent electricity supplies and shortages of items like wheelchairs and medication as well as the more sophisticated equipment needed for patients with paralysis.

Thousands of war wounded in Gaza, including 785 women and 1,815 children, will require long-term care, according to health ministry official Samir Radi.

Patients trickling back

Patients have begun trickling back into Gaza, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the health ministry and people interviewed by IRIN. WHO official Mahmoud Daher in Gaza estimates that 470 patients are still receiving care abroad, but it is not clear how many of them are war wounded.

Salman Salama, aged 14, sustained a traumatic brain injury after his home in Beit Lahiya was hit by Israeli tank-fire on 14 January. Shrapnel in his skull caused bleeding in his brain. After lying in a coma in al-Shifa hospital he was taken to Egypt for neurosurgery.

Salman returned to Gaza last week, partially paralyzed on his right side.

"We tried to run from the house when the tanks entered," said Salman from his hospital bed at al-Wafa.

Hospitals damaged

Fifteen hospitals out of a total of 27, and 41 primary health care clinics out of 118, in Gaza were damaged during the war, according to WHO, and about half the ambulance fleet was damaged or destroyed.

During the 22-day Israeli offensive, in response to rocket fire from Gaza, access to health care was severely restricted. An estimated 40 percent of the chronically ill were forced to interrupt their treatment, according to WHO.

A recent UN Population Fund (UNFPA) assessment indicates that during the offensive there were an increased number of miscarriages in surveyed hospitals (al-Shifa, al-Aqsa, Naser, Rafah) and increased neonatal mortality in al-Shifa.

"The majority of serious cases still in Gaza are recovering at home or are waiting to travel to receive treatment abroad," said health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman.

150 amputees

Nasman estimated there were about 150 amputees, and 815 sustained head and neck injuries due to falling debris.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) operates three clinics in Gaza -- in Khan Younis, Gaza City and Beit Lahiya -- and four mobile teams. MSF is currently treating 370 patients (330 war wounded), Gaza field coordinator Jessica Pourraz told IRIN.

Since mid-January, about 100 new amputees have been registered at the Artificial Limb and Polio Center in Gaza City, and 10 have started their treatment. The International Committee of the Red Cross is supporting the center.

$49 million of the recent UN flash appeal for Gaza for $613 million was for the health sector.

This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Em Silwan

Em Silwan, Bairro de Jerusalem-Este, casas palestinianas estao a ser demolidas pelas autoridades israelitas. Os residentes dizem que estas demolicoes fazem parte de uma campanha que visa aumentar o controlo israelita sobre a parte oriental da Cidade Santa, que os Palestinianos vem como capital do seu futuro estado. Rory McCarthy o correspondente do "The Guardian" em Jerusalem falou com as pessoas afectadas.


fonte:The Guardian