[wvns] Bethlehem under attack
Bethlehem under attack while Har Homa settlement expands
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1579.shtml
Latest News, Palestinian Grassroots Anti Apartheid Wall Campaign,
December 8th, 2007
Nine families from around Bethlehem are to be made homeless after
Occupation forces this week issued them with notice that their homes
are to be demolished.
The Occupation also announced the construction of 307 units in the
nearby Har Homa settlement, which pushes up against the edge of Bethlehem.
The demolition orders hit areas across the Bethlehem district. In Um
Rukbe, south of al-Khadr, West Bethlehem, six houses close to the
Apartheid Wall and settler-only road were targeted: five are newly
built and one is in the final stages of construction.
Further orders were issued in Nahalin village, west Bethlehem for a
house belonging to local man Saidi Ahmad Najajra, in Za'atara east of
Bethlehem for a four story house belonging to Issa Mahmoud Ta'mre, and
in Ras al Wad to a large house belonging to Ibrahim Mahmoud Awad Salahat.
The Occupation uses the permits system to prevent Palestinian
communities from expanding. Palestinians in areas such as Bethlehem
are refused permission to build to accommodate the population, forcing
many to build without the permit. The Occupation then destroys the
homes with impunity. Construction in adjoining settlements continues
unchecked.
The restrictions on Palestinian communities are compounded by the
Apartheid Wall. Around al-Khadr, the first village to be targeted
yesterday, the Wall when completed will confiscate around 22,000
dunums of village land, leaving them with just the 2,500 dunums of
built-up area. 70% of the Wall is now complete around the village.
The Occupation has put a temporary freeze on construction of the wall,
as they have run out of money for the illegal project. There has been
no freeze on the expansion of the illegal settlements that encircle
Bethlehem, however, or on the issue of demolition orders for
Palestinian homes. The nine Palestinian families face a bleak winter
under the threat of being made homeless.
===
Mohammed Omer reports on shortages in Gaza from crucial medical
supplies through children's winter clothing to fuel
The grim reality in Gaza
Mohammed Omer
10 December 2007
http://www.newstatesman.com/200712100003
Traffic in the Gaza Strip slowed to a trickle last week, and this week
medical centres have scaled back treatment in the medicines and
sustenance-destitute Strip.
"Israel's decision is a death penalty: our reserve of fuel is almost
zero and it may very likely run out by the end of today," said Khaled
Radi, Ministry of Health spokesman for the dismissed Hamas government.
Radi spoke in reference to the 30 November Israeli Supreme Court
decision to allow further fuel cutbacks, severe reductions which are
crippling Gaza's residents in all aspects of life. Prior to that
ruling, as early as October Israel decided to begin limiting fuel,
with Gaza soon after enduring serious cuts of over 50% of fuel needs,
a dire statistic confirmed by the UN body OCHA.
At the Nahal Oz crossing, through which all fuel enters Gaza, the
Palestinian petrol authority reported that Israel has delivered around
only 190,000 litres of diesel a day since late October, falling short
of the 350,000 litres needed by the Gaza Strip. This number plummeted
on 29 November, with Israel delivering a scanty 60,000 litres, only
marginally improving three days later, 2 December, with a delivery of
90,000 litres.
This week's increased cutbacks resulted in a several day closure of
Gaza's petrol stations, owners striking in protest to the pittance of
fuel allowed in–just one quarter of that normally received.
Gaza's Association for Fuel Station Owners commented: "Petrol firms
considered the amount negligible and so, in protest over the Israeli
blockade, refused to accept the paltry offering which does not come
close to meeting the essential needs of Gaza's civilians."
A Gaza taxi driver related his concern: "Cutting off fuel means
cutting off our lives. We use it for everything, in the place of wood
or coal. It's tragic not only that Israel is imposing this siege on
Gaza, but also that some Palestinians are supporting this cruel
embargo, with the naïve idea of causing the people turn against Hamas
in Gaza."
Shortages of fuel have greatly affected the public transportation
system, leaving students from universities in Gaza City delayed for
hours standing in wait for transportation back to Khan Younies and
Rafah in the south.
Trickle Effect
The fuel cuts in turn impede water access: with diesel-run pumps
unable to function, leaving over 77,000 without fresh drinking water,
according to Gaza's water utility. Oxfam International has warned that
soon 225,000 Gazans could suffer from inadequate water supplies,
raising concerns for public health.
Ambulances and clinics suffer too, a fact reiterated by Khaled Radi,
who related how fuel shortages have already brought some ambulances to
a standstill: "This has affected the mobility of ambulances which are
especially vital during on-going Israeli air strikes such as that of
this morning."
He added that shortages further threatened to close essential clinics,
which rely on back-up generators during the frequent electricity
shortages in the Strip. Two first aid health centres have already been
forced to suspend treatment during electricity cuts. Those that remain
open suffer from want of medical supplies, with 91 of 416 essential
medicines depleted, according to the WHO.
Even basic things are scarce. Residents are hard-pressed to find a
piece of glass to repair a broken window, imperative in December's
cold weather, particularly in a time when electricity and gas are
scarce-to-absent.
Eyad Yousef, a 31-year-old Palestinian teacher, has been waiting for
cement, unavailable for the last many months, to enter Gaza.
Concurrently, prices of building materials have skyrocketed, more than
tripled in the worst cases. Yousef waits for any sort of building
material, but he knows that will not find anything, as he has looked
all over the picked-clean area. "I have a floor of my home to finish,
but can't do so yet as no sort of building materials are available in
Gaza," he said. "I'm using pieces of nylon to cover my windows at
home, but I can't go on like this for long," he added, saying he hopes
that the international community will put pressure on Israel to open
borders and let vital products into Gaza.
Death Penalty
Yousef, at least, is luckier than the newly dead: since last month at
least 31 medical patients have died in Gaza, a result of Israel's
lockdown on borders and preventing of medical access to Israeli,
Egyptian and Jordanian hospitals, as well as West Bank hospitals.
Since Hamas took over power in June, this subsequent Israeli lockdown
has made it virtually impossible for Palestinians to get out of Gaza.
The situation then deteriorated with the closing of Karni crossing,
Gaza's only commercial crossing, only opened for the most basic food
essentials. Coupled with Israel's ground and air attacks, the
situation for Palestinians worsened yet further still when Israel last
October announced Gaza as a "hostile entity", further allowing Israel
to justify its closed-borders policy to the international arena.
In the densely-populated region starved of medical supplies, and now
facing the shutdown of clinics, Gazan citizens have been given a death
sentence with Israel's control over borders. Yahya Al Jamal 53, one
case among hundreds of people, has cancer and is in serious need of
medical care at well-equipped hospitals. For more than two months now
he has been refused entry to Israel for treatment. His agonized father
reported that his son will die in the coming days if he does not get
the medication he needs, an outcome of Israel's mass denial of the
luxury of critical healthcare.
Insult upon injuries, cement – already scarce for building – is no
longer available even for graves of the many recently dead.
Empty Stocks
Aid agencies like the World Food Program (WFP) reporting that food
imports are only enough to meet 41 per cent of demand in the Gaza Strip.
As winter progresses, resilient citizens desperately seek to survive.
In Rafah's Saturday market, Umm Mohammed Zourub scours the stalls yet
again: "I've been looking for new winter clothes for my children, but
I haven't been able to find any because no materials are coming into
Gaza with the closed borders," the 43 year old mother lamented.
Indeed, the cold weather has fallen quickly on an
internationally-isolated and starved population. From the intense heat
of summer months, where water was scarce and air conditioning a
fantasy, Gazans now experience the bitter cold in the same homes
unprepared for extremes, and the bitter realization that, once again,
they have been left to the whims of imprisonment, Israeli air and
ground attacks, and a staggering invisibility in the international realm.
*********************************************************************
WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE
To subscribe to this group, send an email to:
wvns-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
NEWS ARCHIVE IS OPEN TO PUBLIC VIEW
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/
Need some good karma? Appreciate the service?
Please consider donating to WVNS today.
Email ummyakoub@yahoo.com for instructions.
To leave this list, send an email to:
wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:wvns-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:wvns-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
No comments:
Post a Comment