1/31/2009

Gaza 2009. - Gaza Today





Gideon Levy - Gaza war ended in utter failure for Israel

On the morrow of the return of the last Israeli soldier from Gaza, we can determine with certainty that they had all gone out there in vain. This war ended in utter failure for Israel.

This goes beyond the profound moral failure, which is a grave matter in itself, but pertains to its inability to reach its stated goals. In other words, the grief is not complemented by failure. We have gained nothing in this war save hundreds of graves, some of them very small, thousands of maimed people, much destruction and the besmirching of Israel's image.
What seemed like a predestined loss to only a handful of people at the onset of the war will gradually emerge as such to many others, once the victorious trumpeting subsides.

The initial objective of the war was to put an end to the firing of Qassam rockets. This did not cease until the war's last day. It was only achieved after a cease-fire had already been arranged. Defense officials estimate that Hamas still has 1,000 rockets.

The war's second objective, the prevention of smuggling, was not met either. The head of the Shin Bet security service has estimated that smuggling will be renewed within two months.

Most of the smuggling that is going on is meant to provide food for a population under siege, and not to obtain weapons. But even if we accept the scare campaign concerning the smuggling with its exaggerations, this war has served to prove that only poor quality, rudimentary weapons passed through the smuggling tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

Israel's ability to achieve its third objective is also dubious. Deterrence, my foot. The deterrence we supposedly achieved in the Second Lebanon War has not had the slightest effect on Hamas, and the one supposedly achieved now isn't working any better: The sporadic firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip has continued over the past few days.

The fourth objective, which remained undeclared, was not met either. The IDF has not restored its capability. It couldn't have, not in a quasi-war against a miserable and poorly-equipped organization relying on makeshift weapons, whose combatants barely put up a fight.

The heroic descriptions and victory poems written abut the "military triumph" will not serve to change reality. The pilots were flying on training missions and the ground forces were engaged in exercises that involved joining up and firing weapons.

The describing of the operation as a "military achievement" by the various generals and analysts who offered their take on the operation is plain ridiculous.

We have not weakened Hamas. The vast majority of its combatants were not harmed and popular support for the organization has in fact increased. Their war has intensified the ethos of resistance and determined endurance. A country which has nursed an entire generation on the ethos of a few versus should know to appreciate that by now. There was no doubt as to who was David and who was Goliath in this war.

The population in Gaza, which has sustained such a severe blow, will not become more moderate now. On the contrary, the national sentiment will now turn more than before against the party which inflicted that blow - the State of Israel. Just as public opinion leans to the right in Israel after each attack against us, so it will in Gaza following the mega-attack that we carried out against them.

If anyone was weakened because of this war, it was Fatah, whose fleeing from Gaza and its abandonment have now been given special significance. The succession of failures in this war needs to include, of course, the failure of the siege policy. For a while, we have already come to realize that is ineffective. The world boycotted, Israel besieged and Hamas ruled (and is still ruling).

But this war's balance, as far as Israel is concerned, does not end with the absence of any achievement. It has placed a heavy toll on us, which will continue to burden us for some time. When it comes to assessing Israel's international situation, we must not allow ourselves to be fooled by the support parade by Europe's leaders, who came in for a photo-op with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israel's actions have dealt a serious blow to public support for the state. While this does not always translate itself into an immediate diplomatic situation, the shockwaves will arrive one day. The whole world saw the images. They shocked every human being who saw them, even if they left most Israelis cold.

The conclusion is that Israel is a violent and dangerous country, devoid of all restraints and blatantly ignoring the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, while not giving a hoot about international law. The investigations are on their way.

Graver still is the damage this will visit upon our moral spine. It will come from difficult questions about what the IDF did in Gaza, which will occur despite the blurring effect of recruited media.

So what was achieved, after all? As a war waged to satisfy considerations of internal politics, the operation has succeeded beyond all expectations. Likud Chair Benjamin Netanyahu is getting stronger in the polls. And why? Because we could not get enough of the war.

1/27/2009

ICRC - Gaza: the crisis past, hospitals and their patients still facing severe hardship


One month after the start of the conflict, the situation in hospitals is starting to return to normal. In Gaza, however, "normal" is a relative term. Many people who have been seriously wounded or disabled may require medical care for the rest of their lives. And more than just basic humanitarian aid will be needed to keep vital health facilities running adequately.

On 27 December 2008, what seemed to be a never-ending wave of severely wounded and bleeding patients started overwhelming hospital emergency rooms. At ShifaHospital in GazaCity, doctors had to operate on two patients at once in each operating theatre to keep up.

Now, one month later, the numbers of patients arriving have dropped dramatically and the emergency rooms are once again treating patients with less serious injuries. Planned surgery for various diseases that are not life-threatening has also resumed.

Nevertheless, hospitals are still filled with patients who were wounded during the fighting and who now need post-operative care and further treatment. Many of the seriously wounded now have to come to terms with being handicapped for life. An ICRC surgeon and a physiotherapist continue their work at ShifaHospital in GazaCity helping these patients. The physiotherapist works with amputees in particular in order to prepare them to be fitted with artificial limbs.

"It normally takes six months for an amputee to heal," said Eileen Daly, an ICRC health coordinator. "As soon as they are ready, these patients will go to the ICRC-supported Artificial Limb and PolioCenter in GazaCity to be fitted with a device which, it is hoped, can help them walk again."

Short-term emergency aid necessary but not sufficient

According to initial assessments carried out by the ICRC, the three most damaged hospitals in Gaza are Al Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital and Nursing Home, Al Dorra Paediatric Hospital and the Palestine Red Crescent's Al Quds Hospital, all of which took direct hits during the conflict. Other hospitals, including NasrPaediatricHospital, the OphthalmicHospital, Al Awda Hospital, and TelAl-IslamHospital, also suffered damage, mostly shattered windows from air strikes on neighbouring targets. The ICRC is distributing plastic sheeting and tarpaulins where needed to cover broken windows and holes in the walls and roofs.

Because of the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip which has now lasted more than a year and a half, hospitals are run down and much of the equipment is unreliable and in need of repair. Some medical supplies, including heavy painkillers and medicines for treating cancer patients and patients with bleeding disorders, are not available.

"Getting spare parts for medical equipment and other supplies into the Gaza Strip on a regular basis is key to addressing this situation – and a matter of priority," said Pierre Wettach, head of the ICRC delegation in Israel and the occupied territories. "We should do everything possible to avoid going back to the situation we had under the closure prior to 27 December. What we would like to see is the full opening of crossing points, the resumption of normal imports, and the possibility for students and professionals, such as doctors, to receive education abroad," said Mr Wettach.

ICRC and
Palestine Red Crescent Society activities
· The ICRC delivered medical supplies, such as tracheotomy tubes and also ventilator tubing for both children and adults, as well as strong painkillers to the central disposable and drug stores in GazaCity. Medicines for relieving severe pain were supplied to the Central Drug Store. In addition, body bags were given to the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service.
· ICRC health teams assessed the needs of 12 hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip.
· ICRC staff collected information on more than 100 people registered by their families as missing during the conflict, in an attempt to find out what happened to them and to restore contact between them and their loved ones.
· The ICRC provided the Artificial Limb and PolioCenter in GazaCity with plastic sheeting to cover the roof and windows broken during the fighting.
· Together with the Palestine Red Crescent, the ICRC identified 650 partially destroyed houses and 884 totally destroyed houses in various areas, including Tel Al-Hawa, Al-Atatra, Zaytun, Rafah and Khan Yunis. Plastic sheeting was distributed to families who needed them.

Gaza 2009. - Gaza Today





Statement by UNRWA Commissioner-General, Karen AbuZayd


United Nations Security Council Closed Consultations Session

New York, 27 January 2009

Mr. President, distinguished members of the Security Council:

At the outset, allow me to thank you for your kind invitation to address you today on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. I am honored to be the first Commissioner-General of UNRWA to be given this privilege.

I also want to express my appreciation for the amount of attention the Council has devoted to the Gaza conflict and its aftermath. The strong expressions of support heard from many members for the work of the United Nations on the ground have been very gratifying to all of us there.

Mr. President, distinguished members,

I come to you from UNRWA Headquarters in Gaza where I spent the first week of the recent war and the first week after the cease fire. I bring with me perspectives from our sixty year old humanitarian and human development Agency whose mandate is to assist and protect a population of 4.6 million refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territory. I come to share with you what UNRWA, and the refugees we serve, are thinking and feeling in this time of distress. I hope I can convey compellingly our, and their, messages to you this afternoon.

In my tours around Gaza since the ceasefire of 18 January, I have been deeply saddened to see what appears to have been systematic destruction to schools, universities, residential buildings, factories, shops and farms. I have observed the atmosphere of shock and sorrow among the people of Gaza. Every Gazan projects a sense of having stared death in the face. Every Gazan has a tale of profound grief to tell. There is rage against the attackers for often failing to distinguish between military targets and civilians and there is also resentment against the international community for having allowed first the siege and then the war to go on for so long.

Yet, my interaction with Palestinians in Gaza has also evinced their fortitude, their determination to overcome the pain of loss and their belief in the possibilities of rebuilding their lives. I hope the international community will respond with urgency and resolve, to take advantage of the opportunities to generate recovery and renewal in Gaza.

To seize these opportunities, political action is needed to create the conditions that will allow humanitarian and human development activities to have maximum impact on Palestinian lives. The priority for early recovery is to attend to basic human needs and basic rights such as education, health care and the right to work. In the simplest terms, the way forward is to help restore normal life to Gaza.

UNRWA’s early recovery activities are already underway. Two hundred thousand refugee children were assisted to return to school last Saturday, while the 50,000 displaced Palestinians who took refuge in UNRWA classrooms are being helped to rebuild their lives at home or in alternative accommodation. We have prepared a Quick Response Plan whose main components include restoring and strengthening primary education and primary health care; establishing emergency food aid, cash assistance and job creation programmes; repairing civilian homes and UNRWA facilities; supporting humanitarian community-based organizations; providing environmental health services in alliance with municipal authorities; and offering psycho-social support to the most traumatized Gazans, including to children in UNRWA schools. Ssurveys have shown that the majority of Gazans suffer from shock and are clinically depressed

This work is made possible by the extraordinarily generous donor response to our Flash Appeal, including substantial pledges from the Arab world. Given UNRWA’s recurrent financial shortfalls, particularly for its General Fund, these strong levels of support are most appreciated.

Mr. President, distinguished members,

Beyond UNRWA’s focus on refugees, a coordinated inter-agency response is central to the success of the recovery process. This will harness the varied capabilities of the United Nations system, working in partnership with the Palestinian Authority, the World Bank and donor countries.

UNRWA’s own approach to recovery and reconstruction is incremental, service driven and designed to build on the substantial human development investments the international community has made in Gaza over the years. We consider this approach the most effective route to making normal life possible for Palestinians in Gaza. The surest path to calm and stability is to create social and economic conditions in which Palestinians can sustain themselves and their families in dignity.

There are challenges, however, that go well beyond the humanitarian realm. They lie in the province of political action. For this reason, it is on this Council and its esteemed members that part of the burden of restoring normalcy to Gaza rests. This burden is a heavy one, but it is far from insurmountable if we act in concert in the following well-known areas:

  • Law and order needs to be re-established in Gaza. This will enable the identification of reliable local interlocutors to ensure security for humanitarian personnel and operations and an environment which safeguards the protection of civilians;

  • All Gaza’s borders must be opened and kept open continuously (including at Karni, Sofa, Nahal Oz, Kerem Shalom, Erez and Rafah), to allow two way freedom of movement for people, goods and cash;

  • Negotiations to end the occupation and peacefully resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are now more vital than ever - negotiations that are inclusive and balanced, that allow for refugee representation, and address, along with other final status matters, the question of Palestine refugees in a manner consistent with their rights;

  • Moves to investigate apparent contraventions of international law, including direct attacks on United Nations personnel and facilities (as in UNRWA’s own Headquarters and five of its schools and the UNSCO office), and accountability under law where breaches are established, must be pursued;

  • And none of these is achievable without reconciliation among Palestinians and restoration of the integrity of the occupied Palestinian territory.

From UNRWA’s operational vantage point, addressing these issues is fundamental to the success of early recovery and human development work. Recovery requires the free inflow of humanitarian and commercial supplies. Reconstruction demands open borders that enable the importation of construction materials and the export of products and goods from Gaza. Job creation programmes will be fruitless without a self-sustaining employment market. And our plans to strengthen primary education will be undermined if we fail to offer the children of Gaza a horizon of hope for a future free from fear, free from poverty and full of promise.

Mr. President, distinguished members of the Security Council:

Throughout those days of violence, the humanitarian work of the United Nations persevered, illustrating in concrete, often heroic, ways, commitment to the principles of humanity on which the UN Charter is based. UNRWA staff ran the gauntlet of shelling, aerial bombardments and small arms fire to attend to the injured and to deliver food and fuel to hospitals, municipalities and to the people of Gaza. It is a matter of deep regret that four UNRWA staff, two while on duty, lost their lives in this conflict.

The United Nations can be proud, as I am proud, that during the conflict, courage and dedication to service, hallmarks of UNRWA staff performance for six decades, were very much in evidence.

As to the broader implications of the recent experience in Gaza, it is worth recalling that for more than sixty years, the Security Council has wrestled with the issues of Palestinians and Palestine refugees as classic questions of international peace and security. What we witnessed in Gaza seared the global conscience with harrowing images of broken bodies and shattered homes, of thousands of Palestinian and tens of Israeli civilians – men, women and children – wounded, dying and fleeing from indiscriminate violence. The guns have fallen silent, but the images linger, reminding us of the futility of seeking military solutions to political problems and of the perils of political inaction.

These images and the human suffering they represent are the result of our failure to protect those who have no part and no stake in armed conflict. And I am afraid this war will be remembered for the absence of restraint among the combatants and disregard for principles of humanity and the sanctity of human life.

Equally disturbing is that besides its devastating impact on civilian lives and infrastructure, the conflict has placed in further jeopardy the authority of international law in the Middle East. It has raised hard questions about the ability of the community of States to be effective in its role as the custodian of international legality in this particular regional context.

Finally, there are the ultimate challenges highlighted by this conflict, namely the need to tackle the long-unfinished business of ensuring a just and lasting solution to the plight of Palestine refugees and to re-double efforts to establish a viable Palestinian State, living in peace and security with Israel.

Mr. President, distinguished members of the Council:

We in UNRWA will persist in our devotion to the service of Palestine refugees. We will continue to discharge our mandate in a manner that promotes the inherent dignity and worth of the Palestinians we serve.

Yet that "dignity and worth" are not ours alone to promote. Palestinians and Palestine refugees are assured of UNRWA’s help, but their greater need is to have the demonstrated support of the international community, as represented by the Security Council.

In the months to come, as we build on the fragile ceasefire achieved following the passage of Resolution 1860, continued engagement by the Security Council will be of utmost importance.

UNRWA appeals to you, as the body that sits at the pinnacle of multilateral power, to exercise your authority in ways that transform into reality the shared dream of both Israelis and Palestinians for a secure, peaceful and prosperous tomorrow.

(source: UNRWA )

UNRWA - Gaza film

1/26/2009

Gaza 2009. - Gaza Today


According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, about 1,400 people were killed and more than 5,600 wounded during the conflict. Many of the seriously injured will be marked for life. Thousands of Gazans remain homeless, about 300,000 have no access to piped water and the sewerage network in parts of Gaza has been badly damaged. In addition, the population is facing the danger posed by explosive remnants of war, and this could also complicate the work of humanitarian organizations.

Gideon Levy - Palestinians versus Tibetans - a double standard


Israelis have no moral right to fight the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The president of the Israeli Friends of the Tibetan People, the psychologist Nahi Alon, who was involved in the murder of two Palestinians in Gaza in 1967 - as was revealed in Haaretz Magazine last weekend - chose to make his private "atonement" by fighting to free Tibet, of all places. He is not alone among Israelis calling to stop the occupation - but not ours. No small number of other good Israelis have recently joined the wave of global protest that broke out over the Olympics, set to take place in Beijing this summer. It is easy; it engenders no controversy - who would not be in favor of liberating Tibet? But that is not the fight that Israeli human rights supporters should be waging.

To fight for Tibet, Israel needs no courage, because there is no price to pay. On the contrary, this is part of a fashionable global trend, almost as much as the fight against global warming or the poaching of sea lions. These fights are just, and must be undertaken. But in Israel they are deluxe fights, which are unthinkable. When one comes to the fight with hands that are collectively, and sometimes individually, so unclean, it is impossible to protest a Chinese occupation.

Citizens of a country that maintains a military subjugation in its backyard that is no less cruel than that of the Chinese, and by some parameters even more so, and against which there is practically no more protest here, have no justification in denouncing another occupation. Citizens of a country that is entirely tainted by the occupation - a national, ongoing project that involves all sectors of the population to some extent, directly or indirectly - cannot wash their hands and fight another occupation, when a half-hour from their homes, horrors no less terrible are taking place for which they have much greater responsibility.

The world has fallen in love with Tibet. How easy it is to do so. The picturesque figure of the Dalai Lama and the non-violent struggle he leads with his scarlet-robed monks is truly captivating. Indeed, the world has smothered the leader with awards and recognition, from the Nobel Peace Prize to an honorary doctorate at Ben-Gurion University.

The Palestinians are not as nice as the Tibetans in the eyes of the world. But the Palestinian people deserve exactly the same rights as the occupied Tibetan people, even if their leaders are less enchanting, they have no scarlet robes and their fight is more violent. There is absolutely no connection between rights and the means of protest, and from that perspective, there is no difference between a Tibetan and a Palestinian - they both deserve the exact same freedom.

Moreover, in the first years of the Israeli occupation, most Palestinians accepted it submissively, with practically no violence. What did they get as a result? Nothing. The world and Israel cloaked themselves in apathy and callousness. Only when planes started being hijacked in the 1970s did the world begin to notice that a Palestinian problem even existed. In contrast, the Tibetan struggle also was tainted with violence in the past, and it is reasonable to assume that violence will increase if the Tibetans do not attain their goal.

There is also no point in asking which occupation is crueler, the Chinese or the Israeli. The competition is harsh and bitter. The Chinese killed and imprisoned more Tibetans, in Lhasa there is less freedom of expression than in Nablus, but in general, the extent of Israeli repression in the territories is much greater today than Chinese repression in Tibet.

Nowhere in the world today is there a region more besieged and confined than Gaza. And what is the result? The world calls to boycott the occupier in the case of China, while absurdly, with regard to the Palestinians, the world is boycotting the occupied entity, or at least its elected leadership, and not the occupier. This, it seems, has no parallel in history.

Internationally speaking, the situation of the Palestinians is ostensibly better, since while all governments recognize Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, no government in the world recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Palestinian territories. Practically speaking, this does not help the Palestinians much: Contemporary bon ton is to support the struggle for Tibet, only Tibet. The Palestinians have not even one Richard Gere to serve as a mouthpiece. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is boycotting the Olympic games but paid an official visit to Israel, where she spoke not one word about the shameful conditions in Gaza under Israeli occupation. Is there any other way to describe this, except a double standard?

In a more just world, no occupation would exist - neither the Chinese nor the Israeli. But until that time, the Israelis have to look inward at their own home and protest what is being done there in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry, before they present themselves with colorful signs outside the Chinese Embassy.

1/24/2009

Gaza 2009. - Gaza City - Al Shifa Hospital


Gaza 2009. - Gaza City - Al Shifa Hospital from bogARTphoto on Vimeo.

The boy from Zaytun area lost both of this legs during an israeli air raid against the mostly farmers lived area.

1/01/2009

Gideon Levy - The silence of the jurists


One silence, of all the shameful silences, has thus far roared especially loud - the silence of the jurists. The 41,000 attorneys in the State of Israel are entrusted with protecting its image as a lawful state, and this large and grand army has once again strayed from its function. There is a deep suspicion throughout the world that Israel carried out a series of war crimes, and the jurists of our country are holding their peace.

Where, for instance, is Aharon Barak when we really need him? Where are his colleagues, the former justices of the Supreme Court, who knew very well how to raise their voices when Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann threatened to harm the apple of their eye, and who now hide in their cowardly silence? Where is Mishael Cheshin, who threatened to cut off the hand of anyone who raises it against the Supreme Court no less, and now, with a heavy shadow being cast before us, does not say a word?

Do they not know that disproportionately harming a civilian population, supply convoys and medical crews, the use of white phosphorus in the midst of population centers and indiscriminate bombings are considered war crimes? What is their response to their enraged colleagues around the world? Are they convinced that Israel carried out these crimes or not? In both instances, their voice is vital and their silence is abominable.

This war nearly did not make it onto the agendas of a majority of jurists in Israel. One look at the (Hebrew) Web site of the Israel Bar Association shows that the latest issues with which it is preoccupied are "The reservist soldier and his rights," "Discounts and benefits for business owners in the south," "Payment of membership fees - now by way of the bar" and "Flower design, a fun-filled workshop for lawyers in the southern district."

Not one word about the issue of crimes. The Israel Bar cannot be bothered with it. With the exception of a few courageous lawyers, nobody is disturbed by the worrying legal aspects of the war. Hundreds of children killed are not a sufficient reason to cry out when one is busy with flower design.

There is only one group now preoccupied with the war: the members of the Israel Defense Forces international law division, who continue to serve their bosses with piercing obedience, legitimizing every criminal act. They have already stated, for instance, that the criminal bombardment of a police academy graduation ceremony is acceptable in the eyes of international law. They have also ruled that picking up the telephone and calling those whose house is about to be destroyed is sufficient to warrant this cruel form of collective punishment, which is also a war crime.

Now their commander, Col. Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, is about to join the staff of lecturers at Tel Aviv University's law faculty, where she will present her doctrine of "devious jurisprudence that permits mass killing," in the words of the jurist Professor Haim Ganz, to students who will be happy to hear that Israel's filthy hands are as clean as a baby's.

This is not a case of one lawyer-colonel's opinion, as the faculty heads demagogically claim, but her deeds. It is feared that she is an accomplice to the commission of war crimes and as such ought to be disqualified from teaching. Her addition to the faculty will serve as encouragement to those advocating an academic boycott against Israel. Her prospective students will continue to be educated according to the inglorious tradition of silence and legitimization: The jurists of Israel are always ready to keep quiet or legitimize any military operation. The judicial establishment has been enlisted, or to be more precise, has itself enlisted, and it has a hand in the act.

Whoever honestly followed the events of the war knows that the question is no longer whether crimes were committed, but who bears responsibility for them. Legal minds the world over are now diligently preparing legal cases detailing crimes allegedly committed, and only here the reactions range from silence to legal propaganda.

How do the most important jurists around the world see what our lawyers have hidden from view? Is there no unequivocal, universal law on the matter? Does Israel have its own standard? Can everything be legitimized? Can international law be twisted and distorted, covered up with a Band-Aid to the point where mass killing and destruction are given a stamp of justification by our leading light towers of justice? One can expect that of the brainwashed officers and soldiers, the media and public opinion, all of them who believe everything is permitted. But where for goodness sake are the defenders of the law?

We are left with a defense minister and a chief military rabbi who will hand down verdicts. Ehud Barak is calling for the liquidation of terrorists while they are in the bathroom, the chief military rabbinate is calling on soldiers to behave with cruelty. And the jurists? Don't disturb them during their moment of rest. They are now busy processing membership payments for the Israel Bar.

Gaza in pictures