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News from our Gaza fair trade suppliers
Joint Aid Agency Report - "The Gaza Strip — a humanitarian implosion"
from PSC, 28th March 2008 As the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen in Gaza, the statements from Israeli
army spokespeople and ministers continue to be issued warning of further
military interventions and a full scale invasion of Gaza.
International protests are continuing to take place against the siege of Gaza and the increasing
horrific death toll. In Israel’s operation that it named ‘Operation Warm
Winter’, the Israeli army killed 120 in Gaza between 27 February and 3 March, 60 on one
day alone. A quarter of those killed that week were children. The death toll as
a result of those delayed or denied access to essential treatment outside Gaza
reached 117 by 25 March.
Organisations working on the ground including Christian Aid, Save the Children, Amnesty and
Oxfam have released a report, called The Gaza Strip — a humanitarian
implosion. The report explains that ‘the situation for 1.5 million
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is worse now than it has ever been since the
start of the Israeli military occupation in 1967.’ It says the humanitarian
crisis is a ‘direct result of on-going collective punishment of ordinary men,
women and children’ which ‘is illegal under international law’. Movement in and
out of Gaza is ‘all but impossible’ and the report says supplies of food and water, sewage
treatment, and basic healthcare ‘can no longer be taken for granted’. Hospitals
cannot generate electricity to keep essential equipment working, and sewage is
flowing through streets and into the sea.
See the report here.
Israeli Airstrike in Gaza Destroys Medical Relief Head Office, Kills Baby
Ramallah, 28/02/2008. An Israeli
airstrike aimed at the ministry of interior building in Gaza City also
destroyed the nearby Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) head
office in Gaza and killed a 5-month-old baby in a residential building
in the same area.
PMRS is one of the groups our tours often meet with to learn about medical care in Palestine.
Read more.
Press Release February 18, 2008
At noon today in the Sufa Border Crossing, donated foodstuffs and
water filters at last reached their destination in Gaza
Members of the Palestinian Campaign intend to give
the highest priority in distribution of the water filters received
today to the Gaza Strip hospitals
Ambulance service in Gaza stops due to fuel supplies cut
Sunday February 17, 2008 18:53 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies
The ambulance service in the Gaza Strip announced complete halt of its
work on Sunday, due to what the health ministry says is a 'severe shortage
of fuel', a statement by the ministry read.
Aid supplies are finally to be allowed in to Gaza on Monday
After long delays, the supplies carried by the peace the convoy
two weeks ago are finally to be allowed into the Gaza Strip. On
the morning of Monday, Feb. 18, seven tons of basic food and water
filters will arrive at the Sufa Border Crossing.
The aid supplies were brought to the Erez checkpoint by a protest
convoy of about 1,500 activists on Saturday Jan 26. The military
authorities held up the actual tranfet to Gaza of the supplies.
These include five tons of basic foodstuffs as well as water
purification filters, needed for public institutions in the Strip
where the water is highly polluted; and two tons of aid packages
prepared by Israeli families as a goodwill gesture to the
inhabitants of Gaza.
Since the convoy, the goods have been kept at warehouses placed at
the orgainisers’ disposal at Kibbutz Kerem Shalom and the bedouin
town of Rahat.
Participating organizations: Gush Shalom, Combatants for
Peace, Coalition of Women for Peace, ICAHD – The Israeli Committee
Against House Demolitions, Bat Shalom, Bat Tzafon for Peace and
Equality, Balad, Hadash, Adalah, Tarabut- Hithabrut, Physicians for
Human Rights – Israel, AIC – The Alternative Information Center,
Psychoactive – Mental Health Workers for Human Rights, ActiveStills,
The Students Coalition (Tel Aviv University), New Profile, MachsomWatch,
PCATI – The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Yesh Gvul,
Gisha, Local Television on the Internet, Committee for Israeli-Palestinian
Dialogue, “On the Left Side”, and Faculty for Palestinian-Israeli Peace (Israel).
Effect of current seige on Gaza suppliers
Atfaluna, of Gaza, supply Olive Co-op with a range of beautiful
products crafted by deaf adults and children. The range, available
from Olive's office and on-line shop includes ceramic bowls, mugs
and plates, camel keyrings and embroidered purses. They are adversely
affected by Israeli strikes upon Gaza, as their latest e-mail
describes below.
17 July 2006
Dear Olive Co-op,
Thank you so much for asking about us and for your support to
Atfaluna. The situation here is extremely nerve-wrecking. Most
of the Israeli incursions are taking place in the north, south
and middle districts of the Gaza Strip. Coming to work is difficult
for some of our employees where an incursion in their area of
residence keeps them stranded in their homes for several days,
praying that missile shrapnel does not tear through their home
or even injure a family member.
When the Israeli military force decided that they wanted to retreive
the kidnapped Israeli solder from somewhere in the Gaza Strip
the first thing they did was to attack the Gaza Strip with sonic
booms. F16 war planes fly at such high speeds and such low altitudes
breaking the sound barrier over the city. Windows are broken,
buildings are shaken and people are almost scared to death by
the unexpected thunder-like sound it makes. On top of all this
many people are suffering from ear-aches. Small children are not
only traumatised by all that is happening around them, they are
often shaken awake by the sound of explosions somewhere in the
city. Parents are too scared to send their children to summer
camps therefore fun summer actitivites for the children have been
put off till next year.
The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry is less than 2 minutes
walking distance from my home. Located in the middle of a highly
populated area, the attack was shocking taking place at 2am
in the morning. Of course the air raid completely destroyed
the Ministry. Many of the homes, supermarkets and other buildings
around it were ruined to a great degree; there were broken windows,
torn furniture, knocked down walls and doors. The dust was so
dense that it seemed like fog.
More than 16 days ago an F16 war plane attacked the Gaza station
power plant in Khan Younis located in the middle of the Gaza
Strip. More than 90% of the city lost its power supply and everyone
except people with power generators in their homes were kept
in complete darkness. (Power generators are also difficult to
maintain because there is a major shortage of benzine which
is used in working the generators.) No lighting, no boilers,
no refrigerators, no lifts for people living in apartments,
nothing. Part of the electricity is supplied to the Gaza Strip
from Israel which is now the only source of electricity for
the entire City.
A somewhat rigid electricity schedule has been made to supply
electricity to different areas at a time. Electricity supposedly
comes to neighbourhoods at 8 hour intervals, allowing families
to enjoy these 8 hours of eletricity, then it is cut off from
one area and another area is supplied. In many cases an air
raid will again terminate electricity from an area leaving homes
with no supply for 24 hours or more until a solution is made
to repair a bombed electricity transformer. In many cases food
in freezers starts to melt and a lot of it is thrown away. The
most difficult time of the day is night time, with no lighting
and only a torch or candle to help make your way around the
house.
Many homes have water shortages or no water at all since some
of the main water supplies have been bombed or electricity is
not available to pump water to the homes. It is a true shame
that so many people are living in such poor conditions and no
one has a solution near. Let's hope that soon this will all
end before more people are killed and everyone loses any hope
of a brighter tomorrow.
Best Regards
Ghada
Atfaluna Crafts Boutique
Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children
72 Philisteen Street - P. O. Box 1296
The Gaza Strip, The Palestinian Authority
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