Madison Rafah Journal

Letters from Gaza

Said Abdelwahed, PhD

For weeks, my colleagues and students as well as myself, have been puffing and puffing on the current miserable situation in the Gaza Strip, and accordingly, on the future of the place and the people alike! Hence, I found myself starting this article normally reflecting on what has been taking place in this part of the world. I thought of where to commence my article. Shall I start with the socio-political situation or with the politico-social one? Nevertheless, I remained undecided as I realized that the situation in Gaza is sometimes a mixture of the two and in other times, the two situations alternate in a dramatic manner!

Words fall short from describing the situation in Gaza. However, I may describe it as truly rebellious, disorderly, uncontrollable, tumultuous, unmanageable, riotous, confused, irrepressible, uncontainable, angry, anxious, incongruous, frantic, absurd, radical and revolutionary all in one. Thus, it is no wonder that Gazans have something and its opposite simultaneously. By all means, lives a situation of bread and blood. It’s a situation of identity and dignity too.

Luckily, this unique tableau enjoys coverage in news bulletins of some of the Arab satellite channels. Sometimes, when Israel feels hurt from Gaza, in one way or another, Western media channels then compete to defend Israel, which leads to the repeated news and screening of pictures! Their news and pictures paint the Palestinians as criminals and the Israelis as victims! Anyways, the case of Gaza keeps the whole situation controversial in the world mass media regardless of their political slants and objectives!

Its is clear to everyone concerned with world politics and economics that Gazans’ daily life needs and services such as health, education, and agriculture to name a few are totally threatened. According to bakers, wheat, and flour merchants, it is believed that Gaza bakeries may not remain open and baking for more than one week. Nothing is being allowed to enter into Gaza, even the mundane such as stationary and paper of all kinds, colors and sizes. Not even shoes! Israel has denied shoes from being shipped to Gaza from anywhere in the world, even from local production facilities in Hebron, West Bank! Shoemakers, who repair old shoes, have been franticly busy with work maintaining shoes and school bags, etc. They attempt to meet the needs of one and a half million with only 15 sewing machines in service. If the situation continues as it is, people will walk barefoot! Can you imagine walking barefoot? Is this what the world is waiting for? I cannot understand!

Daily life needs are further complicated by the limited municipal services provided due to the collective punishment of all Gaza Palestinians by Israel (Approx. 1.5 million people). Municipal services are also weak due to poor facilities and logistics. Pumps and waste water treatment plants have stopped due to the fuel problem. There was no rubbish collection in Gaza city for almost a week because of the fuel situation. Many of the municipality trucks and vehicles need spare parts and maintenance, which results in heaps of solid waste accumulating on streets corners. The scenery is awfully dirty and oozes a dreadful smell. This situation again constitutes other health and psychological considerations. In the health sector, I would like to give one example of Al-Aqsa hospital, which is located in the mid-area of the Gaza Strip. It’s a small medical facility with little and poor resources that serves a population of 300,000 people in all medical fields! It possesses one bed for each 3000 people! Inadequate space is further complicated by poor logistics and lack of medicine and requirements for small surgeries, etc. Summer is around the corner and it’s the time for mosquitoes and other harmful insects! All emergency programs have failed so far in overcoming, or even going around this inhumane situation. In the meantime, in Gaza, I cannot see a civil society or an effective role by local civil society organizations, as they have been marginalized in favor of political parties! However, thanks are due to UNRWA and other relief organizations and its various services as without it, Gaza people could have suffered a totally hellish life. (Read on …)

AFP, 28 Apr 2008

BEIT HANUN, Gaza Strip (AFP) — Four children, aged one to five, and their mother were among seven people killed by Israeli forces in Gaza Monday as Palestinian factions headed to Egypt for talks on a possible truce.

The four siblings — aged one, three, four and five — were killed when a missile hit their home in the town of Beit Hanun, and their mother died later of her wounds, doctors at the Kamal Radwan hospital said.

“I left the house just moments before to look for one of my children. I heard the sound of the explosion,” said their 70-year-old father Ahmed Abu Maateq.

“They had been eating breakfast and my wife had been holding our youngest child in her hands,” he said as he looked down at the blood, flesh and spilled milk splashed across the wreckage.

His wife and six children were in the courtyard in their pyjamas when the missile slammed into the house, he said. The remaining two children were hospitalised. (Read on …)

Sunday, May 18
6-8 pm
King of Falafel Restaurant, 453 W. Gilman Street, Madison

Playgrounds for Palestine-Madison invites you to enjoy a tempting buffet of Middle Eastern delicacies and learn about the children of Jenin Refugee Camp for whom we are raising funds to build a playground. We will also have fair trade olive oil and olive oil soap for sale.

$20 for adults, $10 for children 6 – 10, and kids 5 and under free!

Space is limited — email pfpmadison at gmail.com to reserve your place, and bring along family and friends for a fun and delicious evening!

Seventh Annual Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine

Sunday, May 18
Program 1 pm, walk 2 pm
Oak Park, IIllinois

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel and of the Palestinian Nakba (“Catastrophe”), join with Muslims, Jews, Christians, and secularists in this inspiring and powerful call for peace and justice for both Palestinians and Israelis.

Sponsor: Committee for a Just Peace for Israel and Palestine. For details contact
JUSTPEACE1 (at) AOL.COM
312/427-2533X18
WWW.CJPIP.ORG

Download event flyer (English)

Download event flyer (Arabic)

To celebrate 60 years of independence, Israel is planning a large-scale birthday bash with events taking place in many different countries around the world. In Jerusalem, a 3-day conference, under the title “Facing Tomorrow” is planned from May 13 – 15, to which many world leaders, such as U.S. President Bush, and French President Sarkozy, and celebrities such as Barbara Streisand and Steven Spielberg have been invited and plan to attend.

It is wrong to celebrate and we need to do something BIG to make the world, and those gathered to celebrate Israel, see and hear us. We* have this idea and we need your help to make it happen! On May 15, we will launch 21,915 (365 days x 60 years) black balloons over the skies of Jerusalem. We aim to turn the skies over Israel’s celebrations black to let people know that there is another side of the story, a side of heartache, suffering and dispossession. At the same time, each balloon will carry a letter from a Palestinian child expressing his/her hope for the future, to let the world know that we believe in and dream of justice.

Please help us make this happen by buying a balloon! $1.00 will help us cover the cost of 3 balloons. Please buy 3, 6, or 9 balloons (or more!) and be part of our action. Donation information below. (Read on …)

Wednesday, May 14
7:00 pm
First United Methodist Church
203 Wisconsin Ave, Madison

Archbishop Elias Chacour will give a talk entitled “What are the Things that Make for Peace? Building Peace in the Midst of the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict”.

A Palestinian citizen of Israel, Archbishop Chacour is leader of the Melkite Catholic Church of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and the Galilee. He is a 3-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize and the author of two books, Blood Brothers and We Belong to the Land: The Story of a Palestinian Israeli who Lives for Peace and Reconciliation. Both books will be available for signing at the talk. Father Chacour is known for building high-quality schools in the Galilean village of Ibillin, where the students and faculty include Christians, Muslims, Jews and Druze. More than 50% of the 3000 students are girls. You can learn more about the schools at www.mechs.org.

Sponsored by Pilgrims of Ibillin, an American nonprofit which supports several “Peace-Building” efforts in the Holy Land. For more information, contact Joan Deming at 608-241-9281 or cell 608-235-1046, or visit www.pilgrimsofibillin.org.

“The Relevance of the Abrahamic Traditions to an increasingly ‘Spiritual not Religious’ American Society”

Thursday May 8
7:30 PM
Pres House Chapel
UW-Madison Library Mall

Ingrid Mattson will be giving a Plenary Address at the 3rd Annual Conference of the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions (LISAR). Professor Mattson is the current president of the 100,000-strong Islamic Society of North America.

Carol K. Harrison

No Time to Celebrate: Protest an Israeli Independence Day Event

Thursday, May 8
10 am – 1 pm
Library Mall, UW-Madison

This May Israel will mark 60 years of statehood with celebrations. Here in Madison the University Hillel Foundation plans a public party with a “moon bounce”, “Bedouin tents” and a birthday cake on Library Mall. Meanwhile Palestinians around the world will mark 60 years since the Nakba (“Catastrophe”) of 1948, when over 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed and 800,000 Palestinian people were made refugees to create a Jewish state in a land where the majority was not Jewish.

In response to calls from Palestinian civil society and progressive Jewish groups, a local coalition invites you to join a NO TIME TO CELEBRATE rally commemorating 60 years of resistance to Palestinian dispossession, expulsion, and repression.

Meet at the Library Mall beginning at 10 am on Thursday; come between 11:30 – 12:30 if you can only come for a while. Look for our large banners. The demonstration will be educational rather than confrontational.

Please wear black and bring or wear any visible symbols of Palestine such as flags, Kuffiyehs, or scarves. We’ll have some large banners and 60 black balloons representing the 60 black years for Palestinians since 1948. We will also have smaller signs, or you can bring your own on the theme “No Time to Celebrate.” We will need help distributing leaflets (No Reason to Celebrate Flyer and Villages Destroyed – List and Map).

The protest is sponsored by Madison Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, Madison Chapter of Playgrounds for Palestine, University of Wisconsin Students for Justice in Palestine, Madison Area Peace Coalition, and Peregrine Forum. (Read on …)