Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 22:52:49 +0200
From: Jennifer Loewenstein
Subject: Report from Rafah
To: Barb Olson
Dear Barb,
Here is a brief report on today's events. I have so much to write and so little time tonight on the computer. I've been taking good notes though and have met many people. It's just such a shame I'm here alone -- there is clearly a limit on what I have been able to do and there is SO MUCH we have to accomplish. It was so important that others besides myself get here and meet people -- and witness the war crimes here. I think one of the biggest tasks now is to figure out how the hell to get a delegation here in the future. I'm afraid the Gaza Strip will be even more sealed off than it is now, if that's possible.
Anyway, last night rather late I went to the ISM office in Rafah and met with Laura Gordon. She is so young and yet so dedicated. She really is impressive and has learned the colloquial Arabic here fantastically. I ended up sleeping at the ISM office because I didn't want to wake up the Zoroub family by coming back so late. I met a lot of the ISM members and sympathizers there. We planned the demonstration for today -- a mock funeral for Tom Hurndall.
This morning a busload of children from the Palestinian "children's parliament" met in front of the ISM office and we all went carrying signs and banners to the place where Hurndall was shot. It was a small demonstration (relatively speaking) but there were some media people and both Laura and I gave statements in front of cameras on why it was important to commemorate Tom's life and death. It was chilling to be in the place where he was killed -- it is one of the most dangerous areas in all Rafah: I could feel the eyes of the soldiers in their watch-tower on us and felt unusually exposed and vulnerable. I took pictures of children holding signs and wearing the words "Palestinians and Internationals are Targets for the Israeli Army". One of the photographs is of two young girls standing with these signs right by the wall with the mark of the bullet that killed Hurndall. People were chanting in Arabic, "Our Spirit and Blood will be with the Martyrs".
After this demonstration, the mayor's assistant, Talal, took me to meet the family of a martyr. I was accompanied by Taghridi and Su'ad, two women working in the municipality here. Taghridi works in an organization to help orphans and was enthusiastic about having us do family or child sponsorship programs. I have her contact information. Su'ad runs a women's organization and said they have many people who do crafts there but no market for them. So of course I got her contact information as well. It is possible to FedEx and DHL items to Gaza and Rafah and back so I'm hoping we can get crafts directly from them in the future and send them the proceeds.
After meeting the martyr's family (mother and children) we toured the most destroyed areas of Rafah - I now have a zillion more photographs of demolished homes and businesses. There are entire areas of Rafah that look just like the Jenin refugee camp after it was obliterated: moonscapes of rubble. I was so sorry, yet again, that George and Cisco did not get in to see this. The extent of the destruction and subsequent disruption of any semblance of normal life for the vast majority of people here is difficult to put into words. One does indeed feel like a walking human target almost everywhere one goes. There is absolutely no way to avoid being at risk to one's life because just about anywhere you go you are surrounded by IDF forces who shoot indiscriminately into buildings and at civilians whenever and wherever they want and from great distances. You just can't imagine how far the bullets can fly into the crowded city streets and neighborhoods. Su'ad, the woman I wrote about above, compared this situation to the Greek myth of Medusa. Medusa is a hideous monster with snakes for hair and if you look at her, you turn to stone. Su'ad said that the Israelis are like Medusa - you can be sitting in your living room doing nothing at all when Medusa comes to the window. You look up and suddenly you are dead.
I visited the Al-Amal Rehabilitation Center today, a Center with multiple purposes (for children and adults, emergency housing and food services, vocational training, center for the handicapped, and more) run by a man named Darwish Abu Sharkh. I was deeply impressed by him -- someone I would like very much to work with in the future. I took extensive notes on the programs he has and toured his building. Only the ground floor is now in use because the upstairs floors are too vulnerable to shooting. In October during the massive incursions the IDF commandeered this building. Inside every door has been broken and every window smashed. There were children's classrooms upstairs that are filled with ruined toys as well. What kind of humans do this???
Darwish showed us where, just yesterday while he was sitting in his office, a bullet was fired from across the way into the wall above him. Suffice to say that bullet marks are the most common decoration on all the city's buildings...
We had lunch at a restaurant after this visit and talked about the MRSCP and what we can do. I feel overwhelmed at the enormity of our potential task and hope and pray people don't give up on us because of the difficulties involved. The obstacles are enormous and I know that people will feel our efforts are futile: after all it is quite clear that the Israelis would like it to be impossible to work with places like Rafah -- and they will do everything they can to make it frustrating as hell. If this trip taught me anything, it's this. Just the time and effort it took to get here was unbelievable. The mayor says that every day here is an "emergency situation" -- no normalcy whatsoever, no routine, no way of knowing whether you'll be alive at the end of the day.
Now I'm going to go to sleep. There's more to write but I'm too tired. There is heavy shooting just to the south of me -- last night as well it was difficult to fall asleep because of the war outside. Can you imagine what this does to the children here?
Greetings to everyone there in Madison,
Jennifer