Madison-Rafah Journal

Dear Members and Friends of MRSCP,

If you haven't watched the news today, last night unknown parties blew at least seven holes in the massive Israeli wall between Rafah and the Egyptian border and today the UN estimates that up to 350,000 Gazans have been streaming back and forth across the border to Egypt to buy food, medicine, fuel, cement, cigarettes, and every imaginable thing that has been blockaded by Israel. (Of course, this does not restore electricity or water service or power to hospitals as Israel retains tight restrictions on diesel fuel entering the strip.)

For video footage, click here.

For pictures, click here: Gaza border break

This amazing event is taking place in the context of a week of protests against the seige of Gaza all over the world…just yesterday there were angry and desperate protests by 3000 women in Rafah at the border, some succeeded in crossing into Egypt but were detained and sent back after clashing with Egyptian police that injured many. It is reported also that a shipment of emergency aid from Egypt had just been denied entry into Gaza through the Israeli-controlled Keren Shalom crossing. So for some reason, Egypt has decided not to intervene for the time being. There are also protests in Egypt in support of the seige break. It is unclear how long the border will remain open.

The US, true to form, has just blocked a UN security council resolution condemning the Israeli seige of Gaza.

Below are links to some good coverage of these events. You can see some of it on CNN but the best source here is probably Al Jazeera English if you have access to that. I've also put at the end a couple of items that graphically explain the horrible conditions that are behind this dramatic "prison break".

We will try to send out more information shortly on what you can do to help protest the seige of Gaza. Be watching the news this Friday night and Saturday, as Gush Shalom and a long list of Israeli peace groups are planning a relief and protest convoy to the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza, where they hope to be met by Palestinians demonstrating on the other side.

Barb O.

Thousands cross Rafah borders; Hamas says it's the decision of the people
Thousands of Palestinians residents of the Gaza strip managed to cross into Egypt in the early hours of Wednesday after the Palestinian resistance destroyed part of the Wall located on the southern Gaza Egypt borders.
http://www.imemc.org/article/52420

UN: Some 350,000 Gazans stream into Egypt as Palestinians blast border wall
Some 350,000 Palestinians poured out of Gaza and into Egypt early Wednesday, the United Nations said, after masked gunmen blew dozens of holes in the wall delineating the border.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/947226.html

Gazans knock down border, flee to Egypt
RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Tens of thousands of Palestinians on foot and on donkey carts poured into Egypt from Gaza Wednesday after masked gunmen used land mines to blast down a seven-mile barrier dividing the border town of Rafah.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians

AND FOR BACKGROUND ON THE PRISON BREAK:

Stench wafts through Gaza as sewage system falters
Yussef Al-Jayar jolted awake this week when gallons of raw sewage spewed out of the pumping station next door and started to seep under his door and into his mattress. "We had to grab buckets and get the neighbours to help bail us out," the 74-year-old Palestinian said at his house in Gaza City, pointing to a mark about a metre above the floor where the rancid water reached. "It stank."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2268055.htm

Note: to see pictures of this catastrophe, click here.

Gaza siege intensified after collapse of natural gas deal
Israel has dramatically intensified its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, stepping up air strikes and shelling of the beleaguered coastal strip. UN officials and human rights advocates warn that Gazans now face a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented magnitude with widespread disease and famine rapidly becoming reality as electricity generation, water supply, sewage treatment, food supplies and medical services grind to a halt as a consequence of the ever tighter Israeli blockade.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9245.shtml

'The cold keeps the food from going bad'
Gaza Strip residents yesterday moved from worrying about the electricity cuts of the previous 40 hours to worrying about a water shortage. The municipality needs electricity to bring water to homes and the houses need it to pump water to the roof tanks. Hence 40 percent of Gaza Strip homes - 600,000 people - had no running water yesterday, the Palestinian water authority said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/946855.html

After a one day respite on Tuesday, Israel resumes fuel blockade of Gaza strip
Israeli sources announced on Wednesday that the Israeli army had stopped all fuel and food supplies shipments from interring the Gaza strip on Wednesday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/52430

Taken from: Today in Palestine
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Always posted on: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi/