Madison Rafah Journal

Hello there!

Like you and all the people in Gaza, I am really delighted with the breaking of the border fences. That was the only and best way possible to break the Israeli cordon. Well, I did not go shopping and I will buy my needs from the merchants who bring in large quantities of everything needed. There are some logistic problems on the road that oblige people sometimes to jump over walls or walk in the fields. Immediately after the checkpoint, one has to walk for a long distance before he gets to a park where commuter cars are permitted on the Egyptian side. This part is unseen by the media. The end purpose is breaking the wall and getting life needs. Let me tell you that after President Mubarak’s short statement to Al Jazeera the situation between Rafah and el-Arish improved and cars were allowed to travel freely on the official roads. Anyway, and by all means, what happened was a real relief for millions of people in Gaza and Sinai. All the Palestinians stranded on the border, Rafah and el-Arish arrived home in Gaza after months of the inhumane conditions they passed through.

The Egyptian markets are cheaper than ours and the Egyptian pound is cheaper than the Israeli shekel. Large quantities of medicine, foodstuffs, olive oil, new and used cars, spare parts, cement, iron bars. In short, they brought everything that you may imagine to be available on the Egyptian market. This popular movement also refreshed the el-Arish market, as that market was originally limited, weak and isolated, and it usually sells only to Sinai bedouins and the population of el-Arish city itself. Merchants and small business people expressed their joy because of the arrival of the Palestinians and wished it to last as long as possible. These are heydays for el-Arish business as well as for the Palestinian business people.

Like you I watched Aljazeera English in all its reports from Rafah. I was busy writing a report on the situation of Gaza agriculture and farmers’ living conditions after the latest incursions. The report was written in English for a local NGO in Gaza.

I am sorry that I was unable to write any messages in the last few days! We had no electric power to operate the computer or any other device that needs electric power, the nerve of life. I do not think that there is a chance for you to provide support but you can be an advocate for our cause if you are convinced that we are right. Life in this remote part of the world is totally unlike your in too many ways. Politics crosses all domains of life in a serious manner. Everything is strongly connected to politics! (Read on …)

Just weeks after the Annapolis parade, Bush on tour to Israel has given carte blanche to Olmert for whatever level of violence against Palestinians he pleases

Saleh Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly, 17 – 23 January 2008

Although the leader of the rightist opposition in Israel, Benyamin Netanyahu, is known for his coldness and disinclination towards praising others, he departed from character when he gave his impression of his meeting with US President George W Bush at dawn last Thursday in Jerusalem. He expressed surprise over Bush’s insistence on putting an end to the “threat” represented by the Iranian nuclear programme — that Israeli strategists say threatens Israel in particular — as well as Bush’s insistence that Israel must strike the Palestinian resistance and “break its back”. “I came out of that meeting more reassured towards Bush’s determination to end the Iranian threat, and comfortable with his pledge to provide a cover for any military activity Israel might undertake in Gaza. If matters were left to this president, he would not allow any Palestinian terrorist to remain alive,” he told Hebrew- language Israeli radio Thursday morning.

Following meetings between Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the two announced harmonious positions on Iran’s nuclear programme. Yediot Aharonot, the most widely circulated Israeli newspaper, revealed that Bush agreed during his meeting with Olmert to coordinate with Israel in directing a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. All Israeli officials who met with Bush stated that he indisputably affirmed that there is no importance to a report issued recently by American domestic intelligence and stating that Iran halted development of its nuclear programme for military purposes in 2003.

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s deputy defence minister and officially charged with facing strategic threats, considered the content of Bush’s speech given in the United Arab Emirates Sunday and directed at the Iranian people as evidence that the American administration has “completely adopted the Israeli conception” of confronting the “Iranian threat and other sources of threat in the region, led by Hizbullah and Hamas.” With regard to American authorisation for Israel to do as it sees fit with regard to striking the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, this was considered by Israel the most important achievement of Bush’s visit.

Hebrew-language Israeli television noted that Olmert was surprised by the hasty agreement of Bush to Israel waging a wide-scale military campaign against the Gaza Strip though he was informed that it would affect hundreds and even thousands of Palestinian civilians. Those close to Olmert say they breathed a sigh of relief when it became clear that there was no longer any need for the heads of Israeli security and intelligence agencies to explain to Bush the reasons behind waging a wide-scale campaign against Gaza. While Bush asked Olmert to exert efforts to avoid affecting civilians, he departed having placed in Olmert’s hands permission to do whatever he pleases, with all that means with regard to providing American diplomatic cover when Israel puts its plan into execution phase. (Read on …)

7 pm at Escape Java Joint, 916 Williamson Street, Madison

Occupation 101 clip

January 27: The Occupation Understood
“Occupation 101″ (2006)
As 2008 begins — anniversary year of the 1948 “Al Nakba” — the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project presents a winter film series. Join us this Sunday evening, January 27, for a showing of the new film “Occupation 101.” Made at considerable personal sacrifice by two brothers, Sufyan and Abdallah Omeish, this 60-minute 2006 film has won at least eight major film festival awards. It provides an excellent, comprehensive historical summary and analysis of the Israeli occupation. Discussion will follow: What is the nature of the occupation? What does it mean for current proposed “one-state solutions”? Can there be an end to the Israeli occupation? Is real peace possible? What can we, in Madison and the U.S, do to work for peace in this part of the Middle East?

February 10: The Wall — Final Borders of Apartheid?
“The Israeli Wall in Palestinian Lands” (2004)
“Building the Wall at Abu Dis” (2006)
“Endless Checkpoints” (2006)
These three shorter films will analyze the wall, chronicle its construction at an important point in East Jerusalem, and provide visual testimony on the impact of the checkpoints on Palestinian life.
(Read on …)

Photo Credit: Rima Merriman, The Electronic Intifada, 29 May 2005

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Haaretz Editorial, 10 Jan 2008

The scene shown Tuesday night on television was one of the most harsh and shameful seen here in recent times: a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, Ahmed Samut from Khan Yunis, and a nine-and-a-half-year-old girl, Sausan Jaafari, of Rafah, as they entered the Erez crossing alone, after being torn from the arms of their weeping parents.

The two children have heart conditions and need urgent surgery to save their lives. Wolfson Medical Center in Holon agreed to care for them, as part of their Save a Child’s Heart program that saves the lives of children around the world.

The hospital is to be praised for the project. The editors at Channel 10 News and reporter Shlomi Eldar are also to be praised. Israel and its security establishment, however, deserve a mark of disgrace. (Read on …)

Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center, January 11, 2008

A delegation of four Israeli members of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel), including three doctors and PHR-Israel’s Clinic Manager, entered Gaza Wednesday as part of an emergency medical caravan.

In addition, $40,000 worth of donated medical supplies were brought by the delegation to assist the beleaguered Palestinian medical sector in the Gaza Strip.

According to PHR-Israel, the objectives of the convoy are provision of limited medical aid, collection of information regarding the health impacts of the isolation of Gaza by Israel and international policy-makers, and expression of solidarity with Palestinian civilians and medical professionals under siege.

The Israeli government has maintained a total siege of the Gaza Strip since the democratically-elected Hamas party took power in June 2007. Sixty-one Palestinian patients have died due to being denied access to needed medical care by Israeli forces in that time period.

The Physicians for Human Rights declared their intention to give a message to U.S. President George W. Bush as he visits the region this week, to show him that the Israeli siege on Gaza is severely impacting the ability of Palestinian hospitals to provide medical care. Electricity cut-offs, prevention of imports of medical equipment, and closure of borders preventing patients from receiving needed treatment abroad are all factors that have had a detrimental, and often deadly, impact on the Palestinian medical sector in Gaza. (Read on …)

According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)’s Weekly Report, during the week of January 3rd – 9th, 2008, 22 Palestinians were killed and 117 injured by the Israeli military.

Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center, January 11, 2008

Israeli forces conducted 33 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and 4 into the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces arrested 93 Palestinian civilians, including 14 children. In addition, troops razed 259 dunums of agricultural land and demolished 2 houses in the Gaza Strip. 20 dunums of land in the Jordan Valley were also razed. One Palestinian woman gave birth at an Israeli checkpoint this week, and eight Palestinians were abducted at checkpoints, including three children.

Throughout the reporting period, Israeli forces have continued to impose a total siege on the Palestinian territories, and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world and a humanitarian crisis has emerged.

Israeli attacks in the West Bank: (Read on …)