Madison-Rafah Journal

The number of patients who have died in the Gaza Strip due to the year-long Israeli siege has reached 240, as one more patient dies today

Rula Shahwan, IMEMC News, 22 August 2008

File 2008

Medical sources reported the death of a 2-year-old infant as his parents were banned from leaving the Gaza strip to seek the needed medical treatment for their child.

Hundreds of patients in Gaza are liable to die if they do no get immediate life-saving treatment. As the siege continues there remains a serious shortage of medical supplies available.

Israel has blocked the Gaza Strip tight since Hamas won the elections in January 2006, yet some Palestinian patients and students were allowed to move between Gaza Strip and Egypt through the Rafah terminal, the only passage for Gazans to the outside world.

(Read on …)

Atfaluna Society Services and Programs in Gaza, Palestine:

The Atfaluna School for Deaf Children: Deaf academic education is offered to 270 children at pre-school, kindergarten, primary, and middle school levels. The primary teaching mode in the Atfaluna School is Palestinian Sign Language. The Atfaluna School curriculum includes subjects of particular importance to deaf children in addition to Arabic, English, Geography, Mathematics, Technology, Civics, and Science. The Atfaluna School is certified by the Ministry of Education.

Audiology Clinic: The ASDC Audiology Clinic is open to the general public and is staffed by two audiologists who conduct diagnostic evaluations and hearing aid fittings for infants, children, and adults. A social worker is attached to the Clinic to assist needy clients to access all their audiological needs. A hearing aid bank, hearing aid repair unit, and earmold-making workshop are all located on premises in order to provide a comprehensive service for clients.

Speech-Language Pathology Clinic: This is an outpatient clinic staff by two speech-language therapists. The clinic serves both children who are students at the ASDC School for Deaf Children as well as children and adults in the community who are in need of speech-language pathology for any number of reasons.

Community Screening and Awareness: Four times annually, audiologists conduct free hearing screening programs in four geographical locations in the Gaza Strip. Approximately 3,000 persons are screened annually in these programs which are well-advertised through local media. Persons failing screening tests are referred to the Audiology Clinic for diagnostic evaluation or are referred to medical service providers if indicated. The Community Screening and Awareness Program staff also provide free-of-charge screening at kindergartens, schools, and institutions upon request. Informal awareness and prevention lectures are conducted during screening days and printed literature is distributed.

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O-LIVE! O-LIVE! Silent art auction and other events to benefit Augusta Victoria Hospital, Jerusalem.

Location: St. Stephens Lutheran Church, 5700 Pleasant Hill Rd., Monona, WI. For info call: Church office: 608-222-1241 or
Robin: 608-221-0809

Sunday, April 6, 7 pm: Movie The Iron Wall by Mohammad Alatar.
Refreshments and open discussion to follow. Donations accepted for the hospital benefit. For a review of the movie see: palestineonlinestore.com.

Sunday, April 13
6:30 pm: Live music and gathering
7 pm: Movie Occupation 101
Refreshments and open discussion will follow the movie. Donations toward Augusta Victoria Hospital will be accepted. For a review of the film see: palestineonlinestore.com.

Sunday, April 20
5:30 – 6 pm Monthly Prayer Vigil for Peace in the Middle East
6 – 7:30 pm Soup for schools dinner and lecture.
Dr. Jim Bailey professor emeritus Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa will give a talk entitled: “Barriers to peace in the Middle East.” Soup and salad provided, donations accepted.

Sunday, April 27 6–8 pm: O-Live! O-Live! Closing reception
Live music, great treats, and great coffee!Join us for the final viewing of the silent art auction benefiting Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH). Reception begins at 6 pm and at 8 pm bidding will end and high bidders can pay and leave with their new art
work. If not in attendance, winning bidders will be notified and can pay and pick up their artwork from the church during regular church hours. 100% of proceeds from the auction benefit AVH.

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The Rebuilding Alliance Board and team ask your help to purchase food and medicine for Gaza

Please Donate Now

As I write, the Nasrallah family (the family Rachel Corrie sought to protect form the IDF bulldozer that threatened them and their Rafah home) is arranging to bring a first truckload of food and medicine through the Egyptian checkpoints into Rafah Gaza, for distribution to Rafah's Nongovernmental Organizations. Our partners at the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) are working with them to purchase a specific list of medicines.

Will you help us raise $5000 for food and medical supplies? Khaled Nasrallah, who many of you met when he and his wife and daughter joined Cindy and Craig Corrie on their U.S. speaking tour, is coordinating logistics. Husam El Nounou and the medical team at GCMHP have given them a list of the medicines and supplies they need.

Khaled and Husam say the situation is very difficult with the border likely to close in a couple of days. Palestinians can go no further in Egypt than Al Arish, and are barricaded from entering the rest of the country. Prices in Egypt have skyrocketed as stores sold-out. In the meantime, the Nasrallahs (who parents still live in Egypt) are drawing upon their friends and family in Alexandria to cross through the Egyptian checkpoints with food and medicine.

Anything you can give would be sincerely appreciated. All funds will go for purchase of food and medicine. Please Donate Now

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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.

The parents of the two children, both fathers and mothers, were not permitted by the Israel Defense Forces' coordination and liaison administration to accompany their children to the fateful surgery. They are "denied entry" to Israel. The fact that Sausan's parents had accompanied her to previous operations at Wolfson did not change the evil decree. It is indeed a decree of unparalleled evil. Only the elderly uncle of one of the children was allowed to go with them.

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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 …)