PHR-Israel: “Large number of wounded Palestinians in danger of dying”
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- Written by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies
- Published: 23 January 2009 23 January 2009
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The statement came after 12-Arab Physicians from Israel managed enter the Gaza Strip to treat wounded Palestinians.
The doctors are slated to return to Israel by Sunday, Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported.
Haaretz added, that Dr. Aghbariah, an Arab physician from Um Al Fahim Arab town, stated on Friday that hospitals in Gaza are overloaded with patients and wounded residents, and added that patients who suffered serious injuries are being treated with basic methods as the hospitals lack medical supplies and equipment.
He added that the hospitals are not equipment to receive this large number of patients, and that this large number will lead to deaths among the patients and the wounded.
Dr. Aghbariah also said that the lack of continuous electricity and the high level of poverty in Gaza is increasing the suffering of the residents, and added that carcasses of dead animals in several areas and the increasing piles of trash is worsening the situation and increasing risks of contamination, Haaretz reported.
Israeli troops attack Nil'in weekly protest against the wall
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- Written by imemc.org/article/58605 imemc.org/article/58605
- Published: 23 January 2009 23 January 2009
- Hits: 2306 2306
Scores of Palestinians from the village of Nil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, On Friday, conducted a protest against the illegal Israeli wall being built on the village's land by the Israeli settlement and annexation project.
The people held Friday prayers near the village lands, then preceded to march to the land being confiscated by Israel.
Demonstrators carried banners calling for national unity and demanded an end to the Israeli occupation. As soon as locals and their international supporters arrived to the village where Israel is building the wall, soldiers showered them with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets, dozens suffered from gas inhalation.
Among those injured today was Arol Bruksa, who was vesting the village and took part in the weekly activity. Bruksa holds a Professor's degree in law, and is a former director of the Israeli human right group B'Tselem.
Local organizers said tha there were about 1000 people in the protests this week. They added that the demonstrators marched peacefully, and the soldiers attacked them without any provocation.
UN 'shocked' by Gaza destruction
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 23 January 2009 23 January 2009
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The UN's humanitarian chief has told the BBC the situation in Gaza after a three-week Israeli offensive against Hamas was worse than he anticipated.
Sir John Holmes, who visited Gaza on Thursday, said he was shocked by "the systematic nature of the destruction".
He said that the territory's economic activity had been set back by years.
UN workers have been given access to Gaza. On Friday, Israel lifted a ban on international aid agencies entering the Palestinian territory.
The ban had been in place since early November when tensions mounted between Israel and Hamas.
Staff from a number of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were allowed to cross into Gaza on Friday morning.
Michael Bailey from Oxfam said: "We are extremely relieved to be able to join our local colleagues inside Gaza and to be able to provide them with some support and relief from the relentless work they have been doing."
He described the task ahead as "enormous", with vast amounts of building materials alone needed immediately to help rebuild hospitals, mosques, public buildings and homes.
A key problem facing them, he said, is that the main crossing for the aid is 40km from where most of the relief is needed and is too small for the number of trucks that need to go through.
He also urged Israel to end its policy of restricting the amount of cash Gazans can have access to, saying people in Gaza had run up "phenomenal debt" over the last few weeks, trying to buy goods that are in increasingly short supply.
Future of Gaza
Mr Holmes, the top UN official responsible for emergency relief and humanitarian affairs, said the scale of destruction would have "disturbing" repercussions for the people of Gaza.
In an interview with the BBC's Today Programme, he described an industrial area where every building within a square kilometre had been levelled, by bulldozers and shells.
He told of broken pipes pumping out raw sewage onto the streets.
"I'm sure the Israelis would say that's because there were people there firing shells and rockets from there, or perhaps manufacturing them.
"But the nature of that destruction means that any kind of private economic activity in Gaza is set back by years or decades," he said.
"That's very disturbing for the future of Gaza, for the future of the people of Gaza, who are forced to fall back on the public sector and indeed on Hamas, who control the public sector."
A humanitarian appeal was launched by a number of UK charities on Thursday to raise money for aid relief in Gaza.
War crimes claims
Israeli PM Ehud Olmert is reported to have placed his justice minister in charge of defending Israel against any accusations of war crimes.
Daniel Friedman will lead an inter-ministerial team to co-ordinate a legal defence for Israeli civilians and the military, a government source was quoted by AFP as saying.
Richard Falk - the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories - has said there was "a prima facie case" that Israel gravely breached the Geneva Conventions during its 22-day campaign.
Israel responded by saying that Mr Falk's "bias against Israel was well known".
Israel said it launched its offensive to stop cross-border rocket attacks by militants in Gaza against its civilians.
The intense fighting ended on Sunday, with both sides declaring a ceasefire.
Palestinian medical officials said about 1,300 Palestinians were killed and thousands more were injured. Thirteen Israelis died during the conflict.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7846625.stm
Published: 2009/01/23 16:36:27 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Al Ma'ssara village protest the Israeli wall near Bethlehem
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- Written by IMEMC News - IMEMC News & Agencies IMEMC News - IMEMC News & Agencies
- Published: 23 January 2009 23 January 2009
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On Friday, scores of villagers from al-Ma'ssara, located near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, suported by international peace activists, protested the illegal Israeli wall being built on the village's lands.
The demonstrators called for Palestinian national unity, and demanded Israel to stop building the illegal wall on the villagers' lands.
The protest started at the local school and demonstrators marched to the location of the construction of the wall, where Israeli troops had formed a blockade, which stopped protestors from making it to the wall.
Speeches were delivered by local organizers. The protest dispersed without any clashes with the Israeli military, which doesn't happen very often lately.
Sharpeville 1960, Gaza 2009
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- Written by Dr. Haidar Eid, The Electronic Intifada Dr. Haidar Eid, The Electronic Intifada
- Published: 22 January 2009 22 January 2009
- Hits: 3038 3038
These are the desperate words of Subhi Samuni to Al-Jazeera's Gaza correspondent. Subhi lost 17 members of his immediate family, including the parents of his seven-year-old grandson. Shockingly, even as I write this article, corpses of the Samuni family are still being retrieved from under the rubble -- 15 days after the Israeli occupation forces shelled the two houses. The Israeli army locked 120 members of the family in one house for 12 hours before they shelled it.
Subhi's words echo the harsh reality of all Palestinians in Gaza: alone, abandoned, hunted down, brutalized, and, like Subhi's grandson, orphaned. Twenty-two days of savage butchery took the lives of more than 1,300 Palestinians, at least 85 percent of them civilians, including 434 children, 104 women, 16 medics, four journalists, five foreigners, and 105 elderly people.
What can one say to comfort a man who has the harrowing task of having to bury his entire family, including his wife, his sons, his daughters and his grandchildren? Tell us and we will relay your words to Uncle Subhi because his loss has made our words of condolences meaningless to our ears.
. . .