Welcome to Hell

The sky is full of black smoke, some from the rocket explosions, but even more, it sometimes seems, from the endless fires of tires and other debris that people keep stoking. The smoke confuses the heat-seeking unmanned drone surveillance planes, so setting fires in any relatively open area may draw fire and let a bomb explode somewhat harmlessly.
 

Justifiable Genocide? When asked if he would favor bombarding Palestinian cities and causing thousands of deaths among civilians, Creveld answered: "Yes, as much as is needed in order that there will not be a need to repeat it, so that they won't tail us during the time of the withdrawal. We have to strike so hard that there won't be a need for a second strike. Perhaps 5000, or 10,000 killed won't be enough and then we will have to kill more." Professor Martin Van Creveld, Israel military historian who believes war crimes can be forgiven if carried out quickly and successfully. --July 30, 2002, Yerushhalyim

All this smoke mixed with plaster and cement dust is a blessing and a curse. The stench of burning flesh and rotting blood masks to some extent the smell of raw sewage from broken sewer pipes and the tens of thousands of bodies unwashed for over a week now. Water to drink is a rare and precious commodity here—baths and showers have become impossible luxuries. Your eyes inevitably tear up from all the smoke—but then, that protects you a tiny bit from some of the more harrowing sights—recognizable body parts—a piece of a leg, an obvious part of a torso, and fingers—more scattered, individual, recognizable fingers than anyone should ever have to see. Volunteer crews are gathering these human fragments and bringing them to Jabalya's two hospitals but the ambulances cannot possibly keep up with the flood of newly dead and injured.

Funeral processions are everywhere, and "houses of mourning"—the tents bereaved families set up in which to receive their families and friends. In fact, though, every house here, those relatively intact and those partly or wholly destroyed by the IDF tanks and bulldozers, is a house of mourning.

And nothing protects you from the sounds—the tears and laments of the mothers and fathers, husbands, wives and children of the dead, the screams of the injured, the wail of ambulance sirens, sniper fire, the thud of tank shells and the too-frequent explosions as another Apache shell lands.
 

Pre-emptive Strike? Time is distorted here—hours feel like days, days like weeks or months. This is Jabalya Refugee Camp in the Northern Gaza Strip, one of the most crowded places on earth where 106,000 men, women, and children, the overwhelming majority of them unarmed civilians, have been under an all-out attack for over a week now. Israel's official position is that this carnage is a "response" to Palestinian militants' firing a homemade Qassam rockets into the Israeli town of Sderot last week, a rocket which killed two children. In fact, the first tanks rumbled into Jabalya some hours before the rocket attack on Sderot. We had all been watching with alarm as the Israeli forces multiplied in northern Gaza over the last few weeks—2000 fresh troops, over a hundred more tanks and bulldozers. It is only when I sit down to write up my notes made here in the last few days that the cruelty of the IDF name for this attack—"Days of Penitence"—hits me. They are not just slaughtering unarmed civilians, but language itself. "Penitence," as I understand it, is voluntary remorse for wrong-doing. Is this massacre supposed to induce remorse in its victims? Are they supposed to mourn the deaths of four or five Israeli soldiers, and two Israeli children and accept the death of more than 60 Palestinian civilians as some kind of justice? To those of us trapped in Jabalya, it seems like Days of Revenge. It is unquestionably collective punishment, and illegal under the Geneva Conventions. Perhaps we should not be surprised. Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced this attack will last "as long as necessary," that is, until there is "no further danger" from the Palestinian resistance's homemade rockets. Sharon, of course, engineered the massacres of Sabra and Shatila over twenty years ago. Now, he is doing much the same, but with vastly improved weaponry. Of course, the militant factions exist, and have been striking here and there during this last week but they are vastly outnumbered, not to mention out-gunned, by the Israelis. Hamas, on its side, has distributed leaflets in Gaza City vowing to continue the rocket attacks on the illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza and any Israeli towns and cities their home-made ordnance can reach as long as the Israeli incursions continue. Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue International protests have been muted, and stymied by United States support for Israel. The lone, feeble voice from the US State Department urged Israel to keep its "response" "proportional"—after, of course, the obligatory mantra, "Israel has a right to defend itself." A strongly worded resolution condemning the attack brought before the UN at the beginning of the week was defeated by the US veto. It is hard to maintain accurate casualty figures—the most recent count seems to be 80 Palestinians killed (20 of them militants claimed by Hamas) and over 200 injured. Unquestionably, by the time this is printed, the figures will be higher.  As of 10/13/2004: 137 Palestinians killed, hundreds wounded and more than 90 homes leveled. There is no refuge anywhere in Jabalya. The hospitals are chaotic, supplies are short and all medical personnel have been working around the clock for days now. I saw Abu Nedal, the father of Nedal Al Madhown a 14 year-old boy, struggle to maintain his composure as he asked the exhausted doctors and ambulance drivers, "Was my son killed? Has he been killed?" In fact, the boy was dead on arrival. The majority of the dead and injured have been teens and children, obvious non-combatants.

October 2004 in Gaza CLICK TO SEE LARGE   A man attempts to clean up the blood of a dead friend after Israel's shot him dead.   In less than ten hours, a massive IDF incursion on the night of Thursday the 14th of October 200 into dawn on Friday killed three civilians, left many more injured, destroyed completely or damaged into uselessness about 48 houses, and did serious damage to infrastructure. With that many houses uninhabitable, now hundreds of men, women, and children have become homeless. Rafah governorate has said about 300 citizens joined the thousands already homeless here in ten hours last night.   Jabalia is drowning in blood and is now under a new Israeli incursion that's targeting civilian buildings. There is a smell of death on every street you go. Life is getting worse in the North of Gaza Strip, soldiers are targeting everything related to human beings. Death toll reached 130 by October 15, 2004, with 30 of the dead children.   Under Occupation, becoming disabled as this man who's arm is shot off is often worse than death. Unemployment is nearly 60% and the Israeli military controls all aspects of life.  Palestinians have learned to live for today. By tomorrow, the Israeli government may destroy their home, business or livelihood, without reason and without recourse.   Palestinian children collecting what remains from the kindergarten that was demolished by the Israeli bulldozers and apaches shelling.  October 11, 2004 Ghaderr Mokeir, 11 years old, was shot at her desk when Israeli forces opened fire on her UN supported school. In September another girl from the same village was also shot as she sat at her school desk. That girl did not survive. On October 5th, Iman al Habs, a 13 -year -old schoolgirl, was shot as she walked to school carrying her schoolbooks.   All family members were injured: Soha Felfel 6 year old lies on her bed, a casualty of a tank shell fired at her family in the Jabalya Camp. Most of the dead from Jabalya Camp are children. Kamal Adwan, hospital director said: "The soldiers are deliberately targeting the upper parts of the children by rockets and tanks shell."

Shooting to Kill
I interviewed Dr. Mahmoud Al Asali, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who told me he was forced to assume the Israeli Army has been deliberately targeting civilians. He said most of those injured by gunfire were wounded in the upper parts of their bodies, indicating the Israeli sharpshooters must have orders to shoot to kill. Palestinian doctors have removed many flechettes from the dead and injured, indicating the IDF are using illegal fragmentation bombs. These release razor sharp flechettes as they explode. Dr. Al Asali says these illegal fragmentation devices greatly increase the number of deaths and the number and severity of injuries. The IDF has refused to comment on this.

The hospital staffs and ambulance crews are so overextended that they are using volunteers for the gruesome task of collecting, sorting, and attempting to match scattered human remains to return as much as possible to bereaved families. One of these medical workers, Ahmed Abu Saall 26, from Kamal Aswan Hospital, told me, "One enormous difficulty we face is that these powerful bombs can scatter the parts of a single victim over a wide area. It is quite possible parts of a person could end up in Al Awda hospital in the east of the camp, while other parts of the same person end up with us here on the western side." Sometimes shreds of clothing can help with the matching.
 

"The significance of the [Gaza] disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process." -Dov Weisglass Senior Adviser, Ariel Sharon October 15, 2004 Ha'aretz Friday Magazine

The Israeli Army has frequently shot at the medical teams and journalists. So far, two ambulance drivers have been injured, and a cameraman from Ramatan News Agency has been hurt. Of course, the ambulance crews and press all wear identifying gear. Israel has closed all borders into Gaza and has severely restricted all movement within the Gaza Strip. There are three major "zones" split off by sealed military checkpoints, but recent days have seen numerous new checkpoints, and roads closed by cement block and sand obstructions.

Red Cross' Difficulties

People cannot move between cities, not even ambulances bringing patients to hospitals. Moreover, the main Israel-Gaza crossing is closed, even to international NGOs, humanitarian relief groups, and foreign journalists.

Intense as the military attack has been, and continues to be, it is certainly not the only danger to the people here. Many families now have been without food and water for days. In Tal Al Zattar, the eastern part of Jabalya, I interviewed Umm Ramzi, an elderly lady who spoke to me through the gaping hole a tank shell had left in her house. "We have been appealing to the Red Cross, to save our lives and the lives of our children, but nobody has responded."

Most of the NGO workers and relief organizations have—logically enough—assumed they cannot get through the Israeli military lines that completely surround Jabalya, although they are well aware that the civilians need help. I managed to reach the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), spokesman Simon Schorno by phone and he told me: "I'm in my way to Gaza now. We have been talking to the IDF to get permission to bring food and water, but we were not able to get an OK for complete food distribution".
 

Concerning the absence of the Red Cross in the past few days when many families were in urgent need, Mr. Schorno said, "I feel terrible. We are trying to do our best to get food and water inside, but the damaged streets also delay us from reaching the people." A number of eyewitnesses among the camp residents told me the Israeli Army has commandeered several high buildings as sniper posts and basically shoot anything that moves. One of the most recent victims was Islam Dweidar, 14, who took a chance during an apparent lull in firing to buy bread for her mother. However, she was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper. In the Southern part of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Army has increased the number of tanks and bulldozers in all parts of Khan Younis and Rafah. There has been shelling every night, with many injured and killed. This morning, I spoke by phone to Dr. Ali Mussa, director of Abu Yousif Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah who announced that 13-year-old Eman al Hums had been killed by Israeli sniper fire. He said, "the child arrived at the hospital after being riddled by twenty bullets in different parts of her body, five of them in her head." Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that Al Hums was killed while on her way to school with two other schoolgirls. In early media reports, the IDF said she was planting a bomb; they later were forced to admit the accusation was false.

American Christians Increasingly say "No!" to continued funding of Israeli Apartheid. Dear Representative ---- I am in receipt of your letter indicating that you are "terribly distressed" by the action of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seeking a just and peaceful resolution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.  I very much regret your disappointment, but in all candor, must also communicate with you that I am terribly distressed in the failure of the U.S. Congress to seek a peaceful resolution to this conflict that would both protect the right of Israel to live in peace with secure borders and the rights of the Palestinians to statehood and an end of the occupation of their territory.  Perhaps if the U.S. Congress had been more forthright in seeking such a just solution for Israel and Palestine, it would not have been necessary for our General Assembly to take this further action to achieve our long term commitment for peace and well being for both Israelis and Palestinians.  Let me give you a bit of background on the stand of our church.  Read Full Letter From Clifton Kirkpatrick, Slated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to the 14 Congressmen protesting the Church's divestment. Anglican delegation to recommend divestment US Episcopal Church Considering Divestment   Jewish American Speaks Out Against the Genocide

These current attacks are now far worse than the so-called "Operation Rainbow" of last May, which killed 40 in Rafah and prompted an international outcry. Now, the silence from America, in particular, seems to condone this turning the Gaza Strip into a killing field. Sharon has picked his moment well, when America is preoccupied with its presidential campaign and its invasion of Iraq, to decimate the children of Gaza. How many more must die before the world speaks out?
 

Mohammed Omer is a 21 year old college student and journalist living in Rafah, Gaza Strip and regular contributor to Couples Company.   He reports on the situations occurring in his city and documents them on his website, Rafah Today.  Like most Palestinians, Mohammed lost his seventeen year old brother last year to Israeli snipers.  He has devoted his life to getting the word out about the situation in Palestine and his dream is to live free. From the day he was born through today, he has always lived under apartheid.