Gaza: after 45 years of occupation

Imagine living your entire life in an area of 146 square miles—a place that would barely accommodate a marathon run from one end to the other, and an average person could walk across in an hour.  Now imagine sharing that space with 1.5 million people whose average income is a little over a dollar a day.  By comparison, the city of Los Angeles city limits cover over 469 square miles. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_square_miles_does_Los_Angeles_cover

Now that you are in your imaginary over-crowded poverty-stricken ghetto, add the constant violence.  The Israeli assault, Operation Cast Lead (Dec 2008-Jan 2009) showed a spectacle of exploding bombs dropped from F-15s and Apache helicopters, catching the attention of the international media for a brief time.  Smaller attacks continue, unremarked by media attention.
Death by military violence is not the only danger in Gaza.  Infrastructure supplying electricity, water, sewer services never recovered from the destruction of the attack, partly due to the continued blockade that restricts fuel and electricity and combines an embargo on agricultural exports and imports of building materials, medicines, medical devices and equipment. http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/98B5A22F069CF2958525772600740AB5

The World Health Orga­ni­za­tion reports that there is a health and envi­ron­men­tal disaster in the Gaza Strip due to the destruc­tion of infra­struc­ture and sewage systems: the pathogen content of drinking-water samples is 16% (the universal water safety norm rec­om­mended by inter­na­tional standards is 1%). … It has been estimated that the health status of nearly 40% of those suffering from chronic diseases has dete­ri­o­rated as a result of the reduction in health-care services.

One international effort to supply precious cargo of penicillin and baby formula fail after repeated efforts to get the supplies into Gaza were thwarted.  http://www.newsletter.co.uk/community/letters/gaza-siege-is-heartbreaking-and-corrupt-1-3929843

The blockade is a major factor in the pervasive poverty.  Without the ability to leave Gaza, men who once supported their families by working in other areas can no longer find jobs.  Small factories can no longer bring in raw materials.  Badly needed construction cannot be done because the building materials cannot be brought into the area.  Even school books and materials are severely restricted. 

"Every third child in Gaza stunted by hunger": interview with renowned doctor Mads Gilbert an article in The Electronic Intifada dated 7 June 2012 describes just one of the results of living under the conditions that exist in Gaza.http://electronicintifada.net/content/every-third-child-gaza-stunted-hunger-interview-renowned-doctor-mads-gilbert/11363

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Gaza Mental Health Foundation based in Boston, MA sends all donations to the Gaza Community Mental Health Project.  http://www.gazamentalhealth.org/

American Friends of UNRWA based in Washington, DC http://www.friendsunrwa.org/ sponsors programs, such as a summer camps for the children of Gaza, and breast cancer screening in the refugee camps of Lebanon.  They have a lovely greeting card for sale—all proceeds go to UNRWA. 

UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has many resources for more information, photos, historical information, and statistics.  You can also donate directly to UNRWA http://www.unrwa.org/

 THIS WEEK WE USE MUSIC TO REMEMBER GAZA UNDER SEIGE

My favorite YouTube video about Gaza is "We Will Not Go Down" by Michael Heart.  Some of the images are quite graphic and the video has been age restricted, but you can find it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfhoU66s4Y&feature=colike

Liberty and Injustice

June 8 marks the 45^th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty resulting in the death of 34 American servicemen and the wounding of an additional 174—a 70% casualty rate.  

The attack was shocking, but even more shocking—U.S. military rescue aircraft were recalled through direct intervention by the Johnson administration.

Admiral Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and once commander of the 7^th Fleet, wrote in Stars and Stripes on January 16, 2004, that he was “compelled to speak out about one of U.S. history’s most shocking cover-ups.  The full text can be found at  http://www.ifamericansknew.org/download/moorer.pdf. A summary of the article and links to more resources about the details and cover up of the shameful incident may be found at http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/ul-moorer.html.

The survivors of the attack continue to seek justice for their fallen comrades, and to expose this heinous act.  They have united to form the USS Liberty Veterans Association.  On their website, http://www.usslibertyveterans.org, they quote radio operators who heard the conversations between the pilots and their commanding officers in which they distinctly mentioned that the ship they had been ordered to attack was a U.S. ship more than once, and were ordered to proceed. 

As the survivors began to lower life rafts with the most seriously injured, Israeli torpedo boats arrived and began a surface attack.  Again, U.S. military rescue planes that responded to their distress calls were ordered to return to base.

The report USS Liberty Veterans Association submitted in 2005 to the Department of Defense can be read at http://www.usslibertyveterans.org/files/War%20Crimes%20Report.pdf .

There are multiple YouTube videos about the attack, but the most complete and objective account is an hour long documentary from the BBC, called Dead in the Water (see below).  The video includes interviews of survivors as well as actual clips from the USS Liberty. 

Forty-five years later, and there has still been no proper investigation, and no justice for the victims and their families.

These men neeed and deserve your support. 

You can sign a petition calling for an investigation at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ussliberty/ Although the site takes you immediately to a page requesting a donation (for the site, not the USS Liberty Veterans) your signature will be recorded without making a donation. They are seeking a modest 100 signatures, and have already collected 44 when I posted this. Surely we can reach that small goal before the anniversary date of June 8. Please join me to reach this very attainable goal.

Separate But Equal—never happened, never will

Back in the days of my youth (yes, I’m that old) bus stations in the southern part of the United States had four bathrooms and two water fountains.  Today my adult children look at me with puzzled expressions on their faces at the idea of segregation.  I might as well be telling them stories about dragons and sea monsters.  I like that.

Yes, I know that racism is still rampant in this country, but now there are so many issues on which to discriminate that any halfway decent bigot can get up a good rant without breaking a sweat.  I’m not even sure race is at the top of the list any more.  Abortion, sexual preference, religion, political preference... the list goes on and on.

The point I’m trying to make here is that we have made progress in this country.  We’re far from perfect, but we’re working on it.  The "Christians Only" sign, posted in the United States, was not dated, although the blogger said that until the late 1960's Jews were still being discriminated against in many places in the southern United States.  http://attendingtheworld.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/blacks-chinese-japanese-blacks-jews-muslims-whos-next/

Racist groups, cults, fanatics, skinheads, etc. do exist in this country and in many other countries, but most people agree that it brings shame on the country and we must continually fight against it.  It is NOT legally sanctioned; it is NOT national policy.

Apartheid is alive and well and living in Israel.

Earlier this year, Israeli courts upheld a controversial marriage law that bans Palestinians who marry Israeli Arabs from obtaining Israeli citizenship or even residency rights.  Quoting ABC News:

Under current Israeli law, when an Arab Israeli marries a Palestinian they either live apart or must move to another country to live together long-term.

Various human rights groups challenged the law in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it violates the rights of Palestinian spouses to a proper family life.

But the court has ruled that human rights cannot override Israel's security concerns, with one judge writing that: "Human rights are not a prescription for national suicide."

Human rights groups have attacked the court decision, and accused the court of stamping its approval on a racist law that will harm the lives of families whose only sin is the Palestinian blood that runs in their veins.

"It is a dark day for the protection of human rights and for the Israeli Supreme Court," attorneys Dan Yakir and Oded Feller from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said in a statement.   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-13/israeli-court-upholds-controversial-marriage-law/3770458

Reading about a law is very different from reading about an individual whose life has been changed by the law. A wonderful op-ed piece in the New York Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/opinion/not-all-israeli-citizens-are-equal.html?_r=1tells of a couple who are self-exiled to the United States—far from their respective families because the law prevents them from living in the husband’s home.

This makes me wonder what would happen (Heaven forbid!) if a non-Arab Israeli citizen married a non-Israeli Palestinian. Would the same law apply? Maybe one of my readers can find an answer.
 

Hunger Strike for Dignity

More than 1600 Palestinian prisoners are on a hunger strike in Israeli jails.  They are protesting against solitary confinement, detention without charge, and restrictions on family visits, education and other aspects of their treatment.  Two of the prisoners, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla, are on the brink of starvation, having been an incredible 74 days without food.  

These men have now refused food longer than Kieran Doherty, the longest surviving of the 10 Irish militants who died in a hunger strike in 1981.  Bobby Sands, the best known of the 10, died after 66 days.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9258264/Israel-facing-major-West-Bank-uprising-over-Palestinian-hunger-strike.html

On May 8, 2012 The International Committee of the Red Cross asked that six prisoners be transferred to hospital and allowed visits from their families.  All six of these men are being held without trial as administrative detainees, which can be renewed six months at a time.  They are in jail because Israel suspects they may be guilty of security offences. (The Chicago Tribune from Reuters  http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-08/news/sns-rt-us-palestinians-redcrossbre8470ub-20120508_1_hunger-strike-detainees-palestinians)  These men are “at imminent risk of dying.” 

The bravery and dignity of these prisoners has captured the hearts and minds of people throughout the world, but the Palestinians living under occupation have taken up their cause with particular fervor.  Protests in many cities of the West Bank and Gaza in support of the prisoners show tremendous and wide-spread support.  The feeling of solidarity with the prisoners is so high that the death of one or more of these brave men could easily trigger another Intifada or uprising.

And where is the United States while people are dying in protest of imprisonment without trial and harsh treatment?  There is talk that Israel is negotiating in an effort to end the strike, and Robert Naiman writes in an article in Huffington Post, that it is possible that a word of support from the US could turn the tide. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/palestine-hunger-strike_b_1506279.html

The article by Ali Abunimah in the Electronic Intifada tells of the current state of Thaer Halahleh’s deteriorating health and the lack of adequate medical care for the prisoners.  http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/thaer-halahleh-told-he-could-die-any-moment-hunger-strikers-condition

What can we do?  At the very least, we can sign a petition.  There is one from Just Foreign Policy, and Jewish Voice for Peace has a petition in solidarity with the Hunger Strike for Dignity.  The US Campaign to End the Occupation has joined with the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee to sponsor a petition going to the State Department on Monday. 

This is a matter of extreme urgency. 

To all of the brave souls who are enduring unimaginable pain and loss to bring their plight to the attention of the world, I quote the words of Susan Abulhawa, author of the international bestselling novel Mornings in Jenin:

Take heart and do not despair. We have not reached the end of history. There is still blood in our veins, air in our lungs and brilliant souls in our wombs. They have but the cold steel of death machines and the moral void of lies, which cannot and will not prevail against naked hearts and empty stomachs taking up the good fight for freedom.  
 Susan Abulhawa  (from http://electronicintifada.net/content/united-methodist-churchs-shameful-failure-divest-injustice/11249 )

   

Palestinian Food Under Occupation

One aspect of the Israeli Occupation that Palestinians feel strongly about is the co-opting of many of their national foods by the Israelis. Every time Palestinians hear falafel described as “Israeli veggie-burgers,” they cringe. 
Every time they hear hummus described as a national dish of Israel, they shudder.  These things are aggravating, but not life threatening, or even life altering.

Other aspects of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, however, have a great impact on the food Palestinians eat, and on their nutrition.  Extended curfews, for example, force people to eat what they have stored in their own homes—no fresh fruits or vegetables.  Since many of the refugee families do not have refrigerators, no meat, poultry, milk, or other food that requires refrigeration.  Canned foods are usually imported and too expensive for most refugee families.  The curfews are a prominent feature of daily life in my novel Born a Refugee.

Poverty in Palestine, like poverty anywhere  in the world, often leads to poor and insufficient diets.  Malnutrition, especially in the area of micro-nutrients is especially rampant among the children of Gaza.  A study by the Palestinian Medical Relief Society found that 52% of the children in Gaza suffer from anemia and severe deficiency in many vital nutrients.  http://www.imemc.org/article/59031

Checkpoints and road closures make travel within Palestine difficult.  People and vehicles face long delays moving from town to town as Israeli soldiers search them.  This aspect of the occupation plays a critical role in my novel, Refugee Without Refuge.

Now there is an additional impediment to the transportation of food supplies within the country—The Apartheid Wall.  The Wall winds its way through over 750 kilometers of Palestine at a cost of approximately $2 million per kilometer.  The Wall separates friends; it separates families; it separates farmers from their land.

It also separates the land that produces one of the signature dishes of Palestinian cuisine from the Palestinian consumers. 
Mloukhieh (or molokhia or molokheya) is considered an acquired taste by some, but Palestinians often refer to it as their national dish.  Mloukhieh is typically cooked in chicken broth and served with chicken.  In my house, the chicken is removed from the broth and browned in the oven, but that is a personal preference.  We also mince the mloukhieh, while the dish in the video below uses whole leaves.  This is a regional difference.  The blog posted the video below and includes recipes as well.  http://vegetarianterroristcookingjournal.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/soup-over-bethlehem-how-apartheid-wall-affects-palestines-famed-mloukhieh/ 

Another blogger uses a different spelling in her blog Food, Nostalgia, and Adventure and gives a good recipe.  She says Palestinians use the whole leaf rather than minced.  Regions differ--even within Palestine. 

Minced or whole leaf, fresh or dried, the Wall makes it is more difficult for the Palestinians to enjoy one of the few pleasures left to them.

NOT A HAPPY 64th BIRTHDAY, ISRAEL*

Don't let Palestine waste away any more

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, Wasting Away.

Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

Almost everyone is familiar with the lyrics of the song by Paul McCartney of the Beatles.  Did you know that it was first released in 1967?  That was the same year Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza.  Ever since, Israel has been trying to erase both Palestine and the Palestinians, trying to make them literally waste away.  But hope is on the horizon.

Yes, Israel, in a few more days you will be 64 years old, and I would like to send you a postcard, drop you a line, and state my point of view.  The injustice of what is being done to the Palestinian people is becoming evident to more and more people every day.  Military occupation is not a permanent option--and only you have the power to end it.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the most powerful countries in the world seem to think they do need you—and they continue to feed you, now that you’re sixty-four.

But there are signs that things are changing.

* I borrowed the title of this blog from an article in the Palestine Chronicle by Samah Sabwai.  See the article for a well-written update on the changing tide of public opinion. http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19259

The BDS movement is one example of a grassroots effort that is making slow but steady headway in bringing attention and understanding to the issue.  The initials stand for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. 

The masthead of the website http://www.bdsmovement.net/ features the iconic cartoon character Hanthala created by Naji al-Ali.  Hanthala has come to symbolize the Palestinian movement in many ways (see my blog of February 18, Better to Light a Candle...).

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a good source for more information on the Boycott and Divestment movements. http://endtheoccupation.org/section.php?id=203 They also have an interesting blog http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/


Yes, Israel, things are beginning to change.  The people of the world are beginning to wake up and demand justice.  The recent decision by the United Methodist Church to divest from companies “whose goods and services enable the occupation to continue” is just the beginning.  https://www.kairosresponse.org/UMKR_Home.html has detailed information about the decision of the Church. 

 The effort to have TIAA-CREF, the pension fund giant that serves as the retirement vehicle of many hospitals, universities, and other non-profit organizations, join the divestment movement has been ongoing for many months. The youtube video of a flash mob effort to call attention to the movement gives a humorous look at a very serious topic.

 It looks as though the efforts being made by a small army of ordinary people, each trying to add a voice to spread the word of the truth of what is happening in Palestine, is finally having a positive effect.

Sorry for the lapse in my weekly blog, but this blogger was on holiday and spent two weeks without internet access.  Yes, I was beginning to have withdrawal symptoms before I got home. :-)

Our Tax Dollars are Going Where?

America is deeply in debt and there are fear-mongering rumors going around about deep cuts to services that many of our most needy citizens depend upon, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

In 2008, a conservative estimate of total direct US aid to Israel is almost $114 billion—that’s right, billion with a B.  This is according to an article written by Shirl McArthur, a retired U.S. foreign service officer, in the November 2008 issue of The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.  A breakdown of this by type of aid and year can be found along with citations of the original sources in the original article.  http://www.wrmea.com/component/content/article/245/3845-congress-watch-a-conservative-estimate-of-total-direct-us-aid-to-israel-almost-114-billion.html

That much money could fund a lot of neighborhood clinics, subsidize mountains of school lunches, make needed improvements to the conditions in every veteran’s hospital in this country, or shore up our aging system of dams and bridges—yet it buys Apache helicopters and tear gas canisters that are regularly used as weapons of aggression against unarmed Palestinian refugees.

As an American citizen who just wrote a substantial check to cover my income tax obligations for 2011, I am concerned.

As an educator who sees images of school children passing by American made tanks on their way to school, I am concerned.  How can a child focus on learning in conditions like this? 

As a person who contributes to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to help their efforts to provide for the refugees, I am concerned by the waste of their limited resources.

There are many websites where any concerned reader can find more information.

http://ifamericansknew.org/stats/cost_of_israel.html

http://www.endtheoccupation.org  are just two examples.  A simple Google search will turn up countless more.