Israeli Sadism – Aid Blocked During a Medical State of Emergency

Very bad news for besieged Gazans requiring surgery in the week ending 10/6/11 – on Wednesday 8/6/11, the health ministry declared a state of emergency due to the shortage of medical supplies. In February, 2011, “Israeli warplanes blitzed a Health Ministry medicine warehouse in northern Gaza … injuring eight Palestinians and sparking a fierce fire”.

Medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said Thursday that warehouses had run out of over 178 types of medicine and that over 190 surgical items had either run out or were in short supply.

The health minister in the besieged coastal enclave appealed to human rights organizations to intervene to avert a looming crisis.

Gazan doctors cancelled surgeries due to critical shortages of medicine and supplies on Friday. Simultaneously Israel decided it would close ALL crossings until Sunday. The Rafah crossing to Egypt only allows traverse of people, not goods.

It is now Sunday 12/6/11, and vital medicines have not arrived.

The crisis was unprecedented even during Israel’s massive offensive on Gaza in December 2008, Naem said, adding that the situation was worsening by the day.

Speaking at a conference in Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Naem said 180 types of medicine and 200 medical items had run out in Gaza, including alcohol and needles.

All health facilities were affected by the deficit, the minister said, adding that Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip exacerbated the crisis.

How many vulnerable, ill people does Israel cause to suffer because of its hideous, illegal collective punishment? Israel is sick, and makes itself sicker through such terrible acts.

The medicine for apartheid states is BDS – boycott, divestment and sanctions are effective as a global topical application.

UPDATE 19/6/11

Why doesn’t the PA blame Israel’s illegal closure of Gaza? The PA attempts to exonerate itself and blames Hamas for ‘politicising’ the issue of medical aid. Bad argument when the WHO say there have been shortages since February.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry on Saturday sent 20 truckloads of medicine to the Gaza Strip to ease critical hospital shortages.

Another 20 trucks will be transferred by Monday from warehouses in the West Bank city of Nablus to Gaza via the Erez crossing on Israel’s border, the ministry said in a statement.

Ramallah Health Minister Fathi Abu Moghli said that the critical shortage of medicine in the Gaza Strip was caused by suppliers’ delays. But he accused the Hamas health ministry in Gaza of trying “to politicize the health sector” by blaming the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority for the shortages.

The Gaza ministry threatened to close hospitals and clinics “to disturb the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah,” Abu Moghli said.

The PA distributed medicines to hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank as soon as they were received from suppliers, he added.

Abu Moghli said 300 types of medicine worth 10 million shekels ($2.91 million) as well as laboratory equipment and surgical items would be delivered to Gaza on Saturday.

UPDATE 17/6/11

World Health Organisation: Shortages of Drugs and Medical Disposables in MoH Gaza, June 2011
The Turkish Red Crescent donated a truckload of medical supplies

to the Palestinian Ministry of Health to meet ongoing shortages, the ministry’s PR head said Thursday.

Omer An-Naser told Ma’an that the truck contained medication which has run out in Gaza, to be added to a delivery of 20 truckloads of medical supplies to Gaza by the ministry on Saturday and Sunday.
…
‘The report said shortages were a failure in coordination between the Ramallah and Gaza health authorities despite the unity agreement between the divided administrations signed over a month ago.’

Is the PA is covering for the Israeli regime with whom it collaborates? Gaza health ministry declared a state of medical emergency l on the 8/6/11. And now, once again –

Israel on Friday [17/6/11] closed the sole operating goods crossing into the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

Liaison official Raed Fattouh said Israel would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday.

The southern border crossing is the only operating entry point for commercial goods and humanitarian aid into the coastal enclave, home to more than 1.6 million Palestinians.

On May 28 Egypt reopened its Rafah border with Gaza, allowing limited numbers of residents to move freely in and out of the Strip for the first time in four years.

But Egypt is not allowing imports, exports and humanitarian aid or construction materials through Rafah, and the terminal is not equipped to handle large quantities of goods.

UPDATE TUESDAY 14/6/11

Red Cross donates stockpiled medicine to Gaza hospitals
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights warned Monday of a “catastrophic deterioration”

in the health conditions of Gaza residents, especially those with chronic diseases who could not access medication.

PCHR said the Gaza Strip had not received any medical supplies since February, and that shortages had led to a “devastating crisis” over the past two weeks. At a press conference in Cairo, Al-Barsh said most hospitals had run out of basic medicines and supplies.

Meanwhile, Ash-Shifa Hospital director Medhat Abbas said hospitals and primary care centers would have to close if medicine did not arrive soon, adding that many hospitals had been forced to cancel surgeries due to the crisis.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights warned Monday of a “catastrophic deterioration” in the health conditions of Gaza residents, especially those with chronic diseases who could not access medication.

PCHR said the Gaza Strip had not received any medical supplies since February, and that shortages had led to a “devastating crisis” over the past two weeks.

All surgeries cancelled in Gaza due to lack of anaesthetic
Finally, 13/6/11Israeli Convoy Delivers Medical Supplies to Gaza

Today, Israel sent 19 truckloads of medical equipment to Gaza’s Jordanian field hospital via the Erez Crossing. The Israeli aid convoy also included 195 Jordanian hospital staff members — who replaced outgoing staff — one fuel tank, one refrigerated truck and transportable buildings, which will expand existing hospital space by 300 meters.

Efforts such as providing Gaza’s civilian population with medical supplies–are coordinated daily by two Israeli bodies: The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration. The organizations also provide aid in fields including health, education, agriculture and infrastructure in particular.

Unnamed Egyptian border official: ‘Only medical supplies will be allowed through Rafah.’ Why then was a state of medical emergency declared by the Gaza health ministry last Wednesday?

When Egyptian border officials reopened the terminal on 5 June, they found that their Palestinian counterparts had closed it from the other side to protest Egypt’s apparent foot-dragging. … Border operations finally resumed on Wednesday, 8 June — although still confined to human traffic — after Egypt reportedly promised to raise the daily passenger limit to at least 500.

UPDATES

@Jinjirrie & how much sorely needed medicines? RT @IDFSpokesperson: Yesterday, 202 truckloads (~6,000 tons) bearing goods, gas & fuel entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom Crossing in Israel #
Malicious Occupier Israel still keeps Gaza on a siege diet – limited aid allowed on Sunday despite state of medical emergency
Sources in the Gaza Health Ministry said Palestinian Authority official Nabil Shaath had promised to send medicine to Gaza from Ramallah, but that the supplies never arrived.

Gaza’s hospital stock running on near empty : Hospitals in Gaza are forced to cancel operations due to lack of medical supplies as the Israeli blockade continues.’
Gaza health minister: Acute medicine shortage

Related Links

Gaza Border ‘Opening’ is Just Rhetoric – by Ramzy Baroud
Gaza: Lists of Controlled Entry Items
A severe shortage of medical supplies in Gaza threatens the lives of thousands of patients
There was never any compelling strategic logic behind Israel’s refusal to allow civilian goods into Gaza. The idea of punishing 1.5 million Gazans so that they would remove Hamas from power was pointless and counterproductive: it impoverished the Gazan farmers and industrialists – the people with the most interest in cooperative economic relations with Israel –and empowered tunnel- diggers and others who enjoyed close relations with Hamas. It also gave Israel a bad name. And it had no effect at all on Hamas’s readiness to release Gilad Schalit for a reasonable price. In this sense, the only good thing that came out of last spring’s Turkish flotilla was Israel’s relaxation of that boycott.
Gaza health conditions in crisis
Israeli restrictions on movement of people and goods cost foreign aid groups millions of dollars a year and hamper their ability to deliver assistance, a report released on Wednesday said.

The Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), which groups 80 charities working in the Palestinian territories, called on the international community to pressure Israel to ease the restrictions, saying they cost its members around $4.5 million (three million euros) each year in unnecessary expenses.’

West Bank travel restrictions take their toll on international aid budgets : European, American taxpayers supporting aid groups paying at least $4.5 million additional expenses a year to overcome Israeli restrictions.
‘Israeli-imposed movement and access restrictions on humanitarian and development work in the occupied Palestinian territory are costing donors and their tax payers at least US$4.5 million a year. This according to a new report released by the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), a coalition of more than eighty international aid and development agencies, including NRC, said today.’ The full report is available for download.
Russian tycoon Nevzlin convicted in absentia of murder (Israel refuses extradition), buys 20% of Haaretz

Palestine / Israel Links

I’m either an illegal citizen of one state, or an inferior citizen in another
The Americans told Molho that to block European initiatives such as France’s proposal for an international peace conference in Paris, they must have something concrete to offer, like Netanyahu’s agreement to negotiate on the basis of Obama’s speech.

The U.S. proposal was also given to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who said the Palestinians would resume talks on this basis.

Meanwhile, a European diplomat who was briefed on Molho’s talks in Washington said they were fruitless. “The Americans didn’t get anything new from Molho,” the diplomat said.

This week, American diplomat David Hale will arrive in Israel to hold further meetings with both Molho and Erekat. Hale is temporarily replacing George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy who resigned earlier this year.
Renen Raz writes to Dream Theater
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Shalit is the first Israeli soldier to be captured by a Palestinian armed group since1994. By contrast, 700,000 Palestinians have been detained under Israeli military orders in the occupied territories since 1967. That amounts to one-fifth of the total Palestinian population in those territories. By placing so much emphasis on one Israeli, Ashton is turning a blind eye to the infinitely worse suffering that Palestinians have to endure. She does not even acknowledge – as far as I can tell – that Israel’s response to Shalit’s capture was disproportionate, to use a word that trolls regularly from the tongues of EU representatives. At the moment, there are some 900 prisonersfrom Gaza in Israeli custody. Following Shalit’s capture, Israel has deniedthose prisoners visits from their families, thereby breaching its international obligations (the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 says: “Every internee shall be allowed to receive visitors, especially near relatives, at regular intervals and as frequently as possible.”

Abbas says prefers talks with Israel over UN vote on Palestinian state

The Palestinian president also disclosed in Ramallah that he had personally approached the leaders of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ), knowing that they wielded considerable influence over Netanyahu.

Govt Ignores Israel’s Threats against NZers on Gaza Flotilla
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Haneen Al Zoabi: Racists impose the rules of the political game in Israel

She stressed that the real political struggle is to hold on to the ethical, humanitarian and national positions in every sphere; ranging from the struggle against land confiscation, demolition of Palestinian homes, the fight for recognition of the Palestinian identity, and the struggle to end the Israeli occupation

Haniyeh: No differences among Hamas leaders

“Mash’al’s speech was in line with the movement’s positions, policies and principles,” the statement said. “Any remarks contradicting these issues do not represent the movement and its branches.”

The politburo is solely tasked with making the party’s policy, the statement added.

Medics: Gaza hospitals at crisis point
Former Israeli minister describes Begin and Shamir as ‘terrorists’

Yossi Sarid: ‘Jewish terrorists provoke me more than Arab terrorists do, as the Jewish ones want to make all Israelis like them’.

A concerted effort from Europe against Israeli produce exporter Agrexco
Fear and tear gas in Nabi Saleh: A coward’s story
The Struggle for an Equal Right to Academic Freedom
Report calls for end to occupation : The International Labour Organisation has added its voice to the growing international chorus calling for Israel to end restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement in the name of security
Keep boycotting Israel say delegates :

Community union delegates delivered a crushing blow today to the executive’s attempt to force through a resolution aimed at undermining the TUC policy of boycotting Israeli goods produced in illegal settlements.

Members at the union’s biennial conference in Southport accused the leadership of using it to obtain a “retrospective mandate” from members to support Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine (Tulip), which they labelled “an apologist” for Israeli war crimes.

French Analyst Urges End to Israel’s N. Ambiguity
Israeli lawmaker calls to cut volunteers to human rights NGOs
Israel is targeting human rights organisations which dare to criticise the regime and report on its crimes voraciously with new legislation to penalise them under discussion.

Organisations in the firing line include the Pubic Committee Against Torture in Israel, the Association for Civil Rights, the Israeli branch of Amnesty International, and Physicians for Human Rights Israel.

‘Hadas Ziv, PHRI’s director of public outreach, described the initiative promoted by Hasson as “a shocking, appalling message.”

“The message being relayed is that if you have suspicions of crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces during the 2009 war and a probe commission is established, you must not cooperate with it because it will damage Israel’s image,” Ziv said in a phone interview on Sunday.

“In effect, it substantially damages Israel’s position as a law- abiding state. The initiative also sends a message that we like one kind of Israelis, one that shoot and shut up, not those who pose question marks,” she said, “It’s a pathetic attempt to narrow the public discourse and to create an obedient people.”‘

Syria Links

‘Gay Girl In Damascus’ Turns Out To Be An American Man
Apology to readers – MacMaster comes clean as suggested he do by Ali Abunimah and Ben Dougherty in EI who are acknowledged for their sleuthing in NPR above.
From Damascus with Love: Blogging in a Totalitarian State
‘Paula Brooks,’ editor of ‘Lez Get Real,’ also a man
Britta Froelicher, wife of ‘A Gay Girl in Damascus,’ caught in her husband’s ‘hurricane’

Libya Links

Thus, if we are serious about international solidarity we need to figure out what the internal politics of a place is, what has been achieved in that country and what are its contradictions. As I have been saying, supporting rebellions for the sake of supporting rebellions is problematic because everything gets framed as a battle between good and evil. The alternative that ends up being offered actually narrows the space for thinking about and building something different than liberal-democracy anywhere in the world.

Libya: The poverty of analyses
Libyan rebels offer ‘ties’ with Israel if win

Egypt Links

A Spy in our revolution This shill took up the zionist cause against Green Left Weekly in Australia.
Israel denies spy caught in Egypt

US Links

WikiLeaks Haiti: Let Them Live on $3/Day : Revealing the true face of that great humanitarian peace prize winner, Obama.
Ending the Crisis of Capitalism or Ending Capitalism? : Samir Amin