We walked about through the various departments and met post-surgical patients in the ward – many recent surgeries are to remove kidney stones as the salty, impure water has caused a huge upsurge of that problem. We saw 3 pre-school children being treated in the burn unit as the number of burns has skyrocketed while people try to cook and heat their homes over open flames. The weekly “mobile” clinic was in session so there were lots of families with children in for diagnosis and whatever treatment is available. Everyone gets a package of basic foodstuffs to take home, along with sandwiches for lunch, but they’ve had to quit providing milk or fruit juice for the kids.
And, of course, the staff suffers the same conditions – no one attempts to keep food in the refrigerator since power goes off so often. Dr. Maher reported that his home had lost electricity at 7 a.m. the day before our visit and it had not come back on by noon the following day. This is simply routine – when the power is on, people rush to heat water for a shower and those who have washing machines try to do a load of clothes, but sometimes laundry sits in the tub for hours or days.
In spite of these endless tales of loss, the hospital continues to be a beacon of hope. It may be the only place in all of Gaza that is totally free of violence – while it is customary for patients in the PA public hospitals (there are 2 in Gaza City) to have armed guards to “protect” them from attacks by their rival party, NO weapons enter Ahli. There are no armed guards at the gates -- if anyone arrives with weapons, they are told either to send the guns away or there will be no treatment. Thanks to the long history of Ahli’s treating everyone in need of care with absolute impartiality, this policy is honored and the Ahli ambulance travels freely through the city.
We asked what they see as the future, but these very remarkable human beings say they can no longer imagine what might come next. Each time they think things have reached the worst possible situation, something worse happens. People die almost daily in Gaza from Israeli attacks. A ten year old child was killed by a bomb the day before we arrived. Israel has announced a policy of targeted assassinations for all Hamas leaders, but that simply means that the “collateral damage” costs many innocents their lives.
And what about the rockets fired at Sderot? The story we heard is that they are fired by “ignorant, immoral” people who belong to no party and cannot be controlled by Hamas or anyone else. In a place where people have no hope and no future (50% of the population is below age14), where 2/3 of the population live in squalid refugee camps, where collective punishment means that everyone who lives in Gaza is subject every day to bombing by F16’s or attacks by tank shells and mortars, the only surprise is that violence is not even more widespread. We saw a six story apartment house that had been bombed a couple of weeks ago because it happens to be near the Ministry of Interior building.
Startling fact for those who hear from the US media about the rocket attacks and the suffering they cause for Israelis: in the years 2006 and 2007, 2 Israelis died in Sderot. In January 2008 alone, 96 Gazans were killed by Israeli military attacks. (If you’d like more statistics, see www.btselem.org. This Israeli human rights organization provides excellent data.)
What is ultimately striking about Gaza is the sheer disproportionality of the situation – the collective punishment inflicted on 1.5 million people is against every measure of international and humanitarian law, but the world thus far seems to believe that Israel is somehow justified.
Clearly these actions about not about “security.” If this collection punishment were effective either in stopping the rockets or in undermining Hamas, that would have happened long before now. Israel is now seeking world approval for a full scale ground incursion, but it is clear that more military force is neither going to turn people against Hamas nor end the violence perpetrated by desperate people with nothing to lose.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
