60 wounded Palestinians demand passage through Rafah crossing

5 Dec 2007
60 wounded Palestinians demand passage through Rafah crossing

Gaza – Ma'an – Sixty Palestinians, seriously wounded during the recent Israeli attacks and targeted
assassinations in the Gaza Strip, gathered near the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, demanding to be
allowed to cross into Egypt for medical treatment.

The sixty were selected by a medical committee, who chose the most urgent cases. Some of the
injured are in danger of losing limbs if they do not receive immediate treatment.

The sixty people intend to wait at the Rafah crossing until they are allowed to enter Egypt, even if
they die in the process, according to Abdul-Majid Al-'Alul, the director of the charity As-Salamah.

The Egyptian authorities on Monday allowed the passage of the second group of 1,200 Hajj pilgrims
heading for Mecca, through the Rafah crossing.

Sick Gazans stuck in queue of death

5 Dec 2007
Sick Gazans stuck in queue of death

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza (Reuters) - Born last week with a heart defect, Salem al-Masri needs life-
saving surgery. But like hundreds in the Gaza Strip, he and his parents have no permit from Israel
to exit the enclave to a suitably equipped hospital.

Palestinians suffering serious illnesses have long traveled from Gaza to nearby Israeli hospitals for
treatments unavailable at facilities in the territory, which is home to 1.5 million people and was
occupied by Israel for 38 years until 2005.

However Israel has tightened border restrictions since Hamas Islamists seized control of the coastal
enclave in June. It also prevents access to Gaza by sea or air and has ensured a border crossing
into Egypt is mostly shut -- so hundreds like baby Salem cannot get the care that could save lives.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 29 patients had died in the past six months because they
had not managed to secure a permit to travel into Israel. Some 900 other sick Gazans were seeking
permission to travel -- 350 of which were gravely ill.

Jamal al-Khudary, a member of parliament and former cabinet minister who heads the Palestinian
Popular Campaign to Counter the Siege, said about 1,500 patients needed care outside Gaza.

"Among them there are 350 cases who are just waiting for death," Khudary told Reuters, referring
to patients suffering illnesses such as cancer or chronic kidney failure.

Shortages of medicine, equipment and trained personnel, which local officials blame on the long
occupation, prevent hospitals in the enclave from matching care available in Israel.

The Jewish state has labeled Gaza an "enemy entity" and has stepped up raids into the territory in
the past week to try to curb rocket salvoes on Israeli towns. It shuns Hamas, which does not
recognize Israel and refuses to renounce violence.

After pulling out troops and settlers, Israel kept full control of Gaza's borders -- a situation which
Palestinians say means Israel must still observe Geneva Convention obligations as an occupying
power to provide services for Gaza's people.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said that in "life and death situations," the Jewish state
allowed patients into Israel on a "case by case basis," acknowledging border restrictions had been
stiffened because of the rocket salvoes.

"The extremists are holding civilian populations, both Israeli and Palestinian, hostage to their
agenda," he said. He said he had no figures for the number of Gazans who have been treated in
Israel.

"SECURITY REASONS"

Muawiyeh Hassanein, a senior official in Gaza's health ministry, said that in general at least half of
those patients seeking permission to leave were turned down.

"The Israelis either refuse to give people permits or delay them until the disease spreads and causes
death," said Hassanein, head of the ambulance and emergency department.

Egypt effectively closed its border after Hamas seized Gaza in violent clashes with Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. With no independent air or sea access, that means
Gazans' only exit to the world is via Israel.

Even if a patient gets a permit, family members are often refused, Hassanein said.

Masri's mother and grandmother stood by the baby's hospital bed while his father, Mohammad,
stood outside in the corridor.

"I am a helpless father," said the 30-year-old construction worker, who is currently out of work due
to an embargo on building materials. "I feel disabled as I see my son struggle with death before my
eyes without being able to do anything."

Rainstorms compound misery of displaced Nahr al-Bared refugees

4 Dec 2007
Rainstorms compound misery of displaced Nahr al-Bared refugees

Squalls penetrate housing units, transform streets into mud

By Michael Bluhm
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, December 04, 2007

BEIRUT: The arrival of winter has highlighted the housing crisis facing the tens of thousands of
refugees displaced from the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp by the conflict there earlier this
year, a number of officials working with the refugees told The Daily Star on Monday.

The season's first rainstorms have battered the leaky roofs of temporary housing units for the
displaced and have turned the roads inside the camp to mud, said Rola Istambouli, who has worked
with the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee in caring for the evacuees.

With the country's attention riveted to the political vacuum in the presidency, many have stopped
thinking about the roughly 30,000 people rendered homeless by the three-month battle at the camp
between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam militants, said Ambassador Khalil Makkawi, head of
the dialogue committee.

"People started to forget about Nahr al-Bared," said Makkawi. "Something urgent should be done to
improve the situation inside these camps.

"We are trying to impress both on UNRWA [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency], ECHO [the
European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office], and the NGOs with whom they are working to
expedite fixing the homes in the new camp ... to alleviate the pressure in the Beddawi camp."

Some 250-300 families from Nahr al-Bared are still taking shelter in UNRWA schools in the nearby
Beddawi refugee camp, where almost half of Nahr al-Bared's official population of 31,000-plus fled
shortly after fighting began on May 20, said Hoda Samra Souaiby, UNRWA public information officer.

"Our immediate priority is to vacate UNRWA schools," she said. "We're doing our utmost to vacate
them."

She said she did not know when the evacuees would leave the schools.

UNRWA has built about 120 single-family temporary housing units on land adjacent to Nahr al-
Bared and plans to start construction of 160 more dwellings within 10 days, she said.

The first rainfall, however, revealed the houses' flaws, Istambouli said.

"The houses are not good, because the roofs are made from tin. When it's raining, they can't hear
each other [and] the rain enters," she said. UNRWA personnel "are working on that now. Still, there
are many problems in the prefab houses."

Souaiby acknowledged the structures' shortcomings.

"We have spotted problems, and we will fix them," she said. "The people were complaining that
roofs are leaking and sometimes the walls are not waterproof. We have been informed of this. From
the beginning we said the construction was not ideal."

Despite the buildings' flaws, UNRWA intends to build another 400 units in a later phase and is trying
to secure more property around the camp for further construction, she added.

"We are also requesting UNRWA to redouble its efforts to acquire more land," Makkawi said.

Aside from the temporary structures, UNRWA has provided some 1,860 families from Nahr al-Bared
with rent subsidies of $600 meant to cover three months of accommodation, Souaiby said. UNRWA
has the capacity to offer the rent assistance for up to 3,000 families out of UNRWA's tally of 5,500
families who formerly lived in Nahr al-Bared, she added.

Meanwhile, more than 1,260 families have moved into the new camp, the area of the camp closer to
the coastal highway and less damaged in the 15 weeks of fighting, Souaiby said. ECHO is giving
families in the new camp from $300-$1,200 to refurbish their homes, Makkawi said, adding that
some 350 families had received the aid.

Inside the camp, the squalls turned the main streets into a thicket of mud, Istambouli said.

"The most important [thing] is the road," she added. "The roads are full of mud. We cannot walk."

For those of school age who have returned to the camp, the academic year has yet to begin,
Souaiby said. UNRWA wants to build a school next to the camp, she added. With the displaced
housed in the Beddawi camp's schools, UNRWA put together a pre-fabricated school for students
there. Secondary-school students from Beddawi planning to take their graduation exams this year
commenced the school year on time, although not all of the remaining students have begun
attending classes, she added.

"We have had some delays because of the construction," Souaiby said. "Almost everybody has
already started."

Makkawi said progress had been made since early October, when the first evacuees returned to
Nahr al-Bared.

"Life was rough at the beginning," he said. "Things are improving, but not to the extent that we
want."

Despite the arduous circumstances faced by those who came back to Nahr al-Bared, many seem
happier since returning to the camp, Istambouli said.

"They are much better than outside," she said. "When they were in the schools, they were very
anxious [and] tired.

"They are dreaming now of how to rebuild their homes. Before, they were dreaming about returning
to Nahr al-Bared."