Reports from Rafah

rafah_today @ 2006-06-15T08:50:00

2006-06-15T12:53:29Z

19 May 06

The Keys of Catastrophe

“They come into our house and tell us we don’t live there anymore.” — Statement in the Oscar® Winning Film, Shindler’s List describing how the Nazis appropriated the homes of Jews without compensation, warning or compassion.

An old man, his once thick black hair, thinning and peppered white sits quietly. Slumped over from years of disappointment, his back arched near permanence in the shape of a crescent, he speaks slowly, the weight of lament wheezing between each word.

"We are getting old; time is running out,” he states. Though aging, his memory remains clear, transporting him back to a time he was young. “It seems only a few weeks or months ago we were kicked out from our homes in Yebna village. It seems, yet it has been 58 years since then".

Refugees in Gaza are still waitting for hope to reutern to their orginal homes

The old man looks up, spying his grandchildren running across the street. Within their hands they clutch the wooden keys symbolizing the lost homes, businesses and life of a time since past. Each year these wooden keys serve as commemoration of the anniversary of Al Nakba. Beside him, with admiration of a newlywed bride, his Umm Zuheer (wife) sits silently, allowing her husband to speak.

He stares as his grandchildren disappear further into the Rafah refugee camp, a tattered sigh escaping his lips. Reluctantly his head sways side to side.

"The people of our village (Yebna) realized too late the guests we allowed were in truth gangs of occupiers, armed with British guns and weapons. We had the tools of farmers, axes and scythe for harvesting as weapons. Yet we resisted, creating sand barriers and obstacles in attempts to protect our homes." he begins.

"In our village seven martyrs were killed by the Jewish gangs. Israel did not exist yet. Many were killed by the Jewish gangs throughout the area" he adds.

"In our village, rather than attack us, they lay siege, surrounding our village on three sides with the fourth flank left open for the British tanks that showered our village with canon fire day and night. The power of the tanks, we were no match for this. We were kicked out from our homes beginning with Yebna, then Al Isdud, Al Majadal and here. Ultimately we ended up in Gaza. Here we live since 1948 in this refugee camp, supported by the donation of the United Nations.”

Professor Ibrahim Abu Jaber, author of “The Future of Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque " states, “The number of the Palestinian refugees around the world is seven million with 1.8 million living as refugees within the Palestinian territories.

FACTS ON THE GROUND

Jaffa based Israeli politician and secretary for the Israeli- Palestinian Committee Dialogue, Mr. Latif Dori comments on Al Nakba.

"It's a catastrophe to the Palestinians who were kicked out by force from their homes in 1948,” he acknowledges before quickly adding the obligatory deflection.

‘But don’t forget that it’s a catastrophe for the Jewish people. What I mean by that, it is a catastrophe for the Jewish people because of what was done to them by the Nazis in World War II."

In 1935 laws were passed in Germany that instituted a ten year persecution of persons of the Jewish faith along with Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally ill, handicap, Catholics, Communists and Poles. This persecution, resulting in millions of deaths, hardships and loss, mercifully ended ten years later in 1945. This pogrom against the Jewish people and others deemed racial enemies to National Socialism provided the final catalyst for the establishment of Israel. The Palestinians were not involved in this event.

Asked to comment on the status of Israel and Palestine, Dori replies: "Israel has no right to be in this land,” he observes.

“But what should we do? More than fifty years have past since we began living here. For the Palestinians to return to their homes…this is not a practical solution. I know that without resolving the refugees right to return, there will be no peace in the whole region" he admits.

Dori goes on to mention that within Jaffa city 40,000 Jews currently reside within the city. Of these, fifty percent occupy houses originally owned and taken from Palestinians whose families often occupied these homes and land for centuries. In most cases, the homes were appropriated by force or flight (simply being absent for twenty-four hours was enough to declare the home ‘abandoned’). These homes were taken without consideration. Today their Jewish residents enjoy living in secure and well appointed homes, while the majority of the real owners have been removed and relegated to the hell of refugee camps.

Challenging his logic as a friend I asked, ‘If I Mohammed Omer, a Palestinian refugee, could prove the home you currently live in is the property of my grandparents, would you leave?’

Dori responds, “I would say welcome, and you can have it!” He offers enthusiastically before continuing with the inevitable ‘but’.

“Though from a humanitarian or emotional viewpoint this may sound right, it (relinquishing the home I live in to the real owners upon proof) would not be a practical solution. Emotions will not solve these problems. And unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to set the wheels of history in reverse.”

Pausing for a moment he further rationalizes, “I would imagine you would allow me to keep the house. After all, I have been living here for fifty years."

Surviving rather than Living

In the Swedish village section of the Rafah refugee camp, a few hundred Palestinian families carve out a living atop the filth and waste of a long neglected sewage system, the smell of fecal matter, rotting food and a bacterial stew seeping through the ground. Parents watch as their children become instantly sick. The stench is constant, increasing in pungency with each escalating degree centigrade. It is a smell to which no one will become accustom.

Amanh Abu Sulimah, now a seventy-five year old woman and refugee most of her life remembers the day in 1948 when she was forced to leave her home on the Palestinian side of the border with Egypt in Al Jauura.

"We were forced to leave,” she begins. “My family and I moved into a school and eventually into this refugee camp.” Her words still carry a jagged sense of disbelief. "As you know,” she states pointing to the rickety home around her. “My sons and I are living in this tiny house, where my 25 grandchildren are sleeping all inside this one room"

Justice’s key

Nestled today in nearly a million Palestinian pockets, jingling between coins, papers and cash rests a key. A key representing the love of a land, a society, a culture still present yet temporarily out of reach. For fifty eight years the Palestinians have waited to return home. The United Nations agreements with Israel prior to statehood provided for their care and dignity, to be treated as equals. To be given a home. To be protected from racism, prejudice and injustice. Still they wait, hope yet never despair, a simple key symbolizing their dream.

This key, a legacy held by an old man passes to the young, the representation of justice, a symbol of the inevitable ending. As the symbol transcends generations, the hopes and dreams it represents cradles within the young hands of the future. Ever protective of the fragile realities it represents, the old man softly closes tiny fingers around the cut metal and whispers, “Next year, in our home. Next year in Palestine, next year.”

With keys held in hand, tucked safely in boxes or hidden from view, the Palestinians continue to demand. They continue to hope for the day when their precious keys of the catastrophe may once again unlock the doors to their homes and businesses allowing them to live as human beings and prosper in peace. They look to the day when independence no longer equates with catastrophe. They look to the day when their keys will again open the doors to their homes. </td>

Judith...

2006-05-10T15:55:24Z

10 May 06

I have heard from a friend in the U.S. who has told me "Judith passed away."

I was thinking this is impossible. She is alive, her voice is still in my mind when she is telling me: "It will improve Mohammed, this injustice will end one day" and even her simple Arabic words are still coming to my mind.

The mother of the little Rolla fell on the floor when I told her about this.

Goodbye, Judith. Thank you for all you've done and for your patient, kind, and gentle voice -- for the love you shared with us all. Safe travels, be well...and thank you.

.......

Judith was known to many as "Erika" on her blog, RafahNotes, and in the blogosphere at large. She will be horribly missed.

Blast in security forces compound kills two, injures four. Shelling in north Gaza injures children.

2006-05-02T15:51:18Z

2 May 2006

No different from yesterday's situation -- the same as usual.

Two people have been killed and four others were injured in a blast at a security forces compound in northern Gaza.

It is not yet clear what caused the explosion which destroyed a building and killed two people. Ambulances arrived on the scene to take the injured and the bodies of the dead. A Palestinian interior ministry spokesman said the explosion in a compound in the Jabaliya refugee camp could have been caused by artillery fire from Israel.

A man mournes the death of his brother, a Palestinian security officer.

"We have suspicions that it was an Israeli shell but an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the explosion," Khaled Abu Hilal said today.

Another suggestion -- though unconfirmed -- was that the blast may have been caused by unexploded Israeli artillery shells, which were being stored in preparation for their destruction.

In the north of Gaza, 8 Palestinians were injured as well by the artillery shelling which caused damage throughout the area. Most of the injured are children under the age of 15 as well as a 50 year old woman named Intisar Abu Audeh, who was injured along with three of her children while they were inside their house.

The lives of Palestinian people are so cheap here. It seems as though Palestinian people have no right to live while the United States and Europe boycott and punish Palestinians for their democratic choice. And here again, we would still call it the democratic US and Europe?

One man was killed and six people were injured in today's failed targeted assassination attempt.

2006-04-27T13:48:36Z

27 April 2006

Bloodshed continues.

At least one citizen was killed and six others were wounded when Israeli warplanes raided the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, firing on a car.

Israeli warplanes have raided the same area three times. The first time they fired two missiles on a Mercedes car traveling along the coastal road between Deir Al Balah and Al Zawaida towns. In that instance, the passengers managed to escape safely.

A few minutes later, the warplanes targeted a group of citizens were who were crowded near the damaged car. Wa'el Nassar, aged 28, was killed and six other people were wounded, two seriously.

As paramedics and ambulances rushed to the scene to vacate the wounded, the Israeli warplanes re-appeared and fired a third missile on an empty Peugeot car parked on the road. The car was set ablaze.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Confined to a wheel-chair, Amena Ghaith complains bitterly from inside Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip after doctors told her that she would need to look elsewhere for medication. Ghaith, age 60, had her left foot amputated recently after an illness. She also suffers from chronic high blood pressure.

Gaza's main hospital doesn't have what she needs, the Palestinian mother of seven said.

"I will die. Without medicine I will die," Ghaith cried out, as her son Hani, a police officer whose salary is nearly a month overdue, pushed her along a hospital corridor.

Armed clashes on campus in Gaza City, children and women hospitalized for emotional exhaustion.

2006-04-23T14:14:39Z

23 April 2006

Emotional exhaustion among children and women.

Twenty-five people, mainly children in addition to eight women, arrived at the Hospital after being affected with prostration.
Many of them were physiologically affected by the daily shelling as well.

An Israeli rocket hit the sewage system in the north of Gaza
and the whole area smells bad.

A war of words has lead to the setting of Gaza alight, again.

The artillery shelling is still going on and there have even been clashes on the campus of our University.

The Islamic University of Gaza, where I've had my last semester of studies, is where the clashes are this time. Students and supporters of both Hamas and Fateh movement had statred the problem with verbal arguements, and ended up with thirty-one people injured in the clashes.

Dr. Mawia Hassanin, the director of Emergency and Ambulance in Gaza City, said that the hospital received 6 people injured by Israeli tank shells in Gaza City. One of them, a 21 year old man, was seriously injured in his neck while he was outside his house in the North of Gaza.

The rounds of artillery shelling continue till this moment.

No salaries, no life.

It has been noticed over the last few days that internal conflicts are increasing as a result of U.S. and E.U. cutting AID for the Palestinian Authority.

This, of course, is affecting the education, health and welfare sectors. The Ministry of Education, for example, has postponed mid-term exams as a result of shortages in exam papers, affecting the education of hundreds of students in the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Health has no way to afford medicine for people whom are facing cancer and other diseases. Normal citizens have nowhere to go to.

Even a taxi driver would find it impossible to find passengers to pay for a taxi. This affects them negatively and restricts transportation movement in Gaza.

...and there is something called Human Rights, but that is not in Palestine.

2006-04-18T13:56:44Z

This is a war targeting children!

Amar Al Kass, 14 years old, and his friend, Mohammed Abu Tabaq, were not able to make it out to enjoy playing in front of their house. Both boys were injured by the Israeli artillery shelling.

Mamdouh Abeed, 16 years old, died as a result his injuries. Rounds of Israeli artillery killed Abeed few days ago while he was playing with other kids in Al Shiekh Zaied village.

As usual, deaths of children caused by the Israeli shelling never come to an end.

There is never any condemnation from the international community and the so-called "Human Rights Organizations". It seems that there are Human Rights organizations functioning and there is something called Human Rights, but that is not in Palestine.

The sister of Mahmoud Abeed, mourning his death in their house in Gaza.
Mahmoud, age 16, was killed by Israeli shelling in the North of Gaza.

Israeli helicopters launched at least one missile on Tuesday at a workshop to the east of Gaza City. The missile caused great damage, but no causalities were reported. Witnesses in the area said that fire erupted in the workshop and firemen rushed to extinguish the fire. A state of fear and panic spread among citizens, particularly children and women.

Israeli warships have shelled the Rafah shores and the houses close to the beach with 8 missiles so far. People are appealling to the international community to crack down on Israel to stop such attacks against civilians. Such shelling has caused fear and horror among children, women and elderly people in the whole refugee camp.

An Israeli warship in the waters off Rafah beach -- the presence of warships is unusual.
This photo was taken with a zoom lens from a distance away.

About 3,000 people took to the streets of Gaza City in a show of solidarity for fellow Palestinians held behind bars in Israel as part of events to mark Prisoners' Day.

The protestors first rallied outside the local headquarters of the International Committee for the Red Cross before making their way to the Gaza branch of the Palestinian Parliament, chanting "Free Our Prisoners" and carrying banners proclaiming "The Prisoners are the Heart of the Palestinians".

Some of those taking part in the rally carried portraits of Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who is being held in a jail near Jerusalem after being controversially kidnapped from a prison in the Palestinian town of Jericho last month.

These women are protesting the United Nations decision to cut Aid for Palestinians

Others carried posters of Marwan Barghuti, the head of the Fateh faction in the West Bank who is regarded as the inspiration behind the Palestinian uprising, and is now serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison.

In a letter addressed to the ICRC, information minister Yussef Rizqa urged the organization to put pressure on Israel to release Palestinian prisoners as well as improve their conditions. "Israel is always hindering the visits for the families of prisoners," said Rizqa who also accused the prison authorities of obstructing the work of inmates' lawyers.

A total of 9,400 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to the Palestinian central bureau of statistics. The figure includes 369 Palestinians who were jailed before the 1993 Oslo autonomy accords.

MPs held a Parliament session on Monday devoted to the plight of the prisoners. Rallies were also expected to take place in the West Bank.

~ from the message board ~

2006-04-17T22:02:45Z

From: Joudi (Original Message) Sent: 4/15/2006 5:20 AM
Hello everyone,

In the past couple of weeks, Israel has been heavily shelling and attacking many parts of Gaza. Attacks by Apache helicoptors have been reported and also that Israel may be dropping special operations commandos into the strip. There have been demonstrations by peace groups, including Gush Shalom, in Tel Aviv, but almost no news here.

Here is a link to a BBC news story:
** Israel 'to step up Gaza shelling' **
Israel says it will step up its bombardment of the Gaza Strip to deter
rocket attacks, as a Palestinian child victim is buried.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4900796.stm >

Al Jazeera link:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CD6AE488-DB27-417A-B3A1-7DBF45E9A471.htm

Also, the following series of reports has been recevied from someone visiting Gaza.
Saturday morning

Tanks incursion into the eastern part of Gaza city. Special fornces in the eastern graveyard of Gaza city! Shelling continues.

Friday
Dozens of thousands in every town and camp marched after Friday prayers in support of and loyality for HAMAS government.

Friday 14th April 2005 (11:30 p.m.)
Israeli tanks and buldozers incursions in two areas in the south and middle of Gaza Strip. Right now, a shelling can be heared everywhere in the city of Gaza. Military heliocapters fly overheads. No reported casulaities so far. A large family in Rafah clashes with the police and national army. Fighters from other factions support the police against the family.

Thursday, April 13:
I thiink that the worst is yet to come in Gaza. For instance, all local banks, small and big have refused to deal with HAMAS. They are not sure of HAMAS success, and they also work business.

Because of the religious Jewish pass over shelling on Gaza has been put into a halt.

In general, people here are happy for the newly elected Italian permier and his statment regarding the situation in the PA territories.

There are anticipations of special military operations by well-trained and well-equipped Isareli army units, but it would not be easy for them to achieve their goals in the thickly populated areas of Gaza Strip. Geographic sand demographic situation in Gaza varies from that of the WB. If something of that takes place, then, it could be fulfilled at the border with Egypt (Rafah town) on in the north of Gaza Strip.

As from yesterday, the border crossing with Israel has been totally closed for a week. There was a little opening that reached one or two hours everyday wher they allowed 4-5 or a little more trucks of Israeli goods to pass through to Gaza. Then, for declared reason but security allegations and pretexts, they close for a day or two. Its a play of hide and seek! Well, with the closure of the border crossings, stores are runing out of all needs for life. This is neither a sentimental statement nor an exaggeration.

Best,

SA

- A new round of shelling on Gaza today. This time new kind of shells is used. It produces a horrible sound when it explode; then another horible sound echos! Two shells per minutes. An Isreali official complaint that everyday shelling costs Israel $500,000!!! Shelling comes from the sea and artillery. There are air raids on moving targets when needed. The Palestinians have no anit-aircraft facilities at all! All what they have is primitive kind of local made rockets.

- Yeserday and the day before, some shells targeted two local factories. Also some homes were hit. Yesterday, 9 years-old girl died from boimbing and 9 others of the same family were injured.

- Situation is getting tougher on us. UNRWA spokesman declared that around 760000 refugess will not be able to receive basic humanitarian aids this month and UNRWA may not be capable to run the primary and elemetary schools in Gaza Strip (He said: Study may halt!).

- Having said this littel about the deteriorating situation is Gaza Strip, I stress that is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis. Not only photocopy paper has become meager in the city but also saniraty napkins! Late alone many other things like electric appliances and the likes. Cooking gas is soaring and there are official warnings of fuel problems. In days cars will stop running.

- Gaza is a large prison right now. Ruthless poverty creeps towards villages and refugee camps under the eyes of the whole world, USA , the European Union, Japan and even Arabs allies of USA. Unfortunately, they want to punish the Palestinian people because they elected HAMAS! There are too many reasons behind HAMMAS winning. One of those reasons is the massive corruption that Arafat and his governments, if I may say, have caused to the society. I am not enthusiatic to HAMAS but beleive me that HAMAS's social, educational and cultural programs are the best in terms of planning and implementing. I wonder why all US educational aids were given to the Islamic University of Gaza. From that place 23 staff members won the general elections to the legisalative council; other staff members have been selected for governmental positions.

SA

Can you hear the children in Gaza crying out to you for help?

2006-04-17T00:46:07Z

Gaza children are being murdered with Israeli tanks and missiles, America's taxes, and the World's silence.

People -- Are you there?

Can you hear the yelling of the children appealing to you to stop the mounting Israeli aggression?

The tank cannon shelling contines as this update is written from Gaza City.

2006-04-13T12:38:03Z

Here in Gaza, the loud Israeli helicopters continue to hover in the sky. In the meantime, Israeli tank shells are bombarding the north and eastern part of Gaza Strip.

The cannon shelling resulted in the murder of Hadil Ghaban, a 9 year old little girl who was killed while she was inside her home. During the bombing, her brothers and sisters were injured as well.

In a later interview with Rafah Today, Hadil's father stated that an Israeli official from the Israeli Occupation Forces called him on the phone and, in very fluent Arabic, apologized for the killing of his 9 year old daughter and for the damage to his house.

The Israeli official suggested that Hadil's father would be given permission to go to work inside Israel as a compensation for the killing of his daughter.

Hadil's father responded to him, saying: "I can't sell the blood of my 9 years old daughter for getting permission (to work). We are all born here for the sake of liberating our land from the Israeli occupation."

Ghaban's family and his pregnant wife were all injured in the Northern part of Gaza Strip, where the daily shelling from tanks and helicopters is continuing up until this moment. In the last seven days, tens of people were injured or killed in different parts of Gaza Strip. The tank cannon shelling continues as this update is written from Gaza City.

An Israeli Apache helicopter fired a missile into an apartment before dawn. The apartment, which belongs to the Fatah youth movement, was destroyed. No injuries were reported.

Helicopters hovered over Gaza City for a time before one fired into the apartment. A huge explosion was heard, and firefighters and rescue teams rushed to the scene, said the witnesses, who reported seeing flames and smoke rising from the targeted apartment.

Over 15 people were killed in the last 48 hours and many other hundreds were injured in attacks

2006-04-09T13:23:22Z

Human flesh scattered here and there!

Israel has launched 900 artillery shells at northern Gaza since Thursday, the army said. During that time, the militants fired 10 rockets at Israel.

Israel pounded the northern, South and Middle of Gaza Strip with artillery fire today, killing a Palestinian police officer and wounding nine people as Israel escalated its aggression in the past few days.

Over 15 people were killed in the last 48 hours and many other hundreds were injured in different attacks in Gaza Strip.

I have been taking photos and writing about yesterday's incursion into Rafah, which is one of the most gory places. It smells everywhere inside the hospital and in the targeted area of burned flesh, exactly that of humans. Men, women, and even children's flesh burned when the Israeli airplanes shelled with three rockets, at least one of which targeting the Popular Resistance Committee leaders in Rafah.

The attack killed an entire family while they were passing together by the old Israeli settlement of Rafeh Yam. The family were on their way back from Gaza City.

Inside the ambulance, there is only a part of a small head. It looks like a child's head and there is another piece which is part of a leg. In addition, there are smaller pieces of flesh scattered all over in the streets. It took long hours for the medics to collect the pieces of flesh in the street.

This attack has resulted in random demonstrations all over Rafah. People are sadly going into the streets and appealing for help to stop the Israeli helicopters attacks!

In Khan Younies, over 6 people were killed and many were injured. The daily attacks, closure of the borders and the starvation of Palestinians are examples of what Israel insists on doing.

A few hours ago, a police officer named Yasser Abu Jarad, aged 28, was trying to evacuate colleagues from a makeshift military post when a shell hit his car and killed him, Palestinian security officials said. The army said it had warned Palestinian security officers posted near launching sites that they could be in danger from Israeli retaliation.

While Israel has been pressuring Hamas with military strikes, the US and European Union cut off of hundreds of millions of dollars in desperately needed aid to the Palestinian Authority. The US and EU classify Hamas as a terror group.

Shortly after Hamas won the January 25th Palestinian Parliamentary elections, Israel suspended the monthly transfer of some 65 million euros in taxes that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. It also banned Hamas leaders from traveling between the West Bank and Gaza.

The wreckage of the car belonging to murdered police officer Yasser Abu Jarad, aged 28, killed by an Israeli shell.

Israeli soldiers shelled the police officer's car as he was trying to evacuate
several of his colleagues from a makeshift military post.

..........................................

PLEASE NOTE that although the following photos are graphic and
upsetting images, Mohammed has made a point of witholding worse images
in consideration for viewers' feelings.

..........................................

Apaches shelling Gaza Strip -- brief email from Mohammed

2006-04-08T19:04:03Z

I'm so busy now,

People's flesh, heads, legs and arms are scattered allover the streets. Children being killed. I have been taking horrible photos. I have got photos exclusive by France Press and AP. My photos were in many newspapers and mainly in the news agencies web pages yesterday at 12 o'clock! I should run NOW, apaches shelling!

It's very tough here. more bombings by the helicopters!

mohhamdmd

"The world is a dangerous place to live;
not because of the people who are evil,
but because of the people who don't
do anything about it."
www.rafahtoday.org

Sonic bombs and daily attacks against the Gaza Strip.

2006-04-05T21:29:34Z

Israeli aircraft fired two missiles into the compound of the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Gaza City, wounding two people, Palestinian security sources said.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, who was in the West Bank at the time of the attack, condemned the strike and called on the international community to intervene to stop what he called Israel's escalation.

The military has stepped up artillery shelling of a self-declared "no-go zone" in northern Gaza since an unprecedented attack last week with a Katyusha rocket, which has a much longer range than the normal makeshift missiles. The shelling is still going by sonic bombs and daily attacks against the Gaza Strip—many people were injured in different attacks and tanks shells in the Northern part of Gaza.

Palestinian coffers empty

On the other hand, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said on Wednesday that the Palestinian coffers were completely empty as he hosted the first regular cabinet meeting of his Hamas-led government.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniya

"We inherited a situation in which we not only have no money in the treasury but a whole load of debts," he added.

Haniya said his administration would struggle to pay government salaries as a result of a financial crisis, partly brought on by Israel's refusal to hand over customs duties that it used to collect for the Palestinian Authority, now the administration is led by the radical Islamist movement.

"We are making every effort to pay the government employees despite the financial crisis," Haniya said at the start of the meeting in Gaza City.

The European Union and United States have both threatened to slash funding to the Palestinian Authority unless Hamas commits itself to non-violence and acknowledges Israel's right to exist.

In a statement later issued by his office, Haniya said that he himself would not take a salary while others went unpaid.

"The government and (myself) in particular as prime minister will not receive salaries before the government employees receive theirs," he said.

Gaza at the moment is under shelling.

2006-04-03T16:11:29Z

Three Palestinians dead in Gaza clashes.

Two Palestinians were killed on Friday in clashes in Gaza between gunmen and security forces after a top militant died in a car explosion, medical sources at Al Shifa hospital said said.

The clashes were triggered by the death of Abu Youssef AL Quqa, a top commander in the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella militant group often responsible for rocket attacks against Israel.

Gunmen loyal to Al Quqa blamed Israel for the killing but also said members of the Palestinian security services were involved. Israel has denied any involvement in the explosion.

Israeli helicopters and bombing is still going on in the Gaza Strip, and the last target was a football stadium in the Gaza City which ended by all the audience run away out from the football stadium.

Gaza at the moment is under shelling. The new Prime minister Ismail Hanyieh has asked all disarm all militants from the Palestinian streets.

Bird flu has been detected among poultry in Gaza

2006-03-24T16:54:14Z

24 March 2006

The killing senesce is repeated again and again during an international silence. The Islamic Jihad group, which targets, named the dead members as Mahmud Salah Ayad, 25, and Fares Sofian Abu Gharaba, 24, and confirmed they were trying to carry out an attack.

Medics at the Deir AL Balah hospital in the central Gaza Strip confirmed they had received the bodies of the two slain members scattered into small pieces.

Their deaths brought to thousands of people killed, and tens of thousands were injured, in addition to thousands of houses have been demolsihed since the eruption of the Intifada in September 2000.

On the other hand, Bird flu has been detected among poultry in Gaza but tests have yet to prove whether the virus is the H5N1 strain deadly to humans, the Israeli and Palestinian agriculture ministries said yesterday.

Representatives from the Israeli and Palestinian agriculture ministries and veterinary services met later yesterday at the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip to discuss how to combat the bird flu.

Palestinian agriculture ministry official Azzam Tbeileh said tests on 30 chickens found dead on Tuesday in the eastern Gaza Strip proved with “near certainty” that the poultry suffered from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

“Medical teams are prepared to quarantine the area and exterminate 35,000 poultry from the farm if the results of the first tests provide confirmation,” Tbeileh added.

He said there was no indication of any human contamination.

The Palestinian health service was placed on a state of alert on Tuesday following the discovery in Israel of the H5N1 strain deadly to humans.

photos of the March 15 attack on the Jericho jail by Israeli forces

2006-03-16T19:51:14Z

16 March 2006

Photos used by other websites that were sent by friends and photographers in the West Bank —

Prisoners taken from the Jericho jail were ordered to remove their clothing.

A blitz of foreign kidnappings and furious attacks on Western interests...

2006-03-16T18:52:56Z

15 March 2006

A blitz of foreign kidnappings and furious attacks on Western interests erupted in the Palestinian territories after Israeli troops raided a West Bank prison deserted by British monitors.

At least nine people were still kidnapped in the Gaza Strip after the massive Israeli raid ended in the oasis town of Jericho with the arrests of Palestinian militants wanted for the 2001 assassination of an Israeli minister.

The abductions followed hot on the heels of warnings from militants for all British and US nationals to quit the West Bank and Gaza Strip "immediately".

An American boy being evacuated by a preventative security forces bodyguard.

Families were escorted out of the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Authority after the Popular Front for Palestine Liberation demonstrated with demands that British and Americans leave Gaza as soon as possible.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, currently on a tour of key European capitals, appealed for calm and urged Palestinians to refrain from attacking foreign and EU interests in the Palestinian territories.

But the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine vowed that the siege in which their detained chief Ahmed Saadat surrendered to Israeli troops, will not go unpunished, sparking fears of heightened Middle East violence.

"It will not pass without retaliation," politburo leader Kaid Al Said. "These are dangerous events -- Israel is not respecting agreements. We will discuss our response," he added.

It was the worst day of foreign abductions in the increasingly chaotic and hostage-prone Gaza Strip since Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from the territory last September, following a 38-year occupation.

"We call on all British and US nationals to leave the Palestinian territories immediately on pain of unprecedented consequences," the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades warned earlier in Gaza City.

With the rampant insecurity increasingly threatening to escalate out of control, Palestinian police shot dead a militant from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and wounded seven others in the Gaza Strip. Yasser Abu Rihan, 30, died and four militants were wounded in clashes with police acting on new live fire orders in response to clashes, medics said. The other three militants were wounded in a firefight close to the Jordanian embassy.

Two French women doctors, a Swiss who headed the Red Cross mission in the depressed town of Khan Yunis and four other foreigners were grabbed at gunpoint from a luxury Al Dierah hotel were snatched in the Gaza Strip. A French reporter and a French photographer were also kidnapped during the day. Two Australian nationals were briefly kidnapped in the Gaza Strip. PFLP militants also snatched a US citizen for minutes in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun before Palestinian security forces recovered the man.

PFLP leader Ahmed Saadat, who was detained under Anglo-US supervision for the 2001 accusation of murdering of far-right Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, and five other militants were the focus of the Israeli assault.

Hundreds of furious Palestinians mobbed the British cultural centre in Gaza City and set fire to the building after an angry protest in which gunmen pumped a volley of bullets into the air.

Protestors also swarmed into the British consulate in Gaza City, while other furious Palestinians attacked the British Council office and a branch of the HSBC bank in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The British Council said its centre in Gaza City was "very badly damaged" after a mob set it ablaze, gutting its ground and second floors.

A car on fire outside the British Council, which was later also gutted by fire.

Abbas, who has failed to deliver on repeated promises to end the security chaos dogging the territories, could only urge restraint from a European tour. "President Abbas calls on all Palestinian people not to turn the protest against the Israeli attack on the Jericho prison into violent action against cultural centres of the European Union or any other country," a statement said.

The situation here in Gaza is getting worse with helicopters shelling and bombing all over.

2006-02-16T17:48:24Z

16 February 06

Today, Israeli Occupation Forces shot and wounded a mentally deranged citizen in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanuon.

Medical sources at Al Shifa Hospital said that the mentally ill man, Mufeed Arafat, age 25, was wounded with a metal bullet in his body while he was near the fence, north the city. He was taken to Al Shifa Hospital and his condition is reported to be moderate.

Mufeed Arafat surrounded by medical personnel at Al Shifa Hospital after he was shot.

In the past few weeks, there have been several other shootings. A few days ago on February 14, a 25-year-old woman named Nayfa Abu Msa'ed was shot and killed when she was allegedly standing several hundred meters from the barrier. A few weeks earlier on January 27, a little girl named Aya-Al Astal was shot dead near the border and left for several hours until her body was found by medics and brought to Nasser Hospital. She was nine years old.

Yesterday, the IOF killed a mentally deranged citizen in cold blood in the West Bank city of Qabatiya.

The situation here in Gaza is getting worse with helicopters shelling and bombing all over. Last week witnessed many air strikes that targeted Fatah and Islamic Jihad, while Hamas, on the other hand, is busy in forming the new Palestinian government.

Israeli Apache helicopters have been shelling different parts of the Gaza Strip — 2 more dead.

2006-02-07T02:30:36Z

6 February 06

BREAKING NEWS —

Israeli Apache helicopters have been shelling different parts of the Gaza Strip.

Two members of Al Aqsa Martyers brigades were assassinated by Israeli helicopters in the north of the Gaza Strip and many other people have been injured, medical sources stated.

Shelling by Israeli Apaches continues at these moments (leading up to midnight) in different parts of Gaza.

A child runs past a car targeted by the Israeli Army in Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian security source identified the dead as Rami Hannouna, aged 25, and Hassan Asfour, aged 27.

The two men were local commanders of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of the Fatah faction that has helped spearhead a five-year uprising.

Al Aqsa vowed revenge. "Our answer is open war on all Zionists, soldiers and civilians," a spokesman for the group, Abu Qusai, said.

Israel killed five Gaza militants in two similar air strikes over the weekend. Shelling by Israeli tanks continues in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians carrying an injured person into Al Shifa Hospital during the shelling in the north of Gaza

The raid followed the killing of three Palestinian fighters overnight in Israel's first air strike on the Gaza Strip since Islamist group Hamas' sweeping victory in parliamentary elections last month.

Only hours before this, Israeli Occupation Forces had fired dozens of artillery rounds at northern Gaza and eastern Gaza City

Shelling — Two people were killed. An additional three people were injured.

2006-02-06T13:22:41Z

6 February 2006

According to eyewitnesses, Israeli helicapters targeted and shelled an Islamic Jihad leader while he was driving in Gaza City.

Two people were killed. An additional three people were injured.

Three people killed in Gaza — airstrike came in middle of waves of demonstrations against cartoons

2006-02-05T15:41:32Z

5 February 2006

Three people were killed in Gaza when Israeli armed forces launched a helicopter attack on a building used by the AL Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, forcing people into the street.

The sister of one of Al Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members who was killed this morning by the Israeli Apaches in Gaza City

Five others were wounded in the attack on Gaza City early on Sunday.

The Israeli military said the attack was designed to stop Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, after a strike which wounded three on Friday.

Palestinians sources in Gaza City said the building was an Al Aqsa sports club and sports training camp. A car was hit moments after Israeli rockets hit the building.

Four of the wounded were security personnel guarding the Palestinians' Preventive Security headquarters near the Al Aqsa facility, medical sources at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City said.

The strike by Israeli forces came in the middle of waves of demonstrations against cartoons of the prophet Mohammed published in some European newspapers.

”Why have they demolished our houses?"

2006-01-10T13:29:41Z

Tents everywhere. Homeless families on every corner and street.

Demolished trees everywhere. Rocket and bullet holes in every wall.

Nights not much different from days.

In the day there is the sun, and also in the night there is light but it’s different from sun: it is the Israeli bullets that light up the skies with Israeli red gunfire..

It was Rafah Refugee Camp.

Rafah, the area that continued to be attacked day after day, at a time when there is no media, because many were killed already..

This is the result of the international silence that supports Israel in its invasion of Rafah and Gaza Strip every day.

Who are the victims?! Yes, the victim is already known to you and me and to all the governments of the world..

Hanan Abu Anza was one of hundreds of victims of those attacks..

She wasn’t able to get into her house for a long time even after her house had been demolished. Her child was killed just four days before her house was demolished.. She was trying hard to dig out clothes for her children and get out some furniture from under the rubble.

Hanan’s house will show and prove to you the real intention of Israel..

Israel's media which is quick to get coverage in international media, announced that they were demolishing houses in Rafah for building a new border line, and Hanan's house which is located in Block “O” area in Rafah Refugee Camp, lies on this border line.

It was the first area that they began demolishing houses in, and they killed 7 people in the border line massacre. So demolishing new 9 houses with another 8 partially demolished together with many trees.

In the past they claimed it was because of the new iron wall that they are doing and after building that iron wall what is the reason for continuing to demolish hundreds of houses?!!

Even during Eid el Fitr, after fasting the Ramadan month which ended last Monday, and now the Arab countries are celebrating with new festivities while the children in Rafah are visiting their fathers, brothers, and relatives in the cemeteries..

It was clearly showing on the faces of the children, from their eyes that were full of questions and bewilderment...

Six year old Osama Redwan asked his grandmother while sitting in the rubble of their home: ”Why have they demolished our houses?"

She had no answer.

The ”bullet” is the language of the Israeli soldiers..

2005-12-29T16:17:33Z

Sudden strange shelling, shooting, bombing.. Where from?

No one knows from where these bullets are coming from.

Yesterday at 12 p.m., most of the areas had no electricity because of shelling.. People were leaving their houses, and many groups of women were leaving their houses even forgetting their children.

A red line appears in the dark sky and explodes in a house, and ambulances begin transferring more and more children at first, then when the area was surrounded by tanks and bulldozers they were unable to get to the injured people who were shot by the apaches and the tanks..

It was not enough for the Israeli army to kill her 12 year old, now they also demolished her house.. Her name is Hanan Abu Anza, a woman with 7 children. She was leaving her home when they killed her child a few days ago, and now her house is being demolished by Israeli bulldozers..

Soldiers are just shooting and shelling children, women and old men.. demolishing a large number of houses.. it seems like these bulldozers do not have drivers. How come? When a women is weeping and waving her white sheet to the bulldozer yet the bulldozer still does not respond to her.. This is what happened to Hana Abu Anza, when she tried to get out of her home to a safe place yesterday in Block O area..

The situations wasn’t so much different in other parts of Rafah like East Rafah, where they demolished five houses two days ago, killed an old man and arrested another, in addition to demolishing a large number of houses.

click here for photos

Hay Al Salam also was attacked, and it was the worst day for the people who are living there.. Ehab Al Arjja, Kahlil Al Aker and his uncle and son Alaa were victims of the Israeli soldiers. They planted their orange and olive trees for a year, but they were unable to reap it, as their houses, trees, and properties were demolished.. Ala Al Aker’s wife and her aunt were arrested by the Israeli soldiers in that attack when they was decided not to leave their houses..

The attack is still continuing as I write. Block area refugee camp is still under curfew and attack. The soldiers are shooting at a large number of people.. Dr. Al Mussa, the Director of Abu Yousif Al Najjar hospital said: ”There is a large number of injured people right now and we are unable to get our ambulances into those areas because Israelis soldiers are targeting us with their snipers”

This is life in the Rafah Refugee Camp..The ”bullet” is the language of the Israeli soldiers..

The attack is still continuing since yesterday night, and there is a large number of injured people, demolished homes, in addition to this old man who died of a heartattack this morning upon hearing the Apaches shelling near his home..

Children shot, one killed; homes demolished; many people injured; snipers fire at primary school

2005-11-15T15:10:23Z

The IDF broke into Rafah Camps, and especially in Yebna camp about 500 meters from the border line. It was a different night.

The soldiers seemed to forget their fingers on their triggers. Shooting continued more than two hours and a half.

More than 7 people were injured. They were among the victims who had left their homes that had been attacked as they were sleeping.

Most of them got out in their sleeping clothes because there was no time. One minute waiting meant that they would get demolished with their houses. It's the same every night like that..

In that attack, about 16 people were injured.

Mohammed Hamdan, a 13 year old, was killed. He was injured with one bullet in his leg, and when he tried to walk the soldiers shot him again.

Three hours later they found him lying dead near his house.

Monir Kasas, 14 years old, was surrounded by tanks and bulldozers as he was holding a white flag to show the soldiers that he wanted to leave the house, but they still shot him and he fell on the ground with his white flag which was mixed with his blood.

The soldiers began shooting using cannons that are normally used to damage huge buldings and houses.

They shot about 8 people who were then transferred to the European Hospital in Gaza. Most of the injured lost some limbs.

A very large number of houses have been demolished by the time the IDF tanks withdrew.

The families went to see their homes, and found most of them demolished with all their furniture and belongings. The families as usual began sleeping in tents, flats and in UNRWA schools…

This crime just came a few hours after a game that Israeli soldiers had been playing — it was an entertainment game when the soldiers began sniping the Tal Al Sultan Primary School.

They shot an 8 year old student and a teacher.

In addition, more than 25 students were transferred to the hospital because of tear gas as a result of that entertainment game.

Israeli soldiers decided to close the school and naturally it is closed now. Even if it opens again the children would prefer not to go when there is shooting directed against them.

Sorry, I have no pictures to attach to this report because my camera was broken in one of the attacks last week.

Old woman dies at checkpoint; PA attacks houses with tunnels; shelling; demonstrations

2005-11-12T19:11:02Z

An old women died at the checkpoint near the airport, as she was on her way to Egypt for an open heart surgery. After waiting more than 5 hours at the checkpoint, she died.

On Monday, the Palestinian Authority attacked more than 4 houses in Rafah.

According to what the IDF leaders told the Palestinian Authority, there were four families in Rafah who had illegal tunnel entrances concealed inside them. In response, the Palestinians Authority fought with those four families.

The Palestinian Authority found the tunnels in those four houses and arrested all of the members in addition to shutting down the tunnels. Now, the Palestine Authority shot and fought with all these families, and they demolished some parts of their houses.

Those four houses were the only houses that tried to create illegal tunnels according to the Israelis leaders.

Shelling and the shooting continues against Rafah every night.

Yesterday they shot many people, as they aimed to shell the houses of the citizens in order to force the families to leave them, then demolished their houses and then announced that they demolished them because they were empty.

In this morning, thousands of Palestinians gathered in the UNRWA office and government offices objecting to the closure of relief organizations. The demonstration was attended by disabled people, fatherless children with their mothers, poor families and others who were asking the world not to close relief organizations that aim at serving humanity..