Viva Palestina convoy sees destruction and courage

We got in. We were in one of the last buses to arrive at the Gaza border in Rafah toward night in mid-July when Palestinian students greeted us and rode with us to Gaza City.

Photo of destruction in Gaza taken by a member of the Viva Palestina delegation. WW photo: John Parker

This victory had seemed unlikely. The Egyptian regime—in obvious collusion with the U.S. to try to break the back of our movement—confronted the Viva Palestina-U.S. convoy, the largest U.S. delegation ever to challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza, with obstacle after obstacle. After days of negotiations, we won a 24-hour visit.

British Minister of Parliament George Galloway, New York City Councilmember Charles Barron and former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney led the convoy. McKinney had recently been released from an Israeli jail. The Israelis had kidnapped her off a ship bringing building supplies to heroic Gaza.

The convoy aimed to get into Gaza, whose resistance last December-January added another chapter to the Palestinian people’s 60-year struggle for liberation. We were to deliver vital medical supplies, to bring in vehicles the Gaza residents could use mainly for medical purposes, and, finally, to spread the word back in the U.S. about the situation in Gaza.

We soon entered Gaza City where a Palestinian delegation greeted us. They had waited all day and into the evening for all 218 Viva Palestina-U.S. members to arrive. We felt like we were entering free territory, where people were so warm and friendly to their guests and so glad to meet delegation members.

Blockade and war’s devastation

The next morning we took a guided bus tour and witnessed Gaza’s devastation. It was clear the Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza were a deliberate campaign to inflict punishment on the civilian population.

Apartment buildings had been shelled, leaving huge holes in the walls. Many homes in Gaza had been reduced to rubble.

Overall, 5,000 homes were destroyed and 20,000 made unlivable, leaving 50,000 Gaza Palestinians without shelter. The Israelis also bombed government buildings; the Parliament, the Cabinet Building and the Presidential Compound had all been bombed.

There were gaping holes in the roofs and whole floors had been destroyed. One of the buildings had sheets of concrete hanging off it. In other places there were stacks of broken concrete and twisted metal.

We passed an area known as Gaza’s factory row. Before the bombing and invasion, more than 200 factories produced cement, biscuits, wooden furniture and much else. Some distance from the factory area were remnants of colorful carts from a demolished ice cream factory.

The Israeli attack destroyed all the main factories and the agricultural centers. We could see the damage to orchards and olive groves that had been bulldozed. As the bus approached the Mediterranean Sea, we saw part of the beach refugee camp of Gaza City, where some folks were living in tents while others were out in the open cooking food over fires under the hot sun.

Damage to infrastructure

What was harder to see was the damage to the water and power infrastructure. The ongoing blockade directed at the elected Hamas government had reduced fuel entry to Gaza, which meant that power was cut to a few hours per day, stalling the water pumping system. After the December-January invasion, some 80 percent of the electrical system was out of service, disrupting service for major wells providing water access to 200,000 people.

Sewage has been a major problem in Gaza because of an inadequate pumping system and shortage of fuel, generators and spare parts. We passed areas where the stench of raw sewage was overwhelming. Our guide said that raw, untreated sewage is pumped directly into the sea.

Palestinian technicians said returning water and power services to the 400,000 people without them could take only weeks, but could be done only if the Israelis allowed parts and equipment to enter Gaza. Israel has refused to allow any of the needed equipment across the checkpoint.

Like the 1990s’ U.S. blockade of Iraq, the Israeli blockade of Gaza keeps out chlorine used to make water safe to drink and to treat raw sewage. The Israeli excuse is that the chlorine may also be used for weapons. But the reality is that in Iraq thousands of children died from water-borne diseases.

A number of buildings, including mosques, were spray-painted by the Israeli military with such racist hate slogans as “Hamas is dead” in Arabic and in English and “Arabs need to die,” among others. Despite the slogans and despite the invasion, Hamas still governs Gaza and the Palestinian resistance continues.

One family in Gaza

Jehad Abu-Jakar, a student at the University of Gaza studying English, told us how hard it was to study in Gaza. The university lacks books, school supplies, and vehicles and fuel for transportation. Recently he moved from his home on the Rafah border, only 300 yards from the Egyptian checkpoint where the convoy entered Gaza, to Gaza City so he can continue his studies.

Abu-Jakar explained how the Israelis forced his family out of Bir al-Saba (Be’ersheba) and how they came to the Gaza Strip as refugees, where they had hoped to build a better life. His childhood on the border during the first Intifada was very difficult.

During the second Intifada the Israelis killed Abu-Jakar’s aunt and injured his mother. At that time he joined with other youth and threw stones at the Israeli forces. His story of the human devastation and suffering of one family reflects the conditions for many Palestinian families who live on the Gaza Strip, where invasions, destruction and brutality have continued for more than 60 years.

The people of Gaza are continuing their struggle and resistance against the months-long blockade and Israeli incursions and attacks.

Health care in Gaza

Gaza health services were on the brink of collapse before the Dec. 27 Israeli invasion. Medical supplies were almost nonexistent, and patients with complex medical conditions were being referred to hospitals outside Gaza.

Aed Yohi, a representative of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, said at a press conference that Gaza has a total of 2,053 hospital beds.

The invasion killed 1,413 Palestinians, including 313 children, while nine Israelis died. About a quarter of the casualties occurred by Dec. 30. At that time only 15 medical patients were allowed to pass through the Rafah border into Egypt for emergency care, according to the World Health Organization.

An article on the Web site Mideastcurrent.com from that time illustrates how the blockade affected medical care during the invasion. At Al Shifa’ hospital on Dec. 30, Khaled Abu-Najar, a staff nurse in the emergency department, said that “150 patients were brought in at once ... [but] we lacked beds, sterile gloves, gauze, sheets and scissors to treat patients.”

At the same hospital, Ramez Zyam, one of the general surgeons who was working 24-hour shifts, said the surgeons treating many crush injuries and severe trauma lacked instruments like artery clamps, chest tubes and forceps needed to handle severe traumatic injuries. They had not received medical supplies for three months. According to the director of the hospital, Hussein Ashur, the burn, intensive care, orthopedic, and surgery units reached capacity.

The Kamal Adwan Hospital serves Jabalya and Beit Lahlya. Jabalya is Gaza’s largest refugee camp and 300,000 people reside there. This hospital has only 71 beds. The first day of the invasion they received 93 patients for emergency care. This hospital lacked supplies, ambulances and staff. But they expanded makeshift beds and continued to care for the wounded.

The struggle continues

The need for medical supplies continues even without a war emergency. Our convoy brought a number of truckloads of medical supplies with us from the U.S., including walkers, wheelchairs, crutches and other disability-assistance equipment to help the people wounded during the invasion. The convoy bought medicine and other medical supplies like intensive care monitors brought from the U.S. and materials bought in Egypt. Much of it was aimed at aiding people who had lost limbs.

Our other goal was to bring in vehicles. Unfortunately, the Egyptian government impounded all the vehicles. The Viva Palestina convoy is exploring how to overcome this problem.

The last task for convoy members is to spread the word about Gaza with pictures, videos, newspaper articles, and presentations to groups around the United States to win more support for the Palestinian struggle on the Gaza Strip—heroic resistance against Israel and U.S. imperialism.

The 218 participants in Viva Palestina-U.S. will be taking on that task. This includes representatives from The Council on American Islamic Relations, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Cuba Coalition, Al Awda—the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Azalan (MEChA), American Jewish Rabbis against Zionism, International Action Center, Answer Coalition, International Socialist Organization and Workers World Party.

The Palestinian people showed us their deep roots in their land and their determination to continue resistance until all Palestinians have the right to return to their homeland.

Eolis, a retired emergency room nurse who describes herself as an anti-racist, anti-Zionist Jewish woman who has shown solidarity with the Palestinian people since the June 1967 war, helped organize the manifest list of supplies brought from the U.S.

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