As Israel policy of closure in the Gaza Strip enters its 18th year, and the siege enters its 4th, the reality of life in the world’s biggest open air prison becomes ever more difficult to understand for those who have never had the opportunity to go there. Gaza has become a rallying cry for those concerned with Palestinian (and human) rights, and the plight of 1.5 million people cooped up in one of the most densely populated regions on earth, banned from exiting even for critical medical treatment or to escape one million tons of bombs falling on their heads, has become a rallying point for countless new recruits to the Palestinian cause.
Obviously, this (rather big) blemish on the Zionist entity’s crudely cultivated façade as a liberal, humane state has had the hasbara machine working overtime. It takes a lot of effort to convince the world that diapers and pasta pose a security risk if they are allowed to enter Gaza, but the (un)slick spinsters employed to justify the implementation of a 15th century-style siege in the 21st century are unraveled by one thing: cold, hard facts.
The Israeli human rights group Gisha has set a website (www.gazagateway.org) that details the weekly entry of goods into Gaza compared with the Strip’s weekly needs. It also highlights gas shortages, and on the front page there’s a short piece about the millions of liters of sewage seeping into Gaza’s farmland and pumped into the sea daily because Israel won’t allow the overflowing sewage plants to be maintained, repaired or replaced.
The website’s best feature, ho
wever, is its simplicity. There, right in front of you, is a clear image of the disparity between the needs of the captive refugee population, and the supply allowed in by the colonialist occupiers, and no amount of spin can skew that.
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'Trapped in the Middle East's brutal eye-for-an-eye conflict, Mariam Al Shafei was robbed of hers by a hot piece of flying shrapnel. She was only 14, a mere schoolgirl, and had never hurt anyone.
Mariam's long process of healing started Thursday afternoon. San Jose prosthetic expert Raymond Rendon built her a new eye — large and brown, like her own — and gently placed it in the empty socket.
She peered into the mirror, then tossed back her head and let out a full-throated laugh. Then she looked again, closer.
The sculpted acrylic eye was cold. It hurt a little. She wiped a tissue to catch a tear.
"It looks beautiful," said friend and translator Rima Qaru of San Francisco.
Flown here by the charity Palestine Children's Relief Fund, Mariam's medical care is donated by volunteers like Rendon and San Francisco ophthalmologist Dr. Stuart Seiff, who will do minor surgery. Other volunteers, such as Mariam's Arabic translator and the host family in Redwood City, provide food, clothing, housing and entertainment.
At least 10 other Arab children have come to the Bay Area through PCRF, a nonpolitical, nonprofit organization that was established in 1991 to identify and treat every child in need of specialized surgery.
Mariam, now 15, was hit Jan. 4, while eating breakfast in her Gaza home. It happened during an Israeli response to earlier rocket fire by Hamas.'
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_13974373
Posted by Iraqi Mojo | December 12, 2009, 1:19 am