ISM Digest 1-2-08: Bil'in Activists Assaulted with Settler Caravans Hovering Overhead; Leviev Faces Transcontinental Boycott; Settlement Construction Continues

[ISM Media Group]

ISM Digest 1-2-08: Bil'in Activists Assaulted with Settler Caravans
Hovering Overhead; Leviev Faces Transcontinental Boycott; Settlement
Construction Continues

-------------------
1. Two Badly Injured as Bil'in Residents Attempt to Thwart Settler
Land Grab
2. Al-Arabiya: Israel decides "not to build new settlements"
3. Ha'aretz: Twilight Zone / Deer hunters
4. Activists call for Boycott of Leviev during weekly Bil'in protest
5. Israeli army invades and occupies Hebron hospital
6. Israeli army invade Azzoun yet again
7. Ha'aretz: From Bil'in to Madison Avenue: Demonstrations Outside
Leviev Jewelry Shop in New York over Danya Cebus' Construction in the
Territoies
8. Apartheid Masked: Settlement being built and Palestinian homes
demolished under the shadow of "peace" talks.
9. New Statesman: The grim reality in Gaza

------------------------
1. Two Badly Injured as Bil'in Residents Attempt to Thwart Settler
Land Grab

On January 1st, Mohammed Khatib and Abdullah Abu Rahme of the Bil'in
popular committee were badly beaten by settlers while non-violently
attempting to stop the positioning of a settlement outpost on village
land. Abdullah was released from Sheik Zaid hospital the same night,
Mohammed returned home later the next day. Cameraman Emad Bornat was
beaten also but escaped with footage of the attack after settlers
destroyed his camera.

Settlers arrived around 7pm attempting and placed a caravan on the
ground, creating an outpost to the illegal settlement of Modi'in
Illit. The aim of the outpost seems to be to stop the army moving the
apartheid wall further East to give Bil'in some of its land back, as
per the Supreme Court decision awarded in September. The settlers are
calling the caravan a synagogue in an attempt to make it harder to
remove by the Israeli military, a common practice in the West Bank.

The settlers were attempting to place a second caravan when Mohammed
and Abdullah, together with Emad Bornat, quickly arrived on the scene
and sat down under the caravan, preventing the settlers from securing
the structure. Many other Bil'in residents arrived soon afterwards but
were prevented from accessing the site by soldiers at the gate through
the apartheid wall, which runs directly through Bil'ins land.

Armed settlers approached the group and were overheard saying "lets
break his head" in Hebrew by an Israeli talking on the phone to
Mohammed before the attack. The settlers then proceeded to attack the
group, breaking Emad's camera, who then left to protect the film
inside. Over an hour after they were called, the police arrived and
broke up the assault, but did not force the settlers to remove the
structures, which were secured down after Mohammed and Abdullah were
badly beaten. An Israeli activist arriving on the scene directly
called for an Israeli ambulance, but the ambulance was not allowed to
take them to an Israeli hospital, instead they had to wait at the
Nahalin checkpoint for a Palestinian ambulance to arrive to finally
take them to hospital.

According to official sources, two Palestinians and two settlers were
arrested. In fact, no one was arrested, but the police offered to
'look into doing so' if the victims wish to press charges. Police also
said the structures would be removed in the morning. As far as we know
they are still standing.

Mohammed Khatib and Abdullah Abu Rahme, members of Bil'in's Popular
Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, are among the leaders of
Bil'in's three year nonviolent struggle to save Bil'in's land from
Israel's Wall and settlement expansion. Bil'in's nonviolent struggle
has gained support from Israeli and international human rights
activists, received significant Israeli, Arab and international media
coverage, and has spread to neighboring Palestinian communities.

------------------------
2. Al-Arabiya: Israel decides "not to build new settlements"

January 1st

Israel has given new assurances to the United States on Jewish
settlement activity in the occupied West Bank ahead of a first visit
to the region by President George W. Bush next month, army radio
reported on Friday.

Orders have been given to halt construction activity in the
settlements of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and the Ariel bloc in
the northern West Bank, the radio said citing housing ministry
officials.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also gave an undertaking that Israel would
invite no new tenders for housing units in settlements in annexed Arab
east Jerusalem, the radio said.

The prime minister's spokesman Mark Regev said Israel had decided to
take a series of steps to fulfill its obligations under the roadmap,
an internationally drafted peace blueprint that has made next to no
progress since its launch in 2003.

It had decided "not to build new settlements," "not to enlarge the
geographic extent of existing settlements," "not to confiscate private
Palestinian land" and "to halt incentives" to Jewish settlers to move
to the West Bank.

Olmert however refused to freeze an appeal for bids that had already
been issued for new construction in the east Jerusalem settlement of
Har Homa, known to the Palestinians as Jebel Abu Ghneim.

That invitation for tenders, which came after the relaunch of peace
talks at a conference in the United States in November, infuriated the
Palestinians.

But Olmert insisted he would not go back on it because Israel regards
east Jerusalem as an integral part of its capital, even though the
annexation has never been recognized by the international community.

Since Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war, some
470,000 settlers have moved to the territory, 200,000 of them to
annexed east Jerusalem.

Palestinian anger over the invitation of new tenders for construction
even after November's U.S. peace conference overshadowed the first two
round of talks between the two sides' negotiating teams.

After talks between Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on
Thursday both sides sought to draw a line under the row.

"Both parties agreed not to take any steps that may preempt or
prejudice the issues reserved for the permanent status negotiations,"
including settlements, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told
reporters.

A senior Israeli official told journalists that "the issues that have
stalled the talks have been defused.

"Both sides have agreed that neither party would take steps that would
compromise the ability to reach a final agreement and will not
prejudice the outcome of the talks," the official said.
--------------
3. Ha'aretz: Twilight Zone / Deer hunters

By Gideon Levy

Dec. 30

After a night of rain, the sun broke through the clouds. Two brothers
and their brother-in-law decided to go for a hike in the wild, through
the spectacular valley of olive trees, west of Ramallah in the West
Bank. Around midday they suddenly noticed a herd of deer descending
pell-mell into the valley. They stood and watched, certain that in the
wake of the frantically fleeing animals, other people would appear.
And, in fact, a few minutes later they spotted a group of soldiers
slowly making their way into the valley.

The three young Palestinians stood on the ridge of the hills that
overlook the valley, a few hundred meters from the soldiers as the
crow flies. Suddenly, according to the testimony of one of them,
without any prior warning, the soldiers fired bursts of bullets at
them. Firas Kaskas, 32, an unemployed gardener from the village of
Batir, near Bethlehem, who had come to visit his brother-in-law in his
new apartment, fell to the ground. He died of his wounds the next day.
He left a young wife and three daughters, of whom the eldest is four.

This week the sun poured down again on the beautiful valley. We went
there with Jamil Matur, the victim's brother-in-law, who was with him
on that brilliantly bright, but grimly dark day. We stood exactly
where the three had been when Firas was shot and killed. Here, this is
where Matur was standing; Kaskas was here, and his brother, Baha, was
standing there.

A shepherd gathered his flock in the valley below, making strange
groaning noises that carried a long way. In contrast, the tinkling of
the sheeps' bells was sharp and pleasant to the ears. A great calm
descended on the valley, on whose stepped terraces are a number of
ancient ruins. On the ridge across the way are the houses of the
Mustaqbal neighborhood. The way to the valley also cuts through A-
Tira, a prestigious neighborhood on the western slopes of Ramallah, a
city which is today experiencing a building boom and economic
prosperity. A few weeks ago, the members of the Kaskas family - Firas,
his wife Majida, and their three little girls - visited Majida's
brother in A-Tira. He had just moved in, and the family went to see
the new place and spend a peaceful weekend together.

On that Sunday morning the family had a late breakfast and lounged on
the porch of their house. Firas suggested a walk. Majida wanted to
visit another brother in nearby Bitunia; Jamil, Faris' brother-in-law,
suggested that they go into town. Finally, they decided that Majida
and the girls would go to Bitunia and the three men - Jamil, Firas and
Baha - would go for a little hike. Leaving their neighborhood, they
walked along the ridge above the wadi. Near one concentration of ruins
they stopped to watch the deer. Ramallah residents like to come here
on weekends to spend some time in nature, to barbecue meat, smoke a
nargileh and enjoy the view.

The three men were standing a few meters apart from each other when
they noticed a group of soldiers descending into the wadi. They were
about 300 meters away, as the crow flies, the valley separating them.
The soldiers stopped next to the ruins on the slopes of the ridge
opposite them. Jamil counted seven or eight soldiers. Then, suddenly,
without any prior warning, Jamil relates, the soldiers opened fire. It
came in one or two bursts, he says. Jamil immediately took cover
behind a boulder, Baha lay down supine behind him, while Firas stood
out in front, exposed to the gunfire. Jamil managed to call to Firas
to take shelter behind the boulder, Firas turned toward him - and then
collapsed.

"Are you hit?" Jamil asked in a panic.

"It's nothing, just a rubber bullet," Firas replied.

Jamil and Baha moved cautiously toward Firas, who was able to stand
up. They supported him for a few steps, and then he fell again. Foam
gathered on his lips and he gasped for breath. Jamil stripped off his
brother-in-law's clothes and saw a few drops of blood on his
underpants and small holes in his lower stomach and lower back.
Leaving the wounded man with his brother, he ran to the nearest house
to summon help. He also waved his hands toward the soldiers, so they
would not shoot at him, too. They stood mute. Employees from an
ironworker's shop and a few neighbors rushed over. They carried Firas
to a private car and called a Palestinian ambulance. They met the
ambulance up on the road and transferred Firas to the vehicle.

"Firas, are you alive?" Jamil asked his brother-in-law.

"It's nothing," Firas replied.

In the emergency room of the government hospital in Ramallah, he was
still able to resist having his pants removed, but finally agreed and
was taken immediately to surgery.

From the medical report: "The above-named man was brought to the
government hospital in Ramallah on December 2, 2007, after being hit
by a bullet, which penetrated behind the stomach region and exited in
front. The patient was operated on urgently and it emerged that the
small intestine was torn. Part of it was removed and the other part
was stitched. It also emerged that there was heavy bleeding as a
result of a torn central artery in the hip region. The bleeding was
stopped and the arteries were connected. After the operation the
patient was placed in intensive care. After the surgery the stomach
bleeding began anew. The patient was taken to the operating room. It
turned out that there was bleeding of all the stomach tissues."

Firas died at five the next morning.

The Israel Defense Forces spokesman informed us that after a
preliminary investigation, it transpired that soldiers at an army
observation post had spotted three Palestinians who were behaving
suspiciously.

"The three, who were identified as being busy on the ground for quite
a few minutes, were suspected by the force of planting a bomb," the
statement said. "A force ... was rushed to the site and launched a
pursuit of the suspects, during which they called on them to stop and
also fired into the air. When the calls were ignored, the force opened
fire at the suspects."

According to the IDF, "the incident was investigated at all levels of
command, and the lessons will be learned and applied. The findings of
the investigation will be conveyed to the Mili-tary Advocate General's
Office."

Antigona Ashkar, from the human rights organization B'Tselem, who also
investigated the event, wrote to the chief military prosecutor,
Colonel Liron Liebman, saying: "The soldiers opened fire at Jamil,
Baha and Firas suddenly, with no prior warning. The three were sitting
on a boulder and looking at the view, and did not endanger anyone.
They were surprised by the emergence of the soldiers from between the
trees and remained where they were until the soldiers started shooting
at them." B'Tselem requested a Military Police investigation of the
circumstances of the killing.

The B'Tselem field-worker in the Ramallah region, Iyad Hadad, said
this week at the site of the killing: "It was a hunt. Those soldiers
went on a hunting expedition. They killed Firas the way you hunt a
deer or a stag. They couldn't have had any other reason for shooting
him."

Jamil added: "What did the soldiers see in his hand? What did we do?
Did they see a weapon in his hand? Was there a demonstration going on?
Did we throw stones at anyone? They just shot us without batting an
eyelash."

In the village of Batir, Firas' widow, Majida, in black mourning
clothes, sits in her small, simple home. She is holding her infant
daughter Sadil. At three months, Sadil's father has been taken from
her. The other two girls - Latifa, four, and Naama, two and a half -
wander restlessly about their meager living room, blowing soap
bubbles, until the whole room is filled with them.

Majida waited and waited in her brother's home in Bitunia for Firas to
arrive that day, as he had promised, after the hike. But Firas did not
arrive. Not until the next day did her father come and tell her,
"Firas is dead."

Now Majida, her voice broken with crying, says: "I want to ask you and
the whole world: What did he do? What was his crime? What was he
guilty of? The father of three little girls - I want to know, why was
he killed? Because I don't know."

---------------------
4. Activists call for Boycott of Leviev during weekly Bil'in protest

December 28

After Friday prayers, the people of Bil'in marched out in a mass
public demonstration, joined by a number of international and Israeli
solidarity activists, holding Palestinian flags and signs criticizing
the building of colonies and the wall. The Popular Committee (Against
the Wall and Settlements of Bil'in) expressed its opposition and
resistance to the building of settlements/colonies because they stand
as an obstacle to the creation of a geographically contiguous
Palestinian state.

The Popular Committee also called for a boycott of Lev Leviev, a
business man who supports the building of colonies in the West Bank,
noting that Leviev invests in building developments in at least four
colonies on occupied Palestinian lands, and that the colonies violate
international law.

Lev Leviev undertakes the building of illegal colonies in the villages
of Bil'in and Jayyous, in addition to the colonies of Ma'ale Adumim
and Har Homa (Jabal Abu Ghuneim), and is involved in the destruction
of the olive groves and farms that form the livelihood of these
villages, partaking in the violation of human rights for material
profit.

The Popular Committee has joined Adalah-NY in expanding its campaign
against Leviev to Dubai, where Leviev intends to open a third branch
of his jewelry chain, after the opening of his branches in London and
New York. The demonstrations in opposition to Leviev and the colonies
spread to London last week, where Palestinian and British activists
organized a similar campaign.

The protesters called out chants with the same message of opposition,
as they marched through the streets of the village. When the
protesters approached the additional barbed wire laid by the army, the
army began to warn them via loudspeakers against crossing the barbed
wire. However, even before the army finished their warnings, the
soldiers began throwing tear gas and sound grenades at the protesters,
as well as firing rubber-coated bullets at them, which caused injury
to tens of protesters. Two solidarity activists were injured, one
French and the other Italian; but they refused to disclose their names
for fear of pursuit by the Israeli occupation forces.

For video: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/12/29/activists-call-for-boycott-of-leviev-during-weekly-bilin-protest/

--------------------------
5. Israeli army invades and occupies Hebron hospital

At approximately 6PM on December 27, Human Rights Workers (HRWs)
received notice that the Israeli military had invaded the Al Ahli
Hospital in Hebron. . The occupation of Al Ahli hospital was part of a
number of military actions by the Israeli military in response to the
killing of two off-duty soldiers by Palestinian militiamen in the
Hebron area midday Friday.

HRWs arrived on the scene at approximately 6:20PM to find armored
military vehicles blocking both the entrance and the exit to the
hospital. Also present were more roughly a dozen military jeeps and
other armored vehicles. Periodically, stone-throwing youths pelted the
vehicles.

Shortly after our arrival the Israeli military refused to allow an
ambulance from the Palestinian Red Crescent onto the grounds; as the
vehicle was turned away the Israeli military threw a sound bomb at the
vehicle, which was forced to transport an injured patient elsewhere.
HRWs witnessed the Israeli military refusing entry of the
International Red Cross. HRWs were also refused access and threatened
by Israeli soldiers. These incidents were filmed by one of the HRWs.
Soldiers attempted to take the video camera.

After approximately 3 hours the Israeli military left the hospital,
unable to find a wounded Palestinian gunmen. Patients and visitors
reported that the Israeli military confiscated ID cards and left
without returning them. Hospital staff reported that a radiology
technician was beaten but not injured.

----------------------
6. Israeli Army Invade Azzoun Yet Again

At 3:45 AM on the 24th of Dec, the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF)
invaded Azzoun, once again imposing curfew in the Palestinian village
without any reason. A large number of military vehicles and soldiers
were spread out all over the village, randomly attacking civilian
Palestinians with teargas, sound bombs and rubber bullets.

During the curfew IOF closed the centre of the city, not even allowing
the ambulance to drive on the main road. A Palestinian family got
permission to drive to their home in the old city, but despite the
permission Israeli soldiers opened fire at the car. The front window
of the car was hit with four rubber bullets. The parents and their 6
children (the youngest only two years old) got away with only minor
injuries from glass splinters.

A Palestinian man was arrested while walking the 30 meters from his
home to the mosque for afternoon prayer. He was arrested for
approximately seven hours, being blindfolded, handcuffed and
repeatedly beaten and threatened by the soldiers almost all the time.
Another Palestinian man was shot in his head with a rubber bullet,
something which could be fatal. This man was lucky and could return
home the same evening after being treated at the town's medical
centre.

During the curfew Israeli soldiers also shot and destroyed a major
transformer, leaving parts of the city without electricity for about
15 hours.

After approximately two and a half hours the army left the village,
the main gate to Azzoun remaining closed during the night but was
being the following day.

-----------------------------
7. Ha'aretz: From Bil'in to Madison Avenue: Demonstrations Outside the
Leviev Jewelry Shop in New York over Danya Cebus' Construction in the
Territories

By: Nimrod Halperin

Dec. 25

(Translation by Adalah-NY )

The exclusive jewelry shop that Lev Leviev opened in New York became a
focus for protests against the extensive construction of settlements
in the territories that is being implemented by the construction
company Danya Cebus, owned by the diamond and real estate magnate. The
New York Post reported that currently, in addition to the protests
outside Leviev's jewelry shop on Madison Avenue in New York, calls are
being made to famous people -- celebrities, who are also supporters of
human rights-to boycott the store, which opened last month.

An American Jewish human rights organization, Jewish Voice for Peace,
posted an open letter on their website to the film actress Susan
Sarandon, who attended the official opening of the store last month
while a protest was taking place outside. In the letter, the Oscar
winning actress was asked to "sever her connections" with the jewelry
store. "As long time admirers of your work on social justice issues
and as Jewish activists working to promote a peaceful resolution to
the Israel-Palestine conflict, we in Jewish Voice for Peace write to
call your attention to the crimes of Lev Leviev and to urge you to
announce publicly that you are severing all connections with him and
his company" said the letter.

A representative on behalf of Sarandon responded that Sarandon's
attendance at one event in his shop does not constitute "ties." He
added that "she is not connected to any jewelry company."

Sarandon is not the only celebrity who visited Leviev's shop and was
criticized for doing so by human rights activists. More than a month
ago the famous attorney Alan Dershowitz, a prominent pro-Israel
supporter in the United States, visited the store at a time when a
demonstration outside had been organized. When Dershowitz left the
store, in his hand a gift bag, demonstrators asserted that he was a
supporter of apartheid.

The company Danya Cebus, which is a subsidiary of Leviev's company
Africa-Israel, is one of the partners spearheading the construction of
Modi'in Illit and many other settlements. Modi'in Illit was built on
the land of five Palestinian villages, among them the village of
Bil'in.

A spokesman on behalf of Leviev stated in a response to the Post that:
"the demonstrators are not accurate" in their claims against the
Leviev diamond brand. In his words, "the Leviev diamond brand
scrupulously follows the Kimberley Process, which follows the origins
of diamonds in international markets with the goal of eliminating the
trade of blood diamonds."

The British newspaper "The Sunday Times" uncovered in September that
Leviev's diamond shop in London sold "blood" gems that originated in
Burma [Myanmar], and thus contributed to the funding of the military
junta government in that country.

The journalist for that newspaper, disguised as a customer, visited
Leviev's flagship boutique on Old Bond Street in London the week
before. She requested jewelry that included rubies of Burmese origin.
She was shown a ring worth 500,000 UK pounds sterling [approximately
one million US dollars] in which was set a five carat ruby and
diamonds.

The military junta in Burma receives tens of millions of pounds each
year from the sale of precious gems by way of jewelry stores in
London, among them Leviev's boutique, as well as Cartier, Harrod's and
Asprey.

Upwards of 90% of rubies in the world are of Burmese origin, however,
often stones are polished in other nearby states such as Thailand, and
because of this the origin of the stone is not recorded by customs
authorities.

For video:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/12/28/haaretz-from-bil%e2%80%99in-to-madison-avenue-demonstrations-outside-the-leviev-jewelry-shop-in-new-york-over-danya-cebus%e2%80%99-construction-in-the-territories/

------------------------
8. Apartheid Masked: Settlements being built and Palestinian homes
demolished under the shadow of "peace" talks.

December 17th, 2007

For information, pictures, and video evidence, please contact:
Ronald 0548195210 or 0598254517 or 02-2971829

Peace Now Settlement Watch says: "Although Olmert declared a
settlement freeze, we see that on the ground there is construction in
settlements all over the West Bank, in all kinds of settlements, and
as long as the Government does not stop settlement activity on the
ground, the negotiations cannot succeed."

A group of activists documented this continued construction in several
settlements. They also documented the demolition of Palestinian houses
which has continued after the peace conference, eight homes having
been destroyed since Annapolis. They filmed construction in Nof Zion
and Har Homa last week, and also took pictures of construction going
on in Modi'in Illit, Ma'ale Adumim, Karnei Shomron, Alfei Menashe, and
the Barkan industrial area.

Activists also documented the construction that is taking place on the
train being built to run through occupied East Jerusalem villages of
Shuafat and Beit Hanina. This train will link settlements like Givat
Ze'ev to Jerusalem, and with the settlements inside and around
Jerusalem, create facts on the ground which will make a future
Palestinian state, with Al-Quds as its capital, impossible.

The Israeli Cabinet recently instructed the Israel Antiquities
Authority to continue excavations at the Mugrabi walkway, the former
site of the Mugrabi neighbourhood which was demolished in 1967, near
the Western Wall in occupied East Jerusalem. A team of Turkish experts
who had examined the excavations recommended that Israel stop work
immediately. Their findings were published in a report which said that
Israel was attempting to disrupt Jerusalem's history by stressing the
Jewish aspect of Jerusalem, and that the excavations were part of a
"systematically implemented effort to destroy values associated with
cultural assets of the Ayyubid, Mameluke and Ottoman periods."

The 2003 Roadmap to Peace that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed at Annapolis to resume says
unequivocally that Israel must "freeze all settlement activity,
including the "natural growth" of existing settlements."

------------------------
9. New Statesman: The grim reality in Gaza

By: Mohammed Omer

10 December 2007

Traffic in the Gaza Strip slowed to a trickle last week, and this week
medical centres have scaled back treatment in the medicines and
sustenance-destitute Strip.

"Israel's decision is a death penalty: our reserve of fuel is almost
zero and it may very likely run out by the end of today," said Khaled
Radi, Ministry of Health spokesman for the dismissed Hamas government.

Radi spoke in reference to the 30 November Israeli Supreme Court
decision to allow further fuel cutbacks, severe reductions which are
crippling Gaza's residents in all aspects of life. Prior to that
ruling, as early as October Israel decided to begin limiting fuel,
with Gaza soon after enduring serious cuts of over 50% of fuel needs,
a dire statistic confirmed by the UN body OCHA.

At the Nahal Oz crossing, through which all fuel enters Gaza, the
Palestinian petrol authority reported that Israel has delivered around
only 190,000 litres of diesel a day since late October, falling short
of the 350,000 litres needed by the Gaza Strip. This number plummeted
on 29 November, with Israel delivering a scanty 60,000 litres, only
marginally improving three days later, 2 December, with a delivery of
90,000 litres.

This week's increased cutbacks resulted in a several day closure of
Gaza's petrol stations, owners striking in protest to the pittance of
fuel allowed in-just one quarter of that normally received.

Gaza's Association for Fuel Station Owners commented: "Petrol firms
considered the amount negligible and so, in protest over the Israeli
blockade, refused to accept the paltry offering which does not come
close to meeting the essential needs of Gaza's civilians."

A Gaza taxi driver related his concern: "Cutting off fuel means
cutting off our lives. We use it for everything, in the place of wood
or coal. It's tragic not only that Israel is imposing this siege on
Gaza, but also that some Palestinians are supporting this cruel
embargo, with the naïve idea of causing the people turn against Hamas
in Gaza."

Shortages of fuel have greatly affected the public transportation
system, leaving students from universities in Gaza City delayed for
hours standing in wait for transportation back to Khan Younies and
Rafah in the south.

Trickle Effect

The fuel cuts in turn impede water access: with diesel-run pumps
unable to function, leaving over 77,000 without fresh drinking water,
according to Gaza's water utility. Oxfam International has warned that
soon 225,000 Gazans could suffer from inadequate water supplies,
raising concerns for public health.

Ambulances and clinics suffer too, a fact reiterated by Khaled Radi,
who related how fuel shortages have already brought some ambulances to
a standstill: "This has affected the mobility of ambulances which are
especially vital during on-going Israeli air strikes such as that of
this morning."

He added that shortages further threatened to close essential clinics,
which rely on back-up generators during the frequent electricity
shortages in the Strip. Two first aid health centres have already been
forced to suspend treatment during electricity cuts. Those that remain
open suffer from want of medical supplies, with 91 of 416 essential
medicines depleted, according to the WHO.

Even basic things are scarce. Residents are hard-pressed to find a
piece of glass to repair a broken window, imperative in December's
cold weather, particularly in a time when electricity and gas are
scarce-to-absent.

Eyad Yousef, a 31-year-old Palestinian teacher, has been waiting for
cement, unavailable for the last many months, to enter Gaza.
Concurrently, prices of building materials have skyrocketed, more than
tripled in the worst cases. Yousef waits for any sort of building
material, but he knows that will not find anything, as he has looked
all over the picked-clean area. "I have a floor of my home to finish,
but can't do so yet as no sort of building materials are available in
Gaza," he said. "I'm using pieces of nylon to cover my windows at
home, but I can't go on like this for long," he added, saying he hopes
that the international community will put pressure on Israel to open
borders and let vital products into Gaza.

Death Penalty

Yousef, at least, is luckier than the newly dead: since last month at
least 31 medical patients have died in Gaza, a result of Israel's
lockdown on borders and preventing of medical access to Israeli,
Egyptian and Jordanian hospitals, as well as West Bank hospitals.

Since Hamas took over power in June, this subsequent Israeli lockdown
has made it virtually impossible for Palestinians to get out of Gaza.
The situation then deteriorated with the closing of Karni crossing,
Gaza's only commercial crossing, only opened for the most basic food
essentials. Coupled with Israel's ground and air attacks, the
situation for Palestinians worsened yet further still when Israel last
October announced Gaza as a "hostile entity", further allowing Israel
to justify its closed-borders policy to the international arena.

In the densely-populated region starved of medical supplies, and now
facing the shutdown of clinics, Gazan citizens have been given a death
sentence with Israel's control over borders. Yahya Al Jamal 53, one
case among hundreds of people, has cancer and is in serious need of
medical care at well-equipped hospitals. For more than two months now
he has been refused entry to Israel for treatment. His agonized father
reported that his son will die in the coming days if he does not get
the medication he needs, an outcome of Israel's mass denial of the
luxury of critical healthcare.

Insult upon injuries, cement - already scarce for building - is no
longer available even for graves of the many recently dead.

Empty Stocks

Aid agencies like the World Food Program (WFP) reporting that food
imports are only enough to meet 41 per cent of demand in the Gaza
Strip.

As winter progresses, resilient citizens desperately seek to survive.
In Rafah's Saturday market, Umm Mohammed Zourub scours the stalls yet
again: "I've been looking for new winter clothes for my children, but
I haven't been able to find any because no materials are coming into
Gaza with the closed borders," the 43 year old mother lamented.

Indeed, the cold weather has fallen quickly on an internationally-
isolated and starved population. From the intense heat of summer
months, where water was scarce and air conditioning a fantasy, Gazans
now experience the bitter cold in the same homes unprepared for
extremes, and the bitter realization that, once again, they have been
left to the whims of imprisonment, Israeli air and ground attacks, and
a staggering invisibility in the international realm.

"The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because
of those who look at it without doing anything."

Albert Einstein

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