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   From: oO@oO.com   
      
   My life in Gaza   
   By Mona El-Farra  |  July 10, 2006   
      
   THE IRONY IS almost beyond belief. Since the capture of an Israeli soldier   
   on June 25, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to a large-scale military   
   operation, what Israel calls ``Summer Rain." Because Israel bombed the power   
   plant, and the area needs electricity to pump water, most of Gaza now has   
   almost no access to drinking water. In the heat of summer, rain would be a   
   blessing far more welcome than the ongoing bombings.   
      
   I am already starting to lose track of days and nights, of how many bombs   
   have dropped. Since the main power plant was destroyed, we have had to live   
   with no electricity. What we do get is patchy, and barely enough to recharge   
   our mobile phones and our laptops so that we do not lose all touch with each   
   other and with the outside world.   
      
   As a physician, I fear for our patients. Twenty-two hospitals have no   
   electricity. They have to rely on generators, but the generators need fuel.   
   We have enough fuel to last a few days at most, because the borders are   
   sealed so no fuel can get in. The shortage of power threatens the lives of   
   patients on life-support machines and children in intensive care, as well as   
   renal dialysis patients and others. Hundreds of operations have been   
   postponed. The pharmacies were already nearly empty because of Israeli   
   border closures and the cutoff of international aid. What little supplies   
   were left have gone bad in the absence of refrigeration.   
      
   Food too is spoiling without refrigeration, and food supplies are low. West   
   Bank farmers threw away truckloads of spoiled fruit after sitting for days   
   and then being denied Israeli permission to enter Gaza. Children grow hungry   
   as we watch the food that could nourish them thrown into the garbage   
   instead. More than 30,000 children suffer from malnutrition, and this number   
   will increase as diarrhea spreads because of the limited supply of clean   
   water and food contamination.   
      
   As a mother, I fear for the children. I see the effects of the relentless   
   sonic booms and artillery shelling on my 13-year-old daughter. She is   
   restless, panicked, and afraid to go out, yet frustrated because she can't   
   see her friends. When Israeli fighter planes fly by day and night, the sound   
   is terrifying. My daughter usually jumps into bed with me, shivering with   
   fear. Then both of us end up crouching on the floor. My heart races, yet I   
   try to pacify my daughter, to make her feel safe. But when the bombs sound,   
   I flinch and scream. My daughter feels my fear and knows that we need to   
   pacify each other. I am a doctor, a mature, middle-aged woman. But with the   
   sonic booming, I become hysterical.   
      
   This aggression will leave psychological scars on the children for years to   
   come. Instilling fear, anger and loss in them will not bring peace and   
   security to Israelis.   
      
   Ostensibly, this bombing campaign started because of the soldier's capture.   
   To the outside world it might seem like an easy decision for Palestinians:   
   Let the soldier go, and the siege will end. Yet for Gazans, even in the face   
   of this brutal violence, another decision comes, not with ease, but with   
   resolve. He is one soldier who was captured in a military operation. Today,   
   several hundred Palestinian children and women are locked in Israeli   
   prisons. They deserve their freedom no less than he does. Their families   
   mourn their absence no less than his family does. So while Gazans endure   
   Israel's rainstorm, most want the soldier held -- not harmed -- until the   
   women and children are released.   
      
   Most Gazans also believe that Israel's latest assault was pre-planned, that   
   the soldier's capture is merely a trigger. Israel dropped thousands of   
   shells on Gaza, killing women, children and old people, long before his   
   capture. This time, Israel attacked Gaza within hours of a national   
   consensus accord signed by Fatah and Hamas, which could have led to   
   negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis. That would have pushed   
   Israel to give up control of Palestinian land and resources. Gazans believe   
   that the goal of Israel's military campaign is the destruction of both our   
   elected government and our infrastructure, and with it our will to secure   
   our national rights.   
      
   Though we do not now live with ease, we live with resolve. Until the world   
   pressures Israel to recognize our rights in our land, and to pursue a peace   
   that brings freedom and security to Israelis and Palestinians, we both will   
   continue to pay the price.   
      
   Mona El-Farra is a physician and human rights advocate in the Gaza Strip   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)