[Media-watch] more dreadful details about Rafah from Israeli peace organisation

[Sigi D]

Good morning,
here is more from the peace organisation - some
detailed destription what was / is going on in Rafah
Refugee Camp. 
Best,S

om : 	B'Tselem Update <update at btselem.org>
Sent : 	21 May 2004 20:35:19
Subject : 	B'Tselem: Events in Rafah - 21 May, 2004	


21.5.04
=====================================================
B'Tselem - IDF Incursion into the Rafah Refugee Camp -
Special Edition
=====================================================

This morning, the High Court of Justice held an urgent
hearing to discuss a
petition by Israeli human rights organizations which
contains a series of
humanitarian demands concerning the residents of
Rafah. The petitioners,
B'Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel,
Physicians for Human
Rights Israel and Ha'Moked: Center for the Defense of
the Individual, demanded
the IDF allow ambulances to evacuate the injured from
Rafah to hospitals in the
Gaza Strip, renew the supply of electricity, water,
food and medical supplies to
the besieged neighborhoods and allow access to the
area to a team of Israeli
physicians. The organizations also demanded the
immediate investigation of the
shelling of demonstrators on Wednesday, which killed
eight demonstrators,
including children.

During the hearing, the IDF claimed that medical
supplies and ambulances are
able to enter the camp. The IDF announced it would
allow a truckload of medical
equipment sent by Physicians for Human Rights Israel
into the camp. The truck,
which had been waiting for clearance since yesterday,
entered Rafah immediately
after the hearing. The judges announced their decision
would be given at a later
date.

To view the petition: www.btselem.org

Yesterday, Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz told the
IDF to formulate an
alternative to the plan prepared by the Southern
Command for the expansion of
the Philadelphi route. The original plan included the
demolition of hundreds of
houses along the route, which separates the Gaza Strip
from Egypt. Mazuz
demanded the IDF examine alternatives which would
cause less harm to civilians
in the area. Mazuz made these demands at a meeting he
held with top IDF and
Justice Ministry officials. He announced that he would
convene additional
meetings during the coming days to discuss the matter.

This morning, the press reported that IDF forces were
pulling out of the Tel
a-Sultan, Brazil and a-Salam neighborhoods of Rafah.
B'Tselem continues to
receive reports of humanitarian distress in the
neighborhoods which remain under
siege. As the IDF continues to restrict movement into
and around the Rafah, some
the following reports are based solely on telephone
testimonies. The information
provided has been verified as extensively as possible
under the present
circumstances. The reports are intended as examples
and do not purport to
provide the whole picture or the most grave events
taking place in Rafah.


=============================================================
B'Tselem Research: IDF Destroys 62 Homes in the Brazil
and a-Salam Neighborhoods
=============================================================

B'Tselem research reveals: Over the last two days, the
IDF has demolished 62
homes in the Brazil and a-Salam neighborhoods in which
741 people lived. 44 of
the homes demolished were in the Brazil neighborhood
and 18 in a-Salam. These
figures contradict the numbers reported by the IDF to
the media. As Tel a-Sultan
is still under siege, B'Tselem has been unable to
ascertain how many homes the
IDF demolished in the neighborhood.

An IDF bulldozer hit the house of the 'Azzam family in
the Brazil neighborhood
in the south of Rafah. The entire family was inside
the house at the time. At
around 12:30 P.M., 'Abd al-Fatah 'Azzam heard loud
sounds of something being
demolished nearby. The parents gathered their four
children in the basement as
the father reported to the Al-Mezan human rights
organization and B'Tselem what
was going on. Only after about three hours, did IDF
soldiers allow the family to
leave the house. The soldiers then blew it up.

A day earlier, an IDF bulldozer hit the home of the
Bradawil family in the Tel
a-Sultan neighborhood. Bilal Bardawil, age 21, told
B'Tselem: "I heard the sound
of a bulldozer breaking the outer door and slamming
into the walls. The entire
house was shaking and I thought that it was going to
crash down on top of us. We
heard loud knocks on the door and my mother went to
open it. Dozens of soldiers
were standing at the entrance. They took the ID cards
of all the males in the
house and demanded we expose our stomach and chest.
Then they confiscated our
cellular phones and gathered us all in one room. There
were fourteen of us in a
room of 12 meters and one window. A soldier was
sitting on a chair, pointing his
gun at us. The electricity was out and we didn't have
any food or water. After a
few hours we felt like we were going to pass out from
the lack of oxygen due to
the over crowding. My father who is diabetic looked
weak. My mother asked the
soldier to let her open the window and get food and
water for the kids. He
shouted at her and refused. After a few hours, a
soldier came and brought water,
bread and tomatoes. He allowed the children to go to
the bathroom..."  At 4:00
A.M., close to twenty hours after their arrival, the
soldiers left the house.

Haidar Hasuna from Tel a-Sultan told B'Tselem today:
"Since the army demolished
our house two days ago, my family and I have been
staying with our neighbors.
The neighborhood's infrastructure is completely
ruined. The water supply is
down; the sewer system has been hit; the electricity,
phone lines and roads are
cut off and the asphalt has been "peeled" off the
roads. The food in the houses
has almost run out and all the shops are closed. Tel
a-Sultan is completely
surrounded. I can see tanks and bulldozers around 130
meters from my home. There
are four ambulances there but they won't let them pass
Now, I can see the
ambulances turning around and going back."

Hani Kashta from the a-Salam neighborhood, age 17,
said yesterday: "I live about
400 meters from the Egyptian border. Ever since the
tanks came into the
neighborhood it's been impossible to leave the house.
The streets are empty and
all you hear is shooting and tanks. From my window, I
can see two bulldozers
uprooting our neighbor's olive trees. We're using
water from our water tank
because there's no water in the taps. Soon we'll run
out. What little food is
left will also run out soon. We're under tremendous
mental pressure. We're
scared. I go to high school in Rafah. I was supposed
to take my final exams
today."


===========================================
Woman in Labor Climbs Rope from 2nd Floor to Give
Birth
===========================================

On Tuesday, Asmaa Abu Ghali, resident of the Canada
neighborhood in Rafah, had
to climb down from the second floor on a rope on her
way to give birth. Her
husband, Sami Abu Ghali told B'Tselem yesterday over
the phone: "She couldn't
take the pain anymore and was about to give birth. I
didn't know what to do. I
called an ambulance, but everyone said it wouldn't be
able to make it to us."

Sami Abu Ghali spoke to nurses who live about 500 away
who said they would help
deliver the baby at their home. Abu Ghali said: "My
wife couldn't leave the
house and couldn't go down the stairs because the
staircase is exposed to
snipers. I had to get her down from the second floor
using a rope. I got my
55-year-old mother down in the same way so she could
go with her."

Abu Ghali lost contact with his wife and found out
only the next day that she
had given birth to a girl.

Yesterday, a Tel a-Sultan resident went into labor but
could not leave her house
to go to the hospital. Her sister called a local radio
station and was put in
touch with a physician who guided her through the
labor live on air. The baby
was born healthy.

Muhammad Yunis, a resident of Tel a-Sultan, told
B'Tselem yesterday that his
diabetic mother's insulin supply had run out on
Wednesday. According to Yunis,
his mother is in terrible condition since she had not
taken the medicine.
Yesterday morning, they got some insulin from
neighbors whose son is also
diabetic, but the supply had already run out by later
in the day. 

On Tuesday, we reported that a clinic in Tel a-Sultan
had been surrounded by IDF
soldiers who were preventing staff members from
leaving. Later that day, staff
members managed to leave the clinic on foot, leaving
the ambulances behind. It
was only this afternoon that coordination for the
ambulances to leave was
reached through the Red Cross and the Palestinian
District Coordination Office.
A Rafah municipality bulldozer removed the mounds of
sand that had blocked the
exit to the clinic's yard. At around 2:00 PM, IDF
soldiers checked the
ambulances and allowed them out of the complex.

=============================================================
Three Siblings Wounded by IDF Gunfire. Ambulance Sent
to Evacuate them Sinks in
IDF Dirt Mound 
=============================================================

Yesterday at around 8:00 A.M, IDF soldiers ordered the
Hassan family to leave
their house in the Brazil neighborhood while waving
white flags. As the family
stepped onto the street, IDF soldiers fired at them
from machine guns mounted on
a tank. The Al-Mezan human rights organization
reported that a 17-year-old
daughter of the family was injured in the legs, her
15-year-old brother was hit
by a bullet in the shoulder and a nine-year-old
brother was lightly wounded by
shrapnel.

An ambulance that was on its way to evacuate the three
siblings sank in a dirt
mound used by the IDF to block the road near the
Bakker Mosque. B'Tselem field
researchers spoke on the phone with the ambulance
driver as he and the two
volunteers who were with him tried to get the
ambulance out and get to the
wounded. Israeli soldiers in an IDF tank present at
the scene were aiming their
guns at the ambulance team at the time. The ambulance
was eventually released at
around 2:45 P.M., but did not manage to get to the
Hassan family.

At present, the fate of the three injured siblings is
unknown.  The IDF
Spokesperson claimed that the IDF had not cleared the
way for the ambulance
since its arrival had not been coordinated and that
the passage of the ambulance
was eventually made possible thanks to a tank that was
present at the scene and
cleared the roadblocks along the way.


=================
Now's the Time to Act
=================
 
The Attorney General has yet to finalize his
decision.Write Mazuz (fax:
+972-2-6274481) demanding he declares the planned
house demolitions unlawful.

Following is a sample letter: 

I write to express my deep concern at the government's
plan to destroy hundreds
of houses in the Rafah refugee camp, in order to widen
the Philidelphi Route.
This plan severely violates international humanitarian
law, to which Israel is
obligated. Israel, as the occupying force in the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip,
is obliged to protect the local population and ensure
its safety and welfare.
While Israel may derogate from its obligations for
military necessity, it must
nevertheless balance military needs with the rights of
the residents of the
occupied territory. The planned demolitions will
render homeless thousands of
civilians who have not taken part in hostilities. I
therefore urge you to
determine that these planned demolitions run contrary
to Israel's legal
obligations.








	
	
		
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