"Gaza Strip is a big jail under siege till death"

"Please end the siege on Gaza"

Children of Rafah protest and call for end of siege

Children call for Israel to break the siege

Gaza, 2008 Apr 18, Rafah Today
  
“We need medicine, open the border!” “Save Palestinian children” “Grant us our freedom!”  Nearly 500 Palestinian children, many in wheelchairs, amassed at Gaza's Rafah border crossing, equipped with hand-made banners calling for justice and an end to the Israeli siege on Gaza.  Giving voice to the suffering of children and adults throughout Gaza who continue to be denied access to Egypt and medical care, children crowded at the Rafah-Egypt gate, one which has been continuously closed since Hamas took control of the Strip in June 2007. 

Following the June shift of power, Israel drastically tightened the movement of vital supplies getting into Gaza, as well as preventing exports from leaving, simultaneously destroying the economy and resulting in what humanitarian organizations recognize to be a bleaker situation than ever for the 1.5 million residents of the enclosed Gaza Strip.

In the front lines of the demonstration were a number of paralyzed children, in critical need of medical care, who have thus far been denied permission to leave Gaza.  Among the supplies which Israel has refused entry are essential basic medicines, hearing aid batteries, hospital equipment, and fuel to power hospital machinery, the absence of which has contributed to the health care crisis which international bodies are denouncing. 

Days before this latest non-violent Gazan demonstration, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a report in which it lashed out at Israel for denying or greatly delaying travel permits for critically ill Gaza Strip residents.  The report notes that specialized health care is currently unattainable in Gaza and that the Israeli permit system invariably prevents medical cases from accessing hospitals outside of Gaza.  The WHO further notes that the right to health for Palestinians appeared to be optional, that the medically-related deaths were “tragedies that could and should have been avoided.”

One such tragedy was that of 9 year old Amir Al Yazji who, according to the report, died after a series of unsuccessful attempts to attain exit permits.  When Israeli authorities, in his final minutes, prohibited an ambulance to take him to medical care, Amir succumbed to the meningeal encephalitis he had been battling, dying in a Gaza hospital in November.

Since Hamas' election in January, 2006, the number of patients who were denied permits rose from 3% to nearly 36% in December 2007.  The WHO states that 32 patients have died in Gaza after the permits they requested were delayed or refused, referring to the period between October 1 and March 2.   The Palestinian Health Ministry puts the number of deaths due to denial of medical care and medicine shortages at 124, including 24 children, the latest of whom was an infant who died on Friday.

The Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Child's Forum organized this latest protest.  Among the banners and hundreds of children, a symbolic and all too representative map of Gaza stood out: the Strip enclosed by iron bars from all sides. 

One of the children, standing near the half-iron, half cement wall, said: ”I feel so sad that I can’t do anything to help the sick and injured children, or those with special needs, travel out of Gaza Strip for medication.”  Like most children, the girl was anguished to see other children’s flesh and blood, bodies torn apart by Israeli missiles.

”I don't dream anymore,” she added.  “I'm asking children around the world to help us, the children of Palestine.  Don't leave us to poverty, hunger, sickness, and thirst.  We are children like all of you, and we also have the right to live and play in freedom.”  Her words echoed the message of the other child protesters who came with a message to the world: end the siege on Gaza, open our borders, and give freedom to 1.5 million Palestinians living in this cage called the Gaza Strip.

The event concluded when Ala Younies delivered to the Egyptian officer in charge of the border a hand-written letter on behalf of the children of Gaza.   The young girl demanded in an alarmingly wise child's voice that the officer deliver the letter protesting the border closure to Egypt's top officials, to end the siege and secure a better life for Gaza's children.

While children have been instrumental in calling for human rights for Gazans, numerous other non-violent demonstrations have called for the end of the siege.  Previous demonstrations including hundreds of camels, sheep, goats and cows, called for the world to open Gaza’s borders, allow the export of flowers vital to sales, and by providing essential living necessities, to secure the rights of animals. 

Egyptian security sources reported that on Thursday, Egypt temporarily opened a border crossing with the Gaza, allowing approximately 200 Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return home.  At the same time, Egyptians stuck in Gaza since the breach of the wall last January, were able to cross back over to Egypt.  This short-lived border opening is but a fleeting and inadequate gesture in the face of the internationally-recognized human rights crisis that has resulted from the closed border which sees thousands of Palestinians trapped in Gaza without necessary medical care.