Al-Awda New York, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition

NEIGHBORHOOD DESTRUCTION IN PALESTINE

By Samia A. Halaby

A photo essay documenting an inspection tour June 29-30 and July 1, 2001. The team was composed of one member of the New York branch of Al-Awda (Palestine Right to Return Coalition) and one from Idust Foundation in Colorado, one from Laka Foundation in Amsterdam. They worked in cooperation with the Union of Health Work Committees in the West Bank and Ghazze (Gaza). The author, and organizer of the team, is a Palestinian activist born in AlQuds (Jerusalem) prior to the establishment of Israel on Palestinian soil.

Part Seven -- Northern Ghazze

WARNING! You might be called anti-Semitic if you tell others all that I, Samia A. Halaby, have shown you in my photos and truthfully described.

WARNING! If you are Palestinian living in Ghazze or the West Bank you might be killed by these made-in-the U.S.A. weapons and utilized by the Israelis.

WARNING! Do not touch an spent missile or any of its parts. Our team photographed many official buildings and installations. At one of them we discovered two individuals who seemed to have the symptoms of gulf war syndrome. We had no medical confirmation but our team felt some certainty based on their experience. The two men had made the mistake of picking up the missile parts soon after explosion.

The attack on one of these locations, Ansar, was described by an eye witness. "At 11:45 I heard a helicopter, it was about one and a half to 2 months ago. I went to the window facing the sea and saw a big blue flash which lasted for 10 to 15 seconds followed by sounds of impact like an extended big farting sound then a big explosion and orange glow. Ansar was hit 10 to 15 times and I saw about ten and my parents forced us to hide and thus I heard 5 more from the stairwell."

This is the shredded ambulance in which Dr. Wael Khweiter lost his life. It was struck by Israeli guided missiles in northern Ghazze. Many Palestinian Ambulance drivers have been deliberately killed or injured by Israeli fire. Many Ambulances are vandalized at Israeli checkpoints and many patients have died due to deliberate delays at closure points.

Since the beginning of the Intifada just over a year ago, Israelis have killed 4 physicians and 6 paramedics. They have fired at and damaged or destroyed ninety-eight ambulances. One Palestinian ambulance was taken over by the Israeli army which used it in its invasion of Azzoun and Salfit where numerous villagers were arrested.

This is what is left of the Governors offices in northern Ghazze. It is the location where doctor Wael Khweiter was killed doing his work as a healer in an emergency.

"And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the crisped office of the governor of the norther district of Ghazze. Unfortunately, his desk and conference table can no longer withstand your visit. The Israelis would like to confiscate this location and build a settlement on it so that when you graciously become their tourists they can tell you their two thousand year old story...or is that three thousand."

One location we visited had a secret to communicate. It was the barracks of Forces 17 responsible for presidential security. Eye witnesses told us that the damage was done through the use of Apache Gun Ship Helicopters.

As we examined the barracks the surprise was to find a marble slab commemorating the buildings and thanking the donors. It read: "This camp was built using funds provided by the European Union and opened by President Yasser Arafat on 25th November 1996." Let all who wonder whether Arafat belongs to the Palestinian people or to the "Allies" consider fully who is paying the bills. I comment to my team mates that this place reminds me of a clay pigeon shoot where the Europeans throw the clay pigeon in the air while Israelis shoot it down. When our driver heard my description he had one of his own, "minhom wa ilayhum, wa takoonu yawman alayhem" "From them and to them; and one day back to them." In plain American working class slang, "What goes around, comes around."