In cooperation with the International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza, the Jordan Lifeline to Gaza (Ansar 2) and Partners for Peace and Development (Miles of Smiles) humanitarian development convoys arrived in Gaza today (17th May).

Ansar 2, the Jordanian leg of the convoy consists of 91 Jordanians representing all sectors of Jordanian Society arrived in Al-Arish airport this morning where they transferred directly to Rafah.

They were be joined in Gaza today by Miles of Smiles International convoy which traveled directly from Cairo to Rafah. This leg of the convoy consisted of 21 participants from Lebanon, 3 from Malaysia, 3 from France and 7 from Egypt.

Wael Al Sakka, the Chairman of Jordan Lifeline stated that   “Previous convoys have no doubt been a great benefit in focusing attention on the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip as well as bringing emergency aid relief.  However after evaluation of past convoys and in consultation with Gaza we have found it necessary to make significant change on the nature and content of the future convoys.”

Some areas the new models aims to achieve are:

• Supporting development projects as requested and defined by Gaza.
• Support the  establishment of small businesses in order to alleviate high unemployment by granting loans to finance these projects.
• Continuation of  focusing attention on issues through the media and political supporters of the convoy,  Ansar-2 for example is will be focusing  on the prisoners issue.
• Supply of specialised medicines and medical equipment requested by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

This convoy will also be establishing  a vocational training centre in the Engineers Association in Khan Younis to provide professional training in the field of reconstruction, as this sector suffers from a severe shortage of skilled trained workers.

 

Imagine a handful of engineering students imprisoned in the tiny Gaza enclave taking on the cream of Europe’s technical universities in a competition to build a race car and compete with it.

– at least that’s what their students’ union tells me, and I’ve been trying to get confirmation.

Formula Student (FS) is a challenge to university students around the world to design and build a single-seat racing car, which they must then put through its paces at the Silverstone Circuit in the UK in a series of static and dynamic tests.

The aim is to inspire young people and boost skills in advanced engineering. In Europe the competition is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineer (IMechE). America has a similar student competition run by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

Students have to pretend they’ve been engaged by a manufacturing firm to produce a prototype car for evaluation. In addition to technical skills, the exercise teaches management, marketing and people skills. The motorsport industry regards this as an ideal standard of achievement for students making the transition from college to workplace.

Last year’s Class 1 winner was the University of Stuttgart. Stuttgart, of course, is home to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, and the University is renowned for its advanced automotive engineering. Gottlieb Daimler himself was a student there, and Wilhelm Maybach received an honorary doctorate from the University at the age of seventy – names to conjure with!

This gives some idea of what the Gaza lads, who are starting in Class 2, will eventually be up against. Peter Leipold, 26, Chief Executive of the winning Rennteam Stuttgart, said: “Formula Student gives you the chance to learn much more than you ever could through studying, internships and diplomas. You have to deal with ideas and concepts, design, manufacturing, costing, materials, testing, logistics – there’s such a huge range of work you have to do. I don’t think there’s any other competition in the world in which you can learn so much.”

Construction of the car itself has to conform to nearly 30 pages of stringent rules and regulations. A four-stroke piston engine no larger than 610cc must be used, but this is enough to catapult the car from 0 to 60mph in just a few seconds. Electric only or hybrid vehicles are also allowed.

Further rules cover judging. The cars are judged in a series of tests such as technical inspection, cost and sustainability, presentation, and engineering design, solo performance trials, and high performance track endurance.

The rules even cover “unsportsmanlike conduct”.

The competition has been running in the UK since 1998 and Silverstone has been the venue since 2007. Nowadays Silverstone, besides being the home of Formula One racing, incorporates a technology park and is a very different world from the old aerodrome circuit many of us remember from the 1950s and 1960s.

Blockaded and Starved of Resources

The Khan Younis Training Centre (KYTC), located near Rafah, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, was set up by UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency) in 2007 to provide training for Gazan refugees and to inject skilled labour into the local economy.  One of the programmes it offers is Autotronics, which includes diagnosis, maintenance & repair of automotive systems, injection & ignition systems and electronics & electrical systems

Ever since Hamas won the 2006 elections in Palestine and enforced their right to govern the Gaza Strip this tiny coastal enclave has been viciously blockaded by Israel, turning it into a prison. Nothing gets in or out without Israel’s say-so.  Although the siege is illegal under international law the international community does nothing. In 2009 KYTC’s first Autotronics class, frustrated at the lack of workshop materials for hands-on automotive experience, set about building a race car from recycled parts. The following year the students decided to go further and build a car to the exacting standards of Europe’s Formula Student contest. 11 students eventually travelled to the UK last June with their high-octane creation.

Entered in Class 2, the team won 3rd prize for their business plan and came 9th with their financial report. But they were docked a huge number penalty points for missing the deadline for their design and specification report. This was because Israel’s illegal blockade prevented specialty parts from Italy reaching them.  The team had to improvise with recycled items from Gaza. Had they been awarded just an average score for the design and specification section they’d have finished in the top half of the results table along with Bath, Budapest, Brunel and Edinburgh.

Dr Colin Brown, Director of Engineering at IMechE, said: “It really is inspirational to see a team working so hard with the odds stacked against them like this. Formula Student is a massive challenge in its own right, but to be working with almost entirely recycled parts in one of the most deprived areas in the world is remarkable.

“These students epitomise the spirit and inventiveness of those who take part in Formula Student.”

Domestic Water pipes and Old Motorcycle Engine

Who are these remarkable youngsters and who encouraged them to get involved? UNRWA says: “The 11 youngsters that make up the Formula Student team are following a course in autotronics, designed to give a solid practical grounding in automobile engineering. In educational terms, it equates to an A Level or Ordinary National Certificate (ONC). Many are from a background that the United Nations describes as “abject poverty”, which means families who do not have the financial resources to provide for the very basic necessities such as food, clothing, and hygiene…”

The Principal of the KYTC, Dr Ghassan Abu-Orf, was aware of the then-fledgling Formula Student competition while teaching at the University of Sunderland in the UK. When he returned to Gaza, he reckoned that building such a car locally would be an ideal project for his pupils.

According to Emel (Muslim Lifestyle) Magazine, “once the team had made the plans for the car and identified the necessary parts they needed, they set about contacting various suppliers around the world to see where they could be acquired from. After many companies turned them down, the students found an Italian company that was willing to work with them. But even after the parts were sent, the Israeli authorities refused to let them enter the Gaza Strip.

“We didn’t give up,” a member of the team told Emel. “As Palestinians, we look for plan B all the time.”

So the students checked old cars and machinery in the Strip and salvaged the parts they needed. The engine came from a used Honda motorcycle and the chassis was fabricated with domestic hot water pipes. “Unfortunately we didn’t have the tools, machines and parts necessary to give us the best possible results — technology in Gaza is still quite primitive and out of date in comparison with international standards. But our mission was different, and remains different.”

Sahar Mousa, writing in Rotterdam4gaza, said: “For us the Formula Student competition is more than a prize, its more than a competition to win, it’s not related to being famous or to get any material reward. When we think about the competition we think about Palestine, we think about the Palestinian people wherever they are, we think about a message we need to send for the world. We need to tell everybody that we are a part of this world and we deserve our place in this world. We are able to be active and Palestinian Youth are able to create, innovate, and compete.

“Yes we can make it, we are strong enough to do it, because it’s for Palestine and it’s for every Palestinian.”

Sadly, I’m posting this article without any contributions from the main players – the General Union of Palestinian Students UK who hosted the Gaza team while in Britain, the Palestinian Embassy in London, and the team itself. The reason? After several requests the union said it was “too busy” to give me the team’s contact details. The embassy has not, as far as I know, issued any press releases or briefings, although it did reproduced a Daily Telegraph report on its website last June. I have written twice asking the ambassador’s office for information and contact details only to be ignored. After combing the internet I found a general email address for KYTC. Two emails have been sent but not acknowledged.

So this amazing story is scraped together from other sources. Had I known about it last summer, I’d have been at Silverstone cheering the lads on.

But it would be good to know …

• While in the UK the team visited Parliament and presumably other places besides Silverstone. Did they manage to establish any helpful links to the performance car industry (constructors and R&D) or liaise with likeminded education and training establishments?
• Have they arranged a programme yet for their 2012 visit?
• For 2012 what changes are they making? Will it be the same car modified or an entirely new one? Same team or a new one?

These were among the questions sent to the Principal, although he might not have received them.  I also asked for pictures. Again nothing.

The 2012 event is only three month away. If the KYTC lads read this and wish to update me on their preparations I’ll be happy to do a follow-up. But I hope they appreciate that writers and reporters need to wrap up their stories and move on. If unable get a timely reply or make proper contact they soon lose interest.

As for the Palestinian embassy in London, its prime task is surely to represent all Palestinians in a good light, showcase their achievements and help open doors to opportunities. This year, if indeed these remarkable youngsters are coming back, let us hope the Ambassador and his staff are on the ball and actively engaged.

By Stuart Littlewood

- Stuart Littlewood’s book Radio Free Palestine can now be read on the internet by visiting www.radiofreepalestine.org.uk. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

A Tunisian medical aid convoy began its journey to Gaza on Thursday from Tunis, Palestinian officials said.

The convoy carrying four tons of medical aid left Tunis-Carthage International Airport earlier in the day, medical officials told Ma’an.

The coordinator of the medical services in the Gaza Strip said the convoy was organized by a Tunisian scout group and will arrive in Cairo and depart for Gaza shortly thereafter.

Some 11 scout leaders are part of the delegation, which is to visit Gaza’s hospitals and civil society groups before checking up on local scouts.

Ma’an

The prisoner swap deal with Israel, which Hamas has concluded through Egyptian and German intermediaries, is undoubtedly a perfect gift to the entire Palestinian people, given the deal’s auspicious timing, having taken place three weeks before the occurrence of Eidul Adha holiday.

The imminent release of some 1030 Palestinians from Israeli bastilles, dungeons and concentration camps is a definitive victory for Palestine and its struggling people by all conceivable standards.

Israel, the country, which has been oppressing and tormenting our people nonstop  for generations, has been forced to treat us with some respect, with a semblance of parity despite the enormous gap in the balance of powers between the two sides.

Israel, after all, is effectively a superpower which also tightly controls the politics and policies of the world’s sole superpower, its guardian-ally, the United States.

This is whereas Hamas is a small, besieged and blockaded resistance group, with a few thousand militiamen, struggling to resist a Nazi-like militaristic state that is hell-bent on murdering more Palestinians and stealing still more of their land.

Hence, the success of Hamas and other resistance groups to deal with Israel from a position of near  parity is a great moral, psychological and political victory for the Palestinian Islamist movement.

We should all remember that only a few months ago, Israel was demanding rather vociferously the destruction of  all Hamas’s human and resistance infrastructure.

Indeed, in addition to  the overwhelming joy which will hover over more than a thousand Palestinian  households, the deal will encompass the entire  Palestinian people because in the final analysis the prisoners’ cause is the national cause par excellance.

For many decades, Israel instilled in our minds the idea that Palestinian freedom fighters are “hopeless cases” that would only leave jail on their way to their graves!!

This deal is proving that for Palestinian political and resistance prisoners, spending one’s life and dying in an Israeli jail is not and doesn’t have to be an ineluctable fate.

This should be viewed as a strategic gain for the resistance as well as a huge morale booster for the estimated 4000 prisoners, still languishing in Israeli jails, and their families and beloved ones.

This means that the Israeli theory of deterrence will never be the same from now on. Yes, Israel is likely to seek and find ways and means to reaffirm and renew its psychological deterrence. However, the Palestinians, too, will never stop being more creative and more innovative, and, yes, more daring, in their unrelenting efforts to force Israel to meet their just grievances.

Because, ultimately, those fighting a foreign occupation are akin to those resisting rape and murder. One really exaggerates little by saying that the Israeli occupation of Palestine is an ultimate act of rape.

Hence, calling these Palestinian heroes “terrorists” and other evil epithets is the ultimate form of “fornication with language.”

Another point, which must be featured prominently, is that protracted negotiations between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and successive arrogant Israeli governments produced virtually nothing, apart from the accumulating frustration and despair among our people.

Hence the imminent swap deal shows that resistance to Israeli aggression, terror and criminality, should never ever be abandoned because then there would be no pressure on Israel to meet Palestinian demands, however just and legitimate these demands may be.

Yes, Israel might occasionally resort to offering Palestinians some “overtures” and “gestures of good will.” But this is very much like receiving handouts and charity whereby the giver decides everything while the receiver, or more correctly the beggar, has no choice but to accept whatever is thrown unto him.

Beggars can’t be choosers.

I felt I had to employ this analogy because since the conclusion of the hapless Oslo Accords in 1993, Israeli rejectionism, insolence, and arrogance of power effectively reduced the pathetic PA into a vanquished supplicant, begging Israel and the United States, for everything, from obtaining a travel permit to reach Jerusalem to releasing Palestinian inmates from Israeli jails.

Now, the resistance is demonstrating that its way pays off, because Israel knows only the language of real politik, in other word the language of force.

There is no doubt the imminent prisoner exchange deal will boost the status and stature of Hamas, not only among Palestinians but among Muslims worldwide. Hamas deserves this enhanced standing; it has earned it the hard way.

The deal is also expected to further cement relations between Egypt and Hamas. The deal asserted Egypt’s Arab and regional status as a central state which will always be a huge asset for all Arabs and Muslims and their various causes.

We hope and  pray that Cairo will keep moving away from the Zionist axis and keep getting nearer and closer to the masses’ axis.

The masses, long humiliated by nefarious Israeli policies and  murderous Israeli practices,  hate and loathe   Israel, the criminal state that doesn’t stop trying to obliterate the Arab-Islamic identity of Palestine, even by burning mosques and unearthing ancient cemeteries.

A final salute must go to those who kept Shalit’s whereabouts an absolute secret for more than five years.

Those unknown soldiers proved to friend and foe alike that there are still honorable men in Palestine who won’t be intimidated by sticks or induced by carrots.

Their exemplary determination, discipline, resilience and integrity thwarted Israeli efforts to rescue or liberate Shalit, who was being detained all these months and years, not in Tehran or Cairo, or Beirut, but under Israel’s nose, in her very backyard, only a few kilometers from Israel’s centers of power.

Finally, a word or two to Israel and its leaders.

I know you are in no mood to receive advice from Gentiles, let alone from your enemy, or more correctly, your victims, the Palestinians.  Your phenomenal arrogance and insolence don’t allow you to be reasonable, just and wise.

But let me tell you this, don’t you ever  force the Palestinians to kidnap your soldiers; treat them with some Justice and respect, don’t detain their children  for prolonged periods for political reasons, treat them as you would want to be treated.

Remember the pornographic oppression you are meting out to us, such as dumping our young men, including intellectuals, in your jails and dungeons is likely to boomerang on you.

PIC

Over 300 pilgrims left Gaza for Mecca on Friday night, to take part in Eid al-Adha celebrations in the holy city, the director of Palestinian Airlines said.

The first group, which left Gaza via the Rafah crossing to take two Palestinian Airlines jets from the northern Sinai town El-Arish, will be followed by pilgrims from the West Bank later in the month.

Airline chief Ziad al-Bada told Ma’an that 328 pilgrims were on their way to Saudi Arabia, where they will complete the Muslim pilgrimage to mark Eid al-Adha in early November.

This is the third year Palestinian Airlines has transported Palestinians to Mecca for Hajj, or pilgrimage, al-Bada said.

Based in Egypt and owned by the Palestinian Authority, the three-plane fleet offers once-a-week flights to Amman and charter services to Saudi Arabia during the pilgrimage season.

Ma’an

Gazans are dying to break the Israeli blockade – literally. More than 500 of them have already died from lack of access to life-saving medications and medical supplies directly attributable to the illegal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Lest you think it is just Gaza crying wolf, here is what the International Red Cross had to say about the situation in its Operational Update of 28 July 2011, “The lack of a reliable system for delivering drugs and disposables to Gaza has a direct impact on patient care. Drugs used in the treatment of cancer, kidney-transplant and haemodialysis patients have been out of stock for the past three months.” (1)

And that is only the tip of the iceberg.

I interviewed Dr Muneer Alboursh (see video interview below), Director General of Pharmacy at the Ministry of Health, about the critical situation they are currently facing trying to provide health services in a context of occupation, breaches of international law, and an alarmingly passive international community.

180 essential medicines lackingI first asked Dr Alboursh about the current state of medications and supplies.

Gaza Video 1. Interview between Julie Webb-Pullman and Dr Muneer Alboursh, Director General of Pharmacy, Gaza MOH.“I have here on my desk a letter from a department in the Palestinian Ministry of Health stating that 180 essential medicines are lacking, and 164 medical supply items. Disinfectants and alcohol are also absent from the shelves of the Ministry of Health. In brief, the situation in the sense of medical supplies in the Gaza Strip is just tragic,” he said. “In my capacity in this position I can confirm that some people have already died because of these shortages.

15 out of 30 medications that are needed for cancer treatment are missing, and some of the missing items are involved in more than one treatment protocol. Their absence hinders the implementation of the entire treatment process. Thalassemia (2) medications are also absent from the shelves of the Ministry of Health.”

Gaza Video 2. Interview between Julie Webb-Pullman and Dr Muneer Alboursh, Director General of Pharmacy, Gaza MOH.I went and looked in the warehouse myself, and sure enough, the cupboards are almost bare – and a lot of what is there, has expired.

Israel and Palestinian Authority both contributeThat the citizens of Gaza are pawns in a game by Israel to get rid of the Hamas government is widely acknowledged in reports by a range of international organisations, who have long termed Israel’s blockade of Gaza both illegal, and a form of ‘collective punishment.’ Not so widely acknowledged is the role that the Palestinian Authority has been playing in this sacrifice.

“There are multiple reasons behind this crisis but the Israeli occupation is the first and foremost because Israel is the occupier and the besieger of the Gaza Strip,” he told me. “And yes, the Palestinian Authority is also part of the problem because all of the medical items and supplies are procured by the Palestinian Authority and delivered to their warehouses in the West Bank, but they are only providing the Gaza Strip with the very minimum quantities of medications, to keep the situation lacking and to make sure that the people will grow resentful of the governors of the Gaza Strip. They [Palestinian Authority] have been getting all the funds from the World Bank yet they have been providing, as I said, only small quantities of these medications, to keep the crisis going and to keep Palestinians dying slowly, and they are responsible for fatalities among children due to the lack of medicines.”

ReunificationWill the reunification agreed to by Feteh and Hamas result in an improvement? I ask.

“We hope that Palestinians will eventually be re-unified but we should take into consideration that the Israeli occupation is the root problem of all of the problems. Israel has a keen interest in keeping the Palestinians divided and has been pressuring the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and in Egypt also, to keep all crossings closed and to keep the situation lacking.”

The queues at Rafah unsuccessfully trying to leave for medical treatment despite the putative ‘opening’ of the crossing from 28 May this year, unfortunately support this pessimistic conclusion.

International organisations wait for Israeli approval while babies dieI ask what international organisations such as the United Nations and the Red Cross, are doing to ensure that no more Gazans die as a result of the failure of essential medicines and medical supplies to enter Gaza in a timely manner.

Family with sick baby turned back at Rafah despite having ‘permission’ to get medical treatment in Egypt.“It is well-known that the UN is working within the framework that is set up by the occupation in the area, so they are taking into consideration the prevailing political circumstances in the neighbouring states like Egypt, and in Israel. They don’t thinks it’s odd that international committees like the Red Cross, that are supposed to be able to be in, and work within, conflict zones and war zones, are unable to do their work because they are waiting for Israeli approval. So the UN and those international organisations do nothing, pending Israeli approval, they are all waiting for Israel’s permission to do their jobs,” Dr Alboursh replied.

It’s not only odd – it flies in the face of ethical and professional standards in the provision of health care, as well as the UN mandate to provide humanitarian assistance, and Israel’s obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention “…to ensure the supply of foodstuff, medical and hospital items and other goods to meet the humanitarian needs of the population of the Gaza Strip without qualification.” (3)

So while International organisations kowtow to Israel, permitting a rogue state to determine the manner, content and delivery of humanitarian assistance, contrary to accepted humanitarian principles, people in Gaza die.

Dr Alboursh gives a recent example. “The International Committee of the Red Crescent was waiting for a few days when we were appealing to them to provide for essential medications for five twins that were born in the Gaza Strip. We had to wait for them to get the Israeli permit to enter Gaza and bring the medications, and by then two out of the five were already dead.”

Keep politics out of medicineDr Alboursh emphasised the willingness of the Gaza Health Ministry to co-operate with international organisations to ensure the planned and timely provision of essential medicines and supplies to the Gaza population. “The political division, disputes and the siege have been hindering access to and delivery of highly-needed items. We have appealed several times to international organisations to intervene and to declare the tenders and to do the whole tendering process and we will serve only as an operational medium for them and we would be more than happy to provide and to whatever they want us to do, to make sure they can help Palestinians in need and to alleviate the suffering of the people and to make sure there are no fatalities among the people who are waiting for life-saving medications.”

Even ambulances carrying desperately ill patients must often wait hours, and are aslo turned back.Despite their pleas, the situation has got worse, not better. International organisations obviously need a timely reminder of the core principles of humanitarian assistance, outlined in a previous article, most important of which are humanity, neutrality and impartiality; facilitation of transit of assistance by states in close proximity; United Nations guarantee of prompt and smooth delivery of relief assistance; and the creation of “*relief corridors for the distribution of emergency medical and food aid.*” (4)

In the meantime, while they wag their tails and wait for Israel’s next command, civil society has again had to step up.

Miles for Smiles 4 ConvoyA few minutes before our interview, Dr Alboursh had been with the European Miles for Smiles 4 convoy which had just arrived in Gaza, delivering to the Palestinian Ministry of Health desperately-needed supplies of therapeutic milk, and Factor 8 which is used for the management and treatment of haemophilia. The convoy is an excellent example of what can be achieved in the spirit of co-operation. “These medications can be considered as life-saving medications that are desperately needed in the Gaza Strip and these things were procured as a result of co-ordination with the convoy,” he said.

However, convoys are no substitute for proper planning – as the recent interception of the Freedom Flotilla 2 –Stay Human and the massacre on the Mavi Marmara illustrate only too well, such humanitarian missions are similarly subject to illegal – and brutal – Israeli attempts, often successful, to prevent essential medicines reaching the besieged population of the Gaza Strip.

So while Israel ignores its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure adequate medical supplies, while the Palestinian Authority pockets the money it receives from the World Bank yet fails to provide Gaza with the medicines and supplies it was provided for, while the UN and other international organisations try to clean up the mess left by the first two while begging Israel for the right to do so, Gazans die a slow but sure death trapped by an illegal blockade and the apathy and hypocrisy of an international community more concerned with appeasement of Israel than with international law, let alone fundamental humanitarian principles.

As Dr Alboursh concluded, “Above all, our major concern is that we can access and get timely delivery of the medications that are so needed by our people.”

The solution is simple – the international community must take a principled stand against Israel on moral, legal, and humanitarian grounds, and demand an immediate end to Israel’s illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. Gazan lives depend on it.

*************Julie Webb-Pullman (click to view previous articles) is a New Zealand based freelance writer who has reported for Scoop since 2003. She recently managed to get into Gaza during a brief period when the Rafah Gate was open.

References: (1) http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/2011/palestine-update-2011-07-28.htm

(2) An inherited disorder common in the Middle East that affects the production of normal haemoglobin, leading to a form of anaemia.

(3) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/factfindingmission.htmPg 26, paras 74 & 75

(4) http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1101/S00068/role-of-ngos-and-international-organisations-in-gaza.htm

Copyright (c) Scoop Media

The Palestinian Authority will be able to export agricultural and fisheries products directly to the European Union from next year, under a trade deal approved by MEPs.

Until now, Palestinian exports have been controlled by Israeli customs authorities. But the European Parliament voted today to give Gaza and the West Bank duty-free and mostly quota-free access to EU farm and fishery markets. It also opens up Palestinian markets for some European goods.

Describing the agreement, which will enter into force next year, as a “first step towards the development of a nation,” Socialist and Democrat group MEP Maria Eleni Koppi said the Palestinian economy would benefit fully from the expansion in trade.

The deal received a caution welcome from the European United Left/Nordic Green Left group in parliament. Paul Murphy MEP said that, “if implemented, it could provide a level of assistance to the Palestinian people” – but added that its effects would be limited.

“While the EU can abolish tariffs on goods coming from the occupied territories, the difficulty is getting the goods out in the first place”. He denounced Israel’s blockade on Gaza as a “disastrous humanitarian catastrophe” leading to the “deliberate destruction of their economy”.

He said 500 checkpoints delaying and obstructing exports would also limit the benefits of the deal on the West Bank. “If the EU is serious about assisting the Palestinian people, gestures like this are simply not enough. It must end its complicity with the Israeli occupation,” he said.

In 2009 trade between the EU and Palestine totalled €56.6m, of which €50.5m were EU exports. Of the €6.1m Palestinian products, more than 70 per cent were agricultural. The new deal can be extended after 10 years.

The Palestinian Authority is in the process of seeking United Nations Security Council recognition as a state, after presenting its case at the general assembly last week. But the United States has said it will veto the proposal, while EU countries have been divided on the issue.

PublicServiceEurope.com

One Palestinian man was injured on Sunday and two others were reported missing after Egyptian authorities pumped sewage inside a Rafah smuggling tunnel running underneath the border with the Gaza Strip, medics said.

Palestinian medical sources told Ma’an that a tunnel worker was hurt and two others went missing inside the Rafah tunnel as a result of sewage pumped in from the Egyptian side.

Two Palestinians were killed and three others injured on Saturday after a gas canister exploded in a smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said.

Egyptian security officials said in early September that they were cracking down on the network of tunnels used by smugglers from the coastal enclave.

Medics say over 160 Palestinians have died in the network of underground tunnels since Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip in 2006.

Under Israel’s crippling blockade, the tunnels have provided a lifeline for residents of the coastal enclave.

Egypt’s reopening of the Rafah border eased the impact of the siege for some residents, who were able to leave Gaza freely for the first time in years.

Ma’an

Two Palestinians were killed and six others were injured on Saturday after a gas canister exploded in a smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said.

Medical sources reported that the two Palestinians identified as Bassam Abu Zayda, 33, and Mohammed Abdeen, 25, died due to a tunnel explosion, while the six others suffered moderate wounds.

Nine people were in the tunnel at the time of the explosion and one was rescued unharmed, medical officials told Ma’an.

Five Palestinians have been killed in tunnel collapses in the last week.

Ashraf Al-Qarra, 17, died on Monday afternoon and Haytham Abu Radwan, also 17, died on Tuesday morning from injuries sustained when a gas canister exploded in the tunnel they were in on Monday.

On Sunday, a young Palestinian was killed and another injured when a smuggling tunnel between the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and Egypt collapsed. Medics identified the deceased as Jihad Irbati.

Egyptian security officials said in early September that they were cracking down on the network of tunnels used by smugglers from the coastal enclave.

Medics say over 160 Palestinians have died in the network of underground tunnels since Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip in 2006.

Under Israel’s crippling blockade, the tunnels have provided a lifeline for residents of the coastal enclave.

Egypt’s reopening of the Rafah border eased the impact of the siege for some residents, who were able to leave Gaza freely for the first time in years.

But the terminal is not equipped for the transfer of goods, and smugglers say trade is still booming.

Two Palestinians were injured and three remained missing on Monday when a cooking gas cylinder exploded inside a smuggling tunnel beneath Gaza-Egypt borders, according to local sources.

Medical sources confirmed that two Palestinians were moved to the hospital to receive medical treatment due to injuries and burns sustained their bodies. Medical teams continued searching for the three missing Palestinians.

The ambulance and emergencies committee in Gaza Strip announced yesterday the death of One Palestinian identified as Jihad Irbati after a smuggling tunnel collapsed over him.

Hundreds of Palestinians were injured or killed in similar tunnel accidents since Israeli occupation has imposed a suffocated siege for more than five years.

Palestine Telegraph

What began as a chance friendship on Facebook recently took Taher Musalmani, 23, of Kafr Kara, on the expedition of a lifetime. Two months ago Musalmani married Rita Ashok, a 26-year-old film director and journalist from Gaza, after what seemed an impossible journey.

From his home in Kafr Kara, Musalmani told Haaretz this week that about six months ago he happened onto Ashok’s Facebook page. After they began to correspond regularly, “we slowly felt that the love between us was not a passing thing and I proposed marriage to her,” he says.

After she agreed, there was only one problem – how to meet – since he was in Israel and she was in Gaza. “At first I thought that as a Palestinian citizen and a journalist, she could reach Ramallah and we would meet there, but all her requests were rejected,” he says.

Musalmani explains that his requests to visit Gaza were refused, even though he declared that the purpose of his trip was to get married. At this stage the pair came up with an alternate plan: He would reach the Egyptian side of Rafah via the Israel-Egypt Taba border crossing and she would cross from the Gaza side to the Egyptian side.

On July 6, Musalmani arrived as planned in Rafah, but Ashok was prevented by bureaucratic difficulties. “I decided to get to Gaza through the tunnels, a secret I did not share with anyone,” Musalmani says. “The trip was short; within two or three minutes I would be in Palestinian Gaza.”

Ashok, in a telephone call from Gaza, says, “I know that sometimes there are explosions and so these minutes went very slowly for me.

“To my delight, he arrived in the end and we were able to meet and marry.”

After five days in Gaza, Musalmani returned to Israel exactly the same way and took a bus from Eilat to Tel Aviv. When he reached the Tel Aviv central bus station, he was arrested on suspicion of being present in Israel illegally.

After 23 days detention, he was released with some limitations on his freedom, and forced to leave the documents attesting to his marriage in the hands of the police.

“What concerns me now is being with Rita, and I hope that soon she will be allowed to visit Ramallah and we’ll be together again,” he says.

According to a recent letter from attorney Nomi Heger of the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement to Interior Minister Eli Yishai and the coordinator of government activities in the territories, Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, Palestinians with Israeli citizenship seeking to enter Israel from Gaza are forced to undergo genetic testing upon entrance.

The letter says that the Israeli population registrar is concerned that women will come into Israel with children unrelated to them. “It gives off the rotten smell of callous discrimination and violates the basic human right to respect and freedom,” the letter says.

The population registrar’s office denies that there has ever been a demand for genetic testing as a condition for border crossing.

The spokesman for the coordinator of government activities in the territories said that, in the wake of the letter, a broad based investigation is taking place.

By Jack Khoury
Haaretz