By Mags O'Brien
When I visited the West Bank of Palestine and Israel as part of the 2007 Congress delegation, I was so appalled at the constant violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people that I vowed to do what little I could to highlight their cause. After my failed attempt on the MV Saoirse in 2011, I finally got to Gaza in January 2013, travelling across the Sinai Desert and entering from Egypt through the Raffa Crossing .
Gazan Palestinians have major problems obtaining permission to visit families in the West Bank, or attend hospitals, and students cannot attend universities as the border crossings can close for days on end, and most are denied permits. In effect there is a wedge between the two parts of Palestine and the whole population of Gaza is collectively punished by the Israeli denial of the right free passage and to import many essential goods.
Of course I was prepared for a landscape scarred by war, but what I saw was so much more than that. It’s only when you travel to troubled areas that you realise that life goes on apace, and Gaza is full of colour and life, despite the many hardships visited on it by the Israeli siege.
Our hotel was near a sandy beach, and it was easy to imagine a healthy tourist industry if only there was peace. The land is also fertile, and if there was trade, there would be a thriving economy, instead of one supported largely by relief agencies. While there, we visited a gem of a Greek Orthodox Church, a stunning museum, and a bustling, though run down, market, a reminder that Palestine was a prosperous and diverse society before the 1917 British Occupation and its aftermath.
The purpose of our visit was to meet civil society groups and attempt to link them with similar ones in Ireland. I had a particular interest in visiting hospitals and speaking to paramedics, and was aided in doing so by Dr Mohammed Maqua of UNRWA who spoke at the 2012 SIPTU Health Division Conference.
It was immediately apparent that one of the problems facing hospitals was power outages. Due to a shortage of electricity there can be many power cuts every day. Medics had to ensure that patients on dialysis, life support and other essential machines were protected, and vital equipment was often destroyed due to the outages.
A major problem, apart from the obvious financial one, is getting replacements because of the siege. Equipment is often unusable for months on end. On my visit to Al Quds hospital I was told that it was bombed in the 2009 Israeli incursion, and intensive care patients had to be trundled on beds up the street to safety. It took the intervention of the French Government to persuade Israel to allow in the necessary materials to rebuild the hospital.
Bashar Ahmed Murad, Director of Emergency Medical Services for the Red Crescent Society, told us that lives could have been saved during Cast Lead if they had been given medical care by the Israelis, and that the IDF would not allow Palestinian medical services in." When they were finally allowed to enter on January 7, Israeli forces only gave them a 3-hour "lull" to work and prohibited ambulances into the area. They forced them to leave ambulances 2 kilometers away and enter the area on foot.” Paramedics had to pile the wounded on donkey carts and medical workers pulled the carts to help the most people possible in the short time they were given.
I asked him about post-traumatic stress for paramedics and he told me that understandably it was an issue, but that it was also common for the population of Gaza, who lived with the constant threat of shelling and incursions.
I met some wonderful people in Gaza, not least the paramedics, medics and relief workers, I was struck by the ‘samoud’ or steadfastness of the people but was incredibly sad leaving there, seeing a terribly beautiful but damaged region, needlessly scarred, and a population denied the most basic of human rights, to live in peace.
Congress supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction of Israel, until it ends its apartheid treatment of the people of Palestine; please join in spreading the word to ensure that it is successful.
Mags O'Brien in Gaza in January
