January 18th 2009
Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish
Rachel Pope, a medical student studying at Be’er-sheva, Israel, tells us about the amazing Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish, a doctor who lives and works in Gaza. Three of his daughters have recently been killed in an Israeli attack
Since the war began, a friend of mine who runs an international women’s health NGO called Circle of Health International (COHI), Sera Bonds, and I have been trying to keep track of our friend, an OB/GYN, who lives and works in Gaza, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish. I first met Dr. Abuelaish last year when I began a women’s health interest group at school and was looking for speakers to talk to our group about local current issues. I was told about Dr. Abuelaish because he had worked for several years at our hospital, Soroka, in Be’er Sheva. As a physician from Gaza, who grew up in the village where the first intifada began, several staff members were understandably uncomfortable around him at first. However, Dr. Abuelaish’s exuberant cheer and contagious optimism soon disarmed those around him and allowed for dialogue and the beginning of mutual understanding. Dr. Abuelaish was not just a proponent for peace in his personal interactions, he also wrote newspaper editorials when an intercepted suicide bomber admitted that she was heading for Soroka. He condemned the violence explaining that many Palestinians were treated in that hospital and questioned how someone could be so destructive.
Dr. Abuelaish was a perfect person to speak to our group; he had international experience working with the World Health Organization in Afghanistan and had received his masters in public health at Harvard, but was using his skills to work in his local community in Gaza. However, as the situation there continued to deteriorate, when we invited him to come in to speak about reproductive health, he could really only talk about the general pain and suffering around him and how addressing that was the larger pressing issue. He was diplomatic in speaking to us, a mixed group of students with varying views and backgrounds, but did not belittle the difficulties of living and working in Gaza. The moments in which his sadness was turned into a glow of optimism, however, was when speaking about his daughters. He told us about their hard-working nature and his encouragement of their studies so that they could make something of themselves and change the world. He told us with pride about one who had decided to study medicine like himself and he recounted instances of finding candles and lamps for them to study when the electricity was cut. Dr. Abuelaish explained that they were his hope in the future- his hope for change and for a peaceful world.
I remained in touch with Dr. Abuelaish after he came to visit and he continued to tell me about the problems in Gaza, although I did not know exactly how to help. He had just lost his wife to cancer, and could no longer work because of his smaller children at home. Although clearly suffering, he continued to extend himself in the hope of joy for others.
When the war started, he was the first person I thought of and prayed for, hoping that he and his family could manage to stay out of harm’s way. I did not want to call him, knowing that he would surely be sparing his phone’s battery for emergencies, but instead sent him a text message letting him know that we were thinking of him and that he could contact me if there was any way I could help. When the war escalated, Sera finally did call him to make sure that he was okay. He told her that he had just left his house for the first time in a few days to buy oil and that while he was on the streets he saw that even the sheep had been shot. Nevertheless, he managed to keep himself and his family safe for several days until last night when their house was struck by an Israeli tank. Israeli reports claim that gun shots came from their building or nearby, but Dr. Abuelaish told reporters that, “All that was ever fired out of our house was love, hugs and acts of peace, nothing else, ever.”
Three of his daughters where killed in this attack, including one of the older ones who was the beginning of his hope for change through her studies. Horrifyingly, but in a twist of leverage, all of this was heard on the live televised news as Dr. Abuelaish had planned to give an interview when the attack occurred. The news station called him for the interview and he answered with sobs over the death of his daughters and pleas for emergency medical care for his other children who had been injured. Although it is not easy for transport of even medical emergencies out of Gaza, especially through the Erez crossing, this was permitted for Dr. Abuelaish and his family, perhaps because of his previous work in Israel or perhaps because the event was being televised, capturing the hearts of people who watched and listened to his sorrow.
Sera and I were anxious to find out which hospital they had been sent to and what we could do to help realizing that he would be in a state of shock and that he would be alone going through this. I hurried with another student to our hospital to find out if any one had any information and it turned out that the news reporters who were stationed in front of the emergency room to report on the status of an Israeli child who had been severely injured the day before due to a rocket from Hamas, gave us the most helpful information and we were able to send other students to visit him and make sure that he was okay. Because of all of the people he had worked with in Israel before, he reportedly had a lot of support and was being taken care of despite his state of utter shock and despair. The reporter who made the phone call for us told us that Dr. Abuelaish just kept saying, “This is the end… this is the end…”
We are still waiting to hear how his other children are doing since the trauma, but will go visit him soon. Although such a tragic experience could cause a man to lose all hope for peace in the future, because of the effect he has already had on so many people, what he is going through now only strengthens the urgency for peace. His message is now being heard by people who did not previously know him and continues to testify for the need of change. Because so many people on both sides know and love him, his story personalizes the ugliness of war and could be what changes the public’s perception for how much longer this needs to continue.
Although I am also heart broken because of Dr. Abuelaish’s loss, I am trying to remember his optimism and share it with others so that change can be made. Thinking of Dr. Abuelaish’s constant smile, even when speaking about unpleasant things, reminds me of what Howard Zinn writes in the Optimism of Uncertainty: “An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness…and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
If you would like to help support Dr. Abuelaish and his family, please visit COHI’s website
Rachel Pope
Medical Student
Medical School for International Health
Be’er-sheva
Israel
January 19th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
The True Face of Israel
The reports by the courageous Norwegian professors Gilbert and Fosse, who both worked in Gaza, on Israel’s use of illegal weapons must be taken very seriously. The formal investigations on the war crimes committed by the US-backed Israeli assault on Gaza must be undertaken at multiple international levels.
I would like to express my deepest respect and gratitude to both professors Gilbert and Fosse, and others for assisting the poor Palestinian victims both medically and morally.
The barbaric assault on Gaza, which was actually backed directly by the US and tacitly by the EU and the pro-Western Arab regimes, again and again proves that Israel doesn’t want a just peace. The kind of peace that Israel so desperately does wish for is creation of a banana republic for Palestinians so that Israel can control all vital aspects of its affairs either directly of indirectly.
The imposed war on Gaza by the US-backed Israel and killing the innocent civilians cannot provide any lasting security for Israel. On the contrary, killing women and children and destroying homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, and the UN storage sites can only unmask the true face of Israel and its brutality towards Palestinians.
This unjustified assault on Gaza will also send the strongest signal to those that Israel regards as her bitter enemies, telling them that they have no choice whatsoever but to speed up the arms race in the region.
Similarly, the illegal and devastating war that was imposed on Iraqi people by Bush-Blair has also clearly demonstrated to the world that with no military advantage and no real deterrence against the big and powerful, the entire developing world can have the same faith i.e. the same destruction that Iraq has faced under the pretext of liberty and democratization.
Therefore, on the contrary to what Israel claims, the only lesson learned from the genocide and destruction committed by Israel in Gaza is that brute military force does determine everything. As the result, every nation on the planet wishing to protect its sovereignty should be armed to the teeth.
Thus, chaos, irrationality, savagery, hatred, and revenge are the real outcome of applying brutal force that destroys all hopes for a just peace.
Israel by committing the outrageous crimes against the civilian population in Gaza has also destroyed all the options for a just peace. Is this not what Israel always wanted i.e. to sabotage all the chances for a just peace? Sadly, the history of the region has shown us that Israel cannot tolerate a just peace with Palestinians and her other neighbors.
Dr. Kazem Zarrabi,
Biomedical and Cultural Study and Research Centre (BMCSRC),
Copenhagen, Denmark.
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Thank you, Rachel, for your loving tribute to Dr. Abuelaish and his family.
In September 1963 four little girls, victims of racial hatred, died in Birmingham, Alabama, and their deaths in less than a month of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech galvanized the civil rights movement and brought worldwide attention to the horrific conditions that had lasted far too long in America.
I cannot begin to imagine this horror, and yet, as the years have passed, the parents of those little girls in Birmingham continued on with their lives with grace and forgiveness, making their city and their world a better place.
It is my hope that as Dr. Abuelaish goes forward, bearing the deaths of his children and his niece as he has born the deaths of his beloved wife and those countless others on both sides, that his generosity of spirit permeates both sides of this great divide.
Again, Rachel, thank you.
Carol Brown
January 24th, 2009 at 6:58 am
As usual the one sided disgustingly inaccurate assesments of Israel’s war in Gaza is apalling. For anyone who accuses Israel of bombing homes, schools, and mosques without cause, there is a reality that you must face. The mosques that were bombed were storage houses for Hamas weaponary. The schools that were bombed were used by Hamas to shoot from. The houses that were destroyed were also used as storage houses for munitions. If Hamas chooses to use mosques, schools and civilian homes as military buildings then Israel has no choice but to treat them as such. As to the assertion that “Israel cannot tolerate a just peace with Palestinians and her other neighbors” how ridiculous is that. Israel has lived in peace with Egypt and Jordan for a very long time. Israel can live in peace with any arab neighbor who is not intent on destroying it. One must remember that the Hamas official docterine is to destroy the state of Israel not to live in peace with it. As to the accusation that Israel targets women and children one must ask how many women and children have been trained by Hamas as suicide bombers. Where is the world outrage at that? Why does the civilized world not cry out in outrage when it sees a young Palestinian boy being sent on a suicide mission. Why does the civilized world not cry out in outrage
when a Palestinian mother sends her son off proudly to be trained as a suicide bomber. Has the world lost all sense of justice and morality? Or is justice and morality only expected of a select few while others are allowed to live as criminals, without any regard for human life? When the good people of the world who so readily and freely criticize and condemn Israel also criticize and condemn it’s enemies then I might be willing to listen to them. Until then, I find it ubhoring and hypocritical that these statements are published. As a side note, I don’t recall any world outrage when Russians were killing thousands of Chechniyans. Or if there was any at all it disappeared very quickly.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Feeding and Nourishing on Lies
Feeding on lies and denials are the specific features of the Jewish Lobby and Israeli governments. This is how the strongest army in the Middle East can pretend to be the victim of the stone-throwing Palestianian children and Hamas’ home-made crude rockets. This is how Israel has been deceiving the world and her own citizens.
It is true that during the recent war in Gaza Israel tried her best to blindfold the world by not permitting any reporters to enter Gaza. But, the result was totally opposite. Firstly, there were independent reporters and Al-Jazeera news network and other networks that with astonishing bravery reported on the details of the genocide committed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Secondly, nowadays with mobile phones and computers it is almost improbable to conceal the war crimes.
Therefore, many eye-witnesses, independent reporters, and news networks with permanent presence in Gaza such as Al Jazeera strongly denied all the Israeli allegations that Hamas fighters were firing at Israeli forces from the mosques, hospitals, or schools.
Israel warned and forced people to take shelter at specific sites and then ruthlessly shelled and bombed exactly the same sites killing innocent civilians with many women and children. Israel didn’t even spare the UN compound where many civilians had taken shelter from Israeli bombing. The UN has repeatedly denied Israeli claims that there were Hamas fighters near the UN compound.
Al Jazeera provided a balanced reporting on the details of the war as Israeli apache helicopters and fighter planes were bombing and the tanks and artillery were pounding one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Al Jazeera also provided unbiased coverage for both Israeli and Palestinian speakers and their positions on the conflict.
Therefore, Israel failed to deceive the world that she has been victimized by the Palestinians because every one watching Al Jazeera could see that Hamas wasn’t operating any tanks, fighter planes and apache helicopters. These killing machines belonged to Israel, and they killed 1300 Palestinians and wounded about 5000 with about half of the casualties women and children. During the entire conflict there were 13 Israeli dead. Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, and the investigations will formally clarify the disputed violations.
It has been claimed that Israel enjoys good relations with Egypt and Jordan. Firstly, these formal inter-governmental relations, which are void of popular support, could be described anything but “good.” Both Egyptian and Jordanian governments have been utterly frustrated by Israeli actions in the past and the recent war in Gaza. Jordan even formally announced that she is reviewing all her ties with Israel. The situation in Egypt is not any better. Secondly, the recent Israeli assault on Gaza has overwhelmingly mobilized popular support for Hamas not only in Egypt and Jordan but in the entire Arab and Muslim world. Therefore, the claim that Israel enjoys good relations with her neighbors is a shallow statement.
So what is the main issue here? Who is the victim? Who has been committing genocide?
From my perspective even one loss on either side is too many. I am convinced that those who authorized and killed 1300 Palestinians have entirely different views. They do not regard Palestinians as human beings. Israel since its birth has been committing all sort of atrocities against the Palestinians. History speaks for itself. Israel has long been dishonoring the Holocaust victims by its inhumanity toward Palestinians.
Hamas that Israel so disgustingly hates came into existence as the result of systematic repression and liquidation of Palestinians by Israel. Hamas was born in the first intifada, which was a spontaneous uprising against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
Furthermore, during the last years of the late Yasser Arafat the former president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), who mysteriously died in November 2004, Israel did everything to discredit, humiliate and undermine Yasser Arafat and the PNA. Israel unsuccessfully tried all sort of tactics to force late Yasser Arafat to act as Israel’s security apparatus against the Palestinian fighters who were resisting Israel’s rule in the occupied territories.
Israeli forces surrounded and shelled Arafat’s compound, and even tried to enter inside the building presumably to capture him. This was the late Yasser Arafat who recognized Israel and tried to make a just and honorable peace with Israel. What was the result? This is why Hamas rejects to recognize Israel. Why Israel is unable to understand this? Again history speaks for itself.
In fact with each single attack on Yasser Arafat and the institutions of Palestinian authority Israel made uncompromising Palestinian factions such Hamas stronger day after day and even more popular with the ordinary Palestinians. Therefore, Israel and her Western supporters especially the US and Britain should accept their share of responsibility for raising Hamas to adulthood.
Apparently, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, the current president of the PNA, who has been considered as a worthy peace partner by the West and Israel should be happy with the ongoing negotiation with Israel. Unfortunately, on the contrary to such optimism, president Abbas has been also deeply troubled with Israel’s behavior.
Israel’s frequent incursions, arrests, and assignations both in Gaza and West Bank have been drastically undermining the authority of Mr. Abbas as the PNA president. After the recent Israeli assault on Gaza Mr. Abbas’s popularity has been severely damaged not only with the Palestinian population but also in Arab and Muslim countries as well as in other nations.
Israel should understand that there is no military solution for the Palestinian-Israeli and Arab-Israeli conflicts. The history of national liberation movements is a clear proof. In fact, refusing to recognize Israel in charter of Hamas is a symbolic gesture to sixty years of repression, ethnic cleansing, genocide, humiliation, assassinations, settlement building and annexations, and the liquidation policies that essentially have not been changed. Frankly, under similar situation, Israel would do exactly the same. The only remaining option is to engage Hamas in the negotiations with no strings attached.
For example, Israel by lifting its blockade of Gaza can encourage Hamas to stop the rocket attacks. If so gradual and reciprocal moves can lead to a formal and longer truce that my eventually set the stages for the negotiations. Israel should clearly demonstrate that she wants real, lasting, and honorable peace with Palestinians. Otherwise, what is the point of moving the troops out of Gaza but keeping the blockade? Palestinians are not interested in a banana republic.
Israel as the stronger side of the conflict can show more flexibility by reversing its inhumanity toward Palestinians. Such positive policies would be genuinely online with real interests and security of Israel. This is because peace is the only option. On the Palestinian side, the real purpose of the ongoing negotiations should be to engage Hamas and explore all possible avenues to unite all Palestinian factions foremost to reconcile Hamas with Fatah.
Israel, the US, and the EU are responsible for the current situation because despite Hamas’ victory in the elections all that they really tried was to alienate and sideline Hamas. It is very sad to hear that despite all these fatal strategic mistakes new US administration declares that they won’t negotiate with Hamas. However, despite the odds all the parties involved foremost Israel and Hamas should give peace a chance to succeed.
Dr. Kazem Zarrabi,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Feb. 9, 2009
Watch the talk on Israel’s recent assault on Gaza by Prof. Noam Chomsky at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., USA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_uHb92qGp4&eurl=http://www.zcommunications.org/zvideo/2994