Palestinian-Israeli doctor speaks out at Berkeley press conf. as Gaza death toll rises

Jeff Paterson
Independent Media Center
October 13, 2004

BERKELEY – At a press conference organized today by the Middle East Children’s Alliance, Palestinian-Israeli surgeon Dr. Matani Hasan described the difficulties of providing medical services where otherwise denied. As a family doctor practicing at an outpatient clinic for Israeli Health Services, and as an active member of Physicians for Human Rights/Israel, he described his frustration in trying to cope with the deteriorating health care situation for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Dr. Matani Hasan described the numerous roadblocks and security checkpoints setup within the Occupied Territories, not just the massive wall now under construction. These have become physical barriers that people in need of any medial attention, beyond what basic services may be available in their own village or town, simply cannot cross much of the time.

Middle East Children’s Alliance Political Education Coordinator Uda Walker, having recently returned from the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, described in great detail the recent Israeli invasion into northern Gaza, the largest Israeli military incursion in four years.

The death toll of the invasion into Jabaliya Refugee Camp of 113,000 residents in the Northern Gaza Strip continues to rise as 2,000 troops and hundreds of tanks continue their two-week old operation in this densely populated area. At least 118 Palestinians have been killed so far, 25 of who were children under the age of 17. This morning, a 9-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl who was shot in the stomach by Israeli army gunfire while sitting at her desk in a UN-run school died. Additionally, the Israeli army said today it had suspended a officer under investigation for shooting repeatedly at close range into the body of a 13-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl who had already been gunned down on her way to class in southern Gaza last week.

Israeli forces attacked the Jabaliya Refugee Camp and other towns in the Northern Gaza Strip with air and ground strikes on September 30 and on October 1. A total closure of the camp is now being enforced, cutting electricity and water supplies. For a week now, residents have been without access to food supplies and hospitals are without medical and blood supplies. The Israeli military has been denying emergency medical crews access to besieged areas and in several cases targeting medical teams and ambulances. Yesterday, the Union of Health Work Committees in Gaza City reported that local area hospitals and clinics are full and are unable to adequately attend to the injured and dying due to the siege and closure.

“Israel is using American made military equipment including, F-16s, Apache helicopters and Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers against the refugee population, almost half of who are children” said Walker.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to insist that the operation, codenamed “Operation Days of Penitence,” is both justified and necessary to stop the firing of small, handmade rockets from northern Gaza into southern Israel.

In response to the question of what he believes Americans need to understand about this situation, Dr. Matani said, “The problem is the unlimited [US] support for Israel, even though it continues to occupy territories, continues to destroy houses, continues to humiliate the Palestinian people, and continues to use the American weapons to kill Palestinian civilians. What is needed for Americans to know about this conflict is that there is an occupying force, and an occupied people … I’ve not saying people should not support Israel to build the health systems, universities and services for all people, but not to kill the Palestinians.”