No rights, little mercy

Mohammed Omer, The Electronic Intifada,

GAZA CITY,

Seventy-six-year-old Mustapha al-Jamal goes door to door,
looking for help in finding medicines for his son.

At home, the 53-year-old son Yahya al-Jamal lies back,
staring at the ceiling. By his side, an oxygen cylinder
keeps him going for now.

"My son's condition continues to worsen,"
Mustapha says. "We've been waiting two months
for the medicines."

Last year Mustapaha's 44-year-old daughter,
a mother of six, died of breast cancer. She had
been recovering, but the Israeli siege blocked
supply of medicines, and no one could then save her.

Mustapha sees the same happening again.
Yahya's cancer started in his kidney, spread
to his right lung, and now affects his liver.

Twice, on 20 July and 2 October last year, Yahya
was allowed passage to Sourasky Medical Center
in Tel Aviv. On the second visit the hospital agreed
to give the family 28 tablets worth 35,500
shekels (9,000 dollars).

Transfer to an Israeli hospital now could give
Yahya medication and hope again, but Israeli
officials have refused passage for medical care,
citing the oxygen cylinder as a "security risk."

The medicines given to Yahya earlier were no donation;
Israel deducts the cost of medicines for Palestinian
patients treated in Israeli hospitals from the taxes
it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israel retains rather than disburses the bulk of such payments.
The PA continues to pay for medication whenever possible.

Now that Israel has declared Gaza a "hostile entity,"
it shut its borders, preventing travel from Gaza to
hospitals in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the West Bank.

Israel has closed its borders because Gaza elected a
Hamas party government, which does not recognize Israel.

Efforts by the international community and by
thousands of people inside Israel forced allocation
of a few medical shipments. But the chaos caused by
the ongoing siege means distribution is poor.

Palestinian Ministry of Health spokesman Khaled Radi
has confirmed that "72 people have died as a result of
medicine shortages and not being permitted access to
medical care." Among them are women, elderly people
and children.

Radi has called for immediate international action to
pressure Israel to allow necessary medical care to
reach patients in Gaza.

"If proper medication was available, Jamal's case would
not be as bad as it is now," says Dr. Iman Abu Ouan, one
of the doctors treating him.

Dr. Quan says the hospital in Gaza where she has been
treating Jamal has two radiology rooms for up to five
cancer patients. That is simply not enough. And lack of
beds forces patients to recover from treatment lying on
the floor, with blankets from their own homes, she said.
Others in need of care are asked to leave. This means
essential care is often not possible.

Israeli officials have often tried to extract security
commitments in exchange for access to medical care.

"In several cases known to us, people with security
clearance, and carrying exit permits, were called to
interrogation by the Israeli secret service [GSS, Shabak]
at Erez Crossing, and asked to give information on suspects
as a condition for accessing care," Miri Weingarten,
spokeswoman for the group Physicians for Human
Rights-Israel, told IPS. "If they failed to provide the
information they were turned back to Gaza and told
they would not receive permits again."

Weingarten has records of many such cases.
"This deliberate withholding of medical care for
non-medical reasons is completely unjustifiable and
could represent cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
under the UN Convention Against Torture," she said.
But Mustapha still waits, and looks for help. "We don't
seek more than our right," the grief-stricken father
says. "For God's sake, help us get to the hospital in
Tel Aviv. My son deserves to survive. All I ask is a
bit of mercy."

"Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled
to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against
tyranny and oppression, that human rights should
be protected by the rule of law" (From Preamble to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948)