The Mass Destruction in Gaza by Israel is A Fact - We Cannot Remain Silent Plus More News

Erdogan: Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction by Israel in Gaza is a Fact, We Cannot Remain Silent about Targeting Civilians with White Phosphorus

Damascus, (SANA) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the use of weapons of mass destruction by Israel is a fact, and that it is unfair to remain silent while civilians are targeted with white phosphorus bombs.

In a television interview, Erdogan added that despite the passing of almost nine months since the Gaza events and almost seven months since the donor conference in Sharm al-Sheikh, nothing was achieved regarding the promised reconstruction process due to the Israeli siege that prevents building materials from entering or reaching Gaza.

He pointed out that there are atrocities uncovered by Goldstone report, which was voted for by the Human Rights Council, calling on the UN take a serious stance in that regard and assume its responsibilities towards putting that report into use.

"Turkey will follow the fate of the Goldstone report at the UN until the end," Erdogan affirmed, demanding that the people responsible for this report continue pursuing it until a result is achieved.

He noted that Israel didn't stop at murdering Palestinians by the hundreds, but also destroyed hospital, infrastructure and schools in Gaza, including a UN school.

On Turkey's decision to cancel Israel's participation in the "Anadolu Eagle" maneuvers, Erdogan stressed that these maneuvers are Turkish, so Turkey will decide who can participate in them, and that no-one can impose anything on Turkey in that regard.

"Previously, Israel participated in these maneuvers upon our invitation, but now because of the war on Gaza we decided not to invite Israel in response to the will of the Turkish street, which was deeply affected by the atrocity of the Israeli aggression," he explained.

Erdogan went on to say that no-one can justify killing 1500 women and children using deadly weapons of mass destruction, wounding over 4000 civilians, and destroying hospitals, schools and infrastructure, noting that Israel used its deadliest weapons in an uneven battle, which cannot be justified.

Regarding the growing relations between Turkey and the region's countries, the Turkish Premier said that signing agreements for establishing strategic cooperation councils with Syria and Iraq are important steps, particularly since they involve strategic cooperation in the economic field which should connect these countries and improve relations between them.

Erdogan affirmed that these agreements are in the interest of the three countries, establishing the basis of a triangle of mutual interests in the region that will increase the volume of exchanged investments, leading to further coordination and cooperation on the political level based on mutual interests.

He also affirmed his country's commitment towards Iraq in the fields of education, training Iraqi forces, security, establishing schools and hospitals, transport and energy.

On Turkey's stance regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, the Turkish Premier affirmed that his country wants to remove nuclear weapons from the Middle East, saying that it is unfair and unacceptable for one country to have nuclear weapons and ignore that and focus on Iran, which says that its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes.

He called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to expand its search to include non-member countries through a mechanism devised by the UN to inspect the nuclear facilities in these countries.

"How can countries that possess weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, seek to punish Iran? Do those who possess weapons have the right to demand that others not possess them?" Erdogan concluded.

H. Sabbagh

Gaza: 'People are really bad off now'

The Israeli military – Operation Cast Lead – was launched in the Gaza Strip on December 27 2008. Ten months later, how has it affected civilians there? Dr. Akram Nafie, Médecins Sans Frontières mental health programme doctor in Gaza, provides an insight

Palestinians girls look out from the balcony of their damaged house in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

I continued working during the early days of the war. We went to the schools where people had gathered. We made donations and provided emergency medical care. MSF had given me a medical kit with antibiotics, supplies for making dressings and treating burns and wounds, oral rehydration salts, analgesics and tranquilisers. I was able to treat about sixty people in my neighbourhood, people who could no longer get to a healthcare facility. The hospitals were overwhelmed by people with serious injuries who were flooding in, anyway.

After the ceasefire, everything was devastated. The F-16 bombings had left craters more than 20 feet deep in the streets. All the water tanks on the roofs of the houses had been destroyed. People put plastic sheets in the windows to replace the glass and began cleaning up the houses. There was dust everywhere.

A consequence of the war has been post-traumatic stress syndrome. It shows up an average of three to six months after the causative events – now, in other words. A lot of people who seemed to be doing well immediately afterward are really bad off now. They're having hallucinations, are very aggressive and nervous, both on the street and at home. I see a lot of abdominal pain and diarrhoea. There's also a lot of cancer (leukemia, prostate, and breast) – including among the very young.

Most children are wetting their beds. My son wakes up every night after an hour or two; he's terrorised, but doesn't hear us or see us when we try to calm him. My wife starts crying at the least siren. As for me, I feel like things are still not totally right. I have memory and concentration problems, but I'm managing.

Before the war, I followed an average of 13 patients in the mental health program. Now I have about 50. They're in really bad shape – not eating or sleeping. One young man lost a leg and both eyes. He and his friends were trying to help other people during a bombing attack. All his friends were killed and he lay under their bodies for three hours. At the hospital they thought he was dead, too, and put him in the morgue. His family was in mourning for two days before learning that he had, in fact, survived.

Another patient lost her three sons, her husband, and her daughter-in-law in the war. She gathered up what was left of them and stayed shut up in a stable for three days like that. Israeli soldiers evacuated her, but refused to bury the bodies and drove right over them. How can someone not be totally depressed after experiencing such things? MSF has been monitoring her and has put her on medication. We found her an apartment. She was totally apathetic, but she's slowly starting to live, sleep, feel hot and cold, and cook again. She'll continue to need help for months yet, but when I see a patient get better like that, I feel useful.

The amputees are happy to be alive, but want to get back their independence, be fitted with prostheses – but they don't have any. How can they put themselves back together? We have so many problems in Gaza. Building materials, drugs, medical equipment, clothing, shoes, coffee, watch batteries. So many goods aren't allowed in because of the embargo. Some infant formulas are allowed, others aren't, and it's really hard to find baby bottles.

Prices are skyrocketing; dairy products take two days to get in and are spoiled when they do. The borders are closed and urgent medical cases can't get out. Before, trucks managed to get through, but now the situation is really getting complicated. And then there's the unemployment – another result of the war.

I'd like to be able to leave from time to time, to get some air, see the sky, and then come back.

Video: Water crisis sickens Gazans



Before the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip was imposed in 2007, several repair works were under way to improve sanitation in the area.

But the projects have been on hold under the siege, as Israel is preventing repair materials from coming into the Strip.

The United Nations says the water system in Gaza is on the verge of collapse.

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Gaza, explains how overworked and outdated pipelines are polluting the water and making Palestinians ill.

Amnesty new report: Israel restricts water availability

in West Bank and Gaza

As main donor, EU needs to address water problem

In a new report released today, “Troubled Waters – Palestinians Denied Fair Access To Water”, Amnesty International accuses Israel of deliberately restricting the availability of water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) thereby denying the right of access to water to Palestinians.

In its investigation, Amnesty International found that Israel uses more than 80% of the water from the Mountain Aquifer - the main source of underground water in Israel and the OPT - allowing Palestinians’ access to a mere 20%. At the same time, Israel prevents Palestinians from developing an effective water infrastructure.

As a result, Palestinian daily water consumption barely reaches 70 litres a day per person (well below the World Health Organisation’s recommended minimum of 100 litres). Israel consumes four times as much, with 300 litres per day, per capita.

“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank, while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies.” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and the OPT.

In Gaza the situation is even more critical. More than 90% of the water from the coastal aquifer is now polluted. Given the ongoing blockade Israel prevents the entry of materials that are critical for repairing the water and sewage treatment facilities which Israel damaged or destroyed in the first place during Operation Cast Lead.

As the biggest donor to the Palestinians the European Commission has special responsibility to address this problem, namely to use its bilateral relations to urge Israel to immediately cease their discriminatory water access policies which are resulting in striking disparities and the denial of a basic human right.

In a letter (available here) Amnesty International also urged the EU to react whenever Israel compromises EU-funded projects, as was the case in January 2008 when Israel demolished nine rainwater cisterns in the West Bank. The cisterns were a vital part of an EU-funded agricultural project designed to improve food security.

“Currently the EU and other donors are simply not addressing these situations or the larger problem. They fail to confront Israel when projects are compromised and essentially focus on temporary solutions” said Natalia Alonso, Acting Director of Amnesty International’s EU Office.

“It is time they coordinate positions and look at the big picture. Denying access to water is a serious human rights violation which needs to be addressed urgently” she added.

In some Palestinian villages – where people survive on barely 20 litres of water per day, the minimum amount recommended for domestic use in emergency situations - farmers have been unable to grow even small amounts of food for their personal consumption and have been forced to reduce the size of their herds. While they struggle to find enough water for their basic needs, the Israeli army often destroys their rainwater harvesting cisterns and confiscates their water tankers.

“Water is a basic need and a right, but for many Palestinians obtaining even poor-quality subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barely afford,” said Donatella Rovera.

Amnesty International calls on the EU to use all bilateral relations with Israel, including through the EU missions in Tel Aviv, to urge Israeli authorities to:

• Lift the restrictions that deny Palestinians in the OPT access to their rights to water;
• Lift the blockade on Gaza and allow immediate entry of materials needed to repair the water and sanitation infrastructure;
• Take steps to improve coordination with other donors and in order to find a long term solutions.

If you would like to schedule an interview please reply to this e-mail or call:

Amnesty International EU Office (Brussels):
Tel: 32-2-5021499
Email: amnestyintl@aieu.be