Dears
As I promised please read and forward our message to all human rights organisation from Israel, Palestine, Egypt and all over the world:
The crisis at the Rafah border continues. Among those at the border, there is a group of health care providers – physicians, pharmacists, dentists, medical aid specialists who were in training in the US and EU. Also, Among those at the border individuals who are living in the streets, with no shelter and very limited food and medication, in the coldest and most unforgiving days of fall. People are appealing to Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority, as well as the US and EU, to open the Rafah crossing and allow the trapped and ravaged masses back into Gaza . The situation is extremely dire right now, and people have a well-founded fear things will quickly get even worse in the coming days if the border remains closed as it has after promises to open it in the recent past.
When the media reports, if at all, on the state of life at the border, it is in dry terms, repeating empty promises of opening the border (weeks ago!) or patting the back of some politician who vaguely denounces the economic-related problems of three months and a half border closure (preceded by a year and a half of international sanctions on Gaza). The news negates the very real and painful suffering of thousands of innocent people who have committed no crime except to seek medical treatment or other and cross the border at a time when they could not have known it would be subsequently closed and sealed. The Muslims holy month of Ramadan has passed without any opening, and that complicated the problem as in the past there were no Ramadan without an Israel decision to give good signs of helping the Palestinians through opening borders, or releasing prisoners.
Numerous demonstrations have protested the closing of the border, closed for over 60 days now-since August 11. 2007-, and the torturous slide towards death people are experiencing and losing loved ones to.
To make matters worse, skin diseases are becoming rife among the seven hundred who are trapped at the no man's land between Egypt and Gaza . In an even further injustice, 2 babies who were born at the border, with no certificates or legal documents, now won't be allowed back into Gaza: they were transported out of Gaza while inside their mother's stomachs, but now, as babies, with no identification, even if the border opens, there is a great risk that they might not be let into their homes!
We as a health care provider urge you to give us a helping hand and to pass this letter to the right individuals to help a group of people through opening the borders through any mean, or any way. We do not care whether it is Irez , Rafah, or Jordan, all we care about is to be united with our families and go back to our jobs as soon as possible. We are not a part of any political factions, we are a group of highly educated individuals who do not care for politics. Thank you and God bless you.
Sincerely Yours
Dr. Adnan R. El-Kharoubi
الثلاثاء أكتوبر 23, 2007 7:40 am