The forced starvation diet of Palestinians

Source: Norwegian People's Aid (NPA)
Date: 23 Apr 2007

The forced starvation diet of Palestinians




"Amidst extreme poverty, daily survival allows no luxuries." Mohammed Omer Al Moghayer, Projects Officer in NPA, comments on the situation in Gaza.

"What are we going to cook today?" 15 year old Sabreen Shakfah asks her mother. Wide-eyed and unblinking, her mother's reply is not unusual, echoing the voices of parents around Gaza: "There is nothing to cook today; we have run out of food." Moments later, Sabreen's father comes inside from his position seated on the doorstep but doesn't respond to his daughter's words. Suffering from psychological illness and no longer able to work, Mr. Shakfah nonetheless of course still cares for his family and wants them to live in dignity.

The nine-member family is no longer able to function, neither able to buy food nor meet the many other daily living expenses.

The Shakfah family of Rafah refugee camp lost their house during one of the Israeli military operations in the camp in March 2003 and are but one family among a third of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip who are food insecure, according to a report by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

A March 2007 Food Security and Vulnerability Assessment study published by WFP and FAO found that about 34% of Palestinians cannot afford a balanced meal and another 12% are at risk of reaching this extremely impoverished state. The number suffering from food insecurity has dramatically risen to 51% of the population in the Gaza Strip, the area most affected.

WFP country director for the occupied Palestinian territories, Arnold Vercken, reported that: "The poorest families are now living a meager existence totally reliant on assistance, with no electricity or heating and eating food prepared with water from bad sources."

These days, in order to endure the crippling imposed sanctions which have led to the current appallingly dire state of affairs, Palestinians have resorted to several ways of coping: reducing food portions; eating just one meal a day – very common among many Palestinians; buying food of a lesser quality; and cutting back on nourishing vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. Other means of surviving such alarming circumstances include taking loans from family, friends and local shops and selling assets like land, jewellery and other personal belongings.

In Jabalya refugee camp, 15 year old Rana Q. collects wood, plastic and other things to light a fire. When I ask her family why she is lighting this fire, watching as she throws a pair of old shoes in to feed the fire, Rana's mother answers: "We do this to heat the water, so we can have showers from time to time. "The answer troubles me, and I see the girl approach with a water container, putting it on piece of iron to heat the water for her to bathe.

 

The "palestinians" choose to be where they are. There are plenty of arabs in israel that have jobs, have homes and families and even hold elected office. The "palestinians" have segregated themselves rather than live among jews.

 

yah its their fault the Israelis invaded, and now occupy their land, assassinate their leaders, terrorize their people, bulldoze their homes.

Stupid pals, they should just leave their homes and let the Israelis have it.


Because thats what you would do right paleRider? IF another nation invaded your hometown you'd be nice and happy with it and even help em out, right?

 

Yeah, those dirty Jews invaded in 1948, right after the holocaust didn't happen.

Get real. If you get your ass kicked in a war the way the Arabs did in 48, the least you can expect is to lose part of your land. They are lucky the international community stepped in when it did to put the reins back in Israel.

If the plight of "Palestinian refugees" is of such concern to the Arab world, why has no Arab nation stepped up to help them? Charity is one of the pillars of Islam, so why don't any Arab nations show charity in any form to their fellow Arabs? Because the more the Palestinians suffer, the worse the Jews look to everybody else.

 

You really need to get educated on the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

im really not in the mood to educate you right now. maybe later.

 

Wait a second Armchair general. Are you against Israel? Even though you want America to "whip ass"?

 

Yeah, if someone disagrees with your opinions they must be "uneducated." This may come as a shock to you, but I've done quite a bit of research on the 48 and 73 wars, as well as the history of Israel and so called "Palestine." The Palestinians already have their state. It's called Jordan.

 

Invaded? Some historical research on your part is in order. If anyone ivaded, it would be the Jordanians which hold over 70% of the palestinian mandate and don't allow "palestinians" into it.

And there never were any palestinians, or palestine, or palestinian language. There were no real permanant residents of that area at all unless you call nomadic bedoin residents. You really do need to do a bit of honest research rather than parrot the talking points of the anti semetic left.

 

Wow. Lets give some credit to the effectiveness of the Israeli propaganda machine, which you guys would make great spokesmen for.

Actually, Palestinians are a gentle people. If you get to know some and hear their side of the story, you will feel sympathy for them, too, unless you have a flint heart. The Palestinians were run over by history. I know that various ethnic groups in the United States fiercely contend for the title of victim, but the Palestinians had it imposed on them.

There was nothing they could do when the Ottoman Empire absorbed their land. There was nothing they could do when the British Empire took their land away from the Ottoman Turks at the end of World War I. There was nothing they could do when the British Empire created the Palestine Mandate. There was nothing they could do when the British Cabinet, for reasons historians still argue about, decided Palestine would make a nice national home for European Jews when and if the British Empire ever decided to give up its occupation of Palestine.

That it did in 1947, after considerable encouragement by Jewish terrorist organizations, the Irgun, led by Menachem Begin, and the Stern Gang, led by Yitzhak Shamir. Yes, Jews used terrorist tactics against the British occupation, and now Palestinians are using terrorist tactics against the Israeli occupation.

In 1948, about 700,000 Palestinians were made refugees and then told they could not return to their homes. Their homes, land and businesses were eventually confiscated. In 1967, Israel attacked and stole the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. These are now the "occupied territories." The state of Israel has no legal claim to even 1 square inch of any of this territory, but with the backing of the United States it has been able to tell the rest of the world to **** off.

Palestinians appreciate the irony of the fact that the United States went to war allegedly to get Albanian refugees back into Kosovo and went to war twice against Iraq allegedly to enforce United Nations resolutions. Of course, we've done nothing for the return of the Palestinian refugees, and we've ignored the fact that Israel is in open defiance of more than 80 United Nations resolutions. We've also ignored the fact that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that really does have weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear bombs.

All Americans should feel a great deal of sympathy for the younger generations of both Palestinians and Israeli Jews. These young people were born into a conflict started by people long dead or now senile. The issue is simple: It's land. Both sides are dying over land.

You don't need to be Palestinian or hate Jews to feel sympathy for these people. All you need is to know the facts. Learn the truth, and you will feel sympathy for Palestinians also, but not very proud of American Middle East policy, which is a continuing failure driven by greed and cowardice on the part of American politicians. The hypocrisy of it has poisoned our image around the world.

 

Last I checked Israel wasn't America.

 

Well, someone is a victim of a propaganda machine, but if you are wondering who, look in a mirror. Grab yourself a history book and see just who attacked whom in 1967.

 

First of all, get your facts straight:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War

In June 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt's airforce



any more tidbits of history you'd like to revise to suit your ignorance?

 

I hope you're aware that your own cited article points the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran, their expulsion of the UN peace keeping force on their border and initiated a military mobilization. It was no secret how the Egyptians felt towards the Israelis.

They already saw what happens when their neighbors start to mobilize in '48 in the war of independence.

 

I'd hardly call it "pre-emptive" after Egypt had massed 100,000 troops in the Sinai in preperation for their own invasion of Israel. Egypt started the war, Israel just took the first shot.

 

Just admit you were wrong and move on. Be a man.