The Palestinian health ministry says the man, identified as Amir Atef Reyan from Qarawet Bani Hassan, died from his wounds.
Settler violence against Palestinians in occupied West Bank has intensified in recent weeks [File: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]
31 Dec 2021
Israeli troops have shot dead a Palestinian who was allegedly running towards them with a knife at a bus station in the occupied West Bank, the army said.
Citing an initial investigation, it said in a statement on Friday that the man had arrived at a junction near the Jewish settlement of Ariel in a car, got out and “armed with a knife, ran toward the bus station where civilians and IDF soldiers were standing”.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the deceased as Amir Atef Reyan. It said he died from his wounds as a resident of Qarawet Bani Hassan, a village in Salfit in the West Bank.
Members of the Palestinian Red Crescent said the Israeli forces prevented their paramedics from reaching the young man to treat him before he was transferred to a hospital.
Photos and videos published online showed the Palestinian man lying face down at a junction near an Israeli settlement before being taken away in an ambulance.
The Israeli army said it was pursuing whoever else was in the vehicle, which had fled the scene.
The West Bank has seen sporadic violence since United States-sponsored talks on founding a Palestinian state alongside Israel stalled in 2014.
Settler violence against Palestinians has intensified in recent weeks after a Jewish settler was shot dead by a Palestinian gunman in the northern parts of the West Bank.
The killing ignited a string of settler attacks that left at least four Palestinians wounded and sparked a series of confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
Israel in 1967 captured the West Bank, which the Palestinians want to form the main part of their future state. About 600,000 Jewish settlers live in more than 130 settlements scattered across the occupied territory, which is also home to more than 2.5 million Palestinians.
The Palestinians and the wider international community consider the growing Israeli settlements a violation of international law that threatens a two-state solution to the conflict.
One of the most disingenuous arguments made by Canadian apologists for Israeli crimes is that it is irrelevant what transpires here. If they genuinely believed this why seek to squash support for Palestinians?
In fact, the Zionist colonization/Palestine liberation struggle plays out daily in Canadian bookstores, schools, media, diplomacy and elsewhere. But the forces of justice are up against a powerful, well-financed, state-backed movement employing all manner of slander and deception to defend Israel’s system of Jewish supremacy.
As they run roughshod, Israeli lobbyists claim it is racist to even talk about their actions. When Passage editor Davide Mastracci recently tweeted that he was setting up “a free newsletter that will track the Israel lobby’s influence on Canadian media” United Jewish Appeal of Toronto representative Noah Zatzman, former Jewish Defense League leader Meir Weinstein and others called Mastracci/the newsletter anti-Semitic. Before its first publication!
The newsletter could be an important contribution. Recently Postmedia apologized after the Montreal Gazette published an Amnesty International ad featuring 15-year-old Palestinian journalist Janna Jihad, who has been repeatedly targeted by Israeli forces. Under pressure from Honest Reporting Canada (HRC), Postmedia’s Senior Vice President Local Sales, Adrian Faull, said the “advertisement should not have been published and was a direct result of human error.
Our entire Local Sales Advertising Team across Canada will be attending a mandatory training session on Thursday, December 9, to further reinforce our processes and standards.” The message delivered to the advertising employees at Canada’s biggest newspaper chain was (probably) ‘take Amnesty’s money but not if they mention Palestinians’.
In a sign of Postmedia’s complete lack of impartiality, a week Saturday the Montreal Gazette and National Post both published full-page ads for the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC). One read that it “trains the top pro-Israel politically-engaged university students from across Canada to become the next generation of political leaders.” Incredibly, Postmedia was listed as a top sponsor of CJPAC, which organizes an annual “Israeli Wine and Canadian Cheese party” on Parliament Hill with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs to “celebrate the strength of the Canada-Israel relationship.”
In October the Maple Leaf removed a story by a Canadian soldier part of Op PROTEUS, which assists Palestinian security forces to oversee Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. HRC criticized the military publication for an article by Lieutenant Colonel Len Matiowsky titled an “Artistic initiative that made a difference in Palestine”. HRC complained that the story employed the word “Palestine” in its title “even though official Canadian policy does not recognize ‘Palestine’ as a state as the Palestinians haven’t met the requirements for statehood.” HRC also complained about the Canadian soldier’s (innocuous) description of recent Palestinian history.
On December 20, Chapters Indigo officially banned the book ‘Amazing Women of the Middle East: 25 Stories from Ancient Times to Present Day’. Hasbara Fellowships Canada complained about a map in the book that read “Palestine” while discussing a woman born in Nazareth in 1886. Owned by a couple who’ve spent upwards of $100 million supporting non-Israelis who join the IDF, Chapters Indigo carries books that call the West Bank “Judea and Samaria” or deny Palestinian existence in various ways.
Zionists have sought to suppress Palestinian identity and discussion in Canada’s largest school system. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has been under intense pressure to fire educators that respect Palestinians. When students at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute held a rally last month to protest anti-Palestinian racism within the TDSB former head of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center Avi Benlolo denounced their “hate”. In the National Post, Benlolo concluded that “our future as a nation is at stake” if we don’t suppress high school students protesting anti-Palestinian racism.
At the federal government level, Canadian diplomats make all kinds of absurd statements to favor Zionist policy. Two weeks ago Canada’s representative to the Palestinian Authority angrily criticized Electronic Intifada editor Ali Abunimah for tweeting that Canada “arms and funds the apartheid state to murder Palestinians and steal their land.” Robin Wettlaufer responded by writing “we neither arm nor fund Israel.” After Abunimah and others provided evidence of Canada “arming and funding Israel” the Canadian diplomat blocked Abunimah on Twitter.
Recently Canada’s new ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbauer praised that country for supporting a Canadian initiative against arbitrary detention. But 500 Palestinians are locked up without charge or trial by Israel in contravention of the fourth Geneva Convention (more than 4,000 Palestinian political prisoners are in Israeli jails).
Notwithstanding their absurd arguments, proponents of Israeli apartheid dominate Canadian political culture and thus win most of the skirmishes. Still, the forces of justice are victorious in some battles and are increasing their ability to push back.
This month both the University of Toronto and Canadian Association of University Teachers rejected the IHRA’s anti-Palestinian definition of anti-Semitism. Also a TDSB report called for a Zionist trustee, Alexandra Lulka, to be censured for perpetuating negative stereotypes about Palestinians and Muslims. For her part, Canada’s representative to the Palestinian Authority Robin Wettlaufer was pilloried online for her ridiculous statement to Abunimah.
Even within the Liberal party MPs Salma Zaid and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith have sponsored recent parliamentary petitions supporting Palestinian rights. On December 22 new NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson released a statement urging the federal government to “end all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine”.
It concluded, “by failing to call out Israel for breaching international law and violating the human rights of the Palestinian people, Canada is contributing to the problem.”
The first step is knowledge. Following that comes action. That is why supporters try to shut down all criticism of Israel.
The Palestinian agricultural village of al-Walaja straddles a suffocating boundary between occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank. Nearly totally surrounded by the Israeli separation wall, it also lies in the shadow of settlements guarded by armed personnel and security cameras that monitor every movement in the area.
And yet, in the midst of it all, six Palestinian women have found a creative outlet to bring hope to their community: a carpentry workshop producing beautiful pieces of art made out of wood.
The workshop, called “Rweisat for Wood Art,” features a range of carefully crafted, hand-made items designed out of recycled wooden objects like wooden terraces and old tables. From these objects, women residents have been carving out key chains, shelves, chandeliers, and other ornaments engraved with images and calligraphy.
The name of the workshop, taken from the nearby mountain, reflects the residents’ deep roots in their natural environment, which has long been an integral feature of the village’s way of life. “It was a way for us to show our strong connection to the land and to the mountain,” says Samya. Our agriculture belongs to the people of the village, which now is being threatened to be taken by the occupation.”
Items produced by the Palestinian women’s carpentry workshop Rweisat for Wood Art, in al-Walaja, West Bank. (Courtesy from their Facebook page)
The origin of the Rweisat workshop began with an idea in 2016 when Samya, a resident of al-Walaja, had the opportunity to pitch a project to the German association KURVE Wustrow to support Palestinian women in the village to establish ‘recycling gardens’ in the backyards of their homes, turning discarded materials such as car tires or plastics into planters. The foundation first funded a small pilot group of five women, and after witnessing its success, expanded and supported 19 gardens.
“Our goal was to create a safe place for women to hang out in their own yards and enjoy a bit of an outlet,” says Lubna, one of the project’s participants, who also manages tours for visitors.
The physical work with the gardens sparked further thoughts among the women about transitioning to larger projects, especially carpentry. “It was a natural development,” says Samya. “We enjoyed working with the wood of the plants, and it was clear to us all that we wanted to evolve with it.”
Members of the Palestinian women’s carpentry workshop Rweisat for Wood Art, in al-Walaja, West Bank. (Natalie Alz)
Through their German and local sponsors, five of the women acquired training in carpentry and heavy equipment over two years, eventually opening up their own workshop and training other women in al-Walaja in the trade. The women also took up training in storytelling, which they have integrated into their public tours and social media outreach. The participants take turns playing different roles in managing the project and producing different items, giving the women a diverse experience with all facets of the workshop.
The personal impact felt by the women was profound. “All of a sudden, I realized that I love working with wood,” says Reem, one of the first members who joined the new project. “And at that time, I didn’t know I could be responsible with managing money. It was an opportunity that refined our character.”
The workshop, however, was initially met with skepticism and ridicule from many of the community. “It wasn’t easy,” says Samya. “Our struggle was with everyone. Nobody believed in us. People started making jokes and looking at us mockingly. But today, they are proud [of our work], and some have even embraced our ideas and pursued it as individuals. We see more initiative from both men and women.”
Members of the Palestinian women’s carpentry workshop Rweisat for Wood Art at work, in al-Walaja, West Bank. (Courtesy from their Facebook page)
Reem recalls the judgmental attitudes during the early phase of their experiment. “The first time I went to buy tools and supplies, it was a new experience for me; It wasn’t ‘ordinary’ for a woman to be in this kind of store. When I went back to the store after forgetting something, I saw all the men there laughing at me. I understood how they really see me. It’s not ordinary here for a woman to be in this kind of store or to deal with all these tools.”
Lubna experienced similar responses even during the recycling project. “I’ve been called names,” she says. “In the beginning, all my neighbors saw me collecting trash and garbage from the street to recycle them and use it for my recycling garden. They mocked me and laughed. But after witnessing the benefits, they saw it differently. It wasn’t just the benefit of recycling materials; it helped remove the garbage from the street. In a way, we showed everyone that things could be different.”
‘This is our way to tell our story, to resist’
Before 1948, the community of al-Walaja originally resided in homes less than two kilometers away on what is today the Israeli side of the Green Line. However, the village was destroyed by Zionist forces during the Nakba; its lands are today used as a picnic site for Israelis. The Palestinian families re-established their homes on lands belonging to the village on the Jordanian side of the armistice line, before the area was occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.
Items produced by the Palestinian women’s carpentry workshop Rweisat for Wood Art, in al-Walaja, West Bank. (Courtesy from their Facebook page)
When Israel annexed East Jerusalem following the war, in violation of international law, the expansion of its municipal boundaries sliced al-Walaja in two: half of it lay under the city’s official purview, and the other half fell under what is today Area C of the West Bank. Like with other villages in Area C, which is under the full control of the military, Israel has systematically prevented the Palestinian residents from working on most of their lands and from building new houses and structures, which require permits that are rarely if ever granted. Israeli settlements such as Har Gilo, meanwhile, are allowed to expand on lands confiscated by the state from al-Walaja.
In the mid-2000s, the Israeli army confiscated more lands and effectively created a chokehold around the village by erecting the separation barrier, destroying homes and uprooting orchards in the process. To this day, the authorities are continuing to demolish homes in the village under the pretext that they are “illegal” structures, while pursuing plans to expand the settlement neighborhoods of “Greater Jerusalem.”
Today’s al-Walaja, Samya says, feels like a “small jail.” There is only one entrance to the village, which has been closed off by the separation wall and settlements. The occupation authorities are now threatening to confiscate and plunder hundreds of more acres of the village’s land and to demolish dozens of homes. A High Court hearing regarding the state’s plans, which was due to be held this month, has been postponed. Several of the women describe al-Walaja as a microcosm of what is happening throughout Palestine, just like Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.
Members of the Palestinian women’s carpentry workshop Rweisat for Wood Art at work, in al-Walaja, West Bank. (Courtesy from their Facebook page)
It is this sense of being encaged, says Lubna, that has made the wood art project especially valuable to the women involved. Their experience in Germany in particular helped them to gain a fresh perspective on what they could achieve for their occupied hometown. “The most remarkable moment was when we realized what freedom is,” she explained. “For the first time in our lives, we knew what freedom feels like, how it is to grow in such an environment, and the effect it has on the kids.”
Palestinian children, Lubna notes, “grow up with fear, are jailed, are unable to visit a place that is 10 feet away without approval [from the Israelis] or without going through checkpoints. We felt sad for ourselves and for our kids, that we don’t get these chances.” These worries weigh heavily on many of the participants. “We love our children and want them to live and enjoy life,” says Alia. “We have to fight this prejudice.”
“We live in an absurd situation where my grandson looks from the window and sees Jerusalem’s ‘Biblical Zoo,’ which is right in front of the village, and asks if we can go there,” says Taghreed, one of the newest members of the project, who has used the workshop as a way to take a day for herself every week. “I tell him that it’s far away, but he points and says it’s only a few meters away over the hill. He’s right: it’s so close we can see it. But because of our situation, we can’t cross or move without going through the checkpoints. It’s not easy to see the disappointment in their eyes.”
Items produced by the Palestinian women’s carpentry workshop Rweisat for Wood Art, in al-Walaja, West Bank. (Courtesy from their Facebook page)
In the face of these difficulties, though, the Rweisat workshop has provided these women with a space for catharsis. “For me it was a great experience,” says Elham, the newest member of the project. “Yesterday I had my first tour group that I guided all by myself. I overcame my shyness and proved to myself that I can do it.”
Tohfa mentions that there has been a growing demand by other members of the community to join the wood art project, with more and more families seeing the positive effect it has had. “Everybody has embraced it,” says Samya, adding that once a month, they organize family gatherings to invite spouses, children, and friends to enjoy their activities.
“We are not here to take the men’s place,” says Taghreed. “We are here to walk alongside them — there’s no monopoly for one gender,” adds Reem. Samya echoes this sentiment. “We love and care for our village. This is our own way to tell our story, to resist, and to keep fighting for our lives here. We see it as sumud [steadfastness].”
Israeli leaders are beating the war drums against Tehran. But as settler violence rises with impunity, they would do better to concentrate on matters closer to home
A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli machinery demolishes her under-construction house, in Hebron, Israeli-occupied West Bank (Reuters)
Despite the change of government six months ago, which released Israelis from the vociferous and inciting grip of Benjamin Netanyahu's power, 2021 seems to have been a year of more of the same, on all fronts.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) continued to attack magazines and other targets in Syria, not only without any difficulty, but most probably with the tacit encouragement of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is clear to Israeli, Syrian, Iranian and western observers that Putin wants Iran's presence on Syrian soil and its support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah to be discontinued.
Evidence for this can be found in Israel’s most recent strikes in Syria, which reportedly targeted Iranian sites this week in the port city of Latakia - the hub of Russian troops in Syria. Notably, Syrian air defences did not respond, which Moscow on Wednesday said was because a Russian aircraft was nearby.
A firefighter douses flames after Syrian state media reported an Israeli missile attack in a container storage area, at Syrian port of Latakia, Syria (Reuters)
A relative sense of calm is also maintained on the Israeli-Lebanese border, evidence that deterrence is working on both sides. Hezbollah, which has been weakened due to Lebanon’s political, social and economic turmoil, does not have any intentions to be dragged into a war with Israel. Meanwhile, Israel is deterred by the 140,000 Hezbollah rockets and missiles that can hit almost any point in Israel, be it a military or civilian target.
Iranian war drums
But as 2021 reaches its expiration date, Israel’s leaders and military chiefs are once again, like in a religious ritual, beating the war drums against Iran. It is intended to create the impression that the Iranian nuclear threat is the most urgent and troubling topic on the Israeli agenda this passing year.
The truth, however, is that the Israeli warmongering against Iran serves only as a decoy for two domestic purposes. One is to improve the image of the Israeli military and prove its vitality in order to demand the increase of the military’s budget. And indeed, despite the Covid -19 pandemic, which is causing many Israelis to lower their standards of living, the only sector which squeezed a budget increase from the politically fragile cabinet is the powerful security-military establishment. Its budget rose by an additional $3bn, while the services of the health, education, welfare, industry, tourism, sports and cultural fields were decreased.
The truth is that the Israeli warmongering against Iran serves only as a decoy for two domestic purposes
The second aim of Israel’s rhetorical bashing of Iran is concealing the most important challenge which is facing the Jewish state: the Palestinian issue.
On the surface, 2021 was also comparatively quiet on the West Bank and Gaza fronts. The status quo, which is reflected in the occupation, the expansion of Israeli settlements and the continued security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, has been further cemented. What also helped to increase Israel’s feeling that it is invincible was the accelerated pace of upgrading relations with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. There are embassies in Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi, Rabat, and Bahrain with open skies to tourists, enhanced economic ties and increased secret military and intelligence cooperation.
Even the May violence – which saw Israeli raids on al-Aqsa Mosque, subsequent Hamas rockets fired at Jerusalem, riots across mixed Israeli-Palestinian cities in Israel, and bombing in Gaza - subsided after a week or so and stability of a sort resumed. But recent weeks must serve as a warning to the Israeli side and as an indication of what may be the reality in the coming year.
Growing instability
There was hope that the new government, led by Naftali Bennet with a significant presence of moderate right-wingers, centrists and left-wing politicians in his cabinet, would tame ultra-nationalist Israeli settlers. But exactly the opposite is happening.
Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have in the last two months increasingly harassed innocent Palestinians. Olive trees were cut down and youth have been entering villages to provoke the local Palestinians. In numerous cases, their cars were damaged and people were assaulted. All of these incidents take place under the nose of Israeli security forces that turn a blind eye and allow mobs to exercise their violent attacks.
Certainly, this Israeli behaviour contributes to the rise in the number of cases in which Palestinians used firearms to attack settlers and Israel's security forces. Regardless, it is believed Hamas is behind some of these incidents, which Israel sees as an attempt to create a wedge between itself and the Palestinian Authority (PA) and halt security cooperation between the two sides.
Israel was promised change in 2021. Yet Netanyahu's politics still dominate
I am neither a gambler nor a prophet, but I shall take the risk and the liberty of estimating that 2022 will neither witness a war between Iran and Israel nor between Israel and Hezbollah. There will be no full-blown war with Hamas either, except sporadic skirmishes.
The big unknown is what will happen in the West Bank. Two major developments can rock the status quo. They depend on the health of the ageing King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
If the Saudi king, who is 85 and rarely seen in public, dies and is replaced by his crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, it can be expected that the kingdom will go public with its relations with Israel and form official diplomatic and commercial ties, in addition to the secret military and intelligence deal already in full gear. But at the same time, unlike the UAE and Bahraini leadership, it is expected that Mohammed bin Salman will have to demand as a precondition that Israel makes concessions and advances peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.
If Abbas, 86, dies, then the PA will face a bitter power struggle, and a collective leadership, with the ambitious Mohammed Dahlan part of it, will emerge at least for some time.
Nevertheless, Israeli leaders and security chiefs know very well that the West Bank status quo is delusional.
Fahid Afana — pictured with his son Muhammad — was denied travel permits by Israel for more than three months, causing him to miss vital medical appointments.
Ahmed Al-Sammak
Ahmed Al-Sammak -23 December 2021
Fahid Afana spent months waiting for a message on his mobile phone.
The message he wanted was a simple one: that he would be allowed to leave Gaza to receive treatment for lymphoma in Israel.
Afana, 31, had an appointment with Rambam hospital in Haifa scheduled for 23 August this year. Yet it was not until December that he was permitted to leave Gaza for Haifa – a city in Israel – over a three-day period.
Patients often have to overcome major bureaucratic obstacles so that they can travel for care unavailable within Gaza’s health care system.
First, Afana had to submit his application for a travel permit via the Palestinian Authority. The PA then forwards all such bids to the Israeli military occupation.
After carrying out the required paperwork, Afana was informed that Israel was doing a “security” check on him. He was puzzled by that news as he had previously been to Rambam hospital on many occasions, without the Israeli authorities raising objections.
“Once I got that information, I knew the doors of hell would open,” he said. “I asked myself why. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I followed every single instruction they gave me.”
Afana contacted the hospital’s administrators. They replied that they had no issue with him but had no power to overturn decisions made by the Israeli military.
He also asked the Palestinian Authority why he was subject to a “security” check. The PA replied that Israel usually does not provide such details.
Afana was originally diagnosed with lymphoma in 2015.
Accessing treatment has long been a struggle for him.
Some of his treatment was only received after a petition was lodged with Israel’s high court. Because of that petition – filed by the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights during 2018 – he then received treatment from Augusta Victoria Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem.
Unfortunately, the radiotherapy he underwent in that hospital proved unsuccessful. So it was recommended that he receive further care in Israel or Jordan.
Afana first went to Haifa’s Rambam hospital in 2018. He responded well to the radiotherapy offered there and then headed back to Gaza.
He kept on making monthly trips to Haifa for checkups until Israel banned him from doing so in August this year.
While he was banned, his condition deteriorated. He later learned that his cancer had spread.
By blocking him from going to his 23 August appointment, Israel inflicted enormous anxiety on him and his family. Afana feared that he would die soon, leaving his two children without a father.
The radiotherapy prescribed to him at Rambam hospital is unavailable within Gaza. As he waited for permission to travel, Afana’s pain became increasingly severe.
Israel’s actions led to a delay of more than three months in his treatment.
“I can’t eat or sleep much,” he said – speaking before his permit to travel in December was eventually granted.
Cruel restrictions
Receiving treatment promptly can literally mean the difference between life and death for people with cancer and other serious diseases. Israel – which has subjected Gaza to a full blockade since 2007 – often blocks patients from receiving essential care for long periods.
Israel only approved 31 percent of applications to travel from Gaza’s medical patients in May this year. During that same month, Israel mounted a major attack on Gaza which lasted 11 days – frequently targeting health care facilities and their environs.
The rate of permit approvals remains low. According to the World Health Organization, 54 percent of 1,370 requests for patients to leave Gaza via the Erez military checkpoint were authorized by Israel during September this year.
That was one of the two lowest rates of approval since April 2019.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel has restricted the entry of medical equipment and spare parts into Gaza.
Ahmed Al-Sammak
As well as delaying patients from leaving Gaza, Israel has placed restrictions on the entry of medical equipment. Al Mezan, a human rights group, complained in October that Israel had banned diagnostic medical devices for patients with COVID-19.
Bassam al-Hammadin, a representative of Gaza’s health ministry, stated that Israel banned eight mobile X-ray devices for a total of 10 months this year before allowing them to enter.
“We only have three MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] devices in Gaza,” al-Hammadin added. “And they have banned spare parts for these devices.”
These restrictions are all the more cruel given that they have been imposed amid a pandemic.
“Scared to death”
Fida, 39, from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, has breast cancer. She recently required an MRI scan but was unable to have one in the European Gaza Hospital, which is located near Khan Younis.
The European Hospital has been the main facility in Gaza treating people with COVID-19 this year. Its equipment has been in heavy demand.
A notice in Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital states that its MRI machine is out of order.
Ahmed Al-Sammak
After an 18-day wait, Fida finally managed to have a scan in Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital during November. “You can’t imagine how painful the wait was,” she said.
Before then, she had been able to secure an appointment for an MRI scan within a few days.
Fida has previously received treatment in Jerusalem. Obtaining that treatment required her to be away from her family for a lengthy period of time between November 2020 and January this year.
That lengthy absence had a marked effect on her family, especially her 3-year-old son.
“He cries whenever he sees bags for traveling,” Fida said. “He thinks I will be away from him for another 65 days.”
So far Israel has granted Fida the permits she needs for travel. But there is no guarantee that Israel will do so if she applies for further permits.
“I am scared to death about traveling again to Jerusalem,” she said. “I don’t want to leave my family for a long time once again.”
Gaza City – In May 2021, the occupied Gaza Strip experienced renewed bloodshed and destruction as Israel launched a devastating 11-day military offensive on the besieged enclave.
It was the fourth major offensive launched by Israel on the Palestinian territory in 14 years, compounding the already dire living conditions and the high rates of poverty and unemployment in Gaza which has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007.
The assault in May killed at least 260 people, including 39 women and 67 children, and wounded more than 1,900, according to the health ministry in Gaza. The bombardment also destroyed 1,800 residential units and partially demolished at least 14,300 other units.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced to take shelter in United Nations-run schools.
About seven months later, the reconstruction process has slowly begun, albeit with Israel continuing to prevent the entry into Gaza of many materials it says could also be used for military purposes.
Talks mediated by Egypt have failed to reach a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group which rules Gaza, and tensions remain high.
Many people in Gaza have been left to cope with the aftermath of the 11-day assault, including many young people who were left seriously wounded.
Al Jazeera talked to three young people, who were injured and left with permanent disabilities during the offensive, to discuss what they endured and what they hope for in the new year.
Mohammed Shaban, 7, lost his eyesight in the Israeli offensive on Gaza [Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
‘Mum, I wish I could see your face’
Mohammed Shaban’s only wish for the new year is to be able to see again. The seven-year-old lost his eyesight on the first day of the Israeli offensive in May.
That day, Mohammed went out with his mother, Somayya, 35, to buy clothes for him and his siblings.
“He was very happy and could not wait to go home to show his new shoes to his sisters,” Somayya told Al Jazeera.
“Suddenly, a huge explosion hit the area. I didn’t remember what happened. Dust, chaos, people screaming, blood …”
Somayya stopped talking for a moment, then continued. “I remembered Mohammed, I started screaming: ‘Where is my son? Where is my son?'”
Mohammed’s eyes were severely wounded when an Israeli air attack hit two people on a motorcycle in Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip. He was rushed to hospital.
“His face was covered in blood and his eyes were bleeding terribly. I lost consciousness when I saw him,” Somayya said.
After several attempts, the doctors decided Mohammed’s eyesight could not be saved and they had to remove his eyes.
“I can’t stop crying whenever I see him. He keeps asking his siblings, ‘Why can I only see black darkness? Why can’t I go to my school?'” she said.
“Last night, he told me: ‘Mum, I wish I could see your face.'”
Somayya Shaban, Mohammed’s mother, cries as she recounts their ordeal [Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
Mohammed was recently admitted to a school for visually challenged children, but his mother has no hope for the new year.
“After what we have seen during this year, I cannot expect any better. Our days are the same. I believe Gaza’s destiny is to face more torture and suffering,” she said.
She said her only wish for 2022 would be for Mohammed to see again. “I wish I could give him my eyes.”
A report by Defense for Children International (DCIP) said 2021, which saw the killing of 86 Palestinian children in the occupied territory, was the deadliest year on record since 2014.
“During the 11-day military assault, Israeli forces killed Palestinian children using tank-fired shells, live ammunition, and missiles dropped from weaponised drones and US-sourced warplanes and Apache helicopters,” said the report on the May assault, dubbed Operation Guardian of the Walls.
‘I want to be a doctor when I grow up’
Farah Isleem, 12, feels more optimistic in the new year, despite losing her leg in May 2021.
“It was around six o’clock at morning. I was sleeping. Suddenly I woke up to an explosion. I was not able to move. Everyone was screaming around me,” she told Al Jazeera.
An Israeli raid had hit Farah’s home on the fifth floor in a building in the al-Sabra neighbourhood in central Gaza City.
Hazem Isleem, Farah’s father, is a security worker in Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital. That night, Hazem was at work, dealing with patients and people being evacuated from bombed areas.
Farah’s father helps her wear her prosthetic leg [File: Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
His seven children were rushed to the hospital after the bombing. Six suffered minor wounds, but Farah was badly hurt.
“When I first saw her, I realised her leg would have to be amputated,” he said. “It was shattered and bleeding severely.”
Farah was given a medical referral to Jordan, where she travelled with her mother three days after she was injured.
After trying to save her leg for 15 days, the doctors decided it would have to be amputated. A prosthetic limb was fitted to her leg later.
“Imagine your beautiful and intelligent child having her leg amputated at this young age. It is a very hard feeling,” Hazem said.
Farah Isleem puts on a prosthetic leg at her home in Gaza City [File: Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
Upon Farah’s return from Jordan after a month, her family and school organised a reception party to welcome her back.
“My big focus now is my studies at school,” Farah told Al Jazeera. “I face some obstacles going up and down the stairs, but my family always helps me.”
Farah told Al Jazeera before her injury, she was afraid of the sight of blood and of injuries. But now she wants to be a doctor, and her New Year’s wish is to learn English fluently as it would help her achieve her dream.
“I was in so much pain during the treatment process. But thanks to God everything is ok now,” she said with a smile.
According to UNICEF, before the escalation in violence, one in three children in Gaza already required support for conflict-related trauma. The UN body stressed the need for mental health and psychosocial support for children facing dire living circumstances.
The organisation also said tens of thousands of children in Gaza will require humanitarian assistance to access safe drinking water and basic sanitation over electricity shortages affecting water production in the besieged territory.
Mahmoud Naim, 18, lies on his bed after he was paralysed when shrapnel pierced his back [File: Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
‘I wish I could walk again’
Eighteen-year-old Mahmoud Naim lies on his back in bed, unable to move.
He is paralysed and unable to feel the lower part of his body since the shrapnel from an Israeli shell hit him in the back and pierced parts of his stomach on May 18.
“I went out to the street to buy bread for my siblings. I saw a friend and stood there talking to him. Suddenly there was an explosion. I don’t remember anything after that,” Mahmoud told Al Jazeera.
“My life has been turned upside down,” he said.
Mahmoud stayed in the intensive care unit for several days before he was referred to Egypt for further treatment. He underwent seven surgeries and still needs intensive physiotherapy sessions and medication.
Shrapnels are still stuck in Mahmoud’s back. They should be removed as soon as possible so that his condition improves.
“Currently I can’t move at all on my own. My mother helps me, but my brothers are [too] young,” he said.
“Sometimes I stay on the bed waiting for my cousins to come if I want to move.”
Before his injury, Mahmoud worked in a shop to support his family. His father has been sick for a long time and his condition deteriorated after his son’s injury.
Mahmoud told Al Jazeera he heard of reports claiming the shell that hit him was not Israeli, but a Palestinian shell that hit him by mistake.
“It was a continuous state of war in which everyone was under bombardment and terror, and the victims were all innocent people,” he said.
“Despite what happened to me, I am optimistic about the beginning of 2022 as every year is a new start.
“Enough of the war and enough of what is happening to us in the Gaza Strip. I hope calm prevails, our living conditions improve and I wish I could walk again.”
Today Christianity has become a spiritual and religious force to be reckoned with and its global presence has a say in matters such as environment, and politics
The Pope and Vatican diplomats were instrumental in the overturning of communism in the Eastern Europe, bringing in religious and political freedom to millions.
25 December 2021
Two thousand years ago the world of that time beheld a child of destiny born on the first-ever Christmas night in ancient Palestine, a colony under the imperial rule of Caesar with a Roman governor at the helm of this Jewish colony. A rare star lit the midnight sky and an angelic chorus rang out over the hills singing “Glory of God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good-will”.
While the young parents of the child gazed at their newborn, the heaven-sent gift, the shepherds gazed in awe and the three kings went down on their knees in adoration whispering to the parents the history of their journey to the royal city from the distant gentile territories of the east. This perennial story lives on even in the modern world of the twenty-first century with its customary poignancy and solemnity not the least diminished. The star of Bethlehem’s first Christmas night continues to glitter in the skies of our world at every dawn of this traditional Christian festival. It is the fascinating story of God becoming a man as a sign of his immense love for mankind.
When we put world history into critical scrutiny and evaluate its various events, we see that there are certain events of singular significance and impact that changed the world and its direction many times for better or for worse. The wars, conflicts and invasions, the discoveries and innovations, the dawn of the family of nations, the two great world wars, the emergence of colonial powers, the founding of the United Nations Organization and the present nuclear-spanned global culture are some of them. They have global repercussions on humanity.
Many of them were and some still are Copernican revolutions. But surpassing and transcending all these critical events is the Christmas event, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal Galilean who marks a singular turning point thus changing the course of history and the direction of its journey.
His person, lifestyle, teachings and memory has had a powerful impact that effected radical changes in human civilization inclusive of socio-cultural and even political ones. Though a single and marginal Jew perhaps, he has come to centre-stage in world affairs today.
The religious community he founded and initiated, the complex of Christian churches and their believers all over the world are socially, culturally and internationally a modern religious phenomenon to reckon with and carries a powerful moral voice in the field of human behaviour and ethical conduct which are universally accepted as part and parcel of a healthy civilization.
Born human, the Christmas child brought human dignity to its highest level of value. He came within a religious tradition of the middle-East, in fact, west Asia with its national culture and religiosity.
Being in a worker family, a carpenter’s household and not in the lap and luxury of a royal palace, he learned the weariness of human labour and the need to earn one’s living through honest work and hard labour.
His subsequent associates were drawn from the ranks of rugged fisherfolk from the rough Galilean breed. His first disciples were thus from the rank of workers and people given to strenuous work. They only knew the deep sea, the sails, the nets and the skill of fishing.
No high intellectuals or people of great talent were to be found in the company of the twelve who were the first followers of this itinerant guru and miracle worker. Though rejected by the highest religious authorities of his time and condemned to death by crucifixion, the worst form of punishment and shame, this man Jesus of Nazareth proved himself alive and was able to re-energize his forlorn disciples who directed by him under the spell of the Divine Spirit, were empowered to take his message beyond the confines of Jerusalem and Palestine, through the great cosmopolitan centres of Corinth and Ephesus, then to Athens the intellectual and cultural citadel of the time and finally announce it in Rome itself, the imperial capital of Caesar’s empire.
This incredible and upsurge movement defies explanation in merely human terms.
Christianity then had the opportunity of growing within many other empires: Constantinian, Byzantine, Mongol, Ottoman, supersede barbarian invasions and come under the tutelage of modern colonial powers such as the Portuguese, the Dutch, Belgian, French, Spanish and finally Great Britain.
Christianity of modern and post-modern times have gone through revolutionary changes through its encounter with the many cultures of the world. In many places, it has got indigenized into local conditions and has grown as national churches.
In fact, today Christianity is a spiritual and religious force to be reckoned with and the various churches in which it is incarnated have begun to impact modernity. In its wider forms of Catholicism, Orthodox and Protestantism, it has a global presence and has made itself the moral conscience of society and is able even to have a say in matters such as environment, world economics, politics and other international issues such as human rights and nuclear disarmament.
It is in dialogue with many other religions of different faiths in a common effort to forge ahead a humanism that is truly contributive to humanity’s betterment. The religious leadership functioning within Christianity is capable of making itself the voice of the voiceless, the oppressed and the most abandoned in raising issues that are socially and politically relevant to them.
It is able even to intervene morally in issues of international conflicts and problems that keep vexing humanity almost daily.
In every era, Christianity has had an impact. First of all in the pre-medieval world within the various eastern empires as we see in the great intellectual of that time, St. Augustine of North Africa, in the middle ages within the world of philosophy in its luminary, St. Thomas Aquinas and in more recent times at the heart of the secular world charged with innovations and discoveries in the fields of scientific exploration and technology, one hears the voices of Pope Leo XIII with his land-mark encyclicals on Capital and labour.
Most recently one hears of Pope St. John Paul II with his remarkable leadership in taking the Christian teaching to the heart of secular ideologies. He has spoken about the dignity of man and work, and the role of women in modern-day society. It was he who together with Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia, Ronald Regan of the USA and the Vatican diplomats was instrumental in the overturning of communism in Eastern Europe, bringing in religious and political freedom to millions who were subjugated for seven decades under the so-called iron curtain, the infamous symbol of which was the Berlin wall, that crashed with the people’s revolution spanning many of the former Eastern European countries in November 1989.
Christianity in its various historical forms like the medieval Christendom and colonial-era may have made mistakes. But, of late these errors have been rectified and it is now on the path of the radical teachings of Jesus Christ contained in the Gospels of the Bible. It defends human life and speaks in favour of social democracy and freedom.
It was he who together with Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia, Ronald Regan of the USA and the Vatican diplomats was instrumental in the overturning of communism in Eastern Europe, bringing in religious and political freedom to millions who were subjugated for seven decades under the so-called iron curtain
It decries a system of world economics bent relentlessly on capital and profit, the accumulation of wealth that leads to an increase in world poverty. It calls upon the world to create a system of world trade that is just and equitable: a social system that cares for the migrants, the elderly, the differently able and the poor in shanties and slums; to invest money spent on weapons in feeding the world’s poor.
One must realize that the infant whose birth is celebrated globally happened in pitiable conditions. He lived a life of a carpenter and as he said once, had no place even to lay his head. He was an itinerant preacher-healer who depended on the charity of others for his daily sustenance. His classical Sermon on the Mount given in Galilee declared the poor in spirit and the materially poor blessed. So are the meek who will inherit the earth and those who suffer for the cause of right and justice. His teaching carries a strong indictment of the rich who do not care for the poor and those who idolize money into a god of Mammon.
The earliest followers of Jesus lived a common life, sharing their resources and caring for the poor. The Romans were struck by the life of love they saw among Christians. Giving only relative value to worldly goods and concerns and looking for the treasures that moth cannot destroy and thieves cannot steal is the Christian way of living not however marginalizing one’s duties and obligations regarding other concerns like an honest means of livelihood, avoiding waste and social duties. As we celebrate Christmas again, it is good to focus on the humble birth of the Christ-child and the incredible impact this poor child in due course brought to the world and its history at large. He was destined to give his life in sacrifice for the life of the world and to be a beacon of hope to a world often prone to evil. This Christ-child stands for life in all its dimensions and came to establish a culture of life and a civilization of love. May the spirit of Christmas endure beyond the Christmastide making us welcome life and the poor who long for that same fullness of life where the strong are just, the weak secure and the peace preserved.
A banner displays a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. logo at the entrance to the company's new factory in Godollo, Hungary, on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012 [Akos Stiller/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
December 31, 2021
An Israeli multinational pharmaceutical company has been found guilty by an American Jury of fuelling the deadly drug crisis in New York. A lawsuit filed by the state's attorney general in 2019 accused Teva and other firms of aggressively marketing painkillers across the state, while doing nothing to minimise addiction.
The lawsuit accused Teva and its subsidiaries of downplaying the drugs' addiction risk, marketing opioids for unapproved uses and failing to adhere to internal safeguards that are intended to prevent the drugs from flooding the market. The suit also accused drug companies of breaching their legal duties "to profiteer from the plague they knew would be unleashed," referring to coronavirus pandemic.
In yesterday's verdict a statement by the New York State Attorney General said that the jury found the firm and its affiliates liable for "death and destruction" across the US, reported the BBC. The Israeli drug company was charged with having played a role in what is legally termed a public nuisance, but the lethal consequences of the drug epidemic is said to be linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the US in the past two decades.
Teva Pharmaceuticals was accused of misleading the American people about the true dangers of opioids, the attorney general's statement said.
The six-member jury was asked to determine whether the companies had played a role in perpetuating the opioid crisis in New York. The trial was held on Long Island, where, according to the New York Times, between 2010 and 2018, the rate of overdose deaths involving any opioid more than doubled. In 2019, opioid overdose deaths climbed above 1,600 in Nassau County and rose above 3,000 in Suffolk County, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The amount that Teva and its companies will have to pay is not yet clear. "While no amount of money will ever compensate for the human suffering, the addiction, or the lives lost due to opioid abuse, we will immediately push to move forward with a trial to determine how much Teva and others will pay," Letitia James, the state attorney general, said in a statement.
The money from the settlements is expected to be spread to communities hit by the epidemic of opioids to use for addiction treatment and prevention programmes. If certain conditions are met, the combined amount could reach $1.5 billion.
![Mohammed Shaban, 7 years old, holds his photo before losing his eyes. [File: Mohammed Salem/ Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-7.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513)
Mohammed Shaban, 7, lost his eyesight in the Israeli offensive on Gaza [Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
Somayya Shaban, Mohammed’s mother, cries as she recounts their ordeal [Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
Farah’s father helps her wear her prosthetic leg [File: Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
Farah Isleem puts on a prosthetic leg at her home in Gaza City [File: Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
Mahmoud Naim, 18, lies on his bed after he was paralysed when shrapnel pierced his back [File: Mohammed Salem/Al Jazeera]
