Dear All,

I was on the phone this morning with our colleague in Gaza Mr. Constantine Dabbagh, Executive Director of Near East Council of Churches and we exchanged for some time over the situation in the Gaza Strip.  From the description of the conditions in the Gaza Strip at the moment, I gather the following:

• It is very difficult for people to get bread. Bakeries that used to distribute bread regularly and fairly easily are unable to do so because of fuel shortage. Queues stand around a couple of blocks from bakeries in order to have a chance to get the daily bread staple which Palestinians cannot exist without it.
• Fuel Shortage is becoming critical. The Near East Council of Churches Offices in Gaza City does not have electricity as well as all of Gaza. The limited fuel supply in the Offices will last, according to Mr. Dabbagh, for 2 days. He has called this morning a meeting for all staff members to think of ways to extend the use of the limited fuel supply for the rest of the week, 5 days altogether.
• Many of the employees cannot get to work and have difficulty in finding transportation because fewer and fewer cars and other means of transportation are available. The situation not only touches the NECC employees but most people across the Gaza Strip.
• NECC to decide where to stop services.  Mr. Dabbagh informs me that he has called for a special emergency meeting with the Gaza Area Committee (Board) in order to decide which services could be stopped if the emergency situation continues. We have to wait and see what happens on this.
• Medicaments in Clinics and Laboratory Tests. The three Primary Health Clinics of the Gaza Strip do not suffer from a lack of medications at the moment. The Problem lies with the refrigerators that keep the Laboratory Tests and Medicaments that need refrigeration. With the electricity shortage continuing, the laboratory tests cannot be performed while medications that need refrigeration would be wasted. This applies to hospitals and other health facilities across the Gaza Strip.
• High Rise Residents Penalized With shortage of electricity, lifts are rendered inoperable. There are hundreds of high rise buildings in Gaza and all residents of the higher floors need to go up the stairs which can be strenuous to older and sick people. A case of an expecting mother living on the 9th floor was mentioned. Other cases abound.
• An Altogether Surreal Situation. All Palestinians in Gaza are paying a very heavy price indeed. Scores of them have been killed and others seriously injured by Israeli military strikes. Sick people particularly those suffering from cancer and chronic diseases are not finding a way out. Jordan, at the initiative of HM King Abdullah, took the step of allowing tens of chronically ill people into Jordan’s hospitals. As the crossing points remain closed by order of the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, there are sad stories practically every day of chronically ill patients dying as they await permission to cross. The latest is a 14-year old boy who died of cancer just yesterday. A young girl of 13 relates to a correspondent how she is dreaming “death – dreams” every night and how when she hears of patients dying she thinks that she would be the next in turn.
• A Way Out is Needed. We need to search for a way out. Certainly political talks between Palestinians and Israel over the Gaza Strip situation has become an urgent reality and is demanded by all Palestinians. What steps need to be taken to return Gaza to some sort of “normalcy” depend on the wisdom of leading people in the Palestinian Territories and policy makers in Israel. But without communicating the urgency and stressing the need to relieve Gaza of its present conditions, nothing will transpire.
• I am asking all of our Partners to please forward to the Israeli Ambassadors in your respective countries as well as to Israeli officials in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv the need to end this killing siege of Gaza. Certainly, there is need for a political situation in which rockets from Gaza should stop hitting towns in Southern Israel, but imposing a siege on Gaza and punishing 1.5 million inhabitants will surely not help in stopping the launching of rockets. Even if rockets stop for a number of days, there will be no certainty that they will stop for good without a political solution. The Palestinians should be encouraged to be united in seeking such a political solution.

With best wishes,
Dr. Bernard Sabella
Executive Secretary
Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees Middle East Council of Churches