The Gaza Strip - Documentary Film

Forward by Susan Brannon Film by James Longley James Longley went to the Gaza Strip for three months and made a documentary film in 2001. This was before the settler's were forced to leave and gives a true prospective on life for the Gazans just as things started to get worse. James Longley decided to release his film for free online only a few months ago so more people will have access to view the Gazan realities. He first released his film in 2002 at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival and the place was packed. Longley also produced "Iraq in Fragments" and was awarded three jury awards at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature. His short film Sari's Mother premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short. In 2009, Longley was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Grant. This film begins with an introductory to the live in the Gaza Strip and the tension increases in the film while the tension is increasing in the Strip. Parts of this film clearly shows crimes against humanity...when the Israelis dropped chemical canisters onto Khan Younis, Gaza of an unknown substance. At the time, the population was going about their business, along with shooting nearby. The children were coming home from school and the men were working and the then the canisters of some sort of smell-less gas that tasted like sugar or mint was released onto the general population. The film focuses on the lives of the children and you can clearly see the effects of the trauma in their lives. You can follow along through some of the lives of these Gazan children and understand that the children had to grow up quickly with the sounds of bullets, rockets, tanks and loosing their homes. They lost friends, parents, uncles and brothers. One of the children decides that it is better to die than live like the way that his life has led and reflects what life means to him. There are scenes that describe the aftermath at the hospital explaining that some boys picked up some boxing gloves that the Israeli tank dropped off to play with it. Inside was some metal, they thought they could sell it. One boy took the metal ball out of the glove and tried to break it. It exploded and was killed instantly. Two other boys were injured and taken to the hospital.t This film is an eyewitness to The aftermath of the destroyed homes in Khan Younis, the shooting when the families attempt to clean up the mess. You can hear the shooting while the families live in small tents near their destroyed homes. In the end there is utter devastation, inside of the Gaza Strip, in the neighborhoods inside of the Gazan border. It is my hopes that the world does not forget the Gazans and continue to ignore the plight that their lives have taken. After the shooting of this film, life has become much worse for those that live in the Gaza Strip.

Four Years of the Intifada

Four Years of the Intifada
Susan Brannon The First Victim was a 47 year old disabled man. One Day after the 4 Year mark, there has been3,342 Palestinians killed since September 28, 2000.
Yesterday three Palestinians were killed in Nablus and one in Rafah and one in Khan Younis. Read the article below to see the violations of Human Rights Issues due to war. The beginning of five years of occupation. A total 4,342 Palestinians and Israelis killed. Of those 1,008 were Israeli and 3,334 Palestinian. 82% of Palestinians killed were civilians.
621 Children Killed under the age of 17 10,000 Chilren have been injured 424 Palestinians killed by assassinations 100 Women in Prison 377 Children in Prison $1 Billion dollars of damage in the infrastructure 50% of Agricultural losses 298 Schools shelled or broken, where 4 children killed No drinking water in Gaza Water consumption is 5 times more for Israelis Settler water consumption is 20 times more 703 movement restrictions 55 women forced to give birth at checkpoints with 20 loosing their children The Wall is twice as high and three times as long as the Berlin Wall 40,000 Palestinians are imprisoned inside the Wall at Qalqalia 22,000 homes have been destroyed in Rafah, Gaza For more details click here A day and the life in Palestine read below: The Palestinian Monitor reports: Israeli soldiers killed Saleh Ibrahim Balalo, a 47- year-old mentally disabled man, when he left his house during a curfew in the Jenin refugee camp. Due to his condition he was not aware that a curfew was in place. He was shot in the chest and killed instantly. This is the second day the Jenin camp has been subject to military operations in which Israelis are conducting a house-to-house search campaign. Yesterday Israeli forces invaded Jenin with 70 military vehicles, two Apache helicopters, and one surveillance aircraft. Yesterday three Palestinians were killed in Nablus. Sayel Jibara, a father of ten from the village of Salem, was driving people from Nablus to his village when he decided to bypass a checkpoint that had closed the road. Near the Alom Morei settlement, an Israeli settler in a car stopped them, ordered the driver and three passengers to exit the car, and shot the driver at close range, killing him. According to witnesses, there was no provocation or reason for the killing. Jibara is the breadwinner for his children, aged 2 to 16, three of whom have problems with their eyes, as well as his wife, father, and mother. He was killed while trying to make the money to feed his family. The two other Palestinians killed in Nablus were Ammar Abu Nafiseh, age 21, and Ahmed Nidal el-Tirawi, age 18, from the Balata refugee camp. Israeli forces invaded the camp yesterday and closed all the entrances except one southern entrance, where they stationed five Jeeps. Throughout the day, young people came to the area to throw stones at the Jeeps, and Israelis responded with live fire. Ammar was killed by one bullet to his chest and one to his leg. Ahmed was killed by one live bullet to his eye. Yesterday, a Palestinian named Masoud al-Shaher, 31 years old from Rafah, was killed when Israelis fired a missile at his car from an Apache helicopter in an attempt to assassinate Mohamad Suleyman Abu Nasireh in Abasan village in Khan Younis. Abu Nasireh survived and is in moderate condition with shrapnel wounds. In Khan Younis, Said al-Madhoun, 61 years old, was killed when Israelis from Navet Kalim settlement opened fire in a civilian area. Al-Madhoun was visiting a relative who works in an Elementary School for Boys run by the UN. According to an eye-witness, Said was shot by a live bullet to his stomach while he was standing in the yard of the school.

Arafat, Qrei' make up

by Omar Karmi PRIME MINISTER Ahmed Qrei' on July 27 rescinded his resignation ten days after he tendered it, after an emergency meeting with President Yasser Arafat apparently brought the government crisis to an end. “President Arafat demonstrated his confidence in me by rejecting my resignation. I value this confidence that he has placed in me and I will therefore continue in my role,” Qrei' said to reporters after the meeting. For his part, Arafat stressed the need to consolidate Palestinian ranks to confront the challenges facing the Palestinian people. He also criticized the media for focusing too much on the crisis and not enough on “Israeli crimes.” The meeting is reported to have ended in agreement to adopt the reform document issued by the Legislative Council in May 2002, and the Cabinet is to assume control over the police and preventive security service. It was also agreed during the meeting that Legislative Council would hold a special session next week to determine the work and responsibilities of the three security apparatuses, though, according to foreign minister Nabil Shaath, the recent appointments in the security agencies were not discussed. Shaath also said no Cabinet reshuffle would take place at the moment. Legislative Council member, Hanan Ashrawi, who earlier in the week had called for an end to the “one-man-show,” and who was present at the July 27 meeting, said Arafat had authorized Qrei' to take measures against corrupt officials. Minister for Negotiations Affairs Saeb Erekat said Arafat had already instructed the Attorney General to expedite work on corruption files that had been transferred from the government and vowed that there would be no immunity for any official in this respect. Egypt welcomed the outcome of the meeting – “It is a useful development,” the Associated Press quoted Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher as saying on July 27 – after earlier in the week on July 21 having to deny a newspaper report in the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi that hinted at a possible Egyptian role in the Gaza protests. On July 21, a presidential spokesperson reaffirmed Cairo 's position that “without Arafat the Palestinian cause will not be solved.” Before meeting Egyptian officials in Cairo on July 28, however, US Secretary of State Colin Powell greeted the agreement with some skepticism. “President Arafat is the master of the ambiguous statement or the statement with the yo-yo string on it. It gets pulled back,” Powell said. “We're looking for action. When we see that (Qrei') has real authority over the security forces and is taking action to make them more effective and efficient, make them more competent and is taking action against terrorism, then we'll be convinced.” The meeting followed a week in which unrest in the Gaza Strip had calmed but not disappeared. On July 25, dozens of armed men took over the Khan Yunis Governorate headquarters demanding the reappointment of members of the security services who had been dismissed. On July 22, Fateh organized a large demonstration in Gaza City in which thousands, many armed, marched through the streets to the Legislative Council building. Addressing the crowd, leading Fateh figure, Samir Masharawi said the movement would continue its demonstrations to remove corruption. He also cautioned protestors, however, that “disagreement does not have to be fighting,” and called on all to desist from attacking any institutions. On July 21, a special commission of the Legislative Council, headed by Marwan Kanafani, and including Ziad Abu Amr, Abu Ali Shaheen, Azmi Shueibi, Hasan Asfour and Imad Falouji, had called on Arafat to accept the resignation of the government because it had failed to assume its duties under the Basic Law, the temporary Constitution. The political turmoil overshadowed the violence, which nevertheless continued apace. On July 21, ten houses were destroyed in Rafah by Israeli forces, and the day after, July 22, two members of Islamic Jihad 's military wing, Al Quds Brigades, were assassinated in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City by missiles fired from Israeli helicopters. On July 24, a 17-year-old was shot and killed in Beit Hanoun, and five further houses were demolished in Rafah. An incursion into Tulkarm on July 25 by an Israeli special forces unit left six members of Fateh's military wing, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, dead. According to residents, the Israeli army surrounded the house after the shootings and prevented ambulances from reaching the wounded. On the same day, Israeli Apache helicopters also shelled an empty house in the Zaitoun neighborhood, injuring four bystanders, and 12 children were injured by shelling in the Khan Yunis area, after a Qassem rocket had hit the Gush Katif settlement, wounding seven settlers. Also in Khan Yunis, a woman, 50, and a girl, 12, were killed on July 26 in the besieged town of Beit Hanoun . According to residents, the two were killed and several wounded, when Israeli troops opened fire at homes in the town now in its 29th day under siege. -Published July 28, 2004©Palestine Report http://www.palestinereport.org/article.php?article=446