common places

forwarded by Sama Alshaibi

Palestinian Center for Human Rights (17 July 2006)

TESTIMONY No. 1

Dr. Fawwaz Abu Sitta, 53
Economics Professor at al-Azhar University

I am a professor of economics at al-Azhar University. I live with my wife, Anika Fagner, a German citizen, and my son, 18-year-old Suleiman, in a 3-story villa. We live on the second floor of the building. My brother Nawaf, an engineer, lives with his wife and his two daughters, 13-year-old Nouran and 7-year-old Dana, on the third floor. Fortunately, my mother, 82, is in Cairo visiting her daughter.

For some reason, I expected that the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located directly to the north of our villa, would be bombarded, as the building of the Ministry of Interior and the office of the Prime Minister were bombarded twice. So, my wife and I slept in the southern part of our house as the building of the Ministry is located to the north of the house. We also took some precautionary measures.

During the first bombardment of the Ministry on 13 July 2006, my son was on his way back home, and my wife and I were sleeping. We woke up hearing the blast.

I was astonished then not by the destruction incurred to the 7-storey building of the Ministry, rather by the destruction incurred to the garden, which my father and I had worked for years to make it such beautiful. The garden was destroyed and became a cemetery for debris.

A large cement block hit my mother’s balcony, where she used to sit. The villa was severely damaged, as windows and doors were destroyed. My wife, my son and I have been shocked by the bombardment and the damage incurred to the house and the garden during the first bombardment of the Ministry.

Last night, I was awake as I heard a drone flying over the area. My wife was sleeping. I opened the doors and prevented my son from moving to any other place in the house. I expected that bombardment would take place again, but I did not expect it last night and against the same building that was largely destroyed in the first attack.

When the bombardment took place, the house was severely damaged. Debris hit the rooms, including my office. I was shocked when I saw debris in the living room, which could have killed my wife, my son and me if we were there.

My wife got up hearing the blast. She was screaming and calling me and Suleiman, because we were outside the room trying to check the damage. Due to darkness, I was not able to check the damage until the sunshine.

Children were heard screaming in dozens or even hundreds of neighboring flats, especially in the apartment building located to the west. These flats were also damaged.

***

TESTIMONY NO. 2

“On Targeting the Palestinian Ministry for Foreign Affairs”
Ghadir Ahmad El-Omari
Employee of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

My name is Ghadir Ahmad El-Omari. I was born in 1976. I work at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. I am responsible for the Center’s monthly publication.

I live in the building opposite the Governmental Buildings Complex in Gaza City. I moved there with my husband, Ibrahim, in late February last year. Prior to that, we spent a year designing and furnishing our apartment in the building. We made out house just the way we wanted it to be. The 5-story building is separated from the complex by a street. I was forced to leave our apartment on the 5th floor of the building and go to my father’s house after Israeli occupation forces (IOF) bombed the Gaza power station on 27 June 2006. I moved to my father’s house because I’m expecting my first child. The doctor advised me not to climb stairs. I could not follow the doctor’s advice without leaving our apartment, since the power outage means that the elevator does not work.

It was about 1:40 when I woke up to the sound of an explosion. I rushed to the window and looked around the building where my father and sister live. I didn’t see anything to indicate that the explosion was near the building. I went back to the room and turned on the radio. I searched for a local radio station with news about the explosion, but to no avail.

I was very worried that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs was the target of the Israeli bombing. It was customary for them to repeat bombing a place that was targeted earlier. I knew that my husband Ibrahim was in our apartment. And he was awake since his work as a correspondent for the Associated Press required him to stay awake and follow the events on the ground.

A few minutes passed before my mobile phone rang. It was my husband Ibrahim. As soon as I recognized his voice, I knew that the explosion I heard a few minutes earlier was a new Israeli raid on the Government Buildings Complex, opposite the building where I’m supposed to be had it not been for the circumstances that forced me to leave due to the power outage.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs building that was bombed in the predawn hours of 17 July 2006 for the second time is the closest building to our apartment. That is why most of the apartments in our building sustained damages, especially since the bombardment was by fighter jets.

The anxiety and longing to know what damages were inflicted on my apartment was a scenario repeating itself for the second time in less than 4 days. The first time, when the Ministry for Foreign Affairs was targeted on 13 July 2006, we were suffering in my father’s house from a power outage that prevented us from following the news through Palestine Television. This time we had power and we turned to the television to find out what happened.

In the early morning and before going to work, I went to my apartment to see the damage. The door between my bedroom and balcony was destroyed. The door step was destroyed. Some floor tiles from the balcony were ripped out by the explosion. Debris covered everything in the bedroom and balcony. The room next to the bedroom was also extensively damaged. Its door was destroyed, and walls covered in black smoke. The furniture was greatly damaged due to the shrapnel that hit the room. My neighbors in the same building had similar damages. Thank God we did not sustain any human losses. Most of the building’s residents left after the first strike at the Ministry. Those that remained took precautions to stay away from rooms overlooking the street.

You may have noticed that I didn’t mention the windows when listing damages. The simple reason is that these windows were completely destroyed in the first bombardment. Our car also sustained heavy damages due to the debris and shrapnel.

The room in which the furniture was extensively damaged was the room that my husband and I planned to have for our first child, whom we’re expecting this month. We spent long hours talking about the details of the room: where we’ll put the bed, closet, and toys, the color of the wall paint, covering the floor with a protective layer in case the child falls down, and other details that occupy parents awaiting their first child. Of course, these plans are now put off indefinitely.

After bombing the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for the second time and in light of the expectation of having the remaining ministries in the complex targeted, our apartment faces an unknown future. And we haven’t even finished paying its installments. The same destiny that has led to damaging the apartment, rendering it uninhabitable, awaits us and our first child.

Dated: 17 July 2006

***

TESTIMONY NO. 3

Ibrahim Barzak, 30
Associated Press Correspondent to the Gaza Strip since 1992

GAZA CITY (AP) – It was hot, there was no electricity. I was waiting for a phone call and slouching toward my balcony when something hit me from behind.

I thought it was a door as I hit the ground.

Before dusting myself off or assessing the damage, I hit the speed dial on my phone to report to the world that Israeli planes had bombed the Palestinian Foreign Affairs building across the street from my apartment — part of Israel’s two-week old offensive that followed the capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked militants.

The 1:30 a.m. blast threw an entire neighborhood into the middle of the war zone. My neighbors and I were living in the collateral damage.

The smell of dust and explosives, the shattering of glass and sound of bombs are nothing new to a journalist who’s covered this conflict for well over a decade. Neither are they new to the people stuck in the middle of this unending battle between Palestinian militants and the Israeli army.

Women and children were screaming in the streets. Also nothing new.

But this time, the women and children were my neighbors.

Thirteen people were wounded in the bombing.

Cars were destroyed. Mine, with giant stickers that said “AP” on front and back, had a door blown off.

As residents of my building streamed into the hallways, some of us coordinated as best we could in the darkness and the panic and fear.

Two of us met up in the stairway with a flashlight — an AP reporter and a Fatah spokesman.

“Have you knocked down that door yet?” someone yelled, checking neighbors to make sure everyone was OK. No need, came the answer — “He’s away tonight, working the night shift.” And so we worked our way down.

On the third floor we found an elderly man. Trying to escape Gaza’s heat, he’d wandered out to his balcony to fall sleep. He was unconscious now, and we carried him inside, where an emergency team met us and took him to the hospital.

We learned later that he was fine, knocked out by the sound and the concussion of the blast.

On the street, one of my neighbors was carrying his daughters, aged 7 months and 6 years.

The younger one was covered with dust.

So was my bed when I returned to it later that morning. All of my windows were blown out, and shrapnel stuck into the walls. A teddy bear I’ve owned since I was a child was buried under glass.

Today, I’ll try to clean up. I’ll talk with my wife, who is expected to give birth any day now — the hospital where we want to have our baby demanded 25 liters (6.6 gallons) of gasoline for their generator, because electricity supply can’t be guaranteed. I’ll see if I can find a new door for my car.

But I won’t put up new windows. Not until the offensive is over.

The above testimonies were published by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights on 17 July 2006. They are republished by The Palestine Center with permission. The Palestine Center is an educational program of the Jerusalem Fund for Education & Community Development.

Filed under: Letters from Palestine
No Comments