Israel and Palestine
revere | July 9, 2006Less than a week ago we posted on an impending public health emergency in the embattled Gaza strip region of Palestine, where a relentless Israeli assault had cut off much of the population from water and power at the height of summer heat. The warning came from our friend, Palestinian doctor and social justice activist, Dr. Moustafa Barghouti (this is not the Barghouti currently being held in an Israeli jail). Things have deteriorated further and UN aid agencies have joined in the urgent warnings. From Reuters:
U.N. aid agencies said on Saturday that Gaza was on the brink of a public health…
revere | July 1, 2006Suppose a natural catastrophe like a hurricane or a pandemic were to destroy the water supply and power to 1.4 million people living in a densely populated urban environment at the height of summer heat. Suppose the sewer system were severely damaged. That fuel was fast running out so even emergency generators couldn't operate. That 300,000 of the 1.4 million lived in high rise buildings so no water could reach their households. And assume they couldn't leave the area. They were trapped there. Unfortunately it's not a hypothetical.
It's happening at this moment and it's not a natural…
revere | June 15, 2006If you want a preview of what widespead absenteeism in the health sector, overloaded health care facilities and a breakdown in social infrastructure would be like in an influenza pandemic, we've got one for you. It isn't from a biological virus, but the viruses of hatred, intolerance and sectarian violence. Palestine and Israel, where else?
Internecine warfare amongst the Palestinians is nothing new. It's like a cancer, eating the flesh of normal civil life. Nor are indiscriminate attacks on innocent Israelis new. Nothing new either about Israel's state-inflicted cruelty and collective…