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<h1 class="title">When illness is a 'death sentence': The
victimization of Gaza women</h1>
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<div class="stamp">Aug. 29, 2018 - <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780846">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780846</a></font><br>
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<div class="authorClass">By: Ramzy Baroud</div>
<span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></span>
<div style=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"></span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
Hanan al-Khoudari resorted to Facebook in a cry for help when
Israeli authorities rejected her request to accompany her
three-year-old son, Louay, to his chemotherapy treatment in East
Jerusalem.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The boy is suffering from an
"aggressive soft tissue sarcoma." Israeli authorities then
justified their decision based on a vague claim that one of
Hannan's relatives is a "Hamas operative."<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The rights group, <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780844"
target="_blank">Gisha reported</a> that the state remains
unwilling to define precisely what it means to be a 'Hamas
operative.' Even if an explanation is offered, denying gravely
ill Palestinians from receiving life-saving treatment remains an
immoral and illegal act.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">"<br>
<br>
The state is sentencing the petitioners to death or a lifetime
of suffering," said Muna Haddad, an advocate with Gisha. By
"petitioners", she was referring to seven Gaza women who were
denied access to urgent medical treatment by Israel, which
required them to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
The suffering of Gaza women rarely makes headlines. When
Palestinian women are not invisible in Western media coverage,
they are seen as hapless victims of circumstances beyond their
control.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
The fact that a woman from Gaza is "sentenced to death" simply
because a male relative is shunned by Israel is quite typical
behavior from a country that oddly presents itself
internationally as an oasis for equality and women rights. <br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">It feeds into the false
notion that Palestinian women are trapped in a "conflict" in
which they play no part. Such misrepresentations undermine the
political and humanitarian urgency of the plight of Palestinian
women and the Palestinian people, as a whole.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In truth, Palestinian women
are hardly bystanders in the collective victimization. They
deserve to be made visible and understood within the larger
context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The seven women who
petitioned the Israeli court, and the story of Hanan
al-Khoudari, are but a small representation of thousands of
women who are suffering in Gaza without legal advocates or media
coverage.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I spoke to several of these
women - whose suffering is only matched by their incredible
resilience - who deserve more than mere recognition, but an
urgent remedy as well.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
Shaima Tayseer Ibrahim, 19, from the town of Rafah in southern
Gaza, can hardly speak. Her brain tumor has affected her
mobility and her ability to express herself. Yet, she is
determined to pursue her degree in Basic Education at Al-Quds
Open University in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
The pain that this 19-year-old is enduring is extraordinary even
by the standards of poor, isolated Gaza. She is the oldest of
five children in a family that fell into poverty following the
Israeli siege. Her father is retired and the family has been
struggling but, nevertheless, Shaima has been determined to get
an education.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
She was engaged to be married after her graduation from
university. Hope still has a way of making it into the hearts of
the Palestinians of Gaza and Shaima was hoping for a brighter
future for herself and her family.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But March 12 changed all of
that.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">On that day, Shaima was
diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer. Just before her first
surgery at Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem on April 4, her
fiance broke off the engagement.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The surgery left Shaima with
partial paralysis. She speaks and moves with great difficulty.
But there was more bad news; further tests in a Gaza hospital
showed that the tumor was not fully removed and it must be
quickly extracted before it spreads any further.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">To make matters worse, on
August 12, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that it
would no longer be able to treat cancer patients in the
Israel-besieged enclave.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Shaima is now fighting for
her life as she awaits Israeli permission to cross the Beit
Hanoun checkpoint (called the Erez Crossing by Israel) to the
West Bank, through Israel, for an urgent surgery.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Many Gazans have perished
that way, waiting for pieces of paper, a permission, that never
materialized. Shaima, however, remains hopeful, while her whole
family constantly prays that their eldest daughter prevails in
her fight against cancer and resumes her pursuit of a university
degree.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">On the other side of Gaza,
Dwlat Fawzi Younis, 33 from Beit Hanoun is living a similar
experience. Dwlat, however also looks after a family of 11,
including her nephews and her gravely ill father.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">She had to become the main
breadwinner of her family when her father, 55, suffered kidney
failure and was unable to work.</span><span style="font-size:
11pt;"><br>
<br>
She would look after the entire family with the money she earned
as a hairdresser. Her brothers and sisters are all unemployed.
She used to help them, too, whenever she could.</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
Dwlat is a strong person; she has always been that way. Perhaps
it was her experience on November 3, 2006, that strengthened her
resolve. An Israeli soldier shot her while she was protesting
with a group of women against the Israeli attack and destruction
of the historic Umm Al-Nasr mosque in Beit Hanoun. Two women
were killed that day. Dwlat was hit by a bullet in her pelvis,
but she survived.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
After months of treatment, she recovered and resumed her daily
struggle. She also never missed a chance to raise her voice in
solidarity with her people at protests.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">On May 14, 2018, when the
United States officially transferred its embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem, 60 Palestinian protesters were killed and nearly
3,000 were wounded at the Gaza-Israel fence. Dwlat was shot in
her right thigh, the bullet penetrating the bone and cutting
through the artery.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
Her health has deteriorated quickly since then, and she is now
unable to work. But Israel still has not approved her
application to be transferred to Al-Makassed Hospital in
Jerusalem to receive treatment.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Yet, Dwlat insists she will
continue to be an active and empowered member of the Gaza
community, even if it means joining the protests along the Gaza
fence on crutches.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In truth, these women embody
the remarkable spirit and courage of every Palestinian woman
living under Israeli Occupation and siege in the West Bank and
Gaza.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
They endure and persist, despite the massive price they pay, and
continue the struggle of generations of courageous Palestinian
women who came before them.<br>
<br>
</span></div>
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do not necessarily reflect Ma'an News Agency's editorial policy.</span></div>
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