Barbara Lubin, the founder of the Middle East Children's Alliance based in California, is on her way to Gaza to help deliver 4 tons of medical aid for the children of Gaza.
As Israeli strikes from the ground, air and sea devastate the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, Barbara Lubin, Founder and Director of the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) will be traveling to Gaza to bring a four tons of medicines for infants and children that MECA purchased from Europe. In Cairo, Egypt, Ms. Lubin will meet MECA’s Director of Gaza Projects Dr. Mona El-Farra, a Palestinian physician and human rights leader from Gaza. Together they will accompany a truck envoy carrying MECA’s medical aid and additional emergency supplies to treat thousands of wounded civilians in Gaza.
Peace takes courage.
"Children are being killed, wounded, orphaned and made homeless every day in Gaza. This is a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions and the Middle East Children’s Alliance is determined to help the children, regardless of the obstacles and risks." says Lubin. ‘We all have a responsibility to the children," she continues. "The death and destruction by the Israeli military, is approved and paid for by our own government. We must send help and we must demand the end of aid to Israel, just as people of conscience have demanded the end of U.S. aid to other countries who carry out barbaric attacks against civilians."
peace takes courage.
It is important to remember what was happening before the air attacks on Gaza, as i wrote here, Hunger and the lack of medical supplies was part of Israeli policy for Gaza, under its policy of siege undertaken after the "disengagement". Putting the Palestinian people on a "diet" the Israeli leaders joked.
Barbara will meet with Dr. Mona El-Farra and work to make sure the aid gets through to Gaza. Dr. El-Farra is the founder of two children’s community centers for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, and an income-generating project for mothers. She spends her time delivering aid and medical care to victims of violence, illness and deprivation; educating mothers about child health and nutrition; and traveling abroad to speak about the human rights crisis in Gaza.
For more than two years Gaza residents have suffered from severe shortages of food, medicine, electricity and other basic necessities due to an Israeli blockade. Even before the recent air attacks and ground invasion, the health system was devastated by the blockade. Dr. Mona El-Farra explains, "The shortage of power threatens the lives of patients on life-support machines and children in intensive care, as well as renal dialysis patients and others. The pharmacies were already nearly empty because of Israeli border closures and the cutoff of international aid. What little supplies were left have gone bad in the absence of refrigeration."
There are reports that some of the 3,000 wounded by the Israeli military attack have had to endure amputations without anesthetic.
Is this the way Israel expects the people of Gaza to make peace? By increasing the suffering to unbearable levels?
Barbara Lubin believes that it not only important to deliver aid to the children of Gaza, but to work to undo the systematic oppression, the brutal siege imposed by Israel on the people of Gaza, after 40 years of direct military occupation and economic de-developement, that creates the terrible deprivation in the first place. That is why i respect this organization so much. fighting against the Israeli occupation has been a priority for MECA since it was founded more than 20 years ago. It has helped the children of Iraq during the starvation sanctions imposed by the US administration of George the First, and has helped Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and elsewhere. It's always been about the children. and creating a real future for them. and for all of us, because all of us are harmed when others are oppressed.
So perhaps kossacks would like to send a message to Barbara Lubin, and wish her well on her important journey. The best way to do that is to consider sparing some change, or more, even. Go here and do what you can.
Too many of our politicians are silent, but we will not be. we absolutely refuse to be silent.
UPDATE I forgot to add a link to an interview of Barbara taken tuesday before she left. Go here it was on the local ABC affiliate.