Rights groups: Gaza medical workers harmed
Irish expat couple moving to Gaza as volunteers
Lebanese singer to have Gaza aid concerts in Paris
Brit makes journey to deliver supplies to Al-Wafa Rehab hospital
Monday, April 6, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
UMass-Amherst to Host Gaza Event
On April 10th, Dr. Ismail Mehr of the American Medical Mission to Gaza will be speaking at the Umass Amherst Campus Center Auditorium. He traveled to Gaza with a team of American doctors only a few days after Israel completed “Operation Cast Lead”, in which 1300 Gazans were killed and 5000 wounded in an aerial assault and land invasion. Dr. Mehr will speak about his experiences during his ten day stay in Gaza, treating the wounded from that war, and what he observed.
Friday, April 10, 2009
7:30pm - 10:00pm
UMass Amherst - Campus Center Auditorium
Email: umassmsa@gmail.com
Muslim Students Association! (MSA)
Friday, April 10, 2009
7:30pm - 10:00pm
UMass Amherst - Campus Center Auditorium
Email: umassmsa@gmail.com
Muslim Students Association! (MSA)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
InFocus News Reports on Ahmed Kasem and Dr. Ismail Mehr
Physicians, lawyer on relief mission to Gaza
Mona Shadia of InfocusNews (Anaheim CA) reports
GAZA STRIP, Gaza City — Dr. Ismail Mehr’s Gaza relief trip wasn’t his first. He has been on relief missions to places like Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami and Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake that shook the country’s capital.
But there was something especially disturbing about the anesthesiologist’s recent Gaza trip.
"You can answer the questions about the Tsunami or the earthquake, it’s an act of nature," Mehr said. "But when a kid asks you in Gaza, you can’t answer this question, because this shouldn’t be happening, because it’s a man-made conflict. And it was difficult to accept as a physician."
Mehr was one of nine doctors who traveled to the hard-hit Gaza after the last Israeli strike that ended the lives of many innocent men, women and children.
On this relief mission was Ahmed Kasem, a Costa Mesa lawyer, who traveled along with the doctors to interpret for them.
The trip was sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America, a nonprofit organization with members who travel to war-torn and disastrous areas to assist with relief efforts.
Mehr, who’s a member of IMANA, was asked to coordinate the trip. At the time Israel invaded Gaza, Kasem was visiting Egypt. From there, he worked to get through the Egyptian border and to get authorizations for him and the rest of the doctors to enter into Gaza, which was very difficult, he said.
"To get through the Egyptian border, you had to be persistent," he said. "There was a Turkish group there, and it took them five days to get there. It took us one day."
The doctors and the lawyer began planning their trip before the ceasefire went into effect. But the team made it there a few days after. Once there, they spent a week in January performing surgeries and helping those who were affected by the war and others who suffered from chronic illness. About 75 surgeries were performed on patients during their visit, Mehr said.
Along with those who were affected by the war and needed immediate help, there were hundreds who suffered from chronic diseases that went without treatment because of the embargo that has been imposed on Gaza for more than two years.
The Israeli-imposed embargo keeps the Palestinians in Gaza isolated by land, sea and air.
Kasem recalled the story of a child with a tumor that grew to the size of a ball due to lack of medical equipment and treatment in Gaza.
"The medical infrastructure is almost nonexistent, not because of the war but because of the embargo," Mehr said. "People are dying every day because of things that can be prevented."
For Kasem, whose trip was the first-ever to a war-torn area, being there was also especially striking. "It was kind of surreal going in," he said. "The Palestinian issue is central to international politics and to the U.S. foreign politics. When I got there, I felt like we were at the center of the conflict. It was surreal. But there was also so much life there. When you strip away all the man-made things, there’s life."
And with all of their troubles, Kasem said, the people in Gaza were not bitter, even though he had not met anyone who had not lost a loved one. This, he said, was the good part of his trip.
But the sad part for Kasem extended beyond seeing the lost lives and the damage the war caused.
"It was going into a place where these people are demonized. I felt really heartbroken," Kasem said.
And although they stayed for one week, the doctors and IMANA have committed to further helping the medical situation in Gaza.
Mehr said they have three goals to reach: Relax the borders to help humanitarian teams enter into Gaza, help build the medical infrastructure and train the doctors.
Kasem said everyone knows the United States is the biggest financial supporter to Israel. So, at the end of the day, "as a U.S. citizen, you should have the right to know what’s going on. Especially at a time when the entire economy is struggling, why shouldn’t people care about what’s being done with their money?"
Mona Shadia of InfocusNews (Anaheim CA) reports
GAZA STRIP, Gaza City — Dr. Ismail Mehr’s Gaza relief trip wasn’t his first. He has been on relief missions to places like Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami and Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake that shook the country’s capital.
But there was something especially disturbing about the anesthesiologist’s recent Gaza trip.
"You can answer the questions about the Tsunami or the earthquake, it’s an act of nature," Mehr said. "But when a kid asks you in Gaza, you can’t answer this question, because this shouldn’t be happening, because it’s a man-made conflict. And it was difficult to accept as a physician."
Mehr was one of nine doctors who traveled to the hard-hit Gaza after the last Israeli strike that ended the lives of many innocent men, women and children.
On this relief mission was Ahmed Kasem, a Costa Mesa lawyer, who traveled along with the doctors to interpret for them.
The trip was sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America, a nonprofit organization with members who travel to war-torn and disastrous areas to assist with relief efforts.
Mehr, who’s a member of IMANA, was asked to coordinate the trip. At the time Israel invaded Gaza, Kasem was visiting Egypt. From there, he worked to get through the Egyptian border and to get authorizations for him and the rest of the doctors to enter into Gaza, which was very difficult, he said.
"To get through the Egyptian border, you had to be persistent," he said. "There was a Turkish group there, and it took them five days to get there. It took us one day."
The doctors and the lawyer began planning their trip before the ceasefire went into effect. But the team made it there a few days after. Once there, they spent a week in January performing surgeries and helping those who were affected by the war and others who suffered from chronic illness. About 75 surgeries were performed on patients during their visit, Mehr said.
Along with those who were affected by the war and needed immediate help, there were hundreds who suffered from chronic diseases that went without treatment because of the embargo that has been imposed on Gaza for more than two years.
The Israeli-imposed embargo keeps the Palestinians in Gaza isolated by land, sea and air.
Kasem recalled the story of a child with a tumor that grew to the size of a ball due to lack of medical equipment and treatment in Gaza.
"The medical infrastructure is almost nonexistent, not because of the war but because of the embargo," Mehr said. "People are dying every day because of things that can be prevented."
For Kasem, whose trip was the first-ever to a war-torn area, being there was also especially striking. "It was kind of surreal going in," he said. "The Palestinian issue is central to international politics and to the U.S. foreign politics. When I got there, I felt like we were at the center of the conflict. It was surreal. But there was also so much life there. When you strip away all the man-made things, there’s life."
And with all of their troubles, Kasem said, the people in Gaza were not bitter, even though he had not met anyone who had not lost a loved one. This, he said, was the good part of his trip.
But the sad part for Kasem extended beyond seeing the lost lives and the damage the war caused.
"It was going into a place where these people are demonized. I felt really heartbroken," Kasem said.
And although they stayed for one week, the doctors and IMANA have committed to further helping the medical situation in Gaza.
Mehr said they have three goals to reach: Relax the borders to help humanitarian teams enter into Gaza, help build the medical infrastructure and train the doctors.
Kasem said everyone knows the United States is the biggest financial supporter to Israel. So, at the end of the day, "as a U.S. citizen, you should have the right to know what’s going on. Especially at a time when the entire economy is struggling, why shouldn’t people care about what’s being done with their money?"
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Syracuse University to Host Gaza Event
Grief in Gaza: A Doctor's Story
Featuring Dr. Ismail Mehr
7-830PM
March 31, 2009
Hall of Languages
Room 207
Syracuse University
Sponsored by the MSA
Featuring Dr. Ismail Mehr
7-830PM
March 31, 2009
Hall of Languages
Room 207
Syracuse University
Sponsored by the MSA
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Shorthorn Reports on Dr. Mehr's Talk in Texas
Doctor speaks about visit to Gaza, says Israeli embargo must be lifted
Dr. Ismail Mehr said relaxing the Gaza border’s embargo for humanitarian teams is a priority during his March 13 lecture.
Mehr is one of 10 physicians who visited Gaza on a humanitarian medical mission in January. He is the head of anesthesiology at St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell, N.Y. The Muslim Student Association’s UTA chapter organized the lecture.
“It took us about seven days to get in,” he said. “The borders, on both Israeli and Palestinian side, were not open even to humanitarian teams.”
Mehr offered a brief history of the conflict to help students understand the situation better.
“I had little knowledge about the Palestine-Israel conflict,” engineering junior Pranusha Ravula said. “But Dr. Mehr helped me understand the history well.”
Mehr helped at Gaza City’s Shiffa Hospital.
“There are 13 [government] hospitals in Gaza,” he said. “Two were completely destroyed and numerous were shot and attacked.”
Mehr said novocaine (local anaesthesia), chemotherapy and other medical tools were hard to get into Gaza because of the embargo.
“Nothing will be resolved until the blood of a Palestinian will be respected as much as that of an American,” he said.
Mehr told a story about a 5-year-old boy diagnosed with liver cancer who was denied exit to Israel or Egypt to get treatment.“
There is no chemotherapy in Gaza,” he said. “He would have had a better chance if this embargo allowed him to exit to get treatment.”
Mehr told stories of young children suffering because of lack of medical equipment in Gaza.
“In Gaza, medicine is improvisation,” he said. “This embargo has crippled and choked the medical system.”
A child who fell at home and cut his lip was held down by his mom and stitched, without pain relief, he said.
In Gaza, they don’t use novocaine on a child because there’s no telling how long it might take to get more due to the embargo, he said.
Mehr encouraged Americans to send more humanitarian teams to Gaza.
“Gaza is the largest open-air prison,” he said passionately. “The dilemma is that the rest of the world just sits there and watches.”
The team of 10 physicians visited an orphanage affected by the conflict.
“There were 3,000 new orphans due to this conflict,” he said. “There were some kids diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because they saw their parents die.”
Mehr said it’s hard to achieve peace until the new settlements being built every year on the West Bank stop.
“The Palestinian people will stand up and be strong every day,” he said. “They are the most hospitable and the bravest people I have ever met.”
Mehr provided help after the 2004 tsunami and the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005.
“Tsunami and earthquake were acts of mother nature,” he said. “But with the Gaza situation, you cannot really answer the question why another person did this.”
Mehr asked students to read about the conflict and create awareness.
“History ends up being ‘his’ story,” he said. “It’s not political but if anyone had a human touch, they would stand up for these civilians.”
Mehr’s stories brought tears to some students’ eyes.
Biology junior Mohammed Ali said that he thought the presentation showed reality, and he wished other cultures had attended to increase awareness.
-------------
CORRECTION: It actually took the AMMG team over one day to cross into Gaza, not seven.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Arab Talk Features Dr. Imran Qureshi
Arab Talk co-hosts Jess Ghannam and Jamal Dajani of KPOO 89.5 FM (San Francisco) report:
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Presentation On Efforts to Help Gaza
Susan L Wagner of the Wayland (MA) Town Crier reports:WAYLAND - More than 200 people gathered recently at the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland for a presentation titled "Gaza: An Eyewitness Account, Raising Awareness and Funds." The speakers were Drs. Ismail Mehr and Kanwal S. Chaudhry, members of the American Medical Mission to Gaza (AMM Gaza), which visited the Strip in late January, and Yousef Abdallah of Islamic Relief USA.
The AMM mission was the only group of American doctors up to that time to enter Gaza to provide medical assistance after the end of the hostilities of Dec. 27, 2008 to Jan. 18, 2009, with Israel. Their first attempt to enter via Egypt was refused by the Egyptian authorities who control parts of the border. They were finally able to slip in quietly on Jan. 24, staying until Jan. 31.
Mehr, chief of anesthesiology at St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell, N.Y., was the leader of the team, and Chaudhry, a member of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Kings County Hospital in New York City, was the only woman in the group. Their "base camp," according to Mehr, was al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
During regular working hours, he said, he was assigned to the operating room, providing anesthesia to surgical patients. Chaudhry said she worked in both the medical and pediatric ERs, did rounds in the pediatric wards, and helped out in the operating room when necessary."I also went to the orphanage and did ‘well child checks’ there," she said.
In the afternoons and evenings, Mehr said, "Patients and family members would find us, and so we went to see them and make decisions to get them to the right people on our team to be taken care of."
According to both doctors, the medical crisis in Gaza is acute.
"The people there are suffering tremendously," Chaudhry said. "This is not only because of the most recent ‘Israeli offensive,’ but from the embargo that has been imposed on the Strip for the last 18 months. This does not allow anyone to enter or exit the Strip … and this is causing a slow grueling death among the people. They are not able to receive humanitarian aid, medications (such as chemotherapy), specialty trained health personnel, etc."
Mehr was taken aback at the amount of improvisation that was needed to treat the sick and wounded.
"I have been to third-world countries on medical relief before, and you always have to improvise," he said, "but not to this extent. We did treat acute burns, amputees, and so on, which we were expecting. But what we were not expecting were the children with cancer, the elderly with kidney failure, and middle-aged diabetics who cannot get insulin. These are issues that are fairly treatable and could be managed by a medical system."
The medical system in Gaza, he went on to say, needs a complete revamping and, for this, it is very important for physicians to be allowed into the Strip "unequivocally" for training purposes."It’s like in Iraq, where local troops are being trained to take over. In Gaza, it’s the local doctors and medical workers who need to be trained," he said.
Proceeds from the Islamic Center of Boston event went to Islamic Relief USA, which is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar campaign to benefit the people of Gaza.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Briar Cliff University to Host Gaza Event
Step Into the Promised Land
Unpacking Israel and Palestine
- Hear an ER doctor's (Rick Colwell) experiences in Gaza
- Listen to a Palestinian peace advocate
- Get a local expert's perspective on Israel and Palestine
- Learn about negotiations as a path to justice
7PM Thursday
March 26
Saint Francis Center, Briar Cliff University
Sioux City IA
Sponsored by Briar Cliff University Peace and Justice Committee and Siouxland Peace Coalition
Unpacking Israel and Palestine
- Hear an ER doctor's (Rick Colwell) experiences in Gaza
- Listen to a Palestinian peace advocate
- Get a local expert's perspective on Israel and Palestine
- Learn about negotiations as a path to justice
7PM Thursday
March 26
Saint Francis Center, Briar Cliff University
Sioux City IA
Sponsored by Briar Cliff University Peace and Justice Committee and Siouxland Peace Coalition
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