Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 9)
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- Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 9)
- المحتوى
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social affairs in the camp and for dis-
tributing materials we receive as dona-
tions. The information committee is
preparing to start reissuing the camp
bulletin that was published before 1982.
During the recent clashes with Amal,
we published a newsletter to keep our
people informed about the situation.
This committee is also responsible for
public meetings and rallies... The
popular committee supports the poli-
tical line of the Palestine National Sal-
vation Front, and there is full coopera-
tion. The other organizations adhere to
the committee’s decisions.»
Mr. Darwish described life in Shatila
on the background of events since 1982:
«Life is very hard for our people. They
suffer from continuous aggression. Our
houses were destroyed; every home has
been affected. There is a housing pro-
blem in the camp. Living conditions
outside the camp also affect us - the
economic situation in Lebanon and the
security problems. Most Palestinians
are afraid to go out of the camp.
Unemployment is extremely high.»
«One week after the revolution eva-
cuated, the fascist Phalangists, directed
and supported by the Zionist forces
-with inditect support from US impe-
rialism - carried out the massacre. More
than 5,000 people were affected. The
main cause of the massacre was that
people were not armed. We will never
forget that painful lesson. We will
never give up our arms, even to our
closest ally.»
«After the massacre, there was the
repression of the reactionary Lebanese
regime. Every house was searched and
every youth detained. That was a
period of humiliation. It made us
determined in our work for the return
of the revolution. We worked with our
allies of the Lebanese national move-
ment until the February 6th uprising.
We played a big role in liberating West
Beirut from the fascists... This is one of
the reasons we were surprised by
Amal’s attack on the camp... We had
fought together against the fascists and
Zionists in Beirut and the South...»
Mr. Darwish explained current pro-
blems, such as the harassment people
face from Amal when going in and out
of the camp: «There is a lot of harass-
ment. There is only one entrance to
Shatila open now, though the
Damascus agreement (which ended the
1985 camp war) states that all entrances
should be reopened. There is almost a
state of siege around the camp, even for
bringing in food or building materials
to repair damaged houses... There
were four schools in Shatila, running
two shifts each. Now there is
only one school with one shift. There
used to be 8,000 students. Now there
are 500. The schools were destroyed.
We rebuilt the one functioning school,
but the students in the last year lost one
year of instruction.»
Mr. Darwish concluded by saying:
«We hope that our friends in the world
will increase their understanding of our
cause. We are freedom fighters for the
liberation of Palestine, not blood-
thirsty criminals. We hope they will
pressure their governments and institu-
tions to support our people in their
struggle.»
THE HEALTH SITUATION
Dr. Mohammed AI Khatib is assis-
tant director of Shatila hospital, and
member of the camp’s popular com-
mittee. He is from Khalsa in the North
of Palestine, and is married with two
children. He explained the living con-
ditions now in Shatila: «The living
conditions in the camp cannot be sepa-
rated from those experienced by the
ordinary Lebanese citizens. There is
unbearable inflation due to the political
conflict, and the military and social
situation in Lebanon. This inflation is
affecting all. The economic crisis
endured by the Lebanese citizen is also
endured by the Palestinians. Within a
few years, the price of the dollar rose
drastically. This affects the price of
food and all daily life essentials. Infla-
tion hits the poor and middle classes
hardest, and the vast majority of the
camp residents are poor...»
We asked Dr. Khatib’s opinion of the
Palestinian resistance’s comeback in
the camps and how he evaluates the
period after May 1985,as compared to
the foregoing periods.He replied as fol-
lows: «For the sake of argument, I
don’t say the comeback of the resis-
tance: I say reorganization of the resis-
tance’s situation. In 1985, there was not
a return of the resistance. There was a
group of youngsters of Shatila and Burj
Al Barajneh, who defended the camps;
they are the sons of the camp residents.
The people of the camps had felt the
dangers of the Israelis and of the
Lebanese fascist authority. The people
have a national cause and must there-
fore carry weapons to defend their
rights. The resistance’s comeback is a
reorganization of the Palestinians’
situation inside the camps. I don’t see
great numbers of fighters or leaders
from outside the camps. The vast
majority are camp residents. The figh-
ters are from the camp, those who were
in the militias or had been trained in the
use Of weapons.»
«The resistance is not the same as
before 1982... With the Palestine
National Salvation Front, there is a way
of thinking and dealing with people
that differs from what it was before
1982. We know how the situation was
before 1982. Now there are no offices
outside the camps, only inside. With
the new trend, the situation is better
than it was, naturally with some reser-
vations, such as that we are still living
in a camp that is not suitable for living,
especially healthwise. The sewage pro-
blems are the same as before. With the
winter rains, there are still overflows
and large pools of standing water.
Much effort should be devoted to these
problems by the resistance leadership.»
Dr. Khatib spoke of the health situa-
tion and services in Shatila: «Now in
the camp, there is a field hospital, along
with daily clinics, and we have eight
surgeons and six general health doctors.
We accept all cases from the camp and
outside. It is worth noting that Leba-
nese people have started coming to this
hospital in big numbers, from outside
the camp. This hospital treats people
and distributes medicine free of charge.
People come to the hospital for free
treatment, because of the high price of
medicine and treatment outside the
camp, and because of the high profes-
sional standard of the doctors here.»
«As for the health situation, the
camp is located in a bad area - I call it
uninhabitable, so we have a number of
diseases which spread fast, like diar-
rhea and vomiting in children. Such
cases are common. It seems to be the
result of impure water and the garbage
that piles up in the streets. There are
also diseases such as liver and heart
disease, which are very common and
seem to be the result of the bad health
conditions in the camp.»
«For children, there is a big problem.
First, children really need great care
from the parents, which means the
parents should be educated. Because of
the low level of education of our
people, some are unable to perform
parental duties in a good way. As pre-
ventive medicine, we give vaccinations
free of charge, but families are forced
to buy those vaccines which we do not
have in supply. Whooping cough vac-
cine is not available at our hospital, and
it costs 800 Lebanese pounds which is
very expensive. We distribute milk to
children, which is available through the
popular committee, UNICEF and the
Palestinian Red Crescent Society
(PRCS). We distribute it by doctor’s
prescription to poor people.»
«Medicine is necessary for a child;
therefore, UNRWA’s medical service
has to provide these vaccinations.
UNRWA, with all its service branches,
does not give what is needed locally,
whether in terms of curative or preven-
tive medicine. Of course, if UNRWA is
not providing, then the PRCS has to
provide these vaccinations and services,
because it is officially responsible for
meeting our people’s medical needs.»
Dr. Khatib assessed the process of
repairing the damages that the camp
has suffered, saying, «Of course, there
are now repairs going on for some
groups of houses whose occupants
can’t live outside the camp, especially
with winter closing in. Work is going
on, but very slowly. The vast majority
of houses are damaged. On the out-
skirts of the camp, you could see houses
that are unfit for habitation, especially
with winter approaching. The other
thing is that it appears that a high-
level decision is required, involving the
resistance leadership and Amal. It
seems that the decision to rebuild is
stalled until such a decision is
declared.»
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- Democratic Palestine : 20
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