Nancy Murray about Nancy Murray

Internationals Fail to Break the Siege

But GCMHP Conference Goes On

October 26-28, 2008

The nearly 100 mental health workers and academics from the US, Canada, Europe and Africa who planned to participate in a conference organized in late October by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) got as close to the Gaza Strip as the Erez Crossing. There, on October 26, they staged a demonstration denouncing Israel's denial of the entry permits into Gaza that had been requested for them by the World Health Organization.

"Let Gaza Live!" and "Israel: What Do You Have to Hide?" were among the signs carried by the demonstrators, at least 10 of whom were from the Boston area. The conference, entitled "Siege and Mental Health: Walls vs. Bridges," had been planned for over a year to highlight the devastating impact of the 16-month-long Israeli blockade on the physical and mental health and human rights of Gazans.

On October 27 and 28, the conference convened in both Gaza City and the West Bank city of Ramallah, with an only partially successful video link between the two. Among the messages of support transmitted to the conference halls was one from former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

International participants learned that the siege of Gaza was inflicting a humanitarian catastrophe on a million and a half people. Eighty percent of the residents of the Gaza Strip were now beneath the poverty line, and more than half the children have diseases associated with malnutrition. Gaza's only power plant is functioning at 50 percent of its capacity due to fuel cuts, drinking water is polluted, its sewage system has broken down, medications are in short supply and more than a million people subsist on daily emergency assistance. According to the GCMHP, 96 percent of Gaza's residents are depressed, with tensions and despair on the rise.

At the close of the conference, participants in both Gaza and Ramallah united to demand an end to the siege in a joint statement. Internationals pledged themselves to, among other things, "initiate a discussion within our various institutions -- professional associations, universities, religious bodies and other groups -- about the appropriateness and feasibility of using the strategy of 'boycott, divestment and sanctions' to pressure Israel to end the siege of Gaza, and its occupation of Palestinian land, and to conform with international law."

No sooner had the conference ended, than a rainstorm brought flooding to Gaza's city streets and refugee camps, making the already dire conditions even worse. For photos, see http://www.arabs48.com/display.x?cid=4&sid=60&id=58093

For more about "Siege and Mental Health: Walls vs. Bridges," see www.gcmhp.net.

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Nancy Murray is the founder and president of the Gaza Mental Health Foundation, Inc. She is also on the advisory board of US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and a member of various activist groups, including the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights. She formerly co-founded and directed the Middle East Justice Network (1989-1996). Holding a BA from Harvard University and a B.Phil. and Ph.D. in Modern History from Oxford University, she has worked as a scholar, organizer, and human rights activist in the United Kingdom, and Kenya as well as the United States. She has campaigned and written on civil liberties, civil rights, and human rights issues and serves on the editorial committee of the journal Race & Class. She is the author of Palestinians: Life Under Occupation (1991) and numerous articles on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, most recently "Dynamics of Resistance: the Apartheid Analogy"**. In 2007 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (Massachusetts Chapter).