Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: MIDEAST:  No Ambulance, Call the Radio

In tutto il mondo e in tutti i conflitti alle ambulanze viene data la 
possibilità di prestare soccorso ai feriti.
E' il riconoscimento estremo della comune appartenenza dei combattenti 
al genere umano, al di là dei motivi del conflitto, che da diritto al 
nemico ferito di essere soccorso.
Agli abitanti di Gaza questo diritto non viene riconosciuto. Non solo se 
ad essere colpito è un combattente ma neanche se ad essere colpito è un 
bambino, una donna, un non combattente in genere.
Questo disconoscimento del diritto dei palestinesi di essere soccorsi 
sembra presupporre una implicita affermazione: che ai palestinesi non 
deve essere riconosciuta nessuna comune appartenenza.
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MIDEAST:  No Ambulance, Call the Radio
By Mohammed Omer
Credit:Mohammed Omer
GAZA CITY, Apr 12 (IPS) - "I am bleeding uncontrollably, I need an 
ambulance." That was not a call to emergency services, it was an appeal 
broadcast live on radio in Gaza City.
Who knows whether there will ever be an ambulance or not. But this way 
the ambulance services still hear the appeal broadcast on Al-Iman FM 
Radio Station, one of few independent radio stations in Gaza. And if the 
emergency services cannot help, someone else who hears the appeal might.
The ambulance dispatcher announces he cannot get the ambulance to the 
man. An Israeli bulldozer is blocking the road, and an Israeli tank on a 
hilltop has been firing at the ambulance, he says. Nobody can say if 
anyone else got to help the man. But at least his SOS could have been heard.
Appeals again went on air after the Friday attacks on Bureij refugee 
camp, where the death toll climbed to 16 by the weekend. The deaths 
included six children among nine people killed Friday. Again, ambulance 
crews confirmed they could not reach many of the injured. But the 
appeals were made on radio for all to hear.
A man called from east of Jabaliya refugee camp asking for an ambulance 
for his wife about to deliver. The radio host asked his location, and 
that of Israeli tanks. "I can't look from the window to see," he said. 
"They will shoot me if I do."
A lady called to ask an ambulance to clear the remains of a body lying 
on the door. IPS confirmed later that it was the body of Abdelrazek 
Nofal, who was 19. He was blown to bits by an Israeli tank shell.
Someone else called from Bureij asking for ambulance, and for food and 
water. "My mother needs to be in hospital urgently," he called the radio 
station to say. Another difficult mission, with the Israeli troops 
patrolling the area.
The appeals are heard on radio day after day. No one can say what 
follows the appeals in each case. But the live broadcasts on the radio 
can be a lifeline – or at the least, a line of hope. Where emergency 
services and aid agencies are not listening in, the radio then calls them.
"It brings tears to my eyes," says radio host Khaled al-Sharqawi. "I can 
sometimes hear shooting, and women and children screaming, asking for 
ambulances, and the ambulances cannot reach them."
Emergency services keep the radio on, if only to go in when it's safe to 
bring out bodies. On one recent mission, said Ahmed Abu Sall, who works 
as a volunteer medical worker, "we were shot at by an Israeli tank. Two 
bullets hit the wheels."
This mission succeeded, as several do. But it can be a long haul to call 
and wait. Often, cell phone batteries run out as people call again and 
again with the appeals for help.
The Palestinian Telecommunications Company has given the radio station a 
toll-free number. That makes calling easier, but the radio statiion has 
to be on guard also against mischief. Hosts do what they can to check 
sources and credibility before putting an appeal live on air.
Not every call is a medical crisis. "In such cases we call human rights 
organisations," Sharqawi told IPS. "But they usually tell us they cannot 
help people on the ground."
Most people working at the radio station are young volunteers. And 
Al-Iman isn't the only one; several other local radio stations have 
begun now to hear and to broadcast live appeals for help. (END/2008)
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41963

 bullets hit the wheels."
Se un tank avesse sparato davvero, altro che "two bullets".
-Stefano