september 2004

.
The incident went largely unreported. No articles were written in major US newspapers. Fox News and 60 Minutes did not produce special reports. The story gradually grew old and fell through the cracks. Out of sight and out of mind – and who would believe that the Israeli military would do such a thing to civilians in a refugee camp? Olivier Rafowicz, an Israeli Army spokesman, was furious that I even dared to ask him about the gas when I interviewed him in Tel Aviv on April 10, and he repeated the same angry denials. I did not tell him what I had witnessed and filmed. I make these transcripts available in order to set the record straight. I filmed many other interviews with patients, doctors, etc., but the accounts tend to vary only in the details. - James Longley,
February 2, 2002
Regarding the use of an unidentified gas\par by the Israeli Defense Forces During the week of February 12, 2001
In the Khan Younis Refugee Camp Recorded for the documentary film, “Gaza Strip”

ISRAELI MILITARY USING
POISON GAS
We want an antidote to this gas, so we can treat the people Not just any old medicine.... This is what we
want.



We were just sitting .We heard that Mohammed joined a demonstration at a checkpoint. They (the IDF) fired gas canisters to break up the demonstration. He breathed some of the gas. He went to his mother and she sent him to the doctor. She told the doctor what happened.

When he went to the doctor, he told him that he was itching and had a bad headache The doctor sent him home. But he kept having the symptoms. He told his mother that he is having a headache and itching And then he started getting violent, hitting himself, his face Then his father and his cousins came and took him to the hospital in the ambulance he was hitting everything and everybody.

They took him to the ICU and gave him injections. They gave him injections to calm him down. But every two hours he would wake up and have the same thing. After the effect of the injection wears off he starts breaking everything and hittingeveryone, anyone who comes near him – he strikes out at them They took him to intensive care and he stayed there for 5 days. They kept giving him injection after injection – but the drugs wore off in a couple of hours and the symptoms continued. After he left ICU they kept giving him injections but they would wear off . Doctors said that there is no cure for his case.

He can become addicted to the injectionsHe was discharged and went home But he kept on having the symptoms over and over. After we heard about it we were very frightened. When Shadi and I visited him in the ICU, he looked dead, I was so shocked I couldn’t even look at him. After he left and went back home, he didn’t improve at all. He was discharged and went back home He kept having the symptoms every other hour He gets violent Hits himself, his mother, everyone. He breaks things in the kitchen – dishes, kitchen supplies And he hits himself, scratches himself so badly. Then we took him back to the hospital His case has no cure.Unless they send some medication from abroad.




I was going home from school – and there was a lot of shooting back and forth Then they fired gas I reached the house and I collapsed at the door My aunt came and took me inside and then to the hospital At the hospital I had a lot of stomach cramps The doctors came and took me upstairs and admitted me







– Interview in Amal hospital with doctor in metal-rim glasses in ICU Dr. Salakh Shami


The Amal Hospital received about 130 patients suffering from gas inhalation. From Feb. 12, 2001 About 100 of the patients went to... (the Dept. of Internal Medicine?) And some went to the intensive care unit

As for their symptoms They varied from patient to patient
(1)There was one group of patients suffering from hysteria.
(2)And others were suffering convulsions.
(3)Another large group was suffering from difficulty breathing and a burning pain in their eyes and chests
(4)There were also patients suffering from stomach pains and severe headaches

We treated the patients with the medicines we had available. Some patients stayed in the hospital for a couple days, some stayed for a week and others for 10 days.

WHY HAVE THESE INTERVIEWS TAKEN SUCH A LONG TIME TO SURFACE SINCE JAMES LONGLEY UPDATED THEM?

FURTHER INTERVIEWS WITH AMBULANCE DRIVERS AND VICTIMS CAN BE READ AT: http://www.littleredbutton.com/gas_interviews/interviews.pdf
Copyright 2001 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 1 February 14, 2001, Wednesday, BC Cycle 00:45 Central European Time


UPDATE:In an October 9, 2003 article, Jennifer Loewenstein and Angela Gaff asked, "What gas is Israel using?" They reported the story of Mukhles Burgal, a Palestinian prisoner caught in a brutal attack inside Israel's Ashkelon prison. The "guards forced their way into the crowded cell, spraying two canisters of some type of gas. Some of the 14 prisoners passed out...The effects of the gas were severe muscle spasms and an overwhelming sensation of not being able to breathe." (33)

Two days later, Palestine Monitor reported that Israeli forces in Rafah were allegedly "firing gas grenades containing a black gas believed to be adamatite [adamsite?]- the use of which is forbidden according to international law. Medical authorities urged people to avoid the gas at all costs, as it not only causes difficulty in breathing but seriously affects the nervous system." (34) For some reason, PCHR's press release from the same day, an apparent source of these reports, is no longer available. (35) On the 14th, eyewitness Laura Gordon wrote, "The army used some kind of
nerve gas for the first time in Rafah, leaving people in convulsions for days." (36)

Following the recent gas attack in Al-Zawiya, town officials reportedly told Al Ayyam newspaper, "the Israeli occupation troops were using an illegal substance that caused nerve spasms and that several cases had been transferred to Nablus hospitals." (37)

The PA's International Press Center reported that "official and public sources in..Al-Zawya..asserted that those who have inhaled the tear gas IOF troops fired at them four days ago are still suffering from the effects of the gas...a number of those citizens have already had amnesias or partial memory loss, in addition to cramps...in addition to strange cramps every three hours... those who inhaled the gas are still suffering severe pains in the joints and nausea for four days now. Eyewitnesses recalled that the Israeli soldiers were keen on picking the empty tear gas canisters.." Journalists told IPC "that the gas was in different colors they have never seen coming out of a tear gas canister before, and that some gases had an unrecalled smell." (38)

According to IMEMC, "..tens of demonstrators who inhaled this gas had partial memory loss. Dr. Bassam Abu Madi told IMEMC that the some of those who inhaled the gas had severe choking and some contraction in their feet and arm muscles. Eyewitnesses said the gas has a strange smell and a reddish-brownish color." [corrected copy] In a follow up story, IMEMC concluded that "protesters were attacked with gas that is not like the tear gas. Those who inhaled the gas suffered some memory loss while others had other symptoms of a nerve gas. Yet this was not medically confirmed for lack of laboratories to inspect the gas canisters collected from the scene." (39)

Al Jazeera reported the opinion of Awni Khatib, a professor of chemistry at Hebron University; "the new symptoms-particularly the violent convulsions experienced by some Palestinian protesters outside the village of Sawiya [Zawiya], southwest of Nablus-suggest..that the Israeli army may be using a new class of chemicals that lie somewhere between normal tear gas and chemical weapons." (40)

Israel's repeated use of highly toxic unknown chemicals against Palestinian civilians is now an open secret. We can expect these attacks to continue until a concerted effort is made to determine the facts and hold Israel accountable. So far, the international human rights community has steadfastly ignored the mounting evidence.

When will professional investigators begin to retrieve and test the gas canisters? Why has no one but James Longley bothered to document interviews with victims, doctors, and other eyewitnesses? In a world in which one country's mere possession of chemical weapons can be an excuse for international retribution, how another country's use of chemical weapons against civilians be dismissed as a "regrettably excessive" tactic of crowd control?

Our silence is poisoning Palestine.

James Brooks; From: Sadanand, Nanjundiah (Physics)