? Disruption of Antenatal care. A majority of pregnant women who used to give birth with the attendance of a doctor or a midwife are now unable to do so, thus risking the lives of the mother and the infant. The percentage of pregnant women unable to access antenatal care is nearly fives times higher now than before September, 2000 (20% as compared to 4%). There has been a 100% increase in home deliveries, and a shocking 56% increase in stillbirths since the Intifada began (Figures from the Ministry of Heath).

? UNRWA reports 39 cases of child birth at checkpoints. 58% increase in number of still births (particularly in Jenin and Hebron areas). Also it reports 52% decrease in women attending post-natal care (of the 90% of women attending pre-natal care pre-intifada), and a 31% decrease in new acceptances on their family planning scheme.

? Another main concern is Women in labour, without access to medical or nursing help, having to deliver children at home under very difficult conditions and without the needed assistance, risking their lives and the life of their children. The longer the strict siege is maintained the higher the risk of labour and childbirth complications; which can lead to death, disability and much human suffering, and the higher the possibilities of infectious diseases spreading in these communities, and those do not pay attention to political boundaries.

? Interruption of vaccination program. UPMRC and The Ministry of Health work together in operating mobile teams to deliver vaccines to small, remote villages. This work is at risk because of the closures. The Ministry usually transports vaccines to health centres in a special cold chamber vehicle, which is necessary because many vaccines are heat-sensitive and will expire if they are not kept cold. Israeli soldiers have regularly turned away this vehicle and the vaccines cannot reach our centres. This is creating a vaccine shortage and there is a serious risk of disease outbreaks, such as mumps and measles in children.

? Infant, school children and pregnant women’s vaccination schemes have also been either severely interrupted, or halted altogether during the past 18 days. According to Dr. Samia Halileh, a practicing paediatrician and faculty member at the Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University, one of the most dangerous diseases affecting newborns if adequate vaccination is not available or completed is tetanus. Usually infants are given the vaccine three times, at intervals of two months each and beginning at the age of two months, in addition to a booster at 12 months. The interruption of such a schedule during infancy, even for a period of tetanus if exposed to these deadly spores. This is especially true of cases that have never received the vaccine, but also includes those who have missed taking the full three doses on schedule as well as the booster. Note that the fatality rate for tetanus is in the order of 90%.

? Psychological trauma; the least documented, but perhaps the most long-term and devastating effect of the aggression is the psychological trauma that people, especially children, are experiencing Shooting, Explosions and Destruction of Property and Institutions Close By * 59% of respondents reported that they lived a lot of that and practically all of the time, that is 6363 households and 32,450 persons. * 29% reported a lot of shooting most of the time that is 3127 households or 15,950 persons. * 52% reported hiding in fear, lack of sleep and mental distress, that is, 5607 households or 28,600 persons. * 52% also reported considerable destruction in their neighbourhood that is 5607 households or 28,600 persons. * 28% reported that their home was directly exposed to shooting, bombing and destruction that is, 3020 households or 15,400 persons. * 41% of the households reported that their homes were searched by the IDF, that is, 4421 households or 22,550 persons.

? House demolition, destruction and detonation: Since the beginning of this reoccupation and curfew, detonation in deferent cities and villages was heard every single day and night, leaving homes without doors, broken furniture and equipment, and in many instances, with valuables stolen. The loss of home is not merely a physical loss, as it has important consequences on health, specially the heath of children, older people and the disabled. Some of the communities that have been most affected have been dislocated more than once, leaving behind essentials and belongings, and have taken refuge in villa 4ges or in homes of extended family members and friends. As women are the care taker of children, older and disables as well as the house hold they are the mostly affected by the loss of homes physically and psychologically.

? Unavailability of basic services; electricity and water; are essential for health and well being. What seems like a deliberate cutting of those two services have been the subjects of numerous reports. In Ramalla alone, over 100,000 people in town and surrounding of the Electricity company, serious harassment, and shooting at crews attempting to fix the different levels of damage, from power feeders to cut off cords and broken poles, even when approval to move around and fix villages remained without electricity for an entire week. According to the chief Engineer the damage was obtain from higher echelons of the Israeli Defence Force, has led and continues to lead to interrupted severely.

? Sanitation; since the beginning of this incursion, and curfew, two outstanding sanitary problems remain unresolved. People are facing troubles either with blown up water pipes or the usual emptying of cesspits at 9% each. The garbage problem was serious, with 95% facing a problem getting rid of household garbage, with 91% explaining the problem in terms of the municipal services coming to a halt during the curfew and 9% reporting the inability of even dumping the garbage outside the home, as the curfew was very strict; in these households, garbage piled up inside the home during the extended curfew. That creates legitimate fears of potential health crises in the country.

In the eyes of the average Palestinian, our society was effectively left at the mercy of a hostile state that continually violated, and with impunity, almost every law in the  book regarding the behaviour of states in the armed conflict through out the Israeli illegal and endless occupation. Because, the Palestinian community feels at present that it has nothing more to loose, having no effective Palestinian state to defend their interests, nor an effective international third party to insure the respect of the law, desperate elements in Palestinian society felt they had no choice but to restore to their own means for self-defence. The continued violations of every principle and law that deals with the conflict by the state of Israel have resulted with a likewise violent response by Palestinian non-state actors. This cycle of action and reaction has allowed the Israeli state in the name of self defence to use formal state military strategies and means against non-state actors, leading to a level of violence that must be controlled if not to preserve lives, at least to insure regional and global stability.

The Palestinian society is a vibrant society, we have managed to sustain ourselves and survive extreme hardships for over fifty five years. However, our Palestinian people have been yearning for too long for peace and security. We have been yearning to move around freely without having to ask permission from young guntoting Israeli soldier who are placed practically at our doorsteps. We have been yearning for too long for the time when we do not have to worry about our children and particularly our teenaged male children going back and forth safely to school. We have been yearning too long to be able to run our political and economic lives without the occupation constrains. We have been yearning for the need of security where we do not have to worry about being thrown in jail for exercising our right of self-expression and self-determi nation.