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Few people travel to Gaza these days. The Israeli government portrays it as a hotbed of terrorists. Journalists avoid it. No one reports on what is happening in this 25-by-8-mile stretch of land that is the world's largest concentration camp.
In the first two weeks of October, however, Dr. Laila al-Marayati, a Glendale, CA-based gynecologist, traveled to Gaza, the world's most densely populated and patrolled piece of real estate. She went there to assess medical and nutritional needs of the 1.5 million Gazans living under Israeli guns, tanks and bulldozers.
Her fact-finding trip was on behalf of KinderUSA, an organization she founded with four other physicians in March 2002. The doctors' purpose was to fill the vacuum left after the Bush administration closed the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) on Dec. 4, 2001, shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the White House. The seizure of all records and bank accounts of the HLF froze the largest source of U.S. humanitarian aid to needy Palestinian families.
Weeks after the founding of KinderUSA, its president, Dr. Riad Abdelkarim, traveled to Palestine to prioritize emergency assistance for Palestinians surviving Israel's brutal reoccupation of their population centers. No sooner did the American-born Dr. Abdelkarim attempt to open a KinderUSA bank account in Jerusalem than he was arrested. After two weeks of international protests, he was released (see June/July 2002 Washington Report, p. 12, and Dr. Abdelkarim's account on p. 32 of the August issue).
This time, Dr. al-Marayati was selected to conduct site visits to projects being undertaken by KinderPal, the representative of KinderUSA in Gaza and the West Bank. Nor did she visit Gaza as a stranger.
Her father, the late Dr. Sabri El Farra, belonged to one of the oldest families in Khan Younis. In Los Angeles, where he was the physician for CBS Hollywood employees, he helped establish the Islamic Center of Southern California and was lovingly referred to as the godfather of the Los Angeles Muslim community. In addition, after the signing of the Oslo accords, Dr. El Farra and his brother, Mahmoud, were instrumental in the construction of the Gaza International Airport and several factories in the region.
A decade ago, Dr. al-- Marayati's reports on Bosnian rape victims earned her international recognition....