FOUNDER OF M.A.P. TALKING IN LEWISHAM 4/12/14

[Peckhamnearbe]

Dear All

Note the following taking place in the Civic Suite, Lewisham Town Hall on 4th December 2014

http://www.map-uk.org/events/lewisham-stands-with-gaza-fundraising-evening-for-medical-aid-for-palestinians-

Dr. Ang Swee-Chai is a Singaporean medical professional and a graduate of the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Britain. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon as part of Operation 'Peace of Galilee', killing approximately 17,000 civilians. When the British media broadcast the relentless bombing of Beirut by Israeli planes, Dr. Ang, then a young orthopaedic surgeon in London, responded to an urgent international appeal to treat the victims of the war. Resigning from her job, Dr. Ang bade her husband farewell and set out on a journey to war-torn Beirut. While she was there, working in a hospital inside Sabra and Shatila refugee camp, she witnessed the horrific massacre of Palestinians that would be the catalyst for the founding of the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in 1984. Surrounded and subjected to heavy bombardment, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) had agreed to leave Lebanon in return for a ceasefire. When they departed, the camps were left entirely defenceless. Then, on 15 September, the ceasefire was violated when tanks rolled into Beirut under air cover. Shelling their way through the southern part of the city, they headed straight for Sabra and Shatila and surrounded the camp. The atrocity that followed was devastating. For 40 hours between 16 and 18 September, Lebanese Phalangist militia raped, killed and injured hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians - most of whom were women, children and the elderly - trapped inside the encircled and sealed camp. The Israeli army had full knowledge of what was taking place, yet they never intervened. Instead, they surrounded and illuminated the camp throughout the night by flares launched into the sky from helicopters and mortars.

Refusing to leave the hospital, Dr. Ang worked tirelessly to save the injured and protect her patients. Eventually, at gunpoint, Dr. Ang was marched out of the camp with her team of nurses, knowing the dreadful fate that awaited the Palestinian women and children that lined the street but were prevented from leaving: "Gunmen lined the sides of Rue Sabra while we were marched down it at gunpoint, and we could all see what was going on - the bodies, the smashed homes, the rubble, the terror in everyone's faces, the desperate mother, who wanted to give me her infant - the baby boy that I held in my arms for a brief moment before he was cruelly snatched away by the gunmen. We knew what was about to happen. The exact figure of those killed can never be determined. In addition to a thousand bodies buried in communal graves by the International Committee of the Red Cross and in Beirut's cemeteries by their families, a large number of the dead were buried beneath buildings bulldozed by the militia. Hundreds of other civilians disappeared after they were carried away in trucks to unknown destinations, never to return. Following the massacre, Dr. Ang flew back to London and established MAP with a committed group of friends including Major Derek Cooper and his wife, Mrs Pamela Cooper. Since then MAP has been reaching out to the most vulnerable Palestinian communities, striving to achieve the highest attainable standard of healthcare in hostile and difficult conditions. MAP addresses a wide range of health issues and challenges faced by the Palestinian people. With offices located in Beirut, Ramallah, Jerusalem and Gaza City, MAP responds rapidly in times of crisis, and works directly with communities on responsible for investigating the nature of the Israeli involvement in the massacre. Dr. Ang has written a new book From Beirut to Jerusalem: A Woman Surgeon With the Palestinians in which she discusses her work. In August 2014 Dr. Ang and a colleague were deported from Israel after a humiliating 3 hour interrogation by the Israeli authorities. She was also co-author of a letter published in the Lancet by 24 doctors and scientists on the appalling medical situation suffered by the Palestinians in Gaza as a result of the Israeli offensive in July 2014.'