Vital humanitarian aid is stuck in customs while Palestinian firefighters face injury through lack of PPE. Helen Hague reports
A fully equipped fire appliance, laden with fire kit and medicine, left Scotland bound for the Israeli-occupied West Bank earlier this summer. It was the latest donation from Scottish firefighters to Palestinian colleagues, striving to save lives amid increasingly harrowing conditions in the world’s longest running military occupation.
The appliance was driven from Dundee to Southampton by UK firefighters, then loaded onto a cargo ship – arriving in the Israeli port of Ashdod, correct paperwork in place, on 21 July.
It should have been heading for the city of Nablus to help chronically under-equipped fire crews fight fires. But, as Firefighter went to press, instead of saving lives it was still stuck in the port, impounded by Israeli military customs officials.
Retired Dundee firefighter Jim Malone has championed the cause of Palestinian firefighters for decades and has visited the West Bank seven times.
He found the immediate fate of the fire appliance “shocking but not surprising”. The Israeli military has form, he says. When Scottish firefighters donated the first fire engine to Nablus firefighters back in 2011, it was detained in the Israeli port of Haifa for nearly three months. Jim should know – he helped deliver it.
SOLIDARITY
The FBU has called for solidarity with the people of Palestine for decades. Ken Cameron, former FBU general secretary, introduced the first pro-Palestinian motion at the 1982 Trades Union Congress.
In Scotland, the links forged by Jim Malone and Dundee firefighters have been at the forefront of delivering the FBU’s constructive, practical support.
Roots run deep – and long. Dundee has been “twinned” with Nablus since 1980.
The appliance bound for Nablus was rammed full of fire kit, boots, breathing apparatus – alongside vital medical kit gathered from the city’s Ninewells hospital – and football kits from Dundee’s East Craigie FC for Nablus EBAL football club – the two clubs are twinned. There are also fire helmets – donated at the last minute by a firefighter from Kent.
Over 100 Palestinian firefighters have now learned new firefighting skills in Scotland. Since October, there has been a demonstration in Dundee every week, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to violence and occupation.
One of Jim’s visits, in 2015, features in Firefighters Under Occupation, an award winning FBU supported documentary made by south Wales firefighter Ciaran Gibbons.
COMPELLING TESTIMONY
Jim sees the appliance he helped deliver serving the people of Nablus and hears compelling testimony from Palestinian firefighters. Rabe’e Antar tells how he was shot in the shoulder by Israeli soldiers when his fire crew were delivering much needed water to a hospital.
The film also shows how a chronic shortage of personal protective equipment can leave Palestinian firefighters needlessly exposed to injury – their PPE can often consist of little more than layered overalls.
Watch manager Firas Mosmar suffered severe burns to his arms, hands and head when caught in a backdraft tackling a fire in a storage unit.
Much has happened since 7 October, when Hamas killed 1,189 Israelis and kidnapped 251. The Israeli government responded with another brutal military offensive in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced much of the population.
Life for Palestinian firefighters on the West Bank has become even more challenging. Jim Malone is in frequent contact with many – including friends he has known over decades. They tell him that life feels even more dangerous and unsettling since 7 October. “It’s becoming much more oppressive – some are saying they feel under siege”.
Firefighters, he says, are used to getting stopped at military checkpoints – and sometimes even having to strip to their underwear when searched. Stops and searches are getting more frequent – and can be particularly frustrating when the crew is on its way to fight a fire and can see the flames. Pressure has ramped up hugely, the firefighters he speaks to report. Israeli soldiers are more aggressive and confrontational – and Israeli settlers more conspicuously armed.
The situation is most acute in Hebron – which is also receiving much needed fire kit from the FBU.
As the appliance headed to Ashdod, Stephen Gethins, Scottish National Party MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry – Jim Malone’s MP – was putting down an early day motion in the UK parliament. It now looks quite prescient. It called for a “safe passage” for the appliance bringing lifesaving equipment to assist firefighters in Nablus.
When the vehicle was impounded, Gethins was seeking an urgent meeting with the Israeli ambassador to get the much-needed humanitarian donation to the Nablus fire station.
Meanwhile the FBU and individual firefighters were urging MPs and MSPs to press for the appliance’s immediate release.
CRUCIAL ROLE
Jim Malone is keen to stress many firefighters across the UK have played a crucial role in supporting Palestinian firefighters.
All those motions to annual conference – and the TUC – since Ken Cameron first took to the rostrum many years back – have helped raise awareness of the Palestinians’ plight.
Jim says firefighters are hardwired to save lives regardless of ethnicity or religion. Expect more from Jim – and others – as events unfurl in an increasingly uncertain world over coming months.
