Giving a frightening new edge to the word “siege,” Israel’s complete blockade of all incoming and outgoing traffic to the Gaza Strip last winter kept human exchange at a near-standstill. Only two doctors were able to enter the Gaza Strip: Dr Mads Gilbert and Dr Erik Fosse, who have recently co-authored a book Eyes in Gaza, soon to be published in English.

In addition to serving at the notoriously overcrowded Al-Shifa Hospital, the two became common faces in the media worldwide, being the only two foreign doctors in the region. They were seen on Al-Jazeera, BBC, CBS, Fox, Democracy Now and CNN, acting as a Palestinian voice in a time when it was stifled. As if witnessing the utter chaos there was not enough, these doctors were soon accused of faking a hospital scene which appeared on CNN.

Gilbert confirmed that over 90 per cent of the patients he saw in the Al-Shifa were innocent civilians, and there was no doubt that chemical weapons, the likes of which he had never seen before, had been used. Gilbert also said that it was the most horrific and traumatizing experience he had gone through. This would be expected from a regular doctor who was seeing warfare for the first time, but Gilbert has volunteered in multiple war zones, including Beirut in 1982. One might think that has desensitized him, but that’s not the case for Gilbert—it was Gaza that gave him nightmares.

Nobody can hide the truth of what went on in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead—over 1400 Palestinians perished, 400 of which were children. People like Gilbert continue to prove that solidarity with Palestine is becoming mainstream. It’s no longer a controversy that Israel is an aggressor state, just like it’s not a controversy that Darfur and Sudan are going through humanitarian crisis. The publishing of the Goldstone Report, a 545-page document commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council, only attested to this fact. It’s time to wake up and smell the blood of innocent people being massacred and encaged.

Few eyewitnesses from Gaza have been able to leave, as the region remains under a blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt. Gilbert will be speaking on 16 campuses across North America in the upcoming weeks, including one at UBC this Friday hosted by the SPHR. The tour has attracted controversy, but nobody can deny the stories that Gilbert presents as an eyewitness nor the photographs that he shows. And for the pro-Israel lobby, this remains a threat.

The SPHR is hosting a visit from Gilbert at UBC on Friday January 29 at 6:30pm. Tickets are available for $10 from the Outpost. Details can be found at sphr.org or by e-mailing sphr.ubc@gmail.com.

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