RAMALLAH - Under intense international pressure, Israel declared last week it
would ease its crippling blockade on Gaza by permitting an additional but
limited number of daily items, including food, into the coastal enclave.
Following Israel's deadly assault on the Free Gaza (FG) flotilla several weeks
ago in international waters, during which nine activists were shot dead and
dozens wounded as the flotilla tried to deliver desperately needed humanitarian
aid to the besieged strip, Israeli authorities came under enormous pressure to
lift the blockade.
Israel finally relented after it was informed that in exchange for a slight
easing of the closure the international community would
accept Israel establishing its own investigation into the raid, not an
independent one as was initially demanded. (See All at sea over flotilla probes, June 16)
Two international observers, however, will be permitted to monitor the
investigation. But the inquiry has already been written off as a whitewash by
critics who demanded a more credible one.
One of the observers is David Trimble, a former leader of the right-wing Ulster
Unionist Party and former first minister of Northern Ireland. Trimble is also a
life peer of Britain's Conservative Party. On the day of Israel's bloody
flotilla raid Trimble established an Israeli advocacy group named "Friends of
Israel".
However, the easing of the siege has yet to materialize, and if and when it
does it will not address the underlying issues which have reduced Gaza's
population of 1.5 million, most of whom are civilians, to abject poverty and
turned the enclave into a humanitarian basket-case.
"Permitting mayonnaise and potato chips [two of the items Israel is now
considering allowing] into Gaza is really irrelevant in dealing with the root
causes of the crisis," says Maxwell Gaylard, United Nations deputy special and
humanitarian coordinator for the Middle East.
"What we need to see is an improvement in Gaza's water, sanitation, power grid,
educational and health sectors. Gaza's economy is shot to pieces and its
infrastructure is extremely fragile. Something dramatic has to happen soon if
Gaza is to be seriously rehabilitated," Gaylard told Inter Press Service (IPS).
Currently approximately 80 items are now allowed into Gaza. A year ago only 40
items were permitted entry. Prior to June 2007, when Hamas took control of
Gaza, 4,000 types of goods were allowed in per month on about 10,400 trucks.
Now only 2,500 trucks are allowed in monthly.
Israel argues that the siege is for security reasons. But following a lawsuit
by the Israeli human-rights organization Gisha, the Israeli government was
forced to acknowledge that the siege was a political move.
"A country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in economic
relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to the conflict, or
that it wishes to operate using 'economic warfare','' the government said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), however, says the siege on
Gaza is a violation of international law since it is a form of collective
punishment against civilians.
Cecelia Goin from the Red Cross in Jerusalem says that any easing of the
blockade is a step in the right direction, but adds that there are bigger
issues at stake.
"The only way that Gazans will be able to rebuild their lives and livelihoods
is for the siege to be lifted completely," Goin told IPS.
"There is currently on average seven hours of power cuts daily. The power cuts
pose a serious risk to the treatment of patients - and to their very lives.
"It takes two to three minutes for a generator to begin operating, and during
that time electronic devices do not function. As a result, artificial
respirators must be reactivated manually, dialysis treatment is disrupted and
surgery is suspended as operating theaters are plunged into darkness," says the
ICRC.
"Additionally, it took us five months to get permission to bring in a
mammograph for Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main hospital. It took another five
months before the Israelis would allow in a dialysis machine, and it took us
eight months to bring in spare parts for ambulances," Goin told IPS.
"There is a shortage of essential medicines such as anti-epileptic drugs, and a
shortage of medical equipment such as ventilator tubes. More than 110 of the
700 disposable items that should be available are also out of stock. The health
situation is critical."
Life is obviously much better for Palestinians in the West Bank, but Israel's
continued occupation of the territory also damages the fabric of life there.
"Palestinian movement there has improved with Israel's reduction of checkpoints
and roadblocks. But there is still a problem for Palestinians moving from the
northern West Bank to the south as the territory is effectively divided into
cantons," Gaylard told IPS.
"There has also been some improvement in the West Bank's economy due to fiscal
stimulus, limited investment and the payment of salaries on a regular basis.
But this needs to be made sustainable by Palestinians being able to access
their productive assets such as farmland," added Gaylard.
Israel's separation barrier has divided farmers from their agricultural fields
and confiscated large swathes of Palestinian land for illegal settlement
development and "security".
"The lack of an equitable distribution of water is another issue with Israelis
getting the bulk of the area's water supplies and Palestinians having to
survive on the remainder," said Gaylard.
West Bankers also have access to plentiful petrol and the limited water they
have is fit for consumption, unlike Gazans whose underground water resources
have been polluted by sewage, pesticides, chemicals and sea water.
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