UN on Gaza: "People are going to start getting hungry"

Gaza – Ma'an – The situation in the Gaza Strip is shifting from "collective punishment to genocide," said Jamal Al-Khudari, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and head of the popular committee against the siege in Gaza.

The trickle of humanitarian aid previously allowed into Gaza, on which 80 percent of the population depended, has now been stopped for nine days by the Israeli army. The delivery of medical supplies and industrial fuel donated by the EU has also been blocked. The fuel was needed to power Gaza's sole power plant, which has now shut down, leading to rolling blackouts throughout Gaza.

UNRWA storehouses in Gaza are empty and Israel has refused to let emergency supplies through to the UN agency, which is responsible for providing basic goods to 750,000 Palestinians in the Strip.

Aid from the UN, the WHO and other Palestinian, Arab and international relief organizations are the main source of food for the 80% of the population in Gaza that live under poverty line and the 140,000 Gazans who are unemployed.

"People are going to start getting hungry," said U.N. spokesman Christopher Gunness.

As the crisis escalates and bakeries close due to power cuts resulting from the Israeli refusal to allow fuel into the area, the international community has come out with a wave of condemnations against the Israeli closure.

Ban Ki Moon

The office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released a statement on Saturday saying he is "concerned that food and other lifesaving assistance is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people, and emphasizes that measures which increase the hardship and suffering of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip as a whole are unacceptable and should cease immediately."

Oxfam

Oxfam International, one of the large international organizations that work regularly in the Gaza Strip, has condemned the Israeli decision to close the borders into Gaza.

Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs sent the following statement to the international press on Friday:

"World leaders must step up and exercise all their political might to break the blockade of Gaza. As a matter of humanitarian imperative, Israeli leaders must resume supplies into Gaza without further delay. If Israelis and Palestinians alike don't exert every effort now to maintain the truce which has held since last June, the result could be catastrophic for civilians both in Gaza and in nearby Israeli towns."

The European Union

Commissioner for External Relations of the European Union has also condemned the renewed Israeli blockade.

"I am profoundly concerned about the consequences for the Gazan population of the complete closure of all Gaza crossings for deliveries of fuel and basic humanitarian assistance," she said in a press statement.

"I call on Israel to re-open the crossings for humanitarian and commercial flows, in particular food and medicines. Facilitation of fuel deliveries for the Gaza Power Plant should be resumed immediately."

The EU statement further stated that "International law requires the provision of access to essential services such as electricity and clean water to the civilian population," and demanded that restraint be exercised by all parties to avoid an escalation of humanitarian suffering.

Amnesty International

The most through and to the point condemnation so far has come from a report released by Amnesty International, which called the current situation in Gaza "nothing short of collective punishment."

Amnesty urged Israeli authorities to allow the passage of vital supplies into Gaza."Israel's latest tightening of its blockade has made an already dire humanitarian situation markedly worse," the deputy director of the organization's Middle East and North Africa Program, Philip Luther, said on Friday. "It must stop immediately," Luther added.

Israeli response

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have been denying international journalists access to Gaza for over a week. On Thursday, a convoy of European diplomats was likewise refused entry.

"Gaza is cut off from the outside world. Israel is seemingly not keen on the world seeing the suffering that its blockade is causing to the one and a half million Palestinians who are virtually trapped there," Philip Luther from Amnesty said.

The breakdown last week of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Gaza has generated a renewed wave of violence. The killing of six Palestinian militants in Israeli air strikes and ground attacks on 4 November prompted a barrage of Palestinian rockets on nearby Israeli towns and villages. At least six other Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli forces and others have been injured in recent days.

But Palestinian rocket attacks have continued. No Israeli casualties had been reported until Friday, when one Israeli was lightly wounded by shrapnel in an attack on the Israeli city of Sderot.

Prior to the ceasefire that began on 19 June, some 420 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza clashes, half of them unarmed civilians, including 80 children. In the same period, Palestinian armed groups killed 24 Israelis, 15 of them civilians, including four children, Amnesty International reported.

Popular Committee Against Siege(PCAS),
PCAS Manager,
Sam AKi
Gaza - Palestine
Mob:00972598273960
Freegaza.ps@gmail.com
Freepalestine.ps@gmail.com
Website: www.freegaza.ps/english
www.freegaza.ps/french
Videos:   http://freegaza.blogspot.com/     

Pillay calls for an immediate end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza

11.18.2008 | United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-Media Unit
Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, +41.22.917.9767
Xabier Celaya, Information Officer, + 41 22.917.9383/ +41.79.444.7578

For inquiries and media requests: press-info@ohchr.org GENEVA –The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay, called today for an immediate end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

“By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months. This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now,” she said.

The High Commissioner further called for the Israeli authorities to facilitate the urgent passage of essential humanitarian goods, including food, medical supplies, and fuel, to immediately allow the restoration of electricity, water and other essential services, and to lift movement restrictions preventing the passage of civilians for medical, educational and religious purposes.

“Decisive steps must be taken to preserve the dignity and basic welfare of the civilian population, more than half of whom are children,” she added.

The High Commissioner recalled that under the IV Geneva Convention, Israel as the Occupying Power, has the duty –to the fullest extend of the means available to it- to ensure the food and medical supplies of the population. “Only a full lifting of the blockade followed by a strong humanitarian response will be adequate to relieve the massive humanitarian suffering evident in Gaza today.”

The High Commissioner called on all sides to respect international law and the security of the Palestinian and Israeli populations. She appealed for a complete cessation of Israeli incursions and air strikes and of rocket fire by Palestinian groups.

UN human rights chief calls for an immediate end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza

11.18.2008 | United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

PRESS RELEASE 

GENEVA – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called today for an immediate end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza. “By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months. This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now ,” she said.

The High Commissioner further called for the Israeli authorities to facilitate the urgent passage of essential humanitarian goods, including food, medical supplies, and fuel, to immediately allow the restoration of electricity, water and other essential services, and to lift movement restrictions preventing the passage of civilians for medical, educational and religious purposes. “Decisive steps must be taken to preserve the dignity and basic welfare of the civilian population, more than half of which are children,” she added.

While welcoming the decision by Israel to allow a limited number of trucks to enter Gaza on 17 November, the High Commissioner recalled the Occupying Power’s obligation to fully cease all measures that are inconsistent with its obligations under international law. “Only a full lifting of the blockade followed by a strong humanitarian response will be adequate to relieve the massive humanitarian suffering evident in Gaza today.”

Calling on all sides to respect international law and the security of civilian populations, the High Commissioner also appealed for a complete cessation of Israeli air strikes and incursions, and of rocket fire by Palestinian groups.

ENDS 

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-Media Unit
Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, +41.22.917.9767
Xabier Celaya, Information Officer, + 41 22.917.9383/ +41.79.444.7578

For inquiries and media requests: press-info@ohchr.org

International humanitarian and development agencies demand unimpeded humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip

11.17.2008 | Association of International Development Agencies

On Tuesday 18th November a meeting of the AIDA sub committee on Gaza is due to be held in Gaza. If participants from Jerusalem and the West Bank are unable to enter Gaa the meeting will be convened at the Erez Crossing at 09.30. The meeting will be open to members of the media.

Vital humanitarian work of international humanitarian and development agencies in the   Gaza Strip is being impeded by access restrictions imposed on international and local   Palestinian staff by Israeli authorities.  Emergency programmes to make sure people in   Gaza have safe drinking water and sewage services, effective health care and   sufficient nutritious food to eat are being undermined by Israeli authorities   preventing the full and unimpeded humanitarian access that is demanded by   international humanitarian law where the occupying power is not meeting its obligation   to ensure the well being of the civilian population.

The ability to move to and from the Gaza Strip at short notice and without   unreasonable delay is essential for international humanitarian and development   agencies who work with local partners to play their part in ensuring the quality,   timely delivery and sustainability of essential services for alleviating the   humanitarian consequences on Palestinians in Gaza of the Israeli government’s blockade   of Gaza.

Restrictions on entry to Gaza have grown rapidly in recent weeks with the introduction   of shorter crossing opening hours at Erez and longer delays in processing requests for   entry into Gaza. On 2 November 2008 the Erez crossing opening hours for staff of   international humanitarian and development agencies and the United Nations were   reduced from 60 hours to 45 hours a week. Restrictions have further tightened since   the recent violations of the truce on both sides. Even after prior agreement from   Israeli authorities, there is still often considerable delay at Erez crossing,   particularly for local Palestinian staff.  Written confirmation detailing decisions is   not provided by Israeli authorities, often leading to further delays.  These further   conditions add to the collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5 million population.

International humanitarian and development agencies call on the government of Israel   and the leaders and senior officials of the international community to ensure a   transparent and accountable system of unimpeded humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip   so that high quality, effective and sustainable essential services are delivered to   the people who need them.  Urgent steps are needed from the Israeli authorities to   ensure that simple and clear procedures facilitate unrestricted access to and from   Gaza for international and Palestinian staff of international humanitarian and   development agencies and that these procedures do not put an unreasonable   administrative burden on these agencies.  Clear written procedures and guidance are   needed to ensure that unimpeded humanitarian access is fully guaranteed in line with   international humanitarian law.   

Action Against Hunger (Spain)
Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED)
Anera
Austcare
CARE West Bank and Gaza
COOPI (Cooperazione Internazionale)
DanChurchAid-Palestine
Diakonia
Gruppo di Volontariato Civile
Handicap International
MercyCorps
Medical Aid for Palestinians UK
Mundubat
Norwegian People's Aid - Palestine
Oxfam International
The Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden
Premiere Urgence
Relief International
Solidaridad Internacional
War Child Holland
World Vision International

Michael Bailey
Advocacy and Media Manager
Jerusalem Office
Tel + 972 (0)2 656 6234 ext 223
mob + 972 0572233014

Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering.

Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International and a company limited by guarantee   registered in England No. 612172.

Registered office: Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY. A registered charity in England and Wales (no 202918) and Scotland (SCO 039042)

Chronic malnutrition in Gaza blamed on Israel

11.15.2008 | The Independent
By Donald Macintyre

Donald Macintyre reveals the contents of an explosive report by the Red Cross on a humanitarian tragedy

The Israeli blockade of Gaza has led to a steady rise in chronic malnutrition among the 1.5 million people living in the strip, according to a leaked report from the Red Cross.

It chronicles the "devastating" effect of the siege that Israel imposed after Hamas seized control in June 2007 and notes that the dramatic fall in living standards has triggered a shift in diet that will damage the long-term health of those living in Gaza and has led to alarming deficiencies in iron, vitamin A and vitamin D.

The 46-page report from the International Committee of the Red Cross – seen by The Independent – is the most authoritative yet on the impact that Israel's closure of crossings to commercial goods has had on Gazan families and their diets.

The report says the heavy restrictions on all major sectors of Gaza's economy, compounded by a cost of living increase of at least 40 per cent, is causing "progressive deterioration in food security for up to 70 per cent of Gaza's population". That in turn is forcing people to cut household expenditures down to "survival levels".

"Chronic malnutrition is on a steadily rising trend and micronutrient deficiencies are of great concern," it said. 

Since last year, the report found, there had been a switch to "low cost/high energy" cereals, sugar and oil, away from higher-cost animal products and fresh fruit and vegetables. Such a shift "increases exposure to micronutrient deficiencies which in turn will affect their health and wellbeing in the long term."

Israel has often said that it will not allow a humanitarian crisis to develop in Gaza and the report says that the groups surveyed had "accessed their annual nutritional energy needs". But it warned governments, including Israel's, that "food insecurity and undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies" were occurring in the absence of "overt food shortages".

A 2001 Food and Agriculture Organisation definition classifies "food security" as when "all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."

The Red Cross report says that "the embargo has had a devastating effect for a large proportion of households who have had to make major changes on the composition of their food basket." Households were now obtaining 80 per cent of their calories from cereals, sugar and oil. "The actual food basket is considered to be insufficient from a nutritional perspective." The report paints a bleak picture of an increasingly impoverished and indebted lower-income population. People are selling assets, slashing the quality and quantity of meals, cutting back on clothing and children's education, scavenging for discarded materials – and even grass for animal fodder – that they can sell and are depending on dwindling loans and handouts from slightly better-off relatives.

In the urban sector, in which about 106,000 employees lost their jobs after the June 2007 shutdown, about 40 per cent are now classified as "very poor", earning less than 500 shekels (£87) a month to provide for an average household of seven to nine people.

The report quotes a former owner of a small, home-based sewing factory, who said he had laid off his 10 workers in July 2007. "Since then I earn no more than 300 shekels per month by sewing from time to time neighbours' and relatives' clothes. I sold my wife's jewellery and my brother is transferring 250 shekels every month ... I do not really know what to say to my children." Others said they were not able to give their children pocket money.

In agriculture, on which 27 percent of Gaza's population depends, exports are at a halt and, like fisheries, the sector has seen a 50 per cent fall in incomes since the siege began. Among the two-fifths classified as "very poor", average per capita spending is down to 50p a day. In the fisheries sector, which has been hit by fuel shortages and narrow, Israeli-imposed fishing limits, "People's coping mechanisms are very limited and those households that still have jewellery and even non-essential appliances sell them".

The report says that if the Israeli-imposed embargo is maintained, "economic disintegration will continue and wider segments of the Gaza population will become food insecure".

Arguing that the removal of restrictions on trade "can reverse the trend of impoverishment", the Red Cross warns that "the prolongation of the restrictions risks permanently damaging households' capacity to recover and undermines their ability to attain food security in the long term."

The detailed Gaza fieldwork for the report was carried out between May and July. An International Monetary Fund report confirmed in late September that the Gaza economy "continued to weaken".

Mark Regev, the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said that, contrary to hopes when Israel pulled out of Gaza, the Gazan people were being "held hostage" to Hamas's "extremist and nihilist" ideology which was causing undoubted suffering. If Hamas focused resources on the "diet of the people" instead of on "Qassam rockets and violent jihadism" then "this sort of problem would not exist", he said.

UN: end this ‘inhuman’ blockade

11.15.2008 | The Heathlander

An ‘explosive’ Red Cross report leaked today documents the “devastating” effect Israel’s siege is having on the population of Gaza. Heavy economic restrictions and a limited supply of basic goods are causing a “progressive deterioration in food security for up to 70 per cent of Gaza’s population”. People are being forced to cut household spending to “survival levels”. “[T]he embargo has had a devastating effect for a large proportion of households who have had to make major changes on the composition of their food basket,” causing a “[steady] rise” in “chronic malnutrition”. The poorest two-fifths of the population now survive on only 50p per person per day, and many have been forced to sell jewellery and even household appliances to buy food and other necessities.

The Red Cross concludes that if the blockade is not halted “economic disintegration will continue and wider segments of the Gaza population will become food insecure”, while “the prolongation of the restrictions [on trade] risks permanently damaging households’ capacity to recover and undermines their ability to attain food security in the long term.” Only a removal of the embargo “can reverse the trend of impoverishment”.

The Red Cross’ findings, shocking as they are, are fully consistent with what the UN, the World Bank and leading human rights organisations have been reporting since early 2006, when the current siege began. To call the present situation in the occupied territories a “humanitarian crisis” is slightly misleading in that it suggests a lack of agency behind it. In truth, the civilian population of Gaza has been “intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution” with the tacit complicity or, in our case, the active participation of the entire international community. Unlike with a natural disaster or drought, the devastation in Gaza is entirely artificial, man-made, deliberate. Moreover, there was nothing inevitable about any of this. Israel, the U.S. and the EU could have responded to the outcome of the January 2006 elections with a recognition that Hamas was now the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and a commitment to pursue all diplomatic possibilities with it on that basis. Instead Hamas’ conciliatory overtures were flatly rejected - only yesterday it emerged that the Bush administration received, and completely ignored, a letter sent by Hamas in June 2006 offering “a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and … a truce for many years” and calling for “direct negotiations” with the U.S. government - in favour of a regime of severe economic strangulation and massive violence directed against the civilian population of the West Bank and Gaza, openly aimed at removing Hamas from office. The “unprecedented … humanitarian implosion” (.pdf) currently underway in Gaza and, to a slightly lesser degree, the West Bank is the predicted, fully intended result of these policies.

The ceasefire

In June of this year a ceasefire was agreed between Israel and the various militant groups in Gaza. Hamas had been calling for a comprehensive ceasefire with Israel for months, a proposal Israel repeatedly rejected in favour of a sharp escalation in violence, killing more than double the number of people in Gaza in the first three months of 2008 than in the corresponding periods of the previous three years combined. When this failed to weaken Hamas’ hold on the Strip, or even to decrease the number of Qassams being fired at Israel (indeed it, of course, achieved precisely the opposite), the Israeli government finally, reluctantly agreed to a ceasefire.

There had been hope that the truce would lead to an end to the blockade and a substantial easing of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Instead, Gaza has remained in a state of “virtual siege” (.pdf) in which “[s]hortages of electricity, fuel, safe water and sanitation frame daily life”, while the general population has seen “few dividends from the ceasefire“. Israel permitted virtually “no improvement in the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza” and there was “no relaxation of the total ban on exports” (.pdf), a prerequisite for the revival of the Gazan economy.

All of which meant that the eruption of violence over the past week, precipitated by an Israeli strike in Gaza, was always a mere matter of time. While Hamas has an interest in continuing the truce, the difficulty of keeping the other factions in line while retaining political credibility makes it impossible to maintain indefinitely under conditions of “virtual siege” in which the wider population sees “few dividends from the ceasefire”. Whether Israel wants the truce to continue is less clear. The ruling Kadima party will not want a sustained resumption of hostilities prior to the February elections, and in any case the government is quite content with the status quo of a besieged, isolated and quiet Gaza, which leaves it free to annexe and dismember the West Bank without fear of even minimal resistance. On the other hand, Israel is determined to prevent Hamas from establishing and taking credit for stability in Gaza, fearing that the international community - and a future Obama administration in particular - might be tempted to end the current policy of isolation and begin diplomatic engagement with it.

Food blockade

For the past 10 days Gaza’s border crossings have been almost completely closed, preventing the delivery of food, humanitarian supplies and medicine. This in a place where 80% of the population depends upon international food aid for mere survival. A lack of fuel led Gaza’s only power plant to shut down on Thursday, causing massive blackouts. According to Palestinian officials the plant will be forced to shut down again tonight if fuel delivery is not resumed. On Tuesday UNRWA, which supplies 750,000 people (roughly half Gaza’s population) with food aid, warned that unless the “inhuman” blockade was eased it would run out of food supplies within two days. Israel refused to permit emergency food supplies to be transferred, and on Thursday UNRWA was forced to suspend food distribution. Today UNRWA closed down its food distribution centres in Gaza, on the grounds that its warehouses are empty (an unprecedented situation). 20,000 people who were due to collect supplies of rice, flour, sugar and oil (according to the Red Cross, a large proportion of the population now obtains 80% of their calories from cereals, sugar and oil) today left with their hands and stomachs empty. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness commented:

“The message today is simple and clear. We have no food, our warehouses are empty, people will start to go hungry. Hungry and desperate people on the borders of Israel are not in the interests of peace…

“The UN at every level condemns the [Qassam] rockets. I again condemn them now. But more than half of the Gaza [S]trip are children. They, the elderly, the sick, the babies, the disabled, the blind [and] the deaf must not be punished because of the actions of the few.”

The UN Secretary General’s performance thoughout all this has been typically dreadful, but even he emphasised yesterday that “measures which increase the hardship and suffering of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip as a whole are unacceptable and should cease immediately”. The EU Commissioner for External Relations called on Israel to “re-open the crossings for humanitarian and commercial flows, in particular food and medicines” and fuel, noting pointedly that “[i]nternational law requires the provision of access to essential services such as electricity and clean water to the civilian population.” Oxfam called on the international community to “step up and exercise all their political might to break the blockade of Gaza … without delay” as “a matter of humanitarian imperative”, while Amnesty International condemned the “latest tightening of the blockade” as “nothing short of collective punishment” that has “made an already dire humanitarian situation markedly worse.”

For over two years Israel’s explicit policy towards Gaza has been to systematically destroy its economy and reduce its population to aid dependency, while permitting just enough humanitarian assistance to trickle through to prevent mass death. With Israel’s Defense Minister responding to the near unanimous calls for an end to the siege and warnings of an impending humanitarian catastrophe by threatening nothing less than a full-scale military offensive, that last qualification appears increasingly to have become irrelevant.

With crossings closed, food aid runs out for Gaza

11.14.2008 | The Independent
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

The UN suspended food distribution to 750,000 people in Gaza yesterday and much of its main city was without power last night after Israel halted supplies to the Strip amid continued fears that the five-month-old ceasefire could break down.

Earlier, the Israeli authorities turned away 20 senior European diplomats from the Erez crossing as they attempted to visit Gaza. The diplomats – including Richard Makepeace, the British Consul-General – were given no reason by staff at the crossing, a Consulate spokeswoman said.

The move followed more than a week in which foreign journalists have also been barred from entering Gaza. The Foreign Press Association has protested against the ban, which observers say has lasted for longer than any other of its kind since the intifada began eight years ago.

Crossings have been mainly closed between Israel and Gaza since the Israeli military killed six Hamas militants in a raid into Gaza nine days ago which it said had thwarted a kidnap attempt. The raid was followed by rocket fire from inside Gaza and further raids against militants. Israel had originally said it would allow 30 trucks to deliver supplies into Gaza yesterday.

But Peter Lerner, a spokesman for military co-ordination between Israel and the occupied territories, said: "Our plans to facilitate the needs of international organisations were thwarted by Palestinian activity. We were not willing to risk the lives of those opening the crossings."

However, John Ging, the Director of Operations for the UN refugee agency UNRWA which said it had had to suspend the food distribution said: "The UN has been very clear that we should not hand the agenda over to those who fire rockets. They shouldn't dictate whether the crossings are open or not for the civilian population here."

Gaza energy officials shut down the Strip's own power plant, after Israel cancelled plans to ship in some diesel fuel for the plant. The Israeli move came after Gaza militants fired at least eight rockets and some mortar shells at Israel on Thursday, according to the Israeli military. A total of 11 militants have been killed since sporadic fighting resumed last week.

Israeli officials said that the diplomats were not admitted to Gaza because their mission was not a humanitarian one. The Israeli authorities have insisted that that Erez is only open for humanitarian cases.

'The ebb, the tide, the sighs'

11.13.2008 | Haaretz
By Gideon Levy 

The young fisherman is now in hospital, feeble and pale, one leg in a cast held in place by iron screws. He is awash with pain. His mother does not leave his bedside. A blind Palestinian physician takes him for a brief physiotherapy session in the corridor. Mohammed Masalah leans on a walker. The blind orthopedist encourages him to take one step and then another, but the pain defeats him and he asks to be taken back to bed.

The sea is the same sea and the Arabs are the same Arabs, as an Israeli prime minister once said. Only the cease-fire is no longer the same cease-fire. On land and in the air it is generally maintained, but not at sea. There, Israeli forces continue to shoot at fishermen from besieged Gaza, who are trying to wrest from the sea a living that is so difficult to make on land.

Gaza's 40,000 fishermen have been deprived of their livelihood. Before the siege, they caught 3,000 tons of fish a year; now it is 500 tons. The fishing season begins with the advent of winter, when schools of fish migrate from the Nile Delta and the waters off Turkey toward the Gaza area. But few of them are now entangled in the nets of Gaza's fishermen. Today, most of the fish can be found about 10 miles offshore, in an area that is off-limits to the fishermen. Israel has restricted them to a six-mile limit, though sometimes navy boats attack at three miles - just to keep the fishermen honest.

The siege makes it hard to obtain fuel for the fishing vessels, and also the sea is polluted with 50 million liters of sewage every day, following the collapse of the sewage infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Israel's fish markets are also closed to merchants from Gaza.

Hardest of all, though, are the naval attacks. Every few days the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) publishes reports from its volunteers in Gaza about attacks on fishermen. Sometimes the naval boats ram the wretched craft, sometimes the sailors use high-pressure water hoses on the fishermen, hurtling them into the sea, and sometimes they open lethal fire on them. The boat of Mohammed and his friend, Ahmad Bardaawi, came under such fire for about 20 minutes, until the two managed to get away, with Bardaawi rowing for all he was worth. A bullet slammed into Mohammed's leg, however, and it was hours before he reached the hospital, after a long, exhausting and bloody journey along the Rafah coast with his friend. The physicians in the Khan Yunis hospital wanted to amputate. Now, with Israel's permission, Mohammed is being treated in a hospital in East Jerusalem, and his leg will probably be saved.

"The ebb, the tide, the sighs / The sailor who whitens the trunks of tamarisks / The gatherers of conches collect on the shore / Seagulls' broken keening for desperate love," Meir Banai sings to the words of Natan Yonatan's poem "The Fisherman's Prayer." There is nothing very romantic about Mohammed's story. Certainly there is no keening of seagulls, and what is desperate is the need to provide for a family, and the prayer that he will be able to walk on both legs again.

A fisherman will get up at around 2 A.M. and walk about three kilometers in the dark to the shoreline, where a rowboat awaits him. There's no money for fuel, and in any case it's hard to find fuel in Gaza, so it's row, row, row your boat - as far out as Israel allows. Dabur-class patrol boats lurk everywhere. As everyone knows, the occupation of Gaza has ended, and the Strip has been completely liberated.

Mohammed Masalah is a 19-year-old twelfth-grader, the son of a fisherman from the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah. His father no longer goes out to sea. Mohammed does most of his studying at home, and three or four times a week goes to fish at night. Since the age of 16, he has been getting his schooling in the morning and fishing at night. He has about 700 fish hooks that he throws into the water, hoping for the best. Now is the season of the groupers and red snapper, known in Gaza as farfur. On a very good night he catches 15 kilograms of fish, two kilograms on a bad night, and there are also nights with nothing. Fish go for NIS 50 per kilo in an abundant season, double that when there are no fish. He splits the earnings with his companion. Their GPS tells them where to stop: 1,800 meters from the shore, no more.

"If the Jews have a good 'shift,' they let us stay; if not, they start shooting and we have to escape," he says in a weak voice from his hospital bed. About a month and a half ago, Israeli sailors broke his oars. At first light, he says, he and his friend would head home to do their homework and study for exams.

The night of October 5th was no different. Mohammed's mother woke him, and at 2 A.M. he met up with Bardaawi and they headed for the sea. At 3:30 the two young fishermen reached the limit allowed them and cast anchor. Close by was the rowboat belonging to Bardaawi's cousin. They were about to cast their hooks when they suddenly noticed a flashing red light; a red light, they know, means danger. The Dabur was lying in wait, with all lights except the red one turned off.

The firing began instantly, on both sides of the boat and over their heads. Masalah says that this time no warning flares were fired, as is usually done. No one bellowed at them to move away through a megaphone. Indeed, the soldiers always yell at them to get out, but not that night. The young men were about 70 meters from the patrol boat, and Masalah was hit in the first volley. His leg felt as though it had caught fire, and he started to shake all over. Bardaawi grabbed the oars and started to row furiously, the Dabur speeding in their wake. Masalah, shouting with excruciating pain, pressed on his leg to try to stanch the bleeding. The shooting lasted about 20 minutes, he says.

Reaching safe haven at last, they sent one of the children of the fishermen on the beach for help. The ambulance was slow to arrive, so a vehicle belonging to the Palestinian Coast Guard rushed Masalah to Yusuf Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah. There was no physician on duty. In the meantime, the ambulance showed up and took Masalah to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. (They did not take him to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, because the physicians there are on strike against Hamas.)

Masalah's bleeding worsened, chills ran through his body and he lost consciousness. The doctor said his leg would have to be amputated, but the family begged him to wait. They wanted to transfer him to a hospital in Israel, but the Palestinian Authority refused to pay for that, and suggested Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem. It took three full weeks to collect all the necessary permits to leave Gaza. Masalah and his mother were granted "hospitalization authorization" from the Interior Ministry of the State of Israel, signed by Major Azhar Ghanem, head of civil coordination. The permit was valid for one day, October 26, 2008, from 5 A.M. until 7 P.M. By the time they went through the Erez checkpoint and reached the hospital, it was already 4 o'clock.

Masalah and his mother, making their first visit outside the Gaza Strip, are now "illegally present" in East Jerusalem. She spends the nights in an armchair by his bed, and he is focusing on trying to rehabilitate his leg. He has had one operation and will need two more.

The IDF Spokesman's Unit has stated in response that, "an investigation with the Israel Navy found that no casualties were identified in this event. On the night between October 4 and October 5, two Palestinian fishing boats went past the area in which fishing is permitted. The navy launched warning flares and implemented deterrent fire only, with the emphasis on avoiding casualties. An additional check with the navy, at the correspondent's request, did not turn up any new findings."

The Nazi siege continues

Israeli army blocks deliveries to Gaza

11.14.2008 | Amnesty International
By

The Israeli army has completely blocked the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip for more than a week. Very little fuel has been allowed in. Amnesty International urged the Israeli authorities on Friday to allow their immediate passage.

"This latest tightening of the Israeli blockade has made an already dire humanitarian situation markedly worse. It is nothing short of collective punishment on Gaza's civilian population and it must stop immediately," said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

Eighty per cent of the population of Gaza has been dependent on the trickle of humanitarian aid previously allowed into Gaza until Wednesday, 5 November. Industrial fuel, which is donated by the European Union and needed to power Gaza's power plant, has also been blocked, causing a blackout in large parts of Gaza.

"Today I went to look for bread in several bakeries but couldn’t find any," Abu Khalil, a resident of Gaza City, told Amnesty International on Thursday evening. "There is no electricity, it's pitch dark.

"A few months ago, we bought an electric cooker because cooking gas is difficult to find and very expensive, but now without electricity we can't even cook. We are sitting at home in the dark; the children don't know what to do with themselves. We can’t do anything. Until when can we live like this?"

Other residents of Gaza told Amnesty International that they could not even find candles in the market any more. They said that the few people who have back generators in their homes and who still have fuel do not dare to use them because nobody knows when the blackout will end.

The United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA), the main UN aid agency, which provides humanitarian assistance to close to one million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, announced on Thursday that its supplies had run out.

John Ging, UNRWA’s head of operations in Gaza, told the media: "We have been working here from hand to mouth for quite a long time now, so these restrictions affect us immediately."

The agency had been warning for some days that its supplies were running out.

At the same time, the Israeli authorities have been denying access to Gaza to foreign journalists for a week and a convoy of European diplomats were likewise refused entry on Thursday.

"Gaza is cut off from the outside world and Israel is seemingly not keen for the world to see the suffering that its blockade is causing the one and a half million Palestinians who are virtually trapped there,” said Philip Luther.

The breakdown last week of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Gaza has generated a renewed wave of violence. The killing of six Palestinian militants in Israeli air strikes and ground attacks on 4 November prompted a barrage of Palestinian rockets on nearby Israeli towns and villages.

Five other Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli forces in recent days. Palestinian rocket attacks have continued. No Israeli casualties had been reported until earlier today, when one Israeli was lightly wounded by shrapnel in an attack on the Israeli city of Sderot.

"This dangerous spate of attacks and counter-attacks must be swiftly halted. Both sides know from past experience that their actions are putting the lives of the civilian populations of Gaza and southern Israel at risk,” said Philip Luther.

Prior to the coming into effect of the ceasefire on 19 June 2008, some 420 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces, half of them unarmed civilians, including some 80 children, since the beginning of the year. In the same period, Palestinian armed groups killed 24 Israelis, 15 of them civilians, including four children.

The five-and-a-half-month ceasefire had brought a welcome respite for the civilian populations in Gaza and southern Israel. Daily attacks had blighted their lives for the past eight years, during which some 4,750 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis were killed.

Most of the victims on both sides have been unarmed civilians, including some 900 Palestinian children and 120 Israeli children.

Please sign petition urging Tony Blair's mother to get retroactive abortion

Food aid runs out for Gaza, says UN

11.14.2008 | The Telegraph

A United Nations aid agency has run out of food supplies for 750,000 Palestinians in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip after Israel blocked deliveries by the world body, it said.

Short of fuel, Palestinian officials shut down Gaza's sole power plant as Israel kept commercial crossings with the coastal territory closed for a 10th day.

Israel blamed the closure and the partial blackouts in Gaza City on cross-border rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

"We have run out this evening and unless the crossing points open ... we won't be able to get that food into Gaza," said John Ging, a top official with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Israel had initially said it would allow the delivery on Thursday of some 30 trucks of food and other humanitarian goods into the enclave, where a flare-up in cross-border fighting threatens a 5-month-old truce along the Israel-Gaza frontier.

Israel also held up deliveries of European Union-funded fuel for the power plant, which generates about a third of the electricity consumed by Gazans. The rest comes from Israel, which was continuing supply, and Egypt.

Speaking to Reuters in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Thursday, Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair said Palestinian disunity was a main stumbling block in efforts by international mediators to end the violence and lift the Gaza blockade.

"The only thing that's going to create a lasting solution here is if there can be terms of Palestinian unity that are conducive to peace so that the rockets stop coming into Israel, and Israel is not taking action to blockade Gaza," Mr Blair said.

A rift between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas rivals widened last year after the Islamist group seized control of the Gaza Strip. Fatah holds sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Some 1.5 million people live in Gaza, where residents said food remained available but certain items were in short supply. Some 750,000 Gaza residents depend on UNRWA food supplies.

"We're in danger of going back to the situation prior to the calm," said Richard Miron, spokesman for the UN's envoy to the Middle East peace process.

UNRWA head Karen AbuZayd told Reuters she was worried Israel was narrowing the criteria for humanitarian aid and that certain items, including some school supplies, would be excluded from future shipments.

Blockaded Gaza 'faces disaster'

11.14.2008 | BBC

The UK-based aid agency Oxfam has warned of catastrophe for Gaza and nearby areas of Israel if a truce agreed last June is not maintained.

Oxfam called on world leaders to do everything they could to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and urged Israel to resume supplies without delay.

Israel has shut border crossings in response to rocket attacks from Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Earlier Israel fired missiles at targets in northern Gaza.

Two Palestinian militants were injured in the attacks, while one Israeli was injured in militant attacks on the town of Sderot.

Palestinian rockets also hit near the Israeli town of Ashkelon, 15km (nine miles) from Gaza. No injuries were reported.

'Peace endangered'

Oxfam said both sides would suffer if fighting continued.

"If Israelis and Palestinians alike don't exert every effort now to maintain the truce which has held since last June, the result could be catastrophic for civilians both in Gaza and in nearby Israeli towns," the agency's executive director, Jeremy Hobbs, said in a statement.



He said Gazans had been routinely denied unhindered access to fuel, medicines and essential goods for the last year-and-a-half. "Failure of the international community to act decisively will only exacerbate human suffering and could further endanger chances for peace," Mr Hobbs added.

On Thursday, UN officials said aid for 750,000 Gazans would have to be suspended until Saturday at the earliest.

Israel earlier denied entry to a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies. It has prevented the transfer of all goods into Gaza for nearly a week, blaming continuing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

The current round of clashes and rocket fire began on 5 November when Israeli troops entered Gaza to destroy what Israel said was a tunnel dug by militants to abduct its troops. Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets fired into Israel. There has been intermittent rocket fire since.

A truce between the two sides declared on 19 June had largely held. Both sides have accused the other of violating the truce, but maintain that they remain committed to it.

Egypt: Court Rules Aid Must Enter Gaza

11.13.2008 | Arutz Sheva
By Maayana Miskin

(IsraelNN.com) An Egyptian court has ruled that Egypt must allow trucks carrying humanitarian aid and supplies to enter Gaza via the Rafiah crossing. The crossing is located on the northern edge of the Sinai Peninsula, and is the only crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

Until now, the Egyptian military has blocked vehicles wishing to enter Gaza. The court ruled that the military's actions had violated Egyptian law and contradicted official Egyptian policy.

Most humanitarian aid has entered Gaza via Israeli crossings since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Egypt has opened the Rafiah crossing intermittently to allow students, Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, the ill and those with foreign citizenship to enter Egypt. The crossing was most recently open from November 6-8.

The question of humanitarian aid was particularly pressing this week, as Gaza crossings were closed following dozens of rocket attacks on western Negev communities. Israeli defense officials planned to open the crossings on Thursday despite the attacks in order to allow fuel and other supplies to enter Gaza; however, the crossings remained closed following intelligence warning of a planned terrorist attack on one crossing. Gaza terrorist groups have often forced closures by targeting Israeli crossings.

Egyptian soldiers continue to prevent weapons smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border, Egyptian officials say. On Sunday, soldiers stopped a truck and discovered that it was carrying half a ton of explosive material. The three men in the truck were arrested, and admitted that they had planned to bring the explosives to Gaza.

A week earlier, Egyptian forces found a ton of explosive material hidden in the Sinai desert. The explosives were apparently going to be smuggled into Gaza.

Despite the security efforts, IDF officials say the Egyptian army's operations are ineffective. Weapons smuggling to Gaza continues on a large scale, they say, largely through a network of tunnels under the border city of Rafah.

HOPE AS PALESTINIANS USE NONVIOLENCE  IN THEIR STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOM

11.04.2008 | PeacePeople.com
By Mairead Maguire (Nobel Peace Laureate)

On 28th October, 2008, the Free Gaza Movement set sail in SS Dignity from Larnaca, Cyprus, for Gaza.  On board were 27 Internationals from 13 countries, Including Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, five physicians, human rights lawyers, etc.,  I felt deeply privledge To be part of this group going to Gaza.

On this the second boat journey into Gaza the siege-breakers brought with them 6 cubic meters of medicine, and their hope that by going to Gaza across the sea (only the second boat to do so in over 41 years) they would give hope to the people of Gaza and that the outside world would break its silence to the tragedy of Gaza's suffering and act to get the siege lifted.

Its hard to image that in the 2lst century a country can be so cut off from the Outside world.  Sixteen months ago, when Gazans voted Hamas in free and Fair elections, the reaction of Israel was not to open up dialogue with the Elected representatives (as they eventually must do)but to put in place a Policy of collective punishment of the entire population, which has lead To a humanitarian catastrophe.  Israel said it was ending the Occupation of Gaza, But in truth it maintained it by closing all border entrances and isolating The Gazans from the entire world.  Gaza is like an open air prison with Israel holding the keys but its worse, at least in prison, the inmates are Fed and taken care of.  The people of Gaza are drinking polluted water And have not enough food and medicines and materials for existence – And in the words of one Gazan 'we are slowly choking to death with This siege'..

Before we sailed to Gaza the Israeli Gov., warned we would not be allowed To sail into Gaza.  However, we were determined to do so and just 20 miles Off the coast of Gaza, held our breath as two Israeli navy gunboats stalked us But took no action.  Common sense had prevailed – hopefully a sign for the future That in the final analysis those in power in Israel will realize that dialogue not Gunboats and F.16's,  is the only way to solve this too long and painful Palestinian Occupation.

We arrived in Gaza exhausted and sea-sick. We were met by dozens of Palestinian heavily armed Police and though, before leaving Gaza, I had requested not to be so guarded, we were informed that the Hamas Government wanted to ensure our safety, and throughout the entire 4 day visit we were escorted by armed Palestinian police.

Our reception by the people of Gaza was deeply moving. Their gratitude to The Free Gaza Movement was shown by their great warmth and hospitality. They Were particularly grateful that Dr. Barghouti had come from West Bank, and that Gideon Spiro an Israeli from Tel Aviv, had arrived with the boat. (On his Way home through the Erez crossing he was arrested by Israeli Authorities, held overnight and charged with illegally entering Gaza).

The following 4 days was filled with events ranging from pure joy (like the Concert with the children singing and one of our group an Italian Opera singer holding everyone in awe by the magic of his voice) to events of deep sadness such As our visit to Shifa hospital. Here the doctors explained they have shortage of basic Medicines, no parts for machines as they are blocked by Israel, and we met Patients dying from cancer and preventable diseases, if only the medicines And equipment were available. A half built new hospital stands slowing Disintegrating, as cement and wood and basic materials are not allowed Into the Gaza strip for over 16 months now and everything is slowing Falling apart.

We visited next day the Airport which had been bombed from the Air And from land by Israeli tanks over two years ago.  We visited the Electricity Plant and saw the huge generators, bombed by Israel and Still not repaired due to shortage of parts and a legal debate as to who is Responsible to repair.  This Israeli air bombing of Electricity plant means It is down to only 50% capacity, so each day the electricity goes off for 7/8 Hours at a time, including in hospitals.

The Sewerage Plant too has been damaged and Israel will not allow the Pipes in to replace those destroyed, so raw sewerage is pumped into the Sea every day, causing an environmental disaster waiting to explode.

In Jabalia there have been heavy rains which washed away the road, exposing Broken sewerage pipes. A pool of raw sewerage filled the street and the Children played oblivious to the danger of disease . We visited homes Flooded by rain and sewerage whose owners had to flee and are now living With relatives in already overcrowded poverty stricken homes. There is dreadful Poverty in this area. The people have nothing, many hungry and malnutrition 80% Still the International community remains silent as the Israeli Government, collectively punish one and a half million People, 50% under 21 years of age.

Some of our human rights colleagues went out on the boats with the Gazan fishermen. They were attacked by Israeli navy boats who bombarded the boats with water canons And fired live amunititon over the bow of the fishing boats.  Many fishermen have Been shot dead by Israeli navy  simply trying to catch fish 6 miles from shore to feed their  families.

The following days we were received by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah Who announced we would be given Palestinian passports, and presented Free Gaza Movement with a gift. There is a real desire here for Peace, people have suffered enough, but they want a just peace, an end to occupation, a right to determine their future for their children. The next day the Prime Minister announced the release of Fatah prisoners and a promise there would be no more political arrests. (They awaited response from President Abbas regarding Hamas prisoners they hold). Later that evening in the School of the Holy Family, we had the privledge of witnessing over 100 Politicians, representing all political parties, including Fatah and Hamas pledge to working for Palestinian National Unity and promising to send their Leaders to attend the National Unity Conference in Cairo early November. Dr. Barghouti (a true man of peace) addressed his political colleagues whom he had not met for 2 and a half years, due to the closure and separation of Gaza Strip from West Bank. (A apartheid policy of Israel dividing the Palestinian people into Buntustans and making the possibility of a viable Palestinian State very difficult ). This meeting took place under the watchful Gaze of a huge wall picture of President Arafat. I was invited to address the Political parties and I supported their non-violent campaign for an end to Occupation, and a Free Palestine. I also encouraged the National Unity of Palestinians reminding them 'in Palestinian unity there is strength, divided you will be conquered'. I also appealed to them to 'keep you struggle non-violent and the world will support you'

The next day we visited the Palestinian Parliament.(Hamas).

The Speaker of the Parliament thanked the Free Gaza Movement. He spoke Of the suffering of the Palestinians under Siege and occupation and paid Tribute to the suffering also of the Palestinian Political prisoners (over 40 Elected Hamas Politicians now in Israeli jails). I addressed the Parliament Speaking of the need for the release of Political prisoners and made a appeal for the release of Col. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli Corporal a captive in Gaza for almost two years now. (There are a total of ll,500 Palestinian prisoners In Israeli jails, including Parliamentarians, sick, Disabled, Women and Children, and before leaving Gaza I appealed for the release of Palestinian Political Prisoners – immediately to be released children, women, sick, those under administrative detention, and elected Parliamentarians). I stressed the need To keep the struggle non-violent and spoke of dialogue forgiveness and reconciliation And lessons learned in our own peace process in Northern Ireland.

We visited also the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt which remains closed cutting Gazans off from their families and friends just Down the road. One of the Palestinian women (who had flown from Jerusalem To Cyprus and come on the boat because she had no other way to get to Gaza) Banged on the Egyptian gate crying 'open up I want to get to my family'. Egypt Too plays its part in cutting off completely from the world the people of Gaza Not only from loved ones (and not to be able to touch those you love is the Cruelest form of torture, no even letters or newspapers get into Gaza) but basic needs of medicine, food, materials to rebuild their infracture purposely bombed by Israel Jets (paid for by American taxpayers Money - £10 million dollars a day). The Palestinians in a desparate attempt To feed their families or escape this open air prison, are digging dozens of underground tunnels from Gaza to Egypt, but on the day we left 3 men were Killed and other still missing as the soft sand collapsed on them.

Thousands of Palestinian women are cut off from their husbands in the West Bank, And 700 students who have University places in outside countries, are not allowed Out of Gaza to continue their education.

The greatest tragedy to all this is that International Governments and Western Media in particular remain silent to this slow destruction of the Palestinian people By  policies of Israel which break the Geneva Convention and Apartheid Convention In its Apartheid and Racist policies.

Yet, in leaving Gaza I felt great hope. Hope at the tremendous resilience of the Palestinian people. One of our great Irish poets W.B.Yeats once wrote 'too long A sacrifice makes a stone of the heart' but then a prayer of the Irish also says 'take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of love'. In my journeys to Israel and Palestine, and in Gaza, I found many hearts of Love. One Palestinian man asked me to carry his message to the world and it is: 'We love our Isreali brothers, we have lived with them, we want to, but we do Not believe the Israeli Government wants peace as their policies are destroying The Palestinian people'.

Another request from a Palestinian father to some of our group will remain with us: 'if I give you some money will you bring in on the next boat some milk for my children, we have none'

I believe there is great hope for peace in the Middle East, as this Is a political problem with a political solution, and the Israeli Government, and USA, With real political will can solve this historical conflict whose roots are in the Occupation. We recognize the Stat

Nov 21, 2008 -- 11:54PM, Chief Science Officer Spock [MidCity] wrote:

 

the bad news is, he apologized for saying that to the AIPAC and pretty much took it back.

 

at least its better than a right wing religious zealot who believes its the holy land (palin), right?

Lol at the first sentence, so true though.

And no to the last, it isn't that better if the policies and the results are the same.