Gaza:
From Economic To
Humanitarian Disaster
By Sonja Karkar
30 June, 2007
Zmag
Gaza’s
humanitarian crisis began long before the world decided that the Palestinians
had to be punished for voting in the Hamas government.
Since Israel’s occupation
in 1967 of the little land left to the Palestinians, Gaza has suffered
miserably. Israel did everything in the 25 years before Oslo (1993)
to shut off opportunities for economic growth and made sure that Gaza’s
infrastructure remained undeveloped. Despite the optimism of the Oslo
Accords, Israel’s vice-like grip on Gaza continued and the people
found themselves increasingly denied freedom of movement which again
impacted on their economic development. Unable to produce or invest,
the Palestinians became more and more dependent on imports from Israel.
Nothing changed after Israel
removed the deliberately implanted 7,000 Jewish settlers to a massive
publicity campaign around Israel’s “painful sacrifice for
peace”. Instead, the Palestinians were left hopelessly impoverished
and were literally strangled economically and socially by Israel’s
formidable military cordon around the Gaza Strip. This, despite Israel
claiming that it had disengaged and was no longer occupying Gaza. All
imports and exports came to a standstill and Palestinian businesses
were forced to close. In January 2006, Israel closed Karni crossing
– the commercial and humanitarian lifeline of Gaza with a 200
truck per day capacity. Truckloads of farming produce destined for Israel
and international markets were suddenly unable to get through. According
to UN-OCHA, this meant more than $US30 million in losses to the Palestinian
economy as farmers had no choice but to donate their crops or destroy
them as they rotted.
By the time Hamas was elected
to government, the Palestinians had been reduced to dependency on international
donors. This situation was exacerbated when Israel and the world decided
to cut off funds for the government’s operating budget because
the elections had not produced the results they had wanted. Barely two
months later, as former World Bank president James Wolfensohn stepped
down from his role as envoy to Israel and the Palestinians, he reported
that if Israel continued its regime of restrictions on trade and labour
and the flow of donations weakened further without a turn around by
2008, 74 percent of the Palestinians would be living beneath the poverty
line and unemployment would reach 47 percent. In particular, he pointed
to the systematic restrictions of movement Israel has imposed on the
Palestinians in the West Bank and at the Gaza Strip border crossings
saying that these measures are largely to blame for the tremendous damage
done to the Palestinian economy.
Since Hamas re-took power
in Gaza after routing Fatah forces, the Palestinians there have been
living under a state of siege. Israel has adamantly refused to let through
some 104 boxes of basic food stuffs being provided by UNRWA to more
than half of Gaza’s population, despite saying that aid through
UNRWA would be given passage. Israel cites “security considerations”
as the reason. The only opening is through the Karm Abu Salem Crossing
in the southern Gaza Strip and its 15 truck per day capacity cannot
serve a 1.4 million population in desperate need. According to the UN,
at least 100 trucks a day need to be going into Gaza.
The shortages of food, water
supplies, fuel and medicine are so alarming that organizations like
UNRWA and OXFAM are calling for an immediate re-opening of Gaza’s
border. The World Food Program says that Gaza’s food stocks will
only last for another two weeks, four at most, if more shipments are
not let in. Hospitals and clinics have only barely been able to function
with the help of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
This week UNRWA stated that
90% of the Gazan population is on their food supplies aid program list.
This number is expected to rise as food aid remains stranded due to
Israel’s border closures. In a report submitted to the UN Security
Council, Michael Williams, UN messenger for the peace process in the
Middle East said that, “basic survival supplies in the Gaza Strip
will not last for more than a week” and that more cases of starvation,
malnourishment and illness would occur if the Karni crossing is not
re-opened and allowed to operate at full capacity. Also calling for
an immediate re-opening of the border was the Director of Oxfam International
Jeremy Hobbs: “The entrapment of Gaza is completely unacceptable.
. . Withholding aid as a political weapon is bringing untold suffering
to an entire population.”
All this is being done against
the background of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land
and the continual denial of their right to self-determination in their
own land. This has been tolerated by the entire world community for
decades. Now, in an outrageous abuse of human rights and political intrigue,
the Palestinians in Gaza are being isolated and pushed deeper into destitution
and despair while the funds Israel and the West withheld for 18 months
are pouring into the government coffers of the Palestinians in the West
Bank. Such man-made decisions used to further political interests are
a crime against humanity.
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