‘Gaza is quickly becoming uninhabitable’
It is now one year since the 21 November 2012 ceasefire agreement that ended the eight-day Israeli bombardment of Gaza during which at least 165 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured. Living conditions for the people of Gaza have continued to deteriorate despite Israel’s agreement to open the border crossings. A report issued by Oxfam entitled Gaza: one year since the ceasefire, the blockade goes on, states: ‘The blockade has devastated the lives and livelihoods of Gaza’s population: 80% of people in Gaza receive international aid, 57% of households are food insecure, exports are virtually nonexistent, many basic services are barely functioning and unemployment is over 35% and rising.’ Bob Shepherd reports.
In FRFI 230 we said of the ceasefire agreement: ‘everything the Israeli government says is either a lie or a deception’. So it has turned out. Israel has continued its military attacks on Gaza even though the past 12 months has seen the lowest number of rocket attacks from Gaza for the past ten years. The UN Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) lists deaths of 11 Palestinians and injuries to over 3,500 during this period. Israeli naval forces have stepped up their harassment of Gaza’s fishing fleet. This year there have been over 150 incidents of naval fire at Gazan fishermen – a 40% increase from the past two years. 95% of fishermen and their families now depend on some form of humanitarian assistance including food aid.
Following Egypt’s military coup, the Egyptian army has shut down the vast majority of tunnels under the border, closing off what had become an essential lifeline for Gaza. The consequences include shortages of building materials and of affordable fuel. One million litres of fuel a day came through the tunnels. This was used to run Gaza’s power plant, hospitals, water treatment units, other basic services and household needs. Fuel from Israel is at least double the price and fulfills only 40% of Gaza’s needs.
The effects of the fuel shortage have been devastating. Gaza’s main power plant has been shut since the beginning of November resulting in power cuts of up to 16 hours a day. On 14 November the main sewage station in Gaza City ran out of fuel, and raw sewage flooded the streets. Gaza City’s head of sanitation said that untreated sewage had to be pumped directly into the Mediterranean Sea to save fuel. Supplies are now so low that even this isn’t always possible. New sewage floods are inevitable.
Water supplies have also been dramatically affected. 25% of the population now receives clean water only once every four days; 40% once every three days; 20% once every two days; and just 15% receive water every day. When water is available the delivery period lasts for only six to eight hours.
The construction sector is one of the biggest employers in Gaza with around 70,000 workers. With Israel’s refusal to allow construction material for commercial use to enter Gaza since 2008, supplies through the tunnels have become essential. Their closure is having a devastating effect on the industry. Additionally, Israel decided in March not to grant the United Nations refugee organisation, UNRWA, permission to start any new construction projects in Gaza, and has now refused it the right to import any construction material. Construction projects it already has running have come to a halt.
Israel’s increased restrictions placed on the movement of goods and vehicles across Karem Shalom, the only Israeli border crossing for goods, have meant exports from Gaza have fallen by half since the ceasefire agreement and this year is on track to see the lowest export levels since 2009.
UNRWA head, Filippo Grandi, speaking in November to a meeting of major donors in Jordan declared, ‘The situation in Gaza has deteriorated substantially, and I repeat substantially, in the last few months…Gaza is quickly becoming uninhabitable’. James Rowley, head of OCHA, on a visit to Gaza on 21 November said, ‘In our view every indicator for Gaza is negative, not even neutral, but negative. We are extremely concerned about the broad deterioration of the economy and the humanitarian implications for Gaza’s population as a whole’.
The immediate remedy to this humanitarian crisis is clear. Both UN officials called for the ending of Israel’s illegal economic blockade of Gaza. The UN however acts as an instrument for the interests of imperialism in the region and will not impose any practical pressure on Israel to lift the blockade. The Palestinian struggle demands real solidarity on the streets of the imperialist countries themselves.
The Palestinian Authority and peace talks
In July 2013 Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), made an agreement with US Secretary of State, John Kerry, to begin a new nine-month round of peace talks with the Netanyahu government. Israel has since humiliated the negotiating team with a series of settlement construction announcements. On 13 November, the entire negotiating team offered their resignations after Israel announced plans for 20,000 new settlement homes. Yet Abbas continues to be a loyal lackey of imperialism and is adamant that the peace talks will continue.
The Israeli group Peace Now has issued figures for settlement plans in the eight months since Netanyahu formed his new government on 18 March 2013. Plans have been approved for 8,943 units, 6,521 in the West Bank and 2,422 in East Jerusalem. Tenders, the last stage in the process before construction, have been issued for 3,472 housing units, 1,457 in the West Bank and 2,015 in East Jerusalem. Construction of housing units in established settlements does not always require any authorisation from the central government. In the first six months of 2013 there was a 70% increase in settlement construction as compared to 2012. In total 2,840 housing units were either built or in the process of construction.
The sham peace talks are being used by Israel as a cover for its ever-increasing occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Abbas and the PA are collaborating in the occupation by engaging in these talks.
The one success of the talks claimed by Abbas has been the release of long-term Palestinian political prisoners. 52 prisoners of the 104 (who are due to be released throughout the talks) are now free. This obscures the fact that there are over 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons. The reality of life for the majority of them is hardship and degradation. During 2013 three prisoners died in custody: Jaradat Arafat died under torture and Maysara Abu Hamdiya and Hassan Al Turabi died due to medical neglect. Palestinian prisoners support group Addameer stated: ‘The death of Turabi is the direct result of the Israeli Prison Service policy of medical negligence which is being practised against all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees’.
Bob Shepherd
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 236 December 2013/January 2014
