In Gaza, no one is dying, but no one is living...

There is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, Yuval Diskin, head of the Israel Security Agency, the Shin Bet, told a Knesset committee last Tuesday.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, he said recently. Earlier this month, he had also declared that there’s no shortage of food. There’s no shortage of medicine.
Four months ago or so, in Gaza, a baby boy Mohamed was diagnosed with a heart blockage that could only be treated in Israel, for the Strip has no pediatric surgery unit.
It took the Israeli authorities some two weeks to process his application for entry into Israel on medical grounds.
When the official approval finally arrived, the baby was already dead.
Why should it take so long for a days-old innocent baby with such a serious problem? No crisis? I lost my son. We're not treated like human beings. Let me ask you: Would Israelis accept to live under these conditions? his father Hajaj asked Edmund Sanders of the LAT.
Last year, 27 Gazans died in similar circumstances…
Gaza’s health infrastructure has been badly battered by the siege and the three-week onslaught launched by Israel on the Strip in January of last year.
So far as health services are concerned, what we’re concerned with is the declining quality of care available primarily because of the blockade, Tony Lawrence, head of the West Bank and Gaza office of the World Health Organization, told The CSM.
Medical equipment is routinely blocked for months on the Israeli-Gaza border.
Some equipment is simply not authorized at all.
Israel bans the import of uninterrupted power supply systems, arguing that their batteries could be used to make bombs. But that means when Gaza's power goes out, as it frequently does, medical equipment stops running, and its shelf-life is reduced by frequent power shortages, wrote The CSM.
In addition, many of the most complex medical and surgical procedures are not available at all in Gaza.
Essential medicines (15 to 30% at any given time) are also hard to obtain.
It must be said however, that this is also because the conflict between Hamas and The Palestinian Authority has had adverse effects on the medical supply chain.
The state of the health care system in Gaza has never been worse. Health is being politicized: that is the main reason the system is failing, concluded Eileen Daly, a health coordinator for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
In addition, the IDF damaged or destroyed 15 of Gaza’s 27 hospitals and 43 of its 110 primary health care facilities during the war last year.
Little rebuilding has been done since Israel bans the entry of construction material into the Strip.
In fact, the siege compounded by the damage wreaked by last year’s Israeli onslaught has devastated the territory’s economy: 98% of Gaza’s factories had to close down due to the lack of raw materials, and Israel’s ban on the export of goods produced locally.
As a result, 120,000 Gazans lost their job.
The unemployment rate is currently at 42%.
The Strip’s sole power plant (it was damaged by Israel in 2006, which never authorized its repair) only receives enough fuel to run at about 67% of its capacity.
Hence, houses in Gaza are deprived of electricity between 35 and 60 hours a week…
Furthermore, since Israel also bans the entry of gasoline and diesel fuel, many Gazans have reverted to the use of donkey carts to move both people and goods.
Today, in terms of volume, Gaza imports less than 25% of what it did in 2005, before the siege was imposed.
The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees Unrwa’s list of household items that have been refused entry at various times includes light bulbs, candles, matches, books, musical instruments, crayons, clothing, shoes, mattresses, sheets, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts, shampoo and conditioner, wrote Heather Sharp, of BBC News.
As there is no official, published list of what is authorized, no one knows what is actually banned, apart from construction materials and weapons, which are smuggled through the tunnels beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border.
What is banned today may be authorized tomorrow and vice versa…
According to UNRWA, 80% of Gazans depend on some kind of food assistance.
As a result of this deterioration in the quality and quantity of products consumed by the Gazans, 33% of children and young women are anemic.
One of Israel’s objectives in imposing the siege was to undermine Hamas, hoping that harsher living conditions inside the Strip would goad the Gazans into overthrowing the Islamic movement.
Ironically, it seems that the siege has only further buttressed Hamas’ rule.
The destruction of Gaza’s economy has led to the marginalization, if not the outright demise, of its influential business community.
Gaza’s traditional sectors, such as construction, agriculture, furniture making and textiles, which exported much of their production, have been devastated by the siege, and the ban on importing raw materials and exporting finished products.
I can’t get cocoa powder, I can’t get malt, I can’t get shortening or syrup or wrapping material or boxes. I don’t like Hamas, and I don’t like Fatah. All I want is to make food, Mohammed Telbani, who operates a cookies and ice cream factory, told The NYT.
As a result, most if not all of Gaza’s economy has, literally, gone underground.
We are now a nation of tunnel diggers. The tunnels were seen as a tool to overcome the hardship. Now they have become socially, politically and morally acceptable, Omar Shaban, an economist, told The Observer.
The black market has thrived to the point that the Gaza economy is now entirely black, asserted Mr. Shaban.
The tunnel owners and operators constitute Gaza’s new elite and the former business establishment is left with little choice but to invest directly in the new tunnel economy.
Hamas deprived of tax revenues by Israel and the Palestinian Authority is capitalizing on the tunnel economy.
Tunnel owners must by licenses from the Hamas administration, which also taxes the products illegally entering the Strip.
Hamas has turned the siege to its own advantage. Instead of being squeezed by the blockade, Hamas has become stronger and more powerful, Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, told The Observer.
Instead of weakening Hamas, it has consolidated its grip and its power over the Gaza Strip. Hamas has already won the battle of the siege, he added.
As such, one may wonder if Hamas is indeed keen on seeing the siege eventually lifted…
Because of the tunnel economy, Gaza does not lack essentials, and certainly not food.
Products imported from the US and Europe are available, as are fresh products such as meat, eggs and vegetables.
Yet, very few can afford them since they cost two to four times the conventional market price…Many Gazans have little money because they are unemployed…
There is food. But there is no work. We have a high percentage of unemployment. A high number of workers are sitting in their houses, not working. There is no money for a person to buy the daily food for his children, Ashraf al-Koumi, owner of a small food store, told VOA.
Hence, the new moneyed elite imports and buys whatever it wants and needs, while the bulk of the population must rely on UNRWA and other organizations to survive.
The current situation is more and more untenable, particularly since the raid on the Mavi Marmara thrust the plight of the Gazans back into the international media spotlight.
The ICRC even stepped in to demand the end of the siege.
The whole of Gaza's civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law, the organization declared in a statement.
The ICRC also demanded that Hamas allow its Israeli prisoner, Gilad Shalit, to receive regular visits from his family, something it has refused to do.
On Thursday, Israel accepted the principle of allowing more goods to enter Gaza.
It was agreed to liberalize the system by which civilian goods enter Gaza and expand the inflow of materials for civilian projects that are under international supervision, the authorities declared.
All types of food will now be authorized.
Since last week, Gazans can enjoy cookies, sodas and snacks, goods previously banned, as were toys, for security reasons, no doubt…
Many observers were skeptical however, since no details were released concerning what would be authorized. Would raw materials now be allowed?
Would exports be as well?
This announcement makes clear that Israel is not intending to end its collective punishment of Gaza's civilian population, but only ease it. This is not enough, said Malcolm Smart, of Amnesty International.
The time has come for Israel to ask serious questions about how three years of closure have promoted the goals it declared for itself and what has been the effect on 1.5 million people whose right to travel and to engage in productive work has been denied.
We don't need cosmetic changes. We need a policy that recognizes the rights of Palestinian residents of Gaza not just to consume but also to produce and to travel, Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization, declared.
Israel seems to be tinkering with the policy of the last three years, rather than reconsidering it, Sari Bashi, the director of Gisha, told The NYT.
Yet, is the Israeli announcement genuine, or simply designed to appease Israel’s many foreign critics seething with anger following the raid on the Turkish ship?
Two official statements came out of the Prime Minister's Office in regard to the security cabinet meeting – one in Hebrew for the Israeli media and another in English for the foreign media and foreign diplomats. The English version said that "It was agreed to liberalize the system by which civilian goods enter Gaza [and] expand the inflow of materials for civilian projects that are under international supervision." The Hebrew version addressed mainly remarks made by Netanyahu, but failed to mention any decision or agreement, wrote Haaretz on Friday.
Time will tell if Israel is indeed serious.
Until the siege is lifted however, Israel will have to contend with international human rights activists determined to help the Gazans.
Two ships, the Mariam and the Naji al-Ali will soon be sailing from Beirut and heading for Gaza, intent on breaking the siege.
The German Jewish Voice, part of European Jews for a Just Peace also plans to sail to Gaza next month.
We want Israel to behave in a way that it can be recognized as a democratic state. Now it is recognized as a criminal state. That is not what we want, Kate Katzenstein-Leiterer, of the German movement, told Haaretz.
The whole blockade, the whole siege of Gaza is illegal. It is against international law and human rights. We want to deliver musical instruments and school material. The children are deprived of every kind of school material; clothes, shoes, candies. We don't see that that is any kind of safety risk, she added.
The ships will keep coming until Israel significantly changes policy, and allows Gazans to lead civilized lives…
In Gaza, no one is dying, but no one is living, Amr Hamad, deputy secretary general of the Palestinian Federation of Industries, told The NYT.
All Gazans should not have to bear the consequences of Israel’s obsession with Hamas.
The siege has failed, because Hamas still rules the Strip and is not going anywhere.
The siege must end because it is ineffectual, but also immoral.
We should urge our leaders to do their utmost to put an end to it.
Our indifference and apathy has enabled Israel to punish an entire population for no visible gain, out of pure spite
Putting an end to the siege is the only moral, decent thing to do, and if our leaders cannot muster the determination to do so, then it is likely that the Mavi Marmaras will keep coming until even the Israelis come to the conclusion that the siege is more trouble than it is worth.
(the photograph of the children playing in the rubble of a building in Gaza is by Ayman Quader)