The international community has failed Gaza
Damage caused by Israeli jets in Gaza
ONE of the things you notice straight away about Gaza is that there are so many children. Over half the population is under 18-years-old. They live in grinding poverty and have experienced death and destruction at first hand.
During the war, nowhere was safe for them. Even schools were bombed. In Gaza, 221 schools operate in 124 school buildings. One uses the building in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The Israeli attacks last year completely destroyed 18 of them.
Gaza children love school. I went back to see the Samouni family in Gaza City. Some 22 family members were killed in a three-day Israeli raid last year, including babies. Children came rushing out to welcome us, proudly asking “What’s your name?” – showing off the English they had learned in school that week. But the children still had terrible nightmares about the war.
Very little has changed since the military offensive. Houses, factories, farms and schools are still in ruins. Water, sewage and electricity systems are wrecked. In any other country, rebuilding would be well under way. But Gaza is different. It’s not that the people don’t want to rebuild. It’s that Gaza is still under Israeli siege. Its borders – land, sea and air – are closed. Little is allowed in or out, including concrete, glass, wood, pipes, tar and other building materials.
The MEP with Gaza schoolchildren
There’s no lack of international support, either. In March last year, a donor’s conference was held and pledges of over $4.5 billion were made to help reconstruction and support the Palestinian economy. Not a single penny of that money could be spent helping the people of Gaza because the Israeli blockade prevents the import of construction materials. They are not considered basic humanitarian goods.
As well as the closure of borders to goods, they are also closed to people, of course. Gazans can’t leave and most people are prevented from going in to the country as well. We were fortunate to have secured the agreement of the Egyptian authorities to allow us in through the Rafah crossing. Other parliamentary delegations have been turned away in recent months.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency provides food, education, healthcare, social services and emergency assistance to a million refugees in Gaza – 80% of them dependent on food aid. Even UNRWA had educational materials in Jerusalem that couldn’t be delivered to the schools in Gaza, and were sitting in storage because of the blockade. It is no surprise that goods are brought in through tunnels from Egypt. They are a last resort for people that are suffering.
Jill Evans with the Gaza dentist scheme
There is little good news that can be reported from Gaza. But it was good to see that in one of the poorest areas of Gaza City the people of Wales have made a very real difference. I visited the mobile dental unit funded by the Church in Wales – I’ve never been prouder to see the Red Dragon! The dental unit survived the war but the Shij’ia Family Health Care Centre from where it operated did not. I was shown the site where the clinic had stood until it was bombed but it had been able to re-open in a house loaned by a resident in the neighbourhood. The clinic provides desperately needed healthcare to mothers and young children.
Just as I was arriving in Gaza, three Swansea women, together with many others, were being deported by the Egyptian authorities. Janet Hussein, Ingrid Bousquet and D Murphy had driven an ambulance from Swansea to Gaza with the Viva Palestina convoy. I raised their unacceptable treatment with the Egyptian authorities and will be taking it further. It is that very solidarity and support from the people of Wales to the people of Gaza that will ensure that their suffering will not go unnoticed. I am proud that there is a strong and active network of Palestinian support groups in Wales.
If only we had the same resolve from international governments. As a Member of the European Parliament I have called for the EU to suspend its preferential trade agreement with Israel until the country abides by the human rights clauses contained within it. The EU is the main source of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, but strong words are no substitute for action. Aid conferences don’t change things on the ground but politicians can – given the political will to do so.
The international community has failed Gaza. No progress has been made on lifting the illegal and inhumane blockade of a million and a half people in an area the size of Rhondda Cynon Taf. One member of the Palestinian Legislative Council we met summed it up very well: “There is no need to make peace with the government of Gaza – governments change. The international community needs to make peace with the people of Gaza.”
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Any criticism of the Israeli Government inevitably leads to accusations of anti-Semitism, however justified the comments. Yet, how can even Israel’s greatest friends defend this appalling situation and why when Europe is often so keen to be seen to be different from the US, are they prepared to put up with this crime?
I have never condoned the murder of Israeli civilians by extremists, whether it is carried out by elements of Hamas or other organisations, but there can be no justification either for the bombing and targeting of civilians in Gaza, or their current treatment. If this was a white Christian enclave, do you really think that the US and Europe would be taking the same stance?
Many current Labour ministers campaigned passionately against apartheid and wear their campaigning badges with justifiable pride. Why then when they are now in a position of power, do they ignore the plight of the people of Gaza?
The ultimate irony is of course the Welsh, UK and other lives being lost to defeat ‘extremism’ in Afghanistan, when the open wound that feeds hate towards the west, continues to fester in Gaza. People often criticise Plaid for ‘dreaming’ about the possibility of being independent of UK foreign policy. I would respectfully suggest that such a dream is infinitely preferable to the current nightmare in the Middle East; a crisis situation that only gets publicity when Israeli civilians are killed-with the inevitable reprisals. Surely, there is a better way?
It is a tragedy of truly epic proportion to see the young people of Gaza struggling to survive in such conditions, in contrast to their Palestinian brothers and sisters in the West Bank.
With such an exceptionally high percentage of the population below 18, the demography should offer great hope for the future as their economic growth potential is significant.
Sadly, however, their situation is unlikely to change while they have the present Hamas administration running Gaza, whose approach towardsd Israel is markedly different to that of the Fatah-run West Bank territory.
Much like the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose regime supplies arms to Hamas and so perpetuates the stand off with Israel, the West’s disagreement is not with the people but rather with those in power who employ totalitarian methods of suppression.
It is a shame, because the Palestinians traditionally have been regarded as the most progressive and secular Arab nations (not sure whether it’s true or not though), because of their experience in struggle and the broad front nature of the PLO.
The West should take a long hard look at why the Gazans saw fit to elect Hamas. Fatah’s rampant corruption might explain some of it, but it’s probable that Gazans saw Hamas as the only faction standing up for their interests.
“The West’s disagreement is not with the people but rather with those in power who employ totalitarian methods of suppression.”
So ironic, you don’t see the West having disagreements with the Saudis do you? The West has some truly disgusting allies who are much worse than Hamas, and Saudi Arabia is just the tip of the iceberg.
No, I personally think the Israeli/Egypt siege is neutralising Hamas (with horrific consequences) and the much bigger security risk is Israel’s illegal settlement expansion in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Perhaps the pro-Israel lobby has some answers for that one? Because usually all we hear from them is about Hamas and nothing about Palestinian land being occupied and effectively stolen in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Any ideas David?
There is a responsibility on both sides to resolve the issue of West Bank settlements, and I agree that further expansion is not conducive to a peaceful resolution. There is, however, a notable difference in the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank on the one hand and of that which exists with Hamas in Gaza on the other.
Just look at the economic development in the West Bank where farmers are expanding production of Faritrade olive oil and other products to meet the growing demand. Having Fairtrade certification has allowed them to widen the markets for their products and this can only help to consolidate and deepen the growth in the Palestinian economy of the West Bank.
Clearly the Palestinians here can see the growth opportunities and Israel will feel more secure with a neighbour that is more intent on developing their economy rather than planning the next acts of aggression.
This is the biggest lesson to learn from the region and it highlights the stark contrast between the approach of Fatah (successful) and Hamas, which is both counter-productive and against the interests of the very people it supposedly represents.
Those in Gaza who have seen the light and dare to challenge the “power” are dealt with harshly, and so there is no democratic accountability just a climate of fear.
“There is a responsibility on both sides to resolve the issue of West Bank settlements, and I agree that further expansion is not conducive to a peaceful resolution. There is, however, a notable difference in the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank on the one hand and of that which exists with Hamas in Gaza on the other.”
I can see this argument leading us down a well-trodden garden path, but you are aware of the gross corruption of Fatah in Gaza that led to Hamas gaining support? And I speak as someone who very much stands in the line of secular nationalism and has no religious politics whatsoever.
I’m not sure about the statement that ‘both sides’ need to resolve the issue of West Bank settlements. What do the Palestinians have to do about West Bank settlements, apart from avoid getting run over, shot at and harassed by the settlers (an infamous issue inside Israel at the moment)?
“This is the biggest lesson to learn from the region and it highlights the stark contrast between the approach of Fatah (successful) and Hamas, which is both counter-productive and against the interests of the very people it supposedly represents.”
No, I think Fatah’s approach (political autocracy) has quite clearly not been successful and has led to them losing Gaza. Perhaps there is hope of more progressive forces filling the void though, as the PFLP managed to get 70,000 to their recent rally in the heart of Hamas’ territory. Plenty of liberated women there too. Any chance of some support from the West?
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2009/12/15/over-70000-rally-gaza-pflp-42nd-anniversary
I have read the article and some of the comments but meanwhile I must recognize that Hamas authorities on the Palestinians in Gaza are excellent in making propaganda in order to reach their single goal, have all the Jewish and occidental people out of what they call Palestine. Hamas before the blockade was using tens of millions of Euro not to build schools, not to invest in industrial and agricultural activities (most of them were ready to be used since Israeli left them and as it was a very good income at that time), no they use these huge sums of money to produce rockets, to publish books promoting hate of their Israeli neighbours, to train their children to use weapons, to buy for their children army clothes and waste their time to parade. Hamas while left alone in their territory where they took power by a putsch organized systematic killings of thousands, maybe 11,000 of palestinians just to make sure the rest of the people will submit like German submitted to the nazi in the early 30ies.
Israeli indeed were at the origin of the death of approximately 1,400 people and nobody is perfect, it is very sad that innocents were killed but since this war, suddenly, and since now more than 1 year, the palestinians of Gaza don’t launch more than 5 rockets per week in Israel while before this war, they were launching 40 to 70 rockets each day! In Israel during the same time, the country invested its own money to build safe building for their people and children and it was beneficial as only very few civilians were killed. One thing Miss Jill Evans should remember is that when the Jews were exterminated by millions during most of the European history and with a horrible epilogue during the Nazi regime, nobody cared. Now the Israeli take care of themselves and don’t listen to propaganda as they know what it means.
Unlike the jews during their 2,000 years who were ready to move from place to place all the time to survive, the very few Palestinians are not ready to join other places in their so-called Arab brethren countries that probably don’t want them by experience: Black September in Jordan, Lebanese anarchy during the seventies and eighties etc… Only the Israelis were ready to bear with them but not at any price!