Media coverage
Le Monde · 2007-10-26
The article describes how Gaza, after being declared a “hostile entity” by the Israeli authorities, came under an almost total blockade that paralyzed the movement of people and goods and deepened poverty, unemployment, shortages of fuel, electricity, basic goods, and medical supplies. It also details the impact of the closure on economic and social life, alongside residents’ fear of a major Israeli military intervention and of Hamas’s internal repression, leaving Gazans feeling trapped between both sides and abandoned by the international community.
The article describes how Gaza, after being declared a “hostile entity” by the Israeli authorities, came under an almost total blockade that paralyzed the movement of people and goods and deepened poverty, unemployment, shortages of fuel, electricity, basic goods, and medical supplies. It also deta…
In the devastated landscape of the Gaza Strip, a new element has appeared. Huge mounds of sand partially block the streets, forcing cars to zigzag. These obstacles are supposed to prevent the advance of Israeli armored vehicles in the event of a deep incursion. The Palestinians would then place explosives inside these ramparts, which are now part of the scenery.
Since the Israeli authorities declared the Gaza Strip a “hostile entity” on 19 September, Gazans have been expecting the worst. Ehud Barak, the defense minister, has not concealed that he is seriously considering a massive intervention to bring Hamas to heel, after it took control of the territory on 15 June. Since then, it has been fear—fear of the IDF, fear of the Islamists, fear of tomorrow.
Everyone is waiting without knowing what the future holds for this rectangular speck of 360 km2 inhabited by 1.5 million people. One of the highest population densities in the world, 1.5 million people who for more than four months have literally been sequestered in this enclave. Except for a few lucky ones who manage to obtain Israeli permits, it is impossible to escape from Gaza.
The only crossing point to Egypt, Rafah, is closed; Karni, the crossing to Israel reserved for goods, is a deserted area. Only essential food products enter through Sufa and Kerem Shalom. A trickle that allows the population to survive. That is all. The blockade is practically total. The international community had put sanctions in place after Hamas’s victory in the 25 January 2006 elections, which were nonetheless considered democratic. Today, Israel is applying the final turn of the screw, leaving just a thin stream of air so as not to suffocate an entire people. On 25 October, the Ministry of Defense decided to reduce its fuel deliveries and limit the supply of electricity in retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire.
No one is dying of hunger, but the first signs of shortage have appeared. Prices have soared, tripling for flour and increasing fivefold for cement. There are more and more beggars, fewer and fewer marriages. Nothing leaves, and what little enters is subject to the good will of the Israelis. The filter now lets through only Israeli products; all others are banned. “The Gaza Strip is no longer regarded as a commercial entity. We have been struck off the list. The occupation was bad, but now it is worse. We are being crushed, and everyone is washing their hands of it,” protests Mazen Shaquoura, representative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Farmers will not be able to export their strawberries and cut flowers. Some 670 students enrolled in universities in Egypt or elsewhere have been unable to leave, according to an Israeli NGO, Gisha, which has filed an appeal before the Supreme Court. Construction has come to a complete halt. No materials are entering anymore. UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, has suspended all its work.
“Out of 4,000 small businesses, no more than 400 are operating; and even then, at 60% of their capacity,” notes Mohsen Abu Ramadan, director of the Arab Center for Agricultural Development. “We are heading toward catastrophe, but no one seems worried. Is this a siege? Is this collective punishment? It is a violation of the Geneva Convention, the Oslo Accords, and human rights. Why is there no pressure on Israel?” Here, 70% of the population lives below the poverty line (less than $2 a day) and 43% below the extreme poverty line (less than $1). “People must be allowed to live with dignity. They must not be deprived of hope, otherwise the worst may happen,” worries the economist Omar Shaban.
Mazen Al-Amassi is desperate. This furniture manufacturer has laid off his 150 workers. His warehouses are full, but he cannot export. One million dollars’ worth of goods are lying in his warehouses, well packed, ready to leave for the past four months. All activities are affected. Even the banking sector, since two Israeli banks decided no longer to conduct operations with the Gaza Strip. At the beginning of October, Hamas paid some 20,000 civil servants in cash. The banks that had previously done so risked coming under pressure from Israel, which demands that the Islamic Resistance Movement not be served in any way whatsoever. Rumors are circulating about an imminent cash shortage.
No manufactured products, no spare parts are being imported anymore. Each day, 106 trucks allow the population not to sink into a humanitarian crisis. Before Hamas’s takeover, there were an average of 238. In hospitals, broken equipment cannot be replaced. It is blocked at the port of Ashdod. On 4 October, the health minister, Bassem Naim, sounded the alarm over “the acute shortage of medicines and medical equipment.” “Patients who need treatment in Israel or abroad can no longer leave. So they die here with us,” laments Dr. Fayez Al-Hinawi, at Jabaliya Hospital. The newspaper Maariv published the testimony of a patient who was unable to obtain a permit to enter Israel because he refused, in exchange, to become a collaborator of the Shin Bet, the internal security services. Several other cases of blackmail of this kind have been mentioned.
The pressure is at its maximum. “People have only one desire left: to leave, to escape. If the borders were opened, it would be a tidal wave,” says Khalil Abu Shammala, from the human rights organization Al-Dameer. According to a poll, 47% — more than 700,000 people — would like to flee what has become a living hell. The Gaza Strip is sinking deeper into poverty and unemployment, and its inhabitants are trapped. “We are kidnapped and, to survive, we pay as much for food as in Tel Aviv because the Israelis are taking advantage of it. We have become a captive market. The Israelis sell only their own products. This is modern colonialism! It is worse than the occupation!” exclaims the economist Omar Shaban. For him, as for many others, it is time for the international community to begin opening its eyes.
“The Israelis destroyed the power plant, the airport, bridges, and the port, which were financed by European states, and the European Union continues to pay to provide for the population’s basic needs. When will Europeans understand that they are only endorsing the practices of the State of Israel, that they are financing the occupation?” fumes Mazen Shakoura, of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
For the human rights organization B’Tselem, “humanitarian agencies and the international community must ask Israel to assume its responsibilities.” B’Tselem recalls that, since the disengagement of summer 2005, 2,800 rockets have fallen on Israel, causing the death of 4 people, and that the authorities responded with “massive force, killing 668 Palestinians, including 359 who were completely uninvolved in the fighting (from 1 September 2005 to 25 July 2007).”
Placed in a logic of survival, Gazans are questioning their future. Caught between Israeli pressure and the demands of the Islamists, forgotten by Salam Fayyad’s government in Ramallah, victims of political and diplomatic games beyond their control, the inhabitants have lost all hope. All the more so because they are subjected to the discipline imposed by the Islamists. According to the organization Al-Dameer, more than 2,000 members of Fatah have been arrested since 15 June. “There is no justice, no respect for rules, no guarantee of fundamental rights. It is the law of the jungle. Hamas does whatever it wants,” explains Khalil Abu Shammala, of the Al-Dameer organization. Interrogation procedures are rather rough. Some emerge with their heads completely shaved, as a sign of opprobrium in the eyes of the public, and after payment, by the family, of bail amounting to 1,000 shekels (174 euros).
The population finds itself caught in a vice. On one side, the Islamists, who have taken control of all institutions and abuse their new power — those who do not pledge allegiance to the new masters are regarded as enemies, “collaborators of the Zionist entity.” On the other, the Israelis, who, after withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, have completely sealed off this territory, which they regard as a boil. “In fifteen years, we will be 3 million. That is why they are strangling us, ruining us. They want to make us leave. That is their objective,” notes Khalil Abu Shammala. “But most of us are already refugees from Israel. We have nowhere to go.”
Michel Bôle-Richard, special correspondent
Text © Le Monde — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source