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| "END THE OCCUPATION!" PAJU VIGIL #335 July 13, 2007 HUMANITARIAN DISASTER LOOMS ISRAELI BORDER CLOSURES BRING GAZA TO THE EDGE OF STARVATION For decades Israel has stifled Gaza’s economic growth and development. It has also, increasingly, denied the people of Gaza freedom of movement. As a result, the Palestinians have been unable to produce or invest and have become dependent on imports from Israel – just as Israel planned. Israel no longer occupies Gaza, but it surrounds it on all sides and controls all of Gaza’s imports and exports. It repeatedly shuts the crossing points in and out of Gaza for extended periods of time. The former head of the World Bank has stated that Israel’s systematic border closures have done tremendous damage to Gaza’s economy. For example, the closures caused the spoilage or loss of over $US30 million of Palestinian farming produce that could not be exported. Worse than this, the border closures are starving the people of Gaza. Israel refuses to allow adequate quantities of basic food stuffs into Gaza despite having fully committed itself to doing so. At present Israel allows the UN to ship only 15 trucks of food aid a day into Gaza. This does not begin to meet the needs of the population of 1.4 million. In fact, the UN calculates that at least 100 trucks a day are required to meet Gaza’s desperate needs. The shortages of food, water, supplies, fuel and medicine are so alarming that organizations like OXFAM are calling for an immediate reopening of Gaza’s borders. This week UNRWA (the UN relief agency) stated that 90% of the Gazan population is on their food aid program list because of Israel’s border closures. The Director of Oxfam International Jeremy Hobbs stated that: "The entrapment of Gaza is completely unacceptable. Withholding aid as a political weapon is bringing untold suffering to an entire population." Compounding the lack of food is the lack of medical supplies, which is now so severe that hospitals and clinics are barely functioning. Gaza has suffered decades of brutal Israeli occupation and siege. Now, in an outrageous abuse of human rights, the Palestinians in Gaza are being pushed deeper into destitution by border closures. Meanwhile, the western countries withhold aid from Gaza and permit Gaza’s borders to remain closed in order to further Israel’s political interests. These decisions are crimes against humanity. The borders of Gaza must be reopened now and kept open. Adapted from "Gaza: From Economic To Humanitarian Disaster" by Sonja Karkar, published on the human rights website Znet on June 28,2007. Full text at: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=13176 Distributed by PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity) WWW.PAJUMONTREAL.ORG |