By: Aditya Ganapathiraju, Palestine Monitor, October 31, 2009
“Gaza is an example of a society that has been deliberately reduced to a state of abject destitution,” Sara Roy wrote in July. It has led to “mass suffering, created largely by Israel,” and aided by the active participation of the United States, European Union, and Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. [1]
The Israeli policy of isolating Gaza from the West Bank has been a gradual process that started in the early 1990s. It tightened soon after Hamas’ electoral victory in 2006, and turned even more devastating after Hamas’s 2007 takeover, degrading the society to the point where 96 percent of Gaza’s population of 1.5 million is dependent on humanitarian aid for basic survival. [2]
This “perverse” situation is unique in international affairs in that humanitarian groups are sustaining the Israeli occupation by providing care for a civilian population and territory whose humanitarian needs and economy are being deliberately decimated for political reasons, with full backing of the Israeli High Court, Roy explained. [3]
Tags: Aditya Ganapathiraju, basic commodities barred, Gaza, Gaza blockade, isolating Gaza, Israeli policy, Professor Avi Shlaim, schools, sewage, water
Peace and Justice Post 
November 5, 2009 at 1:26 am |
Any decent human would be outraged after reading this article. Why are countries such as USA and UK, and the EU colluding with Israel in perpetuating the hellish condition in Gaza? And why is it that we don’t hear countries such as India, Russia, China, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland and Denmark complaining about the situation? I am astonished that even Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi etc. have remained silent. Is the entire world blind to Palestinians’ suffering, and opposed to the Palestinians?
Ten months after the war, none of the houses destroyed by Israel have been rebuilt. There are mountains of rubble every where. People are still living in tents. How will they live in tents in winter without freezing to death? Can it be really true that nobody cares? This is truly bizarre.
Yesh Prabhu, Plainsboro, NJ
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