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Today's Top News
Red Cross: Gaza Blockade Illegal
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has described Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip as a violation of the Geneva Conventions and called on the Israeli government to lift it.
The ICRC said goods smuggled through tunnels are often overpriced and of poor quality. (AFP) In a statement released on Monday,
the organisation called the blockade "collective punishment", a crime
under international law. It described Gaza as a territory plagued by
frequent power cuts, a ruined economy, and a collapsed health care
system.
"The closure imposed on the Gaza Strip is about to enter its fourth year, choking off any real possibility of economic development," the ICRC said.
"Gazans continue to suffer from unemployment, poverty and warfare, while the quality of Gaza's health care system has reached an all-time low."
Crippling shortages
Israeli officials insist that they provide enough "humanitarian aid" to cover Gaza's basic needs.
But the ICRC said the meagre list of goods allowed into Gaza doesn't meet the needs of the territory's 1.5 million inhabitants.
Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the head of the ICRC's Middle East operations, told Al Jazeera that the organisation - which traditionally remains neutral - was reluctant to publicly criticise the blockade. But she said three years of quiet efforts to ease the embargo did not result in any progress.
"The result has not been what we expected, and we thought that after three years the situation was dire enough, serious enough, to speak out publicly to try to break this closure of Gaza," she said.
The shortages are particularly dire in Gaza's health care system, where the ICRC said more than 100 essential medicines - including chemotherapy and hemophilia drugs - are unavailable. Many basic medical supplies, like colonoscopy bags, are also barred from Gaza and routine blackouts cause damage to medical equipment.
"The state of the health-care system in Gaza has never been worse," Eileen Daly, the ICRC's health co-ordinator in Gaza, said.
"Thousands of patients could go without treatment, and the long-term outlook will be increasingly worrisome."
B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, released its own report on Monday documenting dire conditions in the Palestinian territories. The group noted that 95 per cent of Gaza's factories have closed, that 98 per cent of residents suffer from blackouts, and that 93 per cent of Gaza's water is polluted.
Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, on Sunday called for an end to the blockade.
Hamas criticised
The ICRC also criticised Hamas, the Islamic movement which controls Gaza, for preventing the ICRC from visiting Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in 2006. Shalit is entitled to visits from the Red Cross under international law.
"In violation of international humanitarian law, [Hamas] has also refused to allow him to get in touch with his family," the ICRC said.
But the bulk of the ICRC's criticism was directed at Israel's blockade. In addition to the health care problems, the ICRC noted that 40 per cent of Gaza's residents are not connected to a sewage system, and that restrictions on movement have driven many farmers and fishermen into poverty.
One-third of Gaza's farmland is located in a "buffer zone" controlled by the Israeli army, and boats are only allowed to fish within three nautical miles of Gaza's coast.
The ICRC demanded that both Israel and the Hamas government "allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage" of aid shipments to Gaza. Hamas has refused to accept 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid seized from the flotilla of aid ships attacked last month by the Israeli army.
The Israeli government announced on Sunday that a panel, chaired by former supreme court judge Yaakov Turkel, would investigate the flotilla attack.
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18 Comments so far
Show Allalthough im a great supporter of the gazan cause i didnt realise the red cross were international lawyers! retuers reported that the blockade was, in zionist language, kosher!
can someone clarify this
If by "kosher" you mean against all principles of humanity.
Pressure on Israel increases world wide while the US continues to isolate itself backing Zionist crime. It will take time but there are significant cracks in the empire structure!
kusemek: “although im a great supporter of the gazan cause i didnt realise the red cross were international lawyers!”
Gaza does not belong to Israel, therefore the Israeli occupation and blockade are illegal. You don’t have to be an international lawyer to figure that out!
Even if the blockade were only directed against weapons instead of basic necessities, Israel has no right to stop Palestinians from acquiring arms to defend themselves against Zionist ethnic cleansers.
Obama has endorsed an Israeli investigation of the murder of Turkish activists aboard the Marmara. No sane person with an IQ over 70 could fail to be stunned by Obama’s callous arrogance toward the victims and the international community. This is the real Obama behind the smiling mask.
The article also reports that “[t]he ICRC demanded that both Israel and the Hamas government 'allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage' of aid shipments to Gaza. Hamas has refused to accept 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid seized from the flotilla of aid ships attacked last month by the Israeli army.”
The Red Cross apparently thinks that being even-handed means blaming the victims as well as the aggressors. Hamas should never acquiesce to Israeli control of Gazan commerce but should hold out for an end to the occupation and blockade.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/hamas-flotilla-aid-israel
" [...] According to officials in Gaza, Hamas has said it will not permit the supplies to enter the besieged territory until all detained activists are released and Israel agrees to deliver all aid consignments, including construction materials.[...]"
Release of all the activists is an important consideration, but so is the delivery of construction materials, which is a humanitarian necessity. More important is lifting the blockade, which is illegal (as collective punishment), and contrary to UN resolution 1860, and the stopping of the distortions, dysinformation, and propaganda which the zionists are constantly putting out. This siege warfare and war against civilians, including children, and Israel's violation of the cease fire which was holding until Israel attacked, and then invade Gaza.
The narrative may be changed and distorted, but the true facts remain as solid as ever.
"Hamas has refused to accept 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid seized from the flotilla of aid ships attacked last month by the Israeli army"
this statement is disingenuous. the majority of the 10k tonnes is cement, which is banned from import. so Hamas is really only refusing to accept a small poriton of the seized goods.
Perhaps it's a case of nobody's right if everybody's wrong. A "blockade" can be an effective stategy of war which deprives the enemy of military supplies as well as causing discomfort to the civilian non-combatants in order to cause a weakening of support for those fighting. Hamas has stated that IT is at war with Israel and will remain so until Israel is destroyed. I don't support each and every action of Israel and have been critical of them on several occasions, but the blockade is better than a 'scorched earth' policy leaving no life at all in the Gaza. Yes, I know that Hamas is a legitimate elected government, and as such the people have voice their desires to accept all that comes with that election. Perhaps during another election cycle, the people will change governments and progress can be made, perhaps not. Israel will not, nor should they, accept attacks upon it's civilian population. The international community should make sure that Israel does not provoke the Palistinians by continuing to allow 'pop-up' communities to steal more and more of the land. And finally, the U.S. should stop thinking with it's check book and look at the humanitarian side of the equasion when defending it's allies. just an opinion.
Wow. Trolls are out in force.
Zionism is cancer.
Israel maintains that it is at war with Hamas and is therefore entitled to blockade Gaza.
Shalit was captured as a soldier enforcing that blockade - he was not kidnapped.
Meanwhile, Israel has in fact kidnapped thousands and thousands of Palestinians, including many Palestinian legislators.
Vacuous posts out of CommonDreams!!!
Folks -
Jewish activists in Europe have announced that they will sail a ship to Gaza in July.
You can help by urging U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein to call for their safe passage to Gaza.
http://bit.ly/gazapeace
Senator Feinstein has already called for an “impartial inquiry” and spoken critically of “Israel’s forced isolation of Gaza.”
Click here to urge Senator Feinstein to publicly call on Israel to guarantee the safety of the Jewish ship to Gaza:
http://bit.ly/gazapeace
Thanks -
Sanjeev Bery
Freedom Forward
Feinstein, huh.
Nice to see oppressors making a show of moderation. If you get fooled by this, I've got a Presidential Candidate to sell you.
My heart bleeds for the babies who go without nourishment and for their mothers' hearts that ache. I pray daily for all Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank.
FROM HA'ARETZ
=================
GERMAN JEWS 'INUNDATED' WITH REQUESTS TO JOIN NEW GAZA AID FLOTILLA
Jewish Voices for a Just Peace seeks second vessel, as dozens more activists ask to take part in aid mission.
Tags: Jewish world Israel news
An association of German Jews planning to send a boat with humanitarian aid to break the Gaza blockade is searching for a second vessel, given the high number of requests to travel with the group.
The group, Jewish Voices for a Just Peace, had originally planned to send one small vessel from an unnamed Mediterranean port in mid- July, with the intention of getting aid past the Israeli-imposed blockade of Gaza.
However, spokeswoman Edith Lutz told dpa that "our preparations have been held back somewhat because we have been inundated with requests to travel."
Lutz said that the first vessel, which could hold up to 14 passengers, was now full and that a further 40 German Jews were seeking to travel aboard a second vessel.
Too little. Too late.
Israel must be de-countrified now.
JUST AS THE USA INSTIGATED AND LED THE "BLOCKADE" OF "uncooperative" IRaq under Hussein.....with collective punishment of the Iraqis in the 1990's ...causing the death , starvation and suffering of hundreds of thousands of iraqis..."it was worth it" (madeleine albright..."catholic of jewish heritage")
SO does its Barking Dog Israel "blockade" "uncooperative" Palestinians....with collective punishment causing the deaths, starvation and suffering of thousands of Palestinians.
birds of the same feather do flock together in this case.
the symbolic "Dove" of Israel and the "eagle" of the USA
have claws and beaks dripping with blood for their wonderful "we are exceptional" global Crime Cartel.
isn't it just nifty?.....
What has happened to the moral compass of the Zionists who run Israel? How can they continue their cruelty to the civilian population in Gaza, after having employed militaristic techniques as the Nazi's did in Guernica? Are they preparing for Iran, in case the U.S. fails to do their bidding to put that country down?
No matter what the threats are against its existence, Israel does exist and it is foolish to think that it will disappear, though the ideal democracy we all hoped would prosper there has failed. Its occupation of the Palestinian territories and the treatment meted out to non-Jewish occupants is a disgrace. The Zionists who feel that they are threatened by everyone are as misled and misinformed as the citizens of the U.S.who also believe this scam.