World turns a blind eye as Gaza suffers an ongoing tragedy
The Birmingham Post
26th November 2008
Last week, I went to Gaza. I was part of a delegation of European parliamentarians. We expected Egypt would let us through their crossing, but they refused so we had to take a boat from Cyprus.
It took 15 hours each way. But the Israeli navy did not bother us too much and we were not sea sick, unlike the two previous trips. The boat Dignity has been purchased by activists determined to break the siege of Gaza.
We took in a ton of medical supplies – mostly paracetamol and antibiotics, which is what Gazan doctors requested. And we brought out four people needing medical treatment and five students. All had visas, families and scholarships, but the Israelis would not let them out.
Gaza is 25 miles long by seven miles wide. It runs along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. In that space live 1.5 million Palestinians. Seventy per cent are refugees displaced in previous wars when, as Israeli historians have shown, they were ethnically cleansed. Gaza is the most densely populated place on earth.
In August 2005, the Israelis withdrew. They occupied this land, with the west bank of the Jordan River in 1967. In international law it belongs to the Palestinians and is occupied territory. But the Israelis keep taking more and more of the Palestinian land for settlements, for their wall, for roads. This is illegal in international law, but the UK, EU, US and all the rest do nothing.
Many people got very excited about the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and thought it might be the beginning of a Palestinian state. People talked of developing a new Dubai on the eastern tip of the Mediterranean. Jim Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank, organised a fund to buy Israeli greenhouses. Vegetables and fruits were grown for the new Gaza to export. But Israel blocked them at the border and they rotted.
In 2006, elections were held for the Palestinian authority. They were observed by visitors from all over the world and were free and fair. To most people’s surprise, Hamas, an Islamist party won a majority. Many say this is because the other main party – Fatah – is corrupt and has made no political progress.
Wisely, the Palestinians formed a government of national unity. But Israel and the US said they would not deal with Hamas. The UK and EU tamely followed suit. The west stoked up and armed Fatah groups to fight Hamas in Gaza and this led to Hamas taking over the governing of the Gaza strip.
Western policy is to back Israel in punishing the people of Gaza for daring to vote for Hamas. It is in effect a big open prison. Israel closes its border. Egypt keeps its small border closed most of the time. The airport has been bombed and destroyed. The fishermen are attacked and have boats taken by the Israeli navy if they go beyond five miles. Nothing gets in or out without Israeli permission.
But life goes on. Children go to school. Hospitals work. People get married and arrange funerals. But life is grim. Half the children are anaemic. It is a terrible tragedy that makes me both very sad and very angry.
