Facts Surrounding Israel's Collective Punishment of Gaza
Media, Government Silence Deafening | 26.11.2007 16:39 | Anti-racism | World
When Israel assured the world last week that there would be "no humanitarian problems" regarding these impending fuel cuts, its government spokespeople were simply lying through their collective teeth.
Those assurances were simply crafted for the consumption of the international community, and have absolutely no relationship to the even further suffering Gazans will begin to experience starting next weekend.
Those assurances were simply crafted for the consumption of the international community, and have absolutely no relationship to the even further suffering Gazans will begin to experience starting next weekend.
Facts regarding Israel's Fuel and Electricity Cuts to the Gaza Strip
Gisha
November 23, 2007
Regarding the fuel cuts:
On Sunday, October 28, Israel's military ordered the private fuel company, Dor Alon, to provide 15% - 20% less fuel than the quantity ordered for Gaza residents.Gaza residents purchase fuel from Dor Alon via an agreement with the Palestinian Authority, and the fuel is transferred through Nahal Oz, on the Gaza-Israel border. Israel does not permit fuel to enter Gaza via the sea, the airspace, or the border with Egypt.
Essential services, including purifying and pumping drinking water, treating sewage, operating garbage collection trucks and ambulances, and operating the generators that power hospitals and other public buildings depend on fuel and the electricity generated by fuel.
According to the deputy director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), in the month of October 2007, the CMWU had a deficit of 40,000 liters of fuel, needed to power generators that provide drinking water to homes and pump sewage away from residential areas. Without sufficient fuel to power the generators, the CMWU has been forced to close wells that provide drinking water to tens of thousands of people. See the affidavit of the deputy director of Gaza's Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, submitted to Israel's Supreme Court on Nov. 6, 2007.
Updated information indicates that since fuel supplies have been cut, every day, on a rotating basis, 50,000 residents are not receiving clean water to their homes because there is not enough fuel to operate the generators that help power Gaza's water wells.
In total, because of difficulties getting spare parts through the crossings controlled by Israel, the fuel deficits, and other systemic problems, 250,000 people in Gaza are not receiving an adequate amount of drinking water.
The fuel cuts also prevent the European Union from providing industrial diesel to power Gaza's electrical power plant. For details, see Gisha's letter to European Union officials.
Regarding the electricity cuts:
Gaza residents purchase approximately 63% of their electricity from Israel, primarily through tax moneys collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. An additional 28% is produced locally, and 9% comes from Egypt.
Israel's claim that it can cut electricity without harming hospitals and other vital services is inconsistent with the facts on the ground.
In Gaza, main lines of electricity serve hospitals, water wells, pumping stations, treatment plants, schools, pharmacies, and local clinics, as well as ordinary homes and buildings, without differentiation. As a result, when power is cut to the main lines, ensuing electricity outages also impact essential public services.
Since Israel bombed Gaza's power plant in June 2006, Gaza has suffered a deficit of electricity (currently about 18%), causing the distribution company to institute rolling blackouts. Those blackouts already affect hospitals and other vital services. Further decreases in electricity supply will further prevent hospitals from conducting operations, water and sewage pumps from operating, waste treatment plants from conducting basic sanitation, and ordinary residents from preserving perishable foodstuffs and operating home medical devices.
Israel cannot control or monitor the extent of the damage. In a November 19, 2007 submission to Israel's Supreme Court, the Israeli military based its claim that the cuts do not harm vital services on speculative arithmetic, using data from 2005, showing that in theory, there is enough fuel in Gaza to power essential humanitarian services. In doing so, the military is ignoring distribution problems and mounting evidence that the additional pressure on Gaza's fragile public services is already harming the health and well-being of Gaza residents.
Cuts in power and electricity, by definition, harm Gaza residents. In this case, they are presented by Israel as a response to the firing of Qassam rockets by militants inside Gaza.
Firing Qassam rockets on civilian targets in Israel is illegal, and it must stop. But it does not justify deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza in response.
International law forbids any kind of collective punishment, regardless of its severity. This is a moral and legal red line.
Israel controls the borders of Gaza – land, air, and sea – and does not permit supplies to enter Gaza through any border but its own border with Gaza. Restricting the supply of humanitarian relief violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Additional Protocol to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which require all parties to facilitate the provision of humanitarian relief and especially require an occupying power to take active, positive steps to facilitate the proper functioning of Gaza's civilian institutions. For a more detailed discussion of the legal prohibition on punitive measures against Gaza residents, see this correspondence between Gisha's executive director Sari Bashi and former New York mayor Ed Koch. See also Disengaged Occupiers: The Legal Status of Gaza.
Particularly disturbing is Israel's deliberate prevention of humanitarian assistance, funded by the international community and designated for Gaza's 1.5 million residents who have been living under a near total siege since June 2007. See Gisha's reports, Commercial Closure: Deleting Gaza's Economy from the Map and Israel Undermines Higher Education – and its own best interest – in Gaza.
The decision to cut fuel and electricity and to restrict the movement of goods in and out of Gaza stems from Israel's September 19, 2007 Cabinet decision authorizing punitive measures against Gaza residents. It is a dangerous intervention into Gaza's already-fragile humanitarian systems.
Gisha calls upon Israel immediately to cancel the fuel cuts, to refrain from implementing electricity cuts, and to open Gaza's borders for the regular and sufficient supply of goods, including spare parts and other supplies necessary to ensure the health and well-being of Gaza residents.
(Meanwhile, Israel continues to extract most of its water from Palestinian territory.)
ALERT: Annapolis a Charade: Israel Plots Massive Aggression
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/386082.html
Gisha
November 23, 2007
Regarding the fuel cuts:
On Sunday, October 28, Israel's military ordered the private fuel company, Dor Alon, to provide 15% - 20% less fuel than the quantity ordered for Gaza residents.Gaza residents purchase fuel from Dor Alon via an agreement with the Palestinian Authority, and the fuel is transferred through Nahal Oz, on the Gaza-Israel border. Israel does not permit fuel to enter Gaza via the sea, the airspace, or the border with Egypt.
Essential services, including purifying and pumping drinking water, treating sewage, operating garbage collection trucks and ambulances, and operating the generators that power hospitals and other public buildings depend on fuel and the electricity generated by fuel.
According to the deputy director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), in the month of October 2007, the CMWU had a deficit of 40,000 liters of fuel, needed to power generators that provide drinking water to homes and pump sewage away from residential areas. Without sufficient fuel to power the generators, the CMWU has been forced to close wells that provide drinking water to tens of thousands of people. See the affidavit of the deputy director of Gaza's Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, submitted to Israel's Supreme Court on Nov. 6, 2007.
Updated information indicates that since fuel supplies have been cut, every day, on a rotating basis, 50,000 residents are not receiving clean water to their homes because there is not enough fuel to operate the generators that help power Gaza's water wells.
In total, because of difficulties getting spare parts through the crossings controlled by Israel, the fuel deficits, and other systemic problems, 250,000 people in Gaza are not receiving an adequate amount of drinking water.
The fuel cuts also prevent the European Union from providing industrial diesel to power Gaza's electrical power plant. For details, see Gisha's letter to European Union officials.
Regarding the electricity cuts:
Gaza residents purchase approximately 63% of their electricity from Israel, primarily through tax moneys collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. An additional 28% is produced locally, and 9% comes from Egypt.
Israel's claim that it can cut electricity without harming hospitals and other vital services is inconsistent with the facts on the ground.
In Gaza, main lines of electricity serve hospitals, water wells, pumping stations, treatment plants, schools, pharmacies, and local clinics, as well as ordinary homes and buildings, without differentiation. As a result, when power is cut to the main lines, ensuing electricity outages also impact essential public services.
Since Israel bombed Gaza's power plant in June 2006, Gaza has suffered a deficit of electricity (currently about 18%), causing the distribution company to institute rolling blackouts. Those blackouts already affect hospitals and other vital services. Further decreases in electricity supply will further prevent hospitals from conducting operations, water and sewage pumps from operating, waste treatment plants from conducting basic sanitation, and ordinary residents from preserving perishable foodstuffs and operating home medical devices.
Israel cannot control or monitor the extent of the damage. In a November 19, 2007 submission to Israel's Supreme Court, the Israeli military based its claim that the cuts do not harm vital services on speculative arithmetic, using data from 2005, showing that in theory, there is enough fuel in Gaza to power essential humanitarian services. In doing so, the military is ignoring distribution problems and mounting evidence that the additional pressure on Gaza's fragile public services is already harming the health and well-being of Gaza residents.
Cuts in power and electricity, by definition, harm Gaza residents. In this case, they are presented by Israel as a response to the firing of Qassam rockets by militants inside Gaza.
Firing Qassam rockets on civilian targets in Israel is illegal, and it must stop. But it does not justify deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza in response.
International law forbids any kind of collective punishment, regardless of its severity. This is a moral and legal red line.
Israel controls the borders of Gaza – land, air, and sea – and does not permit supplies to enter Gaza through any border but its own border with Gaza. Restricting the supply of humanitarian relief violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Additional Protocol to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which require all parties to facilitate the provision of humanitarian relief and especially require an occupying power to take active, positive steps to facilitate the proper functioning of Gaza's civilian institutions. For a more detailed discussion of the legal prohibition on punitive measures against Gaza residents, see this correspondence between Gisha's executive director Sari Bashi and former New York mayor Ed Koch. See also Disengaged Occupiers: The Legal Status of Gaza.
Particularly disturbing is Israel's deliberate prevention of humanitarian assistance, funded by the international community and designated for Gaza's 1.5 million residents who have been living under a near total siege since June 2007. See Gisha's reports, Commercial Closure: Deleting Gaza's Economy from the Map and Israel Undermines Higher Education – and its own best interest – in Gaza.
The decision to cut fuel and electricity and to restrict the movement of goods in and out of Gaza stems from Israel's September 19, 2007 Cabinet decision authorizing punitive measures against Gaza residents. It is a dangerous intervention into Gaza's already-fragile humanitarian systems.
Gisha calls upon Israel immediately to cancel the fuel cuts, to refrain from implementing electricity cuts, and to open Gaza's borders for the regular and sufficient supply of goods, including spare parts and other supplies necessary to ensure the health and well-being of Gaza residents.
(Meanwhile, Israel continues to extract most of its water from Palestinian territory.)
ALERT: Annapolis a Charade: Israel Plots Massive Aggression
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/386082.html
Media, Government Silence Deafening
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Israeli Siege of Gaza Resulting in Humanitarian Crisis
26.11.2007 18:14
Israeli Siege of Gaza Resulting in Huge Humanitarian Crisis
Electricity Cuts Spell Impending Humanitarian Disaster, Gazans Cannot Even Properly Bury Their Dead
Mohammed Omer, BBSNews
Sunday, November 25 2007
By Israel plans to greatly reduce the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip beginning December 2, according to Jamal Al Dardasawi, spokesman of The Palestinian Electricity Company. Although Israel has given advance notice of its plans, this pre-punishment time will do nothing to alleviate the catastrophic consequences which will ensue, given that borders and firmly shut and Gazans will have no way to prepare and compensate for this vital loss.
The announcement of Israel's latest collective punishment of Gazans comes despite denunciations and vocal outcry from Palestinian and international human rights groups recognizing as collective punishment the policy of cutting back utilities to Gaza.
The Gaza Strip is facing increasing hardships as a result of Israel's closure of Gazan borders and the consequent near-complete shutting down of Gaza's economy since last June. Several weeks ago Israel began cutting back on fuel supplies, but planned electricity reductions were delayed by an order from Israel's attorney general, who expressed concerns about humanitarian harm.
Irrational Rationalizations
Initially, Israeli officials rationalized the utilities cutbacks as a way of persuading the Palestinian population to pressure Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets at southern Israel. Following an uproar over the prospect of further harming the already poverty stricken Gaza population, Israel said the cutbacks were part of its disengagement from Gaza, when Israel withdrew its troops and dismantled all Jewish settlements in the summer of 2005. Yet, this explanation holds little veracity, as Israel continues to militarily occupy the Gaza Strip with its near-daily invasions and killings all over the Strip.
Israeli human rights group, Gisha, projected that electricity cuts would "cause certain and serious harm to the health and well-being of Gaza residents." Sari Bashi, Executive Director of Gisha, said there was "no physical way to reduce electricity supplies to Gaza without forcing power outages for hospitals, clinics, water wells, sewage treatment plants and schools."
Al Dardasawi reported that "Gaza depends by 65% on Israel's electricity. The rest comes from fuel, which also comes through Israel." He stated that this will cause enormous harm to Palestinians, and will greatly affect their daily life, in terms of cooking, refrigeration, not to mention the running of hospitals.
A mother of 6 children, Asma Talal said she was concerned about this shortage of electricity: "What are we going to do, live with no refrigerators to keep our food? And how is a house going to function with no electricity?" she asked. "This makes people more violent and doesn't bring peace, not to Palestinians and not to Israelis," she added.
Even the Dead
Israel's siege is not only creating a living Hell for the 1.4 million living in the Gaza Strip: the dead are also affected. In addition to the very vital food and medical supplies which Israel is preventing from entering Gaza, cement and building materials are also being denied entry. As a result, those who die, an increasing number of who are killed by invading Israeli forces or border closures, will have no burial place. Without the cement for graves, it isn't possible to adequately construct gravesites.
More than ever, this makes Gazans wonder, how and when is this siege going to end, if we don't even have cement to build graves to bury our dead, casualties of this international siege on us? Is there any humanity left, when the world only remains glaringly silent on starving and killing Gaza in every way possible? Our basic needs have been starved. Our education is being rendered impossible, here and abroad. Our dead have no peace. And why? Only because the people have voted for Hamas, a political party whose participation in the 2006 elections was not largely contested until after their successful and transparent election?
Yesterday, Palestinian farmers went to the streets, throwing out flowers and strawberries, goods which Israel is not permitting to move beyond heavily locked-down borders. With these borders still closed after so many months, farmers instead gave flowers to feed the cows, camels and sheep.
Thus, the siege has also hugely affected the Palestinian farmers who depend on and wait for the flower and strawberries season to export their goods to European markets. The loss is substantial, estimated at millions of dollars, as Gaza normally exports 60 million flowers each year. This time, instead of generating a much-needed income for the economically and basic foodstuff-starved Gazans, flowers, trampled and useless, were thrown to animals for nourishment. In the end, the animals came out better than we Gazans.
Today, Israeli troops killed two Palestinian farmers near the fence on the Gaza Strip's northern border with Israel, Palestinian hospital officials said today. Both of them are brothers and in their early 40s. The farmers were working in their land, and other fisherman was injured and in critical conditions at Gaza's based hospital.
Mohammed Omer is a young journalist/photographer in the Gaza Strip. He and his family have a very rough time in living day to day and they have lost much. In October of 2003, one of Mohammed's younger bothers, Issam, was injured and had to have a leg amputated. Later in the same month another younger brother, Hussam Al-Mouhagir, was killed in his home; shot to death by the Israeli Army that occupies and regularly devastates Palestine. These stories are written by Mohammed who knows no peace, only the continued devastation forced upon civilians who have little voice in the world. Mohammed has covered the Occupied Territories for several years. In 2006 Mohammed won the New American Media National Ethnic Media Award for best Youth Voice. On May 18th, 2007, Mohammed was shot at by unknown militants in Gaza yet he continues to report. Visit Mohammed's Web site, or write to him to get a more complete picture of what is really happening that main-stream news sources rarely brings to its audience. We are proud to feature articles from Mohammed Omer here at BBSNews, his reporting is some of the only original, on the ground reporting available from the Israeli Occupied Territories.
bbsnews.net/article.php/20071125115718577
Mohammed Omer, BBSNews