What exactly is the blockade of Gaza?

[naomiglover]

from foreignpolicy.com

In recent days, coverage of the attack on the aid flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip has focused on the lack of availability of certain humanitarian goods. This fact sheet is a reference tool based on data collected by international aid agencies and human rights groups on the impact of the siege on the population of Gaza

Electricity: The siege has led to a significant lack of power in the Gaza Strip. In 2006, Israel carried out an attack on Gaza's only power plant and never permitted the rebuilding to its pre-attack capacity (down to producing 80 megawatts maximum from 140 megawatts). According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the daily electricity deficit has increased since January of 2010 with the plant only able to operate one turbine producing only 30 megawatts compared to its previous average of 60-65 megawatts in 2009. The majority of houses have power cuts at least eight hours per day. Some have no electricity for long as 12 hours a day. The lack of electricity has led to reliance on generators, many of which have exploded from overwork, killing and maiming civilians. Oxfam reported that "[in 2009], a total of 75 Palestinians died from carbon monoxide gas poisoning or fires from generators, and 15 died and 27 people were injured in the first two months of this year."

[naomiglover]

Water: Israel has not permitted supplies into the Gaza Strip to rebuild the sewage system. Amnesty International reports that 90-95 percent of the drinking water in Gaza is contaminated and unfit for consumption. The United Nations even found that bottled water in Gaza contained contaminants, likely due to the plastic bottles recycled in dysfunctional factories. The lack of sufficient power for desalination and sewage facilities results in significant amounts of sewage seeping into Gaza's costal aquifer--the main source of water for the people of Gaza.

[naomiglover]

Industry: Prior to the siege, the industrial sector employed 20 percent of Gaza's labor force. One year after the siege began, the Palestinian Federation of Industries reported that "61% of the factories have completely closed down. 1% was forced to change their scope of work in order to meet their living expenses, 38% were partially closed (sometimes means they operate with less than 15% capacity)". A World Health Organization report from this year states: "In the Gaza Strip, private enterprise is practically at a standstill as a consequence of the blockade. Almost all (98%) industrial operations have been shut down. The construction sector, which before September 2000 provided 15% of all jobs, has effectively halted. Only 258 industrial establishments in Gaza were operational in 2009 compared with over 2400 in 2006. As a result, unemployment rates have soared to 42% (up from 32% before the blockade)."

[naomiglover]

Health: Gaza's health sector, dramatically overworked, was also significantly damaged by Operation Cast Lead. According to UN OCHA, infrastructure for 15 of 27 of Gaza's hospitals, 43 of 110 of its primary care facilities, and 29 of its 148 ambulances were damaged or destroyed during the war. Without rebuilding materials like cement and glass due to Israeli restrictions, the vast majority of the destroyed health infrastructure has not been rebuilt. Many medical procedures for advanced illnesses are not available in Gaza. 1103 individuals applied for permits to exit the Israeli-controlled Erez crossing for medical treatment in 2009. 21 percent of these permits were denied or delayed resulting in missed hospital appointments, and several have died waiting to leave Gaza for treatment.

[naomiglover]

Food: A 2010 World Health Organization report stated that "chronic malnutrition in the Gaza Strip has risen over the past few years and has now reached 10.2%. Micronutrient deficiencies among children and women have reached levels that are of concern." According to UN OCHA: "Over 60 percent of households are now food insecure, threatening the health and wellbeing of children, women and men. In this context, agriculture offers some practical solutions to a humanitarian problem. However, Israel's import and access restrictions continue to suffocate the agriculture sector and directly contribute to rising food insecurity. Of particular concern, farmers and fishers' lives are regularly put at risk, due to Israel's enforcement of its access restrictions. The fact that this coastal population now imports fish from Israel and through tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border speaks to the absurdity of the situation." 72 percent of Gaza's fish profit comes from beyond the three nautical mile mark, but further restrictions by Israel's naval blockade prevents Gazans from fishing beyond that mark. Between 2008 and 2009 the fishing catch was down 47 percent.

[Shady]

and 29 of its 148 ambulances were damaged or destroyed during the war

Perhaps they shouldn't be using ambulances to transport Hamas fighters, weapons, and missiles. So many wouldn't be damaged.

[naomiglover]

Perhaps they shouldn't be using ambulances to transport Hamas fighters, weapons, and missiles. So many wouldn't be damaged.

Check the Goldstone report and show me where it is confirmed that the ambulances were being used other than to carry the injured during the Gaza attack. This is not the first time you are repeating a myth.

What about the rest of the information, specifically the food shortage that the blockade has created? Do you have anything to say about that or are you here only to show your unconditional support for your team while turning a blind eye to facts?

[bush_cheney2004]

Check the Goldstone report and show me where it is confirmed that the ambulances were being used other than to carry the injured during the Gaza attack. This is not the first time you are repeating a myth.

It's not a myth...media reported seeing the same "injured" and "stiffs" at different locations. Maybe they were making a Palestinain zombie movie?

[naomiglover]

It's not a myth...media reported seeing the same "injured" and "stiffs" at different locations. Maybe they were making a Palestinain zombie movie?

Show me this media report.

What do you have against Richard Goldstone and his investigation and report? Why is it not good enough for you? Is it because it criticizes Israel? Does criticism of Israel automatically disqualify any report or comment?

[bush_cheney2004]

Show me this media report.

Why...you wouldn't believe anyway.

What do you have against Richard Goldstone and his investigation and report? Why is it not good enough for you? Is it because it criticizes Israel? Does criticism of Israel automatically disqualify any report or comment?

Nothing...Goldstone and his report are irrelevant. What does he want....a medal?

[Argus]

Check the Goldstone report and show me where it is confirmed that the ambulances were being used other than to carry the injured during the Gaza attack. This is not the first time you are repeating a myth.

REPORT: Paragraph 487 (485) asserts:

On the basis of the investigations it has conducted, the Mission did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital facilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups to shield military activities and that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes.

FACT: Although the Report acknowledges that Talal Safadi, a Palestinian who lives near the hospital, told Newsweek that "resistance fighters were firing from positions all around the [al Quds] hospital," the commission dismisses this testimony, saying that it does not necessarily show that fighters were inside the hospital. What the report does not mention — and appears to actively conceal — is that another news report does indicate Hamas fighters misused the hospital and ambulances. Palestinian witness Magah al Rachmah asserted that

The men of Hamas took refuge mainly in the building that houses the administrative offices of al Quds. They used the ambulances and forced ambulance drivers and nurses to take off their uniforms with the paramedic symbols, so they could blend in better and elude Israeli snipers. (Corriere della Sera, "Così i ragazzini di Hamas ci hanno utilizzato come bersagli," 1/21/09, qtd. in The Operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects)

Remarkably, the Mission also admits that it did not even bother looking into whether Hamas leaders and fighters used Gaza's al Shifa hospital as a base, despite the determination by Israeli intelligence that this had happened. Nor did the Mission draw any relevant conclusions from testimony it received about "seemingly extrajudicial or summary executions" of escaped Palestinian political prisoners "seeking medical assistance in hospitals," or testimony by more than one Palestinian that "members of the security services" in Shifa Hospital prevented various patients from receiving treatment.

Camera

[naomiglover]

REPORT: Paragraph 487 (485) asserts:

On the basis of the investigations it has conducted, the Mission did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital facilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups to shield military activities and that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes.

FACT: Although the Report acknowledges that Talal Safadi, a Palestinian who lives near the hospital, told Newsweek that "resistance fighters were firing from positions all around the [al Quds] hospital," the commission dismisses this testimony, saying that it does not necessarily show that fighters were inside the hospital. What the report does not mention — and appears to actively conceal — is that another news report does indicate Hamas fighters misused the hospital and ambulances. Palestinian witness Magah al Rachmah asserted that

The men of Hamas took refuge mainly in the building that houses the administrative offices of al Quds. They used the ambulances and forced ambulance drivers and nurses to take off their uniforms with the paramedic symbols, so they could blend in better and elude Israeli snipers. (Corriere della Sera, "Così i ragazzini di Hamas ci hanno utilizzato come bersagli," 1/21/09, qtd. in The Operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects)

Remarkably, the Mission also admits that it did not even bother looking into whether Hamas leaders and fighters used Gaza's al Shifa hospital as a base, despite the determination by Israeli intelligence that this had happened. Nor did the Mission draw any relevant conclusions from testimony it received about "seemingly extrajudicial or summary executions" of escaped Palestinian political prisoners "seeking medical assistance in hospitals," or testimony by more than one Palestinian that "members of the security services" in Shifa Hospital prevented various patients from receiving treatment.

Camera

CAMERA is not a trustworthy organization and is part of the propaganda machine.

Here is what the Goldstone report has said in regards to the allegations of Palestinian groups using hospital facilities:

The Mission did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital facilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups to shield military activities and that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes. On the basis of its own investigations and the statements by UN officials, the Mission excludes that Palestinian armed groups engaged in combat activities from UN facilities that were used as shelters during the military operations. The Mission cannot, however, discount the possibility that Palestinian armed groups were active in the vicinity of such UN facilities and hospitals. While the conduct of hostilities in built-up areas does not, of itself, constitute a violation of international law, Palestinian armed groups, where they launched attacks close to civilian or protected buildings, unnecessarily exposed the civilian population of Gaza to danger.

Goldstone Report - Page 13/575

Here is the mission's methodology in regards to investigation and evidence - Full information starts on page 6 of the Goldstone Report:

17. The Mission based its work on an independent and impartial analysis of compliance by the

parties with their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law in the

context of the recent conflict in Gaza, and on international investigative standards developed by

the United Nations.

18. The Mission adopted an inclusive approach in gathering information and seeking views.

Information-gathering methods included: (a) the review of reports from different sources; (

interviews with victims, witnesses and other persons having relevant information); © site visits to specific locations in Gaza where incidents had occurred; (d) the analysis of video and

photographic images, including satellite imagery; (e) the review of medical reports about injuries

to victims; (f) the forensic analysis of weapons and ammunition remnants collected at incident

sites; (g) meetings with a variety of interlocutors; (h) invitations to provide information relating

to the Mission’s investigation requirements; (i) the wide circulation of a public call for written

submissions; (j) public hearings in Gaza and in Geneva;

19. The Mission conducted 188 individual interviews. It reviewed more than 300 reports,

submissions and other documentation either researched of its own motion, received in reply to its

call for submissions and notes verbales or provided during meetings or otherwise, amounting to

more than 10,000 pages, over 30 videos and 1,200 photographs.

---

One comment by one or two people is not evidence that something did happen. Close to 200 people were interviewed.

So what do you say about the other allegations in the report? Have you had a chance to look at it? It's quite the read.

[bush_cheney2004]

.....One comment by one or two people is not evidence that something did happen. Close to 200 people were interviewed.

So what do you say about the other allegations in the report? Have you had a chance to look at it? It's quite the read.

Yea...that's just swell for anyone like you who wants to swim in the Goldstone narrative again and again. Because of the duplicity and lack of objectivity, it is irrelevant and certainly not actionable. Have you ever seen a real investigative report....i.e. "findings of fact", "opinion", "chronology", etc., etc.

[Argus]

CAMERA is not a trustworthy organization and is part of the propaganda machine.

Here is what the Goldstone report has said in regards to the allegations of Palestinian groups using hospital facilities:

The Mission did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital facilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups to shield military activities and that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes.

You'll also notice, as a half dozen guys with machineguns pile into the ambulance, another guy running past in civilian clothes, carrying another AK-47 - although Goldstone found "no evidence" that there were any Palestinians fighting in civilian clothes.

[naomiglover]

Yea...that's just swell for anyone like you who wants to swim in the Goldstone narrative again and again. Because of the duplicity and lack of objectivity, it is irrelevant and certainly not actionable. Have you ever seen a real investigative report....i.e. "findings of fact", "opinion", "chronology", etc., etc.

Richard Goldstone is the most qualified person for this job. How can you argue with someone who has the following credential:

- Supreme court judge in South Africa and one of the biggest influences during the transitional period after Apartheid South Africa

- Chief prosecutor of the United Nations (UN) International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda

- A member of the International Panel of the Commission of Enquiry into the Activities of Nazism in Argentina (CEANA)

- He changed the wording of the UN mandate to hold 'everyone' accountable in the Gaza conflict. His report investigated both alleged Israeli and Hamas war crimes

Not to mention that Richard Goldstone is a Jew. A Zionist Jew on his own account.

You lose all credibility and respect when you try to dismiss Richard Goldstone's experience and credibility in handling the investigation.

[naomiglover]

You'll also notice, as a half dozen guys with machineguns pile into the ambulance, another guy running past in civilian clothes, carrying another AK-47 - although Goldstone found "no evidence" that there were any Palestinians fighting in civilian clothes.

That video is not evidence that Hamas used ambulances during the Gaza war.

[Shady]

That video is not evidence that Hamas used ambulances during the Gaza war.

See, others were exactly right. You won't believe it anyways. No matter what.

[bloodyminded]

Why...you wouldn't believe anyway.

You got nothin.' You heard it from some drooler, and it fit with your pre-conceived notions, and so you believe it.

Facts are unimportant.

Why lie and pretend you have citation that you're unwilling to submit?

Nothing...Goldstone and his report are irrelevant.

Yes, you much prefer your unsubstantiated Beliefs. They're awesome.

[bloodyminded]

See, others were exactly right. You won't believe it anyways. No matter what.

Sure, Shady, and you and Argus and others are very open-minded about the other point of view here...oh wait! you can't even hear it, because you guys keep throwing cute little tantrums.

[naomiglover]

See, others were exactly right. You won't believe it anyways. No matter what.

That video is not from the Gaza war. It's a video from years ago being re-used as propaganda to justify Israel's attack on ambulances and hospitals. There is no concrete evidence that this was done.

[August1991]

Naomi,

You make no mention of Egypt in your posts above except one reference to Egytian-Gazan tunnels (if I'm not mistaken). Well, Egypt also shares a border with Gaza.

Does Egypt also impose a blockade on Gaza? If so, why? If not, why do the Israeli border controls matter?

Edited June 8, 2010 by August1991

[Bonam]

In recent days, coverage of the attack on the aid flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip has focused on the lack of availability of certain humanitarian goods. This fact sheet is a reference tool based on data collected by international aid agencies and human rights groups on the impact of the siege on the population of Gaza.

...

Sounds like the blockade is having the desired effect.

[naomiglover]

Naomi,

You make no mention of Egypt in your posts above except one reference to Egytian-Gazan tunnels (if I'm not mistaken). Well, Egypt also shares a border with Gaza.

Does Egypt also impose a blockade on Gaza? If so, why? If not, why do the Israeli border controls matter?

I made a thread about it.

Egypt also shares the blame.

[Oleg Bach]

Gaza supplied cheap labour for the fat ass latka eating Jews..they cleaned their toilets - took care of Jewish children - dug the ditches..and so forth - then with the infux of those phoney Russian Jews..who were economic refugees and not religious ones. An internal displacement of labour took place and the Palistinian workers were no longer needed - much like the Mexican illegals displaced the low end workers in the south western United States.

The Israelis found that they had other suckers to do their dirty work - Those in Gaza were slowly moved aside - as with Mexico...the slaves were dumped because it was cheaper for the elite - it is about profit - and the Jews..really do not want to feed the Palistinans...it's cheaper to weaken them and be rid of them - unlike the Mexicans they can not migrate to greener pastures..IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IDEALS OR RELIGION OR POLITICS - IT IS STRICTLY ECONOMIC..ALL PROBLEMS ARE ABOUT HUMAN SURVIVAL WHICH TRANSLATES INTO MONEY - Sterotypically speaking the jews are cheap.. and because of their traditions they look upon non jews as sub-humans - so good by Palistine.

[Oleg Bach]

Israel should say to Palistine - Hey guys if you need something ask us - we will help--- that would end the intrusions of good doers. They problem is that the Israelis really do not wish any good on those they consider useless to them.