7-03-06, 9:29 am
The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights accused Israel of restricting 'the flow of basic goods, fuel, food, and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip.' The destruction of Gaza's main electrical facility, which supplies somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of Gaza's power, and the restriction of the movement of fuel into the besieged region will cause basic services, such as sewage disposal and drinking water, to be disrupted. About 1.5 million people in Gaza are threatened by a dwindling food supply and a major health crisis, if the situation is not changed, warns the PCHR.
About 200,000 families lack electrical power due to the Israeli attack on the power plant last Tuesday. Israeli military forces have blocked all of the roads into Gaza since June 25th, including on the Egyptian side of Gaza, and have stopped the movement of basic necessities into that region. Humanitarian aid trucks carrying food and medical supplies have also either been stopped at checkpoints, cannot drive over roads and bridges bombed by the Israeli air force, or are forced to sit idle by the lack of fuel, says PCHR. Fuel, specifically benzene and kerosene, needed to keep sewage and drinking water facilities in operation has been cut off, posing a serious health and environmental risk.
Though, this crisis has been presented in the US media largely as an Israeli retaliation to Palestinian violence, with one ABC reporter going so far as to claim that the Israeli military was showing tremendous 'restraint,' the siege of Gaza has been escalating for several months, according to Palestinian humanitarian workers. The US media has largely ignored the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces over the previous two months.
PCHR points out that the Israeli energy company Dor has since April steadily drawn down the amount of gas it supplied to the Palestinian power plant in Gaza. After providing only about 25% of the fuel needed to for the basic needs of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli company stopped all shipments on June 25th.
On her blog, 'From Gaza, with Love,' Dr. Mona El-Farra, a medical doctor and human rights activist, described numerous civilians being treated for wounds at Al Awda Hospital in northern Gaza on separate occasion since mid-June. Victims of Israeli air strikes from US-made Apache helicopter gunships, the wounded and killed included children, El-Farra writes. On June 28, El-Farra describes the decreased availability of the medical supplies at the hospital and her efforts to find some at the Red Crescent facility she also works at. The Israel siege has depleted their supplies.
Additionally, reports the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), Israel launched 77 air strikes on Gaza between late March and May 30, and fired an estimated 3,959 artillery shells into the besieged region in the same period. PMRS also estimates that 'Between 26 May and 21 June, a total of 44 Palestinians were killed in Gaza alone, 30 of whom were civilians, including 11 children and 2 pregnant women.'
PMRS also notes that since February 2006, one million Palestinians in Gaza who directly rely on government pay for their livelihood have gone without resources due to funding cuts ordered by Israel and the Bush administration in retaliation for the democratic election of the Palestinian Legislative Council in January. The Bush administration and Israel objected to the fact that Hamas won a majority of seats in that election.
PCHR also characterized the new attacks and the siege as a possible violation of international law. International law imposes obligations onto occupying powers, such as Israel, that it has refused to uphold. According to article 54 of the 4th Geneva Convention, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.
International law also forbids starvation as a method of warfare. The Geneva Convention prohibits a military power from preventing access to food or drinking water, either by destruction or removal, 'indispensable to the survival of the civilian population,' prohibits a military power from using starvation and deprivation as a military tactic. The destruction of the Gaza power plant and the obstruction of humanitarian aid into Gaza may constitute a violation of these sections of the Convention.
International law also prohibits the use of collective punishment. No person may be punished, reads the 4th Geneva Convention, for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Artillery bombardment and airstrikes that have killed more than 3 dozen Palestinian civilians may violate prohibitions against collective punishment. A full-scale military assault on a helpless population to punish it for the actions of a handful of people living in Gaza violates international law as well.
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, a human rights advocate and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in a statement published over the weekend, appealed to the international community to urgently call on Israel to end its bombardment, to stop the targeting of civilian infrastructure, and to allow for immediate repairs to begin on Gaza’s electricity plant. Barghouti estimated damages would take six months to complete. Barghouti has been trapped in Gaza since the siege began in late June and has been unable to return to the West Bank.
The Palestinian People's Party (PPP), a member organization of the Palestine Liberation Organization, put the Israel attack and subsequent siege into its political context. In a statement released late last week, the PPP accused the Israeli government of imposing collective punishment and said, 'This new aggression is a part of an Israeli plan to overthrow the Palestinian National Authority and its legitimate institutions. The Israeli army arrested 9 of our ministers and more than 25 members of our legitimate Council.'
Since that statement was released, dozens more legislative council members and other government officials have been abducted by the Israeli Occupation Forces, and government buildings have been attacked by helicopter gunships. PPP called for the immediate release of abducted officials.
Israel peace organization Yesh Gvul held a vigil in Jerusalem at the Prime Minister's residence to protest the attack on Gaza on July 1. In its statement announcing the protest, Yesh Gvul stated, 'We call on the Israeli government to accept the democratic vote of the Palestinian people, and start negotiating with its elected representatives, knowing that violence begets more violence, and that reoccupying the Gaza strip will not help to release prisoners of war.'
The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) issued a denunciation of the 'war crimes' of the Olmert-Peretz government – a reference to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz – and for 'aggravating' the violence in Gaza. The CPI accused the Israeli government of using the 'excuse' of the Israeli army hostage to continue its violent posture against the Palestinian people.
CPI offered some key points on which to base a resolution of the general conflict: 'CPI emphasizes once more, that security and peace can only achieved by putting an end to the Israeli occupation, evacuation of all Israeli settlements, establishing a Palestinian independent state alongside Israel, establishing two capitals in Jerusalem and solving the refugees' question according to United Nations resolutions.'
Humanitarian groups in Gaza called on the international community to pressure the Israeli government to abide by international law and to allow the passage of items needed to provide basic services to the civilian population.
--Joel Wendland is managing editor of Political Affairs and can be reached at
