Gaza: from economic to humanitarian disaster

by Sonja Karkar

Gaza’s humanitarian crisis began long before the world decided that the
Palestinians had to be punished for voting in the Hamas government.

Since Israel’s occupation in 1967 of the little land left to the Palestinians,
Gaza has suffered miserably. Israel did everything in the 25 years before
Oslo (1993) to shut off opportunities for economic growth and made sure
that Gaza’s infrastructure remained undeveloped. Despite the optimism
of the Oslo Accords, Israel’s vice-like grip on Gaza continued and the
people found themselves increasingly denied freedom of movement which
again impacted on their economic development. Unable to produce or invest,
the Palestinians became more and more dependent on imports from Israel.

Nothing changed after Israel removed the deliberately implanted 7,000 Jewish
settlers to a massive publicity campaign around Israel’s “painful sacrifice
for peace”. Instead, the Palestinians were left hopelessly impoverished and
were literally strangled economically and socially by Israel’s formidable
military cordon around the Gaza Strip. This, despite Israel claiming that
it had disengaged and was no longer occupying Gaza. All imports and exports
came to a standstill and Palestinian businesses were forced to close. In
January 2006, Israel closed Karni crossing – the commercial and humanitarian
lifeline of Gaza with a 200 truck per day capacity. Truckloads of farming
produce destined for Israel and international markets were suddenly unable
to get through. According to UN-OCHA, this meant more than $US30 million in
losses to the Palestinian economy as farmers had no choice but to donate
their crops or destroy them as they rotted.

By the time Hamas was elected to government, the Palestinians had been
reduced to dependency on international donors. This situation was
exacerbated when Israel and the world decided to cut off funds for the
government’s operating budget because the elections had not produced the
results they had wanted. Barely two months later, as former World Bank
president James Wolfensohn stepped down from his role as envoy to Israel and
the Palestinians, he reported that if Israel continued its regime of restrictions
on trade and labour and the flow of donations weakened further without a turn
around by 2008, 74 percent of the Palestinians would be living beneath the
poverty line and unemployment would reach 47 percent. In particular, he
pointed to the systematic restrictions of movement Israel has imposed on the
Palestinians in the West Bank and at the Gaza Strip border crossings saying
that these measures are largely to blame for the tremendous damage done to
the Palestinian economy.

Since Hamas re-took power in Gaza after routing Fatah forces, the Palestinians
there have been living under a state of siege. Israel has adamantly refused
to let through some 104 boxes of basic food stuffs being provided by UNRWA
to more than half of Gaza’s population, despite saying that aid through
UNRWA would be given passage. Israel cites “security considerations” as the
reason. The only opening is through the Karm Abu Salem Crossing in the
southern Gaza Strip and its 15 truck per day capacity cannot serve a 1.4
million population in desperate need. According to the UN, at least 100
trucks a day need to be going into Gaza.

The shortages of food, water supplies, fuel and medicine are so alarming
that organizations like UNRWA and OXFAM are calling for an immediate
re-opening of Gaza’s border. The World Food Program says that Gaza’s food
stocks will only last for another two weeks, four at most, if more shipments
are not let in. Hospitals and clinics have only barely been able to function
with the help of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

This week UNRWA stated that 90% of the Gazan population is on their food
supplies aid program list. This number is expected to rise as food aid
remains stranded due to Israel’s border closures. In a report submitted to
the UN Security Council, Michael Williams, UN messenger for the peace
process in the Middle East said that, “basic survival supplies in the Gaza
Strip will not last for more than a week” and that more cases of starvation,
malnourishment and illness would occur if the Karni crossing is not
re-opened and allowed to operate at full capacity. Also calling for an
immediate re-opening of the border was the Director of Oxfam International
Jeremy Hobbs: “The entrapment of Gaza is completely unacceptable. . .
Withholding aid as a political weapon is bringing untold suffering to an
entire population.”

All this is being done against the background of Israel’s illegal occupation
of Palestinian land and the continual denial of their right to self-determination
in their own land. This has been tolerated by the entire world community for
decades. Now, in an outrageous abuse of human rights and political intrigue,
the Palestinians in Gaza are being isolated and pushed deeper into destitution
and despair while the funds Israel and the West withheld for 18 months are
pouring into the government coffers of the Palestinians in the West Bank. Such
man-made decisions used to further political interests are a crime against
humanity.