Build A Movement For Lasting Middle East Peace

Put plainly; how would you feel about a country that deprived your family of food and occasionally sent it's troops across the border to wreak havoc?

By Citizen Correspondent Darrell Goodliffe

Date Posted: 03/09/08

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Once again the headlines have been dominated by the cycle of violence in the Middle East. The same day as a gunman attacked the Merkaz Harav seminary a coalition of international groups released a report into the worsening conditions for ordinary Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. If nothing else this report should provide the clues necessary as to why some Palestinians were prepared to celebrate the brutal attack on the seminary.

Man-made and completely avoidable.

The report opens with frank language saying that the situation in Gaza is “man-made, completely avoidable and with the necessary political will can be reversed”. Naturally, it stops short of directly attributing blame (although in response to the report, Israel was not so candid) although it does say that the situation has worsened “exponentially” since Israel's blockade against Gaza began.

Critics of the report will focus on the reports condemnation of the actions of the Israeli state but, in the interests of balance, it is only fair to note that the report acknowledges the blockade began in response to “indiscriminate” rocket attacks on Israel. It should go without saying that Israel's current strategy has not stopped these attacks nor has it significantly improved it's security status; one need only switch on any newscast on any given day to see that much.

However, it's main focus is the desperate plight of Gazans. Among it's main findings are;

-Economic collapse; 95% of Gaza's industrial operations are suspended due to the blockade. Private enterprise has pretty much ceased to exist or function; “entire sectors including construction and agriculture have ground to a halt”. Starkly, the report says that it is no longer a question of Gaza's economy “collapsing” but having already “collapsed”.

-Crippling poverty; the report cites rising prices of essential goods like wheat and flour coupled with an unemployment rate of 40% which is expected to rise to 50%. Household incomes are projected to fall by 22% so, even if a Gazan is employed, they are squeezed in a vice of rising prices and a rising inability to pay those prices.