OPINION:Ireland should seek the suspension of Israel's preferential trade agreements with the EU
ENTERING GAZA is a surreal experience. You move from a bright airy terminal building in Israel into a labyrinth of narrow grey corridors and through a turnstile to face dark metallic doors before stepping into no man’s land. A walk of about one kilometre down a wire-covered tunnel brings you to the modest hut that houses the immigration services of the Hamas government in Gaza. The transition from first to third world is complete in just 15 minutes.
Looking back, the infamous wall with its turrets stretches out as far as the eye can see. The description of Gaza as an open-air prison is moved from metaphor to reality. There is simply no way out of here now without the permission of the Israeli government, either by land, sea or air.
Israel’s move to ease the blockade by allowing an increased number of goods to enter Gaza will not change this reality. People in Gaza will still be trapped. The port will still be closed. The airport will still be closed, and now it seems Palestinians will only be allowed to leave by land through the border crossing at Rafah with Egypt. This collective punishment of civilians is in violation of people’s human rights and of international law.
Israel has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Those who live there say otherwise and won’t be satisfied with a partial lifting of the blockade.
Last week I met a senior UN official in Gaza. “Nutrition is a major issue,” he said. “Are people starving? No. Are they malnourished? Absolutely. We’re on a steady decline, with more people becoming aid-dependent. People are just subsisting.” He described the situation as a man-made crisis. “People here don’t want aid – we have created that need,” he said. “People want productive work.”
We are told that this lockdown of Gaza is necessary to protect Israel’s security by weakening the hold of the Hamas government. In fact the opposite is happening. In my conversations with many Gazans it is clear that people are fed up with Hamas. But they are equally disaffected with Fatah. I believe Gazans would choose another option if it were available. But under the current dispensation Hamas is the only game in town.
The emergence of a moderate centre ground has been destroyed by Israel’s tactics. The middle classes have been impoverished, the private sector destroyed, replaced by an illicit economy operating through over 1,000 tunnels to Egypt. The revenue raised by Hamas in taxing this tunnel economy empowers rather than weakens them. The very existence of these tunnels, meanwhile, shows the blockade to be a farce.
Meanwhile, the population is reduced to abject poverty. Almost one in every two people receives food aid. Of those, another half is so poor they receive extra rations from the UN. Thousands of children are crammed into schools that are bursting at the seams. Thousands of new houses are required following Operation Cast Lead in January 2009, when Israeli troops razed the Strip.
Because of the blockade, $600 million (€480 million) in UN construction projects that would provide desperately needed clinics, schools, houses, water and sanitation projects and related employment are on hold. Some $4.5 billion pledged by the EU for reconstruction in March 2009 is also unspent.
Families whose homes were destroyed 18 months ago continue to live in shelters of plastic, canvas and corrugated metal, often arranged around the last standing bit of their house. Four people in 10 are out of work and 250,000 people are on the UN waiting list for temporary jobs. “In Gaza, no-one is dying, but no-one is living,” said one observer.
Zeinat Samouni told me that Israel must lift the siege so Gaza can live again. Her husband, Atiyeh, and four-year-old son, Ahmed, were shot in front of her by Israeli soldiers in January 2009. Her house was then demolished by the army. She and her remaining seven children now live in a makeshift shelter. “I believe if the siege is lifted, things can be better,” she told me. “I lost my husband and son but I want to care for my other children well.”
Half-measures will not bring this crisis to an end. Israel’s security must be respected but must not preclude the rebuilding of a vibrant Gaza with commercial life restored. That includes the provision of education and healthcare, jobs and infrastructure. The next generation of Gazans is crucial in determining the mindset of Palestinians. Only in these circumstances will the forces of moderation prevail. That can only be in Israel’s strategic interest.
All of the Gazans I met spoke of their desire for peace. But right now Gaza is a pressure cooker. Israel cannot sustain, and the world cannot allow it to sustain, an open prison of 1.4 million civilians whose only crime was their geographic location. If Israel does not open the frontiers the only certainty is the social and political explosion that will follow.
The “softly, softly” approach by the international community towards the Israeli blockade has not worked. It’s time for concrete actions. Ireland can play a key role in ending the siege by using its influence at EU level to call for the suspension of the preferential trade agreements enjoyed by Israel within the EU until the blockade on Gaza is lifted entirely.
An essential element of this EU-Israel Association Agreement is based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides internal and international policy. Israel is clearly in breach of this pact.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin will attend the Joint Committee on European Affairs this week as it meets for two days to discuss the agreement. This is his chance to impress upon Israel, on behalf of the Irish people, that it will not be allowed to continue to act with impunity towards the innocent people of Gaza.
I had mixed emotions last week as I trekked back through the prison doors and across no man’s land into Israel. Sadness for those forced to stay and relief that I could go. “You can’t leave, you can’t feel free,” Fr Elias, a priest in Gaza, told me. “This is not a normal situation. It’s difficult to live here, especially for children. They suffer a lot. Sometimes, even with help, the damage is irreparable.”
-Justin Kilcullen is director of Trócaire