On 25 October, a Palestinian patient died at Erez crossing while
awaiting being allowed to cross to Israeli hospital. A week ago,
a woman died in Gaza
hospital with her newly born baby, while awaiting permit to be
transferred to Israel for medical treatment.
These are not the first victims, and will certainly not be the
last should the current situation continue to prevail
Last week,
the operations rooms in Gaza's main hospital were shut down due
to the lack of medical gases, which was not allowed by the
Israelis. Today Israel does not allow except 12 basic items to
enter Gaza, out of over 9,000 commodities. From soap to coffee,
from water to soft drinks, from fuel to gas, from computers to
spare parts, from cement to raw materials for industry, all and
hundred other items are not allowed into Gaza today.
The Israeli cabinet declared Gaza as hostile entity,
and has declared its intentions to further intensify the
collective punishment by cutting the electricity power and fuel
products. Banks in Israel are also threatening to cut off all
financial cooperation with Palestinian banks in Gaza.
Given all this, we have adopted the initiative
of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
to launch the Palestinian-International campaign for breaking
the siege on Gaza, which has been intensified lately by the
strict siege imposed on the Gaza Strip since June 2007.
The aim of this humanitarian, non-partisan
campaign is to put pressure on the Israeli government in order
to lift the siege imposed on the population of Gaza. By raising
the awareness of the international community on the
deteriorating living conditions resulting from the siege, we aim
at mobilizing the efforts of the various international community
organizations and governments to stop the boycott of Gaza. We
call for the implementation of the recent European Parliament
resolution calling on the Israeli government to end the siege.
It is important to declare that "End the Siege" is a
non- partisan
campaign, initiated and managed by
representatives of the civil society, business community,
intellectuals, academics, women activists, and advocates for
human rights and peace from the West Bank and Gaza. We are all
guided by our commitment to peace and our respect to human
dignity.
We believe that it is a moral and ethical duty
to rescue the lives of human souls living under bitter
circumstances that sabotage their right to exist. People in Gaza
are deprived of the simplest requirements for a decent life. We
are determined to move hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder
with all people who believe in freedom, human dignity and peace.
We need the support of all people
who believe in justice all over the world, to contribute to the
success of this campaign. We also call upon all Palestinians,
whether in Gaza, West Bank, inside the green-line, or anywhere
else in the Diaspora to support our efforts and join our
activities. It is a genuine call to rescue people not
governments or political parties. It is time to put aside any
partisan conflicts and unite people in the pursuit of freedom,
justice, and peace. We particularly call upon Jews whose history
of trauma, discrimination and suffering should guide them to
stand up today against the suffering of others.
Planned activities of the campaign:
The campaign is planned to take place from November 2007 until
the siege is broken. We will hold a press conference to announce
the launching of the campaign.
Media and information technology methods will be our main tools
to lobby supporters
and contributors from around the world.
The first major event of the campaign will be organizing an
international symposium entitled "Breaking the Siege on Gaza:
Together for a United Front for Peace" in Gaza.
The campaign will also include inviting friends from around the
world for an on-going individual or group visits to Gaza. The
visitors will have first hand information on the Palestinian
life in order to disseminate such information in their own
country. Visitors will be hosted in Palestinian homes in order
to closely get acquainted with the Palestinian hardship
realities and their living conditions. Media coverage of the
activities in Gaza will be documented.
We will rely on our Israeli friends to host and help our friends
from abroad who, if not allowed to enter Gaza, are expected to
stage non-violent protests.
We will arrange for a peaceful march to Erez checkpoint from
both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the checkpoint. It
will include peace activists from all over the world.
Throughout the campaign, solidarity meetings, cultural
activities, and discussion will take place not only in Gaza, but
in Tel Aviv, Ramallah, and different cities in the world.
The campaign will include a major event in May, which is the
arrival of 120 human rights activists including Noble Prize
winners to Gaza on a boat coming from Cyprus. This event will be
titled "Free Gaza Movement Day" and is planned by the "Free
Gaza" solidarity group in USA.
The campaign will have special posters as well as a website
where all relevant materials will be published. The site will
give opportunity for people to exchange information, ask
questions, and have their comments.
Throughout the campaign, close contact with the media will be
maintained with regular feeding of information and news update.
The Impacts of the Siege on Gaza:
The Gaza Strip has two main crossings that connect it to the
whole world, i.e. Rafah in the south (To Egypt) and Erez in the
north (to Israel) . There are three other crossings that are
used to exchange goods and bring in food to the Gaza Strip;
Today all are closed partially or completely.
Since the winning of Hamas in the Palestinian Legislative
Council elections in 2006, the Israeli government, with the
support of the US administration, has imposed a siege on all the
Palestinian occupied Territories, declared its boycott on the
new Palestinian government, and refused to transfer customs
revenues to the Palestinian government. After taking these
measures, several donor countries including major donors like
Europe have severely cut off their development assistance
offered to the Palestinian people. The result of that form of
collective punishment was a gradual deterioration of life in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
Following Hamas military take-over of Gaza strip in June 2007,
the siege imposed by Israel was tightened to an unprecedented
level. Citing the continuing home-made rockets from inside Gaza,
the Israeli government has recently declared Gaza as a hostile
entity and threatened to cut electrical power, fuel supply to
Gaza and to substantially decrease the number of people allowed
in and out; as well as, the amounts of goods and food supplies,
and money needed for the daily life of people of Gaza.
The Israeli policy of unlawful collective punishment has always
had its serious impact on the lives of the Palestinian
civilians.
Collective punishment is expressly forbidden under international
humanitarian law. According to this principle, persons cannot be
punished for offenses that they have not personally committed.
In its authoritative commentary on Article 33 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention, the International Committee of the Red Cross
has clarified that the prohibition on collective punishment does
not just refer to criminal penalties, "but penalties of any kind
inflicted on persons or entire groups of persons, in defiance of
the most elementary principles of humanity, for acts that these
persons have not committed."
The siege that was imposed on the Gaza Strip has created
excessive loss and damage in the different aspects of
Palestinian life. The Gaza Strip has turned into a huge prison
with no access to the outside world.
The health sector has been dramatically affected by the siege.
According to the latest Humanitarian Situation Report of the
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
released on October 9 th, 2007, fewer than five
patients crossed into Israel/West Bank each day for medical
treatment compared to an average of 40 patients per day in July
.
World Health Organization has indicated, though, that an
average of 1000 patients used to leave Gaza for treatment each
month prior to the mid-June closures.
As a result of the continuous closures, the United
Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has reported significant
increases in the costs of some food items. The price of 1 KG of
fresh meat has increased form NIS 32 to NIS 40 (20%) while the
price of chicken rose from NIS 8 to NIS 12 (33%). According to
OCHA's report of October, 9 th, during the month of
September, a total of 1,508 truckloads of goods crossed into
Gaza. This compares to 2,468 truckloads in the month of August
and 3,190 in July. There are no food stocks anymore and that
contributes to the rising of prices.
The educational system in Gaza has also been affected by
the siege. With the start of the new school year, there has been
a serious lack of books and a shortage of the raw materials
needed for printing. According to the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA), one third of the students started the
school year without the needed text books. The closures also
deprived thousands of students from reaching their universities
outside the Gaza Strip. Thousands of students are not allowed to
join their universities in the West Bank or abroad due to the
siege.
On the industrial level, preventing the import of raw
materials essential for Gaza businesses and industry, and the
export of final goods, resulted in the shut down of many
manufacturing businesses. According to Paltrade's assessment on
12 September 2007, over 75,000 private sector employees (around
60% of the total private sector workforce) have been laid off in
the latest three months, bearing in mind that private sector
employees represent around 36% of the total work force in Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Private Sector Coordination Council
(PSCC), the current restrictions have led to the suspension of
90% of Gaza's industrial operations.
The agricultural sector is also at risk. According to
OCHA's report, t he export season for Gaza's cash crops
(strawberries, carnation flowers and cherry tomatoes) is
expected to begin in mid-November. This year, 2,500 dunums of
strawberries have been planted with an expected production of
approximately 6,250 tons of strawberries including 2,500
destined for European markets. 490 tons of cherry tomatoes are
also expected to be produced. If exports are not allowed by this
time, farmers will be exposed to tremendous losses in terms of
production cost and potential sales.
According to the World Bank, 67% of the Gaza population live
under poverty line which is estimated by World bank to be $2.per
day. Since human
beings are the products of the environment in which they live,
the Palestinian environment today is a combination of
deprivation, poverty, anger, feelings of powerlessness and
despair. Such feelings will inevitably lead to simmering anger
which will eventually brew into more violence and defiance.
Palestinians have gone through repeated traumas of death
and destruction of home and life over the past few decades. The
current siege provokes the previous traumas making people
re-experience the negative feelings that they have previously
encountered and passed through.
It is only to be expected that in such an environment
extremist ideologies will flourish. This will impact on the
Palestinian society internally as well as the political
environment in the whole region, destroying the possibilities of
peace and security.
Putting all in a nutshell, with this immoral siege, Gaza is
meant to be the city of death where everything is destroyed. It
is our duty to rescue life.
Who Are We
In alphabetical order
Mr. Khaled Abdelshafi, Director, UNDP
Mr. Sami Abdelshafi, Director, Emergeconsultants
Mr. Mohsen Abu Ramadan, Director, Arab Center for Agricultural
Development
Mr. Ma'moun Abu Shahla, Vice-President, Administrative Council,
Bank of Palestine
Dr. Fawaz Abu Sitta, Lecturer, Al Azhar University
Mr. Ali Abu Zuhri, President, Al Aqsa University
Dr. Mamdouh Aker, Commissioner General,
Palestinian Independent Commission
for Citizens' Rights - PICCR
Mr. Abdel Karim Ashour, Director, Agricultural Development
Association
Dr. Laila Atshan, Psychosocial Consultant
Ms. Nebras Bseiso, Director, Palestinian Banking Association in
Gaza Strip
Mr. Constantine Dabbagh, Executive Secretary, Near East Council
of Churches
Dr. Mona El Farra
Ms. Rania Kharma, Principal Coordinator
Mr. Ibrahim Khashan
Mr. Jawdat Khoudari, Businessman, Businessmen Association
Mr. Mustafa Mas'oud, External Affairs Officer, Businessmen
Association
Mr. Hani Masri, Director General, Badael Center for Media and
Research
Mr. Hasib Nashashibi, Ensan Center, Jerusalem
Dr. Jumana Odeh, Director of Palestinian Happy Child Center,
Ramallah
Mr. Tala Okal, Writer and Political Analyst
Dr. Eyad Sarraj, President, Board of Directors of the American
International School in Gaza
Dr. Kamalein Shaath, President, Islamic University
Mr. Omar Shaban, President, PalThink for Strategic Studies
Mr. Hashem Shawwa, President, Administrative Council, Bank of
Palestine
Mr. Nader Shurafa, Administrative Director, Ramattan Media
Agency
Mr. Raji Sourani, Director, Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Ms. Hanan Taha, Director, PalTrade
Dr. Jawad Wadi, President, Al Azhar University
Mr. Issam Younis, Director, Al Mizan Center for Human Rights
Mr. Riyad Za'noun, President of Gaza Community Mental Health
