G Campbell on the aid flotilla approaching Gaza
Gordon Campbell on the international aid flotilla now approaching Gaza
Some days ago, a flotilla of nine
ships left a port in Turkey bound for the Gaza
enclave, laden with medical and building supplies and
carrying some 800 peace activists from a range of countries.
It marks a major international attempt to deliver 10,000
tons of much-needed
medical and building supplies to the 1.5 million Palestinian
population currently penned up in the territory. The
passengers include some 350 Turkish nationals, 35
parliamentarians mostly from European countries and the Arab
world, and a group of Israeli Arabs. The potential for
confrontation had at first seemed quite high. The aid convoy
was initially described by the Israelis as an ‘unnecessary
provocation” and the Israeli Defence Forces had expressed
their willingness to intercept the flotilla, take over the
ships by force and ensure that no-one managed to break the
Gaza siege. These tensions increased when the aid flotilla
refused to participate in stunts that, at one point,
included a suggestion by Ehud Barak to assemble a group of
Israeli women soldiers dressed in white to meet the convoy,
and offer them an aid package for the Israeli prisoner
Gideon Shalit. However, the Israelis have now decided
that the ships can be received at the port of Ashdod, where
they will be searched and the aid supplies forwarded via the
UN to Gaza. Ironically – given the situation in Gaza - the
peace activists will be penned in a special compound, and
then deported. Needless to say, a lot could still go wrong
between now and the weekend.
Ireland has urged both sides
to avoid confrontation, and to show restraint. Turkey, from
the outset, has said that it would treat seriously any
attack on a convoy that will be flying the Turkish flag.
Reportedly. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
expressed his full support for the flotilla, saying that
breaking the "oppressive" siege of Gaza "is at the top of
Turkey's list of priorities". In its report,
Amnesty lauded a United Nations commissioned report released
last year by South African justice Richard Goldstone for
highlighting Israeli violations during the war in Gaza.
Goldstone's findings found both Israel and Hamas guilty of
war crimes during the conflict…"Among other things,
[Israeli Defence Forces] carried out indiscriminate and
disproportionate attacks against civilians, targeted and
killed medical staff, used Palestinian civilians as 'human
shields', and indiscriminately fired white phosphorus over
densely populated residential areas," it added. "More than
1,380 Palestinians, including over 330 children and hundreds
of other civilians, were killed." "In a display of
counter political bias, the UN Human Rights Council,
initially resolved to investigate only alleged Israeli
violations," said the report. "To his credit, Judge Richard
Goldstone, subsequently appointed to lead that
investigation, insisted that the UN Fact-Finding Mission
should examine alleged violations by both Israel and
Hamas.” Reportedly, the situation in
Gaza is not improving. Last Sunday the UN Development
Programme issued a report that about three-quarters of the
damage inflicted by Israel's war on Gaza more than a year
ago had not been repaired. Moreover, as this Gulf News news report says:
One may wonder if the Irish
leader can publicly urge both sides to show restraint, why
Prime Minister John Key – a recent visitor to Turkey for
the Gallipoli commemorations, and erstwhile leader of a
trade mission to the region – has been so far silent on
this ‘hot button’ issue in the Middle East, and the
related human rights violations that inspired the aid
flotilla to set sail. And how can such a aid convoy have set
sail without Keith Locke on board? The outcomes of the Israeli siege of Gaza
include : “Israel’s
2008-2009 military operation damaged 15 of the Strip’s 27
hospitals and damaged or destroyed 43 of its 110 primary
health care facilities, none of which have been repaired or
rebuilt because of the construction materials
ban.” “Some 15-20 percent of essential
medicines are commonly out of stock and there are shortages
of essential spare parts for many items of medical equipment
. . . ” In Late 2008, nearly 1 in 5 Palestinians
lived in “extreme poverty.” Over half lived below the
poverty line. “In the second half of 2008, one
third of West Bank households and 71 percent of Gaza
households received food assistance, with food accounting
for roughly half total household expenditures – making
families highly vulnerable to food price
fluctuations.” “In May 2008, 56 percent of
Gazans and 25 percent of West Bank residents were deemed
food insecure by the UN.” “Chronic malnutrition
has risen in Gaza over the past few years to reach 10.2
percent.” [This is especially true among children in
Gaza). Collective punishment of an entire
population is – to repeat – a war crime. Nor has the
punishment inflicted on Gaza been proportionate – as
international law also requires – to any threat to the
Israeli population that has been emanating from Gaza. Given
the scale of the suffering that is being perpetuated, it is
not too late for John Key to throw New Zealand’s support
behind the aid flotilla, and to join with Turkey in treating
the lifting of the Gaza siege as a human rights priority,
and a pre-condition for any lasting peace in the region.
At the heart of
the issue is the treatment of the population of
Gaza by an Israeli blockade that has allowed only an
inadequate level of supplies into the territory, thus
compounding the suffering caused by the Israeli military
offensive last January. Yesterday, Amnesty
International released a report accusing the U.S. and
members of the European Union of obstructing international
justice by using their positions on the UN Security Council
to shield Israel from accountability for war crimes
allegedly committed during that Gaza war last year . As the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz
says: The rights group also accused
Israel of continually violating human rights in the Gaza
Strip. It cited Israel's ongoing economic blockade as
violating international law, leaving Gaza residents without
adequate food or water supplies
In early May, John Ging, director of
operations of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, threw his support behind the
flotilla, calling on the international community to break
the siege on the Gaza Strip by sending ships loaded with
desperately needed supplies to the strip….The flotilla is
expected to arrive in Gaza only days after the World Health
Organisation demanded that Israel end the siege on the strip
"immediately", saying that it was causing a shortage of
medicines.
The devastating
impact of the siege that Israel has imposed on Gaza – as a
collective punishment of the Gaza population, the blockade
arguably constitutes a war crime under international law –
can be found in this news article about the
contents of last week’s World Health Organisation
Report. Some of the WHO report findings have also been
reported by Juan Cole on his Informed Comment
site. “In Gaza, Israel’s blockade
is debilitating the healthcare system, limiting medical
supplies and the training of medical personnel and
preventing serious medical cases from travelling outside the
Strip for specialized treatment.”