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Gaza’s
tsunami: More to Palestinians’ sufferings than meets the eye
Posted By Ahmed Abdullah
It’s been reported that at least five Palestinians,
including two toddlers, were drowned in a “sewage Tsunami”
that hit Gaza strip following water treatment reservoir burst
that destroyed Umm Naser, a village in the northern section of
the coastal Strip.
The sad event coincided with the announcement that the
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert would have a bi-weekly meeting that will be
coordinated with the U.S. government.
Despite claiming, as she usually does in almost all of her
previous visits to the Middle East, that her mission's gaol is
to revive the deadlocked peace process, the U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, demonstrated once again the
unwillingness of Washington to engage in any credible
initiative aimed at bringing real peace to the region. Rice
delivered Bush’s message of rejecting the democratically
elected Hamas, branded by the U.S. as a terrorist organisation
for its armed struggle against the Israeli occupation.
Some may find difficulty linking the meaningless political
intercourse to the destructive sewage tsunami that hit
Palestine- but the two reflect the extent of misery facing the
Palestinian population on one hand, and the Western powers’
failure to show humanist or ethical commitment to the
Palestinian crisis on the other.
This prevailing negligence towards the occupied and poor
nation of Palestine, which has been struggling to secure its
liberation from the Israeli occupation for decades, and whose
sufferings intensified thanks to the West's decision to starve
the people and cut yearly aid sent to the government, is
indeed reflected in the two sad realities Palestinians
currently face.
In a new sign of the West’s hypocrisy, Rice appealed to
Arab states to “participate actively in the peace
process”, but at the same time rejected the Palestinians’
decision and will that was reflected in Hamas’ rise to
power.
Rice showed fake care for the Palestinians’ wellbeing by
hailing the Saudi summit describing it as “an example of
such new thinking.” But she insists on turning a blind eye
to the starvation Palestinians suffer as a result of the
U.S.-led Western aid embargo, used as a punishment against the
Palestinian people for contradicting the will of Washington.
That was further made manifest in a recently released
report by the House of Commons International Development
Committee, in which it painted a bleak image of the situation
of the Palestinians following a visit to the territories.
It condemned the economic sanctions imposed against the
Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority (PA) by the
United States and the other major powers, including Britain,
and denounced the actions of Europe and the United Nations as
well as Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and
its brutal suppression of the Palestinian people.
Among the report’s findings:
1- Palestinian GDP declined by 9 percent
in the first half of 2006 and was predicted to fall by 27
percent by the end of 2006, with personal income falling by 30
percent.
2- Over 160,000 public sector workers
didn’t receive their salaries since March 2006, which had
its bad impact on 25 percent of the population.
3- Palestinians now are forced to postpone
paying bills (83.5 percent), use past savings (26.3 percent),
sell women’s jewellery (29.6 percent) and reduce consumption
of fresh meat (88.6 percent).
4 - 70 percent of Gaza workforce is either
unemployed or not getting paid.
5 - 51 percent of the Palestinians now
depend on food assistance.
6 - Malnutrition rates among Palestinians
are now as bad as parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
7- Infant mortality has reached 25.2 per
1,000 live births, while under-five mortality is 29.1 per
1,000 live births.
8- As a result of being unable to pay
hospital fees and the closures imposed by Israel, unemployment
and block of salaries, the supply of medication and equipment
gets interrupted.
9 - 25 percent of Gazans are denied
sufficient access to water.
10- Only 7.3 percent of West Bank land is
irrigated, whereas 50 percent of Israeli lands are regularly
irrigated.
11- Real per capita consumption fell by 12
percent in 2006, with food consumption down by 8 percent.
Palestinians are facing an unprecedented humanitarian and
political crisis.
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