Who would have imagined that the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip that
started 15 years ago this month would not only still be in place today,
but even reinforced? That is the scenario for this tiny strip of land
that now has a population of about 2.3 million.
Some 800,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have never known anything but
the blockade. They have never left this human-made hell. They have never
seen a train. The only planes they see are Israeli military aircraft.
Electricity is limited. The water is not even fit for animals. They are
condemned to this from birth.
So how has life in Gaza — in what many have described as the world’s
largest open-air prison — changed over those 15 years? It has not
increased in size but it has more inmates. In fact, the area for the
prisoners has even shrunk. Israel has largely forbidden farmers from
accessing their lands up to 300 meters from the border fence, as well as
tightening how far out fishermen can fish.
Let us be clear, as memories are short. Even before June 2007, Gaza was
occupied and access and egress were challenging. You had to have permits
to leave. In 2007, the restrictions just tightened.
What happened in 2007 was that the Israeli measures of control were
taken to unprecedented levels. Israel designated Gaza a hostile entity
following the takeover by Hamas. Israeli officials referred to pursuing
“economic warfare” against the Strip. Over the years, this rhetoric has
calmed, replaced with more cosmetic pragmatism as to what can be let in
or out. The policy framing has not altered.
After Hamas’ election victory in 2006, Dov Weissglas, then-adviser to
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that Gaza residents should go on a
“diet.” Israel argued that punishing all Gazans would force them to kick
out Hamas — an empty argument, just as it is when some argue for
punishing the Syrian population so that they get rid of Bashar Assad.
That Israel decided to refashion Gazan eating habits encapsulates its
officials’ attitude to the Strip. Israeli leaders felt entitled to do
anything to this captive population. Collective punishment is, for
Israel, totally acceptable, even though it is explicitly illegal under
international law. If Palestinian militants fire a rocket, then a
punishment for all the population usually follows. For example, when
militants sent fire kites into Israel, the reaction was to further
shrink the permitted maritime area for fishing; a totally unrelated
action.
Hamas’ rule is autocratic, far from progressive, and the group has a
terrible human rights record, but the people of Gaza are being punished
twice, with Hamas’ misrule combined with this crushing blockade.
Israel controls everything that enters the Strip. In 2015, it was
compelled to reveal that it ran a list of dual-use products that were
banned, many of which were items essential to construction, such as
cement, steel and wood. The list changes but Israel refuses to reveal
what is on it today. There is no oversight or right to appeal.
Genuine economic life has ground to a near-halt. Gaza has been heading
backward in a process of acute de-development. Palestinian workers could
no longer enter Israel after 2007. Many made a great deal of the recent
Israeli decision to create a quota of 20,000 work permits for Gazans
but, according to the Israeli organization Gisha, Israel has not issued
that many permits. Even those who do get allowed out will not benefit
from the same rights afforded to Israeli workers — as yet, they are not
even designated as workers.
The humanitarian situation is dire. According to the World Bank, 60
percent live below the poverty line, with an estimated 80 percent
reliant on international aid — funding that is very much in decline.
Rasha Al-Moghany from Medical Aid for Palestinians tells me that the
Strip also suffers from “chronic shortages of medical supplies and
equipment. An average of 41 percent of drugs and 26 percent of
disposables were at zero stock or on a less than one month’s supply in
2021.”
But what if the blockade was never imposed? A UN exercise back in 2017
suggested that the poverty rate would have been about 15 percent, not 60
percent. In 2020, the UN estimated that Israel’s blockade had cost Gaza
$16.7 billion.
Perhaps the most painful part is the isolation, not just from the rest
of the world but the rest of Palestine. West Bank and Gazan Palestinians
have grown apart. Few in either area have been able to visit the other
in the last 15 years. What meetings have transpired occur externally.
Incredibly for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank is harder to visit
than nearly anywhere else.
Egypt also contributes as the junior party to the blockade. The Rafah
crossing for Palestinians opens for limited periods but, under
international agreements, goods cannot be exported via Egypt.
The blockade cannot be seen in isolation from Israel’s military
operations. The prison is fully controlled and, if the prisoners get
unruly, they get bombed. Gaza has not just failed to recover from the
war last May. It is still recovering from the wars of 2006, 2008-09,
2012 and 2014, as well as the Great March of Return.
Rubble is still being removed. Homes are yet to be rebuilt. Water pipes
have often not been replaced, which is a challenge when Israel does not
permit the entry of steel pipes with a diameter greater than 1.5 inches.
Gaza also floods all too easily, as the authorities do not have the
materials to install proper drainage systems. Damage to the sewage
system means the stench of raw sewage permeates the air.
Collective punishment is, for Israel, totally acceptable, even though it is explicitly illegal under international law.
Chris Doyle
If Gazans are traumatized by the isolation and lack of a horizon, this
is perhaps nothing compared to the acute trauma of the bombings. About
four-fifths of children in Gaza report emotional distress, leading to
bed-wetting, sleeplessness and restlessness. Children spend their time
terrified of when the next bombing or the next war is going to start.
The adults suffer too.
Is there anyone who does not believe that the closure of Gaza will last
to its 20th or even 25th anniversary? It is hard to see where the drive
for change will come from. Israeli leaders do not care. Gaza is a
situation to be managed, not resolved. Only if there is a war does the
international community show a flicker of interest, and even then it
only pushes for a return to the status quo ante.
For Palestinians in Gaza, the unthinkable is happening. For decades,
they would remain defiant — they would never give up. They would never
leave. Today, this has changed. Many are even considering the
catastrophically dangerous sea routes across the central Mediterranean,
putting themselves in the hands of dangerous people smugglers. The
horror of this is that it is all human-made. Worse, it is part of a
deliberate Israeli policy. The world should be ashamed.
- Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London. Twitter: @Doylech