" Perhaps the biggest and most dangerous domino to fall to this ripple effect has been Gaza's sewage treatment network, which has been subjected to many of the same challenges by the three-year blockade as the power plant.
It's an aging and overwhelmed network that's unable to secure necessary replacement parts, but officials at the Coastal Municipal Water Utility said that the power supply is the most intractable problem they face.
"When it comes to wastewater we suffer from electricity, electricity, electricity," said Maher Najjar , the chief engineer at the water utility.
Najjar said that upgrades to Gaza's three existing treatment plants have been delayed indefinitely due to the import restrictions. Plans to build a much-needed fourth plant at Wadi Gaza, a sewage-choked creek whose bright-green water slowly oozes to the sea, have been canceled altogether.
In many of Gaza's poor neighborhoods and refugee camps, homes aren't connected to the sewage network at all and narrow streams of wastewater snake out towards the sea. "
.Ghassan Khatib , a spokesman for the Fatah government in Ramallah , said GEDCo's inability to collect it bills is to blame for Gaza's lack of fuel. He said that Ramallah pays for all the electricity imported from Israel and Egypt and that it wants GEDCo to focus its collection efforts on government buildings and employees, many of whom are believed to be getting a free ride.
"We are saying 'You Gazans have to make an effort and at least collect bills from those who have salaries and jobs,'" Khatib said.
With so little power being produced, daily rolling blackouts that last from eight to 12 hours have become the norm. The frequent outages shine a light on just how many corners of life are dependent on reliable electricity.
"We provide electricity to everyone: hospitals, schools, normal citizens," Dabbour said. "The electricity company is responsible for keeping everything working."
Perhaps the biggest and most dangerous domino to fall to this ripple effect has been Gaza's sewage treatment network, which has been subjected to many of the same challenges by the three-year blockade as the power plant.
It's an aging and overwhelmed network that's unable to secure necessary replacement parts, but officials at the Coastal Municipal Water Utility said that the power supply is the most intractable problem they face.
"When it comes to wastewater we suffer from electricity, electricity, electricity," said Maher Najjar , the chief engineer at the water utility.
Najjar said that upgrades to Gaza's three existing treatment plants have been delayed indefinitely due to the import restrictions. Plans to build a much-needed fourth plant at Wadi Gaza, a sewage-choked creek whose bright-green water slowly oozes to the sea, have been canceled altogether.
In many of Gaza's poor neighborhoods and refugee camps, homes aren't connected to the sewage network at all and narrow streams of wastewater snake out towards the sea.
"The lack of spare parts and electricity is a major problem," Najjar said. "We need spare parts to make repairs but we have basically no access to materials. It takes a very long time to get anything."
Each day, the water utility pumps 88,000 cubic meters of raw or partially treated sewage into the Mediterranean Sea .
Youssef Atalla Abou Safieh , appointed Gaza's Environment Ministry by the Fatah government in the West Bank , said that the amount of sewage in the sea now poses a public health threat. Gastrointestinal diseases, skin infections, parasites and bacterial and viral meningitis are all on the rise.
"Ninety percent of Gaza and the north sea shore is contaminated with sewage," he said.
The easing of Israel's import restrictions has helped, but not much. "Lately, the Israelis have let in more, but in general it is very hard to make any repairs," Naijar said, guessing that before June, only 15 percent of materials needed by the water utility were allowed in, compared with 30 percent to 40 percent now. "We can make some repairs, but it is just not enough."
Officials in Gaza's Economy Ministry said that once-banned items still go through a rigorous review that can take up to three weeks. Nothing is guaranteed entry, and sometimes applicants never receive notification if their request was approved or denied.
"In practical terms, the utilities and the health sector are not receiving anything" from the blockade's easing, said Hatem Oweida , the ministry's director general.
Back in downtown Gaza City , Abu Yazen Tharab stood on the stoop of his kitchenware shop. Inside, the lights were out and the generator was off. His fuel bill runs $40 a week, and he can no longer afford to run it during the day.
New York - The United Nations said Friday Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have gone from an 'overwhelming grief to a pervasive sense of anger' as they continue to face the reality of the destruction of their community and shortage of daily essentials.
'People here are coming to term with a new reality, with tens of thousands of them have no homes anymore and also the aid efforts are hampered by the lack of access,' said John Ging, the head of the UN relief agency for Palestinians in Gaza.
'It's very frustrating for all people here,' he said two weeks after a ceasefire was declared in the fighting between Hamas and Israel.
Ging said only about 100 trucks carrying supplies have entered Gaza in the past two weeks, compared with the more than 130 trucks that reached the territory daily before fighting broke out on December 27 with Israeli airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza. The 100 trucks that carried food and other humanitarian items crossed the Karem border point, which was the only opened crossing allowed by Israel.
He said the UN has had to increase food distribution to 900,000 Palestinians, 200,000 more than before December 27. Those receiving food aid include employees of the Palestinian Authority (PA), who have not been paid their salaries for many months. Gaza is under the control of Hamas, which ousted PA to the West Bank.
Ging said the UN has been assisting tens of thousands of homeless Palestinians who have lost their homes to the fighting. The UN said an estimated 6,600 Palestinians have been killed and injured since December 27, one third of the casualties are children and women.
The UN this week appealed for 613 million dollars to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
UN urges Israel to loosen Gaza restrictions Palestinians are totally or partially prevented from accessing land up to 1.5km from the border A UN report says the Israeli military has increasingly restricted Palestinian access to farmland in the Gaza Strip and fishing zones along its shore.
The Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Gazans were never informed of the exact nature of such restrictions, and the Israeli army used live ammunition to enforce them.
The policy has led to tens of thousand of people losing their livelihoods.
Israel says the restrictions are necessary to prevent militant attacks.
Continue reading the main story Israel and the PalestiniansQ&A: Israeli aid flotilla raid Guide: Eased Gaza blockade Israel set to deport migrants Talks: Tough sell to Palestinians "What is foremost in our minds is protection of our civilians who live within range of the border," Israeli military spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Leibovich told the New York Times.
"If your choice is to operate terror, you have to bear the consequences."
'Dire situation'
The UN report found that over the past 10 years, the Israeli military had gradually unilaterally expanded restrictions on access to farmland on the Gaza side of the 1949 Green Line, and to fishing areas along the territory's coastline.
Since late 2008, Palestinians had been totally or partially prevented from accessing land located up to 1.5km (0.9 miles) from the border and the Mediterranean Sea beyond 5.5km (3 nautical miles) from Gaza's shore, the report said.
Overall, it was estimated by the UN that access to 17% of the total land mass of the Gaza Strip and 35% of its agricultural land was restricted.
Meanwhile, fishermen were totally prevented from accessing 85% of the maritime areas they were entitled to access according to the 1993 Oslo Accords.
An estimated 178,000 people - 12% of the population - were directly affected by the access regime implemented by the Israeli military, the report added.
The OCHA said this was primarily enforced by Israeli troops firing "warning shots" near people entering the restricted areas. However, since the end of the Israeli offensive of December 2008 and January 2009, troops had killed 22 civilians and injured 146 while doing so.
Fishermen are prevented from accessing 85% of the maritime areas off Gaza's coast, OCHA "Despite the potential for civilian casualties, the Israeli authorities have not informed the affected population about the precise boundaries of the restricted areas and the conditions under which access to these areas may be permitted or denied," OCHA said
This, it added, had cost Gazans $308m (£197m) in the past five years and resulted in a yearly loss of approximately 75,000 tonnes of potential produce. Gaza's fishing industry was estimated to have lost $26.5m of income over the same period.
Such restrictions had also affected access to schools - seven of which are located within the restricted areas - and impeded the maintenance and upgrading of existing wastewater and electricity infrastructure, it found.
"To start addressing the dire situation of one of the most vulnerable segments of Gaza's population, the current restrictions on civilian access to Gaza's land and sea must be urgently lifted to the fullest extent possible," the OCHA urged.
Al I'm sorry you lost out on the Mosque thread, and come in a pitiful 5th on this one but hey, it's only cyberland dude, you don't have to stub you toe,(opps, ) and get all defeatist on us!
Al, This thread is about Gaza and the worlds opinion that it is collective punishment. The European Union, The United Nations and most of the civilized world think so too. You and Conrad are the only people who don't.
If you had one ounce of pride you'd log off for good. Your a bitter, bitter man with the same meglomaniacal mindset as Netanyahu. "Fark the European Union" Fark the United Nations", Fark the WORLD!!!!
UN human rights envoy says Gaza a prison for Palestinians Dugard blasts EU, U.S. for cutting off aid to Palestinians, says Israel breaks int't law and goes unpunished. By Reuters
Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into a prison for Palestinians where life is "intolerable, appalling, tragic" and appears to have thrown away the key, a United Nations human rights envoy said on Tuesday.
Special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territory John Dugard said that the suffering of the Palestinians was a test of the readiness of the international community to protect human rights.
In response, Itzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, rejected Dugard's allegations as "one-sided" and not reflecting reality.
"If ... the international community cannot ... take some action, must not be surprised if the people of the planet disbelieve that they are seriously committed to the promotion of human rights," Dugard said in a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The South African lawyer, who has been a special UN investigator since 2001, repeated earlier accusations that Israel is breaking international humanitarian law with security measures which amount to "collective punishment."
Israel says its security restrictions, which include the construction of a steel and concrete barrier in the West Bank, are designed to stop suicide bombers entering Israel. Bombings have declined since the barrier was built.
It also maintains tight restrictions on the movement of goods and people into and out of Gaza also due to security measures.
Dugard also attacked the United States, the European Union and Canada for withdrawing funding for the Palestinian Authority in protest at the governing party Hamas's refusal to accept Israel's right to exist.
Hamas, a militant Islamic group that came to power after elections in January, is sworn to Israel's destruction.
"Israel violates international law as expounded by the Security Council and the International Court of Justice and goes unpunished. But the Palestinian people are punished for having democratically elected a regime unacceptable to Israel, the U.S. and the EU," Dugard said.
There was no immediate comment from either Israel or its main ally the United States, but the Palestinian question was due to be debated by the Human Rights Council later on Tuesday.
Past criticism, however, has been strongly rejected by Israel and the United States, which say that the current crisis has been provoked by attacks by Palestinian militants.
Dugard said that three-quarters of Gaza's 1.4 million people were dependent on food aid. Bombing raids by Israel since the June 25 capture of an army corporal by Palestinian militants had destroyed houses and the territory's only power plant.
"Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the key," he said.
The West Bank also faced a humanitarian crisis, albeit not as extreme as Gaza, in part due to the barrier, which Dugard alleged was no longer being justified by Israel on security grounds but was part of a move to annex more land.
Palestinians living between the barrier and the Green Line, the frontier at the end of the 1967 Six Day War, could no longer freely access schools and places of work and many had abandoned local farms, he said.
"In other countries this process might be described as ethnic cleansing but political correctness forbids such language where Israel is concerned," Dugard said.
Other scholars said it's not clear that Israel is in an "international armed conflict" with Gaza's Hamas leaders, a prerequisite for a legal blockade.
For such a conflict to exist, Israel would have to acknowledge that it is occupying Gaza, said Michael Scharf, an international law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and a former State Department attorney under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
They have not done that and subsequentialy forfiet that arguement. He said.
imperialism is "the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination
Twenty-plus years ago when I first took note of the conflict in Israel, I wondered why a young Palestinian girl would drive a vehicle packed with explosives up to a Israeli checkpoint and blow herself and some soldiers into a million tiny little pieces.
This Alberta, is from todays BBC article on one of the flotilla inquiries. Let this serve as my first article in support of my contention that the siege of Gaza is widely seen as "Collective Punishment".
"However, an Israeli spokesman, Nir Hefetz, said it "would not co-operate with any commission that would ask to question soldiers", and could instead rely on reports published last month by an internal military inquiry.
The inquiry found the commandos were under-prepared and that mistakes were made at a senior level.
But it also praised those involved and found the use of force had been the only way to stop the flotilla.
After criticism from its international allies over the flotilla incident, Israel eased its blockade of Gaza, allowing in more food and humanitarian goods.
The blockade has been imposed on the coastal territory by Israel and Egypt since the Islamist militant group, Hamas, seized control in 2007.
The Israelis say it is intended to stop militants from obtaining rockets to attack them.
The restrictions have been widely described as a collective punishment of the population of Gaza. "
Your right Lilly, No one shows up to these forums except Al, Me and Conrad,.. You pop in from time to time but we go toe to toe(opps! ) on a daily basis.
Why?
Because I am passionate about what is going on over there. And,..what is going on over here.
JERUSALEM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel would not cooperate with a UN investigation into an Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, if its soldiers were questioned, a Israeli Prime Minister Office spokesman said on Tuesday.
"We said very clearly, 'Israel will not cooperate with or participate in any panel that demands to investigate IDF (Israel Defense Forces) personnel'," Mark Regev told Xinhua.
The decision was in response to a statement by UN chief Ban Ki- Moon denying there was any behind-the-scenes agreement shielding Israeli soldiers or officers involved in the operation from questioning.
A senior advisor to Israeli prime minister told Israeli army radio on Monday that "before Israel gave the green light to its participation in the panel we had discreet negotiations in order to ensure that this commission would not harm the vital interests of Israel."
Ban, however, told reporters later in the day that "there was no such agreement behind the scenes."
"This is a basic issue of independence and sovereignty," Regev said of the possibility that the panel questions soldiers.
The Israeli cabinet voted on June 14 to establish the Turkel Commission to probe the events surrounding the deadly flotilla raid, but later rejected authorizing the panel to question soldiers or officers involved in the operation, noting that the army is able to fulfill the investigation by itself.
"There were the Eilad committee's results, which were passed on to the Turkel Commission," Regev told Xinhua, referring to an internal Israel Defense Forces probe of the events which was published on July 12.
Nine activists died in violent clashes with Israeli naval commandos on the decks of one ship among the flotilla in the predawn hours of May 31. Video footage shows the soldiers, who were sent to stop the six craft from breaching a three-year maritime blockade, met with stiff opposition from some of those on board and in the event used live fire.
Israel, facing international pressure over the flotilla incident, last week agreed to take part in the UN probe, a reversal of a previous stance towards the investigation which many Israelis felt would be hostile. Retired Israeli diplomat, Yosef Ciechanover, was to join the UN panel which was to have begun its work Tuesday.
You can fool some of the people some of the time But not all the people all of the time.
So Al, its not about you trying to belittle my position. It's not just "my" position.
I tried to introduce the concept of global prejudice.
You double-talked your way around and around that one.
We both know that Israel is many things. A nation, a tribe, an ideology, a religion. Many jews don't support Zionism. Many Palestinians don't support Hamas. Israel is digging herself a hole by alienating people around the world. You don't see this. It's in keeping with your "omnipotence". You feel as if there is no need to explain to anyone "why" Israel does as she does. Everyone else is just "other than" and with that omnipotence everyone else is irrelivant. Fodder.
This, sadly, is where your wrong Al. Because there are a whole lot more of us than there are of you, Al. Understand? Sure, your fruitcake, Netanyahu, has 200 plus nuclear warheads. But remember Al, When that button is pushed, there's no running away. They'll be no one to save with the world in a grave.
Be obstinant. Self-rightous. Show your bravado. It dosn't impress anyone Al. It kind of makes you look old and bewildered.
No one is buying into your dung. Sure, all the Bob and Weave tards like Lilly et al, chime in from time to time but we've already proven the "pact mentality" you folks use.
After the Americans wiped out the indiginous people, the American Indian, people who had any ancestral link, no matter how remote, to these Indians,would speak proudly of it. The reason being they wanted to be associated with their proud brave fight for their homeland.
My grandmothers grandfather was a Comanche" or I'm 1/30th Souix And so on.
And now there a effort to slowly but surly, wipe out the Palistinians.
I wonder if in a hundred years the Israeli people will boast of Palestinian liniage. So as to borrow from their proud fight to save their homeland
SilverBirch Forum Posts (3,158)
RE: "Gaza is like a prison camp"
Yeah Conrad take your kids swimming in the Med." Perhaps the biggest and most dangerous domino to fall to this ripple effect has been Gaza's sewage treatment network, which has been subjected to many of the same challenges by the three-year blockade as the power plant.
It's an aging and overwhelmed network that's unable to secure necessary replacement parts, but officials at the Coastal Municipal Water Utility said that the power supply is the most intractable problem they face.
"When it comes to wastewater we suffer from electricity, electricity, electricity," said Maher Najjar , the chief engineer at the water utility.
Najjar said that upgrades to Gaza's three existing treatment plants have been delayed indefinitely due to the import restrictions. Plans to build a much-needed fourth plant at Wadi Gaza, a sewage-choked creek whose bright-green water slowly oozes to the sea, have been canceled altogether.
In many of Gaza's poor neighborhoods and refugee camps, homes aren't connected to the sewage network at all and narrow streams of wastewater snake out towards the sea. "
Written Wednesday Conrad.