1.8 Million Palestinian Citizens in Gaza face medical death

Jail sentences. Encounter deaths. And now, lack of medical facilities in Gaza curses the livelihood of Palestinians.

The vitriol of political diplomacy sinks in when one reads how thousands of Palestinian patients, suffering from the worst of diseases and medical abnormalities are unable to travel to Egypt, Jordan or Israel due to visa detentions. Back at home, the medical facilities in Gaza and West Bank are even more egregiously dismal.

The Palestinian Minister of Health in Gaza, Dr Bassem Naim, revealed how Gaza, in spite of being developed, depends on smuggling fuel for generating electricity, basically from Egypt. ‘When would electricity be available?’. Well, the answer defines or controls everything from operations, commutation, education and even water supply.

A leaked news from the secret meeting in Jordan involving Palestinian, Israeli and Egyptian intelligence states how they were devising ways of strangling Hamas . Stopping the fuel and energy supply to Gaza is one of the fundamental steps towards it.

Dr Bassem Naim stated how Egyptians also suffer. In North Sinai, for around 3-4 km, people wait for 24 hours for fuel, by being lined up in queues. For the past six months, Egyptians have become strict against this illegal smuggling. They have started controlling every tank from the entrance of Suez Canal, worsening the situation in Gaza.

Though, comparatively, Gaza suffers more than West Bank from humanitarian crisis. With 1.8 million people stuffed in 365 km, Gaza definitely is a prison. With Israeli drones operating all the time, besieged air and sea channels, human life in Palestine depends on dodging military, confining one’s space and appeasing the occupation. Everyday, there are 3-4 cases of burn, 45% of them being third degree burns. Most of these patients do not get proper state funding and hence, face premature deaths.

After the 13th September 1993 Oslo Accords, the Gaza citizens have been allowed to enter only three sea miles in the adjoining Red Sea. If they cross the limit, they are shot.

Even banks inside Gaza suffer from financial boycotts along with political isolation. Dr Bassem Naim exposed how he cant open a bank account for humanitarian funding for the hospitals in Gaza.

The borders are tightly closed. Gaza faces six gates with Israel and one gate with Egypt. Currently, only two of them are open officially. To travel through air,  Palestinians needs Israeli licenses, sometimes, months in advance. Only those who pass the security tests ends up having the permit. Mostly, Palestinians face a strict ‘no’.

Dr Bassem Naim states how the running cost of hospitals in Gaza amounts to $50 million but the state is not left with a single penny. He had to close dental clinics as there was no money to buy gloves. The Friday deaths in emergency cases during the prayer times have become a common phenomenon.

In 2008, Israel tried to suffocate Gaza strip with the help of Palestinian Authority. All the civil servants were asked to take forced sabbaticals. Otherwise, they would be fired.

Even 3 million kg of explosives were used by Israeli government against the citizens of Gaza, amounting to at least 2kg per citizen. Specimens of forbidden materials like uranium and cobalt have been found in the bomb attacks.

Thousands of Palestinians are still in jails. Israel has recently also adopted new models for arresting children.

Ultimately, twenty years of reconciliation have failed if deaths of innocent victims is the result of it. Dr Naim suggested that perhaps unifying institutions between Gaza and West Bank might help, ultimately leading to unification of government sector.

 

 

 

Book Review: Seeking Mandela-Peacemaking between Israelis and Palestinians

Shimon Peres, after meeting Mandela in 1993 wrote, ‘Two persecuted people, the black South Africans and the Jews, celebrate a new future.’
Starting with this arresting analogy, the book ‘Seeking Mandela- peacemaking between Israelis and Palestinians’ tries to test if the ideology of ‘One Man, One Vote‘ can ever operate in Israel/Palestine Conflict.

This is the fourth co-authored book of the couple Heribert Adam and Kogila Moodley. The writing is in-depth, flawless and portrayed in a very appealing manner. The authors give a political, psychological, emotional, physical and above all, spiritual peep into the daily lives of the people involved in the conflict. The book does not limit itself to just Israel, Palestine and South Africa but touches India, Latin America, United States European countries, while detailing its various case studies.

The authors believe that Israel Palestine conflict is further worsening as both sides are involved in moralising, theologising, medicalising and personalising the conflict. They also expose other issues including Palestinians being politically seduced to act as traitors, existence of refuseniks from Israeli military who disobey to follow the mandatory conscription in the occupied territories. The question if Hamas and Fatah adopt ‘civil disobedience’ and ‘non-violence’ as their key mantras like Mahatma Gandhi did in India’s freedom struggle is also raised. But the real narrative and interview pieces of the victims reveals the abysmal reality, since the Israel-Palestine conflict has already passed that point.

As both South Africa and Israel are colonial settler societies, the book states that the South African model of post conflict reconciliation may inspire revision of certain workable policies. The Truth Commission and its flaws are heavily criticised, like the absence of academics or members of anti-ANC party in the 17 member body.

It is also revealed that increased polarisation with Israel/Palestine could spill over into inter-group relations in South Africa, especially between the Muslim Judicial Council And Jewish Board of Deputees. Though, both South Africa and Israel have fostered relationships because of the growing urge in SA politicians to teach peaceful conflict resolution techniques and hosting of international conferences in post-apartheid state.
A brief history of South Africa is also included in the book which allows the reader to develop a relationship with the country, further understanding its foundations. But is just acts as a tool intelligently used by the authors to differentiate South Africa from Israel.

Both these countries are also different in terms of economic power balance. Israeli economy can function without Palestinian labour but the same was not true in South Africa. Black population was necessary, giving rise to migration from the Bantustans.  Over and over, the authors state that Israel/Palestine conflict would never end till a third party intervention takes place. Both Adam and Moodely have done a brilliant job by stating the views of well know historians, journalists, academics, political leaders, army generals and even innocent civilians. Every page is educating though eventually, the entire hypothesis falls flat when they both suggest that there’s no need to seek Palestinian Mandela as his presence would not solve the issue.