ISRAEL’S decision on Tuesday to ease the blockade of fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip went some way towards relieving the suffering of the 1.5 million people living there. Electricity supplies to certain parts of the territory, which had been cut for several days, were restored.
But international observers said that a sustained period of normal commercial activity in the Gaza Strip would be needed before a noticeable improvement in living conditions could be expected. On Wednesday, thousands of Palestinians streamed into Egypt in search of food and other essentials, after a border wall on the southern perimeter of the Gaza Strip was breached.
In Gaza City, Suhaila Tarazi, director of al-Ahli Anglican Hospital, said on Wednesday morning: “We have had to ration water, keeping it mostly for drinking. Only certain cases can be washed, and not every patient can be kept clean.”
Israel said that the ban on fuel supplies was ordered in a direct response to the firing of rockets and mortars from Gaza at Israeli targets. Its aim, the government said, was to ensure the right to life and safety of the Israeli people. Israel also accused the Hamas authorities of exaggerating the impact of the blockade.
But it seems likely that international pressure on the government of Ehud Olmert was a significant factor in its decision to allow limited quantities of generator fuel, cooking oil, food, and medicine into the Gaza Strip.
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said: “Nobody wants innocent Gazans to suffer, and so we have spoken to the Israelis about the importance of not allowing a humanitarian crisis to unfold there.”
The UN, the EU, and a host of governments and international organisations, including church groups, condemned Israel’s decision to impose a blockade on Gaza.
The Heads of Churches in Jerusalem and the Holy Land urged “the international community, President Bush and the leaders of Israel, to put an end to this suffering”. At the same time, they warned those Palestinians firing rockets into Israel that they were encouraging “public opinion outside this land to feel there is a justification for this siege”.
Amnesty International said that the punishment of the population of Gaza appeared calculated “to make an already dire humanitarian situation worse, one in which the most vulnerable — the sick, the elderly, women and children — will bear the brunt, not the men of violence who carry out attacks against Israel”.
The suffering in Gaza has also exposed once more the difficult position in which the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, finds himself, as he attempts, with US and international support, to restart peace talks with Israel. The deprivations on the Palestinians of Gaza have rallied the whole community — supporters of Mr Abbas as well as of Hamas.
In this atmosphere, few Palestinians or Israelis will have time to think of the peace process, or be in the mood to respond to calls for talks between the two sides. Once again, the conclusion must be that until intra-Palestinian differences are resolved, progress towards peace in the Holy Land seems unlikely.
In this atmosphere, few Palestinians or Israelis will have time to think of the peace process, or be in the mood to respond to calls for talks between the two sides. Once again, the conclusion must be that until intra-Palestinian differences are resolved, progress towards peace in the Holy Land seems unlikely.