Trickle into Gaza just a PR stunt

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133566§ionid=351020202



Israel has decided to lift restrictions on the entry of a trickle of consumer goods into Gaza, but the move appears to be just a publicity stunt.

Israel's international reputation is still in tatters as a result of the attack on the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, which left nine Turkish citizens on board the M.V. Mavi Marmara dead and injured about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy, which was attempting to break the siege of Gaza in order to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to the long-suffering people of the territory.

Israel plans to maintain tight restrictions on the transfer of construction materials into Gaza, which is still in ruins from the December 2008-January 2009 war, which left over 1,400 Palestinians dead and inflicted more than $1.6 billion in damage on Gaza's economy.

On Monday, the Associated Press quoted an Israeli official as saying that items like iron and steel would only find their way into Gaza in coordination with the Palestinian Authority.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and high-profile international personalities are continuing their calls for Israel to lift the blockade immediately, with no conditions.

Currently in its fourth year, the blockade has deprived 1.5 million Gazans of food, fuel, and other necessities.

German Min.: Israel running out of time

German Development Minister Dirk Niebel


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=131285§ionid=351020202


A German minister, who was banned by Israel from entering the Gaza Strip, says Tel Aviv could exceed the limit of playing the political hardball any time.

Development Minister Dirk Niebel said time is running out for the regime to ease up on its hardline policies, reminding Tel Aviv of the international anger over Israel's Gaza policy and the shaky nature of the current bid for a viable peace deal with the Palestinians, AFP reported.

"For Israel, it is five minutes to 12," he said, adding that the regime must take the opportunity "to stop the clock while it can."

He was prevented from meeting the representatives of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugee (UNRWA) in the coastal sliver on Sunday.

"Refusing a German development minister entry to the Gaza Strip is a great foreign policy mistake on the part of the Israeli government," the agency quoted him as telling the German daily Leipziger Volkszeitung.

Voicing his regret over the obstruction, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Berlin and the European Union awaited the removal of the siege of Gaza.

The Israeli-imposed restrictions are into their fourth year of denying the nearly-1.5-million Gazans of food, fuel and other necessities.

While the second staunchest advocate of Israel after the United States, Berlin fell slightly out with Tel Aviv after the Israeli forces bloodshed of at least 20 activists on board the international Gaza-bound relief mission, Freedom Flotilla.

MP: Israeli leaders must stand trial

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=130671§ionid=351020202



An Israeli lawmaker has called for trial of Tel Aviv officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for deliberately harassing the residents of the Gaza Strip.

"In its 62 years of existence, Israel has attacked its neighbors and its Arab citizens nonstop," Arab Israeli MP Afu Aghbaria said at a hearing of the European Parliament on Tuesday.

"Israel prevents the passage of medicines and medical supplies to Gaza. As a result of this, 700 Gazans have died at the border crossings," Ha'aretz quoted Aghbaria as saying.

He urged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman should stand trial in international court in The Hague.

The lawmaker also called for the trial of Tzipi Livni, who served as Israel's foreign minister during a December 2008-January 2009 Israeli offensive which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and devastated a large part of the territory's infrastructure.

Aghbaria's criticism of Israeli leaders faced angry reaction from two other Israeli parliament members, Kadima MP Nahman Shai and Labor MP Einat Wolf, who participated in the meeting organized by the Communist Party in the European Parliament.

In a joint statement, Shai and Wilf condemned Aghbaria's words as "very grave," and a serious blow to Israeli efforts to "calm spirits, lessen the damage and bring a positive message to the European Parliament."

Israel has faced unprecedented criticism from the international community in the past two weeks over its deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy, which shed new light on the adversity caused by Tel Aviv's paralyzing blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Shin Bet rules out end to Gaza siege

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=130648§ionid=351020202


Israel's internal spy agency cautions Tel Aviv against giving in to global demands to lift its naval blockade of Gaza as Palestinians insist easing the siege is not enough.

There is room to further relax the importing of goods to the Gaza Strip through land crossings, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) on Tuesday.

“I find the opening of the naval blockade to be a very dangerous development,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Diskin as saying before members of the Knesset at the closed-door meeting.

Diskin further ruled out a proposal by the European Union that international observers inspect Gaza-bound cargos at a neutral port, such as Cyprus, before entering waters controlled by Israel.

“The possibility of Gaza building a port would be an enormous hole [in security], despite the possibility that international checks of cargo could be carried out before the ships reach Gaza,” he said.

The comments came a day before a key security cabinet meeting to discuss the future of the Gaza blockade, and amid rising international calls for an end to the years-long siege triggered by Israel's deadly attack on an aid convoy in international waters.

The attack killed a score of activists onboard the six-ship Gaza Freedom Flotilla as it was heading for the impoverished territory with some 10,000 tons of aid.

Meanwhile, Palestine's democratically elected Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh condemned all initiatives to ease the siege rather than lift it as "attempts to institutionalize" the blockade.

Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas also said Israel should lift its closure of the Gaza Strip "in the sense that the seven Israeli crossings must be open for all the needs of the Gaza Strip."

Israel imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza strip after the Islamic Hamas movement's sweeping victory in the 2006 legislative elections. The restrictions were further tightened in 2007 after the Islamic movement took control of the Gaza Strip power in the wake of a coup attempt by rival Fatah, which formed its own government in the West Bank.

Israel weighs Gaza blockade easing

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/20106168203950607.html


Israel's security cabinet is meeting to discuss proposals for easing the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Ministers are widely expected to approve a "blacklist" of goods which are not allowed into Gaza. Products not on the list would be allowed into the territory. If implemented, this would be the opposite of current Israeli policy, which allows only a few dozen approved items to enter Gaza.

Israel would also allow the UN to ship much-needed construction materials into Gaza for its own use.

The proposal was first announced earlier this week by Tony Blair, the envoy from the so-called international peace Quartet, comprised of the US, the UN, the European Union and Russia.

"It will allow us to keep weapons and weapon materials out of Gaza, but on the other hand to help the Palestinian population there," he told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "The policy in Gaza should be to isolate the extremists but to help the people."

But the new policy will reportedly only apply to the land border crossings between Israel and Gaza. The Israeli navy will maintain its blockade of Gaza.

The UN has called for Israel to go further and completely end the blockade.

"The flotilla crisis is the latest symptom of a failed policy," Robert Serry, the UN Middle East envoy, said in a briefing at the Security Council on Tuesday. "The closure and blockade of Gaza needs to come to an end."

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday that the blockade is illegal, and called on the Israeli government to lift it.

UN to deliver cargo

Separately, the Israeli government has agreed to allow the UN to deliver thousands of tonnes of aid seized from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month.

Until Tuesday, Hamas had refused to accept the aid, citing Israel's limitations on how much of it would be allowed into Gaza.

But the UN said it will deliver the entire cargo, which includes food, medicine and clothing.

"[We have] obtained the consent of the cargo owners of the three Turkish-registered vessels to take possession of, and responsibility for, the entire cargo, and to ensure its timely distribution in Gaza for humanitarian purposes," Serry said.

Israel took control of the cargo after its deadly May 31 navy raid on the flotilla.

Nine Turkish activists were killed in the attack.

Panel to meet

Meanwhile, the committee established by the Israeli government to investigate the flotilla attack is expected to hold its first meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting will probably focus on formalities: deciding where the committee will work, and setting a budget and a schedule for testimonies and meetings.

Jacob Turkel, the committee chair, who is a retired supreme court judge, did not announce a time or location for the meeting.

Also on Wednesday, George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, returned to the region for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

He is also preparing for a meeting later this month between Barack Obama, the US president, and Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

End the siege of Gaza now, EU says

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=130456§ionid=351020202



The EU has called Israel's closure of Gaza's crossings a politically incorrect move and repeated the 27-nation bloc's call for Tel Aviv to immediately lift the blockade.

At a meeting on Monday, the European Union Foreign Affairs Committee issued a statement saying, "The continued policy of closure is unacceptable and politically counterproductive," the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported.

"…in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1860, the EU reiterates its call for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza including goods from the West Bank," the statement added.

Tel Aviv has subjected the Gaza Strip to an all-out land, naval an aerial blockade for almost three years. The restrictions have deprived 1.5 million Palestinians of food, fuel, and other necessities.

In addition, the Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, killing nine Turkish citizens on board the M.V. Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

Israel also arrested and later released nearly 700 activists from 42 countries who were on board the ships of the Freedom Flotilla, which was attempting to break the siege of Gaza in order to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to the long-suffering people of the territory.

Israeli officials rejected United Nations Secretary General Bank Ki-moon's demand for an international investigation into the incident, insisting they would conduct their own investigation.

The EU foreign ministers statement said there had to be "an immediate, full and impartial inquiry into these events and the circumstances surrounding them. To command the confidence of the international community this should include credible international participation."

OIC members to review Israeli ties

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=130469§ionid=351020206


The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has renewed a call on its member states with Israeli ties to reconsider their relations with the Tel Aviv regime.

OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu made the call on Monday, saying the suggestion was one of the resolutions reached at the organization's executive committee meeting last Sunday.

The meeting came after Israel launched a deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy on May 31, which killed 20 people and left scores more injured.

The onslaught sparked an outrage across the world and prompted Muslim communities around the globe to demand action on the part of Arab and Muslim leaders, especially the Organization of Islamic Conference.

During its Sunday meeting, the OIC issued a statement condemning "in the strongest possible terms" Israel's attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla “an act of state terrorism.”

The OIC agreed to press Israel lift its crippling siege of Gaza. Other resolutions made were to convene a United Nations general assembly under the title of "United for Peace" and also to take necessary measures and sanctions against Israel.

"We are working to implement these resolutions. The OIC member countries are also in consultation," Malaysian state-run Bernama news agency quoted the OIC chief as saying in Kuala Lumpur.

The OIC is the world’s largest Muslim grouping, several of whose 57 member countries — including Egypt, Jordan, Turkey — have diplomatic relations with Israel.

UN insists on intl. Flotilla probe

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=130479§ionid=351020202



Despite Israel's announcement of an internal probe of its deadly Gaza aid attack, the United Nations continues to push for a full international investigation.

Israel's cabinet approved on Monday an Israeli inquiry into the May 31 onslaught, which killed 20 international activists onboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

The probe, however, falls short of meeting international demands for impartiality as the Israeli investigation panel includes no more than two foreign observers, who have no say on the proceedings and conclusions of the commission.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "takes note of the Israeli announcement on their inquiry," UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters later in the day, saying a thorough Israeli probe could fit with the Ban's proposal of a credible and impartial investigation.

But Ban's "proposal for an international inquiry remains on the table and he hopes for a positive Israeli response," Reuters quoted Haq as saying.

Diplomats said Ban urged Israel to accept a neutral inquiry panel led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, interpreting the cautious UN reaction as indicative of Ban's doubts about the impartiality of an Israeli-led probe.

Israel, once bitten hard by a UN Human Rights Council-mandated inquiry into its last year's 22-day offensive against the Gaza Strip, seems to fear and thus resist a second such investigation.

The Gaza war commission led by South African prosecutor Richard Goldstone did serious damage to Israel's global image by drawing attention to the Israeli army's deliberate targeting of civilians in Gaza and using Palestinians as human shields, among other war crimes.

Having lost nine nationals in Israel's May 31 attack, Turkey has decided to carry out its own inquiry, saying it has "no trust at all" that Israel will conduct an impartial investigation.

The Human Rights Council has also said it would organize its own fact-finding mission.

Q&A: Why Israel's siege is illegal

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/2010614102758862244.html


The International Committee of the Red Cross has described Israel's blockade of Gaza as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

That conclusion rests on the Israeli government' status as an occupying power in Gaza, which assigns it certain obligations to the people of Gaza.

Those obligations are spelt out in detail by the Fourth Geneva Convention. At their most basic, though, they require Israel to provide for the basic needs of the people, particularly food and medical care.

To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.

The convention also requires the occupying power to allow sufficient shipments of aid - food, clothing, medical supplies and other essentials - and to take steps to preserve the health care system in the occupied territory.

Israel does not meet those basic requirements, according to many observers. Eighty per cent of people living in Gaza rely on food aid to survive; 14 per cent of children suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition.

Power cuts are routine: 98 per cent of the population copes with routine blackouts. Fuel supplies are heavily restricted.

More than 100 basic medicines are unavailable in Gaza, and the territory’s few remaining hospitals - several were damaged during the 2008-2009 Israeli war in Gaza - lack basic supplies and equipment.

But didn't Israel withdraw from Gaza? How is it still an occupying power?

It’s true that the Israeli government no longer has a presence inside the Gaza Strip. Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon ordered the withdrawal of all Israelis (including both soldiers and settlers) from the territory in his 2005 "unilateral disengagement plan".

But the Fourth Geneva Convention applies whenever a state has "effective control" over a territory. The Israeli government still controls Gaza’s airspace, and its land and sea borders. The only goods and people allowed into Gaza are those approved by the Israeli government.

Last month’s raid on the aid flotilla bound for Gaza is an instructive example. The organisers of the flotilla say their boats were on course to travel through Gazan waters, not Israeli waters. But the Israeli army still attacked the flotilla to prevent it from entering Gaza - showing that Israel maintains control over Gaza.

If there was no occupation, would the blockade still be illegal?

The principle of “proportionality” is central to international law: The military advantage gained by an action must outweigh the harm caused to the civilian population.

The blockade does not meet this test. It imposes hardships on the entire population of Gaza - 1.5 million people - purportedly in order to achieve a limited military aim: preventing Hamas from firing rockets at Israel.

What’s more, documents revealed last week by the Israeli human rights organisation Gisha show that the blockade actually has a political aim, not a military one. A written statement from the Israeli government described the blockade as "economic warfare" and said it was intended to break Hamas’s control over the government in Gaza.

What about the Egyptian government?

The Egyptian border crossing with Gaza, at Rafah, has been mostly sealed since Hamas took power in June of 2007. (The Egyptian government reopened the crossing earlier this month following Israel’s raid on the aid flotilla.)

But Egypt is not an occupying power in Gaza - it does not exercise "effective control" over the territory - so, whatever the moral and political arguments against its blockade, it is not required to apply the same legal standard as Israel.

Israel's flotilla probe criticised

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/201061414383877403.html


Turkey and Palestinians have attacked Israel's announcement that it is creating an internal committee to probe its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month, saying it did not comply with UN demands.
Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said Israel was incapable of conducting an "impartial investigation," while Hamas, the body governing the Gaza Strip, said the country's continuing refusal to accept an international probe proved its guilt.
"By refusing the formation of an international committee to investigate the massacre, Israel is condemning itself," said Fawzi Barhum, a Hamas spokesman.
The Israeli cabinet formally ratified the creation of the three-man committee looking into the raid on Monday, following its initial announcement of the probe late on Sunday.
The UN Security Council has demanded that Israel create an impartial and transparent investigation into the attack by Israeli commandos on May 31.
The raid on the flotilla, which was trying to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, left nine Turkish activists dead.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said the setting up of an internal committee by Israel did not comply with the UN's demands.
"The proposition made today for the inquiry committee does not correspond to the request of the Security Council," Abbas said in Paris on Monday after meeting Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.
Turkey had also demanded a UN-led probe and threatened to review its ties with Israel if it did not heed calls for an independent inquiry.

'Uncovering the facts'
The committee set up to investigate the legal aspects of the raid will be chaired by Yaakov Tirkel, 75, a retired Israeli supreme court judge who will work alongside Amos Horev, 86, a retired major general, and Shabtai Rosen, 93, a professor of international law.
It will also include two international observers: David Trimble, 65, an Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner; and Ken Watkin, 55, former judge advocate general of the Canadian military.

It was not clear what powers Trimble and Watkin would have and a statement from Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said they would not be able "to vote in relation to the proceedings and conclusions of the commission".
The two men could also be denied access to information that could "cause substantial harm to national security or to the state's foreign relations," the statement said.
The inquiry will run alongside another internal military probe into the events of May 31, which began last week under Giora Eiland, a retired brigadier general.

Israel has made clear the investigation announced at the weekend will not hear any direct testimony from troops involved in the raid.
"I am convinced that uncovering the facts will prove that Israel acted in an appropriately defensive fashion in accordance with the highest standards," Netanyahu told cabinet members on Monday.
"The committee will clarify to the world that Israel acts according to law with responsibility and full transparency," he said.

Time to end, not 'ease' the siege

By: Lamis Andoni

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/06/20106138105088744.html


The visit by Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, to Gaza is the first serious attempt by an Arab official to break the Israeli-imposed siege on the tiny Strip.


It took a war, the lives of 1,400 Palestinians, and nine Turks, killed during a lethal Israeli interception of an aid flotilla, for Arab states to finally move against the blockade.

There is no doubt that the visit will send an important message to the international community that the siege can no longer be tolerated.


Endorsing collective punishment


Popular fury in the Arab world and beyond, triggered by the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara, has spurred American and European leaders to call for an easing of the Gazan population's continued suffering.


But, instead of calling for an immediate end to the siege, most statements and proposals have been aimed at "easing" or finding an "alternative" to it. And such prescriptions to make the siege more tolerable will only alleviate the pressure on Israel rather than on the beleaguered Gazans.

Finding an "alternative" to the siege is paramount to endorsing the Israeli policy of collective punishment and guaranteeing its own security while maintaining a free hand in arresting and killing Palestinians whenever it sees fit.

The Israeli argument that the siege is necessary to undermine the Hamas movement, which has been in control of the Strip for three years this week, has been proven invalid.

Israel knows that it can secure an end to rocket attacks from Gaza through a mediated truce, such as the one brokered by Egypt in 2008. When Israel broke that truce - leading to a response from Hamas - it was as though it wanted an excuse to unleash its superior military arsenal on the Strip.


Israel's very insistence that it has the right to control the Gaza Strip and to use military power against Palestinians must not be accepted or even accommodated by the international community.


Even before Hamas won the 2006 elections and after Israel unilateral "withdrew" from Gaza, Israel was sending clear messages that it remained in control of the Strip - its land crossings, port and even skies.


Palestinian divisions

It maintains the same attitude in the West Bank.

Negotiations and a halt to armed operations against Israel have not stopped the latter from conducting raids, rounding up Palestinians, killing those who are determined to remain "wanted", demolishing homes, confiscating land, displacing residents and building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Under international law the siege on Gaza and all Israeli acts in the West Bank are considered illegal.


As an occupying power international conventions forbid Israel from imposing collective punishment on those under its control and from altering the demographic status of the territories under occupation.

Thus, if there is to be a serious Arab or international undertaking to end the crisis in Gaza it should be a real effort to end the occupation and not simply to help Israel manage it.

It is true that Palestinian divisions complicate efforts to find a solution, but an Arab rejection of any accommodation of or participation in the siege is crucial for a credible initiative by the Arab League to bring about Palestinian reconciliation.

Egypt - as the Arab party enforcing the Israeli siege by virtue of its border with Gaza - has argued that it cannot keep the Rafah crossing open until there is a return to a 2005 agreement that stipulated that the crossing be operated on the Gazan side by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The presence of European Union observers was also deemed necessary "to placate Israeli fears".


But this arrangement was in reality an accommodation of continued Israeli control of Gaza, after "disengagement" transformed Israel's direct and visible control of the Strip into something indirect and invisible.

In other words Israel remains in control and therein lays the fundamental problem.


Political will


The rift between Hamas and Fatah over who should control the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing has distorted and eclipsed the real issue - the fact that Israel remains in control of all of Gaza's land and sea entries.


This power struggle is part of a broader battle for legitimacy. Hamas won the majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in the 2006 election, while Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, won the 2005 presidential elections.

The terms of both the PLC and the presidency have expired and new elections are overdue. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in its capacity as the decision-making body above the PA, has extended the terms of both the president and the council.

Ironically, Hamas has effectively accepted the decision to prolong the term of the council even though it rejects PLO sponsorship.

But the issue is political, not legal.


Moussa's visit to Gaza, as the end of his term draws near, is an opportunity to genuinely break the Israeli siege and to bring Palestinians together. But Moussa cannot act alone as most Arab governments continue to partake in fuelling the Palestinian fraternal feud.

But, ultimately it is the Palestinian leadership who must now show the political will to unite.

Days before the Israeli assault on the aid flotilla Abbas was reportedly planning to visit Gaza. It is time he does.


Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs.

Red Cross: Gaza blockade illegal

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/201061452646659588.html


The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has described Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip as a violation of the Geneva Conventions and called on the Israeli government to lift it.

In a statement released on Monday, the organisation called the blockade "collective punishment", a crime under international law. It described Gaza as a territory plagued by frequent power cuts, a ruined economy, and a collapsed health care system.

"The closure imposed on the Gaza Strip is about to enter its fourth year, choking off any real possibility of economic development," the ICRC said.

"Gazans continue to suffer from unemployment, poverty and warfare, while the quality of Gaza's health care system has reached an all-time low."

Crippling shortages

Israeli officials insist that they provide enough "humanitarian aid" to cover Gaza's basic needs.

But the ICRC - a neutral organisation - said the meagre list of goods allowed into Gaza doesn't meet the needs of the territory's 1.5 million inhabitants.

The shortages are particularly dire in Gaza's health care system, where the ICRC said more than 100 essential medicines - including chemotherapy and hemophilia drugs - are unavailable. Many basic medical supplies, like colonoscopy bags, are also barred from Gaza and routine blackouts cause damage to medical equipment.

"The state of the health-care system in Gaza has never been worse," Eileen Daly, the ICRC's health co-ordinator in Gaza, said.

"Thousands of patients could go without treatment, and the long-term outlook will be increasingly worrisome."

B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, released its own report on Monday documenting dire conditions in the Palestinian territories. The group noted that 95 per cent of Gaza's factories have closed, that 98 per cent of residents suffer from blackouts, and that 93 per cent of Gaza's water is polluted.

Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, on Sunday called for an end to the blockade.

Hamas criticized

The ICRC also criticised Hamas, the Islamic movement which controls Gaza, for preventing the ICRC from visiting Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in 2006. Shalit is entitled to visits from the Red Cross under international law.

"In violation of international humanitarian law, [Hamas] has also refused to allow him to get in touch with his family," the ICRC said.

But the bulk of the ICRC's criticism was directed at Israel's blockade. In addition to the health care problems, the ICRC noted that 40 per cent of Gaza's residents are not connected to a sewage system, and that restrictions on movement have driven many farmers and fishermen into poverty.

One-third of Gaza's farmland is located in a "buffer zone" controlled by the Israeli army, and boats are only allowed to fish within three nautical miles of Gaza's coast.

The ICRC demanded that both Israel and the Hamas government "allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage" of aid shipments to Gaza. Hamas has refused to accept 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid seized from the flotilla of aid ships attacked last month by the Israeli army.

The Israeli government announced on Sunday that a panel, chaired by former supreme court judge Yaakov Turkel, would investigate the flotilla attack.

Israeli forces gun down Palestinians

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=129335§ionid=351020202



Four Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli gunboats off the Gaza coast as Tel Aviv faces more criticism over its blockade of the impoverished coastal sliver.

The bodies of four men were washed up to the shore near the Gaza Strip city of Zahraa on early Monday, an official at Gaza's Ministry of Health told a Press TV correspondent.

The bodies, delivered to Deir al-Balah hospital morgue, reportedly belonged to Palestinian fishermen who were targeted by Israeli naval patrols.

The Israeli army confirmed the attack, claiming the men came under Israeli fire when they were spotted wearing diving suits.

Last week, Israel launched a deadly offensive on an aid convoy heading for the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 9 people and wounding 40 others.

The attack sparked an outrage across the world and drew sharp criticism from the international community against Israel's use of violent force against pro-Palestinian activists onboard the six-ship fleet.

The lethal attack was followed by calls from the international community demanding Israel lift severe movement restrictions it has imposed on the Palestinian territory for years.

Among the voices raised in protest was that of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who said the fatalities would not have happened if Israel had not continued the siege on Gaza.