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Gaza is still a prison
Patrick O’Connor, Al Ahram Weekly, 17 March 2006
Palestinian women waiting at Tal Al-Soltan checkpoint in the Gaza Strip.Hatem Omar/Maan
The media reports that the Gaza Strip is no longer under Israeli control, but two weeks ago I was blocked from entering Gaza from Egypt by Israeli agents. The day before, two French citizens were prevented from entering for a sister city project in Gaza. Israeli authorities invoked “security reasons” and false claims of links to terrorism, a typical strategy used against foreign supporters of Palestinian rights. Despite the fanfare over Israel’s August “Gaza disengagement”, Gaza remains a prison, with no visitors allowed.
My case provides one small example, thousands of which are repeated every day, of how the Israeli government has exploited the cover of real security concerns to continue to control Gaza, denying Palestinians freedom and trapping them in poverty. Opportunities for progress through Israel’s Gaza withdrawal were squandered, and American promises on the Middle East were again shown to be empty.
In November, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced an agreement on Gaza’s borders that she brokered between the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority by saying, “this agreement is intended to give the Palestinian people freedom to move, to trade, to live ordinary lives.” But, as usual, the US government didn’t follow up after the press conference.
The agreement specified that bus and truck links between Gaza and the West Bank would open in December and January under Israeli supervision, but in December Israel suspended these plans indefinitely. Bus links or no, Israel denies permission for “security reasons” to Gazans -- like my friend Laila, a journalist, mother, and fellow graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government -- to travel to the West Bank.
Israel also agreed to “permit export of agricultural produce from Gaza and... facilitate its speedy exit and onward movement.” Instead, in January during peak harvest, Israel closed Karni, the primary commercial crossing, claiming militants were digging a tunnel in the area. After three weeks and millions of dollars of Palestinian losses, Israel re-opened Karni. No tunnel was ever found. Israel continues to close Karni regularly for “security reasons”.
More
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4562.shtml
The media reports that the Gaza Strip is no longer under Israeli control, but two weeks ago I was blocked from entering Gaza from Egypt by Israeli agents. The day before, two French citizens were prevented from entering for a sister city project in Gaza. Israeli authorities invoked “security reasons” and false claims of links to terrorism, a typical strategy used against foreign supporters of Palestinian rights. Despite the fanfare over Israel’s August “Gaza disengagement”, Gaza remains a prison, with no visitors allowed.
My case provides one small example, thousands of which are repeated every day, of how the Israeli government has exploited the cover of real security concerns to continue to control Gaza, denying Palestinians freedom and trapping them in poverty. Opportunities for progress through Israel’s Gaza withdrawal were squandered, and American promises on the Middle East were again shown to be empty.
In November, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced an agreement on Gaza’s borders that she brokered between the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority by saying, “this agreement is intended to give the Palestinian people freedom to move, to trade, to live ordinary lives.” But, as usual, the US government didn’t follow up after the press conference.
The agreement specified that bus and truck links between Gaza and the West Bank would open in December and January under Israeli supervision, but in December Israel suspended these plans indefinitely. Bus links or no, Israel denies permission for “security reasons” to Gazans -- like my friend Laila, a journalist, mother, and fellow graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government -- to travel to the West Bank.
Israel also agreed to “permit export of agricultural produce from Gaza and... facilitate its speedy exit and onward movement.” Instead, in January during peak harvest, Israel closed Karni, the primary commercial crossing, claiming militants were digging a tunnel in the area. After three weeks and millions of dollars of Palestinian losses, Israel re-opened Karni. No tunnel was ever found. Israel continues to close Karni regularly for “security reasons”.
More
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4562.shtml
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