{"id":116484,"date":"2018-08-13T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=116484"},"modified":"2018-08-11T12:49:14","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T11:49:14","slug":"what-everyone-should-know-about-israels-siege-of-the-gaza-strip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/08\/what-everyone-should-know-about-israels-siege-of-the-gaza-strip\/","title":{"rendered":"What Everyone Should Know about Israel\u2019s Siege of the Gaza Strip"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A view of the commercial border crossing Karam Abu Salem after Israel closed the crossing, except for food and medicine goods, in Gaza City, Gaza on 17 July, 2018.
[Ali Jadallah\/Anadolu Agency]<\/p><\/div>\n

10 Aug 2018 – <\/em>For 11 years, Israel has imposed an unforgiving siege on the Gaza Strip. With severely restricted access in and out of the enclave \u2014 via land, air and, notoriously, sea \u2014 Gaza has effectively been sealed off from the world. The Strip is only 360 square kilometres in size, about the same as Las Vegas in the US or one-quarter the size of London. It is now home to almost two million Palestinians, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world and leading some to dub Gaza \u201cthe world\u2019s largest open-air prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to UNRWA<\/a>, the UN body responsible for Palestinian refugees, 1.3 million of Gaza\u2019s 1.9 million inhabitants are refugees. Most were expelled from their homes in 1948<\/a> when the State of Israel was created, and many were uprooted again when Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, Sinai Peninsula and Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War<\/a>. A further 23,500 people continue to be internally displaced following Israel\u2019s \u201cOperation Protective Edge\u201d military offensive against Gaza in 2014.<\/p>\n

So what does the daily reality of the siege look like? Here are 11 aspects, one for each year that the siege has been imposed by Israel.<\/p>\n

Movement of people is heavily restricted<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under the siege, the Palestinian residents of Gaza are required to obtain a permit to leave. Israel repeatedly refuses to issue such permits for exit via the Erez\/Beit Hanoun Crossing. In the first quarter of 2018 alone, Israel denied<\/a> 833 exit permit applications \u201con grounds of having family ties to Hamas,\u201d the group which has ruled the Strip since winning the last Palestinian elections held in 2006. Compare this with 2017, when 21 applications were refused on such grounds throughout the whole year.<\/p>\n

Read: Israel denies West Bank medical team entry to Gaza<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These restrictions also prevent those in need of medical attention from leaving Gaza via Israel. According to Al Jazeera<\/em><\/a>, \u201cIsrael was responsible for at least 54 Palestinian deaths in 2017,\u201d having rejected hundreds of medical permit applications by people needing treatment in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israel itself or abroad. A report<\/a> by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for the occupied Palestinian territories (OCHA OPT) found that the rate of denied or delayed permit applications to access health care outside Gaza reached 45 per cent in October 2017.<\/p>\n

Crossings into and out of Gaza are closed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel has closed almost all of the Gaza Strip\u2019s entry and exit points. There were formerly six crossings in and out of Gaza: Erez\/Beit Hanoun, Nahal Oz, Karni, Sufa, Kerem Shalom\/Karm Abu Salem and Rafah.<\/p>\n

Until recently, only one commercial route into and out of Gaza remained: Kerem Shalom. However, in July, Israel also closed<\/a> this crossing, citing incendiary kites<\/a> and balloons flown into Israel from inside Gaza as part of the Great March of Return<\/a> protests. Whereas previously 300-400 trucks would pass through the crossing every day, only 150 trucks of essential medical and humanitarian supplies were being allowed to pass. Only a week later, cooking gas distribution companies in the besieged Strip announced<\/a> that they had \u201crun out of backup\u201d.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0Closure of crossings damaging Gaza\u2019s industrial, commercial sectors<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the south of the Strip is Rafah, the only pedestrian crossing open to Palestinians (Erez crossing, in the north, is reserved for journalists, medical staff, international diplomats and those in need of medical attention). An almost complete closure of the Rafah crossing has been imposed by Egypt since 2013, for \u201csecurity\u201d reasons but almost certainly at Israel\u2019s behest. In 2017, the Rafah crossing was closed<\/a> for 337 days.<\/p>\n

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Gaza\u2019s access to the sea is restricted<\/strong><\/p>\n

On top of the restrictions Israel enforces on land, it also restricts access to the sea. According to an OCHA map (included in UNRWA\u2019s report \u201cGaza in 2020<\/em><\/a>\u201d), since Israel\u2019s three-week assault on Gaza in 2009 it has imposed a limit of three nautical miles on fishermen working out of the territory. This has been tightened consistently, even though a limit of 20 nautical miles was recommended by the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s. A no-entry zone of one and one and a half nautical miles, in the south and north respectively, has also been imposed, extending out from each of Gaza\u2019s frontiers with Israel and Egypt.<\/p>\n

In 2017, OCHA estimated<\/a> that over 35,000 Palestinians still depended on the fishing industry for their livelihoods, but Israeli restrictions have all but destroyed Gaza\u2019s once thriving fishing industry. Israel also targets Gazan fishermen, with international charity Oxfam noting<\/a> that \u201cin the first half of 2014, there were at least 177 incidents of naval fire against fishermen.\u201d Many have been killed or wounded, and had their boats destroyed or seized by the Israeli navy.<\/p>\n

Some have speculated that Israel\u2019s restrictions are motivated by the presence of gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2015, Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed<\/a> a deal to allow companies to begin extraction from the gas field. Thought to contain some 22 trillion cubic feet of gas, the discovery was hailed as a \u201cgift from God\u201d which could turn Israel into a \u201cregional energy powerhouse.\u201d Most of the gas fields are situated<\/a> off Gaza\u2019s shore, meaning that the gas reserves and their revenue would belong to Gaza were it not for Israel\u2019s occupation, naval restrictions and blockade.<\/p>\n

Israel imposes a strict naval blockade<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s naval siege also includes blockading vessels seeking to enter or leave Gaza. In July 2018, an international convoy carrying humanitarian and medical supplies, dubbed the Freedom Flotilla, tried to break Israel\u2019s siege of Gaza. Consisting of two ships \u2013 Al-Awda and Freedom \u2013 the flotilla was intercepted<\/a> by Israeli naval forces in international waters amid accusations<\/a> of violence by the troops involved.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that such flotillas have been hijacked in what have been called acts of piracy<\/a> on the high seas. Infamously, in 2010 Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara<\/a> taking humanitarian aid to Gaza and killed nine Turkish citizens; a tenth died later of his wounds.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0Israel takeover of Freedom Flotilla not \u2018peaceful\u2019 says activists<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Earlier this month (August 2018), images were revealed<\/a> showing the construction of an underwater barrier stretching some 200 metres into the Mediterranean, separating Palestinian and Israeli territorial waters. Consisting of an underwater structure, an armoured stone base and a six-metre-high barbed wire fence, and at an estimated to cost the Israeli government of $6.7 million, the barrier adds to the land and sea restrictions already imposed on Gaza under the siege.<\/p>\n

A strangled economy means high unemployment<\/strong><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/middleeastmonitor\/photos\/a.175445796925.124046.152879306925\/10153376416851926\/?type=3<\/p>\n

A recent report by the World Bank<\/a> revealed a drop in Gaza\u2019s growth, from eight per cent in 2016 to 0.5 per cent in 2017. Much of this has been caused by Israel\u2019s prohibition on goods and raw materials being allowed into Gaza, which has prevented the reconstruction necessary after three major Israeli military offensives waged on the enclave over the past decade. The World Bank also noted that the cuts to UNRWA funding announced<\/a> early in 2018 have further hampered the chances for economic recovery.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0The plan to end UNRWA will not take away Palestinians\u2019 right of return<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unemployment in the Gaza Strip is therefore one of the highest in the world; Israeli human rights organisation B\u2019Tselem<\/a> notes that the unemployment rate in Gaza reached 46.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2017. Among those aged 20 to 24, unemployment reached 67.8 per cent, and among women the rate was 71 per cent. Overcrowding and a predominantly young population have contributed further to this problem.<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/middleeastmonitor\/photos\/a.175445796925.124046.152879306925\/10155759154781926\/?type=3<\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s agricultural potential is stifled<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gaza has huge agricultural potential, but much of this is stifled by the siege. Highly-fertile land means that fresh fruit including strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, as well as herbs, used to be huge contributors to Gaza\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

In his book Gaza: Preparing for Dawn<\/em><\/a>, former Jerusalem bureau chief for the Independent <\/em>Donald Macintyre noted that even before the siege began officially, intensive Israeli security inspections often meant fresh produce \u201chad rotted by the time [it] left Gaza.\u201d With commercial crossings now closed; the lack of any potential for exporting via sea routes; and the lack of fresh water for irrigation purposes, much of this industry has failed.<\/p>\n

Israeli herbicides kill Palestinian crops<\/strong><\/p>\n

Compounding the problem is Israel\u2019s practice of spraying herbicides near the Gaza fence, which kills crops inside the territory. OCHAopt<\/a> quotes the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture as saying, \u201cA spraying operation in January 2018 affected some 550 acres of agricultural lands belonging to 212 farmers, with an estimated loss of $1.3 million.\u201d Israel insists the spraying is done on the Israeli side of the boundary, but has refused<\/a> to consider claims made by Palestinian farmers for damage to their farmland.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0Israel settlers flood Palestinian farmland with sewage<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gaza receives only four to six hours\u2019 electricity per day<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gaza receives just four to six hours of electricity per day because repairs have not been allowed to the territory\u2019s only power plant, damaged by successive Israeli offensives. Fuel for the plant and emergency generators is also subject to tight import restrictions imposed by the Israeli siege. In 2017, OCHAopt<\/a> reported that electricity shortages were directly affecting 14 hospitals and more than 140 health clinics in the Strip. In July 2018, patients from across Gaza\u2019s hospitals staged<\/a> a sit-in in front of the Erez crossing to highlight the shortages in medical equipment and resources, which prevent patients from receiving adequate care. These electricity shortages also impact schools\u2019 capacity to provide education to Palestinian children, families\u2019 ability to store food at home and employment opportunities in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0Only 37% of Gaza\u2019s electricity needs being met<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/middleeastmonitor\/photos\/a.175445796925.124046.152879306925\/10155715385876926\/?type=3<\/p>\n

96% of Gaza\u2019s water is undrinkable<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to OCHA <\/a>OPT, 40 per cent of Gaza\u2019s population receives just three to five hours of water supply every five days. In addition, over 96 per cent of water extracted from Gaza\u2019s aquifers is unfit for human consumption; the aquifers have been contaminated by sea water as well as chemicals from fertilisers washed down by rainfall from Israeli settlements. This means that 90 per cent of Gazans have to buy desalinated or bottled water, imposing an additional cost burden on families already living under the poverty line. The water problem has been compounded by outages in electricity, which have led to sanitation difficulties and left untreated sewage to flow into the sea, contaminating 73 per cent of the shoreline.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0Less than 4% of ground water in Gaza is usable says\u00a0UNICEF<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/middleeastmonitor\/photos\/a.175445796925.124046.152879306925\/10154761673981926\/?type=3<\/p>\n

Education is strained and graduates are jobless<\/strong><\/p>\n

Education has come under strain during the siege, with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reporting<\/a> that to cope with ever-increasing demand, 70 per cent of public and UNRWA schools teach in double shifts, where one group of students attends in the morning and another in the afternoon. Yet despite the challenges facing Gaza\u2019s students, literacy rates remain among the highest across the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region.<\/p>\n

However, unemployment is particularly acute among those with college and university education, with B\u2019Tselem noting that among residents of Gaza with post-secondary education, unemployment in late 2017 was 52.3 per cent.<\/p>\n

Israel didn\u2019t \u2018disengage\u2019 from Gaza<\/strong><\/p>\n

The official Israeli narrative states that Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, when it forced almost 8,000 illegal settlers to leave 21 settlements. Many settler families were given generous compensation packages in exchange, some amounting to almost $200,000, but others had to be removed by force.<\/p>\n

However, the extent to which Israel disengaged from Gaza has been undermined by its implementation of the siege since 2007. Some have suggested that Israel simply replaced its direct control of Gaza with a remote control occupation, squeezing the economy, natural resources and movement of people all without maintaining boots on the ground.<\/p>\n

With its complete control of Gaza\u2019s air, land and sea borders, Israel remains technically and legally an occupying power in the territory. The occupation is still very much in place. This means, among other things, that Israel cannot claim that its military offensives are simply acts of self-defence; there is no such claim under international law for states involved in a military occupation, which those living under occupation have every right to resist.<\/p>\n

________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Rebecca Stead – <\/strong>An MA student at SOAS University of London studying Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic,\u00a0Stead\u00a0focuses on the history, culture and politics of Israel-Palestine specifically and the Levant more broadly. She has travelled in the region and studied Arabic in Jerusalem and Amman, and works in a freelance capacity for a number of journals and blogging platforms.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 middleeastmonitor.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 Aug 2018 – For 11 years, Israel has imposed an unforgiving siege on the Gaza Strip. With severely restricted access in and out of the enclave \u2014 via land, air and, notoriously, sea \u2014 Gaza has effectively been sealed off from the world. The Strip is only 360 square kilometres in size, about the same as Las Vegas in the US or one-quarter the size of London. It is now home to almost two million Palestinians, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world and leading some to dub Gaza \u201cthe world\u2019s largest open-air prison.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":116485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}