{"id":30502,"date":"2013-06-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-17T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=30502"},"modified":"2015-05-06T12:52:52","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T11:52:52","slug":"gaza-7th-year-of-unlawful-blockade-un-hrc-sr-press-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/06\/gaza-7th-year-of-unlawful-blockade-un-hrc-sr-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza: 7th Year of Unlawful Blockade (UN HRC SR Press Release)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prefatory Note:<\/em><\/p>\n

I am posting a press release of yesterday, 14 June 2013, to take note of the start of the seventh year of the Israeli blockade<\/a>. After the Mavi Marmara incident<\/a>, 31 May 2010 and the more recent November ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Gaza government there was an undertaking to ease the blockade with respect to the flow back and forth of people and goods, but the situation remains desperate for the civilian population of Gaza that remains essentially locked into the Gaza Strip<\/a> where economic destitution has reached epidemic extremes and where the water is mostly unfit for human consumption. The international community, and its main leaders, have commented adversely on the blockade, but nothing happens! It is this sense of powerlessness that is undermining the legitimacy and relevance of the United Nations to the suffering of the Palestinian people<\/a>, and with particular relevance to the extreme ordeal of the civilian population of Gaza.<\/p>\n

**********************************************************<\/p>\n

UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner<\/b><\/p>\n

Press Release on start of 7th<\/sup> year of Gaza Blockade<\/b><\/p>\n

Collective punishment in Gaza must end: Israel\u2019s blockade enters its 7th<\/sup> year \u2013 UN Special Rapporteur \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

GENEVA, 14 June 2013 \u2013 The United Nations Special Rapporteur<\/a> on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, Richard Falk, called today on Israel to end its blockade over the Gaza Strip, six years after it was tightened following the Hamas takeover in June 2007. The human suffering of the land, sea and air blockade imposed on the 1.75 million Palestinians living in one of the most densely populated and impoverished areas of the world has been devastating.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix years of Israel\u2019s calculated strangulation of the Gaza Strip has stunted the economy and has kept most Gazans<\/a> in a state of perpetual poverty and aid dependency,\u201d said the UN expert. \u201cWhether it is fishermen unable to go beyond six nautical miles from the shore, farmers unable to access their land near the Israeli fence, businessmen suffering from severe restrictions on the export of goods, students denied access to education in the West Bank, or patients in need of urgent medical attention refused access to Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank, the destructive designs of blockade have been felt by every single household in Gaza. It is especially felt by Palestinian families separated by the blockade,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Gaza have endured the unendurable and suffered what is insufferable for six years. Israel\u2019s collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza must end today,\u201d said the Special Rapporteur.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael has the responsibility as the Occupying Power to protect the civilian population. But instead of allowing a healthy people and economy to flourish, Israeli authorities have sealed off the Gaza Strip. According to statistics released by the Israeli Ministry of Defense<\/a>, last month\u2019s exports out of Gaza consisted of 49 truckloads of empty boxes, three truckloads of spices, one truckload of cut flowers, and one truckload of furniture,\u201d he said. In 2012, the total number of truckloads of exports leaving Gaza was 254, compared to 9,787 in 2005 before the tightening of the blockade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not take an economist to figure out that such a trickle of goods out of Gaza is not the basis of a viable economy,\u201d noted the UN expert. \u201cThe easing of the blockade announced by Israel in June 2010 after its deadly assault on the flotilla of ships carrying aid to the besieged population resulted only in an increase in consumer goods entering Gaza, and has not improved living conditions for most Gazans. \u00a0Since 2007, the productive capacity of Gaza has dwindled with 80 percent of factories in Gaza now closed or operating at half capacity or less due to the loss of export markets and prohibitively high operating costs as a result of the blockade. 34 percent of Gaza\u2019s workforce is unemployed including up to half the youth population, 44 percent of Gazans are food insecure, 80 percent of Gazans are aid recipients,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make matters worse, 90 percent of the water from the Gaza aquifer is unsafe for human consumption without treatment, and severe fuel and electricity shortage results in outages of up to 12 hours a day. Only a small proportion of Gazans who can afford to obtain supplies through the tunnel economy are buffered from the full blow of the blockade, but tunnels alone cannot meet the daily needs of the population in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, the United Nations forecast that under existing conditions, Gaza would be uninhabitable by 2020. Less optimistic forecasts presented to me were that the Gaza Strip may no longer be viable only three years from now,\u201d said the Special Rapporteur. \u201cIt\u2019s clear that the Israeli authorities set out six years ago to devitalize \u00a0the Gazan population and economy,\u201d he said, referring to a study undertaken by the Israeli Ministry of Defense in early 2008 detailing the minimum number of calories Palestinians in Gaza need to consume on a daily basis to avoid malnutrition. \u00a0The myriad of restrictions imposed by Israel do not permit civilians in Gaza to develop to their full potential, and enjoy and exercise fully their human rights.<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

In 2008, the UN Human Rights Council<\/a> designated Richard Falk (United States of America<\/a>) as the fifth Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. The mandate was originally established in 1993 by the UN Commission on Human Rights. <\/i><\/p>\n

Learn more, log on to: <\/i>http:\/\/www2.ohchr.org\/english\/countries\/ps\/mandate\/index.htm<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

UN Human Rights \u2013 Occupied Palestinian Territories<\/a>: <\/i>http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/countries\/MENARegion\/Pages\/PSIndex.aspx<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

UN Human Rights \u2013 Israel: <\/i>http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/Countries\/MENARegion\/Pages\/ILIndex.aspx<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

For more information and media requests<\/b>, please contact Kevin Turner (<\/i>kturner@ohchr.org<\/i><\/a>) or Kiyohiko Hasegawa <\/i>khasegawa@ohchr.org<\/i><\/a>) or write to <\/i>sropt@ohchr.org<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

For media inquiries<\/b> related to other UN independent experts:<\/p>\n

C\u00e9cile Pouilly, UN Human Rights \u2013 Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9310 \/ cpouilly@ohchr.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n

UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:<\/b><\/p>\n

Facebook:<\/b> https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unitednationshumanrights<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter:<\/b> http:\/\/twitter.com\/UNrightswire<\/a><\/p>\n

Google+<\/b> gplus.to\/unitednationshumanrights<\/p>\n

YouTube:<\/b> http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/UNOHCHR<\/a><\/p>\n

Storify: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/b>http:\/\/storify.com\/UNrightswire<\/a><\/p>\n

_______________________<\/p>\n

Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs. He is currently serving his fourth year of a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights.<\/em> Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. <\/i>His most recent book is <\/i>Achieving Human Rights (2009).<\/i><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 richardfalk.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS<\/i> <\/b><\/span>campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/b> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/b> BARCODE<\/b> STARTS WITH<\/b> 729<\/b>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am posting a press release of yesterday, 14 June 2013, to take note of the start of the seventh year of the Israeli blockade. After the Mavi Marmara incident, 31 May 2010 and the more recent November ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Gaza government there was an undertaking to ease the blockade with respect to the flow back and forth of people and goods, but the situation remains desperate for the civilian population of Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,40,45,59,57,66,54,82,139,148,146,203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-transcend-members","category-activism","category-nonviolence","category-militarism","category-middle-east-north-africa","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","category-united-nations","category-justice","category-history","category-economics","category-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30502","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=30502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}