The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
"Gaza Prison: Freedom of Movement to and from the Gaza Strip on the Eve of the Disengagement Plan - link -
http://www.btselem.org/english/Publications/Summaries/200503_Gaza_Prison.asp
For the past four and a half years, Israel has severely restricted freedom of movement to and from the Gaza Strip. These restrictions further strangled the Gaza Strip, so much so that the area resembles one gigantic prison. Israel’s policies have reduced many human rights – among them the right to freedom of movement, family life, health, education, and work – to “humanitarian gestures” that Israel sparingly provides.
The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are almost completely separated from each other, and Palestinian travel between the two areas has been drastically reduced. Gazans are not allowed to enter Israel to visit relatives or to live with their spouses, and family visits by Arab citizens and residents of Israel are kept to a minimum. Israel places hardships on Palestinians wanting to leave the region, and prohibits many Palestinians from leaving. The import and export of goods is limited and often stops altogether. A small number of Gazans are allowed to work in Israel, and tens of thousands have lost their jobs.
Detachment of the Gaza Strip from the rest of the world has exacted a price from each and every Palestinian living there. The restrictions on the movement of goods and laborers has created a deep recession, the loss of work, and a dramatic deterioration in living conditions. Over the past four and a half years, the poverty rate has increased by more than 40 percent. Going abroad to obtain medical treatment or to study entails long waits. Severance of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and Israel results in painful separation from loved ones, and in some cases the separation of children from one of their parents.
Israel’s policy did not come out of the blue, but was a response to the wave of attacks that has struck Israel and the Occupied Territories since the outbreak of the intifada. Attacks aimed at civilians are “war crimes” according to international humanitarian law and are unjustifiable in all circumstances. Israel is entitled, and required, to protect its citizens from such attacks. However, in doing so, Israel does not have the right to trample on the human rights of an entire population.
Israel implements its separation policy in a patently arbitrary and indiscriminate manner. Almost all restrictions are imposed on entire groups of people, based on sweeping criteria, without examining the threat that the individual person poses. The proof is that Israeli authorities have often chosen to reverse their refusal of a person’s request for a movement permit once an attorney or human rights organization intervenes, rather than face an embarrassing legal challenge. Most elements of Israel’s policy are illegal under international law and Israeli law.
In approving the disengagement plan, the government of Israel stated its intention to evade its responsibility for the human rights of Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip. However, all the human rights violations discussed in this report are likely to continue, and even worsen, after disengagement.
B’Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual urge the government of Israel to end its siege policy on the Gaza Strip and to respect the right of Palestinians to freedom of
link:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Maps/Index.asp For the past four and a half years, Israel has severely restricted freedom of movement to and from the Gaza Strip. These restrictions further strangled the Gaza Strip, so much so that the area resembles one gigantic prison. Israel’s policies have reduced many human rights – among them the right to freedom of movement, family life, health, education, and work – to “humanitarian gestures” that Israel sparingly provides "
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"11 July 2006: Human rights groups to Israeli High Court: Stop the harm to the civilian population in Gaza - link:
http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20060711.asphttp://www.btselem.org/english/Publications/Summaries/200503_Gaza_Prison.asp Today, July 11, 2006, six human rights groups petitioned the Israeli High Court demanding that the crossings in Gaza be opened to allow for the steady and regular supply of fuel, food, medicine, and equipment, including spare parts needed to operate generators.
The groups – The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Hamoked: Center for Defence of the Individual, B’tselem, The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Gisha - Center for the Legal Protection of Freedom of Movement also asked for an urgent hearing in order to prevent serious harm to the health of the civilian population, especially patients in hospital, and to prevent the breakdown of the water and sewage system in Gaza.
During the current military operation in the Gaza Strip the Israeli military has interrupted the supply of fuel to Gaza and kept Gaza's crossings mostly closed to supply of food and other humanitarian goods. The uninterrupted supply of fuel and equipment is necessary for the functioning of Gaza's health and sanitation systems, and Gaza requires a steady supply of food and medicine.
Since Gaza's power station was destroyed on June 28, there is an increased need for fuel to power the generators in Gaza and for spare parts to keep the generators running at such a high capacity. The closure of Karni Crossing has led to shortages in food at a time when, given the difficulty of obtaining electricity to prepare and refrigerate foodstuffs, Gaza requires increased shipments of dairy products, meat, flour, and other goods.
Without a steady supply of fuel and parts, hospitals cannot perform life-saving surgery and treatment plants cannot pump and treat sewage in Gaza. Gaza hospitals have reduced their activities to life-saving procedures. Since the bombing of the power plant, Gaza's water utility has been dumping 60,000 cubic meters of raw sewage into the sea each day, for lack of power and equipment to run the treatment plants, and there is concern that untreated sewage will pollute the aquifer or spill into the streets.
Because of the electricity shortages, stores in Gaza have stopped selling meat and dairy products. Trucks laden with food and medicine have been stuck at Karni Crossing, which has been closed since July 6, including 230 containers from international aid organizations.
Withholding fuel, food, and equipment from Gaza residents constitutes collective punishment, in violation of international law. The petition argues that Israel is not fulfilling its legal obligations to provide for the needs of the civilian population and to distinguish between military and civilian targets.
According to Faysal Shawa, a businessman and Gaza resident: "We have been thrown back to the way people lived 100 years ago ... We don't have water, we don't have milk for our kids."
According to Maher Najer, Deputy Director of Gaza's Water Company: "We face severe shortages in the electricity, fuel, and spare parts needed to operate Gaza's water and sewage systems. These shortages threaten to create a public health catastrophe." "
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