Parliament Magazine - September 12, 2011 - Issue 333, p. 38
The collective punishment of Gazan Palestinians must come to an end, argues David Martin.
To view the Parliament Magazine PDF, click here: "Border Control"
After a 9-hour journey from Cairo and a short night in al-Rish, we were met with hundreds of men, women and children, some very young, some very old, and some very ill, standing in the sweltering heat hoping to get through the Rafah crossing to Gaza.
Egypt only allows 350 people to pass through daily despite previous authorisation. No vehicles can cross. Washing machines, electric cookers, microwaves and fridges are hauled to the border. Only Egyptian porters can use the trolleys and they demand a high price. People throw their luggage over the gates on a promise from Egyptian guards that if the right money is paid they could follow.
There were also three trucks from Scotland carrying medical supplies to Gaza that had been waiting for five days at Rafah. A Palestinian explained to us that some items were not approved. Our group of MPs, MEPS, Lords and an ex MSP had wry thoughts about the statements of solidarity we had heard from leading Egyptian politicians.
After three hours at the crossing, we were allowed through the Egyptian gates. Overall, it took nearly six hours before we stepped onto Palestinian soil. If this is how a group of politicians with "privileged access" are treated it takes no imagination to visualise the treatment of an ordinary Palestinian trying to enter Gaza.
Egypt is responding to external pressure. The Rafah crossing has no Israeli presence but continues to enclose 1.6 million inhabitants within the world's largest open-air prison camp (360 square kilometers). The U.S. and Europe also bear responsibility. Our understanding of the inhumane and degrading treatment of Gaza had only just begun.
Only five percent of Gazan water meets acceptable standards. The German government has offered to finance desalination plants, but every time they suggest a suitable location the Israeli Government, after being in favour of the project, objects to the location.
Fresh food is in short supply. On the Mediterranean coast, an obvious solution is to fish, but Israel does not allow Palestinian fishermen to go beyond 3 nautical miles. The Oslo Accords stipulate 20 nautical miles along for fishing. Fish has become a luxury in Gaza.
The blockade of Gaza has destroyed the private sector. An industrialist told us how his factory was flattened by the Israeli Defence Forces that claimed it blocked their view into Gaza. Another entrepreneur explained how he can only export furniture to Israel if he imports material from Israel, such as screws, which are still banned.
We witnessed the squalid housing many Gazans are forced to live in due to the ban on importing most other building materials. We experienced Gaza's unreliable electricity supply and we met bright students who were accepted in U.S. and European universities but were unable to leave because they were refused visa permission by foreign powers.
We met some relatives of the estimated 6.000 Palestinians prisoners, including women and children currently detained illegally in Israeli jails. But my most abiding memory remains of Fidel – an 8-year-old boy suffering from sickle cell anaemia in al-Shifa Hospital that does not have the medicine to treat the symptoms.
The medicine that Fidel needs was sitting in a Scottish truck at the Rafah crossing.
What is going on in Gaza is simply disgraceful and shocking collective punishment that we need to end.
A week after the delegation left, the medical trucks were eventually let into Gaza.
David Martin is a British Labour Party politician and Scottish Member of the European Parliament who was part of the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR) delegation to Gaza on July 22-27, 2011.