Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: MIDEAST:  Gaza Needs More Aid

La punizione collettiva della gente di Gaza continua, nonostante tutto.
Non si ferma né per il sabato né per la Pasqua: non conosce soste.
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MIDEAST:  Gaza Needs More Aid
By Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH, Apr 10 (IPS) - John Ging, head of the UN Relief and Works 
Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, has urged Israel to ease aid flow restrictions 
that are having a devastating effect on the 1.5 million inhabitants.
Ging says the amount of aid being allowed into Gaza at present is 
"wholly and totally inadequate. It's having a very devastating impact on 
the physical circumstances and also the mindset of people on the 
ground," Ging told IPS.
According to a report released last month by the UN Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on average 127 aid trucks a 
day are entering Gaza.
OCHA stated that this was insufficient and way below the 475 that 
entered daily one month prior to Hamas's takeover of Gaza in June 2007.
"We need access," Ging said. "It's the number one issue. It's the number 
two issue. It's the number three issue, and so on. Until we get it, 
there's nothing as important as solving the access issue."
The UNRWA head said that all the crossings into Gaza should be opened 
and that the few open only on a limited basis and to certain individuals 
should be opened permanently to all. Israel says there is a security 
issue involved in opening all the crossings permanently.
OCHA says the crossings are opened on a seemingly arbitrary basis. Ging 
added that it was uncertain why crossings were opened at certain times 
and not at others.
Human rights organisations have argued that the sealing of the coastal 
territory is a form of collective punishment by Israel against Gaza's 
Hamas leadership, and that the civilian population is bearing the brunt.
Gabriela Shalev, Israel's UN ambassador, stated last month that only 
after the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas fighters in 
2006, was released, would expansion of border openings be discussed.
At present Israel is only allowing what it considers essential 
humanitarian aid into Gaza. "Luxury items" such as chocolate, jam, fruit 
juice, toilet paper, soap, pasta, lentils and cigarettes have been barred.
"Eighty percent of the goods that are allowed in comprise food," Mike 
Bailey, an Oxfam spokesman told IPS. "The rest is medical and other 
relief supplies. However, agricultural products such as seedlings, water 
pipes and fertiliser essential for reviving the agricultural sector have 
either been denied or delayed."
The decimated agricultural sector is under further threat due to access 
restrictions imposed by the Israeli military. Farmers with land near 
Israel's "buffer zone" up to 500 metres from the Gaza-Israeli border are 
prevented from tending their fields on risk of being shot.
Gaza's fishing industry is also on the verge of collapse as the Israeli 
navy has banned fishing boats from going further than three nautical 
miles from the shore.
"The education sector has also been crippled. Computers, books, 
stationery and other educational accessories are also being denied 
entry," said Bailey.
"Additionally, concrete, cement, steel and glass are barred, thus 
preventing the tens of thousands of homes that were destroyed and 
damaged during the Gaza war from being rebuilt and repaired," he added.
Antoine Grand, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) sub-delegation to Gaza, says that the ICRC is still negotiating 
with the Israelis to allow waste water and water plant spare parts and 
repair equipment into Gaza.
"We have been waiting for several months but so far we have not been 
permitted to import this equipment which is essential for the projects 
we have under way to repair sewage and water plants damaged during the 
Gaza war," Grand told IPS.
OCHA says in its report that supplies of cooking gas are still well 
below market needs. No commercial benzene and diesel, apart from 391,300 
litres for UNRWA operations, have entered Gaza since November last year.
About 150,000 Gazans are still deprived of access to sufficient 
quantities of safe drinking water, while 90 percent experience 
intermittent power cuts. Gazans in need of medical attention abroad are 
struggling to get permits.
Meanwhile, as controversy rages around the restriction of humanitarian 
aid into Gaza, a new dispute has arisen over the UN's appointment of 
Justice Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, to head an 
investigation into war crimes in Gaza.
The former war crimes prosecutor will head a four-member team whose 
mandate stems from a resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council 
at a special session Jan. 12. Israel is not keen on the UN investigating 
its military offensive in Gaza earlier this year. Israeli attacks left 
more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, most of them civilian, and nearly 
5,000 wounded.
International human rights organisations including Amnesty 
International, Human Rights Watch and several Israelis rights groups 
have accused Israel of war crimes and of using controversial weapons 
indiscriminately.
Israel has denied committing war crimes, and complained of an 
anti-Israel bias. A number of Israelis say that Goldstone, despite being 
Jewish, is biased against Israel. But some Arabs and Muslims have 
expressed concern that he would be too soft on Israel because of his 
background.
However, Goldstone's credentials are impeccable. A former anti-apartheid 
activist and court judge, he served as chief prosecutor of the 
International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
"It is in the interest of all Palestinians and Israelis that the 
allegations of war crimes and serious human rights violations related to 
the recent conflict on all sides be investigated," Goldstone said in a 
statement. (END/2009)
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46453

 Non si ferma né per il sabato né per la Pasqua: non conosce soste.
pirlata antisemita


Dagli accenti cattolico-tradizionalista.
Ormai persio non riesce proprio più a tener su la mascherina del pirla
simplex. La formazione esce fuori incontrollata.
-- 
Tb

 OCHA says the crossings are opened on a seemingly arbitrary basis.
Peccato che quel che sembra a certi *COGLIONI* vale meno di zero.
-Stefano 

 arresti tutti i terroristi di Hamas
l'UNRWA non è una missione militare, se non sbaglio.

 wrote:

sembra Ladu, che festeggia Pesach augurandosi lo smantellamento della
sovranità ebraica.


Questo megapirla è ossessionato dalla "sovranità ebraica", tuttavia 
contribisce con ogni sua energia all'opera di costruzione di uno stato 
binazionale, quindi per rendere impossibile che la sovranità ebraica 
possa avere un futuro.
Secondo me è scemo.

 quindi per rendere impossibile che la sovranità ebraica
qualcosa che va limitato, vero?