Saturday, June 27, 2009

Israel must end indiscriminate blockade

Morning Star Online, Friday 26 June 2009

Anti-poverty agency ActionAid has called on Tel Aviv to lift its two-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, hours before a tunnel used to smuggle goods from Egypt collapsed, killing a Palestinian.

Even school books and children’s plastic toys are banned from entering Gaza by Israel, as well as essential supplies needed for relief and rehabilitation such as fuel and building materials.

As a result, Palestinians are forced to literally go underground to ferry in supplies.

Gaza emergency services official Mouawiya Hassanein said that five other people had been injured in the collapse.

On the eve of the six-month anniversary of the Israeli bombardment, ActionAid Gaza programme manager Richard Sandison said: “Israel’s blockade is indiscriminate and is affecting the entire 1.5 million-strong population of Gaza. Ordinary women, children and the elderly are the main victims.

Mr Sandison went on to observe that: “schools are lying damaged or destroyed and cannot be rebuilt because we do not have the materials needed for construction.”

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