Human Rights Situation in Occupied Palestine

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 3 of 7 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

Inadequate housing far predates Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and the West Bank - characterized by overcrowding, lack of sanitation, exacerbated by repeated incursions, home demolitions, construction restrictions, an oppressive military occupation, and the willful targeting of thousands of residences during the recent conflict. Destroyed were 4240 houses with another 44,300 damaged and mostly uninhabitable without extensive rehab - in total, over 20% of the Territory's housing affecting up to 90,000 people left homeless, many forced to live in the open.

Numerous Gazan communities are virtually uninhabitable. In urban areas and several refugee camps, entire neighborhoods were destroyed. The vast amount of damage gravely reduced the housing stock, remaining unrehabed because Israel prohibits the import of essential construction materials.

HRC expressed deep concern about "persisting impediments to the entry of reconstruction material," either by prohibition or protracted administrative delays, at a time when "international support for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of homes and neighborhoods is urgently needed." As a result, destitution and human suffering are deeper and the cycle of violation exacerbated.

The Fundamental Human Right to Food

Israel gravely violates this right while, at the same time, Dov Weisglass, advisor to former prime minister Ehud Olmert, talked of "putting Gazans on a diet" and deputy defence minister Matan Vilnai spoke of "a bigger shoah" to starve them - referring to the Nazi holocaust against the Jews. Against Muslims it's "acceptable."

According to various human rights organizations on the ground, Gaza's farmland and greenhouses were extensively bombed. The result was a devastating impact on the population to produce enough food for sustenance or trade. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated that Operation Cast Lead damaged around 80% of agricultural land and crops. Also, sewage spills and toxic munitions contaminated vast areas of arable land.

OCHA reported that extensive destruction disrupted commercial enterprises and public infrastructure, including Gaza's largest flour mill and food processing plants. These are grave international law violations, exacerbated by Gaza remaining under siege. Border crossings are blocked. Little of anything gets in or out, and, as a result, severe shortages of everything afflict the Territory and people. A nutritional crisis and starvation affect a sizable per cent of the population and little is done for relief.

Currently, "the number of hungry people without access to basic food necessary" to survive remains at dangerously high levels. According to a December 18, 2008 Palestine Monitor Factsheet, 75% of Gazans eat less overall and 89% survive on less nutritious, cheaper diets than pre-siege and before food prices rose sharply in 2008. As a result, chronic malnutrition is rampant, especially for children. Up to half of them under age two suffer from anemia. Two-thirds of them are vitamin A deficient, and stunted growth affects 10% of them. Gazans are slowly being starved to death while world leaders collude with Israeli crimes.

The Right of Everyone to the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health

The long-standing Israeli-Palestinians conflict, Gaza siege, and Operation Cast Lead "resulted in grave violations of the right to" achieve adequate food and nutrition, clean water and sanitation, proper housing, and a healthy environment.

Gazans are trapped and gravely vulnerable to deteriorating physical and mental health as well as outbreaks of highly infectious diseases such as measles, polio, and hepatitis - exacerbated by Operation Cast Lead's destruction of vast infrastructure, including medical personnel and facilities:

-- 16 medical workers were killed and another 25 injured;

-- 15 hospitals, 43 primary health centers and 29 ambulances were targeted and destroyed; and

-- only 44 of 56 primary health care centers still operate.

As a result, basic facilities are inadequate for public needs, and the WHO estimates that 40% of chronically ill patients have no health care centers available for help. Nor is it available abroad as border crossings remain closed with entries and exits blocked.

The Right to Education

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

Contact Author

Contact Editor

View Authors' Articles

Book Recommendations for "Accountability Freedom Human Rights"

Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
by Human Rights Watch

$20.00
Lowest New Price $19.70
Number of pages: 440
Publisher: Human Rights Watch

Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law: Beyond the Nuremberg Legacy
by Steven R. Ratner

$50.00
Lowest New Price $42.54
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Demanding Accountability : The Global Campaign and Vienna Tribunal for Women's Human Rights
by Charlotte Bunch

$15.00
Lowest New Price $11.50
Number of pages: 165
Publisher: U N I F E M

Inter-State Accountability for Violations of Human Rights (Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights)
by Menno T. Kamminga

$69.95
Lowest New Price $59.97
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

View All Book Recommendations

Share this page: (what's this?) Tell a Friend:

(More...)