Then there's the matter of power without which Gaza shuts down. The Strip needs 230 - 250 daily megawatts of electricity. Its only power plant supplies around 30% of it, but people in central Gaza and Gaza city are totally dependent on what can't be supplied if industrial diesel fuel the plant depends on is cut off. The result is critically ill people are endangered, hospitals can't function, bread and other baked goods can't be produced without electricity to power ovens, food is already in short supply, so is fresh water, and sanitation conditions are disastrous.
The situation may now worsen following Israel's High Court January 30, 2008 decision in which it upheld government sanctions on Gaza and its right to restrict fuel and electricity. Here's what's planned on top of already imposed cuts. Starting February 7, further reductions will be made incrementally according to a plan submitted to the Court - 5% on three of ten lines supplying electricity to Gaza for a total of 1.5 megawatts through around February 21. An additional 25 megawatts have already been cut because of diesel fuel reductions to Gaza's sole power plant. The result is rolling blackouts, hospitals in crisis, and sewage treatment plants, water pumps and other vital services can't operate. Transportation is also disrupted. The situation is critical, Israel won't address it, these punitive measures violate international law, and the world community is dismissive.
Egypt, however, may provide belated relief. On March 21, the pro-government Al-Ahram newspaper reported that Cairo is expected to build a power line to supply about 150 megawatts of electricity to the Strip and become its main supplier. A senior Egyptian electricity ministry official apparently confirmed it by indicating the Islamic Development Bank agreed to finance the project that will link El-Arish in Sinai with Gaza.
In addition, an Egyptian oil minister issued "urgent" directives for his country to provide natural gas to the Territory and help develop offshore Palestinian gas fields that British Gas Group (BG) estimates hold 1.3 trillion cubic meters in proved reserves worth nearly $4 billion. For its part, Israel wants to cut all ties with Gaza and apparently finds the new arrangement acceptable or at least won't prevent it. However, it remains for it to be implemented, Gaza remains under siege, and conditions on the ground are at crisis levels.
East Jerusalem is also victimized by neglect and discrimination even though Israel granted its Palestinian population "permanent resident" status after its 1967 occupation. International law is clear, and Israeli law as well obligates the government to treat the population equitably and afford them all services and rights Israelis get, aside from the right to vote in national elections.
Israel refuses and for the past four decades has systematically neglected Palestinian Arabs as part of a discriminatory policy to drive them from the city and secure a Jewish majority in it. As a result, East Jerusalem residents suffer severe distress, conditions continue worsening, and life for them is an unending cycle of poverty, neglect, shortages and repression. In 2003, Central Bureau of Statistics data showed 64% of Palestinians in the city lived in poverty compared to 24% of Jewish families. It was even worse for children - 76% of Palestinians compared to 38% of Jews.
Other examples of abuse and neglect are also common:
-- Palestinians aren't allowed building permits for new construction; in rare instances when they're allowed, permit fees are too high to be affordable for nearly everyone;
-- their lands continue to be expropriated for new Jewish neighborhoods and settlements;
-- in contrast, Jewish areas get generous construction and infrastructure investment;
-- desperate Palestinians resort to their own devices, erect homes on their own land, yet live in fear of frequent demolitions that are patently illegal;
-- East Jerusalem sanitation facilities are sorely lacking; sewage and drainage infrastructure is grossly inadequate, antiquated and poorly maintained; the result is frequent sewer flooding and harmful sanitary conditions that are exacerbated during bad weather; in addition, trash goes uncollected and piles up in streets;
-- infrastructure is in disrepair, public parks and recreational facilities don't exist, the postal service barely functions, and most Arab neighborhoods get no fresh water;
-- educational facilities are lacking; a severe classroom shortage exists, and only half of the city's children are enrolled in municipal schools that are overcrowded, poorly equipped and unsafe;
-- the toll on Palestinians is horrific in many ways: family relationships are damaged; violence in them is common; school dropouts are high; jobs are scarce; crime and drug use rises; and health and nutritional problems are severe; in spite of overwhelming needs, welfare services are inadequate, near collapse and one consequence is thousands of children and youths are in acute distress and at high risk;
-- police and security force brutality exacerbates the hardships; harassment is common and so is unrestrained violence; Palestinians are terrorized, harmed, frequently killed, and no one outside the Territories seems to notice or care.
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.
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