Is there a humanitarian crisis in Gaza? I think that is a certainty. Is it possible that Hamas is creating shortages in order to control the population? Perhaps.
Hamas has every reason to want the world to demonize Israel, and has every reason to want to import weapons again. The blockade and strict sanctions is working in that regard. However it really been a hardship for the people of Gaza. Shouldn't it be possible for Israel to flood Gaza with food, clothing, medicine and goods that are not military and still maintain sanctions against weapons?
Isn't in Israels best interest to make sure that there is more than enough AID getting through?
We know that the stories of Iraqi people starving during the Iraq Sanctions. Later we learned that Saddam purposely held back aid, and made his people suffer while there were no real shortages.
In Gaza there is no freedom of the press, no rule of law. Like the soviet Union of old, the only thing that gets reported is what Hamas wants to be reported. Gisha and other local aid organizations have to play ball with Hamas. Even the UNRA has to feel the pressure due to depending on Hamas for all of their security needs.
Seems impossible to resolve. The numbers are so very different. However, perhaps the AID is just not getting to the people of Gaza. Perhaps the explanation is that what goes in, is not what ultimately gets distributed.
I don't know of any other country where civilians on the other side are being provided ANY aid, power, food, and other humanitarian relief even while its own civilians are being targeted in terrorist attacks.
Anyway...the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) has compiled fact and numbers.
http://www.cicweb.ca/...
Now I know that the Anti Israel crowd will never believe any thing that comes from Israeli Government offices. Frankly, no amount of video, pictures or documentation will ever convince some people.
However the numbers are astounding. For those who are able to have an open mind, I present:
Over one million tons of humanitarian supplies were delivered by Israel to the people of Gaza in the past 18 months – that’s equal to nearly one ton of aid for every man, woman and child in Gaza.
In the first quarter of 2010 alone (January-March), Israel delivered 94,500 tons of supplies to Gaza. It’s very easy to miss what that actually means for the people of Gaza. The breakdown includes:
o 40,000 tons of wheat – which is equal to 53 million loaves of bread;
o 2,760 tons of rice – which equals 69 million servings;
o 1,987 tons of clothes and footwear – the equivalent weight of 3.6 million pairs of jeans; and
o 553 tons of milk powder and baby food – equivalent to over 3.1 million days of formula for an average six-month-old baby.
This reflects a long-term effort on the part of Israel to deliver a massive and comprehensive supply of aid to Gaza’s civilians, while restricting the ability of Hamas to import missiles that have been launched at the cities of southern Israel. In 2009 alone:
During the Muslim holy days of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha, Israel shipped some 11,000 head of cattle into Gaza – enough to provide 8.8 million meals of beef;
More than 3,000 tons of hypochlorite were delivered by Israel to Gaza for water purification purposes – that’s 60 billion gallons of purified water; and
Israel brought some 4,883 tons of medical equipment and medicine into Gaza – a weight equivalent to over 360,000 260-piece mobile trauma first aid kits.
Read the whole thing.
Or just flame away....
UPDATE: washingtonpost.com By Janine Zacharia
Yet if you walk down Gaza City's main thoroughfare -- Salah al-Din Street -- grocery stores are stocked wall-to-wall with everything from fresh Israeli yogurts and hummus to Cocoa Puffs smuggled in from Egypt. Pharmacies look as well-supplied as a typical Rite Aid in the United States.
"When Western people come, they have this certain image of Gaza," said Omar Shaban, an economist who heads Pal-Think for Strategic Studies in Gaza. "We have microwaves in our homes, not only me, everybody. If you go to a refugee camp, the house is bad, but the people and the equipment are very modern. The problem is the public infrastructure."
Gazans readily admit they are not going hungry. But that, they say, is the wrong benchmark for assessing their quality of life. While Gaza has long been poor, the economy has completely crumbled over the past three years.
Gazan workers, Shaban said, "used to be earning $100 per day, smoking Marlboros and going to Egypt every two months on vacation."