Gaza - kontraproduktiv blockad     English version

Israels behandling av människorna i de ockuperade områdena, dvs de båda palestinska territorierna Västbanken och Gaza, påminner mycket om hur Sydafrikas förra apartheidregim agerade. Genom avrättningar, avgränsningar, konfiskeringar av mark, fängslande utan rättegång, diskrimineringar... förtrycks människor enbart för att de är araber och inte judar.

Lila- och gråfärgade områden visar judiska bosättningar och avränsningar på Västbanken där palestinier ej har tillträde. Detta försvårar förstås rörligheten. "Muren" som skall skydda Israel mot terroristangrepp är till stora delar dragen inne på ockuperat palestinskt område. Karta från UN OCHA.

Israel har enligt internationell lag en skyldighet att sörja för välbefinnandet i områden man ockuperat men Israel erkänner inte ockupationen. Däremot anser man sig av säkerhetsskäl ha rätt att militärt kontrollera stora delar av Västbanken samt att utsätta Gazaremsan för blockad.

Självfallet resulterar årtiondens förtryck av palestinierna enbart till desperation och att extremisterna inom Hamas och Hezbollah stärks och att viljan till att skapa fred minskar. Detta är förstås något som de judiska extremisterna som nu har makten eftersträvar, ett hot mot sin egen existens måste upprätthållas för att de själva skall sitta kvar vid makten.

Tyvärr har dessa extremister stort stöd bland många kristna i västvärlden, religiöst förblindade av ett islamhat som gör att de helt bortser från att även araber och palestinier är människor.

Eretz border crossing, ingången till friluftsfängelset Gaza

Här börjar Hamas-territorium och alla alkoholhaltiga drycker konfiskeras

De varor som inte klassas som tillåtna av Israel, vilket är de flesta..., förs in till Gaza genom tunnlar under gränsen i söder till Egypten. Hamas kontrollerar tunnlarna och tar avgifter och kan stärka sin kassa. Detta innebär att priserna är höga samt att israeliska producenter går miste om stora belopp. Givetvis har inte palestinier någon möjlighet längre att åka in i Israel och jobba. Arbetslösheten i Gaza är skyhög, liksom desperationen hos befolkningen.

Allt stärker palestiniernas hopplöshet och man ser ingen annan möjlighet än att med våld försöka förbättra sin situation. I Gaza har Hamas sina övningsfält. Bidrag till vapeninköp och soldatlöner emottages tacksamt från Irans regim och träningsmetoder och teknik för rakettillverkning kan lätt skickas in per email. Detta vet förstås Israel om, dess underättelsetjänst har tusentals informatörer inne i Gaza. När Hamas "går över gränsen" attackerar Israel med drönare eller flyg och avrättar folk.

Demonstration mot blockaden, dagarna efter dödsattacken mot "Freedom Flotilla", 31 maj 2010

Det palestinska kulturella arvet vårdas. Barnen dansar på ett dagcenter.

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fakta från FN (IRIN):

MIDDLE EAST: Palestinian refugee factbox/timeline

MADRID, 22 June 2010 (IRIN) - International attention has been focused on the Palestinian question in recent weeks in the wake of Israeli military actions against marine activists trying to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip and recent Israeli moves to ease the blockade. IRIN takes a fresh look at the background.

The total number of displaced Palestinians worldwide is 7.1 million, including:


6.6 million refugees, and
427,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs)
67 percent of all Palestinians worldwide are refugees or IDPs
4,766,670 refugees registered with the UNRWA
UNRWA definition of Palestinian refugees: "People whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict." As a rule, those displaced after 1948 do not qualify for UNRWA assistance
More than one million refugees whose displacement dates back to 1947-1948 are not registered with UNRWA
340,016 Palestinians are registered with UNHCR
(Sources: BADIL [http://www.badil.org/],UNRWA [http://www.unrwa.org/] and UNHCR [http://www.unhcr.org/])

TIMELINE

- 29 November 1947: By approving Resolution 181 [http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/038/88/IMG/NR003888.pdf?OpenElement], the UN General Assembly adopted a plan to partition the 1923-48 British Mandate of Palestine.

- November 1947-July 1949: War in the British Mandate of Palestine led to the flight of over 720,000 Palestinians, according to the UN. Non-UN estimates for the number of refugees displaced in 1948 range from 400,000 to almost one million.

- 9 April 1948: The Deir Yassin massacre just outside Jerusalem in which over 100 Palestinians were killed, shocked civilian Palestinian populations throughout the British Mandate of Palestine

- 11 December 1948: By issuing Resolution 194 [http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/3545365.html], the UN General Assembly recognized the Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes. To date, this resolution has not been implemented.

- 14 May 1948 - July 1949: Hours after British withdrawal from the British Mandate of Palestine on 14 May 1948, the state of Israel was declared on 78 percent of that territory. Following the Arab rejection of the UN Partition Plan to divide Palestine between Jews and Arabs, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq invaded Israel.

- July 1949: Israel reached armistice agreements with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.

- 1 May 1950: UNRWA began its field operations.

- 5-10 June 1967: War broke out between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan. As a result of the conflict, an additional 100,000-300,000 Palestinians became displaced.

- 1967-present day: Estimates vary greatly on the annual rate of new displacements, but Palestinian sources cite up to 20,000 newly displaced persons per year.

Reasons for new displacement include Israel's construction of a separation barrier in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the construction of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, the revocation of residency rights and house demolitions.

(Sources: BADIL, UNRWA, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA] and The Institute for Middle East Understanding [http://www.imeu.net/])



Gaza

An estimated 1.1 million Palestinians out of Gaza's 1.5 million population are UNRWA-registered refugees.
There are eight UNRWA-administered camps in the Gaza Strip.
As a result of Israel's occupation since 1967 and an ongoing blockade on the Gaza Strip, the population suffers severe economic problems.
UNRWA's activities in the Gaza Strip have been severely restricted by the blockade.
Military conflict, including Israel's 23-day military offensive starting 27 December 2008, has led to the frequent destruction of homes and other infrastructure in Gaza, much of which has not been rebuilt because of the blockade.
Click here [http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=64] for more information on UNRWA's operations in Gaza.
(Source: UNRWA)

West Bank

779,000 Palestinians are registered with UNRWA.
There are 19 overcrowded and poorly serviced camps.
The ongoing occupation and military checkpoints and closures implemented by the Israeli army put a huge strain on the West Bank economy.
Click here [http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=67] for more information on UNRWA's operations in the West Bank.
(Source: UNRWA)

Israel

Palestinians whose forbears were displaced in 1948 but remained within the borders of what is now Israel are estimated to number 335,204.
They have the right to Israeli citizenship but are denied the right to return to their home towns or villages.
(Source: BADIL)


UNRWA versus UNHCR

Such is the scale and uniqueness of the Palestinian refugee problem that the UN has one agency for Palestinian refugees alone and another for all other refugees across the world.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established by the UN General Assembly on 8 December 1949 "to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees".

UNRWA began operations on 1 May 1950 and because no solution to the Palestine refugee problem has been forthcoming, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2011.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was established on 14 December 1950 to help Europeans displaced by World War II. It is mandated to "to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide".

The BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights describes the situation of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) as "the largest and longest-standing case of displaced persons in the world today."

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Copyright: Lennart Berggren / Axiom Film 2010


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