WAR CRIMES in GAZA Written by Arwa Aburawa

WAR CRIMES IN GAZA Written by Arwa Aburawa

Edited by Rajnaara Akhtar

Forward Ismail Patel

Design and Layout Shoayb Adam

Friends of Al-Aqsa P.O Box 5127 Leicester LE2 0WU

0116 212 5441 www.aqsa.org.uk [email protected] Gaza cannot be forgotten

CONTENTS

Preface 5 Forward 9

1. A Historic Overview 10 a. A Brief History of Gaza Before 1948 b. Gaza During the Nakba c. The 1967 War d. Gaza and the Intifada e. Oslo and the Al-Aqsa Intifada f. Gaza and the ‘Disengagement Plan’ 2005 g. Growing Popularity of Hamas

2. The Hamas Election Victory and its Impact on the Gaza Strip 15 a. Background on Hamas b. Hamas in the Gaza Strip c. Election Victory d. Sanctions Imposed in Response to Hamas’ Victory e. Violence Between Hamas and Fatah f. US-backed Palestinian Civil War

3. Summer/Autumn 2006 20 a. Attacks from April to Early June 2006 b. Sonic Booms Terrorize Gazan Skies c. Gaza Food Crisis d. The Kidnap of Gilad Shalit e. Operation ‘Summer Rain’ f. Operation ‘Autumn Clouds’ and the Massacre in Beit Hanoun g. Kidnapped: Alan Johnston

4. The Gaza Siege 24 a. Food and Water b. Fuel and Electricity c. Medical Treatment d. January 2008: Gaza’s Border Breached e. The Ceasefire f. The Future for Gaza’s Economy

5. International Complicity and Protest 29 a. States Accused of Complicity in the Crisis b. International Organisations Condemning the Siege c. International Protest Against the Siege d. Free Gaza Boats

6. Preparation for War in 2008 34 a. Israel Rejects Hamas’ Ceasefire Offer b. Pre-planned Military Invasion c. The Israeli elections

Gaza Report 3 7. The War on Gaza 37 a. Week 1: Launch of Operation ‘Cast Lead’ b. Week 2: The Ground Assault c. Week 3: End of the War d. Media Blackout e. Reaction to the War

8. A Record of Israel’s War Crimes 42 a. Civilian Death b. Children c. Phosphorous Bombs d. United Nations’ Buildings Bombed e. Destruction of Homes and Hospitals f. Medical Staff Under Fire g. Israel’s Investigations

9. Justice for War Crimes 48 a. War Crimes Assessment b. Universal Jurisdiction and Spain c. The United Nations and International Criminal Court d. Action in the UK

10. Gaza, The Aftermath 52 a. Food Aid Dependency b. Health and the Rise of Disabilities c. Water and Sewage d. Rebuilding Gaza e. Aid with a Political Agenda f. Conclusion

4 Gaza Report Preface

The election of President Obama heralded a welcome change in US policy on Israel and Palestine. For the first time the US administration is applying real pressure on the Israeli government to ful- fill its obligations under the long-stalled road map and make the concessions necessary to restart credible negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

But while international and media attention has been focused on the small improvements delivered in the West Bank, the continued siege of Gaza and ostracizing of Hamas have slipped from view. It is an intolerable affront to civilized values that the people of Gaza, already traumatised by the sustained firepower directed at them during Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead”, should still be suffering under a siege which prevents the replacement of damaged and destroyed homes, stops the repair of water and sewage systems and keeps the supply of fuel, food and medicines at a trickle. As well as perpetuating a humanitarian crisis, the siege maintains the isolation of Hamas and weakens moves to create a unity government to reunite Gaza with the West Bank.

The international community, despite condemning Israel’s blockade, seems unable to end it. This report helps to remind all of us why action must be taken to lift the siege and permit the people of Gaza to rebuild their lives and participate in the democratic process to renew Palestinian institutions.

Dr Phyllis Starkey, MP Chair of the Select Committee for Communities and Local Government

Last November, the Israelis breached the ceasefire Hamas had agreed nearly 6 months before, by killing 6 people in a raid across the border from Southern Israel. Hamas responded with rockets towards Sderot.

Israel then had the excuse to launch a ferocious and totally disproportionate attack on the hapless people of Gaza who were unable to escape or protect their families. The horrors of that attack are well known and were witnessed by those of us who watched Al Jazeera TV; all other media having been carefully prevented from going into Israel by its government. That way, they thought, the world would not know what really happened. However, we all know and have read or heard from eye witnesses, of the wanton destruction, killings, burnings with white phosphorous shells and the use of civilians as human shields. The suffering of the people of Gaza was immense. 1,400 people, many of whom were children, were killed.

Reports have come in from the UN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and from Israeli soldiers themselves, who were horrified by the orders they received. All confirmed the breaches of International Law and Geneva Conventions by Israel. Judge Goldstone is currently trying to do the most authoritative inquiry of all, at the request of the UN, but is being obstructed by the Israeli government.

The blockade of Gaza goes on, the suffering continues and the International Community has moved its spotlight to Afghanistan and the Swine Flu. We should all be shamed of ourselves.

This is the most important problem for the world to solve and once again Israel is getting away without any censure from the international community.

Baroness Jenny Tonge Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health

The human needs of the people of Gaza are urgent. Some thousands are living in tents and make- shift dwellings. Crude sewage is being discharged into the sea, affecting both Gaza and Israel.

Gaza Report 5 Malnutrition is quite common especially among children. Hospitals work under great difficulties.

It is clear that access for supplies etc has been limited and manipulated for political reasons. It is tragic that so far not one truck-load of essential materials for reconstruction has been allowed in.

The best hope may lie in the Egyptian proposal for a joint committee of HAMAS and the PA, with perhaps some independent foreigners, to oversee incoming supplies. Alas, this proposal does not seem to be acted on.

Lord Hylton

In February this year, in the aftermath of the Israeli assault I visited the Gaza Strip as part of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group. What we saw was shocking even to those of us that had witnessed the effects of the blockade on Gaza.

What happened was no war. It was an attack on a weak and captive population at the mercy of the most modern and devastating weapons available to nations. The result was reckless killing and wanton destruction on a scale not seen for many years, compounded by a cruel and officious siege.

I have pressed the UK Government to support an independent inquiry into allegations of war crimes and tabled Early Day Motion 1235 to this effect. Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East has a clear policy on this issue: An independent inquiry is essential. Anything less means leaving it to the Israelis to identify and prosecute their own war criminals and who will believe that?

The hope now is that the world will wake up and see the situation for what it is – to do this we are competing against a media that is often reluctant to expose Israel’s occupation. This is precisely why it is important that we have a factual record. This is what the Friends of al-Aqsa are doing and I applaud this thorough document and their continuing work in the name of peace in Palestine.

Martin Linton MP Chair, Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East

“Where is the Ummah? Where is this Arab world they tell us about in school?” Those words will forever remain etched in my mind. They were spoken by a 10-year-old girl in a bombed-out ruin in Gaza in March.

She had lost almost her entire family in the 22-day Israeli bombardment earlier this year. I had to turn away. What answer could I give her?

During those murderous weeks in December and January, the leaders of the Arab League - with a handful of exceptions - scarcely summoned even the synthetic indignation that has so often attended previous bloody episodes in the Palestinian tragedy. But public opinion was united in outrage not only in the Muslim world but in the West too.

In Britain, over 100,000 people took to the streets and the Israeli embassy was blockaded night after night. Above all, the Gaza onslaught produced an unprecedented outpouring in the US. There have been protests before, but this has turned out to be more than an ephemeral release of im- potent rage. Something is changing.

The success of the Viva Palestina convoy from the US to Gaza in July is further confirmation of that. Some 200 US citizens entered Gaza, bearing a quarter of a million dollars of aid in the biggest such mission ever to leave America for Palestine.

6 Gaza Report There were difficulties: the convoy was allowed in by the Egyptian authorities for only 24 hours and its vehicles prevented from entering at all. But they are difficulties we are determined to overcome in December, when a mega-convoy heads off from London, with US support, across Europe to Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt aiming to enter Gaza around 27 December – a year to the day from the beginning of the Israeli onslaught.

There will be several themes to the convoy. Israel killed 16 Palestinian paramedics in December and January. We will dedicate the first 16 ambulances we take to them. Sporting organisations and figures will play a part, arranging friendly games on the way and bringing coaching expertise to Gaza.

All these things are desperately needed. The people of Gaza are being starved of all that we take for granted here, and all for making the “wrong” political choice in an election that former US president Jimmy Carter says is among the cleanest and fairest he has ever witnessed.

This convoy will have a longer run-up than the last two. It is vital that it dwarfs them in scale. It is only through such mass pressure that this murderous siege will be broken.

George Galloway MP

For too long, the Palestinian struggle has been the concern of a minority. That is now changing. The war on Gaza opened the eyes of the world to the bloody reality of Israeli colonialism. Palestin- ians have struggled for freedom for theirs is a struggle against illegal occupation, for the right of refugees to return to their homes, and for the right to a state they can call their own. The cause of Palestine is now a cause for all those who love justice and hate oppression.

Throughout Britain, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated, attended meetings and do- nated money to help the victims of this war. In January, I led a cross-party call for Birmingham City Council to boycott of Israeli goods and services. And, in an inspirational act of solidarity, my colleague, George Galloway, led the Viva Palestina aid convoy that broke the siege of Gaza.

I believe this is a turning point for solidarity with Palestine. Just as Apartheid South Africa needed to feel the full weight of public opinion through a world-wide campaign of boycotts and sanctions, so too should Israel until it starts to comply with UN resolutions and international law in its treatment of Palestinians.

Councillor Salma Yaqoob Leader, The Respect Party

The Gaza conflict has left many casualties on both sides of the border. However, the biggest victims are always the children and Gaza is suffering from a generation of lost youth, traumatised beyond reason by the scale of disaster and war that they have witnessed. We need to understand the situation on the ground in Gaza; we need to highlight the humanitarian disasters that continue to befall the beleaguered population day in day out, and we need to act now to stop this injustice. It is both Palestinians and Israelis that strive to find peaceful coexistence with each other, and such peace will only be given a chance if arms are laid down and the basic needs of the people are met. In Gaza, that includes milk for babies, food for the hungry, fuel and electricity, and desperately needed medicines. It is time to end the embargo and allow the Gazans to live in dignity.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain

Gaza Report 7 The Gaza crisis which has now been ongoing for three years, has become a stain on The Gaza crisis which has now been ongoing for three years, has become a stain on the conscience of the entire world, which has continued to exact a policy of collective punishment against a nation for choosing the ‘wrong’ government in 2006.

It took the sheer ferocity, brutality and inhumanity of the Israeli attack over 22 days, which claimed more than 1400 lives and injured thousands more, for the world to recognise that it could no longer turn a blind eye to a true human catastrophe. The daily sight of babies, young children and women being pulled out from underneath the rubble of bombed out houses was beyond official denial, belatedly leading to the crisis of Gaza being recognised and acknowledged.

Yet many months on, the homeless remain homeless, the hungry remain without food and those in need of urgent care continue to suffer, while the world plays politics and bends over backwards to save Israel’s shameless face.

This report by Friends of Al-Aqsa is a vital document that tells the story of Gaza and that of a people forsaken and left on their own.

Anas Altikriti CEO, The Cordoba Foundation

Israel’s attack on Gaza was outrageous but not out of character. The attack was just another step in its ongoing efforts to expand its borders way beyond any that are internationally recognised. Until the international community takes the oppression of Palestinians seriously and demands that Israel comply with international law, whether it be in recognising the elected Palestinian government and therefore releasing the imprisoned Palestinian MPs; stopping all settlement building; removing the illegal wall; boycotting all occupied territory Israeli produce; suspending the EU Trade Association Agreement; allowing the right to return, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, stops inventing excuses for not negotiating progress; nothing will change and the Gazans will continue to suffer.

A recent statistical report on the Operation Cast Lead offensive reveals that “83% of Palestinians killed were non-combatants. … More than 11,000 houses were either completely or partially destroyed, leaving nearly 109,000 Palestinians homeless.” There is no time to waste.

Jeremy Corbyn MP

8 Gaza Report Forward

The situation in Gaza is intolerable. The suffering of the population is akin to that of a natural disaster zone awaiting international assistance; where water is contaminated, sewage works are inadequate, food supplies are in shortage, medicines sparse and desperation mounting.

The reality is that this humanitarian disaster is not due to a natural calamity; it is due to the decisions being made by one state which is drastically destroying the hope of survival for another. That state is called Israel and it has spent the past 42 years deciding the fate of the Palestinians to the detriment of every Palestinian in the region and Palestinian refugees scattered all over the world awaiting a return home.

The latest assault came in the form of Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 and January 2009. Following 18 months of siege and closure, Israel pummelled the tiny and overpopulated strip of land with every type of military assault imaginable. The mangled flesh of the victims showed bullet wounds, shrapnel injuries, crushing bombed out building blocks and white phosphorous to name but a few. There was little respite during the 22 days of attack, and every baby, child, brother, sister, mother, father, and grandparent suffered the consequences.

A war on a place like Gaza will inevitably affect each and every citizen in the area. There was nowhere to escape to with borders tightly sealed and the sea guarded. Families were left cowering in their homes, waiting for a merciful end to the bombing. The untold misery of the war was kept concealed by Israel which denied international journalists access.

But what now, months later? The situation has not changed. Homes that were bombed and destroyed cannot be rebuilt as Israel has continued its siege. Not a single truck with reconstruction materials has been allowed in. Any other disaster zone in the world would be well on the way to reconstruction now, but that is not the case in Gaza. Public services continue to operate at a bare minimum, exacerbating the untold suffering. How many babies have to die before the world will stand up and take notice? How many war crimes do we have to helplessly witness before our politicians will lead the way for change?

There was no discrimination in Israel’s attack on Gaza. The destruction was complete. Schools, places of worship (mosques), shelters, hospitals, UNWRA aid warehouses; none were spared. With an estimated $1.9 billion dollars worth of destruction, caused by deliberate acts of war, it is time to say enough.

History will witness that the world stood by silently while Israel continued the longest military occupation in history. It is time to bring it to an end, and that requires each and every one of us to take responsibility for it and play our part in bringing Israel to justice, and giving the Palestinians a real chance to live in peace and dignity.

The momentum is growing and resistance is mounting. Each of us who participates in the Palestinian cause is part of that resistance. Thus far, thousands of us have risen up and taken action. We are working to file arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israeli military personnel in every jurisdiction around the world that allows it. We are Boycotting Israel en-masse, as individuals, groups and institutions. We are breaking Israel’s siege on Gaza using boats and convoys. We are saying it is time to end this vicious assault on an innocent population.

I hope this report, prepared by my team, will help instil a better understanding of the crisis faced by the people in Gaza and spur each of us to do more to bring it to an end.

Ismail Patel September 2009

Gaza Report 9 10 Gaza Report 1 A Historic Overview a. A Brief History of Gaza Before 1948 British forces in 1917 and placed under British Mandate for the next thirty years. Gaza is a strip of land bordering the Mediterra- Although Gaza experienced relative peace nean ocean on one side, Egypt to the South and during this period, the seed of future dispos- Israel to the north and east. This Palestinian session and occupation were sown which has populated land has had an undeniably rich and haunted the Palestinians for the last 61 years. turbulent history. Over the years Gaza has been captured and occupied by a long list of foreign b. Gaza During the Nakba armies including the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, the Persians, the Romans, the Crusaders, the During this Nakba (or ‘Catastrophe’) in 1948, Turks and the British during the First World War. the population of Gaza rose from 80,000 to Gaza’s troubled history has been attributed to 200,000 due to the influx of refugees into the its strategic location on traditional trade routes strip fleeing from advancing Zionist forces.4 linking North Africa with Central Asia. This not Such a huge influx of people in a relatively only secured the commercial success of the short space of time placed a severe burden on region but also meant that it fell under the gaze the 360 square kilometre strip of land, and the of many ambitious conquerors. population density even at that time became one of the highest in the world. Under the Gerald Butt, a historian on the region wrote: “All Armistice agreement signed in 1949, Egypt the major players in the history of the Near and administered the Gaza Strip until 1967. Middle East have had to take the status of Gaza at the time into account before being able to pursue their political, military and commercial ambitions.”1 More recently, Israel has attempted to control the area which is viewed as the hotbed of Palestinian resistance, thus providing the Gazans with yet another battle against foreign domination and occupation.2

The early history of Gaza reveals that the Canaanites (a Semitic people) setup settlements in the area in around 3000 BC. They were later conquered by Egyptians rulers who recognised the important location of the port town and secured command over it by 1468 BC. New settlers soon began arriving by sea, most notably the Philistines who gave their name to the land of Palestine. Gaza then fell to the Persians in 538 BC, following short-lived Assyrian and Babylonian domination from around 734 BC. Alexander the Great was the next conqueror, followed by the Crusaders who were competing with the rise of Islam.3

‘Gaza Hashim’, as Gaza was later called under the Ummayads, openly accepted Islam. The port became the main entrance for Muslim pilgrims from North Africa on their way to Hajj who would pay their respects at the tomb of the Prophet Muhammed’s (peace be upon him) grandfather, Hashim Ibn Abd al-Munaf, which is situated in Gaza.

Gaza subsequently developed strong Arabic roots and an Islamic culture which it retained throughout four centuries of Ottoman rule from 1517 until 1917. The city was occupied by

Gaza Report 11 c. The war of 1967 teachers protested schools grounds, and law- yers boycotted the military courts.”10 During the Six Day War in 1967, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West On 8 December 1987, an Israeli tank drove Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. into a group of Palestinians from the Jabaliya This event became known as the Naksa or refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing four and ‘setback’ and marked the beginning of the injuring seven.11 The build-up of anger trig- Israeli occupation of the remaining 22% of gered a huge reaction when these unprovoked Palestinian land. During this conflict, the Gaza killings took place, and the resultant opposition Strip saw another influx of refugees with the to occupation marked the beginning of the first population of Gaza city increasing six-fold.5 Intifada or ‘uprising’.

Immediately after the war, Israel declared the Overnight, it seems, the battle changed from Gaza Strip a closed military area and seized sporadic guerrilla action to mass popular control of land and water resources.6 This revolt.12 As Gerald Butt explains: affected Gazans’ self-sufficiency and ability to trade as the occupying power prevented fishing “The people of Gaza have fought many occupy- in the Mediterranean and importing and export- ing forces over the centuries, and no-one with a ing goods. Subsequently, Gaza shifted from an knowledge of history of this corner of the world independent economy to one completely reliant will have been surprised by the fact that the on foreign aid. Gazans led the way in the struggle against the occupying Israeli army. The Intifada began in This war also paved the way for Israel’s grow- the Gaza Strip and in the years that followed it, ing occupation of the Palestinian territories. this territory was where the flame of Palestinian Illegal Israeli settlements were built throughout resistance burned the most fiercely.”13 the Gaza Strip, with Palestinians themselves working on the construction as they desperate- The Intifada quickly gained momentum, spread- ly lacked employment opportunities.7 Until their ing to other refugee camps in Gaza and on to withdrawal in 2005, Jewish settlers numbered major cities. It was a mass civil disobedience, 8,000 in comparison to 1.5 million Gazans and which was achieved through a boycott of Israeli yet they occupied 25% of the Strip and 40% of goods, refusing to pay taxes to Israel, unarmed arable land and natural resources.8 confrontations and organizing strikes and demonstrations. The Intifada was com- Following the Six Day War, the UN Security manded by local political leadership bringing Council passed Resolution 242 which empha- together secular and religious groups to sised “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of direct the movement. They worked within the territory by war” and the need for a withdrawal towns and refugee camps, distributing leaflets of Israeli armed forces to achieve a just and with information and food to needy families.14 lasting peace.9 These calls were ignored by the Israeli government which insisted that the In Gaza, Israeli soldiers were told to respond settlements did not violate international law. with brute force which they clearly did. Over The painful defeat of 1967 also brought a new the course of this first Intifada 1,100 Pales- way of thinking to Palestinians embodied in tinians were killed by Israeli forces, 159 of Yasser Arafat, who proposed that the only way whom were children under the age of 16.15 to resolve the Palestinian problem was through As well as violence against Palestinians, Israel armed struggle. closed schools and universities in the occupied territories, and placed curfews on towns and d. Gaza and the Intifada villages making daily life a struggle. Water supplies were also re-directed to Israel, olive Israel’s policies following the Six-Day War in- trees and agricultural crops were destroyed cluded the confiscation of Palestinian land for and homes were demolished.16 After years of the building of illegal settlements; extra-judicial sustained protests from the Palestinians and killings, house demolitions, mass detentions Israeli repression in response, the Intifada was and deportations. Soon, popular anger towards halted with the signing of the Oslo Accords in Israel began to grow and was expressed 1993. in forms of civil disobedience: “Students demonstrated and struck on national days,

12 Gaza Report e. Oslo and the Al-Aqsa Intifada mantling all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, and the removal of four in the north of The Oslo Accords between Israel and the the West Bank.23 This plan was completed by Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was September of the same year and was portrayed hailed by the international community as a as a demonstration of Israel’s ‘commitment’ triumph with Israel agreeing to withdraw from to peace and a two-state solution.24 In reality, the occupied territories. The Gazans were many Israeli commentators stated that this was however sceptical that real change would part of Ariel Sharon’s ‘vision’ of securing Israeli transpire or that the occupation would end.17 control over the eastern and western slopes In fact following Oslo, more land was confis- of the West Bank by conceding Gaza. “This cated from the Palestinians; settlements were engagement plan will facilitate the realization of increased; Jerusalem was closed to this vision at a bargain price from his point of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza; view: he is giving up the Gaza Strip where 37 and movement within the occupied territories per cent of the Palestinians live, but whose area was more restricted, with permission in the is only 1.25 per cent of the Land of Israel.”25 hands of Israeli soldiers.18 Within Gaza, Israeli troops did withdraw from the centre of Gaza city In the year following the disengagement, and refugee camps yet Israeli settlements and a further 12,000 Israelis settled in the soldiers remained in large areas of the Gaza Strip West Bank in illegal settlements built on - a clear sign of the continuing Israeli occupation. Palestinian land.26 “The withdrawal from Gaza was thus not a prelude to a peace deal with the The fracturing of the Oslo Accords due to Palestinian Authority but a prelude to further Israel’s refusal to dismantle the illegal Zionist expansion on the West Bank.”27 settlements on Palestinian land and the intense fighting between Israeli settlers and Palestin- Others remarked that Israel’s move was ians in the Gaza Strip, culminated in a Second motivated by a need to deal with the Intifada in 2000 (also known as the Al Aqsa demographic threat of an ever increasing Pal- Intifada).19 Again, the Israelis responded to the estinian population. Professor Arnon Soffer’s uprising with brute force, targeting Palestin- disturbing comments prove this point clearly, ians at demonstrations, checkpoints and bor- demonstrating that Israel planned to close Gaza ders. They also shelled Palestinian towns and off from the West Bank and the rest of Israel residential areas as well as police stations.20 to deliberately create a catastrophe – “when A major event during the Intifada was the 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it’s assassination of the founder of Hamas, Sheikh going to be a human catastrophe. Those people Ahmed Yassin, by an Israeli helicopter gunship will become even bigger animals than they are on 22 March 2004. He was killed along with nine today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist other Palestinians after finishing dawn prayers Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. at a Gaza City mosque.21 By the end of the It’s going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to Intifada 3,000 Palestinians had been killed by the remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip All day, every day...”28 alone.22 Although the physical presence of Israeli Whilst the two intifadas failed to overthrow the military and settlers was removed from Gaza, Israeli occupation, they did successfully bring this meant very little in terms of Gaza’s the Palestinian cause within the international independence and autonomy. Initial optimism media spotlight. For the first time, the Western that the disengagement would bring new media was bombarded with images of young freedoms and opportunities faded as the Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli tanks withdrawal introduced harsher controls over which undermined the widely held notion of an Gaza’s borders. “Gaza is dependent for its innocent Israel struggling to survive against a economic survival on this link [with Isra- ruthless and mighty Arab enemy. el] through which most of its imports and exports must pass. And with more than f. Gaza and the ‘Disengagement Plan’ half the Gazan workforce unemployed, the 2005 territory is dependent on Israel as a source of employment.”29 After the disengagement, Israel On February 2005, Ariel Sharon announced still controlled these links and it now worked his ‘Unilateral Disengagement’ plan for dis- even harder to limit any movement in or out of

Gaza Report 13 the Gaza Strip. According to the international gain some influence once they adopted ideals of community Israel’s disengagement from Gaza Palestinian nationalism alongside their Islamic did not constitute an end to the occupation as focus.34 Israel retains and exercises effective control over the territory.30 One organisation following this ideology was ‘Hamas’, who emerged as a resistance move- Israel’s complete control of the skies above ment during the First Intifada. They grew out of Gaza means that radio and television broad- an organisation called Al-Mujamma al Islami led casts can be interrupted at any time. The sea by Hamas’s founder and spiritual leader Sheikh routes are also out of bounds which has had Ahmed Yassin. Hamas, which takes its names detrimental effects on the local fishing industry from the Arabic intials of the Islamic Resistance and the livelihood of many families. Palestinians Movement (Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamia), are not allowed to operate an airport or seaport was legally registered in Israel in 1978.35 Hamas in Gaza which literally makes the territory an slowly gathered Palestinian support in Gaza open prison – with no freedom of entry or exit.31 through its social programs; building schools, These controls over the borders of Gaza played hospitals and religious institutes. Whilst Hamas a vital role in the Israeli siege of Gaza and the has been branded as a terrorist organisation subsequent military incursion in December by Israel, the US and EU; its supporters point 2008/January 2009. out that armed resistance is the right of people under brutal military occupation.36 g. Growing popularity of Hamas As Hamas gained more support and pitted itself A new force that emerged out of the first against an increasingly corrupt and inefficient Intifada was the Islamic resistance movement. Fatah, a power struggle between the two Pales- They were initially influenced by the Muslim tinian political parties emerged. These tensions Brotherhood from Egypt which advocated the intensified following the death of PLO leader revival of Islam to defeat Israel and denounced Yasser Arafat in November 2004 and Hamas’ the ideals of Palestinian nationalism.32 The landslide electoral victory in 2006. Conflict and Islamic movement was initially tolerated by violence between the two has led to numer- Israel in the early 1970’s as it was seen as a ous deaths on both sides and continues to be a way to weaken the influence of the secularly- significant element within the Palestinian minded PLO.33 Whilst they were unable to political landscape. effectively undermine PLO support, they did

14 Gaza Report Gaza Report 15 16 Gaza Report 2 The Hamas Election Victory and its impact on the Gaza Strip a. Background on Hamas ian Authority.39 The economic cost of Hamas’s military operations and attacks had also Hamas was born during the chaotic days of become too high and so widespread popu- the first Palestinian Intifada in 1987. In some lar opposition played an important role in ways the political party was shaped by its role ending them.40 “Moreover, with the end of the during the Intifada and has retained a focus on Intifada and the initiation of the Oslo peace resistance and social welfare activities.37 process, the resistance component of the Palestinian struggle- so critical to Hamas’s Hamas’ main policy aim initially was to political thinking and action- was undermined.”41 establish an Islamic state in all of Palestine (including what is now Israel) by any means In response to this shift in the political scene, possible. Hamas’ resistance tactics gener- Hamas refocused it efforts on providing ally target the Israeli military in the occupied social welfare for Palestinians; once again territories although they have included suicide giving much-needed charitable servic- attacks. These were first carried out in 1994, es to an increasingly needy population, in revenge for an attack by and Israeli on utilising a well-developed institutional Palestinian worshippers in the Ibrahimi Mosque infrastructure.42 Thus, Hamas built charitable in Hebron where 29 people were killed. Hamas societies, mosques, Zakat committees, health has been castigated internationally due to the clinics and orphanages. In doing so, Hamas suicide attacks; however, it states that these are hoped to create a more Islamic society and em- a direct response to Israeli military attacks which body Islamic values such as charity as a means are far more deadly. Hamas repeatedly offered of protection from all forms of aggression.43 ceasefires to Israel whereby no Israeli civilian would be targeted if Palestinian civilians were no This concern for social welfare earned Hamas longer targeted. Israel rejected all such offers. Palestinian support as well as a reputation for honesty and integrity; something which in- Hamas’ policies have since changed, and creasingly contrasted with Fatah and allegations including a halt to suicide attacks, they also of corruption. Hamas was subsequently moving declared that their agenda is focused on away from the political extreme towards a more securing Israel’s withdrawal from lands centrists position which represented an realistic occupied in the 1967 war, the end of the Israeli alternative to Fatah.44 occupation, the establishment of a Palestinian state and a solution to the Palestinian refugee During the second Intifada in 2000, Hamas issue.38 Support for the party has grown and once again altered its agenda in accordance faltered throughout as the Palestinian political with the circumstances in the occupied Pales- landscape changed, but in January 2006 Hamas tinian territories. The resistance activities in no won democratic elections with a landslide victory. way matched Israel’s military onslaught, but by attacking Israeli civilian targets Hamas “not only b. Hamas in the Gaza Strip succeeded in gaining support from an increasingly desperate population, it also undermined When Hamas first emerged, it struggled to the PA- which was blamed for the attacks- and compete with the popularity of secular the diplomatic initiative it was pursuing.”45 nationalistic organisations of the Palestin- ian Liberation Organisation (PLO) such as c. Election Victory Fatah. Over time, however, these nationalistic organisations became associated with Hamas is not a member organisation of the Pales- endemic corruption and the failure to secure tinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and initially independence for the Palestinian people. refused to accept the Palestinian Authority (PA) or Subsequently, Hamas began to represent a take part in its elections. However, emboldened new alternative which was focused on the by success in the municipal elections in 2005, basic needs of Palestinians and also on resistance they participated in the elections for the Pales- against an increasingly harsh Israeli occupation. tinian Legislative Council held in January 2006. Hamas ran as the ‘Change and Reform Party’ During Oslo, Hamas’ agenda was affected by and campaigned on the platform promising re- a combination of factors: mainly the sustained form of the PA and supporting Palestinian rights arrests, imprisonment and execution of to freedom and independence.46 Another major members by Israel and the Fatah led Palestin- policy that they highlighted was the need to

Gaza Report 17 improve public services in Gaza and the West and cut off aid to the Palestinians. The Bush Bank.47 As Sara Roy insisted in 2003, “the Administration refused to recognise Hamas, social core of the Islamic movement engage in any dialogue or to provide remains strong and has become an increasingly humanitarian aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian important part of the Palestinian social Authority until it complied with three conditions. welfare system as unemployment and poverty One, it had to recognise the state of Israel; two, have grown and the PA’s capacity to deliver Hamas had to renounce violence and disarm and even the most basic services has diminished.”48 finally it had to accept all previous Palestinian-Israeli agreement.52 Azzam Tamimi, Hamas surprised the entire International a prominent writer on Hamas remarked that: “to community by gaining a landslide victory with Hamas, the three conditions set by the United a clear 56% majority, securing 74 out of 132 States seemed to be nothing but a face-saving seats. What also stunned Hamas’ critics was manoeuvre to justify its already formulated in- the fact that the election was deemed fair and tention to refuse any relationship with Hamas.”53 transparent by international monitoring bodies. In fact, the election was declared Israel began withholding tax and customs as the first truly democratic election in the revenue, which it collects on behalf of the PA, Arab Middle East. This was a huge turn- amounting to $50 million a month. The US ing point for Hamas and demonstrated the halted its annual $400 million in aid to Palestine Palestinian people’s commitment to end the although it did direct some funds to humanitar- occupation and dissatisfaction with Fatah’s ian organisations. The EU followed suit and also inability to achieve Palestinian national goals.49 suspended the 500 million Euros it gives a year in aid. Israel and its international supporters, however, portrayed the election of Hamas as Whilst Hamas may have been able to survive an endorsement of Islamic extremism and on the funds promised by Muslim and Arab terrorism against the state of Israel. On the countries, the real issue was that there were no opposite side, reporters such as Wiliam Sieghart means to deliver this money to the government. have argued that Palestinians voted for Hamas All channels had been cut off by the UN and because Fatah had failed them.50 It is clear that Israel who threatened to take measures the primary goal for Palestinians is to achieve against banks which transferred funds to the peace and preserve their rights, something Hamas-led government.54 This policy had which Hamas has pledged to do. detrimental effects on the Palestinians as the government was now unable to pay the George Bisharat, a prominent legal com- Palestinian Authority employees, many of whom mentator on the Palestine-Israel conflict, were Fatah-supporters. reiterated this point stating that “the overwhelming victory the Palestinians of the West Bank It soon became clear that real motivation and Gaza handed to Hamas was not an behind withholding aid was perhaps to punish endorsement of its ideology nor its ultimate aim Palestinians and encourage them to rebel of an Islamic state in all of former Palestine... against their newly elected government.55 It was Rather, the vote represents a pragmatic hoped that a new election would be called and assessment about which party is most likely the more compliant Fatah party put back into to help Palestinians reach their basic goals of power. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, liberty, peace and prosperity.”51 Consequently, John Dugard, also reported that it was the first the main reasons behind Hamas’ victory seem time that economic sanctions had been imposed to be the harsh Israeli occupation and the on an occupied people.56 These economic sanc- failure of Fatah to secure any semblance of tions alongside the Israeli blockade would later peace for the Palestinian people. amount to a deadly siege of the Gaza Strip-a precursor to Israeli’s military incursion in 2008/9. d. Sanctions Imposed in Response to Hamas’ Victory e. Violence Between Hamas and Fatah

Despite the fact that Hamas was now The election victory for Hamas also marked the democratically elected by the majority of beginning of conflict between Hamas and Fatah the Palestinians, numerous international supporters.57 The bitter rivalry between Fatah organisations refused to acknowledge them and Hamas stems largely from a difference in

18 Gaza Report objectives and strategy. Hamas has f. US-Backed Palestinian Civil War indirectly recognised the existence of Israel but firmly believes in the right to armed On April 2008, the US based Vanity Fair struggle to defend Palestinian rights and land. magazine ran an article revealing the US Fatah, by contrast, maintains a strategy of link to tensions between Fatah and Hamas in negotiation with Israel which has simply Gaza. “A Gaza Bombshell” revealed that the yielded a more deeply entrenched occupation. United States supplied guns, ammunition and The Palestinian Authority’s President, Mahmoud training to Palestinian Fatah activists to help Abbas, frequently holds “peace talks” with defeat Hamas in the streets of Gaza and the Israeli counterparts, mandated by the 2007 West Bank.64 This covert initiative, approved by Washington-sponsored Annapolis Summit.58 then President George Bush and implemented by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Soon after the election results were confirmed, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams, the Hamas leaders declared their commitment was aimed at provoking a Palestinian civil war.65 to work in partnership with Fatah in forming a new government. In the face of US and EU State Department official Jake Walles met with threats to cut off aid, Hamas reassured all those Mahmoud Abbas in late 2006, and urged him concerned that Hamas would not adopt an to dissolve the Hamas-led government if they authoritarian approach to rule and would ap- refuse to recognise Israel. Any likely backlash, proach the political situation with extreme re- he reassured Abbas, would be defeated through alism.59 Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, a key U.S support for Fatah’s military forces.66 The decision-making body, also decided to boycott U.S invested $59 million into the covert mission the government.60 Hamas proceeded to form its and also persuaded Arab allies to supply more own government, which took office on the 29 funding. As a result, many Fatah activists were March 2006.61 trained in Jordan and Egypt, as well as the West Bank67 and were led by Muhammad Dahlan Over 2006 and 2007, the Gaza Strip who most recently served as President Abbas’s witnessed severe inter-Palestinian conflict. The national-security adviser.68 It was a clear policy Palestinian Authority initiated a campaign of of divide and rule, in which Palestinian factions assassinations and abductions against Hamas were encouraged to battle it out. which led to Hamas beginning their own actions against Fatah members. After The plan to remove the democratically elected months of intermittent fighting and arrest Hamas-led government from power failed mis- campaigns, Hamas seized control of the Gaza erably. During the fighting, a group from the Strip from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority presidential guard fled into Egypt from Gaza in a pre-emptive coup in the summer of 2007.62 after blowing a hole in the Israeli ‘security’ wall.69 When the U.S realised that things were not In the aftermath, President Mahmoud Abbas going according to their plan, they pressured responded by declaring a state of emergency, Israel to assist Fatah with an immediate supply dissolving the unity government and form- of arms. But Israel refused to help, fearing that ing an interim government without Hamas any arms supplied may not be enough to turn members. The Palestinian territories were then the tide on Hamas and may well even end up in divided into two independent entities, with their hands.70 In the end, this political meddling Fatah controlling the West Bank and Hamas led to the collapse of the unity government led controlling Gaza. Commentators suggested by Hamas and forced Hamas to take full control that: “With the full support and the financial of Gaza to pre-empt a Fatah coup, as detailed backing of the international community, led later in this Report. by the United States, Mahmoud Abbas con- trived to establish a parallel government whose Whilst this military operation failed to overthrow policies were diametrically opposed to Hamas, many have commented that it did allow those of the elected government and whose an escalation of events which led to the deadly powers had the effect of rendering the legitimate war on the Gaza Strip in December 2008/Janu- government powerless.”63 In fact, it later ary 2009. As William Sieghart reaffirms: emerged that the US had been involved in more sinister means to overthrow Hamas and to “The Bush-Blair response to the Hamas victory secure a more pliant Fatah-led Palestinian in 2006 is the key to today’s horror [military government. incursion on Gaza in December 2008].”70

Gaza Report 19 20 Gaza Report 3 Summer 2006

Throughout the summer of 2006 there was a fice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs clear escalation of violence between Gaza and (UNOCHA) corroborates this. The report point- Israel. With Hamas now in power in Gaza, ed out that from 29 March to 12 April 2006, the the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stepped IOF fired more than 2,300 artillery and tanks up their fatal attacks with Palestinians facing shells into the Gaza Strip. In the same time, increasingly indiscriminate rocket fire. In response Palestinians fired around 67 home-made rock- Palestinian militants were launching Qassam ets as well as one alleged longer range rocket. rockets at Israeli communities near the Green This means that whilst Palestinian militants Line. These desperate Qassam rocket attacks were firing around 5 rockets a day, Israeli was were a predictable result of the conditions launching more than 150 shells a day. Over the imposed on the Gazans by the Israeli government, same period, the Israel Air Forces also launched and the continuous killing of Palestinian civilians 34 missiles.76 Seventeen Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army ensured that they did not stop. in these attacks, including two children and at least 62 Palestinians were injured including one Alan Johnston, the BBC reporter who was woman and 11 children. In the same period, one kidnapped in Gaza, commented: Israeli was injured after a home-made rocket was fired from inside the Gaza Strip.77 “If you want to understand the thinking of those Gazan militants firing rockets into Israel, it is Throughout June 2006, attacks on the people worth bearing in mind that many of them come of Gaza continued and the number of fatalities from refugee families. They lost their homes continued to climb. On 9 June 2006, an Israeli in what is now Israel when Arab armies were naval boat fired seven successive artillery shells defeated in the war that they launched in 1948. on civilians at the Gaza Beach. Seven civilians And as those young Palestinians have grown from the same family were killed- a mother, up leading stunted, blighted lives in the camps a father and five children. Thirty-two civilians of Gaza, they have had to watch Jews from all were injured, including thirteen children. On 13 over the world come and settle on what used to June, another attack was carried out on a Gazan be the land of their fathers.”72 highway killing eleven and injuring thirty. On 20 June, three children were killed and fifteen a. Attacks from April to Early June 2006 injured during a failed extra-judicial execution attempt carried out by Israel.78 In April 2006, it was reported that Israeli forces had reduced the safety range between The continuous shelling and missiles launched populated areas in the Gaza Strip and what it also causes immense psycho-social strain on believed to be the ‘Qassam launching area’, the Gazan population, especially the children from 300 to 100 metres. Given the inaccuracy of who are unable to lead their lives with any shell fire and the dispersal range of 100 meters, semblance of normality. Another Israeli policy the IOF was knowingly endangering the lives designed to terrorize the Gazans is the sonic of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.73 B’Tselem, booms launched from Israeli air-crafts which rip an Israeli human rights organisation reported: across the night skies waking Palestinians from “In one case, a shell landed near the house their sleep due to the terrifying noise. of nine-year-old Hadil Ghaben, in Beit Lahiya, which is in the northern Gaza Strip, killing her b. Sonic Booms Terrorize Gazan Skies and wounding twelve members of her family, including her pregnant mother and three of her Following the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, siblings, aged three to six.”74 B’Tselem went on Israel retained control of the skies and was able to state that “the killing and wounding of civil- to fly planes over the Gaza Strip for information ians as a result of the artillery shelling, which is gathering purposes and surveillance. However, imprecise, at targets close to residential areas this also meant that Israeli air force jets were is a grave breach of fundamental principles of able to carry out operations over the Gaza Strip the laws of war and constitutes a war crime.”75 in which they intentionally caused powerful sonic booms. The air force carried out these opera- The attacks meted out against Gazans by Israeli tions three or four times a night until the end of forces failed to distinguish between combatants July 2006 when it ended the practice. The sole and civilians, attacks were disproportionate purpose of these actions, according to B’Tselem, and devastated the lives of many living in the is “to prevent the residents from sleeping, to Gaza Strip. A report by the United Nations Of- create an ongoing sense of fear and anxiety.”79

Gaza Report 21 Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with the outside world and where basic goods, confirmed that the orders came from him, as medicines and other commodities pass in and “thousands of residents in southern Israel live out. The crossing had been subject to closure in fear and discomfort, so I gave instructions since January 2006 on security grounds and that nobody will sleep at night in the meantime this marked an unprecedented level of closure in Gaza.”80 The use of sonic booms breaches a previously unheard of in the Gaza Strip. number of provisions of international humanitarian law, mostly significantly the prohibition of Following the closure, bakeries began to close collective punishment in Article 33 of the Fourth down as they ran out of wheat flour and those Geneva Convention. Sonic booms also fail to that remained open were rationing out their distinguish between combatants and civilians limited stock. Other basic food commodities which is a central pillar of humanitarian law. were also in short supply such as diary products and fruit, with staples such as rice and sugar The children of Gaza suffered the most from selling at twice their normal price, when they the sonic booms and the Gaza Commu- were available in stores.85 nity Mental Health Centre found that they caused fear amongst many children, leading The food crisis hit the Palestinians of Gaza to loss of concentration, loss of appetite and harshly as they were also facing an econom- bed-wetting. The continuous disturbance of ic blockade from major international players sleep and shattered windows due to the sonic following Hamas’ election victory. The closure booms also caused negative impacts amongst also restricted the number of exported goods adults including stomach aches, nosebleeds, which had a significant impact on the local headaches and other physical effects.81 Doctors Gazan economy. For example, between 1 in Gaza also reported that coupled with other January and 20 April more than 8,400 tonnes of factors affecting the Gaza Strip, there was a produce were harvested yet only 1,500 tonnes serious deterioration in public health, with chil- were exported.86 It was also estimated that the dren and pregnant women most vulnerable.82 loss of value in exports was US$500,000 a day to the Gazan economy.87 “The sonic booms, combined with all the other stress, have a bad effect on the health of The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights pregnant women,” said Dr Adnan Radi, a declared the closure of the Karni Crossing to senior obstetrician. “The explosions can lead to be a means of collective punishment and in premature contraction of the uterus and pre- violation of the International Humanitarian Law. mature delivery of the baby. Whenever there They called for the immediate opening of the is this booming, the next day we see a rise crossing and for the international community to in the number of premature deliveries and remind Israel of its obligations under the Fourth miscarriages.”83 Geneva Convention.88

Thus, Israel deliberately employed this d. The kidnap of Gilad Shalit horrifying and inhuman collective punishment on 1.5 million people living in Gaza. There was An incident which aggravated tensions between no discrimination between the old, the young, Israel and the Gaza Strip was the abduction of the unborn or the vulnerable – all suffered in an Israeli soldier. On 25 June 2006, eight armed equal measures which was directly intended by Palestinians crossed from the Gaza strip and the Israeli political leadership. attacked an army post near the ‘Kerem Shalom’ settlement. Two Palestinians and two Israeli c. Gaza Food Crisis soldiers were killed in the battle and Gilad Shalit was abducted and taken to the Gaza Throughout 2006, Gazans faced endless Strip.89 The identity of the Palestinian organisa- assaults including Israeli shelling, sonic boom tion behind the kidnapping remains unclear. It attacks and indiscriminate fire. With the was reported that the attack was in retaliation to living conditions as miserable as one can expect, the 9 June Israeli attack on Gaza’s beach which added to it was the growing food crisis killed seven members of the same family.90 resulting from Israel’s blockade. Up until 26 April 2006, the Karni Crossing had been closed In exchange for Shalit’s release, the abduc- for 55 days or 47% of the year.84 This crossing is tors demanded that one thousand Palestinians the main commercial crossing connecting Gaza held in Israeli prisons be released. Extensive

22 Gaza Report negotiations between Israel and Hamas, who Israel’s bombing of Gaza was without represented the abductors, have failed to reach a doubt completely disproportionate to an agreement. It has been reported by various the threat it faced (if any at all). Even if Hamas spokesmen that Shalit is being held in Israel argued that it has a right to defend itself, proper conditions.91 At the time of writing (July the actions it employed are not permissible. 2009), Israel still refuses to negotiate the re- Bombing the power plant, which is a purely civilian lease of Palestinian political prisoners in a pris- building, served no military purpose and it did oner swap deal. nothing to impede Palestinian rockets being fired at Israel. As such, the attack becomes e. Operation ‘Summer Rain’ a war crime.98 UNOCHA reported that by 24 August 2006, two hundred and two Palestin- Israel used the abduction of Shalit as an ians had been killed, including 44 children.99 excuse to begin a major wide-scale Casualties continued to climb and by September military operation which included the bombing of 2006 the number of Palestinians killed in the civilian infrastructure and incursions into offensive amounted to 257, mostly civilians, densely-populated civilian areas.92 According including 49 children and 12 women.100 By the to former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, the aim of end of the operation, around 300 Palestinians the operation ‘Summer Rain’ was “not to mete had lost their lives- half of whom were civilians.101 out punishment but rather to apply pressure so that the abducted soldier will be freed. We f. Operation ‘Autumn Clouds’ and the want to create a new equation- freeing the Massacre in Beit Hanoun abducted soldier in return for lessening the pressure on the Palestinians.”93 These actions Israeli forces began another military were in direct violation of the fundamental operation in the Beit Hanoun area of principles of war such as distinction between northern Gaza named ‘Operation Autumn civilians and armed combatants and Clouds’ on 1 November 2006. According proportionality. to the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), the operation was “against terror infrastructure in During the invasion, the Israeli Air force launched general and rocket launching infrastructure in at least 267 air strike attacks on the Gaza Strip particular.”102 However, in the first two days of the as well as repeated ground incursions and operation 15 Palestinians were killed including at intensive shelling. Thousands of Palestinians least 4 civilians and at least 50 were wounded, were forced to flee their homes and only a including 15 children and 3 women.103 At the limited amount of humanitarian aid made it end of the six-day-long offensive, at least 50 through to the Strip. Civilian infrastructure Palestinians had been killed yet in the follow- destroyed in the aerial attacks included 120 ing days the destruction and killing continued buildings, which including homes, and a further unabated.104 160 were reported as damaged.94 On 8 November 2006 at dawn, Israeli shells In the early hours of 28 June, the Israeli Air bombarded a residential street in Beit Force also attacked the only power plant Hanoun killing eighteen Palestinians civilians- operating in the Gaza Strip. Eight missiles were mostly women and children. Israel attribut- fired completely destroying the power station. ed the massacre from the shelling to human As a result, 1.5 million residents were forced error. This provoked much anger in the Strip to live without electricity for most of the day which had witnessed indiscriminate Israeli and night.95 This lack of electricity has a particu- fire for months.105 All but one of the victims larly detrimental effect on the level of medical belonged to the same family and they had services provided by clinics and hospitals as been killed as they rushed out of their homes many vital machines were forced to run on when Israeli shells bombarded the area. Six of generators. The sewage system was also on the victims were children under 16.106 Louise the verge of collapse, creating a whole range Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human of problems linked to the decline in hygiene Rights, toured the Gazan town and condemned such as the spread of water-borne diseases and the ‘massive’ violations against civilians. “The illnesses.96 The Gaza power plant remained call for protection has to be answered,” she unrepaired and the UNDP estimated that added. “We cannot continue to see civilians, the damaged caused to electricity networks who are not the authors of their own misfortune, amounted to US$1.8 million.97 suffer to the extent of what I see here.”107

Gaza Report 23 After the incident, the UN announced that a the high-profile kidnapping of Alan Johnston. fact-finding mission would be necessary to assess the situation of victims and make A popular campaign had been mounted on recommendations on ways to protect Palestinian behalf on Johnston for his release, which found civilians against further Israeli assaults. How- supporters in the West Bank and Gaza. After ever, lack of cooperation from Israel prevented his release, Johnston noted: “I knew that the the mission from visiting Beit Hanoun. Nobel behaviour of my captors was an aberration. I Prize laureate Desmond Tutu described Israel’s also felt that the response of many Palestinians actions as “very distressing” and commented to my plight was remarkable. Demonstrators that this was a time in our history in which there calling for my release took to the streets repeat- was no space for “indifference to the plight of edly in the West Bank and Gaza. It was clear those suffering.”108 The Guardian reported that that the vast majority of Palestinians bitterly the US called on Israel to exercise ‘restraint’ and condemned what the ‘Army of Islam’ was noted its ‘regret’ at the civilian casualties.109 doing.”110 g. Kidnapped: Alan Johnston In light of this popular support, Hamas pressured the group into releasing Johnston. In the days following the violent conflict The kidnappers and the powerful clan that was at the end of 2006, BBC journalist Alan protecting them buckled under Hamas’ pressure Johnston was kidnapped by a faction in the Gaza and Johnston was released unharmed. Johnston Strip. Johnston had been working amongst the has since written about his ordeal and has also Gazans for almost three years when he was acknowledged the role that Hamas played in abducted in March 2007. Johnston was held his safe release: “There are many people who for 114 days by a group calling itself the ‘Army would argue that the Hamas takeover of Gaza of Islam’ before he was released with the was damaging in a variety of ways. But in terms diplomatic intervention of Hamas. Once Hamas of my kidnapping, I think that transformation of seized control of the Gaza Strip in the summer the political scene was the key factor in creat- of 2007, they immediately set out to impose ing the conditions in which I could be freed.”111 some order in the area. One priority was ending

24 Gaza Report 4 The Gaza Siege

Following months of attacks on and Congressman Brian Laird. In fact, the total bombardment of Gaza, the Hamas takeover number of products blacklisted by Israel was met by a complete isolation. Israel and remains unknown and relief agencies face long Egypt tightened control over the borders and delays bringing in their supplies.120 Palestinians were now almost completely barred from entering or leaving the tiny coastal A survey by the UN in 2008 found that more strip.112 Both countries asserted that with the than half of Gazan households had sold their replacement of Fatah, there was no guarantee disposable assets and were relying on credit to of security and so the borders would have to buy food. Three quarters were buying less food be sealed. This was the beginning of a deadly than in the past and almost all were eating less siege that created intolerable suffering for the fresh fruit, vegetables and animal protein to people of Gaza. At this stage, Israel earnestly save money.121 The blockade has also affected restricted imports including food, fuel, medical Gaza’s water network as repairs are difficult to supplies and other basic necessities. Israel justi- carry out due to essential parts being unavail- fied the siege on the basis that it would halt the able and there is limited fuel for generators. rocket attacks from Gaza - attacks which ordinary The World Health Organisations reported that civilians are powerless to stop. As Avi Shaliam, before December 2008, Gazans had only half an Israeli commentator who served in the Israeli of the water they needed according to interna- army, notes “it is difficult to see how starving tional standards. 80% of the water supplied did and freezing the civilians of Gaza could protect not meet WHO drinking standards.122 the people on the Israeli side of the border.”113 With regards to control of Gaza’s sea, Israeli a. Food and Water controls limit the activity of fisherman and the possibility of foreign trade to help support the When Israel limited commercial shipments local economy. Israeli boats patrol the shore of food into Gaza in 2006, a senior govern- and any fishing boats that go beyond twenty ment adviser, Dov Weisglass, explained that nautical miles from shore have faced Israeli “the idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet fire.123 Following the disengagement plan and but not to make them die of hunger.”114 Israel’s the abduction of Gilad Shalit, this distance was ‘diet’ is taking its toll. The World Food Program further reduced and fishermen have not been warned in November 2007 that less than half of allowed to go three nautical miles from the Gaza’s food-import needs were being met. Basics shore.124 “As a result, the fishing sector in Gaza, including wheat grain, vegetable oil, dairy which provides a livelihood to many Gazan products and baby milk were in short supply. families and is an important source of food for Few families could afford meat and anaemia Gazans, suffered a harsh blow.”125 rates rocketed to almost 80 percent.115 UNRWA noted at about the same time that: “we are b. Fuel and Electricity seeing evidence of the stunting of children, their growth is slowing, because our ration is only 61 On 19 September 2007, Israel’s security cabinet percent of what people should have and that announced that the Gaza Strip was a ‘hostile en- has to be supplemented.”116 tity’. Israel claimed that this definition legalised various punitive measures including restricting Half the population of Gaza rely on the UN for electricity and fuel supplies.126 At a time when their staple foods and UN agencies consider the Gazans were suffering immensely from between half and two-thirds of Gazans as ‘food Israel’s disproportionate and torturous policies, insecure’.117 B’Tselem reported in 2007 that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated: “We more than 80 percent of Gazans depended on will not allow them to lead a pleasant life…As far direct assistance from humanitarian agencies as I am concerned, all of Gaza’s residents can to keep them from starving.118 Yet during the walk and have no fuel for their cars.”127 Electric- blockade Israel limited the amount of humani- ity and fuel shortage have detrimental impacts tarian aid allowed to enter Gaza. Members of on the people of Gaza as they are used for nu- the high-ranking American delegation to tour merous tasks such as transportation, operating Gaza were shocked to discover that Israeli hospitals, pumping water and treating sewage. blockade included food staples such as lentils, macaroni and tomato paste.119 “When have Diesel and petrol shortages caused enormous lentil bombs been going off lately? Is someone problems for transportation and donkey carts going to kill you with a piece of macaroni?” asked have once again become a common sight in the

Gaza Report 25 Gaza Strip. Schools and Universities were also in June, a Palestinian man was reported dead forced to shut down before the end of the school after he was unable to leave the Gaza Strip year as students and teachers were unable to for life saving medical care and three other travel.128 No fuel for cars has been allowed in patients including a seven-month old baby from Israel since November 2008 (except for died under the blockade.135 “Patients are dying UN cars) and the UN reported that only half unnecessarily” asserted Saree Makdisi. “Cancer the cooking gas needed was available in June patients cut off from chemotherapy regimens, 2009.129 Following the bombardment of Gaza’s kidney patients cut off from dialysis treatments, only power plant in 2006, Palestinians also premature babies cut off from blood clotting depend almost entirely on Israel for electricity. medications. In the past few weeks, many more Palestinians parents have watched the lives of Numerous human rights organisations petitioned their sick children ebb slowly, quietly and invis- the Israeli High Court of Justice against the cuts ibly away in Gaza’s besieged hospitals...”136 in electricity and fuel, arguing that the measures were likely to amount to a humanitarian crisis. d. Sewage The High Court rejected the petition in Janu- ary 2008 and authorized the cuts in electricity Under the blockade, sewage became a and fuel which the Gaza Strip depends on.130 dangerous issue as lack of fuel meant it was being discharged untreated with widespread c. Medical Treatment health implications. Full sewage treatment requires 14 continuous days of The health system in Gaza, which functioned uninterrupted power supply, which under the only partially before the siege, was in a state blockade is impossible due to daily power of collapse throughout the blockade. Lack of cuts. Consequently, every day tens of mil- fuel made it extremely difficult for the main lions of litres of untreated or partially treated hospital in Gaza (al-Shifa) to provide even basic sewage is being dumped into the sea.137 This is care for casualties. After almost 20 days of the contaminating Gaza sea water and posing siege the hospital was relying entirely on their risks for bathers and consumers of seafood. secondary generators due to the restricted fuel Fishermen have also reported that the discharge supplies. According to the World Health Orga- of sewage into the sea is leaving a noxious nization, 20 percent of essential medicines and smell and killing most sea life in the immediate 31 percent of essential medical equipment were vicinity.138 unavailable in October 2007.131 This situation was far worse during the siege. Many patients Mohammed Omer, a Gazan journalist, summed also required treatment which could only be up the dangerous implications of sewage in the carried out outside the Gaza Strip. Of those who context of the blockade: applied, however, 17.5 percent were denied entry into Israel during 2007. According to “The sewage treatment plant in al-Zaytoun the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 44 patients neighbourhood in Gaza City requires 20,000 died in 2007 alone as a direct result of Israel litres of fuel a day. Last week [21 January delaying or preventing their exit from Gaza.132 2008] Israel ceased delivery of all fuel and supplies to Gaza. The consequences have been By December 2008, the fuel for hospital catastrophic. Without fuel to pump it away, generators had nearly run out and a shortage the waste backs up, flooding the streets and of basic medical supplies left al-Shifa hospital clogging the plumbing. The local ministry of with only 20 percent of the oxygen supply it health has declared this an environmental needed.133 Due to the shortage of electricity, catastrophe. Doctors have warned that a medical medical staff were forced to make agonising catastrophe could follow by way of spread of decisions about who to save by prioritising their cholera and other diseases. That is at a time needs. Moaiya Hassanian, a health ministry when not even life-saving medical services are official said: “We have the choice to either cut on offer any more.”139 electricity on babies in the maternity ward or heart surgery patients or stop operating rooms.”134 Whilst most sewage is being pumped out to the sea, continuous fuel shortages mean that some On 19 June 2009, it was reported that the death sewage cannot be pumped and so is flowing into toll for medical patients resulting from the lagoons in residential areas.140 In March 2007, siege alone had reached 344. During this week five Palestinians were killed in Beit Lahiya when

26 Gaza Report the lagoon burst and the area was flooded and Israel in 2006 and 2007, the ceasefire with raw sewage.141 A high level World Bank arrangement called for an end to Israeli delegation and the Palestinian Water military operations in the Gaza Strip and a halt of Authority (PWA) launched an emergency sewage Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.147 It treatment project in November 2008, which was also agreed that Israel would allow the had been long delayed by Israel’s blockade. gradual reopening of border crossings in and “We strongly believe that water and basic out of the Strip to help ease the blockade. On services should be kept outside the conflict” 19 June 2008, the truce officially took effect and said Dr. Shaddad Attili, Chairman of the PWA.142 shortly after Israel opened four of its Gaza cross- The $63 million project supported by the ings - the Erez, Karni, Nahal Aouz and Soufa International Quartet envoy Tony Blair was terminals. However, by 24 June they were damaged in January 2009 and faces restric- closed again.148 tions due to the continuing blockade imposed on Gaza. Thus, even after the ceasefire agreement, Israel maintained its blockade of Gaza which, e. January 2008: Gaza’s Border Breached in Hamas’s view, amounted to a violation of the agreement. Israel prevented any exports After 18 months under a blockade which denied from leaving Gaza and drastically reduced the Gazans everything apart from pitiful supplies number of trucks carrying food, fuel, spare parts of essential humanitarian aid, a border breach for water and sanitation plants and medical into Egypt provided temporary relief to the supplies into the Strip.149 William Sieghart, the Palestinians. On 23 January 2008, Hamas chairman of Forward Thinking an independent members demolished a section in the conflict resolution agency, reaffirmed the failure Gaza-Egypt border fence allowing hundreds of Israel to maintain its side of the ceasefire: of thousands of Gazans to break free. These desperate people rushed into Egypt to stock up “The Israeli Government agreed to an Egyptian- on supplies. Travelling by foot, truck or donkey brokered ceasefire with Hamas. In return for a cart, they flooded into the markets purchasing ceasefire, Israel agreed to open the crossing everything from gas and flour to cement and points and allow a free flow of essential supplies cigarettes.143 Sheep, goats and cows were also in and out of Gaza. The rocket barrages ended being sold to Gazans who had suffered from but the crossings never fully opened, and the a lack of livestock. Many had been unable to people of Gaza began to starve. This crippling slaughter a sheep during the previous month’s embargo was no reward for peace.”150 celebration of Eid al-Adha as the prices were so high and the stock underfed.144 Israel’s media, however, was broadcasting the very opposite message, insisting that it While the media played up incidents of border was Hamas who broke the ceasefire and that violence, people were able to cross the border Israel’s only objective was to defend its without any trouble and the police presence population. Whilst Israel’s spin-doctors were was mainly to guide traffic.145 The break-out successful in disseminating this message, provided much needed access to the ultimately it is inaccurate and deliberately outside world from the siege and desolation misleading.151 It was Israel who broke the of the Gaza Strip. Four days later, Egyptian ceasefire after a raid into Gaza on4 security forces were turning Palestinians back and November 2008, which killed six Hamas men.152 after 12 days of freedom, Egypt resealed the It was also Israel who defied the terms of the border. Whilst the border breach did boost ceasefire by retaining its blockade on the Strip. Hamas’ popularity in the Strip, it also raised tensions with the Egyptian government which g. The Future for Gaza’s Economy remarked that it was a respected state and could not accept a breach of its border.146 Even so, it Crippled by the blockade, Gaza’s economy was Egypt who brokered a ceasefire agreement suffered badly and local economists say it between Hamas and Israel after several months will take years to recover. The UN report- of indirect negotiations. ed that the blockade caused the economy ‘irreversible damage’. Before the closure, 750 f. The Ceasefire trucks of commodities were leaving Gaza each month, bringing in half a million US dollars a Following the ongoing conflict between Hamas day to the economy.153 This export trade has

Gaza Report 27 come to a complete standstill, apart from By June 2008, only 90 were still functioning a few unique cases when the international and they employed 860 people. As a result community put pressure on Israel. For example unemployment soared from 30% in 2007 to due to pressure from the Dutch government, 40% in 2008,156 / 157 and now stands at 65% with Israel granted permission for 25,000 flowers poverty at 80%. Every day of the siege, more from Gaza to be exported for Valentine’s Day and more businesses close down and more in 2009.154 people are losing the means to make a living.

Production has also been affected as raw Whilst Israel has continuously argued that the materials are refused entry into the Gaza blockade was implemented to halt Qassam Strip. In the construction sector, building works rockets launched from Hamas-ruled Gaza, the stopped and shipping containers of products majority of human rights organisations and intended for Gaza remained stranded in Israel, critics have contended that it is simply forcing importers to pay storage costs and bear collective punishment of a people for practis- heavy losses if the goods were perishable.155 ing their democratic right. As Human Rights According to the Palestinian Trade Centre, Watch executive director Kenneth Roth stated: before the blockade there were 3,900 industrial “Israel’s blockade policy can be summed up in premises operating, employing 35,000 people. one word and it is punishment, not security.”158

This Chart formulated by the UN OCHA illustrates the number of trucks with goods entering Gaza and shows the limited change following the truce in June 2008.

28 Gaza Report Gaza Report 29 30 Gaza Report 5 International Complicity and Protest

As the siege against Gaza intensified in and medicine and to live in dignity... People here the lead up to the war in December 2008, in Gaza don’t have those rights,” he said.164 there was increasing criticism for and demonstrations against the Israeli policy. As well as criticisms of the UK and the EU’s role People across the world joined in protests with in the siege, Human Rights Watch questioned numerous organizations that condemned the limited US involvement in the issue. It the siege as a violation of human rights. reported that despite Israel being the largest Amnesty International remarked in July 2008 recipient of American aid, the US had “not made that “a humanitarian crisis is engulfing Gaza- the funding conditional on Israeli improving its not the result of a natural disaster but entirely human rights record.”165 Phyllis Bennis of the man-made and avoidable. The tightening of the Institute for Policy Studies also found that the Israeli blockade since June 2007 has left the US was directly complicit in the violations of the population, 1.5 million Palestinians, trapped and Geneva Convention as Israel’s actions during with few resources. They are surviving, but only the blockade had been completely backed and just.”159 The report went on to urge the Israeli supported by the US.166 Bennis went on to government to lift the blockade and allow the conclude that the resulting humanitarian passage of aid and other necessities into Gaza. crisis which reached catastrophic proportions “is partly the responsibility of the United States.”167 a. States Accused of Complicity in The US also blocked UN Security Council non- the Crisis binding statements urging Israel to end its blockade, arguing that the blockade was a Amnesty International also noted that the policy of ‘self-defense’.168 international community- most notably the Quartet which is made up of the USA, EU, Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu also Russia and the UN - should be holding all denounced the entire international community concerned parties accountable to the same stating that “our silence and complicity, espe- principles of international law.160 In fact, six cially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all.”169 leading British aid groups accused the Quartet of complicity over Israel’s crippling blockade. b. International Organizations The Guardian reported that Oxfam director Condemning the Siege Barbara Stocking said that: “The collective complacency of the Quartet is putting the As noted above, numerous humanitarian and future of the people of Gaza on the line.” The human rights organizations condemned the charities, which include Christian Aid, added siege of Gaza as a violation of human rights that the Quartet should end this complacency and as a brutal form of collective punishment. A but putting the “highest diplomatic pressure” report released by the coalition of eight British on Israel over its strategy of isolating Hamas.161 aid charities stated that the situation for the 1.5 The Quartet had joined Israel in a boycott of million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was worse Hamas, after it took over Gaza in June 2007 that it had ever been since the start of the following its election victory in January 2006. Israeli military occupation in 1967.170 The coalition remarked that the crisis was British MP Clare Short denounced the West’s completely man-made, avoidable and could silence over the siege and said: “Our govern- also be reversed with the necessary political ments are shameful in that they don’t hold up will. It also found that the blockade affected the international law and say to Israel the siege civilian population of Gaza indiscriminately and is illegal and must be broken.” “The whole EU so constituted collective punishment which is is colluding to what is taking place in Gaza to illegal under international humanitarian law.171 our shame.”162 Short had made the voyage to Gaza on the US-based Free Gaza Movement Whilst the coalition acknowledged the UK boats in November 2008 in the hope that they government’s assertion that it would not would challenge the siege and tackle the failure support the Israeli blockade, they insisted that of Western governments to uphold the Geneva more needed to be done. “Concrete actions must conventions.163 Lord Nazir Ahmed, who was also be taken to end the blockade of the Gaza Strip defied the siege by entering on the boat, added and redirect policy towards an inclusive political that the basic human rights of the Gazans are process through which the root causes of the being crushed while the whole world stands idle. current crisis can be adequately addressed.”172 “Even prisoners have rights, rights to have food The charities also questioned Israel’s policy of

Gaza Report 31 isolation and refusal to engage with the rier not under direct Israeli control, remained Palestinian leadership, arguing that this “only tightly sealed by the Egyptian government, closes doors to negotiations while reinforcing denying the Gazans a means to ease the the political and humanitarian crisis.”173 The blockade. A diverse range of groups including the international policy of isolating Hamas was Muslim Brotherhood and the pro-democra- deemed unsuccessful as not only had it failed to cy group ‘Kefaya’ held demonstrations and reap any benefits but it had resulted in a political condemned the inability of Arab countries to stalemate with Israel. Other criticisms emerged stem the disproportionate Israeli aggression in from the president of the United Nations Gaza.178 general assembly,174 the PCHR and UN human rights investigator Richard Falk, who was In Jordan, hundreds of thousands of expelled by the Israeli authorities in December protesters rallied in the streets and called for the 2008.175 government to close down the Israeli embassy and sever ties with Israel and Washington.179 Despite the internal conflict between the Algeria also saw mass demonstrations organised Palestinian political leaders, Palestinian by the student unions which denounced the President Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to lift Israeli siege against the Gazans. “Are we going the blockade. Khaled Mashaal, the exiled leader to sit on the fence watching our brothers and of Hamas, also appealed to Arab countries such sisters in Gaza being slain day in, day out?” as Egypt and Saudi Arabia to intervene. “We fumed Secretary General of the students union are not asking you to wage military war against Ismail Mujaheed.180 In Europe, members of the Israel” he said, “just stand with us in pride Swedish parliament and supporters rallied in and honor.”176 Despite increasing international solidarity with those in Gaza. There were concern over the deteriorating situation in Gaza, also demonstrations against the siege across Israel maintained its blockade in an attempt to major cities such as London, Paris, Stockholm weaken Hamas and the population of Gaza. and Berlin. c. International Protest Against the Siege d. Free Gaza Boats

As news spread of the horrific consequences of Across the United States, a new initiative was the siege on Gaza, world-wide protests were also launched which would tackle the Israeli also held by millions of people calling for an end siege through small yet symbolic action. The to the suffering. People took to the streets dem- ‘Free Gaza Movement’ is a coalition of human onstrating against the injustice across Europe, rights organizations and activists, which is America, the Middle East, Latin America and based in the US but is open to supporters of all South Africa. nationalities, ages and beliefs. In August 2008, forty activists from 14 countries boarded two A non-partisan campaign, ‘End the Siege’ was boats full of humanitarian aid and left the port launched by a coalition of civil society groups, of Larnaca in Cyprus heading for Gaza. Before intellectuals, activists and human rights the Free Gaza boats set sail, the Israeli foreign workers across the West Bank and Gaza. They ministry had said it wanted them to steer clear declared that there was a “moral and ethical duty of the Gazan coastline yet later on an Israeli to rescue the lives of human souls living under spokesman said that they would be allowed bitter circumstances that sabotage their right to in.181 exist. People in Gaza are deprived of the simplest requirements for a decent life. We are The two boats named Liberty and Free Gaza determined to move hand in hand and shoulder were carrying essential humanitarian supplies to shoulder with all people who believe in free- including 200 hearing aids for children deafened dom, human dignity and peace.”177 by bombing raids. They managed to reach the Gaza Strip in safety and were the first boats to Many in the Arab world also protested against journey to Gaza since 1967. the official inaction of their governments or the failure of support to translate into Organiser Paul Larudee said that “we have concrete actions. On March 2008, protests already achieved our goals by proving that erupted on the streets on Cairo as the Egyptian ordinary citizens with ordinary means can government maintained its siege of Gaza. The mobilise a defense of human rights for Rafah border crossing which is the only bar- Palestinians.” He also added that the problems

32 Gaza Report in Gaza are not about feeding people rice but recently, on 30 June 2009 Israeli Occupation are issues of human rights.182 Since August, Forces forcibly boarded the Free Gaza boat, the movement has sailed from Cyprus to the Spirit of Humanity, and kidnapped 21 human Gaza Strip several times “bringing internation- rights workers and journalists who were on al witnesses to see first hand the devastating their way to deliver much needed humanitarian effects of Israeli violence against the Palestinian and reconstruction supplies to besieged Gaza. people.”183 Those abducted by Israel included Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Another four boats entered Gaza peacefully Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.185 These until the emergency delegation sent on the activists were taken to Israel and later deported 29/30 December 2008 which was rammed by back to their countries of origin. Despite the the Israeli navy. According to Caoimhe Butterly, high profile of some of these individuals, Israel the Gaza coordinator, “The gunboats gave us has repeatedly displayed a complete lack of no warning. They came up out of the darkness respect for their positions. firing flares and flashing huge flood lights into our faces...They rammed us three times, hitting Israel’s actions in Gaza have created an the side of the boat hard. We began taking on international solidarity movement on the ground water, and for a few minutes, we all feared for within many countries around the globe, all of our lives...”184 The boat, which had been car- whom are working to free Gaza from Israel’s rying 3.5 tonnes of medical aid, was forced to inhumane policies. make its way to safe harbor in Lebanon. More

Gaza Report 33 34 Gaza Report 6 Preparation for War in 2008

In the context of the Gaza siege and intensi- open up the Gaza border crossings.192 Dr. Robert fied calls from human rights organisations to Pastor, a professor at American University, who ease the humanitarian crisis, Israel launched met with the Hamas chairman along with former military operation ‘Cast Lead’ on 27 December President Jimmy Carter confirmed that Hamas 2008. After 24 days 1,417 Palestinians would was willing to renew the ceasefire “if there was be dead, including 926 civilians.186 Israel justi- a sign that Israel would lift the siege on Gaza.”193 fied the war against Gaza as a response to the breakdown of efforts to renew the ceasefire and Whilst it is not clear whether Israel due to what it called the “continuation of terror explicitly rejected the offer or it simply refused to activity by Hamas terror organisations from the respond, what is apparent is that Israel Gaza Strip”.187 turned down Hamas’ offer. And although Israel argues that it is wholly motivated by the need Evidence has since emerged that Israel had to halt Qassam rockets, it was unwilling to been preparing for war for some time and it was end the siege on Gaza in exchange for peace Israel, not Hamas, who rejected offers to renew in the region. “Israel’s rejection of the Hamas the ceasefire agreement. Israel, it seems, did December proposal reflected its preference for not react to the circumstances it found itself in maintaining Israel’s primary leverage over but rather, it used the excuse of rocket attacks Hamas and the Palestinian population of Gaza- its to launch its pre-planned military invasion to rid ability to choke off food and goods required itself of Hamas. for the viability of its economy- even at the cost of continued Palestinian rocket attacks.”194 a. Israel Rejects Hamas’ Ceasefire Offer As negotiations to renew the ceasefire ended, As 2008 came to an end, tensions were rising Israeli threats began and politicians warned that in Gaza as the ceasefire agreement brokered a major military offensive would be launched in by Egypt was nearing expiry. This ceasefire Gaza if rockets fired by Hamas did not come to was due to end on 19 December 2008. Isra- and end.195 el had already compromised the ceasefire by failing to honour its terms including not b. Pre-planned Military Invasion easing the blockade on Gaza and continuing military attacks in Gaza. The pivotal event took The invasion of Gaza under operation ‘Cast place on November 4th when Israel seriously Lead’ was not a straight forward response to undermined the agreement by carrying out an the breakdown of ceasefire negotiations during attack in Gaza killing six members of Hamas’.188 December 2008. As Ian Black, the BBC’s Middle For five months before this attack, Hamas East editor remarks: “Unlike the confused and had refrained from firing rockets and had also improvised Israeli response as the war against prevented other groups from doing so.189 Hizbullah in Lebanon unfolded in 2006, Opera- William Sieghart explained that “when Western- tion Cast Lead appears to have been carefully ers ask what is in the mind of Hamas leaders when prepared over a long time.”196 Israeli Defence they order or allow rockets to be fired at Israel Minister Ehud Barak admitted early on in the they fail to understand the Palestinian position. war that he and the army had been planning the Two months ago [November 2008] the Israeli attack for at least six months. Other indicators Defence Forces broke the ceasefire by entering showed that the “invasion’s blueprint was drawn Gaza and beginning the cycle of killing again.”190 up much earlier, probably 18 months ago.”197

As the ceasefire expiry date neared, it was It was also Minister Barak who expanded the widely reported that Hamas leader Khaled blockade in Gaza to include electricity and fuel. Mesha’al had refused to renew a six-month old While this policy did test the Gazan’s support for truce with Israel.191 Yet it was later confirmed Hamas it may have also been a central plank of by US sources that Hamas had proposed in Barak’s military strategy.198 As Jonathan Cook, mid-December to return to the original Hamas- a journalist in the region explains: “any general Israel ceasefire arrangement. The proposal knows that it is easier to fight an army- or in was presented by a high-level delegation to this case a militia- that is tired, cold and hun- Egyptian Minister of Intelligence Omar Suleiman gry. More so if the fighter’s family and friends at a meeting on 14 December 2008. Hamas are starving too.”199 Signs that the war on Gaza declared that it was prepared to stop all rocket had been premeditated included declarations attacks if Israel pledged to halt its attacks and to by Israeli army officials in November 2008 that

Gaza Report 35 “war with Gaza will take place in the coming c. The Israeli Elections two months.”200 For many senior officials, this was a chance to re-establish Israel’s ‘deterrent The decision to go to war against Gaza was also capability’ which was badly damaged after the complicated by the Israeli general elections, 2005 Gaza withdrawal and more critically after planned for February 2009. Opinions polls in the widely criticised war against Hezbollah in Israel show that it pays, politically, to talk 2006.201 The plans for war were agreed in a cab- tough and be seen to be actively dealing with inet meeting on 19 December and preparations the ‘threat of Hamas to Israel’. In fact, both included misinformation and deception to lull leading candidates to become Israel’s next prime Hamas into a false sense of security began.202 minister, Tzipi Livni and Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu, vowed to defeat Hamas if The US Presidential inauguration may have they were elected.207 also played a part in the timing of the war against Gaza. Three weeks before the official Livni, who spoke openly of toppling Hamas start of President Obama’s administration, the since they took control of Gaza in June 2007, conflict was Israel’s last chance to “assume improved her standing during the conflict.208 automatic diplomatic support from Washington, Even Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who had been as it got from George Bush over both West Bank mired in corruption scandals saw his popularity settlements and the Lebanon war.”203 Through- rise following the war on Gaza. His popularity out the conflict, Bush put all the blame for rating climbed up to 33 percent compared to an the crisis on Hamas and vetoed proposals average of 14 percent.209 In this sense, the war at the United Nations Security Council for an was motivated by political goals rather than the immediate ceasefire.204 proclaimed ‘security’ threat of Hamas alone.

In the lead up to war against Gaza, Israel In the weeks leading up to the Israeli was eager to carry out a well-organised and election, issues of national security successful operation. Plans were carefully dominated the agenda. Political rivals were drawn up months before the conflict and it was locked in fierce debate not about whether the reported that Barak saw the ceasefire as a devastating war in Gaza had gone too far, but means of providing the Israeli army with the whether it went far enough.210 Tzipi Livni, now needed time to prepare.205 Barak also gave leader of the centrist Kadima party, noted in orders to carry out intensive intelligence a keynote speech that she would not attempt gathering to identify Hamas infrastructure and to negotiate a settlement with Hamas and other targets in the Strip. On 18 December, promised more attacks. “If by ending the Prime Minister Olmert and defence minister operation we have yet to achieve deterrence, Barak met in central Tel Aviv to approve the we will continue until they get the message,” operation.206 A day later, after five hours of she said. Support had also grown for the right discussion Israeli ministers unanimously voted and other hard-liners, with combative talk in favour of the strike. The fate of Gaza had about defending Israel and its Jewish character been sealed. It was now only a matter of time. attracting more votes than hopes for peace.211

36 Gaza Report Gaza Report 37 38 Gaza Report 7 The War on Gaza

“It was just before noon when I heard the aircrafts fired five heavy missiles at the two first explosion. I rushed to my window and houses, which are located in the middle of barely did I get there and look out when I was Jabaliya refugee camp, one of the most dense- pushed back by the force and air pressure of ly, populated places in the world, killing at least another explosion. For a few moments I didn’t eight people, including 49-year-old Rayyan, his understand but then I realized that Israeli wife Nawal Rayyan, his six year old son Abdul- promises of a wide-scale offensive against the Rahman Rayyan, and another woman related to Gaza Strip had materialized.” - Safa Joudeh212 him, 49-year-old Sabah Abdul-Rahman Rayyan. Ten houses were destroyed completely and a. Week 1: dozens others were damaged. The number of Launch of Operation ‘Cast Lead’ casualties in this attack is expected to rise.”219

On 27 December 2008, Israel launched its It later emerged that 15 members of his family military incursion titled Operation ‘Cast Lead’ were killed in this attack. On the same day it was on the tiny coastal enclave of Gaza which had reported by the Palestinian Centre for Human been blockaded for the previous 18 months. Rights (PCHR) that an attack near al-Nada towers The incursion consisted of directing artillery fire had resulted in the death of 2 year old al-Mu’ez and air strikes at civilian neighbourhoods from al-Nasla and his 16 year old sister ‘Oyoun.220 which rockets were believed to be fired - despite the fact that these actions were in violation of EU ministers as well as Turkey, Egypt and international law.213 Jonathon Cook, a report- several other Arab countries called for a er based in the region explained that: “these ceasefire and for a reopening of Gaza’s aggressive measures were designed to ‘send crossings with Israel. British Foreign Minister, Gaza decades into the past’, as the head of the David Miliband reiterated these calls stating that army command in Gaza, Yoav Galant, described a ceasefire was required to end the “massive loss Israel’s attack on its opening day.”214 of life” and that the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza was “deeply disturbing”.221 The military incursion had also followed the Ian Black, the Guardian’s Middle East editor Israeli deputy defence minister’s comment that wrote that the scale of the bloodshed ranked in Palestinians could bring on themselves what he Palestinian history alongside the 1948 Deir Yas- called a “shoah” or “holocaust”.215 Matan Vilnai sin killings or the Sabra and Shatila massacres had warned that “the more Qassam fire intensi- by Israel’s Christian Lebanese allies in 1982.222 fies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because Despite rising international concern and pres- we will use all our might to defend ourselves.” sure from the United Nations Security Council demanding an immediate end to the fighting, In the first day alone, more than 100 tonnes Israel expanded its military campaign. By the of bombs were dropped killing police officers end of December it had called up at least 6,500 who were attending a graduation ceremony, reservists and sent infantry and armoured units school children heading home after a day of to the Gaza border in preparation of a ground study and other Gazans who were going about assault.223 Israel justified its actions as means their daily lives.216 A day later it was report- of self defence against the Hamas rockets, ed that the number of Palestinians killed had insisting that they were not to blame for any reached around 290.217 Israel stepped up its casualties inflicted. Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign air strikes in the next two days, destroying five Minister added that “I expect the international ministerial buildings and a structure belonging community, including the entire Arab world, to to the Islamic University in Gaza City. By 30 send a clear message to Hamas: ‘It is your fault. December the death toll had climbed to 384, It’s your responsibility’.”224 She went on to say mostly unarmed civilians, with more than 800 “The responsibility for the lives of the civilians Gazans injured.218 in the Gaza Strip is in your [Hamas’] hands.”225

On 1 January 2009, Al Mezan reported that an b. Week 2: air raid had targeted the house of Abu al-Jabin The Ground Assault family and Nizzar Rayyan, who was a leader in the Hamas movement: Following the aerial assault of Gaza, Israeli troops began the ground offensive on the 3rd of “At approximately 2:40pm today, Israeli January 2009. PCHR reported that by the end of

Gaza Report 39 the first day of the ground assault, -the num certainty that white phosphorous is absolutely ber of Palestinians killed totalled 424, mostly not being used.”233 civilians including 88 children and 19 women.226 Israeli president Shimon Peres rejected the An air strike during the invasion hit a mosque possibility of a ceasefire to end the conflict on in the Jabalya town killing 15 Palestinian 4 January 2009. US President George W. Bush civilians, including 4 children and 27 others were accused Hamas of launching “terror attacks” wounded. The PCHR also found that on Israel and expressed his support for the ambulances and medical crews were subjected military incursion into Gaza. The US also to gunfire and shelling during this period and vetoed Libya’s draft of a document calling for so were unable to reach those who had been an immediate ceasefire. UN Secretary-General killed or injured.227 According to the Inter- Ban Ki-moon expressed extreme concern and national Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), disappointment at Israel’s refusal to consider two clearly marked ambulances evacuating the a ceasefire.234 A resolution calling for a truce dead and wounded were targeted by Israeli was finally passed on 9 January with a vote of fire. Palestinian ambulance driver Khaled Abu 14-0 although the US abstained from the vote, Saada supported this: “I have no doubt that one seriously undermining its influence. Israeli Prime missile was aimed at us. I do not know for Minister Olmert issued a statement that the certain whether it was meant to kill us or warn Security Council resolution was “not practical” us to keep away, but it was definitely aimed and so continued the offensive against Gaza.235 in our direction.”228 Some of those who were not immediately killed suffered greatly before c. Week 3: dying because Gaza’s hospitals which were End of the War already chronically short of medicines and supplies were unable to cope with the scale of The third week of the conflict saw further the catastrophe.229 escalation of the ground assault which now reached deeper into western Beit Lahiya and In the second week of the war on Gaza, two Jabaliya as well as the northern, eastern and UN buildings were attacked. Israeli tank shells southern suburbs of Gaza City.236 Al Mezan exploded in and around a UN school in the centre for Human Rights also reported an Jabaliya refugee camp killing over 42 incident of indiscriminate attacks on civilians Palestinians who were sheltering inside. and targeted assaults on medical staff: “There’s nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized,” said John Ging, the “At Approximately 4:17pm, on 12 January UN head in Gaza. “I am appealing to political 2009, an IOF aircraft fired a missile at the leaders here and in the region and the world to Hammouda and Banna apartment complex, get their act together and stop this,” he said, which is located in al-Zarqaa area in Jabaliya speaking at Gaza’s largest hospital. “They are town. While the residents of the compound were responsible for these deaths.”230 During the trying to evacuate their apartments following ground offensive, Israeli troops also abducted the first attack, the IOF fired several artillery Palestinian men in Gaza suspected of being shells at the tower, killing 18-year-old Ayat involved in the resistance movement. Israeli TV Kamal al-Banna, and injured four others, claimed that as many as 100 Palestinians had including two children. Once ambulances arrived been arrested and taken over the border for at the scene of the attack to pick up the victims, interrogation.231 at approximately 4:22pm, the IOF fired several missiles at them, hitting an ambulance. As a Concerns that Israel had deployed white result, a 28-year-old doctor, Issa Abdul-Rahim phosphorous also intensified as mounting Saleh, was killed and 25-year-old Ahmed Abdul- evidence indicated that the deadly chemical Bari, the ambulance driver, was injured.”237 had been used from 3 January. On 10 January, Human Rights Watch issued a statement urging Conditions in the Gaza Strip also continued Israel to end the use of white phosphorous in the to deteriorate under the intensive assault due densely populated areas of Gaza.232 Their to the persistent blockade. The Palestinian researchers confirmed the use of artillery Water Authority revealed that at least 500,000 fired white phosphorous, revealing the blatant (a third of the population) had been cut off from falsehood of an earlier statement by an IDF water and sanitation services due to the conflict, spokesperson who told CNN, “I can tell you with leading to concerns over health public health.238

40 Gaza Report Hospitals and intensive care units were also borders closed. This included Al Jazeera and struggling to cope with the constant influx of Ramattan reporters as well as freelance casualties due to damaged structures and lack journalists who had refused to leave despite of resources such as vital medicines and fuel an Israeli army warning that they would be which help to keep the facilities running.239 prevented from leaving and that their safety Gazans also faced problems accessing food due was being compromised.250 to rising prices attributed to their scarcity under the security situation. The price of wheat flour Ramattan’s presence was vital as it broadcast had increased by 45 percent whilst the price of images around the clock from Gaza through- tomatoes had gone up by 500 percent.240 Sara out the 22-day war. The images that it beamed Roy, an economist who has written extensively across the world of terrorized Palestinians on Gaza, remarked that the world was witness- running away from IOF shelling, family ing “the breakdown of an entire society”.241 members desperately digging out corpses from under the rubble, were all vital in showing the In the early morning of Sunday, 18 January extent of the Israeli bombardment and the 2009, Israel declared a ceasefire. Medical crews humanitarian catastrophe.251 As Israeli begun collecting decayed corpses from areas journalist Gideon Levy affirmed: “The whole which were invaded by the IOF and on the first world saw the images. They shocked every day alone 62 bodies were found.242 During the human being who saw them, even if they left 22-day conflict, 20,000 Palestinian homes were most Israelis cold. The conclusion is that Israel either completely or partially destroyed,243 and is a violent and dangerous country, devoid of all 53 United Nations building were damaged244 restraints and blatantly ignoring the resolutions alongside half of all of the hospitals.245 16 medi- of the United Nations Security Council.”252 cal help workers were killed and 28 wounded by the IDF while performing their duties.246 e. Reactions to the War on Gaza The final death toll was 1,417 Palestinians, 926 of whom were civilians. 313 children and 116 Despite the limited amount of information and women were amongst those who were killed images leaving Gaza, the conflict was met with and the Ministry of Health confirmed that a total loud and angry protests against Israel’s vicious of 5,303 Palestinian were injured in the assault assault. There were loud calls for a boycott of (1,606 children and 828 women).247 Israel including a boycott appeal from by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions d. Media Blackout National Committee, which stated:

Throughout the offensive, Israel refused to “Israel seems intent to mark the end of its allow foreign media personnel into Gaza to 60th year of existence the same way it has report on the war. Following a petition by the established itself — perpetrating massacres Foreign Press Association (FPA) to the Israeli against the Palestinian people. In 1948, the high court, Israel said on 1 January it would majority of the indigenous Palestinian people allow eight journalists to enter Gaza each were ethnically cleansed from their homes time the Erez crossing was opened. The cross- and land, partly through massacres like Deir ings opened briefly afterwards to allow several Yassin; today, the Palestinians in Gaza, most hundred foreign passport holders to leave of whom are refugees, do not even have the Gaza yet no foreign journalists were allowed in choice to seek refuge elsewhere. Incarcerated despite the court ruling.248 behind ghetto walls and brought to the brink of starvation by the siege, they are easy targets The media blackout caused outrage amongst for Israel’s indiscriminate bombing.”253 the world press who were extremely frustrated that they would not be able to report on the Venezuela, Bolivia, Jordan and Mauritania all event and condemned Israel’s action as an un- significantly downgraded their relations with precedented violation of press freedom. During Israel after calls to severe links and expel Israeli previous military operations, journalists were ambassadors. Other states such as Libya, Cuba, allowed to enter Gaza individually without any Russia and Iran criticised the conflict whilst security checks even when the borders were Iran and Libya specifically voiced anger at the closed.249 Consequently, the majority of the Arab nations’ lack of response to the attacks.254 live reporting on the situation came from those And while other Western political leaders and who were already inside the Strip when the US president-elect Barack Obama remained

Gaza Report 41 resoundingly silent over the ongoing massacre as well as Hong Kong where more than 1,000 in Gaza, millions of people around the world students took part in the protest.258 Peaceful took to the streets to express their solidarity rallies were also held across the US and in with the Palestinians under siege and war.255 Indonesia, where 20,000 Muslims marched in the capital. Across the West Bank and Israel, spontaneous demonstrations and riots The assault on Gaza also marked an erupted sparking concerns of a possible third awakening for many American Arabs and Palestinian intifada. Palestinian protest- Muslim youth. Following 9/11 and the ‘War on/ ers marched on Israeli checkpoints and set- of Terror’ many had become more aware of the tlements whilst left-wing Israelis carried injustices across the world and were willing signs demanding an end to the slaughter.256 to stand up and denounce the perpetrators.259 Outside the region, one of the biggest This increased awareness was also reflected rallies took place in Brussels where a march in a surge of direct action at UK universities. attended by over 30,000 people ended in Over 17 UK universities saw students stage incidents of violence.257 Tens of thousands sit-ins and occupations of campus buildings also marched through the streets of Madrid to during the conflict in a bid to raise awareness of the denounce Israeli action in Gaza and call for an end situation and also to demand support for those to the assault. There were also demonstrations suffering in Gaza.260 held in France, Austria, Italy, Germany, Britain

42 Gaza Report 8 A Record of Israel’s War Crimes

“The excessively disproportionate civilian the mistake be over their lives, not ours.”267 death toll, and Israel’s conduct of hostilities – including, inter alia, indiscriminate attacks, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights also wilful killing, the extensive destruction published a report entitled ‘Hiding behind of property, target selection, the lack of Civilians’ which recorded the use of Palestinian precautions taken in attack, the excessive civilians as ‘human shields’ by the Israeli use of force, and the use of weapons such as Occupation Forces.268 It looks at seven case studies, white phosphorous in civilian areas – demand witness statements and field investiga- effective judicial redress. Many of the cases tions to conclude that the “IOF continues to documented by PCHR constitute grave breach- systematically use Palestinian civilians as es of the Geneva Conventions, and war crimes. human shields, in breach of international The widespread and apparently systematic humanitarian law (IHL), International violations of customary IHL witnessed in the human rights law (IHRL) and even Israeli Gaza Strip may also amount to a crime against domestic law.”269 In one case the IOF used humanity.” - PCHR Report, 26 March 2009261 two brothers. One brother was shot and bled to death as Israeli soldiers fired at UNRWA a. Civilian Deaths and Red Crescent ambulances attempting to rescue him. By endangering the lives of An Independent Fact Finding Committee civilians, Israel is committing crimes tantamount visited Gaza following the conflict and to war crimes and crimes against humanity.270 confirmed that over 1,400 Palestinians were killed including at the very least 850 civilians (300 A Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ children and 110 women). Over 5,000 investigation also found that the Israeli Palestinians were wounded.262 Figures Occupation Forces “used excessive, given by Israel were viewed as questionable as indiscriminate force, in violation of the principle they failed to include the names of the dead, of distinction. This claim is evidenced by the they assert that the status of children only disproportionately high rate of death amongst applies to those under the age of sixteen when the civilian population...”271 PCHR estimated the accepted international age is eighteen that 83 percent of the overall dead and injured and, it also includes policemen as combatants were non-combatants, many of whom were when they are considered civilians. Ten Israeli also killed and injured whilst sheltering in their soldiers were killed (three by friendly fire) and own homes and other civilian structures. The 148 wounded during the conflict.263 damage to civilian infrastructure goes some to explaining the heavy death toll of Palestinian The report by the Fact Finding Committee civilians.272 concluded that the IOF had not distinguished between civilians and civilian objects and b. Children infrastructure, and military targets during the conflict. “Both the loss of life and the damage PCHR carried out an investigation into the to property were disproportionate to the harm Palestinian children killed by Israeli Forces suffered by Israel or any threatened harm. in the Gaza Strip during the conflict.273 The There was no evidence that any military report found that there was a widespread advantage was served by the killing and targeting of unarmed civilians, including wounding of civilians and the destruction of children, as well as an “abject failure of the IOF property.”264 In fact, evidence later emerged to uphold the precautions necessary in attacks, from Israeli soldiers themselves of lax rules of or to distinguish between military targets and engagement which seemingly allowed troops civilian objects.”274 The overwhelming majority to open fire at unarmed civilians and disregard of the children killed were either inside their the principles of international law.265 “You see own homes or within the vicinity of their homes some guy on a road, walking along a path. They and almost 15 percent of those killed were don’t have to be carrying weapons, you don’t under five years old.275 PCHR remarked that this have to identify that they have anything, you followed a pattern of IOF killings which has can just shoot them,” said one Israeli soldier.266 lead to the death of 1,179 Palestinian children Israeli TV also reported that a commander since the second Intifada began in 2000 (see briefing ground troops had remarked: “I want diagram). Failure to distinguish between com- aggressiveness- if there’s someone suspicious batants and civilians is a serious violation of the on the upper floor of a house, we’ll shell it...let Geneva Conventions and amounts to a war crime.

Gaza Report 43 Of the 131 children killed throughout the metres, penetrating human skin and bones and offensive, 99 were girls and 214 were boys. causing horrific injuries. In a single artillery shell, Almost one quarter was aged between five there are around 5,000-8,000 flechettes.277 and ten and 62 percent were aged from 11 to 17 years. The overwhelming majority of the The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme children died in densely populated residential also conducted a survey to gauge the psycho- areas in the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City, logical implications of the military offensive areas where Israeli forces knew attacks would on children. Initial findings indicated that an result in civilian casualties.276 During the offen- overwhelming majority of children had sive, the IOF also deployed flechettes as part of personally witnessed traumatic events which its arsenal alongside white phosphorous, bombs, could seriously affect their mental health.278 missiles and mortars. Flechettes are 4cm long Psychologist Hassan Ziyada reported that metal darts which are packed into artillery children experienced high levels of trauma with shells. Shortly after the shell is fired, flechettes 95.6 percent stating that they could not protect scatter at high speeds over a distance of 300 themselves and 97.1 percent did not believe

44 Gaza Report their families could protect them.279 Whilst it yet in the process they used excessive lethal is difficult to measure the full impact of the force and killed six civilians. Furthermore, Issa’s psychological trauma, Ziyada remarked that position in the Qassam brigades doesn’t justify many will develop some form of depression and, the attack as he was not taking part in hostilities without sustained support, these may result at the time and his family were civilians. “As such, in physical manifestations such as body pain, the attack was indiscriminate, and therefore is a insomnia and aggressive behaviour.280 Exposing war crime, as defined in Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Gaza’s children to fatal dangers and traumatic Statue of the International Criminal Court.”283 experiences is another aspect of Israel’s collective punishment of the Gaza Strip. c. Phosphorous Bombs

Case Study: Flechettes During the offensive on Gaza, Israeli forces deployed deadly white phosphorous on dense- On the morning of 5 January 2009 whilst the ly populated areas as confirmed by a Human Abdul-Dayem family were paying their respects Rights Watch report. White phosphorous is a following the death of paramedic Arafa Hani chemical substance dispersed in artillery shells, Abdul-Dayem, their house was struck by a bombs and rockets which releases a dense projectile. Two tank shells containing flech- white smoke. It is used primarily to obscure ette darts were fired. Three members of the military operations on the ground (such as the Abdul-Dayem family, including one twelve year movement of troops) as it interferes with old child, were killed instantly. Another two infra-red optics and tracking devices. members of the family, including one child, later According to international law, air-bursting white died in hospital from their injuries.281 phosphorous over populated areas is unlawful as it places civilians at unnecessary risk due to Case Study: The al-Battran family the substances wide dispersal and may amount to an indiscriminate attack.284

White phosphorous is controlled under international law as it has severe impacts on humans. The substance ignites and burns when it comes in to contact with oxygen and it continues burning (at up to 816 degrees Celsius) until nothing is left or the oxygen supply is cut. “When white phosphorous comes into contact with skin it creates intense and persistent burns, sometimes to the bone. Infection is common and the body’s absorption of the chemical can cause serious damage to internal organs as well as death.”285

Manal Al-Battran & her six children Israel initially denied using white phosphorous in the offensive. It then later admitted that it On 16 January 2009, a home in the central did use it. Following the conflict, it refused to Gaza Strip was struck by a Hellfire missile killing acknowledge that the substance had been used mother Manal al-Battran and five of her children unlawfully.286 The Human Rights Watch report aged 3 to 15. The father, Issa, and their young- titled ‘Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White est child survived the attack. Issa was joined Phosphorous in Gaza’ challenged this opinion by his two brothers as they gathered the bodies by detailing witness accounts of the devastat- and took them downstairs. The bodies of the two ing effects that white phosphorous munitions of the Battran chlildren Bilal and Izziddin were had on civilians. The report concludes that missing from the house and were later found the IDF repeatedly exploded white phospho- in the branches of a nearby tree, where they rous munitions in the air over populated areas, had been flung by the force of the explosion.282 killing and injuring civilians, and damaging civilian structures including a school, a market, a Issa was packing clothes because the family were humanitarian aid warehouse and a hospital. Dur- not planning to stay in the house overnight. IOF ing the investigation by HRW, researchers found clearly targeted the home to assassinate Issa spent white phosphorous shells in civilian areas

Gaza Report 45 which were a distinctive light green in third-degree burns. We were referred to further colour which indicates that they held white treatment in Egypt and they tried to take us phosphorous.287 to Rafah by ambulance, but the army fired at us on the way. The driver was slightly wounded Based on this evidence, HRW states that in the face and he drove back to the hospital. their use in densely populated neighbour- Now we are waiting for authorization to leave hoods such as Gaza City violated international for Egypt.”292 humanitarian law which requires that forces take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm Ten weeks after giving her testimony to B’Tselem and prohibits indiscriminate attacks.288 HRW on January 3rd 2009, Ghada died in an Egyptian added that if the Israeli army needed cover for hospital from her injuries resulting from white its forces, the IDF had a non-lethal alternative phosphorous. of smoke shells readily available. “The IDF could have used those shells to the same effect and d. United Nations Buildings Bombed dramatically reduced the harm to civilians.”289 Amnesty International as well as HRW not- The HRW report went on to state that the ed that the white phosphorous shells had repeated use of air-burst white phosphorous originated from the US.290 in populated areas until the end of the conflict revealed “a pattern or policy of conduct rather Overall, it is unclear how many Palestinians in than incidental or accidental usage.” One case Gaza died due to the use of white phosphorous which illustrates this indiscriminate policy is as medical records are limited. In the six cases the strike on the UN Relief and Works Agen- that the HRW report assessed, white phospho- cy on January 15. “The IDF kept firing white rous shells or the resulting fires amounted to phosphorous despite repeated warning from the death of 12 civilians, including three women UN personnel about the danger to civilians. and seven children. One of the children was a Under international humanitarian law, these fifteen-month old baby.291 circumstances demand the independent investigation of the use of white phosphorous Testimony: A victim of white phosphorous and, if warranted, the prosecution of all those Ghada Abu Halima, 21 responsible for war crimes.”293 These shells destroyed more than US$3.7 million worth of “On Saturday night [3 January], Israeli jets medical supplies and demolished four buildings dropped leaflets calling on residents of the area in the UN compound where 700 civilians were to leave their homes. The army did the same sheltering. thing in previous incursions and we didn’t leave the house, so this time too we decided not to A school in Beit Lahiya, another well-marked leave. UN facility, was hit with at least three white phosphorous shells on 17 January. The school Around 4 P.M the next day [4January], when all was sheltering roughly 1,600 Palestinians the family was in the house, the army started to trying to find safety during the conflict.294 The shell our area. A few minutes later, shells land- attack killed two brothers who were sleep- ed on our house. Fire broke out in the house ing in a classroom, severely injuring their and several members of the family burned to mother and wounded another 13 people.295 HRW death. reported that the use of white phosphorous on the UNRWA compound and the UN schools The fire spread throughout the house. I was could not be justified as a means to obscure holding my daughter Farah and we were both soldiers as Israeli forces were not on the ground burned too. My clothes went up in flames, and in those areas at the time of the attack.296 At some of my skin and Farah’s was scorched...My the end of the 22-day conflict, 53 United body was burning and the pain was excruciat- Nations properties were damaged although ing. I could smell my flesh burning. I was in they were clearly marked and the UN had a horrible condition. I looked for something to given the Israeli forces their specific locations.297 cover me and shouted non-stop... e. Destruction of Homes and Hospitals It was about 6 PM when we got to the hospital. I am still hospitalized. My whole body Following the heavy and indiscriminate bombing was burned, and so was my face. Farah has of Gaza, there was substantial damage caused

46 Gaza Report to property. Initial reports stated that over ambulance teams, said it was the worst as- 3,000 homes were destroyed and 11,000 sault he had seen on ambulance workers: “I damaged. 30 mosques were destroyed with have never seen anything like what happened … 28 damaged; 10 schools were destroyed and Never in all my years have I seen this many health 168 damaged, and 3 universities/colleges were workers and facilities targeted in this way.”307 destroyed and 14 damaged. 215 factories and Video footage as well as witness testimonies and 700 private businesses were seriously damaged reports confirm what many had been saying alongside 28 government buildings and 60 police on the ground: Israel was targeting medical stations.298 A recent report by PCHR found that workers in violation of international infact 20,000 Palestinian homes were either humanitarian laws.308 completely or partially destroyed in the offensive.299 Despite the overwhelming evidence suggesting a policy of attacking medical Israel has attempted to defend its destructive personnel, in a statement, the IDF said: actions by insisting that the building were used “The IDF does not target medics or other to store munitions and to hide militants, yet medical staff. As a part of their training, IDF Israel has failed to produce any credible soldiers receive instructions on identifying evidence that the building were used for these and avoiding injury to medical staff in the purposes.300 The report by the Independent battlefield. However, in light of the difficult Fact Finding Committee to Gaza went on to reality of warfare in the Gaza Strip carried out in state that even if these building were used to urban and densely populated areas, medics who harbour militants and munitions, this still does not operate in the area take the risk upon them- justify the scale of killing, wounding and selves.”309 This statement is one example of damage to property that was inflicted.301 Israel’s schizophrenic logic which denies any wrong doing whilst justifying its actions in Gaza, White phosphorous rockets also struck the including horrific war crimes and crimes against al-Quds hospital, setting parts of the hospital humanity. on fire and forcing the evacuation of about 50 patients and 500 neighbourhood residents who g. Israel’s Investigations had taken refugee there.302 According to the World Health Organisation, more than half of With mounting international pressure and evi- Gaza’s hospitals had been damaged, four clinics dence of Israel’s war crimes against Gaza, Israel were completely destroyed and 44 others were carried out an internal investigation after Israeli damaged.303 “The Committee received evidence soldiers allegedly admitted intentionally killing of the bombing and shelling of hospitals and Palestinian civilians.310 The cases involved the ambulances and of obstructions placed in the killing of an elderly woman by a rooftop sniper way of the evacuation of the wounded.”304 This and another sniper fatally shooting a mother action constitutes another war crime committed and two children at close range after telling by Israeli forces during the offensive. them to leave their home. f. Medical Staff Under Fire After talking to the soldiers, military police concluded that the incidents had actually not Numerous cases were also reported of Israeli occurred and dismissed the soldiers’ testimonies forces firing at medical staff and emergency as ‘hearsay’ and ‘purposely exaggerated’,311 thus services. Amnesty International reported that whitewashing the incidents in a fashion that the in one of the Palestinian houses which had been Israeli military is renown for. used and trashed by Israeli troops, a note left behind read: “Rules of Engagement: Fire also Whilst Defence minister Ehud Barak argued upon rescue.”305 that their ‘investigation’ showed that Israel possessed “the most moral army in the world,” In the course of the operation, 16 medical numerous human rights organisations including workers were killed and 28 wounded by the nine Israeli groups said the decision illustrat- IDF while performing their duties.306 Dr Moawa ed the need for an independent non-partisan Hassenein, the head of Gaza’s Red Crescent investigative body to be established.312

Gaza Report 47 48 Gaza Report 9 Justice for War Crimes

In the aftermath of the conflict in Gaza, The fact-finding committee which visited Gaza emerging evidence led many to believe that following the conflict, found that: “The IDF was war crimes had been committed against responsible for the crime of killing, wounding Palestinians. In response to this the IOF and terrorizing civilians. The Committee based conducted an internal investigation and found this finding on the number of civilians killed by that although there were a ‘few irregularities’, 22 days of intense bombardment by air, sea and international crimes were not committed by its land. The committee also found that weapons forces.313 The findings of this investigation have used by the IDF, particularly white phospho- since been questioned and accused of inaccu- rous and flechettes, caused superfluous and racy, as it was not conducted independently and unnecessary suffering.”318 IDF were also accused wholly failed to consider Palestinian sources.314 of crimes against humanity which comprises of acts of murder, extermination, persecution a. War Crimes Assessment and similar inhumane acts committed as part of widespread or systematic attacks directed Any legal assessment of whether Israel against any civilian population.319 committed war crimes during the conflict must take into consideration the fact that Gaza More seriously, the fact-finding committee remains under Israeli occupation. As the to Gaza took great care to consider whether occupying power, Israel is obliged to comply with the military incursion ‘Cast Lead’ constituted the Fourth Geneva Convention with regards to its genocide. “The committee found Israel’s actions actions in Gaza (and the West Bank), including met the requirements for the actus reus [actions] the prohibition of collective punishment of peo- of the crime of genocide contained in the Geno- ple and refraining from the use of any violence. cide Convention, in that the IDF was responsible for killing, exterminating and causing serious Other legal obligations include: bodily harm to members of a group- the Pales- - to treat civilians humanely; tinians of Gaza.”320 It also found that individual - care for the sick and wounded; soldiers had intentions of genocide as findings - ensure adequate food and medical supplies showed that some soldiers had acted under the are available; influence of rabbis “who had encouraged them - afford judicial guarantees; and to believe that the Holy Land should be cleansed - look after “protected persons” under its of non-Jews.”321 control in all other respects.315 However, the committee concluded that the International law also restricts the combat military operation was not intended to destroy methods and means employed by all a group of people- as required for the crime of parties during military conflict to follow certain genocide, but was designed to either compel principles: the population to reject Hamas as the governing - distinction between combatants and military authority of Gaza or to force them into a state targets vs. civilians and non-military ones; and of submission.322 The committee also found - prohibitions against disproportionate and that Palestinian militants who fired rockets indiscriminate force likely to cause damage indiscriminately into Israel, killing four to or loss of life or objects. civilians and wounding 182, committed war crimes.323 Whilst assessing these actions, the Prior to an attack, Israel is also obligated to committee did recognise that the siege by Israel provide “effective advance warning” to alert on the Palestinians over a long period of time did civilians, and then take all measures possible to reduce the latter’s moral blameworthiness but minimize non-combatant casualties.316 not their criminal responsibility.324

Signatories of the Geneva Conventions b. Universal Jurisdiction and Spain whether directly involved in the armed conflict or not, are legally obliged to respect and ensure After defining the war crimes committed by respect for, international humanitarian law. Yet, Israel during its military incursion in Gaza, the as Oxfam highlighted: “The limited action taken fact-finding committee recommended a series by members of the international community has of measures to secure legal redress. These failed to ensure even the most basic standard of included prosecution for violations of the Fourth full or unimpeded humanitarian assistance.”317 Geneva Convention in national courts under the principles of universal jurisdiction. Universal

Gaza Report 49 jurisdiction allows the prosecution of a c. The United Nations and International person/state in a third country for an Criminal Court international crime committed elsewhere.325 Spain is held to be one of the most The fact-finding committee which visited important contributors to securing Gaza following the conflict also recommended accountability for international crimes due that the United Nations requests the Security to its universal jurisdiction legislation. This Council to refer the situation in Gaza to the means that investigations can be initiated International Criminal Court, as was done in the by victims of a crime in Spain, rather than case of Darfur in 2005.332 In January 2009, an seeking justice from their national courts (i.e. official UN inquiry into the war was setup by Israel).326 For example, the Spanish judiciary the UN Human Rights Council headed by South previously initiated the case against Augusto African judge and war crimes prosecutor Pinochet (the former Chilean dictator) in 1998 Richard Goldstone. and is currently investigating dozens of other case.327 Israel has refused to cooperate with the inquiry, depriving the UN team access to Israeli military PCHR brought a war crimes complaint against sources and it even denied the inquiry team Israel before the Spanish Supreme Court in June entry into Gaza via the Israeli border. Israel has 2008. The case was filed specifically against also accused the UN council of anti-Israel bias seven Israeli military officials for committing a and singling out Israel unfairly.333 “They have suspected war crime in Gaza in July 2002. It been instructed to prove that Israel is guilty and was hoped that following this case, universal we will not collaborate with such a masquerade”, jurisdiction would become a real avenue for said foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. Palestinians to seek redress for Israeli crimes. The team finally entered Gaza via Egypt in June for a week-long fact finding mission. Goldstone’s Despite initial promising signs, pressure team interviewed Palestinians in the Strip and mounted on the Spanish government to collected information from other human rights amend its legislation with regards to universal organisations as part of its investigation. jurisdiction. “Following political pressure from the governments of Israel, China (regarding The UN also held an unprecedented public an ongoing investigation accusing its former hearing in Gaza to broadcast live witness foreign minister of committing genocide in accounts from Palestinians who described Tibet) and the US (for two cases against US Israel’s war against the Gaza Strip.334 officials alleging torture), on 19 May 2009 the Another round of hearings will be held for Israeli Spanish parliament passed a resolution back- witnesses (and Palestinians from the West ing a proposed amendment to the Spanish Bank) in Geneva. The UN was forced to hold the universal jurisdiction legislation.”328 This second round of the hearing in the Swiss city amendment was widely believed to undermine because the fact-finding mission did not receive the power of universal jurisdiction in bringing permission to enter Israel. “The purpose of the alleged war criminals to justice. Israel, who had public hearings in Gaza and Geneva is to show complained angrily when the Spanish Judge the faces and broadcast the voices of victims – Fernando Andreu first agreed to launch the all of the victims”, Goldstone said.335 The team investigation in January 2009, welcomed the visited 40 sites and heard from 70 witnesses. move.329 One of the witnesses was Mousa Silawi, 91, who described an explosion at the entrance to Following the amendment in May, a mosque in the Jabaliya refugee camp late on Spanish prosecutors asked Judge Andreu to 3 January. The attack killed 17 people including suspend the investigation but he announced he three of his sons and two grandchildren. “Where would continue. Andreu explained that there is law? Where is justice? I have lived 91 years. was no evidence that Israeli prosecutors were I have seen everything, but nothing of this sort. conducting their own probe and so universal It was such a catastrophe,” he stated.336 jurisdiction had to press ahead.330 However at the end of June, Spanish parliament passed Despite the UN enquiry into war crimes, many a bill to narrow the scope of Spain’s universal are unconvinced that it will lead anywhere. “If jurisdiction and the Spanish Appeals Court the Goldstone inquiry agrees with Amnesty voted 14-4 in favour of closing the investigation International that there have been war crimes, on Gaza.331 there will have to be a UN response. The pressure

50 Gaza Report on the Security Council to refer the war to the international investigation yet so far the UN International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Security Council’s most influential members, only legal avenue the UN can take, would be notably the US and EU countries, have displayed immense. For President Obama, even with his a remarkable lack of political will to hold Israel commitment to justice in the Middle East, that accountable. The human rights organisation also might be a step too far. He will do everything to released a 117 page report in July which found avoid it.”337 that Israel had inflicted “wanton destruction” on the Gaza Strip during the 22-day war.339 “Much of It is also suggested that the UN inquiry the destruction was wanton and deliberate, and carried out by the Human Rights Council does not was carried out in a manner and circumstances carry the same authority as an inquiry by which indicated that it could not be justified on the UN Security Council. Amnesty’s Donatella grounds of military necessity,” said the report. Rovera, who spent two weeks in Gaza investigating war crimes allegations explained: Amnesty International also criticised “Only an investigation mandated by the UN rockets launched by Hamas on Israeli Security Council can ensure Israel’s civilians although it found no evidence to co-operation and it is the only body that support Israel’s claim that Hamas fighters can secure some kind of prosecution... used civilians as human shields during the Without a proper investigation there is no conflict.340 Whilst both Hamas and Israel refused deterrent. The message remains the same: ‘It’s to accept that they may have committed war OK to do these things - there won’t be any real crimes, other human rights professionals insist consequences’.”338 that cooperation is desperately needed to end the cycle of violence.341 As Amnesty Interna- d. Action in the UK tional’s Secretary General Irene Khan declared:

Although there has been little action to bring “Long-term peace and security cannot be found Israel to justice within in the UK, the London- in the Middle East unless accountability is based Amnesty International has been vocal established for crimes under international law in pushing for an independent investigation and the cycle of impunity for serious violations into alleged war crimes. It called on the UN perpetrated by all parties has come to an Security Council to set up an independent end.”342

Gaza Report 51 52 Gaza Report 10 Gaza, the Aftermath

Following the devastating war on Gaza, ging for a living but we now have 90% of the Palestinians continue to struggle to recover population here depending on handouts of food under the continuing blockade imposed by Israel from the UK...and that’s not three square meals which did not ease after the conflict. Due to the a day. People call this place a prison; it is not lack of resources; homes which were destroyed a prison because a prison in Western Europe have not been rebuilt, Gazans were left further would be much better in terms of conditions dependent on aid, and they were also denied than here.”348 access to sufficient health services. Oxfam argued that: “The status quo cannot be allowed b. Health and the Rise of Disabilities to persist. Israeli, Palestinian and world leaders must abide by their respective legal obligations According to the UN Works and Relief to take concrete actions to end the collective Agency, the health situation in Gaza has also punishment of Gazan civilians by securing the deteriorated since the war, with the spread full and immediate opening of all the Gaza of diarrhea and hepatitis due to the lack of crossings.”343 supplies and medicines.349 Certain types of vital medicines and disposables are simply a. Food and Aid Dependency denied entry into the Gaza Strip by Israel, whilst other medicines are in short supply. Hospitals Since the war ended in January 2009, continue to function at full capacity as many Israeli authorities continued to limit the supplies injured patients remain hospitalized and the entering the Gaza Strip. From February to number of hospital beds is insufficient at certain April 2009, 56% of all commodities entering facilities.350 These problems are the result of Gaza were food items complying with strict the continuing blockade which is having an ex- categories which excluded dates and ceedingly detrimental impact on the health and macaroni.344 Such severe restrictions have had well-being of thousands of Palestinian. a detrimental impact on the health of Gazans, with only a tiny minority such as ill patients and The war has also left behind a legacy of some students being allowed to leave the Gaza severely injured and disabled adults and Strip. children. Handicap International estimated that up to 50 percent of people injured The desperate situation that Gazan’s find (including 430 children) sustained severe themselves in is one of hopelessness. With injuries that, without proper rehabilitation, could Israel banning the import of even coffee and result in permanent disability.351 Health ministry nuts, they have been forced to smuggle them spokesperson Hamam Nasman estimated in in using tunnels and disguised in animal feed.345 March 2009, that there were about 150 amputees In June 2009, forty international aid agencies in the Strip as a result of the conflict and many and non-governmental organisations released a thousands more will require long-term care.352 statement condemning the blockade of Gaza. The agencies expressed particular frustration The conflict between the Ramallah-based at the ever-changing list of goods allowed into Palestinian Authorities under President the Gaza Strip, which have at times excluded Mahmoud Abbas and Gaza-based Hamas is also items such as clothing, shoes, school text- hindering recovery in the Gaza Strip. This has books, chocolate, toilet paper and seedling.346 been particularly apparent in the health sec- These items do not endanger Israel in any tor when in January 2009; the PA announced way, yet the absence of them in Palestinian life that it would no longer cover the cost of Gazans ensures that they are denied all pleasures in life. needing medical attention in Israeli hospitals. Hamas was consequently forced to take over The UN office for the Coordination of Humani- the procedure of referring patients. The Israeli tarian Affairs reported that the number of and Egyptian authorities, however, refused to truckloads of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza accept referrals unless they had the stamp of on a monthly basis is only a quarter of what was the PA.353 As a result of this policy, the PCHR entering before Israel’s blockade.347 John Ging, stated that 10 patients from the Gaza Strip UNRWA director of operations in Gaza said in died, while the health of 800 patients severely March 2009: deteriorated. It was not until the 27th of April that the Referral Abroad Department resumed “[Gazans] have the right to a livelihood, these its work after efforts from Palestinian civil people do not want to be reduced to beg- society and UN agencies.354

Gaza Report 53 c. Water and Sewage materials such as asbestos. The UN launched early recovery efforts through Flash Appeals to Water, sewage and electrical systems are also in repair damaged homes for 33,767 families, 207 urgent need of repairs to ensure the health and schools, 86 pre-schools, 15 hospitals and 43 recovery of the Strip’s population.355 Following primary health clinics.362 the conflict and the discharge of raw sewage into the sea, several areas around the Gazan Residents of Gaza have even resorted to sea coast have been identified as carrying making homes out of mud and clay. “My wife potential health risks for swimmers and and our four daughters and I were living with fishermen. The World Health Organisa- family, but it was overcrowded, impossible. We tions (WHO) has highlighted the dangers of knew we had to build a home of our own,” said diarrhoeal and skin diseases to Gazans who Jihad al-Shaar from the Moraj district of Gaza. continue to swim in the sea and to fishermen “We waited over two years for cement but who have no other option but to wade in the because of the siege there is none polluted water to make a living.356 According available. What could we do, wait forever?”363 The to an April report by the Water, Sanitation and family eventually decided to build their home Hygiene (WaSH) cluster, a coalition of UN using mud bricks made from a mixture of agencies and international organisations, clay, sand and straw which is dried in the sun. about 80,000 cubic meters of raw and partially Although $4.5 billion in aid money for treated sewage is still being discharged directly reconstruction has been pledged by internation- into the sea each day.357 al donors, Israel has not permitted the entry of any construction materials into Gaza.364 It was also reported in April 2009 that over 150,000 Palestinians were struggling Reconstruction is also a vital move towards without tap water as a result of the damage rebuilding Gaza’s economy and its agricultural caused to wells and pipes during the Israeli sector. The agricultural sector is a lifeline to offensive. The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility many Gazans, who depend directly on farming, (CMWU) found that eleven of Gaza’s 150 wells, herding and fishing for their livelihoods. The the only source of drinking water apart from latest destruction on the Strip is believed water aid, were not functioning and six had been to have affected 13,000 families and has completely destroyed.358 “Since the end of the amounted to a direct loss of $180 million in war the CMWU has received three out of 80 lost trade and produce.365 Oxfam also reports trucks waiting to enter Gaza containing pipes that Israeli forces bulldozed whole farms in the and spare parts,” said the director-general Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, where Monther Shoblak. “The three trucks received they used to purchase 30,000 eggs per week by the CMWU contained only half a kilometre for their food distribution programme.366 of piping.”359 The continuing blockade on the Strip is clearly the biggest barrier to post-war Financial support to aid recovery has also been recovery and repairing the fragile water and hindered by Israeli policies which stop cash sewage systems. from entering Gaza. This has directly affected the livelihoods of half a million Gazans accord- d. Rebuilding Gaza ing to the IMF and has prevented recovery efforts such as repairing shelter following the The aid agency Oxfam has pointed out that the military incursion.367 The generous outpouring humanitarian needs of Gazans extends from of aid in the aftermath of the conflict is unable vital relief supplies such as food to other to reach those who need it the most and Oxfam essential commodities such as materials to remarked that “with no sign of the government repair the battered infrastructure of the Gaza of Israel reversing its closure policy, it is difficult Strip.360 “Four months after 8,000 homes to conceive how these funds can be translated were destroyed in the Gaza Strip, the families into tangible improvements in the lives Gaza’s affected have no prospect of building new civilians.”368 homes because the Israeli authorities continue to prevent construction materials from e. Aid with a Political Agenda entering Gaza.”361 The destroyed homes had left around 90,000 Gazans homeless and created Oxfam stated that more needed to be done large quantities of building demolition waste, to end the siege: “For nearly two years, the which is often contaminated with hazardous international community has failed in its duty

54 Gaza Report to secure an end to the blockade...Although powerful and representative as Hams is top UN officials and key donors have called on entirely excluded, it is unlikely that there will be the government of Israel to open the crossing meaningful progress towards peace. He also especially to ensure humanitarian access, recognised that “while the West has taken the through public and private statements and firmest possible line with Hamas, its pressure letters- for months no additional international on Israel to end its decades of military occu- diplomatic initiatives have been taken nor the pation of the Palestinian territories is almost necessary political will exercised.”369 negligible.”371 Oxfam along with numerous agencies and commentators have added that Rather than focusing on the implementation there can be no real progress until there is of international human rights, Oxfam argues an end to the blockade and the Gaza Strip is that many have been caught up in the political allowed to rebuild its shattered infrastructure situation and the need to isolate Hamas. One without constraints on movement, access and example employed to illustrate this point is resources.372 the generous pledges by donors at the Sharm al-Sheikh conference which supported the f. Conclusion PA’s early recovery and reconstruction plans. “Given the unlikelihood of the PA-Ramallah being The war in Gaza left many victims, but the able to effectively manage to oversee this plan closure following the conflict proved to be even remotely, the adoption of this plan by the more deadly. Thousands left homeless face international community is a further instance uncertain futures as Israel continues to deny of putting their political objective of supporting them the right to rebuild their homes. Those who the PA-Ramallah administration ahead of their were injured cannot recover due to a restriction concern for effectively addressing the in access to medical care. But most profoundly, humanitarian needs of people in Gaza.”370 Thus, the psychological impact of Israel’s closure and aid is being used as a political tool to support blockade of Gaza, and its immeasurable forms one administration at the cost of the other, of collective punishment mean that an entire rather than being impartially administered to generation of Palestinian children will be lost, meet the needs of the Gazan population. unless they are helped to overcome this trauma.

Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist who was What remains clear is that unless international kidnapped in Gaza, has also noted the pressure is brought on Israel to cease acting dangers of isolating Hamas whilst failing to outside the laws that regulate all people in the bring Israel to account for its actions. Johnston world, the suffering in Gaza is set to continues remarked back in 2007 that as long as a force as and expand to Israel’s other neighbours.

Gaza Report 55 56 Gaza Report Endnotes

1 Butt, G. (1995) Life at the Crossroads: A History of Gaza. Scorpion Cavendish, p7. 2 Ibid, p8. 3 Ibid, p17-75. 4 LeVine, M. (9 March 2008) Tracing Gaza’s chaos to 1948, Al Jazeera Website. http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/arabunity/2008/02/2008525185737842919.html, (Accessed 3 March 2009). 5 Gaza, Passia. http://www.passia.org/publications/bulletins/gaza/pdf/GAZA%203.pdf, (Accessed 12 March 2009). 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 8 Shlaim, A. (7 January 2009) Israel and Gaza: rhetoric and reality, OpenDemocracy. http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/israel-and-gaza-rhetoric-and-reality (Accessed 11 June 2009). 9 1967 War (5-10 June 1967), The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/675.shtml (Accessed 11 June 2009). 10 Butt,G. (2005) Life at the Crossroads, p158. 11 First Intifada (Dec. 1987 – 1990), Palestine History. http://www.palestinehistory.com/issues/intifada/intifada1.htm (Accessed 13 March 2009). 12 Butt,G. (2005) Life at the Crossroads, p4. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid, p170-1. 15 The first intifada 20 years later. p27. 16 Ibid. 17 Butt,G. (2005) Life at the Crossroads, p176. 18 The first intifada 20 years later. 19 Fetini, A, (7 January 2009) A brief history of the Gaza Strip, Time. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1870148,00.html, (Accessed 16 March 2009). 20 Amnesty International (2001), Broken lives, a year of Intifada. 21 Hroub, K. (2006), Hamas; A beginner’s guide. Pluto Press. 22 Statistics – Fatalities, B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/English/Statistics/Casualties.asp, (Accessed 17 March 2009). 23 Coverage of the Gaza “Disengagement” process (August 2005), The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/379.shtml, (Accessed 15 March 2009). 24 Sturcke, J. (15 August 2005) Q&A: Gaza and West Bank withdrawal, The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/aug/15/qanda.israelandthepalestinians (Accessed 7 July 2009). 25 Efrat, E. (2006) The West Bank and Gaza Strip: A geography of occupation and disengagement. Routledge, p187. 26 Shlaim, A. (7 January 2009) Israel and Gaza: rhetoric and reality, OpenDemocracy. 27 Ibid. 28 Leibowitz, R.B, (10 October 2007) I didn’t suggest we kill Palestinians, The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1191257273616, (Accessed 7 July 2009). 29 Butt,G. (2005) Life at the Crossroads, p11. 30 Middle East Project of the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa, Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid: A re-assessment of Israel’s practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law- Executive Summary, May 2009, p7. 31 The Gaza Strip – One big prison, B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/Download/200705_Gaza_Insert_eng.pdf, (Accessed 13 March 2009). 32 Butt,G. (2005) Life at the Crossroads, p162. 33 Ibid, p161. 34 Ibid, p162. 35 Inside Hamas, Channel 4. http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates/hamas1.html, (Accessed 15 March 2009). 36 Who are Hamas?, BBC Website. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1654510.stm (Accessed 13 June 2009). 37 Roy, S. (2003) Hamas and the Transformation(s) of Political Islam in Palestine, Current History, p14. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid, p15. 43 Ibid. 44 Ibid, p16. 45 Ibid, p17. 46 What is Hamas?, The Institute for Middle East Understanding. 47 Sieghart, W. (31 December 2008) We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas, Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5420584.ece (Accessed 7 July 2009). 48 Roy, S. (2003) Hamas and the Transformation(s) of Political Islam in Palestine, p13. 49 Asser, M, Q&A: Hamas Election Victory, BBC Website. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4650300.stm, (Accessed 14 March 2009). 50 Sieghart, W. (31 December 2008) We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas, Times Online. 51 Bisharat, G. (3 February 2006) They chose a government that will stand up for their rights, Institute of Middle East Understanding. http://imeu.net/news/article00390.shtml (Accessed 14 June 2009). 52 Tamimi, A. (2007) Hamas: Unwritten Chapters. Hurst & Co., p225. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid, p230.

Gaza Report 57 55 Ibid. 56 Dugard, J. (September 2006) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967, Geneva: UN Human Rights Council. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,,PSE,,45c30b600,0.html (Accessed 15 June 2009). 57 The Gaza Strip – One big prison, B’Tselem. 58 Vanity Fair, (April 2008) The Gaza Bombshell, http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804. (Accessed 10 April 2009). 59 Tamimi, A. (2007) Hamas: Unwritten Chapters, p224. 60 Ibid, p229. 61 Ibid, p228. 62 International Institute for Strategic Studies, (June 2007) Hamas coup in Gaza. http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/past-issues/volume-13-2007/volume-13-issue-5/hamas- coup-in-gaza/ (Accessed 7 July 2009). 63 Tamimi, A. (2007) Hamas: Unwritten Chapters, p229. 64 International Institute for Strategic Studies, (June 2007) Hamas coup in Gaza. 65 Vanity Fair, (April 2008) The Gaza Bombshell. 66 Ibid 67 International Institute for Strategic Studies, (June 2007) Hamas coup in Gaza. 68 Vanity Fair, (April 2008) The Gaza Bombshell. 69 McGirk, T, (13 June 2007) ‘What happens after Hamas wins?’, Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1632614,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar. (Accessed 15 March 2009). 70 Ibid. 71 Sieghart, W. (31 December 2008) We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas, Times Online. 72 Johnston, A. (2007) Kidnapped and other dispatches. Profile Books, p88. 73 The Gaza Strip: Hostilities in Gaza since disengagement, B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip/Hostilities.asp (Accessed 12 June 2009). 74 Ibid. 75 Ibid. 76 Situation Report 12 April 2006: Increased Violence in the Gaza Strip, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian territory. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaSR_Gaza120406.pdf (Accessed 19 June 2009). 77 Ibid. 78 Key Events: Massacres in Gaza (June 2006), Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/440.shtml (Accessed 15 June 2009). 79 The Gaza Strip: Sonic booms in the sky over Gaza, B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/Supersonic_booms.asp (Accessed 18 June 2009). 80 Ibid. 81 Ibid. 82 O’Loughlin, E. (6 July 2006) Sonic boom attacks spread trauma across Gaza, Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sonic-boom-attacks-spread-trauma-across-gaza/2006/07/05/11517790136- 19.html (Accessed 20 June 2009). 83 Ibid. 84 Gaza Strip Situation Report, 26 April 2006, UNOCHA Report cited in The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4671.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 85 UNOCHA Report, (9 March 2006) The Humanitarian Impact of the Karni Crossing Closure: Bread running out in Gaza, cited in The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4580.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 86 Gaza Strip Situation Report, 26 April 2006, UNOCHA Report. 87 UNOCHA Report, (9 March 2006) The Humanitarian Impact of the Karni Crossing Closure: Bread running out in Gaza. 88 PCHR Report , (30 January 2006) Gaza Strip market suffers from a severe shortage in diary products, basic goods, and medicines cited in The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4444.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 89 The Gaza Strip: Hamas must secure Gilad Shalit’s release immediately, B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/english/gaza_strip/20070625_gilad_shalit.asp (Accessed 19 June 2009). 90 Dajani, J. (20 March 2009) Let Shalit Go, The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/let-shalit-go_b_177335.html (Accessed 20 June 2009). 91 The Gaza Strip: Hamas must secure Gilad Shalit’s release immediately, B’Tselem. 92 The Gaza Strip after disengagement, B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/ (Accessed 12 June 2009). 93 Key Events: Israel invades Gaza: “Operation Summer Rain” (27 June 2006), Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/442.shtml (Accessed 15 June 2009). 94 Palestinian death toll reaches 202 as ‘Operation Summer Rains’ extends into its tenth week, 10 September 2006, OCHA Report cited in The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5617.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 95 B’Tselem, (September 2006) Acts of Vengeance: Israel’s Bombing of the Gaza Power Plant and its Effects, http://www.btselem.org/english/publications/summaries/200609_act_of_vengeance.asp (Accessed 20 June 2009). 96 Ibid. 97 Palestinian death toll reaches 202 as ‘Operation Summer Rains’ extends into its tenth week, 10 September 2006, OCHA Report. 98 B’Tselem, (September 2006) Acts of Vengeance: Israel’s Bombing of the Gaza Power Plant and its Effects. 99 Key Events: Israel invades Gaza: “Operation Summer Rain” (27 June 2006), Electronic Intifada,

58 Gaza Report 100 (10 September 2006) Weekly Report of Human Rights Violations, PCHR Report, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5713.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 101 Massacre in Beit Hanoun (8 November 2006), Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/653.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 102 IDF cited in Israel attacks Gaza:“Operation Autumn Clouds” (1 November 2006), Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/651.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 103 Ibid 104 Massacre in Beit Hanoun (8 November 2006), Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/653.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 105 Ibid. 106 Ibid. 107 United Nations Human Rights Council Report, (20 November 2009) In Gaza Strip, UN human rights chief decries ‘massive’ violations against civilians cited in The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6084.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 108 UN News Report, (11 December 2006) Lack of Israeli cooperation prevents UN fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6210.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 109 The Guardian cited in Massacre in Beit Hanoun (8 November 2006), Electronic Intifada. 110 Johnston, A. Kidnapped and other dispatches, p83. 111 Ibid, p82. 112 The Gaza Strip: Tightened siege and intensified economic sanctions, B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip/Siege_Tightening.asp (Accessed 16 June 2009). 113 Shlaim, A. (7 January 2009) Israel and Gaza: rhetoric and reality, OpenDemocracy. 114 Makdisi, S.(3 February 2008) Starving Gaza, The Nation cited in Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9276.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009). 115 Ibid. 116 Ibid. 117 Guide: Gaza under blockade, BBC News, last updated on 15 June 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7545636.stm#overview (Accessed 20 June 2009). 118 Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem Annual Report 2007. http://www.btselem.org/Download/200712_Annual_Report_eng.pdf (Accessed 20 June 2009). 119 Penketh, A. (2 March 2009) The pasta, paper and hearing aids that could threaten Israeli security, The Independent (UK), http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-pasta-paper-and-hearing-aids- that-could-threaten-israeli-security-1635143.html (Accessed 21 June 2009). 120 Ibid. 121 Guide: Gaza under blockade, BBC News. 122 Ibid. 123 Israel’s control of the airspace and the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip, B’Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip/Control_on_Air_space_and_territorial_waters.asp (Accessed 12 June 2009). 124 Ibid. 125 Ibid. 126 The Gaza Strip: Tightened siege and intensified economic sanctions, B’Tselem. 127 Makdisi, S.(3 February 2008) Starving Gaza, The Nation. 128 Amnesty International News, (27 August 2008) Trapped - collective punishment in Gaza. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/feature-stories/trapped-collective-punishment-gaza-20080827 (Accessed 21 June 2009). 129 Guide: Gaza under blockade, BBC News. 130 The Gaza Strip: Tightened siege and intensified economic sanctions, B’Tselem. 131 Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem Annual Report 2007. 132 Ibid. 133 IRIN report, (2 December 2008) Power cuts, fuel shortages affect health and water supplies cited in The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10002.shtml (accessed 20 June, 2009) 134 Al Jazeera News, (21 January 2008) Gaza suffers under Israeli blockade. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/01/2008525141342876824.html (Accessed 21 June 2009). 135 Bannoura, G. ( 17 June 2009) One patients dies in Gaza razing death toll due to the siege to 344, International Middle East Media Center. http://www.imemc.org/article/60855 (Accessed 21 June 2009). 136 Makdisi, S.(3 February 2008) Starving Gaza, The Nation. 137 Becker, A. (24 November 2008) The slow death of Gaza, The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/24/israelandthepalestinians-humanrights (Accessed 21 June 2009). 138 Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report: Impact of Fuel Shortages on Gaza Sanitation- Polluting the Sea, 29 April 2008, UN OCHA Report. http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Gaza_Situation_Report_2008_April.pdf (Accessed 21 June 2009). 139 Omer, M. (28 January 2008) Closure turns Gaza’s streets into sewers, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9259.shtml (Accessed 20 June 2009) 140 Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report: Impact of Fuel Shortages on Gaza Sanitation- Polluting the Sea, 29 April 2008, UN OCHA Report. http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Gaza_Situation_Report_2008_April.pdf (Accessed 21 June 2009). 141 MacIntyre, D. (28 January 2009) Israeli strikes leave Blair project with major repairs, The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israeli-strikes-leave-blair-project-with-163140m-repairs- 1517855.html (Accessed 21 June 2009). 142 Ma’an News Agency, (7 November 2008) World Bank launches Gaza sewage project long delayed by blockade, http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33049 (Accessed 21 June 2009).

Gaza Report 59 143 Khalil, O. (29 January 2008). A break in the siege, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9260.shtml (Accessed 22 June 2009). 144 Ibid. 145 Ibid. 146 Laub, K. (4 February 2008) Egyptians seal border with Gaza, The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/egyptians-seal-border-with-gaza-777770.html (Accessed 22 June 2009). 147 Morrow, A and al-Omrani, K. (7 July 2008) Gaza locked in despite truce, The Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9674.shtml (Accessed 22 June 2009). 148 Ibid. 149 Shlaim, A. (7 January 2009) Israel and Gaza: rhetoric and reality, OpenDemocracy. 150 Sieghart, W. (31 December 2008) We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas, Times Online. 151 Shlaim, A. (7 January 2009) Israel and Gaza: rhetoric and reality, OpenDemocracy. 152 Ibid. 153 Guide: Gaza under blockade, BBC News. 154 BBC News, (12 February 2009, Gaza to export Valentine’s bloom. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7885412.stm (Accessed 21 June 2009). 155 The siege on the Gaza Strip: 24 July 2007, B’Tselem Report. http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/20070724_Siege_on_Gaza.asp (Accessed 21 June 2009). 156 Bannoura, S. ‘Unemployment Rate 60% in Gaza, Poverty 80%’, in International Middle East Media Centre, 1 May 2009, http://www.imemc.org/article/60199 (Accessed 17 July 2009) 157 Guide: Gaza under blockade, BBC News. 158 Penketh, A. (2 March 2009) The pasta, paper and hearing aids that could threaten Israeli security, The Independent 159 Amnesty International Report, (6 July 2008) Gaza Blockade- Collective Punishment, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/021/2008/en/6300b18f-49de-11dd-9394-c975c4bd488d/mde- 150212008eng.pdf (Accessed 1 July 2009). 160 Ibid. 161 Black, I. (2 May 2008) Israel urged to end blockade or Gaza as talks begin in London, The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/02/israelandthepalestinians.usa (Accessed 1 July 2009). 162 Islam Online, (8 November 2008) Gaza Siege West’s Shame: EU MPs. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1225698004716&pagename=Zone-English-News/ NWELayout (Accessed 1 July 2009). 163 Ibid. 164 Ibid. 165 Islam Online, (31 January 2009) Gaza Blockade Collective Punishment: HRW. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199280041826&pagename=Zone-English- News%2FNWELayout (Accessed 1 July 2009). 166 Bennis, P. (28 December 2008) Gaza Crisis: Israeli Violations & U.S. Complicity, Institute for Policy Studies. http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/gaza_crisis_israeli_violations_us_complicity (Accessed 1 July 2009). 167 Ibid. 168 Islam Online, (25 January 2008) End Gaza Misery: FT. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199279897453&pagename=Zone-English- News%2FNWELayout (Accessed 1 July 2009). 169 Islam Online, (29 May 2008) World Complicit in Gaza Shame: Tutu. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1209358058187&pagename=Zone-English- News%2FNWELayout (Accessed 1 July 2009). 170 Coalition between Amnesty International, Christian Aid, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Trocaire, Oxfam, Save the Children and Medecin du Monde UK, (6 March 2008) The Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion, p4 http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/conflict_disasters/downloads/gaza_implosion.pdf (Accessed 1 July 2009). 171 Ibid, p5. 172 Ibid, p6 173 Ibid, p5. 174 Deen, T. (3 December 2008) UN assembly head hailed for slamming Israel, The Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10006.shtml (Accessed 1 July 2009) and see http://pchrgaza.ps/.. 175 Kershner, I. (15 December 2008) U.N. Rights Investigator Expelled by Israel, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/world/middleeast/16mideast.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast (Accessed 1 July 2009). 176 Islam Online, (21 January 2008) Rights Groups Blast Gaza Lockdown,. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199279765361&pagename=Zone-English- News%2FNWELayout (Accessed 1 July 2009). 177 End the Siege Statement (10 November 2007) Campaign: End the siege on Gaza cited in Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9090.shtml (Accessed 1 July 2009). 178 Morrow, A and al-Omrani, K. (6 March 2008) Egyptian anger over Israel “approaching boiling point”, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9374.shtml (Accessed 1 July 2009). 179 Islam Online, (21 January 2009) World Protests Gaza “Slow Death”. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199279778405&pagename=Zone-English- News%2FNWELayout (Accessed 1 July 2009). 180 Ibid. 181 BBC News, (23 August 2008) Activist boats reach Gaza Strip. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7578880.stm (Accessed 1 July 2009). 182 Ibid.

60 Gaza Report 183 Free Gaza (30 January 2009- last updated on 6 May 2009) Our Mission. http://www.freegaza.org/en/about-us/mission (Accessed 1 July 2009). 184 Free Gaza, A Simple Idea: December 29/30, 2009- The Ramming of the Dignity. http://www.freegaza.org/en/boat-trips/the-history-of-our-voyages (Accessed 1 July 2009). 185 Free Gaza, (1 July 2009) Hope Fleet: We are NOT the “Story”, It’s Not Just Our 21 Kidnapped Passengers, http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/hope-fleet-news (Accessed 2 July 2009.) 186 PCHR, (12 March 2009) Confirmed figures reveal the true extent of the destruction inflicted upon the Gaza Strip. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/36-2009.html (Accessed 22 June 2009). 187 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Operation Cast Lead updates, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+and+Islamic+Fundamentalism-/Aerial_ strike_weapon_development_center+_Gaza_28-Dec-2008.htm (Accessed 22 June 2009). 188 IPS News, (9 January 2009) Israel Rejected Hamas Ceasefire in December cited in the Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/09/israel-rejected-hamas-cea_n_156639.html?page=2&show_com- ment_id=19558888#comment_19558888 (Accessed 22 June 2009). 189 Electronic Intifada, Gaza massacres (27 December 2008- 18 January 2009), http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/687.shtml (Accessed 22 June 2009). 190 Sieghart, W. (31 December 2008) We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas, Times Online. 191 Reuters UK, (5 January 2009) Timeline: Israeli-Hamas violence since truce ended. http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE50423320090105 (Accessed 22 June 2009). 192 IPS News, (9 January 2009) Israel Rejected Hamas Ceasefire in December.s 193 Ibid. 194 Ibid. 195 BBC News, (23 December 2008) Hamas ‘might renew’ truce in Gaza. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7797144.stm (Accessed 22 June 2009). 196 Black, I. (29 December 2009) Six months of secret planning- then Israel moves against Hamas, The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/29/israel-attack-hamas-preparations-repercussions (Accessed 22 June 2009). 197 Cook, J. (12 January 2009) Blueprint for Gaza attack was long planned, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10170.shtml (Accessed 22 June 2009). 198 Ibid. 199 Ibid. 200 Bannoura, S. (12 November 2008) Army officials: “War with Gaza will take place in the coming two months”, International Middle East Media Center. http://imemc.org/article/57644 (Accessed 22 June 2009). 201 Niva, S. (9 January 2009) War of Choice: How Israel Manufactured the Gaza Escalation, Antiwar.com. http://www.antiwar.com/orig/niva.php?articleid=14022 (Accessed 23 June 2009). 202 Black, I. (29 December 2009) Six months of secret planning- then Israel moves against Hamas, The Guardian (UK). 203 Ibid. 204 Shlaim, A. (7 January 2009) Israel and Gaza: rhetoric and reality, OpenDemocracy. 205 Ravid, B. (6 January 2009) Disinformation, secrecy and lies: How the Gaza offensive came about, Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050426.html (Accessed 23 June 2009). 206 Ibid. 207 BBC News, (23 December 2008) Hamas ‘might renew’ truce in Gaza. 208 Black, I. (29 December 2009) Six months of secret planning- then Israel moves against Hamas, The Guardian (UK). 209 Verter, Y. (2 January 2008) Labor, Barak enjoy popularity surge thanks to Gaza, Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/1051641.html (Accessed 22 June 2009). 210 McCarthy, R. (4 February 2009) National security again to dominate Israeli actions, The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/04/israel-palestine-gaza-elections (Accessed 22 June 2009). 211 Ibid. 212 Joudeh, S. (27 December 2008) “The amount of death and destruction is inconceivable”, Live from Palestine in the Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10059.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 213 Cook, J. (12 January 2009) Blueprint for Gaza attack was long planned, The Electronic Intifada, 214 Ibid. 215 The Guardian, (29 February 2008) Israeli minister warns of Palestinian ‘holocaust’. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/29/israelandthepalestinians1 (Accessed 2 July 2009). 216 Electronic Intifada, Gaza massacres (27 December 2008- 18 January 2009). 217 Byers, D. and Hilder, J. (28 December 2008) Israel Gaza blitz kills 290, as ground troops mobilise, Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5407382.ece (Accessed 2 July 2009). 218 Al-Mughrabi, N.(30 December 2008) Israel and Hamas under pressure for Gaza aid truce, Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSLS69391620081230 (Accessed 2 July 2009). 219 Al Mezan, (1 January 2009) Israel extrajudicially executes Hamas and his family cited in Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10093.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 220 PCHR Report, (2 January 2009) IOF Offensive on the Gaza Strip Continues for the 7th Consecutive Day. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/125-2008.html (Accessed 2 July 2009). 221 Byers, D. and Hilder, J. (28 December 2008) Israel Gaza blitz kills 290, as ground troops mobilise, Times Online. 222 Black, I. (29 December 2009) Six months of secret planning- then Israel moves against Hamas, The Guardian (UK). 223 Byers, D. and Hilder, J. (28 December 2008) Israel Gaza blitz kills 290, as ground troops mobilise, Times Online. 224 Ibid. 225 Ibid. 226 PCHR Report, (4 January 2009) On the 9th of the Offensive on the Gaza Strip, Israel Practices State Terrorism. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/03-2009.html (Accessed 2 July 2009). 227 Ibid.

Gaza Report 61 228 Frykberg, M. (6 January 2009) Israel attacks schools, ambulances, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10130.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 229 Electronic Intifada, Gaza massacres (27 December 2008- 18 January 2009. 230 Frykberg, M. (6 January 2009) Israel attacks schools, ambulances, The Electronic Intifada. 231 Ibid. 232 Human Rights Watch, (10 January 2009) Israel: Stop Unlawful Use of White Phosphorous in Gaza. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/10/israel-stop-unlawful-use-white-phosphorus-gaza (Accessed 2 July 2009). 233 Ibid. 234 Frykberg, M. (4 January 2009) Israel invades Gaza, blocks ceasefire, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10109.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 235 Borger, J. (9 January 2009) White House ‘behind’ US volte-face on ceasefire call, The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/09/gaza-us-security-council-abstention (Accessed 2 July 2009). 236 Al Mezan Press Release, (14 January 2009) Gaza humanitarian situation deteriorates as death toll rises cited in the Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10184.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 237 Ibid. 238 IRIN Report, ( 13 January 2009) Gaza sewage lagoons could collapse cited in the Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10177.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 239 Ibid. 240 UNOCHA, ( 18 January 2009) Field Update on Gaza from the Humanitarian Coordinator: 17-18 January 2009. http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_gaza_humanitarian_situation_report_2009_01_18_english.pdf (Accessed 2 July 2009). 241 Roy, S.( 1 January 2009) If Gaza falls..., London Review of Books. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html (Accessed 2 July 2009). 242 PCHR Press Releases, ( 18 January 2009) 23rd Day of Continuous IOF Offensive on the Gaza Strip. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/18-2009.html (Accessed 2 July 2009). 243 PCHR, (May 2009) War Crimes Against Children. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/Reports/English/pdf_spec/War%20Crimes%20Against%20Children%20Book.pdf (Accessed 24 June 2009). 244 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza: No Safe Place. 30 April 2009, p3. 245 Chassey, C. (23 March 2009) Under attack: how medics died trying to help Gaza’s casualties,The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/gaza-war-crimes-medics (Accessed 24 June 2009). 246 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza: No Safe Place. 30 April 2009, p126. 247 PCHR, (12 March 2009) Confirmed figures reveal the true extent of the destruction inflicted upon the Gaza Strip. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/36-2009.html (Accessed 22 June 2009). 248 Frykberg, M. (6 January 2009) Israel attacks schools, ambulances, The Electronic Intifada. 249 Ibid. 250 Ibid. 251 Haddad, T. (20 February 2009) Ramattan’s war: The world’s eyes into Gaza, The Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10324.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 252 Ibid. 253 Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, ( 27 December 2008) Boycott committee: “Stop the massacre in Gaza- boycott Israel now! cited in The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10056.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 254 Zibakalam, S. (26 January 2009) Iran and the Gaza war, OpenDemocracy. http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/iran-and-the-gaza-war (Accessed 3 July 2009). 255 Electronic Intifada, Gaza massacres (27 December 2008- 18 January 2009) 256 Frykberg, M. (28 December 2008) Gaza carnage sparks protests throughout Palestine, The Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10064.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 257 AFP, (11 January 2009) Major cities stage fresh protests over Gaza. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h9KysGfr_McbPBkSWsjXJzvto83A (Accessed 2 July 2009). 258 Ibid. 259 Qureshi,Y. (6 February 2009) Gaza shakes America Arab and Muslim youth, The Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10282.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 260 Humphries, A. (28 January 2009) Surge of direct action at UK universities in support of Palestine, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10252.shtml (Accessed 2 July 2009). 261 PCHR Press Release, (26 March 2009) PCHR Contests Distortion of Gaza Strip Death Toll. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/44-2009.html (Accessed 24 June 2009). 262 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza, No Safe Place. 30 April 2009, p3. 263 Ibid. 264 Ibid. 265 Amnesty International News, (1 April 2009) Israeli Troops Reveal Gaza Abuses. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/israeli-troops-reveal-gaza-abuses-20090401 (Accessed 24 June 2009). 266 Ibid. 267 Ibid. 268 Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, (April 2009 ) Hiding Behind Civilians: The Use of Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields by the Israeli Occupation Forces. http://www.mezan.org/upload/8632.pdf (Accessed 24 June 2009). 269 Ibid. 270 Ibid. 271 PCHR, (12 March 2009) Confirmed figures reveal the true extent of the destruction inflicted upon the Gaza Strip. 272 PCHR, (May 2009) War Crimes Against Children. 273 Ibid.

62 Gaza Report 274 Ibid. 275 Ibid. 276 Ibid. 277 Ibid. 278 Ibid. 279 PCHR interview carried out with Hassan Ziyada on 12 March 2009 cited in PCHR, (May 2009) War Crimes Against Children. 280 Ibid. 281 PCHR, (May 2009) War Crimes Against Children. 282 Ibid. 283 Ibid. 284 Human Rights Watch, (March 2009) ‘Rain Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorous in Gaza’. http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/03/25/rain-fire (Accessed 18 June 2009). 285 Human Rights Watch, (March 2009) ‘Rain Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorous in Gaza’, p8. 286 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza, No Safe Place, p3. 287 Human Rights Watch, (March 2009) ‘Rain Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorous in Gaza’. p10. 288 Ibid. 289 Ibid, p6. 290 Ibid and Cook, J.(13 January2009) Is Gaza a testing ground for experimental weapons?, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10176.shtml (Accessed 18 June 2009). 291 Human Rights Watch, (March 2009) ‘Rain Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorous in Gaza’. 292 B’Tselem, ‘Testimony: Members of Abu Halima family killed and burned in army’s bombing of their house, 3 January 2009’ http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20090104_Abu_Halima_home_set_on_fire_by_ shelling.asp (Accessed 19 June 2009). 293 Human Rights Watch, (March 2009) ‘Rain Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorous in Gaza’, p7. http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/03/25/rain-fire (Accessed 18 June 2009). 294 Ibid, p8. 295 Ibid, p9. 296 Ibid. 297 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza, No Safe Place, p3. 298 Ibid. 299 PCHR, (May 2009) War Crimes Against Children. 300 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza: No Safe Place. 30 April 2009, p3. 301 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza: No Safe Place. 30 April 2009, p4. 302 Human Rights Watch, (March 2009) ‘Rain Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorous in Gaza’. 303 Chassey, C. (23 March 2009) Under attack: how medics died trying to help Gaza’s casualties, The Guardian (UK). 304 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza: No Safe Place. 30 April 2009, p3. 305 Amnesty International News, (1 April 2009) Israeli Troops Reveal Gaza Abuses. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/israeli-troops-reveal-gaza-abuses-20090401 (Accessed 24 June 2009). 306 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza: No Safe Place. 30 April 2009, p126. 307 Chassey, C. (23 March 2009) Under attack: how medics died trying to help Gaza’s casualties, The Guardian (UK). 308 Ibid and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, (6 April 2009) Independent fact-finding mission into violations of human rights in the Gaza Strip during the period 27.12.2008- 18.01.2009. http://www.phr.org.il/phr/files/articlefile_1241949935203.pdf (Accessed 24 June 2009). 309 Chassey, C. (23 March 2009) Under attack: how medics died trying to help Gaza’s casualties, The Guardian (UK). 310 Pidd, H.(31 March 2009) Gaza offensive: Israeli military says no war crimes committed. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/31/israeli-military-denies-war-crimes-gaza (Accessed 24 June 2009). 311 Ibid. 312 Ibid. 313 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza, No Safe Place, p4. 314 Ibid. 315 Lendman, S. (15 April 2009) Investigating Israeli War Crimes in Gaza, CounterCurrents.org. http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman150409.htm (Accessed 4 July 2009). 316 Ibid. 317 Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p6. 318 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza, No Safe Place, p5. 319 Ibid. 320 Ibid, p6. 321 Ibid. 322 Ibid. 323 Ibid, p5. 324 Ibid, p7. 325 Ibid. 326 Weill,S and Azarov, V. (10 June 2009) Universal jurisdiction once again under threat, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10587.shtml (Accessed 17 June 2009). 327 Ibid. 328 Ibid. 329 Woolls, D. (30 June 2009) Spanish court ends Israeli bombing probe, The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/30/AR2009063001019.html (Accessed 4 July 2009). 330 Ibid. 331 Ibid. also see PCHR Press Release, (30 June 2009) PCHR will Appeal to Supreme Court against Spanish Appeals Court’s Decision. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/84-2009.html (Accessed 4 July 2009).

Gaza Report 63 332 Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza: No Safe Place. 30 April 2009, p8. 333 BBC News, (1 June 2009) Goldstone’s UN inquiry team arrives in Gaza. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8076690.stm (Accessed 4 July 2009). 334 McCarthy, R. (28 June 2009) UN public hearing in Gaza broadcasts of war victims, The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/28/inquiry-gaza-palestine-israel-war (Accessed 4 July 2009). 335 Ibid. 336 Ibid. 337 Arab News Editorial, (3 July 2009 ) Gaza war inquiry. http://www.arabnews.com/page=7§ion=0&article=124230&d=3&m=7&y=2009 (Accessed 4 July 2009). 338 Chassey, C and Borger, J. (24 March 2009) Gaza war crimes investigation: Guardian uncovers evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/israel-gaza-war-crimes-guardian (Accessed 4 July 2009). 339 Al Jazeera News, (2 July 2009) Israel ‘wantonly destroyed Gaza’. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/07/20097234237545473.html (Accessed 4 July 2009). 340 Ibid. 341 Ibid. 342 Amnesty International News, (1 April 2009) Israeli Troops Reveal Gaza Abuses. 343 Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p2. 344 Ibid. 345 Frykberg, M. (22 June 2009) Aid agencies slam Gaza blockade, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10613.shtml (Accessed 5 July 2009). 346 Ibid. 347 Ibid. 348 Cited in Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p4. 349 Islamic Relief USA, (Last updated 6 May 2009) Palestine Humanitarian Crisis. http://www.irw.org/campaigns/palestinecrisis08 (Accessed 6 July 2009). 350 Ibid. 351 Ibid. 352 IRIN News, ( 5 March 2009) Doctors struggling to treat Gaza war wounded. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=83312 (Accessed 5 July 2009). 353 Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p5. 354 Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, (27 April 2009) ‘PCHR Welcomes Resumption of Work at External Medical Treatment Department’, cited in Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p5. 355 The UN Flash Appeal cited in Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p2. 356 IRIN Report, (10 June 2009) Health risks on Gaza’s coast, The Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10592.shtml (Accessed 6 July 2009). 357 Ibid. 358 IIRIN report, (7 April 2009) Over 150,000 Gazans still without tap water. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=83818 (Accessed 5 July 2009). 359 Ibid. 360 Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p2. 361 Ibid, p1. 362 The UN Flash Appeal cited in Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p6. 363 Bartlett, E. (8 May 2009) Palestinians rebuild with mud, The Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10517.shtml (Accessed 5 July 2009). 364 Ibid. 365 The UN Flash Appeal cited in Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p63. 366 Ibid. 367 Ibid, p2. 368 Ibid, p4. 369 Leaders include UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Czech Foreign Minister Karl Schwarzenberg and EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel cited in Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p5-6. 370 Ibid. 371 Johnston, A. (2007) Kidnapped and other dispatches, p6. 372 Oxfam Briefing note, Rebuilding Gaza: putting people before politics, June 2009, p7.

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