Life behind the wire in occupied Palestine

By Jill Evans

Monday, March 17, 2008

 MEP Jill Evans is a member of the European delegation for relations with the Palestine authority. This is an account of her recent visit to the strife-torn and occupied state.

IMAGINE you wanted to travel from Denbigh to Ruthin and you had to go through three or four military checkpoints on the journey – and then be sent on long detours.


Perhaps you wanted to make a delivery in Colwyn Bay from your business in St Asaph but were forbidden to use the A55.

The people of Palestine's West Bank suffer treatment like this every day, because of restrictions on travel under Israeli occupation with over 500 checkpoints on the roads.

As a city with such huge religious significance, it is shocking to find Bethlehem surrounded by a massive wall, like a wall around a high security prison.

This wall has been built around the West Bank by Israel.

Rather than protecting Israel, it has divided Palestinian families and taken Palestinian land.

A shopkeeper in Bethlehem told me that it had been seven years since he had been able to travel outside Bethlehem.

Visitors were 20 per cent of what they had been a few years ago.

In Hebron, a city established in 3500 BC, the Israeli government has closed all roads in and out except one.

The centre is now virtually a ghost town because of the 186 checkpoints and cordoned-off street, which have been introduced for the convenience of the Israeli settlers.

Thousands of soldiers are there protecting them.

We heard from Osaily Khaled, the Mayor of Hebron, that because of the restrictions in the now divided city, the local people had to travel 3-4 km to cross 300m.

When we traveled from the West Bank to Gaza, our journey became more difficult.

Since June 2007 Gaza has been under siege by the Israelis.

This means that all borders are closed and only essential humanitarian aid is allowed in.

We needed special passes from Israel.

Inside Gaza, we were driven around in United Nations armoured cars.

The siege is illegal collective punishment of the people of Gaza and is causing huge suffering.

At Shifa Hospital we met medical staff who explained the effects on patients.

A lack of drugs meant cancer patients had to be referred to Israel - but many of these patients were refused permission to travel.

The hospital was using generators because of cuts in the electricity, but fuel supplies were dwindling.

It's obvious the effects that power cuts would have on intensive care patients and the thirty premature babies who depended on the electricity supply to keep their incubators working.

The previous week UNRWA - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency had run out of bags and couldn't operate their food deliveries to the thousands of refugees.

They didn't have paper to produce books for the schools they run.

People could not get money because the banks had literally run out of cash.

The UNWRA staff warned of another potential disaster in the Beit Lahya area.

A desperately needed plant to treat sewage and waste water was being held up because materials to build it are not being allowed into Gaza.

More and more untreated sewage will now find its way into the sea and threaten to literally submerge a huge area of housing.

Business people weren't spared the suffering either.

One of the people I met in Gaza was born and brought up in London (and had been on a school trip to Betws y Coed and Llandudno).

He moved to Gaza to establish a successful business, selling computers but could not import new stock.

His shop was empty and he was not allowed to travel to their other branch on the West Bank.
3,000 businesses have collapsed in recent months.

On the Israeli side of the border we met some residents of Sderot a town hit daily by rocket attacks from Gaza which has injured several people and caused a lot of damage.

There is, of course, a difference between the violence of a state occupying another country and the violent actions of a small unrepresentative group.

But all violence is making the situation worse and I condemn it completely.

The situation in Palestine is reaching breaking point.

There has to be international action to lift the siege, end the occupation and resume peace negotiations.

Please lobby the government for peace and justice for the Palestinians which will also bring peace to Israel.

I will be writing a full report of my visit.
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If you would like a copy, please contact me at jill.evans@europarl.europa.eu

 http://1158munich.blogspot.com/2008/03/life-behind-wire-in-occupied-palestine.html