JERUSALEM (CNS): Only a total lifting of the Israeli-imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip will significantly improve the situation for Gazans, the Jerusalem regional director of the Pontifical Mission of Palestine said after a two-day visit to the beleaguered region.
“The mood in Gaza is that really whatever sort of things are in the process to ease the blockade, they will not make a significant difference on their life,” Sami El-Yousef, who met with civil and religious representatives including those of several Christian organisations during his visit on June 14 and 15, said.
“What they are looking for is the lifting of the blockade. Otherwise, (Gazans) say, (easing the blockade) is just a joke unless it is completely lifted and there are no limitations put on the humanitarian supply,” Mr El-Yousef told Catholic News Service.
He said most Gazans believed United States President Barack Obama’s recent pledge of $400 million in aid to Gaza would have little impact on their situation.
After the May 31 raid on a flotilla that organisers claimed was carrying humanitarian aid but that Israeli officials believed to include Islamist extremists from Turkey, Mr Obama urged Israel to limit the blockade to items that can be used to produce arms and to allow items through that could improve daily life and economic activity for Palestinians.
However, details of the plan must be released and reviewed before a “learned comment” can be made about it, the director said, noting that, according to reports, only $40 million of the aid would be earmarked for the Gaza Strip.
Both Israel and Egypt have enforced a blockade on Gaza since June 2007 after the militant Hamas Islamic movement took over governing the strip following Palestinian elections in 2006 and a battle with the more moderate Fatah party.
Egypt opened its borders with Gaza indefinitely after the May 31 incident. Israel has said it would open the blockade if Hamas would allow the International Red Cross to visit Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped from the Gaza border four years ago and is being held in the Gaza Strip.
Mr El-Yousef said the entry of products such as “mayonnaise and soft drinks” would not make a difference in the lives of most Gazans because they cannot afford them. He urged that the blockade be lifted so that building supplies and other necessities can enter the region and allow Gazans to provide jobs by rebuilding infrastructure and buildings destroyed during the January 2009 war.
One particular need Mr El-Yousef cited was the Shajai Medical Clinic, which mainly treats mothers and children and which the pontifical mission helped make operational within three months after the war.
The clinic has been unable to bring in a dental unit and two electric generators for use during frequent power outages.
In the meantime, a smuggling economy has developed with goods entering Gaza through underground tunnels from Egypt.
Hamas controls the tunnels and imposes taxes and license fees, making the produce brought into Gaza far more expensive than most residents can afford.
In general, Mr El-Yousef described a feeling of despair among the Gazans he met.
He said Gazans felt pessimistic that the blockade would be eased soon or that Hamas and Fatah will reconcile with each other.
