When Israel withdrew is last soldier from the Gaza Strip in September 2005, it was to mark an end to Israel’s 38 year-long occupation in Gaza. Yet, Israel has continued to exercise control of all of what surrounds Gaza; most notably, access between Gaza and the outside world through all of its sea ports, air space, and border-crossings. The latter includes Gaza’s border with Egypt at Rafah – a boundary not contiguous to Israeli territory. This is Gaza's only viable access to the outside world and the key to Gaza if the place is to be even a shadow of livability for any human being.
Perhaps the most accurate way to describe the post-disengagement experience in Gaza is as life in an open-air prison. One of the world's most densely populated areas -- 1.4 million residents living in 360 square kilometer area -- is on the verge of humanitarian disaster.
"Disengagement" has not been followed by Gaza' autonomy, and it certainly has not absolved the Israeli government from any responsibility there.
A new short documentary on Gaza's underground economy by Saeed Farouky and Laila el-Haddad (Laila runs an excellent blog about life in Gaza and at the Rafah border) recently aired on CBC's On the Map with Avi Lewis and can be accessed online: http://www.cbc.ca/onthemap/fullpage.php?id=70 The CBC coverage wraps up with commentary by Israel's Ambassador to Canada, Allan Baker, who flatly denies that Israel is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Flatly denies.
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The post-disengagement period – with its signature creation of “hard borders” along the Israel-Gaza border governing Palestinian movement and access of both people and goods and continuing effective Israeli control over the Gaza-Egypt frontier, the airport, and nascent sea port – has failed to establish a reliable, efficient, or transparent foundation for Palestinian economic revival and independence.
- Geoffrey Aronson, "Building Sovereignty in Palestine" April 2007
Canada’s International Development Research Center (IDRC)
"Far from improving the economy and welfare of Gaza residents, Israeli actions since September 2005 – including severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza and an economic stronghold on the funding of civil services – have contributed to an economic and humanitarian crisis in Gaza not seen in the 38 years of Israeli control that preceded the withdrawal of permanent ground troops."
- Gisha, "Disengaged Occupiers", January 2007
Legal Center for Freedom of Movement (Israel-based)
"The movement of crops crucial to farmers' livelihoods, the decision on when residents of the coastal strip can leave and when they can come back, permission for a foreign-born spouse to move to Gaza -- it's all still up to Israel."
- Karin Laub, "Israel gone, yet still in Gaza's life" April 7, 2007
Associated Press
