Gaza is Safer Now—At Least this is What Many Gazans Believe for the Moment The latest bloodiest weeks in Gaza, leaving hundreds injured and killed, concluded with the Hamas overthrow of Fateh and take-over of the Gaza Strip, including its security compounds. Accordingly, in the opinion of many Gazans, this has stabilized the situation and rendered Gaza “much safer.” A Gaza City university student, 25, on his way home from university related: “Gaza is more secure now. Journalists are arriving from all over the world, and we are all now free to walk in the streets without being shot at.” Gaza’s beach abounds with people who’ve come to enjoy their time on the beach, to find a moment of peaceful respite and forget temporarily about the daily attacks and devastating experiences they have had in the past few weeks with the internal fighting between groups from Hamas and Fateh. UN Aid agencies Friday warned of a “major humanitarian crisis” in the Hamas-held, thus internationally-snubbed, Gaza Strip, where food stocks will deplete in two weeks unless Israel’s cargo blockade is lifted. As vital goods are currently only able to trickle in through Kerem Shalom crossing, whose capacity is 15 trucks a day, it is crucial to re-open the Karni crossing, which can handle up to 200 trucks a day, UN agencies said. Numerous people have fled Gaza, including many working for security forces loyal to Fateh and President Mahmoud Abbas. Many are stuck waiting at the tunnel between Israel and the Gaza Strip, among them people responsible for the killing of Hamas members in the past. Meanwhile, the Rafah border—the main crossing to Egypt for Palestinians, and the only crossing in and out of Gaza under normal circumstances—has remained consistently closed by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Life continues to be extremely difficult at the southern Gaza border where, according to eyewitnesses, there are over 6,000 people held up and waiting to come back. Those people have no food and no water, and suffer greatly from the heat and no medical care. They are ever-waiting for rare signs that the border will open for a brief period of time. In contravention of a 25 November, 2005 agreement to keep the border crossing open, the Rafah border, monitored by European Union observers, has been mostly closed by Israel, without any reasons at all. Among those waiting to cross are children and the elderly, all of whom need to return to their houses after more than three weeks of not having showers in addition to being forced to wait on the streets. Israel, the transit point for imports and exports to and from the Gaza Strip, ordered its customs agents to disallow shipments following the Hamas coup of the Strip last week. As a consequence, the World Food Program warned last week that the Strip could start running out of flour, rice, food oil, and other essentials in as little as two weeks, unless Israel opens the borders. It is unlikely the Karni crossing will re-open soon, having suffered major structural damage during recent looting by Palestinians attacking and destroying many PA buildings after the Hamas take-over of different security forces compounds and buildings. Israel wants to isolate Gaza's Hamas movement not only economically, diplomatically, but also militarily, while allowing funds and trade to flow to the western and American-backed emergency Government set up in the West Bank by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Haniyeh, the head of the elected Hamas government, has rejected Abbas’ call for his resignation. In a talk in Gaza City, he emphasized that the emergency Government set by Abbas is not legal, as it didn’t get any approval from the Palestinian parliament members. He added that it is not Abbas’ right to have an emergency government without votes of trust and approval. Even if there is such government, it can’t go for more than 30 days, according to the Palestinian law. The US and the EU have separated between both Gaza and West Bank. In short, the West Bank will have better living circumstances, and Gaza will starve, because of its people’s choice in supporting Hamas to take over! |
