“The first thing I think when I see pictures like these is, wow, Gaza is just like Darfur!”
Yeah, me too.
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that UNRWA has decided to stop delivery of all food stuffs to ‘refugees’ in the Gaza Strip because its’ vehicles have run out of fuel:
The United Nations on Thursday stopped distributing food to Palestinian refugees in Gaza because its vehicles have run out of fuel following an Israeli blockade, a UN official said.The official, Adnan Abu Hasna, said 700,000 Palestinians who depend on the UN for basic food packets, won’t be getting them. He said the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) used the last of its fuel on Thursday. That forced it to stop distribution.
Abu Hasna, the UNRWA spokesman, said that without fuel for its vehicles, the agency could not bring new shipments to its warehouses or distribute it to needy Palestinians.
As of Thursday evening, he said, “all of our regular food operations have stopped because of the fuel shortage.” There was no immediate Israeli comment about the UNRWA move.
No doubt there are already those ready to flood a river with crocodile tears but hold the hankies – there is more –
There is some fuel stored in Gaza – but a local strike by distributors means it is not reaching the public. Palestinian distributors have been refusing to pick up about a million liters that Israel pumped earlier this month into the Palestinian side of the border fuel depot, saying the quantity is insufficient.
Imagine the inadequacy of a free ride. Of course, perhaps it would be easier on the average Palestinian if Hamas wasn’t in the habit of commandeering whatever it needed from wherever.
And another thing. Just how is it that Gazan Palestinians are still being referred to as “refugees” – now that is what I call an abuse of status. Are we really expected to believe Gazan Palestinians qualify as bona fide refugees…from what – Palestinian statehood?
So is the suggestion from the PalPress News Agency run from Ramallah. This report was run on the 21st of January and autotranslated by google:
Ramallah – Palestine Press – reliable local sources in the Gaza Strip said that Hamas militia outside the law, the decision of the supreme political leadership, ordered bakery owners in the towns and camps sector prevent the sale of bread for citizens and closing doors Mkhabzhm, in a continuation in its scheme aimed to deepen the humanitarian crisis it is going through the Gaza Strip in order to achieve narrow partisan gains.It quoted the sources, a number of bakery owners in the sector saying, “they had received orders from Hamas militias before closing Mkhabzhm immediately and prevent the sale of bread for citizens, and not presented themselves to brutality and vengeance of those militias in the absence of Anasiallm orders.”
The bakery owners, “that the stocks of material sufficient to meet the precise needs of the population of the Gaza Strip of bread for one full month and more”, who indicated that they are able to provide this basic commodity for the Palestinian citizen throughout this period of no orders militia Hamas, which prevented them from doing so. ”
They “noted that even in the light of legalizing the distribution of electricity in the provinces sector from discontinued power station Strip for work, they are able to fill the needs of the local market in the Gaza Strip good bread,” as confirmed the existence of material reserves of diesel to run their generators in Mkhabzhm in the event of power outages of the distribution company.
It is noteworthy that the militia movement Hamas, in a continuation of its policy to create a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, the evening yesterday, Sunday, looted a large quantity of fuel oil stations deployed in the Gaza Strip which had been earmarked to cover the necessary needs of the hospitals.
The owner of fuel stations that, “This amounts seized by Hamas was necessary to cover the needs of hospitals, where Hamas Bajtzaha taller and putting them in camps in the Gaza Strip for use in processions leadership lighting and ceiling space, and houses Hamas leaders and the headquarters of security only,” while local sources said The eyewitnesses, “The guards Ismail Haniya President of the Government of Hamas in Gaza article stole fuel from a depot Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, some fuel stations and forced at gunpoint in order to secure fuel for cars and luxurious and parade his house and the Cabinet Office article.”
The hat tip goes out to the Elder of Ziyon, and if you are not reading him, shame. The Elder rightly points out that the Palestine Press is published in Ramallah and can be considered pro-fatah, anti-Hamas newspaper, but in this case, I think its safe to presume the Palestine Press is on track as it jibes the images published around the world showing Palestinians buying televisions, cigarettes, computers etc. in Egypt.
I am having this internal debate with myself which revolves around how one has a humanitarian crisis without a financial crisis as well. Apparently, Hamas has not just finessed this situation but raised it to an art form. Taken from the New York Times:
Gaza’s population of 1.5 million depends on imports for most basic supplies. After the border wall fell, Egyptian merchants brought goods to the Egyptian side of Rafah to sell, and some Palestinians were bringing home televisions and computers.
This has to be the first “humanitarian crisis” I have ever witnessed where the purchase of televisions, computers, cement and cigarettes alleviate the suffering of humanity under crisis. We should try sending televisions & cigarettes the next time there is a famine somewhere in the world – hey it works for Gaza. I digress, but the paragraph which put this crisis in sharp focus in my mind was this bit:
Ahlan Ashour, 38, came with his wife to visit the Egyptian family, the Barhoums, who had put them up for 24 days during an earlier period when the Rafah crossing was shut. Mr. Ashour’s wife, Mohsin Elloulu, said she was struck by how much poorer the Egyptians of Rafah are. “At least our streets are paved,” she said of Gaza. The current lack of electricity and supplies is terrible, she said. “But materially, we’re so much more advanced in Gaza.” A driver here, she said, makes less than $1.50 a day, and in normal times in Gaza, $27. “But nothing is normal now,” she said.
No one does “refugee” or refugee camp quite like the Palestinians. No really, I mean that and I stand in awe. Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last June I have been hearing all sorts of international aid agencies presenting the dire financial plight of the Palestinians and the destruction of their economy. I can’t quite get a handle on how many Gazans are without work and presumably without income.
Figures run the gauntlet of 50% to over 80% unemployment depending on which aid agency is canvassing for money to help the Palestinians. (Check Google yourself.) There sure are a whole lot of Gazans with a whole lot of money in their pocket to buy a whole lot of goods in Egypt. I would dearly loved to know how one can be unemployed, destitute & suffering but still have plenty of money to spend. Economists should study this phenomenon. Workers of the world deserve to know.
And one more thing – why are there still refugee camps in the Gaza Strip? Doesn’t it strike anyone other than me as a trifle odd that at no time did either the Palestinian Authority or Hamas make arrangements for these people to acquire land in the Gaza Strip on which to build permanent homes? Or are they waiting to relocate these people to Tel Aviv?
