I NEVER cease to be amazed at the power of the human spirit to survive. During my last visit to Gaza in October 2008, I was amazed and deeply moved by the strength I witnessed in the people there. In a triumph of hope over adversity and tremendous suffering, love still abides. Gaza is a small coastal strip of land, 27 miles long and six miles wide, bordered by Israel on the one side, the Mediterranean Sea on the other and to a lesser extent by Egypt at the southern end. With one and a half million inhabitants, Gaza is the fifth most densely populated place on the planet, with 50 per cent of the population under the age of 18. Two thirds of the total population hold refugee status, and they and their descendants are victims of previous acts of Israeli aggression. Gaza's people have suffered under Israeli occupation for over 40 years, and even though Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005, it has continued to control every aspect of life in the tiny coastal strip. Hamas was democratically elected to power in the 2006 Palestinian elections and has governed the Gaza Strip since the summer of 2007, and it was at this time that Israel commenced its devastating blockade of the strip. Essentially, the blockade represents a draconian policy by Israel under which a minimum amount of basic subsistence goods are allowed into Gaza, with the intention of holding a malnourished population just short of outright starvation. Coupled with the severe food shortages are the restrictions and bans on basic essentials, such as medicine and desperately needed reconstruction materials. This blockade constitutes 'collective punishment' of a civilian population, an act illegal under Article 33 of the fourth Geneva Convention. However, Israel operates within a culture of impunity, continuing to ignore international law while many of the world's governments and international bodies remain silent. We are constantly hearing about the ‘Gaza blockade'. Who permitted this blockade? Who has any right to permit it? Today, Israeli justifications for the continuation of the blockade, based on Israeli citizens' need for safety and security, can no longer be maintained in the face of global public opinion. However, their propaganda will continue to set the tone in certain newspapers and channels. But the truth about the Gazans' suffering marches imperturbably along beside it, influencing an ever-increasing section of public opinion. In the long run, even the most efficiently organised propaganda machine can do nothing against the truth. In the words of one Israeli professor, Israel has made Gaza into the largest open air prison in the world. By land, sea or air, the one and a half million inhabitants of Gaza are trapped, their six border crossings are closed (including the Rafah crossing with Egypt), their airport destroyed, and their port and coastal waters shut down by a naval blockade. The people are forced to live a suffocating life of misery and hardship. The closure has had an impact on every imaginable aspect of their physical and emotional existence. Lives are lost for lack of access to hospital facilities and treatments unavailable in Gaza. Bright and willing students are deprived of an opportunity to progress in their studies, as places offered in universities abroad can not be accepted, as students are unable to leave. The Israeli policy of divide, blockade and conquer, used against the Palestinians, strikes right at the heart of family life. Families in Gaza can no longer visit their relatives in the West Bank. Wives are torn from husbands, and husbands from wives. Many are forced to live apart, some in the West Bank, others in Gaza. All across the occupied Palestinian Territories, there is a shared experience of humiliation. The West Bank is constantly shrinking under a deluge of illegal Israeli settlements and new settlement construction. The countless thousands of Gazans left homeless after the Israeli bombings can find a paler shadow of the same existence among their friends and family in East Jerusalem, where forced evictions and house demolitions are a daily occurrence. The children of Gaza are the ones who suffer most. During my visit to Gaza in October 2008, I visited the area of Khan Younis. In all my years of seeing poverty and devastation, I have never witnessed anything so terrible. The area had been hit by floods that had washed away the roads, forming a river that flooded the houses of many hundreds of people with mud. We walked through home after home that had been completely destroyed, yet some families made vain attempts to salvage what they could to continue to live in the midst of this horrific destruction. Children played on the destroyed roads and footpaths amidst raw sewerage, and the mothers did their best to protect their young ones, all too aware of the dangers of disease lurking in the open puddles that the children persisted in playing in. Community leaders explained that they were unable to reconstruct homes and roads and to repair open sewers, as Israel would not permit the materials and equipment to enter Gaza. Teachers had no writing materials, the doctors had not enough medicines, and the children were suffering from malnutrition and showing signs of stunted growth. One father asked me: "If I give you some money, next time the Free Gaza boat comes in, will you bring in some milk? The children have no milk." In June 2009, twenty-one of us tried to sail on the Free Gaza boat, but it was hijacked in international waters by the Israeli navy, and we were all forcibly taken to Israel, put in prison for a week and then deported. Since 2008, the suffering has only magnified and worsened, due to the shattering effect of operation 'Cast Lead' Israel's brutal attach on Gaza that took place in December and January 2008/2009. During the Israeli assault on Gaza, bombs and white phosphorus were dropped on Palestinian civilians and of the 1,400 people who died, over 400 were children. The well-known French biologist and geneticist, Jean Rostand, calls the using of uranium or such white phosphorus 'le crime dans l'avenir' (a crime against the future). These actions were taken by Israeli military, which at first denied using such bombs. The agricultural land is now radiated with depleted uranium and holds its own terrible dangers for the people of Gaza. Many who depended on the land for their livelihood have seen their stock and crops destroyed and the soil poisoned. In addition, Israeli Prison Service (IPS) reports that as of May 31, 2009, a total of 337 Palestinian children was being detained in Israeli prisons, four of whom are girls, and at the same time, many of these young prisoners are transferred to prisons located within Israel in violation of the UN Resolution number 1612. Where is the hope? Where is the love in the midst of such suffering and injustice? The international community has all but failed and seems unwilling or unable to take a stand against Israeli brutality, but there are still those who refuse to stand aside. Only the immediate end of the Israeli blockade will create a favourable atmosphere for talks on the peace process. When this urgently needed step has taken place, the negotiations can truly begin. Above all we were inspired by the people of Gaza, whose courage, love and joy in welcoming us, even in the midst of such suffering, gave us all hope. They represent the best of humanity, and we are all privileged to have been given the opportunity to support them in their nonviolent struggle for human dignity and freedom.
Mairead Maguire is a Nobel Peace Laureate. Mohab el-Shorbagi, the Secretary-General of the UN Youth Club, contributed to this article.
