Seeds and Dreams

Inside Gaza…..what’s going on!!!!

By: Issam Sammour

Peace talks
18-Nov-2010 (Gaza Strip, Palestine)Honest talks to achieve an historic peace deal within a year.
Abu Mazen says; “No peace with settlements; will make it impossible for them to create a viable state and the issue is one of the core problems standing in the way of any peace deal.”
United States is trying to pressure Israel to return to the peace table negotiations, using the all known and convenient economical incentives in exchange for political retraction, and temporal acceptance of compliance of International Law.
The only strategy for Palestinians is their goal: A dream of peace.
They have this strong weapon of hope and willingness of solidarity of the whole world that is based on international law that stand for their rights.

Palestinian reconciliation

The Palestinian reconciliation document between the two major parties between Fatah and Hamas will be signed in the next few weeks.
There is one good opportunity for unification and for working as one team to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and achieve peace.
To really respond to the practices of the occupation, there should be unity behind the leadership that can address the world with one voice, to once and for all end the occupation and establish a Palestinian State as a strategic option for peace

Siege and humanitarian situation in Gaza

According to UN estimates, humanitarian efforts will continue in the near future, and growing increasingly complex.

The humanitarian organizations are working continuously in Gaza to provide assistance for poor families that were affected by the last Israeli assault and by the blockade. The humanitarian efforts are to respond to the conditions of poverty and unemployment, which reached a rate of 80%, that provide food aid and non-food items to beneficiaries!.
The blockade has been widely described as “collective punishment” resulting in a humanitarian crisis.

Two of the more crippling conditions in Gaza are the Water Crisis and Electricity Power Shortage.

Water crisis

Almost 95 percent of the water pumped in the Gaza Strip is polluted and unfit for drinking.

This warning was recently issued by the UN Environment Program, the Palestinian Water Authority, the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, and international aid organizations.

They estimate it will take at least 20 years to rehabilitate Gaza’s underground water system, and any delay in dealing with the problem will lead to additional deterioration in the situation and thus might extend the rehabilitation process for hundreds of years.

Since June 2007 that Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza, Israel has forbidden the entry of equipment and materials needed to rehabilitate the water and waste water-treatment systems there.
The prohibition of the equipment has remained despite the well published easing of the siege after the Mavi Marmara Massacre.

Electricity situation

Since January 2010, there has been a serious deterioration in the supply of electricity in the Gaza Strip.
The immediate reason is that Gaza’s sole power plant, the Gaza Power Plant (GPP), is able to produce only half the electricity that it did prior to January 2010, due to a lack of funds needed to purchase the industrial fuel required to operate the plant.

As a result, almost all of the 1.5 million Palestinians residing in the Gaza Strip, must cope with scheduled electricity cuts of 16 hours daily.

These power cuts exacerbate the already difficult living conditions in Gaza and disrupt almost all aspects of daily life, including household chores, health services, education, water, and sanitation services.

December 3, 2010 - Posted by Akashma Online News | Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Palestine | Gaza, Israel, Palestine news, Palestine Occupation