Slowly, surely and deliberately, Israeli authorities are strangulating the life out of the Gaza Strip. And while Israel has been overly aggressive in the past in waging open warfare on the Palestinian enclave — the latest bloody assault was but the summer before last — its actions now are causing long-term misery in a less subtle but equally aggressive tone.
By imposing a rigorous near-total economic blockade on the enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians, Israel is doing everything within the powers it uses and abuses to make Gaza uninhabitable. It controls the supplies of electricity into the enclave, limits water usage and ensures that the very infrastructure it blew to smithereens 21 months ago cannot be effectively replaced.
Because of sporadic and erratic power supplies, it is virtually impossible for sewage in the enclave to be properly treated. This means that water supplies are now beginning to be contaminated and the coastline is now affected and polluted by effluent. What little leeway the Israelis give to Palestinian fishermen to fish offshore has now been reduced because of the sewage outflow.
It is a situation that has been getting worse with each passing week, making living conditions more miserable for the long-suffering residents. There’s been no initiative from the Israeli authorities up until now in either putting more power into the enclave or in relaxing the rules covering construction supplies permitted into Gaza. Now, because of the extent of the sewage and its spread, Israelis are beginning to notice. With beaches further up the coast in Israel now being affected, some Israelis are beginning to kick up a stink. Sadly, no one there raises a stink over the way those in the Gaza Strip have been treated these past decades.
