TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Public call launched to end Gaza blockade
More than 150,000 people from countries across the world on Wednesday joined 35 aid, faith, developmental and human rights organizations to back an unprecedented joint call urging world leaders to press the Israeli government to lift the blockade on Gaza
Change Size
M
ore than 150,000 people from countries across the world on Wednesday joined 35 aid, faith, developmental and human rights organizations to back an unprecedented joint call urging world leaders to press the Israeli government to lift the blockade on Gaza.
The Israeli authorities were also urged to remove restrictions on basic building materials needed to reconstruct the coastal strip.
'It's outrageous that a year on from the last Gaza war, not one home has been totally rebuilt and the world has left families to live in rubble. Governments are allowing Israel to violate the most basic humanitarian laws and since the start of the blockade there have been three wars with hundreds of children killed,' said Avaaz senior campaigner, Fadi Quran, speaking in support of the campaign.
'This massive public outcry shows people everywhere want their governments to act now to end this illegal, inhumane and dangerous blockade.'
The organizations are calling for construction materials like wood, steel bars and cement to be allowed into Gaza so that hospitals, schools and homes can be urgently rebuilt.
The organizations leading the campaign report that last year's conflict saw over 19,000 homes destroyed and caused 100,000 people to become homeless.
'Donor governments have pledged US$3.5 billion to rebuild Gaza, but a year on, Israeli restrictions on building materials continue to cause delays. Reconstruction has started on just over 2,000 of the 19,000 homes destroyed last year, and not a single home has been fully rebuilt,' it says.
By placing restrictions on the movement of people and goods, the campaign said, the blockade was punishing innocent civilians for acts that they are not responsible for.
'There can never be justification for leaving families without a home and the sick without a hospital.'
According to research carried out in a recent joint international NGO report, the illegal Israeli blockade has obstructed reconstruction efforts, worsening the humanitarian crisis inside the Gaza Strip.
'Only 5 percent of the urgently needed 6.7 million tons of reconstruction materials needed to repair what was destroyed last summer in Gaza have been allowed in, one year since the ceasefire. At this rate, reconstruction could take 17 years,' said the report. (ebf)(++++)
