We are in Al Arish, right in the Egyptian Sinai, at the Red Crescent
hub. The basic necessities rejected by Israeli controls are crammed
here, still packaged. Oxygen cylinders, generators, hygiene soaps,
incubators, medicine coolers, crutches, even chocolate biscuits: all
considered a "threat" to Israel's national security. The signs are those
of the main international NGOs and donor governments.
We are here with the solidarity caravan organized by AOI (the
Association of Italian NGOs), Assopace Palestina and ARCI. A caravan of
around fifty people made up of civil society, journalists and 14
parliamentarians. All 14 are opposition deputies: the appeal to those in
the majority to participate fell on deaf ears.
Approaching Rafah means making your way through columns of humanitarian
aid trucks that have been blocked for weeks. When we get off, the
drivers surround us in desperation. They are stranded under the desert
sun without bathrooms or assistance. They carry tents, bags of flour,
canned food, rice, blankets, cases of water. Everything boils in the
heat but they don't receive the order to move. In the collective
retaliation unleashed by Israel since October 7 against the entire
population of Gaza, there are the bombs that are incinerating the Strip
but also the hunger and thirst to which the Netanyahu government has
decided to condemn civilians.
At the Rafah crossing, under the sun and a blanket of heat, Scott
Anderson, Urnwa director of Gaza, meets us. He comes from hell and tries
to describe it to us. Dozens of children have now died from malnutrition
and dehydration. You drink sewer water or salty sea water.
Gastrointestinal diseases are increasing tenfold and particularly affect
girls and boys. As summer approaches, there is a fear of a human
massacre from cholera. Water for human consumption is a mirage, let's
think about washing water. All the health workers tell us that the
children continue to scratch, they haven't had a shower for months.
Nothing obviously compared to the total absence of anesthetics (these
systematically blocked by the Israelis because they are considered "dual
use"). In 12 out of 52 hospitals that survived the systematic
destruction of the bombings, operations are performed on the ground and
limbs are amputated without anesthesia.
Here in Rafah, at the gates of hell, the temperature range is strong and
the suffocating heat of the day is replaced by the biting cold of the
night. People are under makeshift shelters, packed together like
sardines. Before 7 October, Rafah had 280 thousand inhabitants, now, in
an increasingly compressed strip of land, it "hosts" 1 million and 400
thousand human beings. There is one chemical toilet for every 600 people
(WHO standards would require one for every twenty), the few trucks that
pass risk being attacked by hungry people. Now we eat every three days
and we are also consuming animal food.
UNRWA is in the sights of the Israelis: it is the backbone of the
survival of the Palestinians not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank
and in the refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Tel Aviv's
accusation: a dozen employees out of over 13 thousand who, in various
capacities, participated in the actions of 7 October. No trace of
evidence. UNRWA fired them and opened an investigation. It's not enough
for Israel. The declared objective is to eradicate it from all occupied
territories. Let the Palestinians make do, die of hunger and remain
without education, so at least they will understand that they must go
away, leave their land "to the people of the elect". And then that word
"right of return" enshrined in the first UN resolutions after the Nabka
of 1948 must be canceled in all its forms. If bombs and snipers can't do
it, let hunger, thirst and disease do it. A true ethnic cleansing
strategy. As in the genocide of the native peoples of the Americas. The
usual mixture of white supremacism and colonialism.
The blocking of funding to UNRWA by the USA, Japan, Germany and Italy is
an unlimited shame. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated this to the
Chamber: "Italy will not lift the block on UNRWA funds until it is
clarified where these funds end up." Now that these funds end up in
food, medicine and drinking water essential to prevent the humanitarian
catastrophe in Gaza and that UNRWA is the only UN agency capable of
distributing them widely, the Italian government also knows this very
well. NATO countries such as Sweden and Canada, which had also joined
the blocking of funds, have revoked this objectively irrational and
shamefully punitive measure towards the Palestinians.
UNRWA is accused of complicity yet to be proven, while on the certain
evidence of the violation of international humanitarian law (hospitals,
schools, headquarters of humanitarian agencies incinerated not to
mention journalists and ambulances which have become habitual targets of
IDF snipers) and at the same time on the provisions of the International
Court of Justice regarding the potential violation of the Genocide
Convention by Israel, Italy has not even made a mild proposal for a
sanction against Tel Aviv. Two weights and two measures.
We Solidarity Caravan came to Rafah because we cannot look the other
way. We need to act. The "Gaza Emergency" fundraiser by Aoi and the
"Water for Gaza" fundraiser by Un Ponte Per are just a drop in a sea of
desperation, but they are also the sign of the existence of an Italy of
solidarity. We need to increase the pressure on the Italian government
and on those of the EU so that they work seriously for the immediate
ceasefire, sanction Israel, block the arms trade, impose the opening of
all border crossings so that aid reaches the population immediately. We
need to act quickly before the irreparable happens.
*Co-president of Un Ponte Per
To support solidarity campaigns:
https://www.unponteper.it/it/acqua-per-gaza/
https://www.ong.it/emergencygaza/
https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
hub. The basic necessities rejected by Israeli controls are crammed
here, still packaged. Oxygen cylinders, generators, hygiene soaps,
incubators, medicine coolers, crutches, even chocolate biscuits: all
considered a "threat" to Israel's national security. The signs are those
of the main international NGOs and donor governments.
We are here with the solidarity caravan organized by AOI (the
Association of Italian NGOs), Assopace Palestina and ARCI. A caravan of
around fifty people made up of civil society, journalists and 14
parliamentarians. All 14 are opposition deputies: the appeal to those in
the majority to participate fell on deaf ears.
Approaching Rafah means making your way through columns of humanitarian
aid trucks that have been blocked for weeks. When we get off, the
drivers surround us in desperation. They are stranded under the desert
sun without bathrooms or assistance. They carry tents, bags of flour,
canned food, rice, blankets, cases of water. Everything boils in the
heat but they don't receive the order to move. In the collective
retaliation unleashed by Israel since October 7 against the entire
population of Gaza, there are the bombs that are incinerating the Strip
but also the hunger and thirst to which the Netanyahu government has
decided to condemn civilians.
At the Rafah crossing, under the sun and a blanket of heat, Scott
Anderson, Urnwa director of Gaza, meets us. He comes from hell and tries
to describe it to us. Dozens of children have now died from malnutrition
and dehydration. You drink sewer water or salty sea water.
Gastrointestinal diseases are increasing tenfold and particularly affect
girls and boys. As summer approaches, there is a fear of a human
massacre from cholera. Water for human consumption is a mirage, let's
think about washing water. All the health workers tell us that the
children continue to scratch, they haven't had a shower for months.
Nothing obviously compared to the total absence of anesthetics (these
systematically blocked by the Israelis because they are considered "dual
use"). In 12 out of 52 hospitals that survived the systematic
destruction of the bombings, operations are performed on the ground and
limbs are amputated without anesthesia.
Here in Rafah, at the gates of hell, the temperature range is strong and
the suffocating heat of the day is replaced by the biting cold of the
night. People are under makeshift shelters, packed together like
sardines. Before 7 October, Rafah had 280 thousand inhabitants, now, in
an increasingly compressed strip of land, it "hosts" 1 million and 400
thousand human beings. There is one chemical toilet for every 600 people
(WHO standards would require one for every twenty), the few trucks that
pass risk being attacked by hungry people. Now we eat every three days
and we are also consuming animal food.
UNRWA is in the sights of the Israelis: it is the backbone of the
survival of the Palestinians not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank
and in the refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Tel Aviv's
accusation: a dozen employees out of over 13 thousand who, in various
capacities, participated in the actions of 7 October. No trace of
evidence. UNRWA fired them and opened an investigation. It's not enough
for Israel. The declared objective is to eradicate it from all occupied
territories. Let the Palestinians make do, die of hunger and remain
without education, so at least they will understand that they must go
away, leave their land "to the people of the elect". And then that word
"right of return" enshrined in the first UN resolutions after the Nabka
of 1948 must be canceled in all its forms. If bombs and snipers can't do
it, let hunger, thirst and disease do it. A true ethnic cleansing
strategy. As in the genocide of the native peoples of the Americas. The
usual mixture of white supremacism and colonialism.
The blocking of funding to UNRWA by the USA, Japan, Germany and Italy is
an unlimited shame. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated this to the
Chamber: "Italy will not lift the block on UNRWA funds until it is
clarified where these funds end up." Now that these funds end up in
food, medicine and drinking water essential to prevent the humanitarian
catastrophe in Gaza and that UNRWA is the only UN agency capable of
distributing them widely, the Italian government also knows this very
well. NATO countries such as Sweden and Canada, which had also joined
the blocking of funds, have revoked this objectively irrational and
shamefully punitive measure towards the Palestinians.
UNRWA is accused of complicity yet to be proven, while on the certain
evidence of the violation of international humanitarian law (hospitals,
schools, headquarters of humanitarian agencies incinerated not to
mention journalists and ambulances which have become habitual targets of
IDF snipers) and at the same time on the provisions of the International
Court of Justice regarding the potential violation of the Genocide
Convention by Israel, Italy has not even made a mild proposal for a
sanction against Tel Aviv. Two weights and two measures.
We Solidarity Caravan came to Rafah because we cannot look the other
way. We need to act. The "Gaza Emergency" fundraiser by Aoi and the
"Water for Gaza" fundraiser by Un Ponte Per are just a drop in a sea of
desperation, but they are also the sign of the existence of an Italy of
solidarity. We need to increase the pressure on the Italian government
and on those of the EU so that they work seriously for the immediate
ceasefire, sanction Israel, block the arms trade, impose the opening of
all border crossings so that aid reaches the population immediately. We
need to act quickly before the irreparable happens.
*Co-president of Un Ponte Per
To support solidarity campaigns:
https://www.unponteper.it/it/acqua-per-gaza/
https://www.ong.it/emergencygaza/
https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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