Last weekend a delegation of UK Members of Parliament set out for the Gaza Strip, on a fact-finding mission to see what has changed since Operation Cast Lead over a year ago. I was extremely fortunate to be allowed to join the delegation in my capacity as Researcher to Colin Breed MP, who is Vice Chair of both the All-Party Group and of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, (CAABU) who facilitated the trip.
So it was then, that at 5am on Thursday morning we clambered into taxis and drove across the Sinai to the Rafah Crossing. There was much trepidation as I took my first steps in the Gaza Strip, armed only with a Foreign and Commonwealth Office letter which considered our attempts to gain entry as nothing short of “reckless”. It is always good to have your country’s full support when venturing abroad.
Our hosts for the weekend were the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. I must put on record the remarkable courage and ingenuity of this organisation in the face of overwhelming odds. Whilst the international community bickers and squabbles, UNWRA stays out of the limelight and focuses all its attention on providing for the Palestinian people. We were to see a large number of their projects in the next few days.
We were thrown somewhat into the deep end, as our first stop was to view the Rafah tunnel systems, which bring everything from food, to instruments to cars from Egypt . Since the blockade was forced upon the Strip, after its people had the audacity to return to power the wrong people, all ‘luxuries’ have to be imported illegally through tunnels controlled by Hamas. I was led to believe the blockade was intended to break Hamas, but it appears to have worked phenomenally well in doing the complete opposite. The blockade has prevented legitimate businessmen (many of whom we met) from trading with their neighbours, forcing them to choose between going under or converting to the black market (and paying Hamas to use the tunnels). As a result, the private economy in Gaza has collapsed and unemployment has sky-rocketed.
The United Nations tries its best to make do in areas where the state cannot provide (which appears to be everywhere). We were taken to a housing project in Khan Younis where we were met with row upon row of unfinished apartment blocks in varying states of incompleteness. With international support, funding and materials the UN was in the process of creating hundreds of new homes for refugees but unfortunately the Israeli blockade on Gaza came into effect before they could be completed. Without concrete, the buildings lie idle, unfinished and unusable, while the refugees make do with tents.
The most impressive part of the visit was seeing first hand the work of UNWRA, especially in terms of schooling. All refugees are guaranteed a place in a UNWRA school, and they solve the problem of not having enough schools by using each one twice, for a morning and afternoon shift. I was impressed by the number of subjects taught, and how good the childrens’ English was – certainly better than my knowledge of French at the same age!
My most serious concern for the children though is that the blockade is creating a whole new generation of Palestinians who have never met their Israeli peers. It is worrying that their only knowledge of Israelis, as depicted in their drawings at school, is via the sound of an F-16, or an Apache gunship. This cannot be good for future peace plans, and will almost certainly play into the hands of radical elements.
We visited a number of bombed out buildings (they are everywhere) and some families had patched up holes with breeze blocks where shells had ripped through their living rooms. We also stopped at the American School , or more accurately, the expanse of rubble that was until recently the American School . It seems ludicrous to me that the money is there for rebuilding, but because of the blockade it cannot be used. Any rebuilding has been done haphazardly, using materials smuggled through the tunnels, and many families are still living in tents.
All this devastation, juxtaposed against the warmth and kindness of the people left a strange feeling in my stomach. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians just want to get on with their lives without fear of attack from their trigger-happy neighbours. For their part, they must put pressure on, and challenge, radical elements that seem to think it a good idea to send rockets into Israel . It clearly is not, because it only piles more misery onto an already depressed population (the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme reported to us that over two-thirds of Gazans are showing signs of mental distress).
I was pleasantly surprised by my trip to Gaza . Its people do not need handouts or political promises. They need the international community to get its act together. The money is there for investment, the people are willing and able to rebuild and the UN has shown itself to be more than capable of providing the people with the services they need.
Any more stalling from the international community would be nothing short of “reckless”.
