During the recent fighting in Gaza a number you asked after [us] and expressed concern for our safety. I haven’t been good about responding, so I finally thought I would write a brief (or perhaps long) note to say that we are safe and well as well as to spread my own propaganda. While the situation in Gaza remains appalling, in Ramallah life has continued as normal. During the fighting there was palpable tension on the street and there is still a great deal of anger about the situation in Gaza. People are both horrified and angered by what they hear and see from Gaza, but in answer to concerns expressed by some, I believe that there is very little chance that we will soon see serious violence or conflict in the West Bank. There have been protests, some violent, but they have been limited. Mostly there is a general feeling of impotence that is paralyzing and that is muting responses.

This is not to say that efforts are not underway to provide aid in Gaza. Individuals and organizations in Jerusalem and the West Bank have worked non-stop over the last month to end the killing and meet needs. Throughout this time they have been supported by an amazing group of individuals and organizations in Gaza who have put their lives at risk to distribute aid, provide medical care, and help those who are suffering. During the fighting the organization I work for was able to provide food aid and bottled water in impacted communities as well as basic medical supplies to hospitals. We have continued this assistance since the ceasefire and are now working to get more medical supplies, food aid, hygiene kits, infant supplies, reconstruction materials and other forms of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

However, humanitarian actors have so far been blocked in their efforts by Israel which has not allowed access to Gaza by organizations ready to respond. Only 50 or so items from a list of 5,000 basic humanitarian supplies needed in Gaza are being allowed in by Israel (the list of needed items is put together by the UN). Items allowed into Gaza do not include basic materials such as diapers nor supplies desperately needed to begin rebuilding and recovery efforts (including cement and other basic construction materials). Even macaroni has not been allowed into Gaza for several months. On average, only 80 truckloads of goods have been allowed into Gaza per day, while at least 500 truckloads are needed to meet basic needs of Gaza’s 1.5 million people.

This is not a new situation. Gaza has been under siege for over two years which means that there are no stockpiles of needed items that can be used to facilitate recovery and reconstruction. Those of us trying to provide humanitarian relief are left unable to offer even basic assistance due to a lack of needed materials. Urgent repairs to homes, water and sanitation systems, health facilities and other essential infrastructure has begun, but is also limited by blocked access of materials.

Access difficulties are not limited to goods. From November 4th to one week after the ceasefire on January 18th, no humanitarian aid workers or international journalists were allowed into Gaza. At present only 22 international UN staff and 30 international NGO staff members had been allowed into Gaza. This has made it impossible to oversee and implement assistance work on the scale needed.

The frustration we all feel here at not being able to respond more effectively to the crisis in Gaza is compounded when we read or watch US news reports. The absence of context in US reports, the inaccuracy of much of the information being reported, and the lack of empathy for the people of Gaza is difficult to accept. I therefore want to use this note to comment on what I perceive to be some of the major gaps/misinformation in US coverage.

1. Gaza remains occupied
   One of the biggest misperceptions is that Israeli ended its occupation of Gaza when it withdrew its settlers from Gaza and redeployed its troops in 2005. Nearly every justification for the recent fighting that I have read begins by stating that Israel returned control for Gaza to the Palestinian Authority in 2005. However, for Palestinians the only tangible improvement after the Israeli redeployment was freedom of movement inside Gaza. In every other way the situation changed very little or even deteriorated. Israel continues to control border crossings, airspace, water ways, the import and export of goods and services, water, electrical and gas supplies, and most other basic services. Israel controls the Palestinian population registry for Gaza, determines who is given identity documents (and can take away identity documents and disallow Palestinians abroad from ever returning to their homes), and controls who can travel outside of Gaza. Israel also supplies much of Gaza’s tax revenue and its money supply, giving it effective control over both monetary and fiscal policy. Finally, Israel maintains the “right” to carry out military operations in Gaza and never ceased its military operations there after the redeployment of its forces in 2005.
   
   This is not to say that the withdrawal of the Gaza settler population was insignificant. However, settlers and settlements are only a symptom of occupation and their withdrawal has not effectively improved life for Gazans. Under international law, one country is said to occupy another country or territory when it has effective control over that area. Israel never gave up control over Gaza and therefore never ended its occupation of Gaza.
   
2. The ceasefire did not end only because Hamas refused to renew it and instead “chose” to shell Israel
   Obviously the rockets and shells fired into Israel from Gaza during November and December did not help maintain the ceasefire and it is true that Hamas did not accept a renewal of the ceasefire. However, these two facts do not tell the whole story.
   
   According to the Israeli military, in the five months leading up to the June ceasefire an average of 377 rockets and mortars per month were fired from Gaza into Israel. During the five month period from June 18, 2008 when the cease fire came into effect until November 4, 2008 the number of rockets and mortars fired into Israel averaged only 7.5 per month. During October only 2 were fired into Israel. These rockets were not fired by Hamas, but were rather fired by groups opposed to the ceasefire and determined to undermine the ceasefire. From the perspective of Hamas (and most Palestinians) the ceasefire was clearly respected.
   
   However, the reduction of rocket fire into Israel resulted in no changes in Israeli policy towards Gaza. Military incursions into Gaza continued and resulted in 28 Palestinian deaths during the ceasefire period. The siege was not lifted and the humanitarian situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate with basic medical supplies unavailable and over 80% of the population remained dependant on food aid to survive. On November 4, 2008 Israeli ground forces carried out an attack in Gaza in which 6 Hamas members were killed and another Palestinian was killed the same day in an Israeli aerial attack. In response to these actions Hamas fired 35 rockets into Israel, after which Israel responded with further attacks. From this date back and forth violence escalated until the beginning of “Operation Cast Lead” on December 27, 2008.
   
   Hamas is by no means blameless for the breakdown of the ceasefire, but it should also be clear that it is not alone in responsibility for the conflict.
   
3. Claims that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that Israel is allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza are wrong
   The claim that there is not a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is/was a core Israeli (and sometime American) claim both during the offensive and now. It is patently false.
   
   As far back as March 2007 the organization I work for put out a joint report with Amnesty International, Christian Aid, CAFOD, CARE, Medicins Du Monde UK, Oxfam, and TroCaire titled “The Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion”. Our conclusions at that time were that over 80% of families in Gaza were reliant on food aid and over 70% of the population was living in “deep” poverty (less than $1.2 per day per person). Unemployment levels were then over 40% and expected to rise, with three quarters of all workers from the private sector unemployed. Ninety-five percent of all industrial production in Gaza had ceased due to a lack of inputs, with only 195 out of over 3,900 factories still functioning. Public infrastructure had then severely degraded with repairs to the electricity and water networks prohibited due to the blockage of the import of spare parts. In some locations sewage had begun to run through the streets. Restrictions on fuel also cut electricity supplies forcing hospitals to operate neonatal units and emergency care on back-up generators for which replacement parts were also non-existent. Even the 2007-2008 school year was delayed due to restrictions on the import of school supplies and materials needed to print text books. Basic medicines and medical supplies had also been blocked from entering Gaza, and the World Health Organization confirmed that between October and December 2007 20 patients (including 5 children) died after being denied access to care outside of Gaza by Israel.
   
   When I went into Gaza in April 2008 (my first trip in since 2000) I was shocked by the extent to which the situation there had deteriorated over 8 years. While Gaza was never economically well off, living conditions in many areas of Gaza in 2000 were above third world standards. During my recent visit the only place that I have visited that Gaza can be compared to is Yemen, which is one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. However, the similarities between Yemen and Gaza stop on the surface. In Yemen there are deep structural problems including low education levels, massive corruption, no industrial base, and rampant drug (Qat) use which contribute to poverty and underdevelopment. In Gaza the current situation is man-made, completely avoidable, and with the right political will, it can be reversed.
   
   Following nine more months of siege and one month of fighting, the situation in Gaza has deteriorated even further and can only be described as a humanitarian disaster.
   
4. The majority of those killed and injured were civilians
   Most western news sources reported that between 25 and 40% of those killed were civilians. However, the fact that a source reports that 30% of people killed are civilians does not mean that the rest are militants, it merely means that their status has not yet been determined. Nearly all calculations published in the media only qualify women and children as civilians. Using numbers from the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza (which is more reliable and conservative in its estimates than the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza upon whom media sources rely for information) 30% of the 1253 people killed as of January 18th were women or children and 34% of those injured were women and children. If civilian men are included in calculations, well over 50% of those killed (over 85% according to some sources) were civilians.
   
   It should also be noted that many of those who have been declared “legitimate” targets must be considered civilians under international law. For example, international law holds that members of the civil police who are not engaged in combat and are engaged in regular policing functions are civilians. If civil police take a direct part in combat activities they can be attacked, but if they are not taking a part in hostilities they cannot be targeted. In Gaza the Civil Police are distinct from the Hamas Internal Security Forces, National Security Forces, and Hamas Military Wing. Their primary task in Gaza is to ensure civil order and the enforcement of the law in Gaza. It does not have a military function. In this context, the Israeli bombing of the Civil Police graduation ceremony at the opening of the fighting (which resulted in the deaths of 65 police officers) cannot be considered a legitimate military operation and the men killed must be considered civilians.

In have not written all of this to deflect responsibility from Hamas, nor to place sole responsibility for the fighting in Gaza on Israel. The firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza is clearly unacceptable and Israel does have a legal right to protect its citizens. However, the securing of a “normal” life for Israeli civilians cannot continue to come at the expense of Palestinian civilians most basic rights.

And Finally...
For me the basic question that should be asked now is what was achieved and what is next? To the first part of this question I would answer nothing. While Hamas is not loved by many Palestinians both inside and outside of Gaza, it was not weakened in any significant way and may actually end up stronger than before the fighting. Smuggling tunnels remain open (and will as long as the siege continues) and Hamas continues to hold on to its arms. Several hundred armed men from Hamas and other factions were killed, but since estimates indicate that Hamas has between five and ten thousand men trained, this number is inconsequential. The siege on Gaza has also not been lifted. The real impact of the recent war is being felt by the civilian population in Gaza, and from my conversations with people in Gaza it is clear that they do not place primary responsibility for their plight on the shoulders of Hamas. They see what happened during December and January as a continuation of years of repression and blame Israel for their situation.

As for what is next, I don’t know. I believe that a large part of what happens next will depend on what approach the Obama administration takes towards Hamas and the pressure that it places on Israel to engage constructively with both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. If the US engages with Hamas, pushes Israel to engage with Hamas, facilitates the formation of a new Palestinian unity government, and demands an end to the siege, then I believe change might be realized. If not, I fear that we will see even worse fighting in the year to come.