PCHR Calls On the International Community to Prevent a Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza

[Tom Joad]

PCHR, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, has released this urgent alert:

At approximately 20:00 on Sunday, January 20th, the Gaza Strip power plant ran out of fuel and shut down, plunging the Gaza Strip into darkness. The closure of the Gaza power plant, in addition to Israel's continuing tightened siege of the Gaza Strip, will have a catastrophic effect on the 1.5 million residents of Gaza, who are already suffering chronic shortages of fuel, medicine and some basic food stuffs. The Director of Gaza's main Shiffa hospital describes the current situation as "Potentially disastrous."

Israel is manufacturing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip that is seriously deteriorating every aspect of civilian life. To date, fourty five patients have died as a direct result of Israeli Occupying Force (IOF) closure and siege of the Gaza Strip. According to the Director of Shiffa Hospital, Dr Hassan Khalaf, patient's lives continue to be at stake, including the lives of 30 premature babies in Shiffa Hospital, who will die immediately if there is a power cut at the hospital. Gaza's second major hospital, the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, has now suspended all major surgical operations.

Meanwhile, all borders from Gaza to the outside world remain sealed to Palestinians.

The Gaza Strip requires 230-250 megawatts of electricity a day to operate at full capacity. On Friday, January 18th, and again on Sunday, January 20th, the IOF prevented a vital daily delivery of fuel from passing through the Nahal Oz Crossing, including industrial diesel used to fuel the power plant. The power plant is now completely closed. This closure of Gaza's only power plant has drastically reduced electricity output across the Gaza Strip by 65 megawatts. Civilians across Gaza city and the central Gaza Strip are totally dependent on the power plant. The closure of the power plant will severely impact on civilian lives across the Gaza Strip. In addition to the dangerous shortage of electricity that threatens the lives of critically ill patients in all of Gaza's' hospitals, chronic shortages of petrol and diesel and gas for domestic use have led to panic buying before gas stations in Gaza are forced to close completely. Civilians are also suffering widespread shortages of bread, due to lack of electricity to power the ovens at bakeries across Gaza.

PCHR condemns the catastrophic humanitarian crisis that is being manufactured by the IOF as collective punishment to the entire population of the Gaza Strip, and calls upon the International Community to put immediate pressure on the Government of Israel to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. The Centre appeals to the international community to act upon their legal and moral responsibilities to ensure the basic human rights of the citizens of the Gaza Strip are protected.

The Centre reiterates that Palestinian civilians are protected from collective punishment under international human rights law, and international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.

PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfil their legal and moral obligations under Article 1 of the Convention, to ensure Israel's respect for the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. PCHR believes that the conspiracy of silence practised by the international community has encouraged Israel to act as if it is above the law and encourages Israel to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.


http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/21-01-2008.html
(emphasis added)
Contact your Representative in the House and the Senate.
Check out the action page from Progressive Democrats of America.
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=10668241

IT IS TIME TO BREAK THE SILENCE.

[oberliner]

1. Have you gotten any feedback from members of Congress regarding this?

What have you heard back, if anything?

[Tom Joad]

2. that will be shared Tuesday. in the meantime

stay tuned.

What about you, have you heard from your reps about this man-made tragedy?

[oberliner]

3. I haven't spoken to any myself

I think this particular situation is up to Israelis and Palestinians to resolve themselves.

Clearly US involvement (with the current administration) is less than helpful.

[Tom Joad]

4. do you think that Congress has a responsibitly, since they do, after all, fund the

occupation.
The US is supporting the siege on the people of Gaza, and i think we have a duty to speak out.

silence is complicity.

[papau]

5. All power is not shut down in Gaza - What Hamas has done is

shut down all power generation. Besides the power plant only supplies electricity to 70% of Gaza City - the rest coming from Egypt and Israel. Gaza gets about two-thirds of its electricity directly from Israel and Israeli officials said that supply would not be affected. In addition the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis have begun to receive electricity from Egypt.

Perhaps it is great PR since Hamas officials can shut down the plant and plunge Gaza City and the northern strip into total darkness, with no one remarking about the con job. Instead we get reports of Gaza residents taking to the streets for an 8 pm protest.

Arye Mekel, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said those groups should direct their criticism at Hamas, the Islamic movement that governs Gaza, and other militants that fire rockets toward Israel. "The ball is in their court," Mekel said. "If they stop the rockets today, everything would go back to normal."

But since Tuesday more than 200 rockets and mortar rounds have hit Israel, causing panic.

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/21-01-2008.html