[NYTr] UN Secy Gen Slams Israeli Attacks on Gaza

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Ed Pearl - Nov 8, 2007


Israel's measures against Gaza unacceptable: UN chief

UNITED NATIONS (AFP/BBC) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday slammed
Israel's punitive measures against the Gaza Strip as unacceptable and
urged them to reconsider these actions.

A statement issued by his spokeswoman Michele Montas said the secretary
general "believes strongly that punitive measures taken by Israel which
harm the well-being of the entire population of the Gaza Strip are
unacceptable."

Ban urged the regime "to reconsider its actions and for all concerned to
protect civilians and to meet their obligations under international
law."

"The limitation of fuel and electricity supplies deepens the
humanitarian distress of the 1.4 million residents of Gaza, as does the
reduction of the supply of essential commodities and the tightening of
restrictions on movement and access," the statement said.

But Ban also reiterated his call for an end to "indiscriminate" attacks
by Palestinian fighters targeting Israel, which he "strongly condemns."

Sunday, Israel began restricting fuel shipments to Gaza after declaring
the territory a "hostile entity" on September 19 following a bloody
takeover in June that saw the radical Islamist Hamas seize control.

Earlier Monday, A top EU official also expressed concern about Israel's
economic sanctions on the Gaza Strip, urging restraint and saying the
measures could bolster extremists in the Hamas-run territory.

"I have mentioned these concerns openly in all my discussions," External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told a news conference
following talks with top Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert.

Both the EU and the United States froze aid to Gaza following the
Islamic resistance movement Hamas's electoral victory in February 2006,
and since its complete control of power in June Israel has closed it
off to all but vital goods.

Meanwhile, Israel's attorney general has intervened to suspend plans
to restrict electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip, BBC reported on
Monday.

The regime's senior legal adviser said on Monday that ways of limiting
the humanitarian effects of reducing the electricity supply had to be
found.

Attorney General Menachem Mazouz's decision came after a number of human
rights groups criticized the proposed cutbacks as collective punishment
of the Palestinian people.

Mr. Mazouz did approve other restrictions, including on the supply of
fuel to Gaza.

A range of such economic and political sanctions continue to cause daily
hardship for Palestinians, BBS's Jerusalem correspondent Mike Sergeant
says.

'Humanitarian obligations'

A statement from Mr. Mazouz read: "Security chiefs must carry out
supplementary examinations to take account of the humanitarian
obligations before ordering electricity cuts."

The Israeli Supreme Court has given the government until Friday to
justify the economic sanctions it is seeking to impose on the
Palestinian territory.

Israel's proposed sanctions

Gaza relies on Israel for almost all its fuel and petrol, and more than
half of its electricity.

Israel says fuel cuts of up to 15% are a way of increasing pressure on
Hamas. Israel started implementing the cuts on Sunday.

It insists there will be enough power for hospitals and that supplies
will continue to Gaza's sole power station.

'Punitive'

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations, said on
a visit to Jerusalem she was very concerned about the Israeli move
though she understood Israel's distress over rocket attacks.

"I think collective punishment is never a solution," she said.

As part of its sanctions, Israel was envisaging shutting down one of its
power lines to Gaza for 15 minutes after a rocket attack, with the
cut-off period gradually increasing to a two-hour limit if barrages
continue.

The cuts have also been condemned by Hamas, which governs the
territory, as a crime against Gaza's population.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=156135

***

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/921140.html

Amira Hass : A moment before the lights go out

Haaretz   Wed., November 07, 2007

Alan Johnston, the BBC corresponded kidnapped in Gaza, related in an
interview that at a relatively early stage, he started suffering from
all kinds of aches because of the water he drank. This was the same
water that the kidnappers drank, but Johnston's unaccustomed body sent
warning signals: This is not water that is fit for drinking. And this
is the water that reaches most of the taps in the Gaza Strip. Salty, in
a few places brackish to contaminated, with an oily consistency. That
is clearly felt when bathing.

The reason is an ancient one: overpumping because Gaza must make do
with the waters from its aquifer alone. It is as if we were to say to
the residents of Be'er Sheva: make do with the water that flows nearby.
The water sources in the rest of the country are not for you.

Over the last few years, there have been some improvised private and
public solutions. Private water purification plants in homes and
commercial companies that sell purified water.

The municipalities, for their part, set up large brackish water
desalination facilities and several central taps. Thousands of people
go there daily to fill up jerry-cans with water that will not taste
like it came from a puddle and will not cause diarrhea, infections,
kidney problems and who knows what else.

The electricity and fuel supply to Gaza has already been reduced to
below the level of basic human needs. An additional reduction will
affect the above solutions to the water problem, and beyond. "To darken
Gaza," as some of the security experts among us have recently proposed,
does not end merely with darkened homes at night. You don't have to be
an expert in public health to realize that it would create an endless
chain reaction of public health problems and environmental blights.

Today, around a year and a half after Israel bombed the transformer
station in Gaza, only 193 megawatts out of the 240 or so it needs is
supplied to the Strip.

The water network is the biggest energy consumer in the Gaza Strip: it
requires approximately 25 megawatts of the 240 megawatts the Gaza Strip
needs.

The 135 wells across the Gaza Strip that supply water, poor quality as
it may be, cannot function if the electricity and diesel fuel supply is
cut further. The same is true of sewage treatment plants.

Already now, each day, no water is supplied to around 15 percent of the
Strip's residents. Each area receives water only every other day. The
water is pumped electrically and stored in home reservoirs on every
rooftop. Power outages are frequent.

When a power outage in a given area occurs on a day when the
municipalities channel water to it, the houses are denied water for
three, and sometimes even four, days.

The water network also needs around 150,000 liters of diesel fuel per
month. The sewage system needs around 100,000 liters.

The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, the supplier of sewage and
water services in the Gaza Strip obtained only 60,000 liters of diesel
fuel in October, because the quantity of fuels sold from Israel to the
Gaza Strip was reduced. And this is before "the darkening" proposed by
Ehud Barak and Matan Vilnai.

The water company must choose to favor the sewage system over the water
system. As the deputy CEO of the company, Maher Najjar, explains: The
collapse of the sewage system entails a bigger humanitarian threat.

Just imagine a huge flood of sewage. Hence, for example, the seven
wells in the northern Gaza Strip that are diesel operated were
allocated only 2,000 liters of diesel in early November, instead of the
10,500 liters needed to operate them.

Even before the lights go out, Israel is prohibiting the entry of raw
materials into the Gaza Strip.

No one is talking any more about dozens of development projects that
have consequently been frozen, such as the one to desalinate well water
that serves the residents of the El Bureij refugee camp. Let them
continue drinking the water that endangers their health.

Raw material is not the only thing Israel is barring entry of: Vital
spare parts are also being barred entry. In the Gaza City sewage
treatment facility there are several minor malfunctions.

However, Israel is barring the entry of the spare parts needed to repair
them. Sewage undergoes only minimal treatment before it flows into the
sea. And the sea, of course, doesn't stop at the Erez or Rafiah
checkpoints.