Circolo Vegetariano VV.TT. Calcata

Gaza March

We have arrived back from the demonstration at Erez Crossing to Gaza. About 1500 people turned up at 11:00am local time and the demonstration lasted for two hours and passed without incident. It was disappointing that we couldn’t link up with internationals coming from Gaza but I’m sure you’re acqainted with the news and understand how that was prevented. There were two good things about it. The first was that it again provides an excellent media opportunity and there were sattelite dishes in abundance. Secondly, it was organised by Palestinians who formed the largest contingent. This is unusual but I suppose they felt safe in participating because any harsh measures usually used against them would have recieved such media coverage that the Israelis would not dare to face the negative publicity.

Staying at the Augusta Victoria Guesthouse in Jerusalem where we live is a man working for the Carter Foundation. He has just returned from Gaza and has told us of what he found there. He actually saw the tunnels and confirms what we already knew, that if you have money, you can obtain absolutely anything. He saw cars and cows coming through! Even fish is imported from Egypt because Gazan fishermen can only go out to sea for three kilometres before being fired on by Israeli gunboats. The waters in this area are contaminated by raw sewage because of the destruction of sewage treatment infrastructurein in Gaza, not only from the bombing a year ago but also a previous bombing operation conducted by Israel a few years ago.

As you know, Egypt, under American instruction, is sinking special metal sheets into the ground in order to block off the tunnels. Our fellow resident told us that in addition, raw sea water is being pumped into the soil/sand around the tunnels to induce their collapse. This will agravate what it is already a major ecological crisis. Abstraction of water from the Gaza aquifer has been so great over the years that the water-table has lowered, thus contaminating the water and rendering it saline. According to an eminent hydrologist with whom we had a meeting recently, this is irrecoverable and the aquifer is now useless. It was a major reason for the evacuation of the Gaza settlements some years ago whose heavilly water dependant agricultural operations were unsustainable. The Gaza acquifer is also polluted with effluent because of the afor mentioned destruction of infrastructure.

Our neighbour described how his host in Gaza diluted mains water with collected rainwater when he showered, because if you don’t, you feel the same after a shower as you do after towelling off after a dip in the sea. The long term health implications are of course awful. For the Egyptians to now pump substantial amounts of sea water into the area can only make a serious situation worse.

Coincidentally my colleage was told by a very articulate man on the bus when we had returned that there is an extremely high incidence of kidney failure in Gaza. This would be directly attributed to ingestion of saline water.

Three weeks ago we visited Sderot, a town which has taken the brunt of Qassam rocket attacks and we saw the shelters which provide protection for its residents. We were hosted by members of a group called ‘Other Voice’ who are by no means representative of the majority of the residents of Sderot, but who want to continue and strengthen the contacts with the people of Gaza with whom they once had very friendly trading and personal relations. They still maintain regular contact by phone. Here is their message:

We, residents of the Sderot/surrounding Gaza region, wish to live with peace and quiet. Our neighbors in Gaza, wish to live with peace in quiet. Life for them = Life for us! We, members of Other Voice, call for an end to the siege, an end to the collective punishment, that is harming innocent people. We call for the co-creation of good neighborly relations, that are built on mutual respect and non violence.

Life for us = Life for them!

Visit our website – www.othervoice. org – and share your support for ending the siege on Gaza.

Stanley Rowe – 31 dicembre 2009