As usual, I condemn the atrocious Israeli War Crime of COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT -- and wonder where the world "community" is:
"Israeli siege contaminates potable water in Gaza Strip"
Imagine yourself in that living room, 'eh, readers?
You know what that "water" is, don't you? Now imagine having to drink it.
Oh, that's right, you are already slurping down Georgie's.
"GAZA, [PIC]-- The spokesperson of the Gaza-based anti-siege popular committee Rami Abdo has warned on Tuesday that the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip caused a sharp decrease in drinking water, putting lives of the 1.5 million Gazans at risk.
In a statement he issued in Gaza city and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, Abdo asserted that almost 70% of the Palestinian families in the tiny Strip were receiving potable water once every five days as a result of the siege, warning that the Israeli sanctions on Gaza had also affected maintenance of water networks and treatment of waste water.
"Keeping up the pressure on Gaza and maintaining closure of its crossing points would lead to an inevitable environmental disaster as a result of contamination" Abdo stressed, explaining that efficiency of the water networks in the Strip had declined by more than 65%.
According to Abdo, around 150,000 liters of diesel were normally needed to operate deep water wells and sewerage system in the Strip, but, he disclosed, the Gaza water authority hadn't received a single liter of diesel from the Israeli occupation government during the month of April, adding that new deep wells were lacking chlorinating system due to Israel's refusal to allow chlorinating equipment and the needed materials coming into the Gaza Strip.
Speaking from the legal point of view, Abdo confirmed that article six of the basic charter of the International Criminal Court defined mass extermination as an act imposed on certain people that later on leads to complete or partial destruction of their lives.
Keeping the focus on the charter, Abdo cited article eight of the same that he explained, defined war crimes as acts that lead to starving people and denying them relief items.
Supporting Abdo's claims, Yousef Al-Ghareez, the head of the environment quality authority in Gaza, warned, in two separate letters he sent to executive director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), and to the regional director of the same program Habib Al-Habr, that environmental conditions in Gaza Strip were worsening further because of the blockade.
He also invited the two UN officials to visit Gaza Strip so as to see for themselves the volume of human tragedy the siege had created in the densely populated Strip, and for both of them to realize also that life in the Strip had become impossible."
Not only is there no drinking water, there is no fishing, either:
"Still Waters in Gaza" by Mohammed Omer
"GAZA CITY - It's been strangely quiet for some time at the port in Gaza. No clanging of hooks, no sounds of creaking cranes or of thumping of nets upon decks. Boat engines, normally puttering and spewing exhaust, lie entombed under covers.
Of the 40,000 fishermen and others who make a living from the catch, only about 700 are still busy, according to the Fishing Syndicate in Gaza. The boats need oil, and Israel will not let the fishermen have it.
"Gaza's 3,000 fishermen need about 40,000 liters of fuel and 40,000 liters of natural gas a day to operate for this season from March until the end of May," says Nizar Ayash, director of the Fishing Syndicate. Now they get almost nothing.
Jamal al-Assi, 37, attempts to look busy around his idle boat. "My boat feeds 11 families," he says. "What are we going to do? There is no hope when there is no fuel. We can't work."
"I have been laid off work for nearly two months due to shortage of fuel," says Nasser al-Amodi, 49, one of Gaza's oldest fishermen. He began his career at age nine, working alongside his father. Later he inherited the business.
Nasser, father of five, had hoped one day to pass the business on to his children. But now, as he does his bit to maintain his gear, he is not so sure. Seventy people, including the families of his brother and crew, have lost income as a result of the blockade.
"If any of my equipment breaks down or is lost, I can't afford to replace it, not only because it isn't available but because the price is double what it would normally be."
Nasser and his family live in al-Shati refugee camp, one of Gaza's oldest and most crowded refugee camps. An experienced fisherman, Nasser has all his life taken up a profession considered by many the most dangerous in the world, and for Gaza fishermen made more so by Israeli incursions and the siege.
Israel limits Palestinian fishing to six miles from shore. "But sometimes we're not even three miles out when the Israelis chase us away," says Ayash.
"We fishermen are part of the people, meaning whatever happens to Gaza's people happens to us," he says. "But we will make our voices heard around the world until our suffering ends."
And so fishermen suffer like the others. The scarcity of fuel has hit all sections of Gaza society. Vehicles, including ambulances, cannot run, goods cannot reach their destination, and those that do are priced out of reach.
The Palestinian Petrol Station Owners Association continues to demand fuel allotment from Israeli authorities to support the basic needs of Gaza's 1.5 million people. Israeli authorities permit fuel primarily for the electricity generation plant.
Despite Israel's highly publicized "withdrawal" of its illegal colonies in 2005, Gaza remains under virtual occupation through the siege, with its airport, borders, and seashore controlled by Israel. Israel controls also the airspace over Gaza and the lifelines to its economy. All imports and exports, including food, medicine, equipment, and fuel are controlled through the Nahal Ozz crossing.
International and Israeli human rights organizations have been urging Israel to resume fuel deliveries into the Gaza Strip.
"The current situation is a threat to the health and well-being of the population of the Gaza Strip," says a joint statement signed by eight UN bodies. "The work of the United Nations organizations in Gaza has been severely hampered [by the fuel shortage] affecting schools, health facilities, and food distribution."
(Inter Press Service)"
Just destroying a way-of-life, but what do Zionist Israelis care, huh?
Palestinians can't even get the other meats, either, readers!
"GAZA, (PIC)-- The ministry of agriculture in Gaza warned Monday that the poultry and hatchery sector stopped completely because of the depletion of natural gas used for warming eggs and young chicken which threatens to deprive Gaza citizens from white meat after the red meat had already become scarce from the domestic food basket as a result of the closure of crossings for more than ten months.
In a statement, assistant deputy minister of agriculture Dr. Ibrahim Al-Kudra stated that the natural gas needs of the poultry sector are estimated at 400 tons per month, as the Gaza Strip produces 10,000,000 birds.
Dr. Kudra pointed that owners of poultry and hatchery farms started to execute hundreds of thousands of young chicken after strenuous attempts to procure their needs of gas, thus resulting in considerable financial losses.
The Palestinian official also underlined that the chapters of livestock crisis started when the IOA prevented the entry of vaccines used to immunize animals and birds which led to the death of 1,500,000 birds during the last five months.
The official also opined that the collapse of poultry sector would exacerbate the food deficit in Gaza after agricultural machinery, wells and canneries stopped working by 70 percent."
What would you do if youse didn't get your meats, 'murkns?
