Fri Aug 5, 2011 / presstv.ir
Interview with Hassan Nowarah, President of Justice for Palestine Center UK
An activist says Israel is deliberately forcing poverty onto the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip through its strict siege of the enclave.
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza strip after the democratically elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.
An Israeli attack on Gaza in 2009 killed over 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including countless women and children.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Hassan Nowarah, President of Justice for Palestine, Center UK, to further talk about the issue. He also recently made a visit to the Gaza Strip.
The following is a rush transcript of the interview.
Press TV:Can you tell us why you were kept stranded on Egyptian soil for a week? What explanation did Egyptian authorities provide you?
Hassan Nowarah:Thank you for allowing me to express our feelings and encounters from Gaza. The Egyptian authorities didn't give us any problems whatsoever. The initial excuse for delay was that they had received no information about us coming to the border despite all my communication with the Egyptian embassy in London - for over a solid year we were in communication with the Egyptian authority in the foreign ministry within the embassy in London.
They (Egyptian embassy, London) gave us the green light to enter Gaza and we supplied them with all the information they needed. But when we arrive to the Rafah border they informed us that they had never heard of us.
When they opened their folder they had all our details in front of them, that's their intelligence; and they said I only receive orders from above, which is in Cairo and they said the vehicles are not allowed to enter, only the aid. As campaigners of the Justice for Palestine center we refused to keep our vehicles outside and only to allow the aid to enter.
Customs booked our policy the minute we arrived at Alexandria as one policy. The whole aid convoy of vehicles, ambulances, trucks and medicine were under one policy to enter Gaza. But at that point the Egyptian authority refused us entry. With negotiation they refused to communicate with us. With Press TV and other media, we stressed them so much that they accepted to allow our trucks to enter with the aid inside it. But other vehicles alongside our big trucks were not allowed to enter still.
They gave us no explanation of why we were not allowed to enter for nearly eight days waiting at the border.
Press TV:Tell us about your observation, now you're inside the Gaza strip, of the humanitarian situation on the ground there?
Hassan Nowarah:The situation is really very bad. I was really shocked to see the medical level and the status in Gaza; it is very very bad. Today, prior to this meeting, I was in the Ministry of Health warehouse where they keep their medications. There are a huge amount of shelves empty; they badly need more aid. A large amount of various types of medicine are needed badly as shelves are totally empty.
Yesterday we went to visit Hanunis hospital. I was shocked at the condition of the hospital - the medical equipment they use is badly deteriorated and out of date; 90 percent of this medical equipment is totally non-functional. In the operation rooms I saw two or three patients waiting to go inside for operations and I was petrified wondering if these people were going to survive the operation or not because of the lack of medical equipment needed there. This is only one hospital.
Looking at all hospitals, they are badly in need of medical equipment and badly in need of medicine. The situation on the ground in Gaza is really very bad. You go to the chemists and pharmacies around the streets; so many medicines out of supply - people are badly in need of these medicines - they (stock) are totally empty.
So I urge through your media through Press TV, I urge every organization in the world who believe in freedom and who believe in justice to help the Palestine people; they are badly in need of medicine.
The city of Gaza doesn't have a fire brigade or fire engines in the event of any fire in Gaza. There are no fire engines to kill the fires. All has been destroyed by the Israeli occupation army.
The situation in the municipalities or city chambers - they don't have a vehicle to clean the roads. Rubbish is being cleared from the roads by vehicles being wheeled by animals; they don't have vehicles to clean the streets to empty the rubbish. Any recycling materials are being dumped. They are in need of aid and of help and expertise to come to help the Palestinian authority in Gaza.
On the other side, I have seen so many things on a positive side - Ministers took us to areas of freed settlements in Gaza; the agricultural land is being reused by the Palestinian authority and the production for agriculture has announced self sufficiency and they even export to Egyptian people through the tunnels- so much of the harvesting provides sufficiency for the districts - that is a very good sign. We have seen farms with chickens for meat and eggs; so many farms with cows and sheep with milk and meat production - this is a good sign of Gaza trying to rebuild itself, trying to be productive.
But still there are so many poor people in need of aid and in need of funds to sustain their living. The poverty in Gaza is nearly 60 percent; we need aid here in Gaza; we need help and support. The Palestinian people are suffering from the blockade and it's time now to lift the blockade in Gaza.
The siege must end as soon as possible. The Palestinians are being punished for choosing who should represent them. It is not their fault. They have been given a green light by the world to hold elections - why are they being punished for something that is not a crime?
SC/JR
URL du billet: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192532.html