CONNARTY GIVES COMMONS FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF LIFE IN GAZA

Government must support United Nations recognition of Palestine as a state. September 14th 2011

Linlithgow and East Falkirk MP, Michael Connarty, gave a graphic account of the appalling conditions suffered by the people of Gaza in a debate he secured in the House of Commons yesterday. Having been to Gaza on five occasions, Michael drew on the experience of his latest visit to challenge the British government to stop, “condoning and colluding in the situation in Gaza,” and to support UN recognition of the state of Palestine.

He told MPs how, “Israel’s appalling blockade of Gaza,” is the, “prime reason for the continuing high unemployment rate, low growth and high inflation.” He described how one in three children is anaemic and one in ten is malnourished. 80% of Gazans rely on some form of aid, “not because the people are lying down with their hand out waiting for someone to come to their aid; they are a very determined people who are attempting to live under these terrible conditions and to do their best.

“The reality is that the people cannot generate much of their own wealth.” 50% of factories were destroyed in the Israeli war in 2008/9 and the numbers employed in them fell from 135,000 to 15,000. There is real difficulty sourcing water and they are unable to generate enough electricity, even to run hospitals. They are not allowed to source legitimate building materials. Being forced to dump rubbish within their cities and communities causes disease and in the past year 500 Palestinians died through lack of medication as they are denied the drugs they need.

The root cause of all this, as documents obtained by Wikileaks make clear, is, “that the Israeli government is determined to starve the economy of Gaza to bring it to the point of collapse. There is an attempt to starve out and harm the ordinary people in retaliation for what is the unacceptable use of rockets by Hamas.” Michael condemned the inability of the Hamas government to stop the firing of rockets into Israeli territories and households, but also the, “unbelievable excessive force used in retaliation by the Israeli government.”

He said that in all the years since he had last visited Gaza there seemed to have been very little movement, except perhaps for a backward movement in the conditions of the people there. Recognition by the UN of Palestine as a state would help Hamas and Fatah to try to create one non-violent approach to unity and to statehood.

“Now the challenge lies with the government, without regard to party. I hope they make the choice to change their position so that they support UN recognition of the state of Palestine. But if they cannot do that, I hope that they will do something to argue very strongly for, and win through the UN, a situation whereby it is accepted that it is wrong for Israel to do what it is doing in preventing humanitarian aid and other basic aid from being taken to the people of Gaza.”

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