Aid groups ask Israel: Lift Gaza blockade

The Associated Press

GAZA CITY -- Fifty international aid groups and UN agencies urged Israel Thursday to open Gaza's borders, saying its border blockade violates international law and indiscriminately harms Gaza's 1.6 million people.

The appeal was issued on the fifth anniversary of the imposition of the blockade, triggered by the violent takeover of Gaza by the Islamic militant Hamas in June 2007.

Two years ago, Israel started allowing imports of most consumer goods, but continues to ban virtually all Gaza exports and travel through Israeli crossings.

Israel has said the blockade is meant to prevent Hamas from building up its military arsenal and Gaza militants from carrying out attacks on Israel. The Hamas founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel and over its 25-year history the group has killed hundreds of Israelis in shootings and bombings.

International aid agencies say, however, that the blockade mainly punishes ordinary Gazans by crippling the territory's economy, forcing foreign donors to spend money on humanitarian relief instead of investing in the economy.

"What Gaza needs is real development, but because of the blockade we are obliged to concentrate on humanitarian work," Filippo Grandi, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency, told reporters in Gaza yesterday. Grandi's group is Gaza's biggest foreign agency, supporting some 1.2 million refugees and their descendants in the territory.

Spending on emergency needs, such as food and medicine, does not address fundamental problems, Grandi said. "In fact, it's a waste of money, but a waste we are obliged to make because of the blockade," he added.

He said his agency is running low on funds and, among other things, had to cancel its popular summer camps for tens of thousands of Gaza children.

In its six-decade history in Gaza, the agency's main roles have been supplying refugees with basic food products and operating schools.

One-third of Gaza's labor force is unemployed, and exports are at only 5 percent of what they were in 2007, he said.

The easing of import restrictions spurred some growth, but mainly because Gaza started from a very low baseline, Grandi said, noting that the per capita GDP in 2011 remained at 10 percent below the 2005 level.

About 60 percent of Gazans are under 18 and youth unemployment stands at 51 percent, according to UN figures.