Political:

The Gaza crisis has different interlocking political dimensions. In the outermost ring, Gaza, from the point of confrontation among international actors, is seen as a battle of confrontation and front line for the Russia-Syria-Iran front against the plans of the US-Israel-West front to tailor a role for the region in accordance with their interests. From the point of regional dynamics, the region is a battle field for the policies of resistance-minded Hamas and negotiation-minded al-Fatah. These two projects (achieving the goal through resistance or negotiations), which have quite different ideological foundations, becomes the diverging point of the ideological discrepancies within Palestine regarding how to respond to projects of Zionism. Palestinian groups have established dependency relations with regional countries and external powers to challenge rival domestic groups. Palestinian groups are contented at dependency relations with external powers, but this situation fuels political division in Palestine. The widening division has acted as the primary reason behind the separation of Gaza as “Hamasistan” and the West Bank as “Fatahistan.”           

Military activity and security: 

The maximum 10-km range rocket fired into Israel from Gaza is put forward as the main reason for the Israeli aggression, blockade and embargo. The Palestinian side says it uses rockets in retaliation to Israeli strikes, while Israel says it launches operations into the region in retaliation to rocket attacks. Israeli strikes that have killed many Palestinians are overshadowed by inconclusive debates. Leaving aside the argument whether Palestinian rockets, fist of which was fired in 2002, pose any serious threat to Israel when compared to Israel’s nuclear weapons, Israeli statement that it has launched all strikes as retaliation to Palestinian attacks during its 38-year occupation is not realistic.         

In addition to announcing a comprehensive cease-fire and suspending armed actions, the Hamas government has abstained from carrying out provocative actions inside Israel since 2006. However, Israel has carried out bombardments and detentions, and exploited the tension in the region to justify its security concerns in the international platform. The number of civilians killed in the last three years shows the extent of violence in the region:      

Years                                            2005            2006            2007

Palestinians killed by Israel                 216              678              896

Israelis killed by Palestinian groups       48                25                13

Judicial

Violations of law that include human rights breaches form the fundamental dimension of the Gaza crisis. Although Israel agreed to the creation of an independent Palestinian state, including the Gaza Strip, at latest by 1999 with the 1993 Oslo Accord, it did not implement any of the agreement reached later. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but retained its unlawful control over borders, territorial waters and airspace of the region. The Israeli control over the region paved the way for all kinds of arbitrary actions against the Gazan people, and the declaration of Gaza as a “hostile region” in October 2007 provided a situation that could legalize Israeli strikes against the region. Setting an example that contradicts with universal interpretations of law, the Supreme Court of Israel approved sanctions against Gaza, a clear indication of perception of law intertwined with military concerns and that endorses collective punishment.

The fact that Israel keeps about 1,000 Palestinians as “administrative detainee” without bringing any charge against them and detains 40 Palestinian lawmakers and ministries as a bargaining chip although none of them have involved in any violent events are serious breaches of law.  

Preventing the Palestinian Parliament from functioning and refusing to let Gazan deputies to attend the parliament in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank show the true extent of unlawful practices Israel employs to block democratic process in Palestine. Security pretexts are taken as a reason to overlook violations of law; however, viewing events only from the point of security and overlooking the fact that the number of civilians killed in Palestine has quadrupled over the last three years in the strikes carried out under the pretext of security cannot be rationalized in any way.      

Economy

Economic punishment is the hardest consequence of the Israeli blockade. Policies of economic embargo have been implemented since Hamas came to power in early 2006 and the embargo has been turned into a policy of revenge since June 2007. Systematic impoverishment policies have caused Gaza, where main sources of income are farming, small industries and fishery, to produce less than it produced a decade ago. The Palestinian economy loses $1.5 billion each year and the GDP per capita in Gaza has dropped to $385, half of that in Somalia, which is hit starvation. The 80 percent of 180,000 civil servants and 210,000 workers and tradesmen have been made jobless; people’s purchasing power has dropped and entry of goods to the region is not allowed while prices soar. Israel dismissed 21,000 Gazans working inside Israel in 2005, which caused over $1 billion in loss to the Palestinian economy.     

Restrictions on entry to medication and fertilizers into Gaza has caused a 40-percent drop in the productivity from agricultural products and an 80-percent drop in exports. Gaza is allowed to export only about six-seven percent of its strawberry production, the most significant source of income for Gaza. The rise of foodstuff prices in parallel of drop in incomes has engendered the risk of undernourishment and outbreak of epidemic diseases, and has raised the number of underweighted infants by 60 percent. Deterioration of economic conditions has made Gazans dependent on foreign aid and made food safety fragile against political interpretations and external pressure.           

Overlooking the destruction of the Egyptian border and letting Gazans enter the Egyptian side to stock foodstuff enough for several months is like giving painkillers to a comatose patient. The economic problem facing Gazans is not food shortage in the short run, but is impoverishment and decline in the level of development that can have a lasting impact.    

Table: Food safety and economic situation in Gaza

Border Crossings and Control

Table: Average popular and commercial crossings from Gaza (daily)