In the Eye of a Man-Made Storm foreignpolicy/articles/2014/09/26/unwra_in_the_eye_of_a_man_made_storm_gaza_recovery_israel * At present, 1.8 million live in the Gaza Strip. In its urban areas, the population density is above 20,000 people per square kilometer -- one of the highest in the world. Over 70 percent of Gazas residents are Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced to leave their homes during the war of 1948. * The staggering increase of people on UNRWAs food distribution lists is another serious concern: These lists have soared from 80,000 people in 2000 to nearly 830,000 people just before the war. * I have yet to meet anyone, anywhere in the world, who wishes to remain a refugee -- and this includes Palestinian refugees. The increase in the number of people dependent on UNRWA assistance is the direct consequence of the illegal land blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007. * The ultimate denial of dignity would be to allow the dead and injured to remain anonymous: I invite all observers tempted to minimize the wars impact on civilians to join me on my next visit to Gaza. * Another dramatic aspect of this conflict was -- and still is -- the high number of people displaced by the fighting. UNRWA sheltered nearly 300,000 Gaza residents in some 90 of its school buildings. In other words, we had to assist between 2,500 and 3,000 people per school -- or over 80 people per classroom * The number of people displaced by this war was over six times more than during the conflict in Gaza that ended in January 2009. It was as if almost twice the entire population of my hometown of Geneva, Switzerland, was forced to flee their homes and live in shelters in the middle of an active war zone. * As many as 60,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed in this conflict, of which 20,000 are totally uninhabitable, rendering around 110,000 people effectively homeless. * The United Nations estimates that 80,000 projectiles fell on Gaza, of which as many as 8,000 may have failed to explode. * It is time to address the human cost of these repeated and avoidable tragedies -- including the cost to our own colleagues, 11 of whom have been killed since July 8. It is time for a change of paradigm in Gaza, one that recognizes that the population of the Strip, and all Palestinians, have the same aspirations for freedom as any other people in the world.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 21:54:37 +0000
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