It is hard to imagine that more than 1,000 days have passed since Gaza's borders were sealed in June of 2007. Sporadic Israeli air strikes still traumatize families there.
More than 1.6 million men, women and children live in Gaza, which measures only about 25 miles long and four to seven miles wide. That's twice the size of Washington DC with triple the population. The comparison ends there.
Gaza today is a humanitarian and economic disaster.
Israel recently allowed 10 truckloads of clothes and shoes to enter Gaza for local merchants but the merchandise was moldy from years in Israeli storage awaiting delivery. Basic humanitarian and relief supplies get in but there is still virtually no access for the cement and other materials needed to rebuild homes and really make a difference for families there.
Nine out of ten Gazans depend on foreign assistance to survive. Four out of ten children aged three to five have been diagnosed with anemia. One in ten children under five years old is malnourished. Most schools are out of basic supplies like paper, text books and pencils with little hope of replenishing their stocks as long as the border remains sealed. With so many facilities in disrepair, many schools operate double sessions in substandard conditions. Even Gazan youth honored by Fulbright scholarships often do not get the necessary visa to leave.
Gaza's youngsters account for more than half the population. Despondent young men and women have little hope of finding jobs as unemployment surpasses 40 percent and the chance to leave for work possibilities outside Gaza remains elusive. What does that foretell for their future?
More than 90 percent of Gaza's industrial enterprises were forced to close or were destroyed since Israel sealed the borders nearly three years ago.
That translates into about 120,000 lost jobs. An illegal economy is flourishing as supplies are smuggled in through tunnels along the Egyptian border. But the prices are exorbitant; making most of what is lining store shelves beyond the means of the majority of Gaza's families.
Poverty, malnutrition, personal losses and depression were magnified by last year's war and remain a constant concern. After the bombings stopped last year, ANERA initiated psychosocial care for those subjected to so much violence and distributed thousands of shoes for children who had lost everything when their homes were destroyed.
But that is a temporary solution. For more than 40 years our focus has been on sustainable development assistance. For ANERA and other international humanitarian organizations, meeting this goal has become harder every day that Gaza remains cut off.
Since last year's war, only a handful of UN-designated trucks were allowed to bring in construction materials to repair some UNRWA buildings but nothing else that would help rebuild the 20,000 homes and schools that were badly damaged or destroyed. Many families that had to abandon their homes are still living in temporary tents and metal containers that flood in sudden rains that engulf the area. Efforts to rebuild Gaza's homes, schools and clinics are severely limited by the lack of basic building materials.
Nearly 18 months later, one third of the area's fertile land still lies fallow. Farmers lack equipment like irrigation pumps and pipes that are in short supply because of import restrictions.
As warm weather approaches, so does the threat of health hazards, especially for the most vulnerable -- infants and the elderly. Millions of tons of raw sewage flow daily into the sea. Drinking water in many parts of the Gaza Strip is contaminated. It is hard to repair or replace damaged water systems without pipes and other basic materials that are still blocked from entering Gaza.
On my frequent trips into Gaza to assess our projects there, I find widespread despair. But I also witness a remarkable resilience. With no substantial building supplies, many families are resorting to mud to reconstruct their homes. Without supplies to replant farmland, ANERA is responding to requests to help develop urban agriculture, from rooftop gardens to small urban vegetable plots that can provide nutritious meals.
ANERA has also expanded its program to offer needy families 10 hens and a rooster to kick-start poultry production for egg-harvesting and income generation. Our Milk for Preschoolers program distributes fortified milk and biscuits to some 20,000 preschoolers every day of the school year -- for many their only nutritious meal of the day.
We can make a difference but our hands often are tied by restrictions on the materials we need to do the job. Rebuilding a woman's home should not be embroiled in politics. Feeding children in Gaza is not about politics; nor should politics stymie efforts to ease a family's suffering caused by war and poverty.
Gaza's disaster is man-made. Helping impoverished Palestinians in Gaza should be a basic humanitarian action of generosity and compassion that is repeated around the world wherever and however disaster strikes. It is also an investment in a future dream of peace and prosperity. Gaza should not be an exception.
Bill Corcoran is President of ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid), which provides humanitarian and development assistance to Palestinian and impoverished communities in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon.
The best thing that could happen in the region is that Israel become a one-state, democratic entity for all of its people and stop thinking of itself as a racist state for Jews only. It's disgusting and it's one of the reasons many of us were outraged over South Africa.. same problem but with a lot more munitions on Israel's side
Give me a break - they know what the international community wants (recognize Isreal as a state) - until they do it they are on thier own. I give Isreal and Eygpt a lot of credit for dealing at all with these nuts. And the UN should be ashamed for perpetuating this conflict and the turmoil in southern Lebanon.
I think their future is thus: Eventually, all the walls and fences and so forth will be taken away, but they'll be taken away by the Israeli-Palestinian Land Use Board, or equivalent, some kind of joint administrative body that speaks for both, organizes both, arbitrates, facilitates, and so forth. The whole thing where Israel apparently wants a Camp David summit everytime they lay a foundation for a new house or apartment complex or something is basically abuse of the diplomatic system for base material gains.
Maybe if everyone just stopped watching the Israel channel, and turned their back on the whole thing, then all the people living there would realize it's long past time to get their act together. They have a shared responsibility to each other, it's time they found it. That's my view.
Sounds like most any 3rd world state - hardly makes them unique. Strange how the focus of blame on this seems to fall only on Israel, not on Egypt or Hamas. Last I checked Egypt had it's border with Gaza closed, and Hamas is the reason for the blokade in the first place.
"Nearly 18 months later, one third of the area's fertile land still lies fallow. Farmers lack equipment like irrigation pumps and pipes that are in short supply because of import restrictions."
Maybe they can pull them out of the Israeli-built greenhouses the Palestinians destroyed when Israel pulled out of Gaza, if there's anything still left in useful shape, but hey, let's blame Israel for Palestinians shortsightedness.
The greenhouse issue is a totally disproved fiction which a 2 minute search will explain in detail if you can work up the energy instead of just peddling the same old lies.
I know, it's strange to think that someone else in the middle east, another Arab country no less, would have a problem with Hamas and the way they do things, but it's true.
Hamas are radical, fundamentalist terrorists who want to destroy Israel.
Palestinians had elections, and they decided that the people who best represent their desires are Hamas.
Hamas wanted to rule all of Gaza instead of sharing it with Fatah, and murdered their way into accomplishing that.
Gaza is an enemy entity towards Israel. The main suicide bombers were coming into Israel from Gaza. And then thousands and thousands of rockets flew into Israel from Gaza for years.
Israel isn't suicidal. So they contain Gaza.
All you peace-lovers out there, if you want the children of Gaza to be free, you need to address what the adults of Gaza do. Get the adults to declare a permanent peace with Israel. End terrorism against Israel. And then all such restrictions would fade, step by step, and then eventually disappear.
Or, you can just rant crazy crap about Israel, if that's fun for you.
You're providing Zionist talking points, without any style -or craft.
Try being objective in the future when labeling Gazans as crazed terrorists.
They lived in the land called Palestine, before it was relabeled a Jewish State.
It shows a lack of depth on your behalf.
80 percent of the 'land called Palestine" became Jordan, an Arab Islamic country which banned Jews, about 100 years ago.
Israel is only a small portion of what historic Palestine was.
As for Gaza, nothing you said contradicted what I did.
My words were accurate.
THEY WON OVER 60% OF THE VOTE!!!! Tell me anywhere on the planet where a party that wins over 60% of the vote should be forced to share power!!!
Hamas has adhered to the ceasefire! They have recently forced all groups to adhere to the ceasefire!!
Punishing a civilian population is A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY PERIOD!
And your Hamas talking point is on its way out! So what bogeyman will you invent then to keep on justifying war crimes and crimes against humanity???
....Every other democracy in the world that has a parliamentary system?
People who just want harm to come to Israel scream that Israel should just give up control of Gaza's borders, without factoring in Gaza being led by crazed terrorists who want to destroy Israel and have backing from Iran, who also want to destroy Israel.
Gaza could declare a permanent peace with Israel. But they won't. They want war, and then they scream that Israel is unfair for clamping down on them and not letting them get a better chance at harming Israel.
Your should reconsider the term crazed terrorists, since it's moreover resembles a
civilization under siege.
While one rocket in the year (NOT FIRED BY HAMAS, but another group) killed a Thai laborer!
Which regime should be be looking to overthrow???
We are commiting crimes against humanity by not doing anything
Mr. Corcoran, I have a question. In the eight years preceding Cast Lead, did ANERA provide "psychosocial care" to the Israeli children who were under constant attacks from rockets?
How can you with good conscience compare the two.
Israel recognizes what Gaza is and responds accordingly.
http://www.paltoday.com/arabic/News-57047.html
Who are you going to believe, Bill Corcoran or your own lying eyes?