Israel: Keeping the world in the dark about Gaza

Jerusalem— Raed al-Atamneh, a resident of the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, has been reduced to using his mobile phone for light as he gropes around his home.

“The kids are crying about the dark,” said Mr. Al-Atamneh, a father of five children aged one to fifteen.
This and other scenes of deprivation and hardship are being obscured by a blanket Israeli ban on the entry of foreign journalists to Gaza that has been in effect since Nov. 4

Mr. Al-Atamneh, who spoke during a phone interview, says the power company has cut down to just two hours of electricity a day, citing shortages of fuel because of Israel’s sealing of border crossings.

“We have been without cooking gas for two months. Now,without electricity, we can’t make food or bread,” he says “You see food in stores but you don’t buy it because you can’t cook it.”

The sealing came after a Nov. 4 army raid into Gaza that Israel said was a preemptive strike against an attempt by militants to kidnap soldiers. It triggered Hamas rocket fire against southern Israel, rocking a five month old ceasefire across the Israel-Gaza frontier. Army officials say about 150 rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israel, with one Israeli woman being lightly wounded. About seventeen Palestinian militant fighters have been killed during the escalation.

The closure was lifted for Monday to allow supply trucks in but was then reinstated with Israeli authorities citing continued rocket fire. Heads of major international news organizations including the BBC, ABC news, Agence France Presse, Associated Press and CNN on Wednesday issued a protest of the press ban to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, stating that “we are gravely concerned about the prolonged and unprecedented denial of access.” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev responded that there is no policy to keep the press out of Gaza. “Because of [Hamas] violence the crossings have not been able to function normally and many people have been inconvenienced, not just journalists. Only vital humanitarian supplies are being allowed. We hope this situation will change quickly.”

Gaza business consultant Sami Abdul-Shafi termed the ban “alarming” adding that it would further isolate Gaza from the rest of the world. Of daily living conditions, he said: “We are not facing famine or hunger but this is not the only criterion for gauging the health of the Gaza Strip.You also feed animals in stables. We are facing scarcity of fuel and every need taken for granted in the outside world.”