Israel seeking to make Gaza unlivable for Palestinians: Analyst
Press TV has interviewed Joe Catron, with the International Solidarity Movement in New York, to discuss a UN report that says the war-torn Gaza Strip might become uninhabitable by 2020.
Following is a rough transcription.
Press TV: The probability of this happening is already very high. What do the indicators on the ground show given the fact that even now the people of Gaza are already struggling to live?
Catron: Well, I think what we’re seeing is a situation that was already dire, aggravated by repeated Israeli assaults on the enclave and complete lack of reconstruction. During the offensive last summer, we saw not only thousands of Palestinians killed but also entire regions [and] neighborhoods leveled, [and] rendered unlivable for years to come.
And now over a year later, not a single one of the houses that was destroyed has yet been rebuilt. So it is clear that what we are seeing is, I think, part of an obvious design. It is something that is intended to render at least large portions of the Gaza Strip unlivable.
Press TV: How can the world prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza because, literally, the coastal enclave has been sealed off from the world?
Catron: Yes. I think the problem up until now has been that too many world powers have been treating it as a humanitarian issue, as if there were something like an earthquake or a tornado; by contrast, this is something that is very man-made. The siege is obviously maintained by Israel and it is Israel that repeatedly destroys infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip.
The only solution I see that can improve the situation on the ground is pressure on Israel, forcing it to correct these conditions.
Press TV: What role does the Western media play in showing to the world what is going on in Gaza?
Catron: The Western media has unfortunately played a very mixed role. At times their reporting in humanitarian terms has been good, in terms of conveying the suffering on the ground and the situation of individual people, but at the same time this humanitarian focus tends to depoliticize it and leave out Israel’s role as the deliberate creator and enforcer of these atrocious conditions.
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