https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-washes-its-hands-gaza
EU washes its hands of Gaza
Ali Abunimah <https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah> 22
June 2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 10 years of Israeli blockade, conditions for two million
Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip are by all accounts worse than ever.
Israel’s blockade, according
<http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20170613_gaza_electricity> to the
human rights group B’Tselem, has consigned Gaza’s residents “to living
in abject poverty under practically inhuman conditions unparalleled in
the modern world.”
Yet the European Union, which markets itself as a champion of freedom,
democracy and human rights, has washed its hands of the people there.
After four successive days of reductions, Israel has now cut the
electricity it supplies to the Gaza Strip by 60 percent
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777763>.
This comes on top of chronic shortages that meant most households only
had about four hours of electricity a day.
As numerous international bodies have warned
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israel-implements-illegal-cuts-gazas-power-supply>,
the territory is in the midst of an unfolding humanitarian crisis.
In mid-May, the International Committee of the Red Cross said
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/gaza-brink-systemic-collapse-icrc-warns>
that Gaza was on the brink of “systemic collapse” as operating rooms,
water and sanitation systems cease functioning.
Already, Gaza City’s main hospital has slashed surgeries by one-third
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/surgeries-cut-one-third-gazas-main-hospital/20601>,
and as a result of the blockade, exacerbated by the electricity crisis,
the territory is swimming in sewage
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/life-septic-tank/20826>.
Palestinian Authority’s cruelty
Israel hides behind the Palestinian Authority, which asked Israel to
reduce the electricity supply
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/power-crisis-hits-gaza-hospitals-israel-tightens-siege-sick>,
as part of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ effort to undermine Hamas, which
rules the interior of Gaza.
Fuel supplies for Gaza’s sole power plant ran out in April, turning a
severe chronic shortage of electricity into a looming catastrophe.
Authorities in Gaza have now managed to secure a few days
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777763> supply of fuel from
Egypt – despite PA efforts
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4979565,00.html> to stop
Egypt providing this brief reprieve.
The PA’s cruel campaign against the people of Gaza also includes cutting
off medicine supplies to the territory
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777644>. As a result, more than
300 cystic fibrosis patients are in mortal danger and 90 percent of
cancer patients do not receive full treatment, among other imminent
threats to life and health, according to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.
EU enablers
But as numerous human rights groups have pointed out, Israel cannot
escape its responsibility.
Israel remains the occupying power
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israel-implements-illegal-cuts-gazas-power-supply>
in Gaza. It alone has the power to immediately end the suffering and it
has a legal obligation
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/un-blames-palestinians-electricity-crisis-israel-caused-gaza>
to do so under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Israel however acts with impunity because it is supported and enabled by
world powers, especially the European Union, its biggest trading partner.
For days, The Electronic Intifada has been asking the European Union
External Action Service
<https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_en> –
effectively its foreign ministry – to comment on the situation in Gaza
and to explain what, if anything, it is doing to pressure Israel to
reverse the electricity cuts.
On Tuesday, Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief
Federica Mogherini
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/federica-mogherini>, confirmed that
she had received The Electronic Intifada’s inquiry and promised “to see
what the latest is” and “come back to you ASAP.”
But another two days and a Thursday afternoon deadline have passed, and
there is total silence from the EU despite repeated follow up inquiries
to Kocijancic and her colleagues.
Silence is consent
The EU grants Israel all kinds of trade concessions and funding under
their so-called Association Agreement.
That agreement
<http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2010/april/tradoc_146089.pdf>
specifies that relations between the EU and Israel “shall be based on
respect for human rights and democratic principles,” a stipulation
deemed “an essential element” of the agreement.
Dozens of European Parliament members have urged Mogherini to suspend
the agreement – in light of Israel’s repeated and flagrant violations
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-deas/dozens-european-parliamentarians-call-end-eu-israel-treaty>
of Palestinian rights.
But instead, the EU seems only set on further rewarding Israel.
A reliable indicator of this is the EU’s representative office in Tel
Aviv, which produces a steady stream of tweets on its official account
celebrating the EU’s “partnership” with Israel – including
<https://twitter.com/EUinIsrael/status/861616596019793924> “research”
programs that fund
<http://www.eccpalestine.org/eu-funding-to-israeli-military-companies-and-institutions-through-horizon2020/>
Israel’s military industry.
Even this week as conditions in Gaza deteriorated, the EU has been
touting its military cooperation with Israel over so called “shared
challenges.”
General @Kostarakos <https://twitter.com/Kostarakos> chairman of the
EU military commitee addressing #HC17
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/HC17?src=hash> on our shared security
challenges pic.twitter.com/LbIInEAKO3 <https://t.co/LbIInEAKO3>
— EU in Israel (@EUinIsrael) June 20, 2017
<https://twitter.com/EUinIsrael/status/877204260940906497>
Meanwhile, the EU External Action Service has not tweeted anything at
all about Gaza since 2015
<https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=from%3A%40eu_eeas%20gaza&src=typd>.
The latest crisis in Gaza has been unfolding since April and has
prompted warnings <https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777351> that
it could lead to another war.
The EU’s silence cannot therefore be an oversight.
It should be read as a positive endorsement of Israel’s tightening
blockade of Gaza and the suffering Israel is knowingly inflicting on a
population exhausted and traumatized
<https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n12/sara-roy/if-israel-were-smart> by a
decade of isolation and successive Israeli military assaults.
The European Union is indeed deepening its vaunted partnership with
Israel. It is a partnership in crime.
--
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