Israel-Palestine: For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace | Page 32

Israel-Palestine: For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace

operates at less than half capacity. Although Gaza also purchases electricity from Israel
and Egypt it still experiences rolling blackouts of 12-16 hours per day, and there is
insufficient fuel to operate water pumps, wells and sewage treatment facilities. Israel has
sunk many wells around the border of Gaza, minimizing the amount of fresh groundwater
that can reach the population there. Most Gaza households receive piped water for 8
hours or less only once every 2 to 4 days. More than 90 percent of Gaza’s water supply is
unsuitable for drinking.lxxxi
Following Israel’s September 2005 withdrawal, the Palestinian Authority
assumed administrative authority in the Gaza strip. In Parliamentary elections in January
2006, Hamas won a plurality of the total vote and a majority of seats. Hamas was popular
in Gaza because it was perceived as being less corrupt than the Palestinian Authority and
because of the health and social services it provided, including funding of schools,
orphanages, clinics and hospitals.lxxxii When Hamas assumed power in February 2006,
however, Israel, the United States and the European Union refused to recognize its right
to govern, and direct aid to the Palestinian government was cut off. After six months of
intermittent fighting Hamas wrested control of Gaza from Fatah in June 2007. Several
internationally brokered attempts to create a unity government, combining Hamas with
the Palestinian Authority (Fatah) in the West Bank, have failed. Hamas remains the sole
government within Gaza.
Since then Gaza has been subject to a blockade by Israel. To mitigate the effect of
the blockade, more than 1500 tunnels were dug between Gaza and Egypt, making
possible a “tunnel economy” that peaked between 2007 and 2013 and averted a total
collapse of the Palestinian economy. A wide range of goods restricted by Israel were
imported through the tunnels, including fuel, construction materials, agricultural tools,
seeds, pesticides, and spare parts, for non-military machinery as well as for weaponry.
Most of the tunnels to Egypt were closed by mid- 2013.lxxxiii During its 2014 incursion,
the Israeli military sealed off the remaining tunnels to Egypt, plus a few to Israel,
purportedly dug to enable assault teams to attack Israeli border posts.lxxxiv
Claiming unprovoked rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas and other militant
groups, Israel has launched three attacks on Gaza between 2008 and 2014 (see Box 3).
Today, nearly two years after Israel’s last Gaza incursion, 100,000 Palestinians are still
homeless, and 80% of its population depends on international aid. Much of the rubble
from bombed homes and buildings has been cleared, but virtually no rebuilding has
occurred. According to the Israeli organization Gisha, which monitors movement
restrictions in Gaza, Israel restricts import of civilian goods that it defines as “dual use,”
which includes basic construction material. Although a mechanism exists for vetting the
import of materials for private use, what has been brought in is only a fraction of what is
needed.lxxxv International donors are reluctant to commit larger sums to reconstruction if
peace cannot be maintained between Hamas and Israel.
According to a May 2015 World Bank report, Gaza’s unemployment rate is 43%,
the highest in the world, and more than 60 % of Gaza’s youth are unemployed. In recent
months Hamas has tried to suppress assorted Salafi jihadists in Gaza, some of whom are

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