By IRNA,
London : Amnesty International has castigated the Israeli regime for denying Palestinians the most basic health facilities in its continuing siege of Gaza.
During her 25 years of experience, the situation in the occupied territories has never been as bad, said Donaltella Rovera from Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Program.
The 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza are living in a huge prison under collective punishment imposed by the Israeli regime, Rovera said.
In an interview with IRNA, she said that 80 percent of the population in Gaza depended on international aid and help for opposing Israel and electing a Hamas government two years ago.
The Amnesty official said the situation with regard to providing humanitarian assistance was becoming more difficult and expensive due to the way Israel was raising obstacles.
As an example to emphasize some of the problems, she described there were no less than ‘500 Israeli stop and search checkpoints in Gaza’, which otherwise the whole territory can be normally be driven around in two hours.
In contrast to such catastrophes like recently in Burma and China that were out of people’s hands, the tragedy in Gaza was man-made by the Israelis, Rovera said.
In terms of human lives, she said it was not acceptable that people are dying because of being deprived of minimum health requirements, while within a 10-minute drive the most modern hospital facilities in Israel can be reached.
Her insight into the tragedy coincided with Amnesty launching its latest annual report Wednesday that condemn Israeli rulers for killing over 370 Palestinians last year, while destroying over 100 more Palestinian homes and imposing ever more stringent restrictions.
Rovera said that to emphasize the worsening situation, the Israelis had already killed the same number of Palestinians in the first five months of this year as in the whole of 2007.
Although she welcomed US President George Bush’s pledge to try to establish an independent Palestinian state before he leaves office at the end of 2008, she said that this was not possible.
The US cannot be a strategic ally with Israel and best friend, while trying to portray itself as an even-handed and neutral peace broker, the official said.
The Amnesty official believed that the same was true with regard to former British prime minister Tony Blair, who cannot ask for the trust of the Palestinians since becoming the Quartet’s peace envoy, while being a close friend to the Israeli regime.