De Nederlandse commerciele massamedia verzwijgen de sluipende etnische zuivering van Palestijns land, maar de Britse krant de Independent bericht er wel over. Deze Israelische terreur wordt gesteund door de pro-Israel lobby in en buiten het Nederlandse parlement.Chronic malnutrition in Gaza blamed on Israel
Donald Macintyre reveals the contents of an explosive report by the Red Cross on a humanitarian tragedy
Saturday, 15 November 2008
The Red Cross says the diets of those living in the impoverished Gaza Strip are deteriorating
The Israeli blockade of Gaza has led to a steady rise in chronic
malnutrition among the 1.5 million people living in the strip,
according to a leaked report from the Red Cross.
It chronicles the "devastating" effect of the siege that Israel
imposed after Hamas seized control in June 2007 and notes that the
dramatic fall in living standards has triggered a shift in diet that
will damage the long-term health of those living in Gaza and has led
to alarming deficiencies in iron, vitamin A and vitamin D.
The 46-page report from the International Committee of the Red Cross
seen by The Independent is the most authoritative yet on the
impact that Israel's closure of crossings to commercial goods has had
on Gazan families and their diets.
The report says the heavy restrictions on all major sectors of Gaza's
economy, compounded by a cost of living increase of at least 40 per
cent, is causing "progressive deterioration in food security for up
to 70 per cent of Gaza's population". That in turn is forcing people
to cut household expenditures down to "survival levels".
"Chronic malnutrition is on a steadily rising trend and micronutrient
deficiencies are of great concern," it said.
Since last year, the report found, there had been a switch to "low
cost/high energy" cereals, sugar and oil, away from higher-cost
animal products and fresh fruit and vegetables. Such a shift
"increases exposure to micronutrient deficiencies which in turn will
affect their health and wellbeing in the long term."
Israel has often said that it will not allow a humanitarian crisis to
develop in Gaza and the report says that the groups surveyed had
"accessed their annual nutritional energy needs". But it warned
governments, including Israel's, that "food insecurity and
undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies" were occurring
in the absence of "overt food shortages".
A 2001 Food and Agriculture Organisation definition classifies "food
security" as when "all people, at all times, have physical, social
and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that
meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and
healthy life."
The Red Cross report says that "the embargo has had a devastating
effect for a large proportion of households who have had to make
major changes on the composition of their food basket." Households
were now obtaining 80 per cent of their calories from cereals, sugar
and oil. "The actual food basket is considered to be insufficient
from a nutritional perspective." The report paints a bleak picture of
an increasingly impoverished and indebted lower-income population.
People are selling assets, slashing the quality and quantity of
meals, cutting back on clothing and children's education, scavenging
for discarded materials and even grass for animal fodder that
they can sell and are depending on dwindling loans and handouts from
slightly better-off relatives.
In the urban sector, in which about 106,000 employees lost their jobs
after the June 2007 shutdown, about 40 per cent are now classified as
"very poor", earning less than 500 shekels (£87) a month to provide
for an average household of seven to nine people.
The report quotes a former owner of a small, home-based sewing
factory, who said he had laid off his 10 workers in July 2007. "Since
then I earn no more than 300 shekels per month by sewing from time to
time neighbours' and relatives' clothes. I sold my wife's jewellery
and my brother is transferring 250 shekels every month ... I do not
really know what to say to my children." Others said they were not
able to give their children pocket money.
In agriculture, on which 27 percent of Gaza's population depends,
exports are at a halt and, like fisheries, the sector has seen a 50
per cent fall in incomes since the siege began. Among the two-fifths
classified as "very poor", average per capita spending is down to 50p
a day. In the fisheries sector, which has been hit by fuel shortages
and narrow, Israeli-imposed fishing limits, "People's coping
mechanisms are very limited and those households that still have
jewellery and even non-essential appliances sell them".
The report says that if the Israeli-imposed embargo is maintained,
"economic disintegration will continue and wider segments of the Gaza
population will become food insecure".'
The Israeli blockade of Gaza has led to a steady rise in chronic
malnutrition among the 1.5 million people living in the strip,
according to a leaked report from the Red Cross.
It chronicles the "devastating" effect of the siege that Israel
imposed after Hamas seized control in June 2007 and notes that the
dramatic fall in living standards has triggered a shift in diet that
will damage the long-term health of those living in Gaza and has led
to alarming deficiencies in iron, vitamin A and vitamin D.
The 46-page report from the International Committee of the Red Cross
seen by The Independent is the most authoritative yet on the
impact that Israel's closure of crossings to commercial goods has had
on Gazan families and their diets.
The report says the heavy restrictions on all major sectors of Gaza's
economy, compounded by a cost of living increase of at least 40 per
cent, is causing "progressive deterioration in food security for up
to 70 per cent of Gaza's population". That in turn is forcing people
to cut household expenditures down to "survival levels".
"Chronic malnutrition is on a steadily rising trend and micronutrient
deficiencies are of great concern," it said.
Since last year, the report found, there had been a switch to "low
cost/high energy" cereals, sugar and oil, away from higher-cost
animal products and fresh fruit and vegetables. Such a shift
"increases exposure to micronutrient deficiencies which in turn will
affect their health and wellbeing in the long term."
Israel has often said that it will not allow a humanitarian crisis to
develop in Gaza and the report says that the groups surveyed had
"accessed their annual nutritional energy needs". But it warned
governments, including Israel's, that "food insecurity and
undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies" were occurring
in the absence of "overt food shortages".
A 2001 Food and Agriculture Organisation definition classifies "food
security" as when "all people, at all times, have physical, social
and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that
meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and
healthy life."
The Red Cross report says that "the embargo has had a devastating
effect for a large proportion of households who have had to make
major changes on the composition of their food basket." Households
were now obtaining 80 per cent of their calories from cereals, sugar
and oil. "The actual food basket is considered to be insufficient
from a nutritional perspective." The report paints a bleak picture of
an increasingly impoverished and indebted lower-income population.
People are selling assets, slashing the quality and quantity of
meals, cutting back on clothing and children's education, scavenging
for discarded materials and even grass for animal fodder that
they can sell and are depending on dwindling loans and handouts from
slightly better-off relatives.
In the urban sector, in which about 106,000 employees lost their jobs
after the June 2007 shutdown, about 40 per cent are now classified as
"very poor", earning less than 500 shekels (£87) a month to provide
for an average household of seven to nine people.
The report quotes a former owner of a small, home-based sewing
factory, who said he had laid off his 10 workers in July 2007. "Since
then I earn no more than 300 shekels per month by sewing from time to
time neighbours' and relatives' clothes. I sold my wife's jewellery
and my brother is transferring 250 shekels every month ... I do not
really know what to say to my children." Others said they were not
able to give their children pocket money.
In agriculture, on which 27 percent of Gaza's population depends,
exports are at a halt and, like fisheries, the sector has seen a 50
per cent fall in incomes since the siege began. Among the two-fifths
classified as "very poor", average per capita spending is down to 50p
a day. In the fisheries sector, which has been hit by fuel shortages
and narrow, Israeli-imposed fishing limits, "People's coping
mechanisms are very limited and those households that still have
jewellery and even non-essential appliances sell them".
The report says that if the Israeli-imposed embargo is maintained,
"economic disintegration will continue and wider segments of the Gaza
population will become food insecure".'
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