Take Action: COVID-19 Emergency – Gaza Needs You!
Last March, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation of the two million Palestinians trapped in the besieged Gaza Strip gave cause for grave concern. Now, sadly, the worst has begun to come to pass; at the time of writing Gaza has seen at least 400 active cases, most of them from community transmission, with 3 deaths. This means that the coronavirus is at large and a serious threat to Gazan society, not least the estimated 50,000 Nakba survivors who live there.
This disaster comes in the context of the apartheid state of Israel tightening the blockade of Gaza to the extent that the only power plant shut down on in August and electricity supply is limited to only a few hours every day. Added to this, Israel has bombed Gaza on a nightly basis for two weeks, causing untold trauma to the already distressed people there.
Due to years of illegal siege, military attacks and an enforced lack of power and necessary medicines, the health system in Gaza has been devastated and it is simply not capable of meeting the medical needs of the millions of Palestinians there in ‘normal’ times, nevermind during a pandemic. That the first cases of community transmission occurred in a family living in a densely populated refugee camp highlights just how precarious life in Gaza is and how vulnerable people are to the spread of the virus, with so many living in these overcrowded camps.
Therefore, with a renewed sense of serious dread and urgency we ask for your support in raising this issue with the Irish government.
We fully understand that the Irish government’s priority right now is necessarily continuing to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and trying to manage the virus, and as always salute all our frontline workers, wish all those working on this the very best and and send love and solidarity to those who have lost loved ones or been affected in other ways.
With the disastrous news that the Gaza Strip in Palestine has, over 400 confirmed cases of community transmission, as a matter of extreme urgency, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is calling on our supporters to write to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, to demand an end to Israel’s decade-plus cruel and illegal blockade of Gaza, and for the immediate provision of all necessary medical supplies to the people of Palestine.
The Minister’s email address is simon.coveney@oir.ie and you can tweet at @simoncoveney
Experience has shown that it’s more effective to write your own messages – no matter how short or long – rather than copy and pasting a generic text. So while we ask you to compose your own email, here are some tips (and you can see a copy of the letter the IPSC sent at the end of this page).
- Always be respectful, no matter your personal opinion of the parties or individual politicians.
- Be as brief as you can, and note that you understand that they are receiving huge amounts of correspondence every day due to people’s fears about the Covid-19 pandemic and containment measures.
- Note that although the Covid19 Pandemic is obviously the most urgent matter facing the Irish government right now, Covid-19 affects everyone on the planet and Dr. Mike Ryan of the WHO has put it when calling for global solidarity to fight the pandemic, we are “only as strong as the weakest link” and “none of us are safe until all of us are safe“.
- In Gaza, 2 million people live in one of the most densely populated areas of the planet, they live in overcrowded dwellings and social distancing is difficult if not impossible.
- Gaza was already facing a healthcare emergency with severe shortages of essential drugs, medical devices and personnel – there are only 40 ICU beds and a massive shortage of testing kits.
- 13 years of illegal siege and frequent brutal military assaults have resulted in 2 million people existing in a situation of desperate overcrowding in cramped environments and dire living conditions, including severely limited electricity supply, mass malnutrition and with only one in 10 households having direct access to safe water.
- The siege of Gaza must end. It is cruel, illegal and incredibly dangerous. Furthermore, as the occupying power, it is Israel’s legal duty under international law to provide for the well-being of the Palestinian people.
- Ireland can take the lead in trying to protect the extremely vulnerable people of Gaza by calling for an immediate lifting of the illegal blockade of Gaza, for the immediate provision of medical supplies, for the healthcare workers there to be adequately resourced, and that you urge your EU counterparts to do likewise
We ask you to please take a few minutes to make this important contact with the Irish government to let them know that even in the midst of global tragedy, and uncertainty and fear here at home, you have not forgotten about the people of Palestine as they face into an unthinkable crisis – and neither should they!
Dear Minister Coveney, We write to you with a sense dread and urgency. Last March, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, we wrote to you to express our grave concern over the situation of the two million Palestinians trapped in the besieged Gaza Strip. Now, sadly, the worst has begun to come to pass; at the time of writing Gaza has seen at least 400 active cases, most of them from community transmission, with 3 deaths. This means that the coronavirus is at large and a serious threat to Gazan society, not least the estimated 50,000 Nakba survivors who live there. This disaster comes in the context of the apartheid state of Israel tightening the blockade of Gaza to the extent that the only power plant shut down on in August and electricity supply is limited to only a few hours every day. Added to this, Israel has bombed Gaza on a nightly basis for two weeks, causing untold trauma to the already distressed people there. Due to years of illegal siege, military attacks and an enforced lack of power and necessary medicines, the health system in Gaza has been devastated and it is simply not capable of meeting the medical needs of the millions of Palestinians there in ‘normal’ times, nevermind during a pandemic. That the first cases of community transmission occurred in a family living in a densely populated refugee camp highlights just how precarious life in Gaza is and how vulnerable people are to the spread of the virus, with so many living in these overcrowded camps. We fully understand that the Irish government’s priority right now is necessarily continuing to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and trying to manage the virus, and as always we wish all those working on this the very best and hope for as much success as possible. In some senses, having a strong and developed state, we in Ireland are ‘lucky’ in this regard. However, people in other regions may not be not so ‘lucky’, With the disastrous news that the Gaza Strip has more than 400 confirmed cases of community transmission, as a matter of extreme urgency, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is calling on you to demand an end to Israel’s decade-plus cruel and illegal blockade of Gaza, and for the immediate provision of all necessary medical supplies to the people of Palestine. We also ask that you use your Office’s international influence to call on EU Foreign Ministers to demand the lifting of the blockade, literally as a matter of life or death. As you know from your own visit to Gaza last December, living conditions there are dire, with the United Nations declaring that the besieged territory would be unliveable by this year. Indeed you yourself described the “awful conditions” in Gaza and said that “people shouldn’t have to live like this.” Even before the onset of this pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) data clearly shows that Israel has been denying the two million Palestinians in Gaza the right to health. International humanitarian law decrees that, as the occupying power, Israel must ensure the health of the population in Gaza, something it clearly does not do. The healthcare system in Gaza is already in a state of collapse and simply does not have the capacity to cope with the Covid-19 crisis. Shortages of essential drugs, medical devices and personnel mean the system cannot meet the health needs of the people there under ‘normal’ circumstances, nevermind during a pandemic crisis. Even as it stands, many patients in Gaza requiring healthcare which they are unable to access in their own system must obtain permission from the Israeli authorities to travel to access care; as you know, such permission is regularly refused and requests ignored. This situation is already untenable and deeply damaging to the community there. Over a decade of illegal siege and frequent brutal military assaults have resulted in 2 million people existing in a situation of desperate overcrowding in cramped environments and dire living conditions, including severely limited electricity supply, mass malnutrition and with only one in 10 households having direct access to safe water, something you are very aware of having pledged Irish investment in a water treatment plant there. Israel’s siege has prevented the Ministry of Health in Gaza from importing vital medical devices and even parts to repair malfunctioning ones. There are only 40 ICU beds in Gaza and there is an urgent need for medicines, respirators, PPE and ICU capacity, and, crucially, testing kits. The siege must be lifted to allow for these necessary supplies to enter in order to save people’s lives. The overcrowded living conditions there, coupled with huge unemployment mean that social distancing is virtually impossible in Gaza and, as Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory has warned, could turn it into “an incubator, especially when people get stuck in a densely populated area where health system suffers from the lack of funding, medical resources and equipment”. If the international community continues to abandon the Palestinians in Gaza, the consequences will be catastrophic. Yet this outcome is preventable. Ireland can take the lead in trying to protect these extremely vulnerable people. We realise that the government is very busy with trying to manage Covid-19 in Ireland, however, as Doctor Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, has said when calling for global solidarity to fight the pandemic, we are “only as strong as the weakest link” and “none of us are safe until all of us are safe”. If we are truly all in this together, we must ensure that we stand with the most defenceless of us and do all we can to protect each other. Even should the latest Israeli imposed restrictions be eased under the latest agreement between Israel and the government in Gaza, this would merely keep people on life support – the entire illegal and inhumane siege must be lifted and the Palestinians in Gaza’s rights and dignity upheld. We urgently ask again that you call for an immediate lifting of the illegal blockade of Gaza, for the immediate provision of medical supplies, for the healthcare workers there to be adequately resourced, and that you urge your EU counterparts to do likewise. We thank you for your time and action on this matter. Yours sincerely, Ms. Fatin Al Tamimi |