Gaza: No Country For Coriander, Cement, And Wedding Dresses

Yara bringing that dress to Gaza from a foreign country was itself a 바카라�luxury바카라�, as wedding dresses have been banned for import in the territory for a very long time. What else is바카라�or was바카라�banned? Let바카라�s go back in time, say the year 2008, and think about a toddler craving chocolate. Not allowed. Banned. Or how about a Palestinian girl needing crayons and stationary to draw a sketch on an A-4 sized paper? A-4 sized paper, banned; stationary, banned; crayons바카라�crayons?바카라�banned.

None of these, except the wedding dresses, are banned anymore. But that doesn바카라�t mean that Israel has lifted the blockade on all harmless goods or that such a list remained consistent over the years바카라�or that it made any sense at any point. Just read the names of banned items over the last 16 years: lentils, pasta, juice, books, candles, cups, jam, shampoo and, yes, even donkeys. (And this is only a partial list.) This has not just been a war for a very long time, embroiling two nation states, but also a military heavyweight snatching the simple wants of hapless foreign civilians. Who bans pasta? Israel lifted that restriction in 2009 only when Senator John Kerry, on a visit to Gaza, learnt about the ban and questioned the Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, about the baffling rationale.

The story of this blockade has an old history. In December 2005, Israel first threatened to impose an 바카라�economic siege바카라� on the Gaza Strip if the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, refused to disarm the militant groups. It tightened the import restrictions in 2007 when the military organisation Hamas, defeating the nationalist party Fatah, took complete control of Gaza. Declaring it 바카라�hostile territory바카라�, Israeli authorities stated that their bans intended to pressure Hamas to stop its attacks. But then the rockets stopped; the bans did not. In fact, they only intensified바카라�and worse, there was no official list. Imagine not knowing the fine-print of your deprivation. Imagine guessing the extent of your oppression.

So, in January 2010, an Israeli human rights group formed to support the Palestinians바카라� freedom of movement, Gisha, sued the Israeli authorities. 바카라�I don바카라�t understand why cinnamon is permitted, but coriander is forbidden,바카라� its director, Sari Bashi, told the BBC. 바카라�Is there something more dangerous about coriander? Is coriander more critical to Gaza바카라�s economy than cinnamon?바카라� After several months of silence, the Israeli government submitted a written response to the court, confirming four documents determining the blockade바카라�s mechanics: how it processed requests for imports, how it monitored the shortages in Gaza, its approved list of imports, and a document called 바카라�Food Consumption in the Gaza Strip-Red Lines바카라�. Even though these disclosures promised a lot, they delivered little. Because the Israeli Ministry of Defence said that it바카라�d reveal the documents바카라� contents to the judge in a private session.

And what did they reveal? That, from 2007 to 2010, Israel used mathematical formulas to determine the minimum amount of goods permitted into Gaza. Such baffling calisthenics materialised via the estimate of the inventory of basic goods and products, their daily per capita consumption, and Gaza바카라�s population. But in June 2010, the children of Gaza, for the first time in several years, could finally eat chocolates.

Amid intense international pressure, Israel had lifted the restriction on other items, too, such as soda, juice, jam, spices, cookies, candy, shaving cream, and potato chips. But what about the cement and steel needed to build wrecked homes? Still banned. 바카라�A modest expansion of the restrictive list of goods allowed into Gaza falls well short of what is needed,바카라� said Maxwel Gaylard, United Nation바카라�s veteran humanitarian official in Palestine. 바카라�We need a fundamental change and an opening of crossings for commercial goods.바카라� Next month, in July 2010, Israel published a list of banned items바카라�and lifted the restriction on most consumer goods바카라�entering Gaza. It did state, though, that it would continue to ban items for 바카라�dual use바카라� (say, a seemingly innocuous substance that could be used to make explosives).

But since this is Gaza, this story didn바카라�t follow a rational, or any, trajectory. The wars continued to rage; civilians continued to die; and the oppressive bans resurfaced again and again. After the 2014 war, for instance, Israel permitted construction materials to enter Gaza. But only for the private sector. As if its Ministry of Defence had sent the following metaphorical message: that we will leave you broken and helpless and diseased and not even allow you medicines바카라�there바카라�s a super fancy hospital, though, right across the road that you can admire from your rubble. Israel had, in fact, expanded its 바카라�dual use바카라� list, adding wooden planks beyond a certain dimension, almost halting the already ravaged furniture industry. It also added Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) to it, knowing fully well that power outages often marred the Strip.

It바카라�s dehumanising to hide behind numbers to contextualise the price of humanitarian loss. What stats can, after all, encapsulate the pang of a child forbidden to draw? But in the case of Gaza blockades, Maths at least helps us absorb the enormities of collective loss and possibility, if not their individual emotional pull.

바카라�Between 2007 and 2017, the poverty rate in Gaza increased from 40% to 56%,바카라� according to an August 2020 United Nations report, 바카라�and the poverty rate increased from 14% to 20%.바카라� The annual minimum cost of removing poverty, it added, 바카라�quadrupled from $209 million to $838 million.바카라� And had the pre-2007 trends continued바카라�that is, before the blockade바카라�Gaza바카라�s poverty rate would have been 바카라�15% in 2017 instead of 56%바카라�. But due to the continued bans killing industries and professions and livelihoods, 바카라�Gaza witnessed one of the worst economic performances globally and the world바카라�s highest unemployment rate바카라�.

But where there바카라�s oppression, there바카라�s also fight. So the people of Gaza constructed tunnels바카라�slim suffocating havens often lit by a lone hanging bulb for a long stretch바카라�smuggling essential items that Israel had banned (including food, medicine, fuel and of course, pasta). Tunnels became so vital that they even got a name: 바카라�The Metro바카라�.

It had 바카라�more stops than Washington DC바카라�s metro system,바카라� as a Palestinian-American journalist, Eman Mohammed, recalled in her recent Al Jazeera piece, 바카라�and, I dare say, safer.바카라� The Metro worked, yes, but only to an extent. Because it couldn바카라�t provide potable water, electricity, or freedom of movement바카라�or, quite simply, freedom.

(This appeared in the print as 'No Country For Coriander')