UN report: IDF barring Gazans' access to farms, fishing zones, page 1

Humanitarian affairs office: Israel restricts entry to 17% of Gaza lands, 85% of beachfront zone, enforces restrictions with live fire.

Over the last ten years, the Israel Defense Forces have increasingly restricted Palestinian access to farmland on the Gazan side of the Israeli-Gaza border as well as to fishing zones along the Gaza beach, a United Nations report revealed Thursday....

...According to the report, since 2008 the IDF has prevented access to land up to 1,500 meters outside the Green Line, and to naval zones up to 4.5 kilometers from the shore. All in all the IDF restricts access to 17 percent of Gaza's territory. At sea, the fishermen are completely barred from 85 percent of the naval territory to which they are entitled under the Oslo Accords.

The report estimates that some 178,000 individuals are directly affected by these access restrictions.

According to OCHA, the IDF enforces uses life fire on individuals who enter restricted zones. Though in most cases the troops fire warning shots, 22 people have been killed and 146 have been wounded in such incidents since the end of Operation Cast Lead in January 2009. The report further argues that this method of enforcement violates international humanitarian law, and that the local Palestinian population was never informed by Israel of the exact nature of the restrictions.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Source: www.haaretz.com...

This is not anything new to most of us on ATS and not even even for the UN either, however it is at least a small sign of hope for the besieged Palestinians, though ultimately futile. If it hasn't been made clear already, the UN has no affect on Israel or the genocidal campaign of anti-semitic regional cleansing. As of 2008, Israel has been the target of at least 65 UN resolutions, yet has not changed anything in regards to their campaign against Palestine. As long as the US has veto power on the Security Council and as long as Americans are lied to and kept in the dark, they will continue their NAZI-like campaign to wipe out an entire group of people for a political goal, only with more efficiency. So, while the UN filing a report on this seems like fantastic news, it is just another futile endeavor, as the only thing that will ever change this behavior, is Americans not standing for it, just as we didn't stand for Hitler and his Holocaust.

--airspoon