Blockade of Gaza: a “medieval siege”, the EU must act, says the Irish minister
(BRUSSELS2) Micheál Martin, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, intends to set foot in Cordoba - on Friday - where the informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers (Gymnich) is taking place. He wants to talk about the fate of Gaza, which he has just visited. The last visit by a European minister — it was the Swede Carl Bildt — dates back more than a year ago. " My goal was of a humanitarian nature: to see for myself the impact of a blockade that has been inflicted on the people of Gaza for almost two and a half years and to speak with UNWRA staff (whose COO is Irish, John Ging).
A counterproductive blockade
« What I saw in Gaza, amidst the rubble and devastation that is evident from last year's conflict, is a population traumatized and reduced to misery by an unjust and totally counterproductive blockade. All that is achieved through the imposition of this blockade is to enrich Hamas and further marginalize the voice of moderation. I consider the current situation for the ordinary population as inhumane and totally unacceptable, in terms of international human rights standards. he writes in a column published today in the New York Times.
Medieval siege conditions
« The medieval siege conditions imposed on the people of Gaza are unacceptable, he adds. " Lhe hardships and hardships resulting from the blockade are all too evident. While visiting an UNRWA food distribution center, I saw firsthand the despair and pain etched in the faces of those queuing for the most basic rations of rice, milk powder and sunflower oil. 80% of Gaza's population now lives below the poverty line and UNRWA is struggling with rising levels of absolute poverty, where people don't even have enough food, with their meager allowances. »
The EU must do more
“The European Union and the international community simply need to do more to increase the pressure for an end to the blockade and the opening of borders for normal and humanitarian commercial traffic. he concludes. "This is the clear message I want to convey in Córdoba to the EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton, and to my fellow EU Foreign Ministers »
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
This minister is brave! Because the EU is doing absolutely nothing to push its privileged partner to whom it continues to shamelessly grant “enhanced” status to change its attitude!
And it is neither the British nor the French, and even less the Germans who are going to change things since they are the ones who acted behind the scenes to have this enhanced status granted without any political conditionality!
However, let's support loud and clear all initiatives like those that this Irish minister wants to try!
cordially