Red Cross denounces Israel's curbs on Palestinians

Israel faced a battery of calls on Dec. 13 to alleviate what the Red Cross unusually called a "deep human crisis" by easing restrictions on Palestinian movement, ahead of an international donors' conference co-chaired by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The World Bank and the Western-backed emergency Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, warned that the $5.6 billion they hope the conference will pledge in Paris on Dec. 17 will not reverse the collapse of the Palestinian economy unless there is a significant reduction in checkpoints and closures. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which prides itself on its neutrality, said that Israel's "harsh security measures" came at an "enormous humanitarian cost" and that the "dignity of the Palestinians is being trampled underfoot day after day, both in the West Bank and Gaza." The agency said as a result of the "retaliatory" closures of Gaza since Hamas seized control there in June, 823 sick people had been prevented from leaving the Strip. Three of these cases, in which the ICRC had directly intervened, had subsequently died because of administrative and security clearance delays. The Red Cross said Israel had the right to protect its population but "the balance between [its] legitimate security concerns and the right of the Palestinian people to live a normal life has not been struck." The agency coupled its call for Israel to take "immediate" action to ease the closures with one for the Palestinian factions to stop attacking civilian areas. The World Bank backed the three-year reform and development plan Fayyad is offering as a basis for a future Palestinian state in return for the cash injection. But it warned that if the Israeli restrictions remained in place, the plan would at best merely slow down the "downward cycle of crisis and dependence." Fayyad stressed that "sustainable jobs" for Palestinians could only be assured by a private sector relieved of the current physical constraints that are crippling it in the West Bank and have led to its near-total closure in Gaza. He said: "Unless there is progress on that point no amount of money will compensate for the loss of normal life and normal activity."