EVEN though Israel has eased the blockade it imposed on Palestine a week ago, the crisis in Gaza has still to ease. Four Hamas men were killed on Friday by Israeli troops who claimed that they were preparing to attack Israel. The fact is that the situation in Gaza is far from normal. The anomaly was created when Israel continued to be in occupation of the West Bank, while Gaza was supposedly vacated following Ariel Sharon`s `disengagement` plan in 2005. However, the much-publicised withdrawal is a complete hoax, for Israel has continued to control all air, land and sea exits. Last week, in response to rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel chose once again to punish the people of the occupied strip by a series of harsh measures that made normal life impossible. It stopped fuel supplies for power production, and the blockade served to cut off the food and drug supplies by UN aid agencies, creating a life-threatening situation in Gaza hospitals. The aid agencies, and even the European Union, whose policies on the whole are supportive of Israel, condemned what the EU called “the collective punishment” of 1.5 million people.

Faced with starvation and left with no choice but to go to the Egyptian part of Rafah, the desperate Gazans blew up the Israel-built wall and poured into Egypt to purchase essential items, especially food and life-saving drugs. That no less than 200,000 Gazans should cross the border testifies to the dimensions of the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel`s punishment of the people rather than of the militants. Yet, in spite of this, no word of sympathy for the persecuted Gazans has come from Washington. Instead, White House spokesmen have justified Tel Aviv`s actions, saying rocket attacks by Hamas had “caused Israel to implement the blockade” — “implement”, as if some agreement authorises Tel Aviv to cut off food and drug supplies to the Gazans. The easing of the blockade under international pressure does not mean an end to the Palestinian people`s misery. On the West Bank, Israel continues to gobble up more Palestinian land by expanding settlements. The Ehud government has also brazenly announced that it is not bound by the timetable laid down in the Annapolis document. The blockade, a violation of the Geneva conventions, came in the wake of President Bush`s recent visit to the Middle East and goes to show what importance Israel attaches to the Bush administration`s peace moves. Not even the most optimistic now believes that a Palestinian state will come into being by the end of the year.