Security No Barrier To Lifting Gaza Blockade, Says UN Official

As the third year of the Israeli blockade of Gaza approaches, the head of the UN's operation in Gaza says humanitarian needs of the local population must be urgently addressed if there is any hope of moving the political situation forwards.

Speaking to reporters in New York, John Ging, Director of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine) Operations in Gaza, acknowledged that while recent Israeli easing of restrictions on supplies for Gaza are welcomed, they nevertheless remain relatively insignificant on the larger scale.

"It is bewilderingly difficult on a daily basis, it's a struggle to survive.The infrastructiure of water and sanitation is in a state of collapse. There is no legitimate economy anymore, nor is there any prospect of the restoration of the legitimate economy because there is no commercial trade into or out of the Gaza strip." said Ging,"The increases in access are a drop in a bucket. The context is so great, the scale of the need is so large."

Regardless of the extent of their impact, Ging says these positive developments need to be built upon. "The arguments that have been put forward to excuse this blockade are now being undermined by these positive developments because it is now demonstrated that there are ways to overcome the security challenges. The practical proof is that it can be done. "

Ging says his main concern now is to make sure children in Gaza are registered for the coming school year and that the necessary facilities are available. Last year, UNWRA was unable to accommodate thousands of students and, as the the school age population in Gaza continues to grow, the situation is expected to worsen.

"We have not been allowed to build a school in Gaza for three years." said Ging "We have used all the containers that were available in Gaza to build extra classrooms, to convert shipping containers into classrooms. We've used all of the ingenuity and creativity that we can to try and accommodate as many of the children who are entitled to register, but we've exhausted all of those means. "

Israel and other UN member states have in the past voiced concern over the curriculum used by UN schools in Gaza, fearing it could promote extremism or violence, but Ging says all teaching staff is closely vetted by the UN in order to provide a non-political education.

"We use the textbooks of the Palestinian authority, the very same textbooks that the state of Israel uses in occupied East Jerusalem...and we enrich those textbooks with human rights curriculum built around the values of the Universal Declaration. Its about academic development, its about the development of values and its also about critical thought and a positive mindset."