Fifteen Palestinian migrants attempting to flee the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip died Saturday after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of northern Egypt, media sources said.Egypt blocks their fellow Arabs in Gaza from crossing their border. Egypt also blocks food, medicine, and nearly all other goods from being imported into Gaza.
The migrants' bodies were pulled from the water by the Egyptian military after they received a distress call from the vessel, Palestinian news website Maan News reported. Egyptian navy and border guards rescued at least 72 others, among them Egyptian and Syrian citizens.
As political instability widens in the Middle East and North Africa, increasing numbers of undocumented migrants have attempted to reach Europe in boats and makeshift rafts — many drowning along the way.
Sources told Maan that the Palestinians who drowned on Saturday fled Gaza into Egypt through underground tunnels, after which they boarded the ship bound for Italy.
An estimated 10,000 Palestinians have so far fled Gaza in 2014, sources told the Palestinian News Network (PNN).
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With nearly 2 million people living on 139 square miles of land, Gaza is one of the world’s most densely populated territories — where economic opportunity and even safety are in short supply.
Since 2006, when Hamas swept parliamentary elections, Israel has imposed a debilitating economic siege on the territory, restricting the flow of civilians and goods – including food, medicine [this is a lie - EoZ] and building supplies – for stated security purposes. Coupled with numerous deadly military incursions, including “Operation Cast Lead” in 2009 and “Operation Pillar of Defense” in 2012, residents have found it necessary to escape.
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PNN reported that the average cost to be smuggled into Egypt through a tunnel and to Europe on a raft is about $4,000 per person, and that the journey is extremely dangerous — with families encountering criminals and treacherous conditions along the way.
The Gazans cross illegally and then are taken advantage of by smugglers who fleece them for thousands of dollars.
They are given dangerous boats to go to Europe where they will also not be welcome because of strict European immigration laws.
The ones that are caught in Egypt will be deported back to Gaza.
And Israel is the party that is primarily to blame. Not Egypt, not the smugglers, not the European countries who discourage their immigration.
On the other hand, when Eritreans and Sudanese sneak out of their countries because of severe economic and social conditions, and they go through Egypt (where they are often tortured, raped and killed by smugglers, or shot dead for the crime of existing) to Israel where they are not exactly welcome, and Israel pays them to go back to their homes - Israel is again the party that is primarily to blame. Not Eritrea, not Sudan, not Egypt, not the smugglers - Israel.
Who says there is a double standard? The standard is very clear - as long as Israel can be blamed, no matter how tangentially, it must be the prime culprit!