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Wednesday, January 03, 2024

Where are the "human rights" NGOs who condemn Egypt, Jordan and the PA for refusing to let Gazans leave if they want to?


Gisha is an Israel-based NGO that says:
Gisha is an Israeli not-for-profit organization, founded in 2005, whose goal is to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents. Gisha promotes rights guaranteed by international and Israeli law.

Since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel’s military has developed a complex system of rules and sanctions to control the movement of the 4.5 million Palestinians who live there. The restrictions violate the fundamental right of Palestinians to freedom of movement. As a result, additional basic rights are violated, including the right to life, the right to access medical care, the right to education, the right to livelihood, the right to family unity and the right to freedom of religion.

If we take them at their word, then Gisha must be incensed that Egypt has built a huge new wall to block Gazans from fleeing, and that both Egypt and Jordan have insisted that they will not allow any Gazans to take refuge in their countries.

But Gisha, whose very purpose is to allow Palestinians to have freedom of movement, has not said a word about this. They've called for a ceasefire and for more aid to Gaza, but nothing demanding that Gazans who want to leave be given that option. Which is a strange position for an NGO that is dedicated to freedom of movement to take. 

This is par for the course for Gisha. They hardly ever have said anything negative about Hamas restrictions on movement, and in previous times that Egypt prevented people from coming from Gaza Gisha blamed - Israel! 

Neither has any other human rights group demanded freedom of movement for Gazans to anywhere but Israel. No calls from Amnesty, or Human Rights Watch, or Oxfam to open Egypt's and Jordan's borders to refugees. UNRWA, whose entire purpose is to help Palestinian "refugees," does not want to help any of these Palestinian refugees who want to leave a war zone. They could easily welcome Gazans in Jordanian - or even West Bank - camps if they wanted to.

Nothing on this issue from the Refugee Rights website. The International Rescue Committee is not advocating for the rights of Gazans to take refuge elsewhere should they choose to. 

And now it isn't only Jordan and Egypt, but the Palestinian Authority as well.

I had reported on a proposed "humanitarian corridor" by sea that Cyprus has proposed to bring aid to Gaza, which Israel approved. - but the PA rejected it.  On Tuesday, PA president Mahmoud Shtayyeh gave his reasons for this rejection to the Greek consul: "stressing the complete rejection of the waterway that Cyprus talks about under the slogan of transporting aid to the Gaza Strip for fear that the ships will displace our people out of the Strip."

This is a remarkable statement. The PA could simply tell Cyprus that they approve the aid with the condition that no Palestinians be allowed to leave on those ships. If we take Shtayyeh at his word, he is saying that it is better that Gaza forego desperately needed aid completely rather than even having the theoretical possibility of Gazans fleeing via the boats that bring aid. 

The people who pretend to care about Palestinian lives - Egypt, Jordan, NGOs, pro-Palestinian advocacy groups, and even the PA itself - are all dead set against allowing any Gazans from leaving Gaza.

Egypt has allowed hundreds of thousands of refugees from other Arab countries. So has Jordan. They specifically exclude Palestinians. And not one NGO has said a negative word about this discrimination. Why not?

Who, exactly, is making Gaza into an "open-air prison" nowadays?

Human rights is not what these NGOs care about. Attacking Israel is.


 


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