LEFTIST "RIGHTS" GROUPS MAKE INADVERTANT ADMISSION: GAZA WAS BETTER DURING OCCUPATION

BBC:Gaza conditions 'at 40-year low'

The groups say a battered, starved Gaza cannot be a peace partner
Gaza girls protest at Israeli measures Gaza's humanitarian situation is at its worst since Israel occupied the territory in 1967, say UK-based human rights and development groups.

They include Amnesty International, Save the Children, Cafod, Care International and Christian Aid.

They criticise Israel's blockade on Gaza as illegal collective punishment which fails to deliver security.

Israel says its military action and other measures are lawful and needed to stop rocket attacks from Gaza.

Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, but retains control over Gaza's airspace and coastline, and over its own border with the territory.

... "Unless the blockade ends now, it will be impossible to pull Gaza back from the brink of this disaster and any hopes for peace in the region will be dashed," said Geoffrey Dennis, of Care International UK.

Last week Israeli forces launched a bloody and destructive raid in northern Gaza, in which more than 120 Palestinians - including many civilians - were killed.

Israel says the measures are designed to stamp out frequent rocket fire by Palestinian militants.

Recent rocket attacks have hit deeper into southern Israel, reaching Ashkelon, the closest large Israeli city to the Gaza Strip.

Occupying power

The UK-based groups agree that Israel has the right and obligation to protect its citizens...

• WHILE UNDER ISRAELI CONTROL AND BEFORE ANY AUTONOMY - FROM 1967-1990 - GAZA AND THE WEST BANK HAD ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING ECONOMIES IN THE WORLD.

• THEN CAME OSLO AND ARAFAT AND ISLAMO-THUGGERY, AND THE POVERTY RETURNED.

• PROSPERITY IS A BY-PRODUCT LIBERTY AND THE RULE OF LAW.
• GAZANS - A MILLION PLUS ABLE BODIED PEOPLE- SHOULD BE ABLE TO PROSPER WITHOUT DEPENDENCY ON ISRAEL OR INTERNATIONAL AID; THAT THEY CANNOT SAYS MORE ABOUT THEIR ETHOS THAN ISRAEL OR ANYONE ELSE.
• THE GAZANS SHOULD FOCUS ON MAKING A BETTER LIFE FOR THEIR KIDS AND NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST JEWS.
  

GAZA WILL PROSPER ONLY WHEN LIBERATED FROM ISLAMO-THUGGERY.