Action Palestine

Here is a great compliant to the BBC the Q&A regarding Gaza by Lena Al-Malak from the SOAS PalSoc elmalaklena@hotmail.com

—– Forwarded Message —-
From: Lena El-Malak
To: news@bbc.co.uk
Sent: Thursday, January 8, 2009 11:26:37 PM
Subject: Complaint about BBC’s Q&A page on the Gaza conflict
Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing you to complain about the BBC’s Q&A page on the Gaza conflict: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7818022.stm

My complaints are as follows:

1) In the paragraph on the “history of this small trip of land”, you state that “Gaza has a population of 1.5 million of whom some 33% (about 490,000) are classified as refugees.” This information is inaccurate. According to the United Nations Relief Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), there are 1,059,584 registered refugees in the Gaza Strip. In other words, three-quarters (75%) of the population of Gaza is made up of refugees. Of this total, 500,000 refugees live in 8 camps. (source: http://www.un.org/unrwa/publications/index.html). For detailed statistics on UNRWA’s operations in Gaza, please visit UNRWA’s website at www.unrwa.org

2) I find your description of the effects of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip very vague and inaccurate. You claim that “UNRWA provides basic food aid to about 750,000 people in Gaza”. This statement is misleading. UNRWA may be providing basic food aid to some 750,000 of its registered refugees, however, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 80% of the population in Gaza (both refugees and non refugees) is dependent entirely on humanitarian assistance. OCHA notes that this figure is increasing (source: www.ochaopt.org. See Situation Report of 06 January 2009). In other words, at least 1.2 million individuals in Gaza depend entirely on humanitarian assistance (80% of 1.5 million).

In addition, I would like to point your attention to the following statement made by Professor Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories to describe Israel’s siege of Gaza last year, when it was still not comparable in its severity to the current situation:

“The recent developments in Gaza are especially disturbing because they express so vividly a deliberate intention on the part of Israel and its allies to subject an entire human community to life-endangering conditions of utmost cruelty. The suggestion that this pattern of conduct is a holocaust-in-the-making represents a rather desperate appeal to the governments of the world and to international public opinion to act urgently to prevent these current genocidal tendencies from culminating in a collective tragedy.”

What we have been witnessing in Gaza over the past 18 months has been described as a pattern of conduct reflecting “genocidal tendencies”. To refer to it simply as “severe” is a serious understatement. Could you please provide an explanation for your rather mild description of the genocidal effects of Israel’s collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza?

3) What I find most disturbing in your Q&A section is your description of the casualties of this conflict. While Israeli casualties (28 people over the course of 7 years) warranted an entire section (2 paragraphs and a total of 6 lines) with a detailed description of the range of the missiles used, the number of missiles, etc, on the other hand, Palestinian casualties (over 700 in the past 13 days only) were mentioned briefly in one sentence. Only today, January 8th, 50 bodies were recovered from the rubble of houses bringing the total number of Palestinian fatalities to 758 (since the eruption of hostilities), of whom 257 (34%) are children and 56 (7.4%) are women. (source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – OCHA: www.ochaopt.org. See Situation Report of 08 January 2009). Could you please explain this discrepancy? Is the sheer brutality visited on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip not worthy of a few more lines? Wouldn’t you think that you need at least a section on the casualties caused by Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which is one of the most densely populated places in the world and has a high ratio of children (56% of its total population are children)? According to OCHA, these children are “bearing the brunt of the violence” and “it is clear that many more civilians will be killed if the conflict continues.” (Source: OCHA: www.ochaopt.org. See Situation Report of 08 January 2009).

There was also no mention of the weapons Israel has used in its aggression against the population of Gaza (which included white phosphorous bombs). Shouldn’t your readers be made aware of the use of illegal weapons by Israel in its attacks on the Palestinians? Israel has also been criticized by both UN agencies and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) for not respecting the norms of International Humanitarian Law, in particular the principles of distinction and proportionality. (source: OCHA: www.ochaopt.org. See Situation Report of 08 January 2009 and ICRC: http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/palestine-news-080109?opendocument). Don’t you think this information is relevant?

I have been following online the BBC’s coverage of the conflict since the outbreak of hostilities, and I regret to say that your network has been misinforming the public. At best, you are displaying a high level of irresponsibility (bordering on negligence and incompetence), at worst you are deliberately misinforming the public and colluding with the Israelis’ propaganda campaign. So, which is it?

Lena El-Malak
PhD Candidate in International Law
School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London – UK