Tuesday, June 11, 2013

90% of Gaza's water is unfit for human consumption, damn it

" "Forty-six years ago today Israel's occupation of Palestine began. Six days of war has turned into 46 years of occupation," Falk, an independent investigator, told the Geneva forum. "The viability of Gaza needs urgent attention and cannot be left to the mercies of continuing Israeli occupation," he said of the Islamist Hamas-ruled strip, around which Israel maintains a blockade due to what it says are security concerns. Falk, who visited Gaza last December after entering via Egypt, said that 70 percent of Gaza's population depends on international aid for survival and 90 percent of the water is "unfit for human consumption"." "In the first quarter of 2013, Israel demolished 204 Palestinian homes and structures in the West Bank, displacing 379 Palestinians, he said, citing U.N. figures. Israel detains nearly 5,000 Palestinians, many held arbitrarily and subjected to torture, coerced confessions, solitary confinement and denial of family visits, he said."