{"id":1054,"date":"2018-01-03T18:12:05","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T18:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/?p=1054"},"modified":"2025-02-12T01:45:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T01:45:53","slug":"iof-witness-re-seizure-zaytouna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/news\/iof-witness-re-seizure-zaytouna","title":{"rendered":"Israeli court cross examines IOF witness regarding seizure of Women\u2019s Boat to Gaza (Zaytouna-Oliva)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under cross-examination, Israeli occupation official admits\u00a0that because of the shortage of electricity in Gaza the sanitation pumps\u00a0are not working at full capacity. The lawyer representing the\u00a0Zaytouna-Oliva\u2019s owner made full use of this opportunity to focus attention\u00a0<\/span>on the effects of the blockade.<\/h4>\n

On November 12 in a court-room in Haifa, the head of the economics department of the Gaza coordination unit, Mr. Tzidki Maman, was cross-examined by Gaby Lasky, the lawyer representing the owner of the Women\u2019s Boat to Gaza.<\/p>\n

She asked him whether the list of permitted (dual-use) items was updated after the latest reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. He replied that the latest update was in December 2015, revealing that political changes do not affect the policy of the blockade – proving that the blockade is not a security measure.<\/p>\n

Lasky went on to ask about the electricity supplied by Israel to Gaza. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) representative confirmed that Israel was currently supplying just 60% of what it used to. He admitted to knowing that this was causing the use of generators especially in the health and water supply sectors. According to him fuel supply is not restricted by the coordination unit, as all requests by the private sector to transfer fuel through Kerem Shalom \/ Karem Abu Salim are processed and admitted. When asked about the effects of lack of electricity on water supply, he admitted that more water is allowed in than before, and when confronted with the fact that this is due to the difficulty of pumping water without electricity he denied knowledge of it, according to him there is no lack of drinking water in Gaza. He admitted that due to lack of electricity the sewage treatment plants were not working at full capacity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
Asked about the reconstruction of housing in Gaza, he replied that the 90\u00a0thousand units needed was a number correct two or three years ago. When\u00a0told that more than 60% of reconstruction is still outstanding he said he\u00a0was not aware of such statistics. When questioned by Lasky as to why\u00a0exports from Gaza are approximately 2,500 trucks \/ year – \u00a0much less than\u00a0the export capacity of Gaza – he replied that there is no quantity limit,\u00a0only security clearance issues. He claimed that producers in Gaza can\u00a0export through Israel (Kerem Shalom\/ Karem Abu Salim and the port in\u00a0Ashdod) and that traditionally the export was mainly to the rest of\u00a0historical Palestine and to Africa through Egypt.<\/div>\n
When questioned about the unemployment rate in Gaza, the IOF representative\u00a0admitted it was 44%. He said that there are 5,000 active fishers in Gaza.<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"
Gaby Lasky representing the FFC on the right, with Israeli activists outside the court<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
When asked about the 200 fishing boats that had been confiscated by Israel\u00a0in the last two years, he said that this sounded too high. The reasons for\u00a0confiscation according to him were for fishers exceeding the permitted\u00a0fishing zone or confronting the Israeli navy. He stated that the permitted\u00a0fishing zone is 6nm in the north and 9nm in the south of the Strip and\u00a0refused to acknowledge that this is more restricted than the naval\u00a0blockade. When asked about the reduction in fisheries, he alleged\u00a0ecological problems affecting Israel and Egypt as well. When asked if\u00a0Palestinian or international engineers are permitted to enter Gaza to treat\u00a0the problem of sea contamination, he said that he is not aware that any\u00a0such requests to enter had been made.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When asked whether he would approve a request to explore natural resources\u00a0in the sea off the coast of Gaza (like gas or petrol) he denied having the\u00a0authority or knowing who the authority would be. He admitted that without\u00a0Israeli permission this would probably be impossible.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When asked about fish farming in the Gaza sea he said that he is not aware\u00a0of what permission is needed, but also admitted that he is involved in a\u00a0process to establish fish farms in the Gaza sea in cooperation with the\u00a0Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Regarding ecological concerns, he\u00a0observed that such farms have been closed in the Red Sea, but still exist\u00a0in the Mediterranean Sea.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When asked about sanitation in Gaza, he replied that he is aware of no\u00a0specific problem. He did not know the extent of recycling in Gaza, although\u00a0he knew that there is some re-use of rubble from destroyed buildings. He\u00a0said that he was not aware of a current list of food items that are not\u00a0allowed to be brought into Gaza.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When asked about the need to ask for permission to leave Gaza, he admitted\u00a0that requests to leave for commercial reasons require 70 days notice,\u00a0whilst humanitarian and health reasons may be require less time. He\u00a0admitted that there are fewer permissions given to leave, but denied that\u00a0there was a policy to reduce the number of permissions given. He claimed\u00a0that the reduction in permissions is due to security reasons and that it\u00a0does not affect the general situation in Gaza.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He denied knowledge of refusal to allow World Health Organization personnel\u00a0entry into Gaza. He admitted that there is much activity of international\u00a0humanitarian aid organizations in Gaza and that the reason they are needed\u00a0is to bridge the gaps among the needier parts of the population especially\u00a0in health and food supply issues.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition continues to use these court hearings not\u00a0only to contest the seizure of the Zaytouna-Oliva but also to highlight the\u00a0issue of fishing boats from Gaza which are regularly confiscated by Israeli\u00a0naval forces and held in Israel, thus denying Palestinian fishers their\u00a0right to earn a living.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The next hearing for witnesses in the Zaytouna-Oliva confiscation case in the maritime court \u00a0is scheduled for\u00a0January 30.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under cross-examination, Israeli occupation official admits\u00a0that because of the shortage of electricity in Gaza the sanitation pumps\u00a0are not working at full capacity. The lawyer representing the\u00a0Zaytouna-Oliva\u2019s owner made full use of this opportunity to focus attention\u00a0on the effects of the blockade. On November 12 in a court-room in Haifa, the head of the economics department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,36],"tags":[81,43,149,40,51,150,148,147],"class_list":["post-1054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ffc-statements","category-news","tag-blockade-of-gaza","tag-fishing-zone","tag-gaby-lasky","tag-iof","tag-israeli-occupation-forces","tag-tzidki-maman","tag-womens-boat-to-gaza","tag-zaytouna-oliva"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"fr","enabled_languages":["en","ar","es","it","fr"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ar":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"it":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"fr":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1054"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1081,"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions\/1081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgf.freedomflotilla.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}