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Monday, June 22, 2020

Gaza under Israeli blockade — Its Impact on COVID-19

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Kanika Bajaj
Kanika Bajaj
MENA

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Article Contributor(s)

Kanika Bajaj

Article Title

Gaza under Israeli blockade — Its Impact on COVID-19

Publisher

Global Views 360

Publication Date

June 22, 2020

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Empty street on Gaza Strip

Empty street on Gaza Strip | Source:Catholic Church (England and Wales) via Creativecommons.org

The Gaza Strip has faced massive destruction due to Israeli-led blockade since 2007. Israel controls all the entry and exit points of Gaza which it uses to restrict the movement of goods and people between Gaza and the outside world, effectively turning it into the “largest open-air prison” in the world. Gaza, as a result of the humanitarian crisis since the last 13 years is now one of the most densely populated yet the poorest spaces in the world. This has adversely impacted the delivery of public services, including healthcare service in Gaza strip. According to the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sub-delegation to Gaza, Ignacio Casares, the health system in Gaza “is already overstretched, already at its limit,”. Daily power cuts and irregular electricity supply add on to this which forces Doctors to rely on generators during emergencies. This horrible condition was documented earlier as well in a 2017 UN Report which stated that the Gaza Strip would be “unlivable” by 2020. 

The 13 years long blockade has forced the government as well as people living in Gaza to manage the harsh conditions with the meagre resource at their disposal.  The WHO  had pointed out in a report last year that all the patients and their companions were required to apply for Israeli permits to exit the Gaza Strip for accessing the hospitals in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel,". "Access has been particularly problematic in 2019, with the patient permit approval rate declining”. 

People in Gaza strip are now battling the COVID-19 pandemic also with the help of simple whatever meagre resources at their disposal. The healthcare and other authorities understood that they would not be able to provide the hospitalization if the pandemic broke out, so they took some immediate steps to contain the COVID-19 from the early stage. The places of large public gathering like street markets, shops, shopping malls, wedding halls were ordered to lock down by State authorities. A senior official with the Hamas movement said at a news conference that officials were considering imposing a curfew. Using the traditional methods, the authorities built more than 1000 quarantine rooms in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Ministry of Health states that quarantine centres are established in three places: Rafah, Deir Al-Balah, and Khan Younis. More than 1000 people who came from the Israel and Egypt borders were quarantined in schools, hotels, and hospitals. 

With the increase in the number of cases, society started displaying anxiety and fear but it was overcome by mutual cooperation. The State of Palestine and its citizens has proved that the constraints cannot become an obstacle in dealing with the pandemic.

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February 4, 2021 4:58 PM

Tanzanite Gemstone: Changing the future of Tanzania’s small miners

A beautiful gemstone with a wide range of colours, from light to dark hues of blue and violet, found only in a patch 4 kilometres long and two kilometres wide at the foot of mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Existing supply of these gems would run out in about 20 years and finding it in any other region has the probability of just one in a million. Tiffany & Co, the American jewelry manufacturer, described it as “the most important gemstone discovery in over 2000 years”. Yes, we are talking about Tanzanite, the pride of Tanzania.

This rare gemstone was in news recently when a small time miner, Saniniu Laizer found two large weighing 9.27 and 5.103 kgs which are the two largest tanzanite gemstones ever found. This discovery turned the miner millionaire overnight as those pieces were sold at about 3.35 USD. He was congratulated on live television by President John Magufuli, who himself was elected in 2015 with the promise of preservation of the nation’s interest in the mining industry. Mr Laizer’s mining operation includes more than 200 miners and he intends to use the money for the development of a school and a shopping mall near his home.

In order to promote the industry, many reforms were undertaken by the  government of Tanzania. It started taking a 50% equity in all mining projects after 2010 and banned the export of large sized raw gemstones. A fence was also built  in 2018 around the whole area where Tanzanite is mined but about 40% are siphoned without paying any royalty to the government.

However the discovery of such gemstones by a small miner was made possible due to the government policy of promoting local artisanal miners. In order to foster local ownership, the government gave the land and exclusive mining rights to the artisanal miners who mostly owned small and medium establishments. Many trading centres were established by the government in 2019  to facilitate these miners sell gems and gold directly to the government and earn better revenue.

Such discoveries sound promising for the industry in the light of how extensively they are promoted, and how many effective actions the government has taken to protect the industry. This also acts as a big morale booster for the small miners to redouble their efforts and search for the gemstones more vigorously.

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