Tomorrow a protest will be held demonstrating against Egypt's construction of the Wall of Shame on Gaza's southern border. At 11am, demonstrators will gather at the cemetery in Shatila camp, beginning a march to the entrance of the Egyptian embassy.
The Wall of Shame is nearing completion. Built along the southern border of the Gaza Strip near Egypt's Rafah crossing, the covert project spans 10-11 kilometers where the majority of the tunnels bringing goods into the Strip are located. Massive steel panels, manufactured in the United States, will be lowered 18 meters into the ground by The Arab Contractors, an Egypt-based construction company. The Arab Contractors will then pump saline water from the sea into the tunnels.
Since Israel imposed a severe import and export blockade on Gaza in 2007, smuggling through the tunnels has been the Strip's lifeline. Weapons, but also medicine, food, industrial materials, agricultural supplies, and simple goods like textiles and cigarettes bypassed Israel's and Egypt's closed checkpoints. Gaza Gateway, an online organization monitoring the blockade, calls the tunnel operations “one of the largest branches of Gaza’s economy”:
• Two-thirds of Gaza's imports come through the tunnels
• Today, trucks carrying imports into Gaza are 25% of what was permitted in 2007
• Truckloads materially can not meet Gaza's needs, forcing the use of smuggling tunnels
Approximately 30,000 Gazans stand to lose their jobs from the tunnels' closure, and the effect upon Gaza's livelihood is inestimable. Moreover, the Wall of Shame will cause massive damage to the Strip's aquifer, contaminating the already limited supply of clean water for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
Israel is trying to strangle Gaza's inhabitants out of existence. While claiming that the blockade is necessary to prevent the rise of Hamas, and that smuggling operations must be halted to disarm Hamas' resistance, the Zionist government has created the social and economic conditions in which Gaza is left no alternative but to smuggle in its daily bread.
Hosni Mubarak's regime is no longer just complicit - Egypt is actively strengthening the Occupation, assisting in the murder of Gaza's people. This is beyond shameful - and the shame is on all Arab regimes, and the international community, for embracing the Wall's construction with silence.
Therefore, We must speak up.
Falastine Horra, in collaboration with numerous other activist groups and individuals in Beirut, held a protest on January 23 outside the Egyptian embassy.
Police attempted to disburse the spirited protest with violence.
But, We shall continue to gather, continue to raise Our voices in lieu of the timid, servile governments that permit the massacre of Gaza's people. Join us tomorrow!
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