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Starvation of 1.5 million Palestinians is a historical challenge to the world community

February 28, 2014 at 10:54 am

The former National Unity cabinet’s agriculture minister, Mohamed Al Agha, has called upon the member states of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to pay attention to the suffering of the Palestinian people and the calamities that they have endured for more than 60 years, regarding the lack of reaction to the Gaza siege and the starving of more than a million and a half Gazans as “putting them in front of a historic test on whether they will lift the siege on Gaza and provide food, medicine, and children’s milk.”

This took place during the commemoration of the World Food Day celebrated annually on the 17th of October.
 
Al Agha asserted, in a written statement, that the Palestinian government in Gaza has given priority to the agricultural sector in order to ensure a good life for its citizens, especially in light of the siege that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for 3 years.


He mentioned that his government has mainly supported projects in the fields of agriculture and agricultural industries so as to ensure sufficient provision of bread and butter for the citizens of the Gaza Strip, saying that the damages that have been inflicted on the Strip have gone beyond all conceptions, not to mention the devastation caused by the latest war on Gaza.
 
He sees that the Palestinian farmer in the Gaza Strip, as well as in the West Bank and 1948 Palestine, “prefers being on the first line of defense in order to ensure the availability of food for the Palestinian citizen, despite the obstacles put to him by the Occupation making it difficult for him to acquire bread and butter for his children.”
 
Al Agha pointed out that the siege, the Wall; and the confiscation, bulldozing, and burning of agricultural corps has greatly impacted on farmers’ income level and thus the amount of food provided to fill their needs. He asserted that the Occupation’s actions aim at starving the Palestinian children, women, and elderly, who will not give in to the Occupation, just like their fathers and grandfathers, from whom they inherited the land.

Source: Quds Press