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BFF-28
HEALTH-VIRUS-ISRAEL
Over 250 global artists urge Israel to end Gaza blockade
PARIS, May 16, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – More than 250 global artists and
writers including rocker Peter Gabriel, director Ken Loach and actor
Viggo Mortensen have appealed to Israel to stop the “siege” of Gaza,
saying the coronavirus epidemic could have a devastating effect in
“the world’s largest open air prison”.
“Long before the global outbreak of COVID-19 threatened to
overwhelm the already devastated healthcare system in Gaza, the UN had
predicted that the blockaded coastal strip would be unliveable by
2020,” the online letter said.
“With the pandemic, Gaza’s almost two million inhabitants,
predominantly refugees, face a mortal threat in the world’s largest
open-air prison,” it added.
Other signatories included poet Taha Adnan, Canadian writer Naomi
Klein and British group Massive Attack.
The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007 when
the Islamist movement Hamas started controlling the enclave.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since but reached a truce
in late 2018 that was renewed after successive flare-ups last year.
“Well before the ongoing crisis, Gaza’s hospitals were already
stretched to breaking point through lack of essential resources denied
by Israel’s siege. Its healthcare system could not cope with the
thousands of gunshot wounds, leading to many amputations,” the artists
said.
“Reports of the first cases of coronavirus in densely-populated
Gaza are therefore deeply disturbing,” they said.
“We back Amnesty International’s call on all world governments to
impose a military embargo on Israel until it fully complies with its
obligations under international law.”
BSS/AFP/MRU/2010hrs