A/HRC/13/53 supply has been cut to 25 per cent below actual demand, is only available for eight hours each day, and then only four days a week.60 GEDO expects that the electricity shortage will increase to 35 per cent during the coming winter months, leaving residents without electricity for 18–32 hours per week. Such shortages, arising in part from restrictions on the availability of spare parts for repair, are an aspect of the unlawful collective punishment associated with the blockade. The shortage of cooking fuel and electricity has also made it almost impossible for bakeries, factories, and greenhouses to operate normally, worsening conditions of poverty and unemployment.61 32. There are recent reports that an underground fence, extending for 10–11 kilometres, as much as 18 metres below the surface, is being built along the Egyptian border with the assistance of the American Corps of Engineers and in consultation with Israel, and consisting of a specially dense form of steel that is resistant to explosions and cannot be cut or melted. The apparent purpose of the fence is to supplement the network of censors deployed along the border to detect noise and activity, and thereby reduce, if not eliminate, smuggling of goods and weapons into Gaza by way of an estimated 1,000 tunnels.62 While there may be some genuine Israeli concern regarding weapons smuggling, the tunnels serve as a humanitarian lifeline due to the severity and long duration of the Israeli blockade of goods needed for normal living. As is understandable for a society facing harsh externally imposed economic coercion, an alternative economy has emerged in the Gaza Strip, producing a vibrant black market. In light of this, the destruction and disruption of the tunnels would make life even more unbearable for the population of Gaza. 33. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has started to build mud houses for those Palestinians made homeless by the attacks a year ago; the first mud house was recently completed, and the announced plan is to build 120 mud houses at a cost of $10,000 each.63 The houses take three months to build and are a direct response to the absence of blockaded building materials such as cement, glass, and steel. This gesture of relief is welcome, but it is pathetically small in relation to the thousands made homeless by Operation Cast Lead. 34. Many world leaders, including Tony Blair, the envoy of the Quartet, and President Barack Obama, as well as the General Assembly, have called upon Israel to lift the blockade, open the crossings, and end this regime of collective punishment afflicting the entire population of the Gaza Strip, but so far to no avail. Israeli defiance of these calls to end the blockade has been consistently ignored, creating a crisis of confidence in the sincerity and true intentions of the international community. Even the persistent rumours of an impending prisoner swap, in which Gilad Shalit would be released along with many hundred Palestinian prisoners, do not promise an end to the blockade.64 Nor has the absence of Israeli casualties due to rocket attacks post Operation Cast Lead, or the low incidence of such attacks, produced any change. In the face of these tremendous challenges, it is Gazan civil society that has demonstrated the most consistent resolve against the blockade. Several convoys of activists bringing medical supplies and food have attempted to cross into Gaza from Egypt, and have encountered difficulties when seeking transit permission from Cairo. Such initiatives are symbolic expressions of commitment to wage a legitimacy war on behalf of the Palestinians so long as their basic rights are being suppressed and their collective well-being subject to extraordinary stress. These initiatives also serve to expose 60 61 62 63 64 GE.10-10260 “Gaza power cuts up to 32 hours per week”, Maan News Agency, 13 December 2009. For more information see The Humanitarian Monitor, OCHA, November 2009, available at http://www.ochaopt.org. See for instance, “Egypt defends Gaza wall”, Al Jazeera, 22 December 2009. “UNRWA builds mud homes in Gaza”, Ynet, 13 December 2009. “Israel debates prisoner swap”, Al Jazeera, 21 December 2009. 15