It is easier to enter a maximum-security prison than it is to enter the strip of land – 45 kilometers long and maybe eight wide – that is home to Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians. And conditions inside reveal the self-defeating nature of Israel's continued blockade.
GAZA CITY – It is easier to enter a maximum-security prison than it is to enter the strip of land – 45 kilometers long and maybe eight wide – that is home to Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians. Surrounded by a forbidding wall, watchtowers, and deadly buffer zones, I entered with a hard-to-obtain visa at the Erez crossing – iron gates, an interrogation by bored young immigration officers and scanners. On the other side is a kilometer-long caged walkway that leads into this part of Palestine, trapped between Israel, Egypt, the Mediterranean, and the general indifference of the international community.
GAZA CITY – It is easier to enter a maximum-security prison than it is to enter the strip of land – 45 kilometers long and maybe eight wide – that is home to Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians. Surrounded by a forbidding wall, watchtowers, and deadly buffer zones, I entered with a hard-to-obtain visa at the Erez crossing – iron gates, an interrogation by bored young immigration officers and scanners. On the other side is a kilometer-long caged walkway that leads into this part of Palestine, trapped between Israel, Egypt, the Mediterranean, and the general indifference of the international community.