Online conference discusses reconstruction of Gaza

The denial of freedom of movement of the people of Gaza is a crime against humanity, a Jewish-American scholar told an online conference Monday, reported by Anadolu News Agency.

Speaking at the conference, titled “Reconstructing the War-Torn Gaza,” Norman Finkelstein said: “The denial of the right of people in Gaza to freely leave and return to their homeland, namely Gaza, the denial of freedom of movement is a crime against humanity.”

The online event was organized by the ILKE Foundation based in Istanbul, Turkey and was also attended by the Deputy Chairman of Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), Huseyin Oruc, Palestinian Journalist Jehan Alfarra and the head of the Pakistan’s Alkhidmat Foundation, Shaid Iqbal.

Speaking about the history of Palestine, Finkelstein said Israel first “conquered about 80% of what was called British-mandated Palestine'' in 1947-1949, while noting that “20%, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, fell outside Israeli control.”

Adding that Israel later expelled about 90% of the Palestinian Arab population, he said about 70% of the population of Gaza today “consists of refugees and children and grandchildren of Palestinian refugees from 1948.”

He later slammed “the periodic massacres that Israel launches against the people of Gaza.”

Underlining that “one half or more of the population of Gaza are children,” he said “it's an overwhelmingly defenseless population.”

“Gaza was a totally defenseless civilian overwhelmingly child population that this past week -- or I should say, two weeks ago -- came under a fourth brutal assault,” he added.