Yousef Al-Mansi, Hamas Minister of Communications and
Information Technology, called Monday for the Universal Postal Union and
international human rights groups to intervene and pressure Israel into
allowing mail to enter and exit the Gaza Strip.
“For the past four months mail delivery into the Gaza Strip
has been disrupted,” Jalal Isma’il, Director General of the Gaza Communications
Ministry told The Media Line. “Regular mail has been delayed, and government
mail has not entered at all.”
Isma’il said that mail disruptions are not a new phenomenon
in Gaza, but have worsened recently.
“We have sent letters to the Universal Postal Union, and
there are talks with intermediaries to solve the problem,” he added.
The Israeli Postal Service and Ministry of Communications
both declined to comment on the matter.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories
(COGAT), a branch of the Israeli Defense Ministry, put the blame on the
Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah.
“The transfer of mail has been delayed recently due to the
fact that a replacement has not yet been found for Sufian Abu-Zubda, the
Palestinian Authority official responsible for mail transfer, who was arrested
by the Israeli security forces,” a statement from COGAT read. “(He was not
replaced) despite Israeli appeals to the Ministry of Civil Affairs in the
Palestinian Authority and the Director General of the Palestinian
Communications Ministry to receive a new contact person.”
Sulaiman Al-Zuhairi, Deputy Minister of Communications in
the Palestinian Authority rejected the Israeli explanation.
“We are ready to deliver mail to Gaza at any given moment,”
he told The Media Line. “We have sent (the Israelis) three names of people to
wait at Erez (the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip) to receive the mail, but
they refuse for security and other reasons. They are stalling.”
“We are looking at other options, like using private
companies to tackle the problem,” Al-Zuhairi added.
The Media Line has learned that Israel has indeed received
three names of candidates to replace the arrested Abu-Zubda, to be vetted by
Israeli security. A decision on the matter is expected soon.
The Palestinian Deputy Minister viewed the mail delivery
problems as part of a wider Israeli attitude toward Gaza.
“This is part of the policy of siege imposed on Gaza,” he
said. “As part of the blockade, Israelis are preventing not only the entry of
mail, but of many products.”
Meanwhile, the Canadian postal service advised its clients
it could not deliver mail to the Gaza strip.
“All Gaza-bound mail accepted by Canada Post that is
undeliverable will be returned to the sender as we do not know when mail
service to the area will resume,” read an official statement by Canada Post.
Responding to the Canada Post announcement, the Canadian
Union of Postal Workers issued a statement in which it encouraged citizens to
send their mail to Gaza aboard a Canadian ship destined to break the blockade
this fall.
Denis Lemelin, National President of the Union of Postal
Workers, described the initiative as a humanitarian one.
“As postal workers, we know very well that cutting off mail
creates suffering and hardship for people, who are isolated from their loved
ones,” the statement read. “How many more abuses will the people of Gaza have
to endure?”
“We are heartened by the growing international response to
Israel’s cruel treatment of the Palestinian people,” Lemelin added.
In April 2008 the Canadian Union of Postal Workers decided
to join the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS) against Israel;
the first national union in North America to do so.
