Last Thursday, volunteers outside Berri-UQAM metro Amnesty International asked passersby to stop and sign a petition demanding an end to the Israeli military’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip. In recent months, Amnesty has criticized both Gaza’s Hamas-led government and the government of Israel for violations of the laws of war during last January’s spate of violence in the region. A UN report leaked to the British press last week stated that the effect of the blockade on the people of Gaza has been “a gradual process of de-development across all sectors, devastating livelihoods, increasing unemployment and resulting in increased aid dependency.” Seventy per cent of Gazans live on less than a dollar per day, and 60 per cent do not have day-to-day access to drinkable water.
—Niko Block