Marilyn is a Jew with a conscience.
With roots in Israel, Canada and New Zealand she has a M.A. in International Development and has been working on job creation in war torn societies. She helped found "Alternative Jewish Voices". Tonight she spoke of her experience in Gaza.
Gaza is a narrow strip of land on the Mediterranean coast that is about the length of the distance between Wellington and Paekakariki.
In 1948 20,000 Arabs settled there having left or been driven out of the newly created state of Israel. Israel used to occupy the "Gaza Strip" but pulled all its settlers and army out of it. Today there are 2 million Palestinian Arabs crammed in.
Israel controls all access to Gaza and restricts imports of anything that could be of use militarily. Sometimes this includes even concrete and steel. There is no industry, no room for agriculture and 95% of the people do not have access to clean water. The people depend on UNO aid, and Marilyn's work involved prioritising this.
There is massive unemployment and 50% of the population are children. There are eight universities but it is very difficult for graduates to find work. Sometimes some of the men are allowed to work in unskilled jobs in Israel but only when the Israeli government allows it.
There is a basic health service aided by Medicines sans frontiers but few advanced facilities. Much of the social support is organised by Hamas which Israel (and USA and NZ) see as a terrorist organisation.
Amnesty International sees the situation as a form of Apartheid but the NZ Government does not.
Because Israel claims that Gaza is not a state and is not "occupied" the inhabitants have no legal rights, and not being members of a state, have no international recognition. USA and friends, including New Zealand, do not recognise it as a state.
From time-to-time disputes flare up. As Gaza is literally fensed in, the only way some residents feel they can protest (apart from writing letters that no-one reads!) is by firing home-made rockets at Israel. These do minimal damage as Israel is protected by its hi-tech "Iron Dome", but Israeli leaders have been determined to punish that activity on a 50:1 eye for an eye basis with overwhelming violence by artillery and aircraft. During disturbances last May 256 Palestinians were killed.
Israel's world influence is strong. Recently Marilyn was scheduled to be interviewed on RNZ but at the last minute the interview was cancelled.
In answer to a question "Can Gaza graduates leave Gaza?" Marilyn answered "No, Israel rarely allows anyone to leave, and even if they could, they would not be allowed to return".
Can you spot the deliberate spelling error?
