In 2010, Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged his country would build a hospital for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This is one politician, and one people, who kept their promise – as Indonesia’s citizens raised $15m to build the hospital by May this year. By doing so, Indonesia has broken the Israeli blockade of Gaza in a truly inspiring way.

A report from Middle East Monitor reads:

An Indonesian non-governmental organisation has collected nearly $15 million from Indonesia’s poor and rich alike to build the first Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip. The hospital, which will serve those Palestinians living in northern Gaza, is nearly finished and awaiting some equipment before it starts receiving patients. It is due for completion in May.

Southeast Asian countries are known for their strong support for Palestine, especially the Muslim communities who spend many efforts to visit and support Gaza. Fikri Fikri, a 24 year-old young man from Sumatra, is a volunteer at Indonesia’s Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, known as MER-C. He and 28 other Indonesians have been in Gaza for nearly four months to finalise building the hospital.

This audacious plan by Indonesia appears to have challenged the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has created a humanitarian crisis for residents.

Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas of the world being 25 miles long and 7 wide, with some 1.7 million inhabitants. The Israeli army has built a giant Apartheid wall around the entire strip of land, controlling people and goods moving in and out. The airport was destroyed in 2001, and Israel controls the airspace. Israel has maintained a sea blockade since 1967. For these reasons, it is commonly referred to as the world’s largest open air prison.

The thing is, the only crime the inmates are guilty of is being born within the confines of the Gaza Strip. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters and sons – all trapped by an occupying military that dictates what they eat, drink, if and when they can leave their homes, and whether they live or die.

Israel has maintained a land, sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007 – barring supplies of construction materials, food, water and fuel from the residents. The UN has said Gaza “is quickly becoming uninhabitable” due to the blockade.

A recent report by the Association of International Development Agencies found:

Since the blockade started in 2007, nearly 30 percent of Gaza’s businesses have closed and an additional 15 percent have laid-off 80 percent of their staff. Without opportunities to earn their own income, 80 percent of people in Gaza receive aid to get by.
Due to the ban on import of construction material and delays getting approved materials in there is a shortage of 230 schools in Gaza.
The shortage means that 85 percent of schools in Gaza run on half-day, double shifts- leading to a reduction in children’s class time and the elimination of extracurricular activities, damaging the quality of children’s education.
90-95 percent of the water from Gaza’s underground water aquifer is not safe to drink. Without safe drinking water from their tap, most people in Gaza pay for water from private vendors. This water isn’t much safer, however, as it was found to have 10 times more pollutants than is considered safe to drink.
The blockade has banned or delayed construction materials and spare parts needed to repair Gaza’s collapsing water and sanitation network. Without proper water and sanitation services, 90 million litres of untreated or partially treated sewage is dumped into Gaza’s sea every day. As the sewage floats, it brings health implications extending beyond the entire accessible fishing zone.
If you get sick from the water you can’t count on a quick prescription cure. More than 202 out of 480 essential drugs in Gaza are currently out of stock.
Since January 2009, Israeli naval forces have restricted the access of Palestinian fishing boats to three nautical miles from Gaza’s coast, blocking off access to around 85 percent of Gaza’s fishing water. In practice, access is sometimes restricted to as little as one nautical mile.
Since 2008, the sea blockade has reduced the main fishing catch, sardines, by 90 percent.
Since the beginning of the blockade in June 2007, the Palestinian fishing yield has decreased by 7,000 metric tons – representing an overall loss of around US$26.5 million.
Restrictions have reduced 90 percent of Gaza’s fishermen to poverty.
Fishing has also become physically dangerous. In 2011, there were at least 72 reported incidents of Israel naval vessels opening fire on Palestinian fishing boats, with 4 fishermen injured and 1 lost at sea. In addition to incidents of live fire, fishing boats are often forced ashore, with 43 fishermen reportedly arrested and subjected to interrogation in 2012.

Matters deteriorated further last year when Egyptian government chose to destroy tunnels used to smuggle goods in to the Gaza Strip through the southern border with Egypt. As the Guardian newspaper reports:

Egypt’s closure of the tunnels has exacerbated an already precarious situation. “Ordinary people in Gaza are struggling to find work and feed their families while the blockade remains in place,” said Nishant Pandey, of Oxfam. More than 80% of Gaza’s 1.7 million inhabitants are in need of humanitarian aid and 65% of families are expected to be food insecure by the end of the year, according to the charity.

Since the tunnel closures in June, the prices of many basic foodstuffs have risen. Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said the cost of rice was up 26%, sugar 14% and sunflower oil 13%.

Even in the last few weeks, large areas of Gaza were submerged in up to two metres of raw sewage as the blockade meant there was not sufficient electricity to activate water pumps to resolve the crisis.

The move by Indonesia will place the spotlight once again on Israel’s blockade – and create an opportunity for Palestinians to gain much needed health and medical treatments currently denied them – and perhaps signal to others around the world that commitment backed up by action can make a difference.