Dear Editor,
Respect for human rights is an essential element of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which governs trade relations between the EU and Israel.

Recently 38 people were killed in the Palestinian Gaza Strip by the Israeli military, while the Israeli blockade of Gaza has deprived 1.4 million Palestinian civilians of basic items, such as food and medical supplies. In 2007, 131 innocent Palestinian civilians were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza, while the continuing Israeli blockade has destroyed the economy. Israel, by engaging in the war crime of collective punishments against Palestinian civilians, is in clear breach of international law. The time is long overdue for the Irish Government to call on the EU to immediately activate Article 2 of the Association Agreement and revoke Israel's status as a favoured EU trading partner.

Recently, Gaza descended into a total blackout. The Israeli government has decided to cut fuel supplies to Gaza in reprisal for resistance from sectors of the Palestinian community. This is collective punishment of the entire population that has already begun to cost the lives of infants on incubators and other medical patients in need of life support equipment.

Omar Kittaneh, the head of the Palestine Energy Authority in Ramallah, confirmed that the one remaining operating turbine was powered down, and the Gaza power plant is no longer generating any electricity at all.

"We have asked the Israeli government to reverse its decision and to supply fuel to operate the power plant", Dr Kittaneh said. "We have talked to the Israeli humanitarian coordination in their Ministry of Energy [National Infrastructure]. We say this is totally Israel's responsibility and that reducing the fuel supplies until the plant had to shut down will affect not only the electrical system but the water supply, and the entire infrastructure in Gaza, everything."

A Palestinian economist Hasan Abu Ramadan said the current humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip will be deepened by the blockade on fuel and food supplies. He warned that Gaza Strip could go from a situation of deep poverty to all out famine, disease and malnutrition.

Abu Ramadan said that more than 80 per cent of the Strip's 1.5 million residents have been surviving with the help of food aid from international organisations such as UNRWA for Palestinian refugees.