The civilian population of Gaza continues to suffer a a year after Operation Cast Lead.

The Israeli government, while using propaganda to deny the facts, continues to besiege the Palestinian population though collective punishment. The current protests against the siege by various international activists, Palestinians, and Israelis, though ignored by Israel, indicate that the problem will not just go away.

This statement appeared in the November 2009 Edition of the AJDS Newsletter

Many people within the Jewish community, whose support for Israel is not in
question, have watched and noted the way in which the occupation of
Palestinian land has had a corrupting influence on Israel's soul. Many
Jewish Israelis are blind to the indignity and abuse on a daily basis
accorded to ordinary Palestinians passing through Israeli checkpoints. They
are insulated from feeling the deprivation, frustration and powerlessness in
the lives of people under occupation behind a wall and out of view. But the
most corrupt aspect of the occupation is the pervasive acquisition of land
through the establishment of Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank.