By John Pilger
The recent breakout of the people of Gaza provided a heroic spectacle unlike any other since the Warsaw ghetto uprising and the smashing down of the Berlin Wall. Whereas on the occupied West Bank, Ariel Sharon's master plan of walling in the population and stealing their land and resources has all but succeeded, requiring only a Palestinian Vichy to sign it off, the people of Gaza have defied their tormentors, however briefly, and it is a guarantee they will do so again. There is profound symbolism in their achievement, touching lives and hopes all over the world."[Sharon's] fate for us," wrote Karma Nabulsi, a Palestinian, "was a Hobbesian vision of an anarchic society: truncated, violent, powerless, destroyed, cowed, ruled by disparate militias, gangs, religious ideologues and extremists, broken up into ethnic and religious tribalism, and co-opted [by] collaborationists. Look to the Iraq of today – that is what he had in store for us and he nearly achieved it."Israel's and America's experiments in mass suffering nearly achieved it. There was First Rains, the code name for a terror of sonic booms that came every night and sent Gazan children mad. There was Summer Rains, which showered bombs and missiles on civilians, then extrajudicial executions, and finally a land invasion. Ehud Barak, the current Israeli defence minister, has tried every kind of blockade: the denial of electricity for water and sewage pumps, incubators and dialysis machines and the denial of fuel and food to a population of mostly malnourished children. This has been accompanied by the droning, insincere, incessant voices of western broadcasters and politicians, one merging with the other, platitude upon platitude, tribunes of the "international community" whose response is not to help, but to excuse an indisputably illegal occupation as "disputed" and damn a democratically elected Palestinian Authority as "Hamas militants" who "refuse to recognise Israel's right to exist" when it is Israel that demonstrably refuses to recognise the Palestinians' right to exist."What is being hidden from the [Israeli] public," wrote Uri Avnery, a founder of Gush Shalom, the Israeli peace movement, on 26 January, "is that the launching of the Qassams [rockets from Gaza] could be stopped tomorrow. Several months ago, Hamas proposed a ceasefire. It repeated the offer this week . . . Why doesn't our government jump at this proposal? Simple: to make such a deal, we must speak to Hamas . . . It is more important to boycott Hamas than to put an end to the suffering of Sderot. All the media co-operate with this pretence." Hamas long ago offered Israel a ten-year ceasefire and has since recognised the "reality" of the Jewish state. This is almost never reported in the west.The inspiration of the Palestinian breakout from Gaza was dramatically demonstrated by the star Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Aboutreika. Helping his national side to a 3-0 victory over Sudan in the African Nations Cup, he raised his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with the words "Sympathise with Gaza" in English and Arabic. The crowd stood and cheered, and hundreds of thousands of people around the world expressed their support for him and for Gaza. An Egyptian journalist who joined a delegation of sports writers to Fifa to protest against Aboutreika's yellow card said: "It is actions like his that bring many walls down, walls of silence, walls in our minds."In the murdochracies, where most of the world is viewed as useful or expendable, we have little sense of this. The news selection is unremittingly distracting and disabling. The cynicism of an identical group of opportunists laying claim to the White House is given respectability as each of them competes to support the Bush regime's despotic war-making. John McCain, almost certainly the Republican nominee for president, wants a "hundred-year war". That the leading Democratic candidates are a woman and a black man is of supreme irrelevance; the fanatical Condoleezza Rice is both female and black. Look into the murky world behind Hillary Clinton and you find the likes of Monsanto, a company that produced Agent Orange, the war chemical that continues to destroy Vietnam. One of Barack Obama's chief whisperers is Zbigniew Brzezinski, architect of Operation Cyclone in Afghanistan, which spawned jihadism, al-Qaeda and 9/11.This malign circus has been silent on Palestine and Gaza and almost anything that matters, including the following announcement, perhaps the most important of the century: "The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction." Inviting incredulity, these words may require more than one reading. They come from a statement written by five of the west's top military leaders, an American, a Briton, a German, a Frenchman and a Dutchman, who help run the club known as Nato. They are saying the west should nuke countries that have weapons of mass destruction – with the exclusion, that is, of the west's nuclear arsenal. Nuking will be necessary because "the west's values and way of life are under threat".Where is this threat coming from? "Over there," say the generals.Where? In "the brutal world".On 21 January, on the eve of the Nato announcement, Gordon Brown also out-Orwelled Orwell. He said that "the race for more and bigger stockpiles of nuclear destruction [sic]" is over. The reason he gave was that "the international community" (basically, the west) was facing "serious challenges". One of these challenges is Iran, which has no nuclear weapons and no programme to build them, according to America's National Intelligence Estimates. This is in striking contrast to Brown's Britain, which, in defiance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has commissioned an entirely new Trident nuclear arsenal at a cost believed to be as much as £25bn. What Brown was doing was threatening Iran on behalf of the Bush regime, which wants to attack Iran before the end of the presidential year.Jonathan Schell, author of the seminal Fate of the Earth, provides compelling evidence in his recently published The Seventh Decade: the New Shape of Nuclear Danger that nuclear war has now moved to the centre of western foreign policy even though the enemy is invented. In response, Russia has begun to restore its vast nuclear arsenal. Robert McNamara, the US defence secretary during the Cuban crisis, describes this as "Apocalypse Soon". Thus, the wall dismantled by young Germans in 1989 and sold to tourists is being built in the minds of a new generation.For the Bush and Blair regimes, the invasion of Iraq and the campaigns against Hamas, Iran and Syria are vital in fabricating this new "nuclear threat". The effect of the Iraq invasion, says a study cited by Noam Chomsky, is a "sevenfold increase in the yearly rate of fatal jihadist attacks".Behold Nato's instant "brutal world".Of course, the highest and oldest wall is that which separates "us" from "them". This is described today as a great divide of religions or "a clash of civilisations", which are false concepts, propagated in western scholarship and journalism to provide what Edward Said called "the other" – an identifiable target for fear and hatred that justifies invasion and economic plunder. In fact, the foundations for this wall were laid more than 500 years ago when the privileges of "discovery and conquest" were granted to Christopher Columbus in a world that the then all-powerful pope considered his property, to be disposed of according to his will.Nothing has changed. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and now Nato are invested with the same privileges of conquest on behalf of the new papacy in Washington. The goal is what Bill Clinton called the "integration of countries into the global free-market community", the terms of which, noted the New York Times, "require the United States to get involved in the plumbing and wiring of other nations' internal affairs more deeply than ever before".This modern system of dominance requires sophisticated propaganda that presents its aims as benign, even "promoting democracy in Iraq", according to BBC executives responsible for responding to sceptical members of the public. That "we" in the west have the unfettered right to exploit the economies and resources of the poor world while maintaining tariff walls and state subsidies is taught as serious scholarship in the economics departments of leading universities. This is neoliberalism – socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor. "Rather than acknowledging," wrote Chalmers Johnson, "that free trade, privatisation and the rest of their policies are ahistorical, self-serving economic nonsense, apologists for neoliberalism have also revived an old 19th-century and neo-Nazi explanation for developmental failure – namely, culture."What is rarely discussed is that liberalism as an open-ended, violent ideology is destroying liberalism as a reality. Hatred of Muslims is widely advertised by those claiming the respectability of what they call "the left". At the same time, opponents of the new papacy are routinely smeared, as seen in the recent fake charges of narcoterrorism against Hugo Chávez. Having insinuated their way into public debate, the smears deflect authentic critiques of Chávez's Venezuela and prepare the ground for an assault on it.This is the role that journalism has played in the invasion of Iraq and the great injustice in Palestine. It also represents a wall, on which Aldous Huxley, describing his totalitarian utopia in Brave New World, might have written: "Opposition is apostasy. Fatalism is ideal. Silence is preferred." If the people of Gaza can disobey all three, why can't we?
Showing posts with label Philistine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philistine. Show all posts
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Instep Intifada
Soccer Star Stands for Gaza
By DAVE ZIRIN
In a world where mainstream media dumb down news reportage with inane sports metaphors, sometimes it takes sports to remind us of the gravity of the actual news. While the press acts like extras on Gossip Girl as they assess the latest machinations of Bill, Barack and Hillary, a soccer player aimed to alert the world to a humanitarian catastrophe.Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Aboutreika of the Al-Ahly Pharoahs is the player who stepped up to this task. It's a safe bet that Pharoah mania isn't exactly sweeping the States. It's also probably true that most readers don't know Mohamed Aboutreika from Muhammad Ali, but the two men share more than a name.After scoring in the Egyptian national side's 3-0 victory over Sudan in the African Nations Cup, the player known as the Smiling Assassin lifted his jersey to reveal a T-shirt that read, "Sympathize with Gaza."For such a simple slogan, the reaction has been profound. Aboutreika received a yellow card for breaking world soccer's ruling body FIFA's year-old rule against political sloganeering on the pitch, and a suspension may be in the works. But then the unexpected: The confederation was flooded with emails from fans and even reporters expressing their support for Aboutreika's actions."He is a good player and he belongs to all Arab and Muslim nations, and he reflected what is in our hearts," journalist Ahmed Gamal wrote to FIFA. "We are asking you, in the name of human rights, to cooperate with us and support him. Please do not even think about any suspension for him, because your tournament will be fake and the whole Muslim world is supporting him. Please don't make that mistake. We are all sympathizing with Gaza."The immediate solidarity was due as much to the man as the message. For those who care more about navel lint than the seditious, flag-burning world of soccer, Aboutreika isn't some obscure sideline footballer. One of the top players in Africa, he's known as the "Smiling Assassin" for his trademark ear-to-ear post-goal-scoring grin.Like calling Walter Payton "Sweetness," it speaks to Aboutreika's personality more than his play. He's a media favorite for treating fans and reporters alike with a rare respect.He follows the Muhammad Ali credo: "I'll never look down on someone who looks up to me." If Roger Clemens can make a person feel like bathing in Listerine after meeting him, Aboutreika makes the people around him feel lifted for loving sports.After his team won the African Champions League in 2006, the press lavished him with praise. But Aboutreika gently rebuked them, saying, "We need to stop this habit of praising [an individual] player. It isn't Aboutreika, but the whole team who got the Cup. Without the others' efforts, I can't ever make anything. Football is a game played by many players. It isn't tennis or squash."He has said: "Every athlete has a humanitarian role in society. He doesn't live solely for himself, but for others too. I like to participate in charity work and try my best to help the poor and penniless. I'm also seeking to use soccer in humanitarian work."Quaint as this may sound, Aboutreika backs his words with deeds. He's made fighting poverty the focus of his life out of uniform, appearing in an Egyptian public service announcement broadcast in which he said: "Hunger takes away a child every five seconds. We have to move immediately and lend each other a hand because every second counts. This is a game we have to win."For a person committed to fighting poverty, the need to raise awareness about Gaza is an act of obvious principle." (John Edwards, take note.)FIFA may have been horrified by this breach of politics/sport propriety, but that's nothing compared to what's happening in Gaza itself.Like Gotham in Kurt Russell's Escape From New York, Gaza has become a prison city, a scrap of land containing 1.5 million prisoners"men, women and children. Bad turned to dystopic on Jan. 18, when the state of Israel imposed a total Gaza blockade. Before this action, unemployment exceeded 40 percent. Now life in Gaza isn't about finding work. It's about basic survival."A stream of dark and putrid sludge snakes through Gaza's streets," wrote journalist Mohammed Omer. "It is a noxious mix of human and animal waste. The stench is overwhelming. The occasional passer-by vomits. Over recent days, this has been a more common sight than the sale of food on the streets of Gaza, choked by a relentless Israeli siege."All of this came home after hundreds of thousands of desperate residents fled Gaza through a breach in the border wall. As Al Jazeera reported, "If Gaza is the biggest prison on the planet, this is the biggest jail break."This is what pushed Aboutreika to make his stand. How novel to see a superstar athlete stand up and protest the wreckage of U.S. imperial policy in the Middle East. Tom Brady is more likely to call his new cologne "Gaza Mist" than acknowledge the humanitarian horror show underwritten by his tax dollars.Against the expectation of star athletes and his own federation, Aboutreika has decided that while there's a soul in prison, he himself isn't free. Amid the graveyards dug by the West, a smiling assassin has taken a stand for survival and a measure of human compassion.Dave Zirin is a columnist for sports illustrated.com and the author of "Welcome to the Terrordome," (Haymarket).
By DAVE ZIRIN
In a world where mainstream media dumb down news reportage with inane sports metaphors, sometimes it takes sports to remind us of the gravity of the actual news. While the press acts like extras on Gossip Girl as they assess the latest machinations of Bill, Barack and Hillary, a soccer player aimed to alert the world to a humanitarian catastrophe.Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Aboutreika of the Al-Ahly Pharoahs is the player who stepped up to this task. It's a safe bet that Pharoah mania isn't exactly sweeping the States. It's also probably true that most readers don't know Mohamed Aboutreika from Muhammad Ali, but the two men share more than a name.After scoring in the Egyptian national side's 3-0 victory over Sudan in the African Nations Cup, the player known as the Smiling Assassin lifted his jersey to reveal a T-shirt that read, "Sympathize with Gaza."For such a simple slogan, the reaction has been profound. Aboutreika received a yellow card for breaking world soccer's ruling body FIFA's year-old rule against political sloganeering on the pitch, and a suspension may be in the works. But then the unexpected: The confederation was flooded with emails from fans and even reporters expressing their support for Aboutreika's actions."He is a good player and he belongs to all Arab and Muslim nations, and he reflected what is in our hearts," journalist Ahmed Gamal wrote to FIFA. "We are asking you, in the name of human rights, to cooperate with us and support him. Please do not even think about any suspension for him, because your tournament will be fake and the whole Muslim world is supporting him. Please don't make that mistake. We are all sympathizing with Gaza."The immediate solidarity was due as much to the man as the message. For those who care more about navel lint than the seditious, flag-burning world of soccer, Aboutreika isn't some obscure sideline footballer. One of the top players in Africa, he's known as the "Smiling Assassin" for his trademark ear-to-ear post-goal-scoring grin.Like calling Walter Payton "Sweetness," it speaks to Aboutreika's personality more than his play. He's a media favorite for treating fans and reporters alike with a rare respect.He follows the Muhammad Ali credo: "I'll never look down on someone who looks up to me." If Roger Clemens can make a person feel like bathing in Listerine after meeting him, Aboutreika makes the people around him feel lifted for loving sports.After his team won the African Champions League in 2006, the press lavished him with praise. But Aboutreika gently rebuked them, saying, "We need to stop this habit of praising [an individual] player. It isn't Aboutreika, but the whole team who got the Cup. Without the others' efforts, I can't ever make anything. Football is a game played by many players. It isn't tennis or squash."He has said: "Every athlete has a humanitarian role in society. He doesn't live solely for himself, but for others too. I like to participate in charity work and try my best to help the poor and penniless. I'm also seeking to use soccer in humanitarian work."Quaint as this may sound, Aboutreika backs his words with deeds. He's made fighting poverty the focus of his life out of uniform, appearing in an Egyptian public service announcement broadcast in which he said: "Hunger takes away a child every five seconds. We have to move immediately and lend each other a hand because every second counts. This is a game we have to win."For a person committed to fighting poverty, the need to raise awareness about Gaza is an act of obvious principle." (John Edwards, take note.)FIFA may have been horrified by this breach of politics/sport propriety, but that's nothing compared to what's happening in Gaza itself.Like Gotham in Kurt Russell's Escape From New York, Gaza has become a prison city, a scrap of land containing 1.5 million prisoners"men, women and children. Bad turned to dystopic on Jan. 18, when the state of Israel imposed a total Gaza blockade. Before this action, unemployment exceeded 40 percent. Now life in Gaza isn't about finding work. It's about basic survival."A stream of dark and putrid sludge snakes through Gaza's streets," wrote journalist Mohammed Omer. "It is a noxious mix of human and animal waste. The stench is overwhelming. The occasional passer-by vomits. Over recent days, this has been a more common sight than the sale of food on the streets of Gaza, choked by a relentless Israeli siege."All of this came home after hundreds of thousands of desperate residents fled Gaza through a breach in the border wall. As Al Jazeera reported, "If Gaza is the biggest prison on the planet, this is the biggest jail break."This is what pushed Aboutreika to make his stand. How novel to see a superstar athlete stand up and protest the wreckage of U.S. imperial policy in the Middle East. Tom Brady is more likely to call his new cologne "Gaza Mist" than acknowledge the humanitarian horror show underwritten by his tax dollars.Against the expectation of star athletes and his own federation, Aboutreika has decided that while there's a soul in prison, he himself isn't free. Amid the graveyards dug by the West, a smiling assassin has taken a stand for survival and a measure of human compassion.Dave Zirin is a columnist for sports illustrated.com and the author of "Welcome to the Terrordome," (Haymarket).
Monday, February 4, 2008
Life in Occupied Gaza
A Prison State
By STEPHEN LENDMAN
Life in occupied Gaza was never easy, but conditions worsened markedly after Hamas' surprise January 2006 electoral victory. Israel refused recognition along with the US and the West. All outside aid was cut off, an economic embargo and sanctions were imposed, and the legitimate government was isolated. Stepped up repression followed along with repeated IDF incursions, attacks and arrests. Gaza's people have been imprisoned in their own land and traumatized for months. No one outside the Territories cares or offers enough aid. Things then got worse.
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, in league with Israel and the US, declared a "state of emergency last June 14 and illegally dismissed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his national unity government. On June 15, he appointed former IMF and World Bank official Salam Fayyad prime minister even though his party got only 2% of the votes in the 2006 election. On June 17, Abbas swore in a new (illegitimate) 13 member "emergency" cabinet with plans for future elections, excluding Hamas.
Israel and the US showed gratitude. The West Bank embargo ended, Israel began releasing frozen Palestinian tax funds, and the US and European Union (EU) resumed aid to the PA but continued isolating Hamas in Gaza that since 1995 has been designated a terrorist organization. After passage of the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the State Department included Hamas among the first 30 groups designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) in October 1997. It makes it illegal to provide funds or other material support. It also ignores how Israel once embraced Hamas in the 1980s.
It's name means courage and bravery, and it's also an abbreviation of Islamic Resistance Movement in Arabic. It grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood (that had roots in Egypt) and was formed in 1987 during the first Intifada. At the time, Israel offered support and used Hamas to counter the PLO's nationalist threat under Arafat. Ever since, it's been an effective resistance movement against repression, occupation and much more. It provides essential social services like medical clinics; education, including centers for women; free meals for children; financial and technical help to Palestinians whose homes Israel destroyed; aid to refugees in the camps; and youth and sports clubs for young people.
Hamas is also a formidable defender, and that gets it in trouble. It established the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, an elite military wing, and other security forces like its Tanfithya Executive Force for self-defense and law enforcement. Washington and Tel Aviv call it "terrorism" because Hamas wants the occupation ended, won't surrender its sovereignty like Fatah did under Arafat and Abbas, is willing to recognize Israel (though that's never reported), but only if Palestinians get equal recognition and what's rightfully theirs - an independent homeland inside pre-1967 borders or one "state for all its citizens," Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and others.
Instead, Hamas got isolated, hammered and called a "hostile entity" by Israel's security cabinet. It was announced on September 19, sanctions on Gaza were tightened, and it was decided to "reduce the amount of megawattage provide(d) to the Strip, and Hamas will have to decide whether to provide electricity to hospitals or weapons lathes." There was more as well - cutbacks in fuel, food, other essentials and even tighter border crossing restrictions.
Even before the latest crisis, Gaza was devastated. Its industrial production was down 90%, and its agricultural output was half its pre-2007 level. In addition, nearly all construction stopped, unemployment and poverty topped 80%, and by now it may be 90%. After September 19, it got worse when shops began running out of everything. Israel allows in only nine basic materials, their availability is spotty, and some essentials are banned, like certain medicines, and others restricted like fruit, milk and other dairy products. Before June 2007, 9000 commodities could be imported. Today, it's down to 20, people don't get enough food, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was unusually blunt in its criticism. In a November 2007 report called "Dignity Denied in the Occupied Palestinian Territories," it said:
"....Palestinians....face hardship (in) their (daily) lives; they are prevented from doing what makes up the daily fabric of most people's existence. (They) face a deep human crisis, where millions of people are denied their human dignity. Not once in a while, but every day (and the people of Gaza are) trapped (and) sealed off." The "humanitarian cost (is) enormous," people can barely survive, "families unable to get enough food increased by 14%, (and) Palestinians (are) being trampled underfoot day after day. (In) Gaza (under siege, Palestinians) continue to pay for conflict and economic containment with their health and livelihoods. Cutting power and fuel further compounds their hardship."
Let 'em eat cake, walk, and live without light or heat is apparently Israel's solution, and noted Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, took note. He calls it "genocide....to describe what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip." Knowing the facts, who can disagree.
Then there's the matter of energy. With electricity restricted and fuel supplies reduced, Israel went further. It sealed its borders and cut all fuel shipments in response to Palestinian rocket attacks in and around the border town of Sderot. They're fired in self-defense and used in response to repeated Israeli attacks that in the week of January 17 - 23 alone:
-- killed 19 Palestinians along with three others from previous IDF-inflicted wounds;
-- extra-judicially executed seven of the victims, including two women;
-- wounded 71 Palestinians, including 24 children and three women;
-- made 33 IDF incursions in the West Bank and five in Gaza;
-- arrested 58 Palestinian civilians, including seven children, in the West Bank, and 32 in Gaza, including 3 children;
-- destroyed five homes and razed agricultural land in Jabalya in northern Gaza;
-- allowed further settler attacks against civilians and property in Hebron.
The same pattern continued the following week through Janauary 30 with more Israeli incursions, attacks and arrests. In the West Bank:
-- Nablus was targeted and several Palestinian civilians arrested; several homes were also searched and ransacked in the villages of Kufer Kalil, Beit Dajan and Beit Fourik;
-- the IDF seized six Palestinians in Jenin in a pre-dawn invasion; another followed theire several days later, the Israeli army opened fire randomly, one civilian was injured, four others arrested and a home was ransacked; several civilian homes were attacked and ransacked in the town of Qabatiya and village of Abu Da'eif in the northern West Bank; local sources reported unprovoked random gunfire by heavily armed troops in civilian neighborhoods;
-- the IDF invaded Bethlehem, killed one civilian, arrested another, and injured seven others; eyewitnesses reported that local journalists were prevented from witnessing and documenting the incursion;
-- several other West Bank cities were targeted and six civilians arrested: the Al Toor neighborhood in northern Jerusalem; the village of Beit Rima near Ramallah; Tulkarem city and the nearby Nur Shams refugee camp; and Jenin city.
These are malicious acts of aggression, abductions and wanton killing. Mostly civilians are targeted, and when Palestinians respond with crude Qassam rockets and children throw rocks, it's called "terrorism." Israel's response - fiercer attacks and incursions in the Territories on any pretext or none at all and further tightening of its medieval siege on Gaza.
Its border crossings have been closed since June 2007, and severe restrictions were imposed on movement. Finally, food and fuel supplies were cut. Gaza's power plant exhausted its supply, shut down, and the Strip went dark on January 20. Israel remained defiant, and Prime Minister Olmert announced...."as far as I am concerned, every resident of Gaza can walk because they have no gasoline for their vehicles," and Foreign Ministry spokesman, Arye Meckel, told AP the blackout was "a Hamas ploy to pretend there is some kind of crisis to attract international sympathy."
The Director of Gaza's main Shiffa hospital, Dr. Hassan Khalaf, had a different view. He described the situation as "potentially disastrous." Already Israel's siege was directly responsible for 45 deaths, and he said cutting hospital power would cause 30 premature babies to die immediately. The World Health Organization was also alarmed. It said insufficient electricity "disrupt(s)....intensive care units, operating theatres, and emergency rooms (and) power shortages have interrupted refrigeration of perishable medical supplies, including vaccine."
To operate at full capacity, Gaza needs 230 - 250 daily megawatts of electricity. Its only power plant supplies around 30% of it, but people in central Gaza and Gaza city are totally dependent on what can't be supplied if industrial diesel fuel the plant depends on is cut off. The result is critically ill people are endangered, bread and other baked goods can't be produced without electricity to power ovens, food is already in short supply, so is fresh water, and sanitation conditions are disastrous.
Michele Mercier of the International Red Cross said hospital medications were running out and wouldn't "last for more than two or three days." In addition, allowable food shipments are endangered according to UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman, Christopher Gunness. He explained that the agency would have to suspend distribution to 860,000 people because of a fuel and plastic bags shortage.
Israel was unapologetic with Internal Security Minister, Avi Dichter, saying the IDF must "eliminate the rocket fire from Gaza, irrespective of the cost to Palestinians." Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, added: "We are impacting the overall quality of life in Gaza and destroying the terror infrastructure." He meant civilians as did Ehud Olmert claiming: "We are trying to hit only those involved in terrorism, but also signaling to the population in Gaza that it cannot be free from responsibility for the situation."
Israel makes no distinction between civilians (including women and children) and resistance fighters, and B'Tselem stated that Yuval Diskin, head of the Israel Security Agency (ISA), "defines every Palestinian killed in the Gaza Strip as a terrorist," including small children and the elderly infirm. The world approves, the Security Council debates and abstains, the dominant media is silent, and innocent Palestinians suffer and die - over 75 killed in January and several hundred injured. Who cares and who's counting. They're just Arab Muslims.
They're also needy human beings, now desperate, and on January 23 they responded courageously. No help is coming so Hamas acted preemptively. It destroyed 200 meters of metal barrier separating both sides of Rafah that was divided in 1982 as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. About 40,000 people live in Egypt and another 200,000 in Gaza in the original town and an adjacent refugee camp. Until the outbreak of the second Intifada in September, 2000, crossing both ways was uncomplicated. That ended as violence increased, and Israel erected a barrier. Now it's breached, Gazans took advantage, and some called it a "jail break." Hundreds of thousands entered Egypt for needed essentials unavailable at home. Finally, the media noticed.
On January 24, The New York Times tried to have it both ways. It called Hamas' border breach "an act of defiance" and continued indifferently. Unmindful of an 18 month siege, mass impoverishment, a humanitarian crisis and daily killings, correspondent Steven Erlanger made things seem festive in his report. Almost flippantly he said "Tens of thousands of Palestinians.... crossed the border for a 'buying spree' of medicine, cement, sheep....gasoline, soap and countless other supplies that have been cut off."
Most Gazans can barely afford food and essentials and struggle daily to survive. Yet, Erlanger said they stocked up on "Coca-Cola, Cleopatra and Malimbo cigarettes, and satellite dishes" and on January 25 added "televisions (and) washing machines." It was a party, "Egyptian merchants greeted them with a 'cornucopia of consumer goods," and Hamas joined the festivities by "mak(ing no) visible effort to control or tax" purchases. Those who could afford it indeed took advantage. Merchants bought items for resale at lower Egyptian prices. Most Palestinians, however, bought essentials - food, fuel, medicine if available and various household items.
Earlier on January 21, Israel relented to international pressure and a PR disaster impossible to ignore. Haaretz highlighted it in a January 26 editorial headlined "The siege of Gaza has failed." Hamas ended it "via a well-planned operation and simultaneously won the sympathy of the world, which has forgotten the rain of Qassam rockets on Sderot, (and Israel looks foolish) entrenching itself in positions that look outdated." Only a week ago, the government was crowing. Triumphantly, it claimed its policy was "bearing fruit."
Today, it's all bitter with Olmert in denial. In a speech at the January Herzliya Conference, he said: "Mistakes were made; there were failures. But in addition, lessons were learned, mistakes were corrected, modes of behavior were changed, and above all, the decisions we have made since then have led to greater security, greater calm and greater deterrence than there had been for many years." Haaretz had another view, and it was harsh. It stated events in Gaza "completely (contradict) his statements. If that is what learning lessons looks like, if that is what deterrence means, the Olmert government has precious little to boast about." So it acted.
AP reported on January 21 that authorities "agreed today to ship diesel fuel and medicine into Gaza on a one-time basis," easing its blockade, but it wouldn't continue unless rocket firings stopped. Everything then changed on January 27.
Aljazeera, The New York Times, Haaretz and other sources reported that the Olmert government relented. It agreed to resume fuel shipments to Gaza, easing its blockade. The decision came on the same day Israel's Supreme Court addressed the petition of 10 human rights organizations to order a resumption and prevent a humanitarian disaster. No decision was rendered, but state authorities acted anyway.
They agreed to supply 2.2 million weekly liters of industrial diesel fuel, the minimum amount needed to power central Gaza and Gaza City, but it's not enough overall according to Rafiq Maliha, the project manager at An-Nuseirat's power plant location. It's only two-thirds the amount needed, a mere fraction was delivered the first day, and Maliha said Gaza's gas companies would strike and resist this "Israeli plot" masquerading as humanitarian aid. His doubts are well-founded. On the same day fuel shipments resumed, Israeli warplanes struck northern Gaza in two separate raids. Hamas sources said two missiles hit a Palestinian car and others targeted a Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades position causing four injuries.
Human rights groups are also dismissive. They noted previous promises made, then broken, and the GISHA group (the Israeli NGO for freedom of Palestinian movement in the Territories) spokesperson said that Israel "repeatedly promised that it would ship 2.2 million litres (of fuel) a week into Gaza and has repeatedly broken that promise." Why believe authorities now, and with events so fluid it seems every day, a new policy.
At the same time, Hamas and Egyptian security forces are cooperating to close the border eight days after it was breached. On January 28, Haaretz reported that openings were being sealed by barbed wire, but not entirely as some two-way traffic continues as of January 30. Hamas and Egyptian forces now man the main Salah Eddin gate, most cars and trucks aren't passing through, but pedestrians still in Egypt "scoured (nearly) empty stores for food and consumer products to take back to the Gaza Strip....in fear of an imminent border reclosing."
What's next is anyone's guess, but Israel's Supreme Court will affect it. On January 30, it upheld the government's Gaza sanctions and its right to restrict fuel and electricity. In its statement, the three-judge panel left no doubt where it stands. It wrote:
"We emphasize that the Gaza Strip is controlled by a 'murderous terror group' that operates incessantly to strike the state of Israel and its citizens, and violates every precept of international law with its violent actions." Israel, nonetheless, will supply enough fuel and electricity to "fulfill the vital humanitarian needs of the Gaza Strip at this time."
Israeli human rights petitioners were quick to respond, and their message was clear and harsh. For its part, the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights called the ruling a "dangerous legal precedent that allows Israel to continue to violate the rights of Gaza residents and deprive them of basic humanitarian needs in violation of international law." Hamas spokesperson, Fawzi Barhoum, was equally pointed. He added: The High Court's decision "reflects the criminal, ugly face of the occupation."
Things are now back to square one, Israel's siege has been sanctified, and an unworkable 2005 security arrangement remains in place. Hamas wants it replaced with a new one and demands justice for Gaza's 1.5 million people. Its main objection is Israel controls all movement and monitors it with cameras and computers to track everyone entering and leaving Gaza. On January 27, Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said: 'We don't accept a continued Israeli veto on the movement, the exit and entry through Rafah." It's time for a new system.
Getting one is another matter, according to Israeli officials. They commented on January 28 saying "Israel will not allow the continuation of the current state where its security interests are being compromised," and Olmert and Abbas met on January 27 to discuss it. Initial reports were that Israel wanted Egypt to control the border, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak wants Abbas to do it, he, in turn, agrees to anything Olmert and George Bush want, and they at first rejected putting Abbas in charge, but that's now changed according to Haaretz.
On January 29, it reported "Israel does not plan to block....Abbas from assuming control of Gaza's border crossing with Egypt (if Cairo agrees)." Abbas, in turn, says it does as well as the EU, Arab League and Condoleezza Rice. Hamas reacted angrily through its spokesperson, Sami Abu-Zuhri. He called the plan an "Israeli-led international conspiracy (against the legitimate government) with the participation of some regional parties. We tell all parties that we will not allow the return of old conditions at the crossing."
So the beat goes on. Nothing has changed, and unconsidered is what Palestinians want, need and deserve. After decades of abuse, forces they can't control continue buffeting them, yet they persist and endure.
Now there's the latest crisis, and consider Haaretz's January 27 report. It was after Olmert and Abbas met "for a two-hour tete-a-tete....in Jerusalem" at which Olmert again made promises. He said Israel wouldn't let a humanitarian crisis develop in Gaza, when, in fact, one has existed for months, his government caused it, and it's accompanied by daily attacks, killings, arrests and a vast array of human rights abuses against an isolated population barely hanging on.
On January 23, various Palestinian factions met in Damascus with plenty to say. With little hope of being heeded, they called on Abbas to end the "ridiculous" negotiations he insists must continue with Olmert. Among those attending were Khaled Meshaal of Hamas and Ramadan Shallah of Islamic Jihad. Their message was strong: "I want to ask our brothers in Ramallah (Fatah headquarters), what exactly are you waiting for?" While you're talking, Palestinians in "the biggest prison in history (are) being massacred."
Even Abbas supporters are dubious, and Palestinian writer, Hani Al-Masri, expressed their view: "It doesn't make sense for negotiations to continue while Israel is changing facts on the ground and undermining the chances for a just and acceptable solution." The Arab League also responded, but not with teeth. It denounced Israel's siege, but does nothing to end it. That's Hamas' view with Khaled Meshaal saying the League could force change but instead prefers words, meetings, resolutions and more meetings in Arab capitals.
Still more are planned. Cairo is involved. So are the Saudis, but most of all Washington and Tel Aviv. They control everything and will decide what's next with one thing assured. Gazans are isolated, locked in the Territory, children and the elderly are dying, so are the sick without medical care, daily attacks kill others, and no end is in sight.
The plight of Palestinians won't change as things continue lurching from one crisis to another the way they have for decades. It won't end until world leaders buckle to growing world sentiment that no longer will injustices this grave be tolerated. How much more suffering must be endured, how many more deaths are acceptable, when will justice finally be served? People of conscience want answers. It's about time they got them.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
By STEPHEN LENDMAN
Life in occupied Gaza was never easy, but conditions worsened markedly after Hamas' surprise January 2006 electoral victory. Israel refused recognition along with the US and the West. All outside aid was cut off, an economic embargo and sanctions were imposed, and the legitimate government was isolated. Stepped up repression followed along with repeated IDF incursions, attacks and arrests. Gaza's people have been imprisoned in their own land and traumatized for months. No one outside the Territories cares or offers enough aid. Things then got worse.
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, in league with Israel and the US, declared a "state of emergency last June 14 and illegally dismissed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his national unity government. On June 15, he appointed former IMF and World Bank official Salam Fayyad prime minister even though his party got only 2% of the votes in the 2006 election. On June 17, Abbas swore in a new (illegitimate) 13 member "emergency" cabinet with plans for future elections, excluding Hamas.
Israel and the US showed gratitude. The West Bank embargo ended, Israel began releasing frozen Palestinian tax funds, and the US and European Union (EU) resumed aid to the PA but continued isolating Hamas in Gaza that since 1995 has been designated a terrorist organization. After passage of the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the State Department included Hamas among the first 30 groups designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) in October 1997. It makes it illegal to provide funds or other material support. It also ignores how Israel once embraced Hamas in the 1980s.
It's name means courage and bravery, and it's also an abbreviation of Islamic Resistance Movement in Arabic. It grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood (that had roots in Egypt) and was formed in 1987 during the first Intifada. At the time, Israel offered support and used Hamas to counter the PLO's nationalist threat under Arafat. Ever since, it's been an effective resistance movement against repression, occupation and much more. It provides essential social services like medical clinics; education, including centers for women; free meals for children; financial and technical help to Palestinians whose homes Israel destroyed; aid to refugees in the camps; and youth and sports clubs for young people.
Hamas is also a formidable defender, and that gets it in trouble. It established the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, an elite military wing, and other security forces like its Tanfithya Executive Force for self-defense and law enforcement. Washington and Tel Aviv call it "terrorism" because Hamas wants the occupation ended, won't surrender its sovereignty like Fatah did under Arafat and Abbas, is willing to recognize Israel (though that's never reported), but only if Palestinians get equal recognition and what's rightfully theirs - an independent homeland inside pre-1967 borders or one "state for all its citizens," Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and others.
Instead, Hamas got isolated, hammered and called a "hostile entity" by Israel's security cabinet. It was announced on September 19, sanctions on Gaza were tightened, and it was decided to "reduce the amount of megawattage provide(d) to the Strip, and Hamas will have to decide whether to provide electricity to hospitals or weapons lathes." There was more as well - cutbacks in fuel, food, other essentials and even tighter border crossing restrictions.
Even before the latest crisis, Gaza was devastated. Its industrial production was down 90%, and its agricultural output was half its pre-2007 level. In addition, nearly all construction stopped, unemployment and poverty topped 80%, and by now it may be 90%. After September 19, it got worse when shops began running out of everything. Israel allows in only nine basic materials, their availability is spotty, and some essentials are banned, like certain medicines, and others restricted like fruit, milk and other dairy products. Before June 2007, 9000 commodities could be imported. Today, it's down to 20, people don't get enough food, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was unusually blunt in its criticism. In a November 2007 report called "Dignity Denied in the Occupied Palestinian Territories," it said:
"....Palestinians....face hardship (in) their (daily) lives; they are prevented from doing what makes up the daily fabric of most people's existence. (They) face a deep human crisis, where millions of people are denied their human dignity. Not once in a while, but every day (and the people of Gaza are) trapped (and) sealed off." The "humanitarian cost (is) enormous," people can barely survive, "families unable to get enough food increased by 14%, (and) Palestinians (are) being trampled underfoot day after day. (In) Gaza (under siege, Palestinians) continue to pay for conflict and economic containment with their health and livelihoods. Cutting power and fuel further compounds their hardship."
Let 'em eat cake, walk, and live without light or heat is apparently Israel's solution, and noted Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, took note. He calls it "genocide....to describe what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip." Knowing the facts, who can disagree.
Then there's the matter of energy. With electricity restricted and fuel supplies reduced, Israel went further. It sealed its borders and cut all fuel shipments in response to Palestinian rocket attacks in and around the border town of Sderot. They're fired in self-defense and used in response to repeated Israeli attacks that in the week of January 17 - 23 alone:
-- killed 19 Palestinians along with three others from previous IDF-inflicted wounds;
-- extra-judicially executed seven of the victims, including two women;
-- wounded 71 Palestinians, including 24 children and three women;
-- made 33 IDF incursions in the West Bank and five in Gaza;
-- arrested 58 Palestinian civilians, including seven children, in the West Bank, and 32 in Gaza, including 3 children;
-- destroyed five homes and razed agricultural land in Jabalya in northern Gaza;
-- allowed further settler attacks against civilians and property in Hebron.
The same pattern continued the following week through Janauary 30 with more Israeli incursions, attacks and arrests. In the West Bank:
-- Nablus was targeted and several Palestinian civilians arrested; several homes were also searched and ransacked in the villages of Kufer Kalil, Beit Dajan and Beit Fourik;
-- the IDF seized six Palestinians in Jenin in a pre-dawn invasion; another followed theire several days later, the Israeli army opened fire randomly, one civilian was injured, four others arrested and a home was ransacked; several civilian homes were attacked and ransacked in the town of Qabatiya and village of Abu Da'eif in the northern West Bank; local sources reported unprovoked random gunfire by heavily armed troops in civilian neighborhoods;
-- the IDF invaded Bethlehem, killed one civilian, arrested another, and injured seven others; eyewitnesses reported that local journalists were prevented from witnessing and documenting the incursion;
-- several other West Bank cities were targeted and six civilians arrested: the Al Toor neighborhood in northern Jerusalem; the village of Beit Rima near Ramallah; Tulkarem city and the nearby Nur Shams refugee camp; and Jenin city.
These are malicious acts of aggression, abductions and wanton killing. Mostly civilians are targeted, and when Palestinians respond with crude Qassam rockets and children throw rocks, it's called "terrorism." Israel's response - fiercer attacks and incursions in the Territories on any pretext or none at all and further tightening of its medieval siege on Gaza.
Its border crossings have been closed since June 2007, and severe restrictions were imposed on movement. Finally, food and fuel supplies were cut. Gaza's power plant exhausted its supply, shut down, and the Strip went dark on January 20. Israel remained defiant, and Prime Minister Olmert announced...."as far as I am concerned, every resident of Gaza can walk because they have no gasoline for their vehicles," and Foreign Ministry spokesman, Arye Meckel, told AP the blackout was "a Hamas ploy to pretend there is some kind of crisis to attract international sympathy."
The Director of Gaza's main Shiffa hospital, Dr. Hassan Khalaf, had a different view. He described the situation as "potentially disastrous." Already Israel's siege was directly responsible for 45 deaths, and he said cutting hospital power would cause 30 premature babies to die immediately. The World Health Organization was also alarmed. It said insufficient electricity "disrupt(s)....intensive care units, operating theatres, and emergency rooms (and) power shortages have interrupted refrigeration of perishable medical supplies, including vaccine."
To operate at full capacity, Gaza needs 230 - 250 daily megawatts of electricity. Its only power plant supplies around 30% of it, but people in central Gaza and Gaza city are totally dependent on what can't be supplied if industrial diesel fuel the plant depends on is cut off. The result is critically ill people are endangered, bread and other baked goods can't be produced without electricity to power ovens, food is already in short supply, so is fresh water, and sanitation conditions are disastrous.
Michele Mercier of the International Red Cross said hospital medications were running out and wouldn't "last for more than two or three days." In addition, allowable food shipments are endangered according to UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman, Christopher Gunness. He explained that the agency would have to suspend distribution to 860,000 people because of a fuel and plastic bags shortage.
Israel was unapologetic with Internal Security Minister, Avi Dichter, saying the IDF must "eliminate the rocket fire from Gaza, irrespective of the cost to Palestinians." Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, added: "We are impacting the overall quality of life in Gaza and destroying the terror infrastructure." He meant civilians as did Ehud Olmert claiming: "We are trying to hit only those involved in terrorism, but also signaling to the population in Gaza that it cannot be free from responsibility for the situation."
Israel makes no distinction between civilians (including women and children) and resistance fighters, and B'Tselem stated that Yuval Diskin, head of the Israel Security Agency (ISA), "defines every Palestinian killed in the Gaza Strip as a terrorist," including small children and the elderly infirm. The world approves, the Security Council debates and abstains, the dominant media is silent, and innocent Palestinians suffer and die - over 75 killed in January and several hundred injured. Who cares and who's counting. They're just Arab Muslims.
They're also needy human beings, now desperate, and on January 23 they responded courageously. No help is coming so Hamas acted preemptively. It destroyed 200 meters of metal barrier separating both sides of Rafah that was divided in 1982 as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. About 40,000 people live in Egypt and another 200,000 in Gaza in the original town and an adjacent refugee camp. Until the outbreak of the second Intifada in September, 2000, crossing both ways was uncomplicated. That ended as violence increased, and Israel erected a barrier. Now it's breached, Gazans took advantage, and some called it a "jail break." Hundreds of thousands entered Egypt for needed essentials unavailable at home. Finally, the media noticed.
On January 24, The New York Times tried to have it both ways. It called Hamas' border breach "an act of defiance" and continued indifferently. Unmindful of an 18 month siege, mass impoverishment, a humanitarian crisis and daily killings, correspondent Steven Erlanger made things seem festive in his report. Almost flippantly he said "Tens of thousands of Palestinians.... crossed the border for a 'buying spree' of medicine, cement, sheep....gasoline, soap and countless other supplies that have been cut off."
Most Gazans can barely afford food and essentials and struggle daily to survive. Yet, Erlanger said they stocked up on "Coca-Cola, Cleopatra and Malimbo cigarettes, and satellite dishes" and on January 25 added "televisions (and) washing machines." It was a party, "Egyptian merchants greeted them with a 'cornucopia of consumer goods," and Hamas joined the festivities by "mak(ing no) visible effort to control or tax" purchases. Those who could afford it indeed took advantage. Merchants bought items for resale at lower Egyptian prices. Most Palestinians, however, bought essentials - food, fuel, medicine if available and various household items.
Earlier on January 21, Israel relented to international pressure and a PR disaster impossible to ignore. Haaretz highlighted it in a January 26 editorial headlined "The siege of Gaza has failed." Hamas ended it "via a well-planned operation and simultaneously won the sympathy of the world, which has forgotten the rain of Qassam rockets on Sderot, (and Israel looks foolish) entrenching itself in positions that look outdated." Only a week ago, the government was crowing. Triumphantly, it claimed its policy was "bearing fruit."
Today, it's all bitter with Olmert in denial. In a speech at the January Herzliya Conference, he said: "Mistakes were made; there were failures. But in addition, lessons were learned, mistakes were corrected, modes of behavior were changed, and above all, the decisions we have made since then have led to greater security, greater calm and greater deterrence than there had been for many years." Haaretz had another view, and it was harsh. It stated events in Gaza "completely (contradict) his statements. If that is what learning lessons looks like, if that is what deterrence means, the Olmert government has precious little to boast about." So it acted.
AP reported on January 21 that authorities "agreed today to ship diesel fuel and medicine into Gaza on a one-time basis," easing its blockade, but it wouldn't continue unless rocket firings stopped. Everything then changed on January 27.
Aljazeera, The New York Times, Haaretz and other sources reported that the Olmert government relented. It agreed to resume fuel shipments to Gaza, easing its blockade. The decision came on the same day Israel's Supreme Court addressed the petition of 10 human rights organizations to order a resumption and prevent a humanitarian disaster. No decision was rendered, but state authorities acted anyway.
They agreed to supply 2.2 million weekly liters of industrial diesel fuel, the minimum amount needed to power central Gaza and Gaza City, but it's not enough overall according to Rafiq Maliha, the project manager at An-Nuseirat's power plant location. It's only two-thirds the amount needed, a mere fraction was delivered the first day, and Maliha said Gaza's gas companies would strike and resist this "Israeli plot" masquerading as humanitarian aid. His doubts are well-founded. On the same day fuel shipments resumed, Israeli warplanes struck northern Gaza in two separate raids. Hamas sources said two missiles hit a Palestinian car and others targeted a Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades position causing four injuries.
Human rights groups are also dismissive. They noted previous promises made, then broken, and the GISHA group (the Israeli NGO for freedom of Palestinian movement in the Territories) spokesperson said that Israel "repeatedly promised that it would ship 2.2 million litres (of fuel) a week into Gaza and has repeatedly broken that promise." Why believe authorities now, and with events so fluid it seems every day, a new policy.
At the same time, Hamas and Egyptian security forces are cooperating to close the border eight days after it was breached. On January 28, Haaretz reported that openings were being sealed by barbed wire, but not entirely as some two-way traffic continues as of January 30. Hamas and Egyptian forces now man the main Salah Eddin gate, most cars and trucks aren't passing through, but pedestrians still in Egypt "scoured (nearly) empty stores for food and consumer products to take back to the Gaza Strip....in fear of an imminent border reclosing."
What's next is anyone's guess, but Israel's Supreme Court will affect it. On January 30, it upheld the government's Gaza sanctions and its right to restrict fuel and electricity. In its statement, the three-judge panel left no doubt where it stands. It wrote:
"We emphasize that the Gaza Strip is controlled by a 'murderous terror group' that operates incessantly to strike the state of Israel and its citizens, and violates every precept of international law with its violent actions." Israel, nonetheless, will supply enough fuel and electricity to "fulfill the vital humanitarian needs of the Gaza Strip at this time."
Israeli human rights petitioners were quick to respond, and their message was clear and harsh. For its part, the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights called the ruling a "dangerous legal precedent that allows Israel to continue to violate the rights of Gaza residents and deprive them of basic humanitarian needs in violation of international law." Hamas spokesperson, Fawzi Barhoum, was equally pointed. He added: The High Court's decision "reflects the criminal, ugly face of the occupation."
Things are now back to square one, Israel's siege has been sanctified, and an unworkable 2005 security arrangement remains in place. Hamas wants it replaced with a new one and demands justice for Gaza's 1.5 million people. Its main objection is Israel controls all movement and monitors it with cameras and computers to track everyone entering and leaving Gaza. On January 27, Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said: 'We don't accept a continued Israeli veto on the movement, the exit and entry through Rafah." It's time for a new system.
Getting one is another matter, according to Israeli officials. They commented on January 28 saying "Israel will not allow the continuation of the current state where its security interests are being compromised," and Olmert and Abbas met on January 27 to discuss it. Initial reports were that Israel wanted Egypt to control the border, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak wants Abbas to do it, he, in turn, agrees to anything Olmert and George Bush want, and they at first rejected putting Abbas in charge, but that's now changed according to Haaretz.
On January 29, it reported "Israel does not plan to block....Abbas from assuming control of Gaza's border crossing with Egypt (if Cairo agrees)." Abbas, in turn, says it does as well as the EU, Arab League and Condoleezza Rice. Hamas reacted angrily through its spokesperson, Sami Abu-Zuhri. He called the plan an "Israeli-led international conspiracy (against the legitimate government) with the participation of some regional parties. We tell all parties that we will not allow the return of old conditions at the crossing."
So the beat goes on. Nothing has changed, and unconsidered is what Palestinians want, need and deserve. After decades of abuse, forces they can't control continue buffeting them, yet they persist and endure.
Now there's the latest crisis, and consider Haaretz's January 27 report. It was after Olmert and Abbas met "for a two-hour tete-a-tete....in Jerusalem" at which Olmert again made promises. He said Israel wouldn't let a humanitarian crisis develop in Gaza, when, in fact, one has existed for months, his government caused it, and it's accompanied by daily attacks, killings, arrests and a vast array of human rights abuses against an isolated population barely hanging on.
On January 23, various Palestinian factions met in Damascus with plenty to say. With little hope of being heeded, they called on Abbas to end the "ridiculous" negotiations he insists must continue with Olmert. Among those attending were Khaled Meshaal of Hamas and Ramadan Shallah of Islamic Jihad. Their message was strong: "I want to ask our brothers in Ramallah (Fatah headquarters), what exactly are you waiting for?" While you're talking, Palestinians in "the biggest prison in history (are) being massacred."
Even Abbas supporters are dubious, and Palestinian writer, Hani Al-Masri, expressed their view: "It doesn't make sense for negotiations to continue while Israel is changing facts on the ground and undermining the chances for a just and acceptable solution." The Arab League also responded, but not with teeth. It denounced Israel's siege, but does nothing to end it. That's Hamas' view with Khaled Meshaal saying the League could force change but instead prefers words, meetings, resolutions and more meetings in Arab capitals.
Still more are planned. Cairo is involved. So are the Saudis, but most of all Washington and Tel Aviv. They control everything and will decide what's next with one thing assured. Gazans are isolated, locked in the Territory, children and the elderly are dying, so are the sick without medical care, daily attacks kill others, and no end is in sight.
The plight of Palestinians won't change as things continue lurching from one crisis to another the way they have for decades. It won't end until world leaders buckle to growing world sentiment that no longer will injustices this grave be tolerated. How much more suffering must be endured, how many more deaths are acceptable, when will justice finally be served? People of conscience want answers. It's about time they got them.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
To Die With The Philistines?
By Uri Avnery
20 December, 2007Countercurrents.org
The most famous words ever spoken in Gaza were the last words of Samson (Judges, 16, 30): "Let me die with the Philistines!"
According to the Biblical story, Samson took hold of the central pillars of the Philistine temple and brought down the whole building upon the Lords of the Philistines, the people of Gaza and himself. The teller of the story sums it all up: "So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life."
A story of suffering, destruction and death. It may be about to repeat itself now, only with the roles reversed: the temple may be brought down by the Palestinians (who took their name from the Philistines), and among the dead will be the Lords of Israel.
WiLL GAZA turn into a Palestinian Massada (the place where, a thousand years later, Jewish defenders chose mass suicide rather then fall into the hands of the Romans)?
The people of Gaza are worried. The Hamas fighters are preparing for action. The chiefs of the Israeli army are both worried and preparing for action.
For months now, the political and military leaders of Israel have been discussing the "big operation": a massive invasion of the Gaza Strip in order to put an end to the launching of rockets into Israel.
The army chiefs, who are usually raring to go into battle, are not eager this time. Not at all. They want to avoid it at almost any cost. But they are fatalistic. Everything now depends on blind chance. For example, if tomorrow a Qassam rocket falls on a house in Sderot and kills a whole family, there will be such an outcry in Israel that the government may feel compelled to give the order, even against its better judgment.
For every Israeli military or political planner, the Gaza strip is a nightmare. It is about 40 km long and 10 km wide. In this 360 square kilometers of parched desert, hardly twice the area of Washington DC, there are crowded 1.5 million human beings, almost all of them destitute, who have nothing to lose, headed by a militant religious movement. (It might be remembered that in the 1948 war, the Jewish community in Palestine amounted to less than 650 thousand people.)
For months now, the Hamas leadership in Gaza has been accumulating weapons, which are smuggled into the Strip through the many tunnels under its border with Egypt (as we smuggled weapons into the country on the eve of the 1948 war). True, they have got no artillery or tanks, but they now possess very effective anti-tank weapons.
According to the estimate of our military, an invasion of the Gaza Strip may cost the lives of a hundred Israeli soldiers and thousands of Palestinian fighters and civilians. The Israeli army will deploy tanks and armored bulldozers, and the world will see terrible pictures - the same kind of pictures that our army tried to suppress and that caused a world-wide outcry against the "Jenin Massacre" during the 2002 "Defensive Shield" operation.
Nobody can know how this operation will develop. Perhaps the Palestinian resistance will collapse after all, and the predictions of numerous Israeli casualties will be proved false. But it is also possible that Gaza will turn into a Palestinian Massada, a kind of mini-Stalingrad. This week, in one of the "routine" incursions by the Israeli army, an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) penetrated one of the renowned Israeli-produced Merkava Mark-3 tanks, and it was a miracle that the four crew members were not killed. In a big, bloody battle, such miracles cannot be relied on.
The nightmare does not end there. No doubt, the Israeli army will overcome the resistance, whatever the price on both sides, perhaps by demolishing whole neighborhoods and massive slaughter. But what then?
If the army leaves the strip quickly, the situation will revert to what it was before and the launching of the Qassam rockets will be resumed (if it stops at all). That would mean that the whole operation will have been in vain. If the army remains there - what alternative would it have? - it will be compelled to take on the full responsibility of an occupation regime: feeding the population, running the social services, establishing security. All this in a situation of a vigorous and ongoing guerilla war, which will turn the lives of both occupier and occupied into hell.
For an occupier, Gaza has always been problematic. The Israeli army has left it three times already, and each time the joy was great. "Gaza - goodbye and good riddance!" was always a popular slogan. When Israel made peace with the Egyptians, they adamantly refused to accept Gaza back at all.
It is no accident that both intifadas started in Gaza. (The first, exactly 20 years ago this week, broke out when an Israeli truck collided with two cars full of Palestinian workers, which Palestinians took to be a deliberate Israeli reprisal. The second exploded after Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the Temple Mount, when Israeli policemen shot and killed outraged Muslim protesters.)
The Hamas movement itself, which is today celebrating its 20th anniversary, was born - also no accident - in Gaza.
No wonder that our army chiefs shrink back from re-conquering the Gaza Strip. They do not relish the idea of playing the role of the Lords of the Philistines in the story of the Palestinian Samson.
THE PROBLEM is that nobody knows how to undo the Gordian knot left behind by Ariel Sharon, that master-weaver of such knots.
Sharon initiated the "Separation Plan" - one of the worst follies in the annals of this state, which are so rich with follies.
As will be remembered, Sharon dismantled the settlements and evacuated the Strip without a dialogue with the Palestinians and without turning the territory over to the Palestinian Authority. He did not leave the inhabitants of the Strip any possibility of leading a normal life, but turned the territory into a giant prison. All connections with the outside world were cut - the Israeli navy cut the sea lanes, the border with Egypt was effectively sealed, the airport remained destroyed, the building of a harbor was prevented by force. The promised "safe passage" between the Strip and the West Bank was hermetically sealed, all crossings in and out of the Strip remained under total Israeli control, to be opened and closed arbitrarily. The employment of tens of thousands of Gazan workers in Israel, on which the livelihood of almost the entire Strip depended, was terminated.
The next chapter was inevitable: Hamas took military control over the Strip, without the helpless politicians in Ramallah being able to intervene. From the Strip, Qassam rockets and mortar shells were launched at the neighboring Israeli towns and villages, without the Israeli army being able to stop them. One of the most powerful armies in the world, with the most sophisticated weapons, is unable to counter one of the most primitive weapons on earth.
Thus a vicious circle was set up: the Israelis choke the people in the Strip, Gazan fighters bombard the Israeli town Sderot, the Israeli army reacts by killing Palestinian fighters and civilians, the people from Gaza launch mortars at the kibbutzim, the army carries out incursions and kills Palestinian fighters daily and nightly, Hamas brings in more effective anti-tank weapons - and no end in sight.
AN ORDINARY Israeli has no idea of what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The disconnection is absolute. No Israeli can enter the Strip, almost no Palestinian can get out.
This is the way most Israelis see things: We left Gaza. We dismantled all the settlements there, in spite of the fact that this caused us a profound national crisis. And what happens? The Palestinians just keep shooting at us from inside the strip and turn life in Sderot into hell. We have no alternative but to turn their lives, too, into hell, in order to get them to stop.
This week I heard a report from one of the most credible individuals in Gaza - Dr. Eyad Sarraj - a well-known psychiatrist, peace and human rights activist. Here are some of the things he told a small circle of Israeli peace activists:
Israel blocks all imports into the strip, except for a short list of about half a dozen basic articles. 900 trucks used to be employed daily for the imports and exports of the Gaza Strip, now their number is reduced to 15. For example, no soap is allowed in.
Local water is undrinkable. Israel does not let in bottled water. Nor does Israel allow the importation water pumps. The price of water filters has gone up from $40 to $250, there are no spare parts at all for filters. Only the well-to-do can still afford them. However, chlorine is let in.
There is no import of cement. When there is a hole in the ceiling, it cannot be repaired. The building site for the children's hospital stands silent. There are no spare parts of any kind. A medical instrument that goes out of order cannot be repaired. Not even incubators for babies or dialysis equipment.
The severely sick cannot reach hospital - neither in Israel, nor in Egypt or Jordan. The few permits issued are often delivered after a deadly delay. In many instances, patients are condemned to death.
Students cannot reach their universities abroad. Foreign citizens who happened to be visiting Gaza cannot get out if they have a Palestinian ID. Palestinians who have contracts to work abroad are not allowed to leave. Some Palestinians were allowed to pass through Israel on the way to Egypt, but were not allowed in by the Egyptian authorities and had to return to Gaza.
Practically all enterprises have been closed and their workers thrown onto the street for lack of raw materials. For example, the Coca Cola factory has closed down. After 60 years of occupation - first by the Egyptians and than the Israelis - almost nothing is produced in the Strip, except oranges, strawberries, tomatoes and the like.
Prices in the Gaza Strip have risen sky-high - fivefold and even tenfold. Life is now more expensive in Gaza than in Tel-Aviv. The black market is flourishing.
How do people exist? The members of extended families help each other. Well-to-do people support their relatives. UNRWA brings in the most basic foodstuffs and distributes them to the refugees, who are the majority of the inhabitants.
IS THERE another way out besides a massive invasion? Of course there is. But it requires imagination, boldness and a readiness to act contrary to established patterns.
An immediate cease-fire can be achieved. According to all the indications, Hamas, too, is ready for it, provided that it is general: both sides must stop all military actions, including "targeted liquidations" and the launching of Qassams and mortar shells. The crossings must be opened for free movement of goods in both directions. The passage between the Strip and the West Bank must be opened, as well as the border between the Strip and Egypt.
Such a calming of the situation may encourage the two competing Palestinian governments - Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza - to start a new dialogue, under the auspices of Egypt or Saudi Arabia, in order to heal the rift and set up a unified Palestinian national leadership that will have the authority to sign peace agreements.
In place of the cry "Let me die with the Philistines", let us take the words of Dylan Thomas: "And death shall have no dominion!"
20 December, 2007Countercurrents.org
The most famous words ever spoken in Gaza were the last words of Samson (Judges, 16, 30): "Let me die with the Philistines!"
According to the Biblical story, Samson took hold of the central pillars of the Philistine temple and brought down the whole building upon the Lords of the Philistines, the people of Gaza and himself. The teller of the story sums it all up: "So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life."
A story of suffering, destruction and death. It may be about to repeat itself now, only with the roles reversed: the temple may be brought down by the Palestinians (who took their name from the Philistines), and among the dead will be the Lords of Israel.
WiLL GAZA turn into a Palestinian Massada (the place where, a thousand years later, Jewish defenders chose mass suicide rather then fall into the hands of the Romans)?
The people of Gaza are worried. The Hamas fighters are preparing for action. The chiefs of the Israeli army are both worried and preparing for action.
For months now, the political and military leaders of Israel have been discussing the "big operation": a massive invasion of the Gaza Strip in order to put an end to the launching of rockets into Israel.
The army chiefs, who are usually raring to go into battle, are not eager this time. Not at all. They want to avoid it at almost any cost. But they are fatalistic. Everything now depends on blind chance. For example, if tomorrow a Qassam rocket falls on a house in Sderot and kills a whole family, there will be such an outcry in Israel that the government may feel compelled to give the order, even against its better judgment.
For every Israeli military or political planner, the Gaza strip is a nightmare. It is about 40 km long and 10 km wide. In this 360 square kilometers of parched desert, hardly twice the area of Washington DC, there are crowded 1.5 million human beings, almost all of them destitute, who have nothing to lose, headed by a militant religious movement. (It might be remembered that in the 1948 war, the Jewish community in Palestine amounted to less than 650 thousand people.)
For months now, the Hamas leadership in Gaza has been accumulating weapons, which are smuggled into the Strip through the many tunnels under its border with Egypt (as we smuggled weapons into the country on the eve of the 1948 war). True, they have got no artillery or tanks, but they now possess very effective anti-tank weapons.
According to the estimate of our military, an invasion of the Gaza Strip may cost the lives of a hundred Israeli soldiers and thousands of Palestinian fighters and civilians. The Israeli army will deploy tanks and armored bulldozers, and the world will see terrible pictures - the same kind of pictures that our army tried to suppress and that caused a world-wide outcry against the "Jenin Massacre" during the 2002 "Defensive Shield" operation.
Nobody can know how this operation will develop. Perhaps the Palestinian resistance will collapse after all, and the predictions of numerous Israeli casualties will be proved false. But it is also possible that Gaza will turn into a Palestinian Massada, a kind of mini-Stalingrad. This week, in one of the "routine" incursions by the Israeli army, an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) penetrated one of the renowned Israeli-produced Merkava Mark-3 tanks, and it was a miracle that the four crew members were not killed. In a big, bloody battle, such miracles cannot be relied on.
The nightmare does not end there. No doubt, the Israeli army will overcome the resistance, whatever the price on both sides, perhaps by demolishing whole neighborhoods and massive slaughter. But what then?
If the army leaves the strip quickly, the situation will revert to what it was before and the launching of the Qassam rockets will be resumed (if it stops at all). That would mean that the whole operation will have been in vain. If the army remains there - what alternative would it have? - it will be compelled to take on the full responsibility of an occupation regime: feeding the population, running the social services, establishing security. All this in a situation of a vigorous and ongoing guerilla war, which will turn the lives of both occupier and occupied into hell.
For an occupier, Gaza has always been problematic. The Israeli army has left it three times already, and each time the joy was great. "Gaza - goodbye and good riddance!" was always a popular slogan. When Israel made peace with the Egyptians, they adamantly refused to accept Gaza back at all.
It is no accident that both intifadas started in Gaza. (The first, exactly 20 years ago this week, broke out when an Israeli truck collided with two cars full of Palestinian workers, which Palestinians took to be a deliberate Israeli reprisal. The second exploded after Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the Temple Mount, when Israeli policemen shot and killed outraged Muslim protesters.)
The Hamas movement itself, which is today celebrating its 20th anniversary, was born - also no accident - in Gaza.
No wonder that our army chiefs shrink back from re-conquering the Gaza Strip. They do not relish the idea of playing the role of the Lords of the Philistines in the story of the Palestinian Samson.
THE PROBLEM is that nobody knows how to undo the Gordian knot left behind by Ariel Sharon, that master-weaver of such knots.
Sharon initiated the "Separation Plan" - one of the worst follies in the annals of this state, which are so rich with follies.
As will be remembered, Sharon dismantled the settlements and evacuated the Strip without a dialogue with the Palestinians and without turning the territory over to the Palestinian Authority. He did not leave the inhabitants of the Strip any possibility of leading a normal life, but turned the territory into a giant prison. All connections with the outside world were cut - the Israeli navy cut the sea lanes, the border with Egypt was effectively sealed, the airport remained destroyed, the building of a harbor was prevented by force. The promised "safe passage" between the Strip and the West Bank was hermetically sealed, all crossings in and out of the Strip remained under total Israeli control, to be opened and closed arbitrarily. The employment of tens of thousands of Gazan workers in Israel, on which the livelihood of almost the entire Strip depended, was terminated.
The next chapter was inevitable: Hamas took military control over the Strip, without the helpless politicians in Ramallah being able to intervene. From the Strip, Qassam rockets and mortar shells were launched at the neighboring Israeli towns and villages, without the Israeli army being able to stop them. One of the most powerful armies in the world, with the most sophisticated weapons, is unable to counter one of the most primitive weapons on earth.
Thus a vicious circle was set up: the Israelis choke the people in the Strip, Gazan fighters bombard the Israeli town Sderot, the Israeli army reacts by killing Palestinian fighters and civilians, the people from Gaza launch mortars at the kibbutzim, the army carries out incursions and kills Palestinian fighters daily and nightly, Hamas brings in more effective anti-tank weapons - and no end in sight.
AN ORDINARY Israeli has no idea of what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The disconnection is absolute. No Israeli can enter the Strip, almost no Palestinian can get out.
This is the way most Israelis see things: We left Gaza. We dismantled all the settlements there, in spite of the fact that this caused us a profound national crisis. And what happens? The Palestinians just keep shooting at us from inside the strip and turn life in Sderot into hell. We have no alternative but to turn their lives, too, into hell, in order to get them to stop.
This week I heard a report from one of the most credible individuals in Gaza - Dr. Eyad Sarraj - a well-known psychiatrist, peace and human rights activist. Here are some of the things he told a small circle of Israeli peace activists:
Israel blocks all imports into the strip, except for a short list of about half a dozen basic articles. 900 trucks used to be employed daily for the imports and exports of the Gaza Strip, now their number is reduced to 15. For example, no soap is allowed in.
Local water is undrinkable. Israel does not let in bottled water. Nor does Israel allow the importation water pumps. The price of water filters has gone up from $40 to $250, there are no spare parts at all for filters. Only the well-to-do can still afford them. However, chlorine is let in.
There is no import of cement. When there is a hole in the ceiling, it cannot be repaired. The building site for the children's hospital stands silent. There are no spare parts of any kind. A medical instrument that goes out of order cannot be repaired. Not even incubators for babies or dialysis equipment.
The severely sick cannot reach hospital - neither in Israel, nor in Egypt or Jordan. The few permits issued are often delivered after a deadly delay. In many instances, patients are condemned to death.
Students cannot reach their universities abroad. Foreign citizens who happened to be visiting Gaza cannot get out if they have a Palestinian ID. Palestinians who have contracts to work abroad are not allowed to leave. Some Palestinians were allowed to pass through Israel on the way to Egypt, but were not allowed in by the Egyptian authorities and had to return to Gaza.
Practically all enterprises have been closed and their workers thrown onto the street for lack of raw materials. For example, the Coca Cola factory has closed down. After 60 years of occupation - first by the Egyptians and than the Israelis - almost nothing is produced in the Strip, except oranges, strawberries, tomatoes and the like.
Prices in the Gaza Strip have risen sky-high - fivefold and even tenfold. Life is now more expensive in Gaza than in Tel-Aviv. The black market is flourishing.
How do people exist? The members of extended families help each other. Well-to-do people support their relatives. UNRWA brings in the most basic foodstuffs and distributes them to the refugees, who are the majority of the inhabitants.
IS THERE another way out besides a massive invasion? Of course there is. But it requires imagination, boldness and a readiness to act contrary to established patterns.
An immediate cease-fire can be achieved. According to all the indications, Hamas, too, is ready for it, provided that it is general: both sides must stop all military actions, including "targeted liquidations" and the launching of Qassams and mortar shells. The crossings must be opened for free movement of goods in both directions. The passage between the Strip and the West Bank must be opened, as well as the border between the Strip and Egypt.
Such a calming of the situation may encourage the two competing Palestinian governments - Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza - to start a new dialogue, under the auspices of Egypt or Saudi Arabia, in order to heal the rift and set up a unified Palestinian national leadership that will have the authority to sign peace agreements.
In place of the cry "Let me die with the Philistines", let us take the words of Dylan Thomas: "And death shall have no dominion!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
