Life in occupied Gaza was never easy, but condition
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.
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