It takes a certain amount of willful ignorance to state, as my friend has below, “There is no humanitarian disaster in Gaza.” According to the UN, 61% of Gazans are food insecure. Chronic malnutrition has surpassed 10%, with women and children especially suffering. Many hospitals and primary care facilities were destroyed by Israel, which does not permit cement or glass to be imported for reconstruction.
The majority of Gazans have no electricity for 8-10 hours per day on account of Israel having destroyed the area’s only power plant and not permitting it to be rebuilt. Something close to 100% of the water in Gaza is contaminated, because the sewage system has been destroyed, and the Israelis will not allow materials into Gaza that might fix it. The WHO has reported that “In the Gaza Strip, private enterprise is practically at a standstill as a consequence of the blockade. Almost all (98%) industrial operations have been shut down.”
The above figures are taken from this article at Foreign Policy, which lays out more of the crisis in detail.
The Israelis claim to be blocking only items that can be used as weapons, and yet they have prevented many food items from entering Gaza, such as fresh meat, canned fruit, and certain spices, which obviously have no weapons use. This chart from the Economist lays out some of the things which have been blocked.
The BBC has further details about the costs of the occupation and blockade, including revelations like this:
- the number of Gazans that the UN helps who are unable to buy basic items such as soap, stationary and safe drinking water has tripled since 2007
- Gaza unemployment is near 40%, so many people cannot buy supplies even when they are available
- The UN’s FAO says $180m of trees, fields, livestock, greenhouses and nurseries were destroyed during operation Cast Lead. The Palestinian Authority estimates 15% of agricultural land was destroyed
All of this is being done to punish the Palestinians for electing “the wrong government”. While Hamas has certainly committed acts of terrorism, it is clear that the effects of the occupation and the blockade amount to terror wielded against the Palestinians. We condemn Osama Bin Laden when he justifies attacks against Americans by saying that America is a democracy and the people have chosen their government, yet when we see the Palestinians elect a government we do not like, we find it justifiable to commit terror against them. I say “we”, because I am an American, and because America is Israel’s partner in these efforts. If we did not finance and defend these actions, we would not be culpable. Alas, we are.
The situation in Gaza is awful, no doubt about it, but I still say that calling it a humanitarian disaster is both false and misleading. It absolves Hamas of responsibility when they are in fact totally responsible for the state of Gaza today.
Hamas took power in mini-civil war with Fatah in the Gaza strip and after the subsequent Israeli withdrawal thought that the best thing that their new government could do was to shoot hundreds of rockets at Israel. They knew that they would draw the response that ultimately came, and they knew the siege that would follow. All of this is calculated so that they can eventually wiggle out from their demands laid down by the US, UN, Russia and the EU to 1) renounce violence against Israel; 2) recognize Israel’s right to exist; 3) honor previous agreements made by Palestinian governments. Israel is in a state of war with Hamas and blockades are actually legal under the terms of war, or even lesser states of hostility (see the limited blockade of North Korea the world is observing right now). Hamas is a group that has actively targeted civilians and has launched military offenses from hospitals and schools; they’ve used human shields when convenient, firing over the heads of children at Israeli soldiers. Comparing Israel’s approach to conflict with Hamas is insulting and the worst kind of rationalizing.
Dont forget also that Egypt has had their border closed with Gaza because they fear Hamas’ ideology inflaming their own situation with extremists.
Your reasoning that the blockade and the current conditions in Gaza are as a result of the Palestinians electing “the wrong government” are naive and an over-simplification. The worst things that Israel is guilty of is horrible PR in dealing with global opinion and an over-reliance on military strategy. I wish Israel could handle the terrible situation of being stuck with a neighbor that is committed to your destruction with a wiser strategy than we’ve witnessed of late. But I wish even more that the world would realize exactly who the bad guys are here. The suffering in Gaza is Hamas’ fault.
That something is legal does not make it right; that something is illegal does not make it wrong. Launching attacks from schools and hospitals is reprehensible, but so is bombing those schools and hospitals. Israel is punishing the people of Gaza in an effort to force them to overthrow there own government, but this is unlikely to work, just as sanctions against Iran will be unlikely to cause a revolution in that country.
It is utter folly to believe that Israel is guilty of no worse than “horrible PR.” The loss of lives on both sides is awful; it just happens to be seven or eight times higher on the Palestinian side. Israel has all the power in this case; therefore, I would argue, they have the greater responsibility to lead the way to peace. Strangling the citizens of Gaza is not the way.
No, launching attacks from schools and hospitals is reprehensible, counter-attacks are unfortunate. Again, equating the action and response is not fair. Israel has a right–like every nation–to defend itself. The condemnation should fall squarely on the monsters who use children as sheilds and the Palestinian “leaders” who have refused to compromise and move on from the conflict and focus on building their own state. The bottom line is, if you start a war, don’t lose it. And if you lose it, don’t whine about it. The tragedy of this conflict is not only the human suffering Israel and the Palestinian territories, but the fact that the rest of the world has been stuck with this awful never-ending story because the Arabs refuse to accept the reality of Israel’s existence. And not that I really give a damn about Palestinian suffering in Gaza, I can’t forgive the images of them celebrating and handing out candies on 9/11. Concern for the suffering of others is admirable, I wish the world focused even a portion of the outrage regularly visited upon Israel on those responsible for the suffering in Darfur or the Congo. I promise you that if the leaders of those countries were Jewish there would be protests in global capitals and denunciations by world leaders daily.
I said that in addition to horrible PR Israel has been guilty of an over-reliance on military strategy. There is so much brainpower and experience in Irael, I wish they could come up with more creative ways to deal with their horrible neighbors. If Israel said that they would negotiate with Hamas tomorrow, so be it. Some out of the box thinking is called for, even though it is probably fruitless when dealing with people who aren’t interested in peace, only in destruction, if only to show the world that Israel is truly interested in peace.
BTW, if you want a good laugh and the pretty straight dope on anti-Israel posturing this is a good read, I copy the lead below in case you don’t feel like clicking on the link, he nails it.
http://streetbonersandtvcarnage.com/blog/5-reasons-youre-wrong-about-this-fucking-sea-hag/
“OK, I get it: You’re progressive, hip, enlightened — you hate Israel.
Never mind the fact that “Palestine” is filled with Islamofacist homophobic terrorist sympathizers who danced in the streets on 9-11; never mind that they stone women to death for the heinous crime of getting raped; never mind that they have produced nothing throughout the course of history and have lived in poverty for centuries, valuing religion over science, medicine, and productivity; never mind that Israel is the only sane, progressive, first-world and FREE democracy in the Middle East, which values the contribution of women and recognizes gay marriage — of the two, you hate Israel.”
Jeremy, you confuse criticism with hatred. This is not about hating anyone, it’s about responsibility. The comparisons to Darfur, etc, are not germane because my concern is American culpability, and America does not give $2.4 billion a year to Sudan. As Israel’s benefactor, we are responsible for the damages they cause. And those damages are, in turn, wreaking havoc for us. Israel is not helping us by choking off the Gaza strip; they are not helping us by continuing to build new settlements in Palestinian territory. You perceive all criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic, but friends should be able to call each other out on their bullshit without destroying their friendship.
I don’t break out the anti-semitism card that easily, my man. But the reaction to Israel’s actions are nothing short of true hatred. I am critical of many Israeli policies: the expansion of settlements, the daily humiliations visited upon Palestinians are check-points, and Israel’s right wing parties are a few. I also share with you concerns that Israel could become a strategic liability to the US and I don’t want to see that happen. But I don’t think you look at the big picture enough when you criticize Israel, that’s why that humorous article made some important big picture points about actually what Israel is. And while the US should continue to talk tough to Israel about what must be done in the long term to foster peace, it should stand solidly side by side in the wake of hateful criticism (how about Erdogan equating the Swasitka with the Star of David–that’s not hatred?). Darfur is relevant in that it is truly a humanitarian disaster, genocide, and I wish the energies of the world–and the Muslim world in particular–were focused on that. And I don’t feel that our discussion on Israel endangers our friendship, I hope you don’t either. I would only feel that way if I thought you were being anti-semitic. I don’t, I just feel that despite your intelligence you are failing to see the big picture and are swallowing a deluded argument that often times dangerously flirts with anti-semitism.
oh and I also don’t feel that we are responsible for Israel’s actions any more than we are responsible for Pakistan’s, who is also a huge recipient of foreign aid. that aid is a means of influence, one that should be used, but these are sovereign nations that make the own decision based on their strategic concerns.