The medieval Israeli and Egyptian siege of the Gaza Strip has now entered its fifth year. It was on January 25, 2006 that the Palestinian people in Israeli-occupied Gaza and the West Bank collectively decided to democratically oust Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party from power. Like Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Ahmed Chalabi in Iraq, Mahmoud Abbas is America's guy -- which in many ways means he's Israel's guy, too. So when Hamas was democratically elected to root out the corruption that festered, burst and still oozes under Abbas, the Fatah militia trained and armed by General Keith Dayton attempted a coup. When that failed, the great powers decided to collectively punish 1.5 million Palestinians (half of them children) for enacting their moral and human right -- their right to vote.
Now, over four years later and one year after the Israeli assault which killed 1,440 Palestinians (330 of them children) and 14 Israelis, the Palestinian people in Gaza continue to suffer under the inhuman Israeli-Egyptian siege. It bears emphasizing that this state of affairs cannot exist without Barack Obama's complicit approval; collective punishment indelibly mars his legacy. Collective punishment is a war crime.
Previous sea-borne attempts to break the siege were met by an aggressive Israeli navy. Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was one of the activists arrested by the Israelis in 2009 after attempting to access the Strip that way. She released an audiotape from an Israeli prison, declaring:
This is Cynthia McKinney and I'm speaking from an Israeli prison cellblock in Ramle. [I am one of] the Free Gaza 21, human rights activists currently imprisoned for trying to take medical supplies to Gaza, building supplies -- and even crayons for children, I had a suitcase full of crayons for children. While we were on our way to Gaza the Israelis threatened to fire on our boat, but we did not turn around. The Israelis high-jacked and arrested us because we wanted to give crayons to the children in Gaza. We have been detained, and we want the people of the world to see how we have been treated just because we wanted to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.
The situation in Gaza is almost hopelessly dire. Fully 80% of Gaza's population relies on humanitarian aid for basic subsistence. The unemployment rate in the Strip hovers around 38% and 95% of once operating businesses are no longer active. Israel bans (and Egypt helps implement the ban of) construction materials, medical supplies and more. According to Ha'aretz, the "Defense Ministry is refusing -- on security grounds, it says -- to reveal why Israel prohibits the import into the Gaza Strip of items such as cilantro, sage, jam, chocolate, french fries, dried fruit, fabrics, notebooks empty flowerpots and toys, while allowing cinnamon, plastic buckets and combs."
Any thinking person understands that cilantro is not an implement of terror or militancy. Therefore, the siege is a punitive measure directed at a weak and penurious population. It is both immoral and illegal. The Israelis, Egyptians and Americans seem to be saying, "Exercise democracy and you and your children will suffer the ugly consequences." Israeli sources have readily acknowledged as much, describing the siege as "a central pillar in the armed conflict with Hamas."
It is true that starvation-to-death has largely been avoided in Gaza. That's mostly because the Israelis have perversely calculated the minimum caloric intake required by the besieged population. Call it the metrics of captive near-starvation. Dov Weisglass, adviser to former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, famously said, "The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger."
One can imagine the mindless bureaucrat sitting in a drab army office calculating the number of calories the average five-year-old, fifteen-year-old, and sixty-year-old requires to exist in bare survival's gray wretchedness. One can imagine the utter hopelessness and abject despair the children in Gaza feel knowing that this is the best the world has to offer. Years of siege have stunted their growth, diminished their potential and reinforced depressed states of mind, perhaps irrevocably. The humans in Gaza are putrefying in isolation.
In the year 2010, what possible justification is there for literally imprisoning 1.5 million people? What possible justification is there for denying them access to coriander and crayons?
Not content to watch the barbarous conduct of the Israelis and Egyptians in real time, responsible human beings from around the world have gathered once again to address the man-made misery in Gaza. Nine ships laden with 10,000 tons of basic humanitarian aid have set sail from ports around the Mediterranean to Gaza under the banner of the Free Gaza Movement. 700 activists from 40 countries, including 35 parliamentarians, have gathered to proclaim loudly that they refuse to be complicit in atrocity.
The Israeli government remains intransigent, however. The Israeli navy intends to intercept the flotilla when it arrives on Sunday and detain activists in Ashdod before deporting them. According to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, "The aid convoy is violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow its sovereignty to be threatened in any way, in any place -- land, air or sea."
UPDATE: The latest attempt has been no different. Breaking press reports say that the Israeli navy has killed 14 to 16 peace activists in international waters. Seventy people have reportedly been injured and the remaining seven hundred are being interred in Ashdod.
It is easy to despair in the face of Netanyahu and Mubarak's pernicious intent and Obama's impassive indifference to shatter the Palestinians in Gaza; to force them to submit. But the Palestinian people have refused to succumb despite the overwhelming odds and superpower force that has been brought to bear. We can take courage from their example and insist on their freedom. That is our collective human responsibility.
Brad Hirschfield: Mourning, Not Politicizing, Gaza Flotilla's Dead and Wounded
What matters today, at least in any conversation which claims to be driven by spiritual or religious sensibilities, is the sadness at the loss of life and continued suffering on both sides of this conflict.
Ahmed Rehab: Israel Gaza Attack: Do Actions of the 'Jewish State' Represent Jewish Values?
Israel's failure is not a failure of Jewish values. If anything, it's a failure to apply Jewish values.
it is not medieval - what is medieval is shooting rockets at civilians
it was not outed in a vote - it was at point of a GUN!
they are punished for attacking civlians - what part of civilan do you not understand? oh sorry
forgot you were an arab moron!
it is not punishment - that would be daily bombing - it is a blockade
despair - stop shooting rockets - embarog ends - what part of S I M P L E do you not understand?
In the year 2010, what possible justification is there for literally imprisoning 1.5 million people? What possible justification is there for denying them access to coriander and crayons?
its called SELF DEFENSE
What country would sit with its hands its lap while a country at its borders, supported by another very powerful, possibly nuclear-armed countries, vows its destruction and lobs rockets at it daily?
Calling for an end to the embargo is very, very easy - not so easy is answering the question of how Israel is to protect itself once Hamas, which btw, is neither democratic nor was it democratically elected, is able to freely import arms from Iran and has free access to use them in Israel? Any true peace activist must address these questions as well. Unless the only peace they seek is in the context of an Israel- and Jew-free Middle East.
On July 6, Oxfam issued an updated press release. Its assessment of conditions in Gaza was grim warning "thousands of refugees across Gaza will face imminent cuts in water and sewage services if more fuel is not provided in the coming days and weeks." It said the Gaza Coastal Municipality Water Utility (CMWU) had to cut its water supply in half from eight to four hours a day because of fuel shortages affecting 65,000 people in the Strip's largest camp. Fuel is also running out for sewage drainage pumps in the Saflawi neighborhood. Without it, "sewage (may spill) into the streets....in days, contaminating the remaining water supply....spreading life-threatening disease (in) the densely-populated camp."
. In the face of this impending crisis, the Abbas government in the West Bank is doing nothing to alleviate it. Gaza is totally dependent on outside help unable to do its job because Israel closed border crossings and sealed off the entire Territory from the outside world.
http://rense.com/general84/geno.htm
Demonstrators wave the flags of Turkey and Palestine in a protest against Israel in Istanbul yesterday. The banners read 'Open sea pirate Israel' and 'Enough is enough'. Photograph: Murad Sezer/Reuters
Survivors of the Israeli assault on a flotilla carrying relief supplies to Gaza returned to Greece and Turkey today, giving the first eyewitness accounts of the raid in which at least 10 people died.
Arriving at Istanbul's Ataturk airport with her one-year-old baby, Turkish activist Nilufer Cetin said Israeli troops opened fire before boarding the Turkish-flagged ferry Mavi Marmara, which was the scene of the worst clashes and all the fatalities. Israeli officials have said that the use of armed force began when its boarding party was attacked.
"It was extremely bad and very tough clashes took place. The Mavi Marmara is filled with blood," said Cetin, whose husband is the Mavi Marmara's chief engineer.
She told reporters that she and her child hid in the bathroom of their cabin during the confrontation. "The operation started immediately with firing. First it was warning shots, but when the Mavi Marmara wouldn't stop these warnings turned into an attack," she said.
"There were sound and smoke bombs and later they used gas bombs. Following the bombings they started to come on board from helicopters."
German politician Annette Groth, who was on the activists’ flagship, said Israeli talk of self-defence was 'ridiculous'. Photograph: Barbara Sax/AFP/Getty Images
Israel said last night that it would release more than 600 pro-Palestinian activists detained after commandos stormed an aid flotilla bound for Gaza – an assault which left nine dead and led to increasing calls for an independent, impartial inquiry.
The decision to free the activists came as first accounts from those on the ships began to emerge, with some claiming the Israeli forces who stormed the largest ship in the flotilla – the Mavi Marmara – shot to kill and used electric stun guns.
The accounts differed sharply from those coming from Israeli politicians and military, who said the soldiers were provoked into violence. A spokesman said it had been a measure of last resort after its troops had found themselves in a lynching when they landed on the ship.
Israel insists its troops came under sustained and unprovoked attack, pointing to what it claimed was cast-iron video evidence and soldiers' testimony.
It is interesting that the religious fundamentalist IHH organization which sponsored that particular ship is part of the infamous Muslim Brotherhood movement, actively supports Hamas and is affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
None of the other ships had this kind of violent disturbance.
Ehud Barak is a nice guy but incompetent. Having the navy personnel with paintball guns did not give these soldiers more confidence to forcefully maintain order in the face of violence from these thugs.If the Israeli govt was smart they would ask Ehud Barak to step down.
The Israeli govt (if able to withstand hypocrisy and pressure) should state that any circumventing of Gaza inspections is not acceptable. If Israel didnt cave to the whiners (who enjoy bashing Israel more than helping the people of Gaza)- the whining would cease.
Human nature is such (unfortunately) that people often have contempt for weakness and respect strength. Israel would be wise to remember this
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/israel-gaza-attack-flotil_n_597951.html?page=5&show_comment_id=49169913#comment_49169913
Can't you Israeli apologists even come up with something original? You copied it SIX TIMES. Got to do a copy and paste in every thread you don't like? I believe I've seen this same few paragraphs in other threads too. Just for that I'm going to copy and post what I wrote here in the other thread and see how you like it.
This is an opinion bereft of any connection to historical context or even passing resemblance to rationality.
Here;s a sequence the author prefers to ignore to serve his propagandist aims.
Sequence 1
Fact:Many Palestinains from Gaza were gainfully employed in Israel and had almost unfettered access to jobs in Israel.
Fact:Arafat and Palestinains began guerrilla warfare on Israel people in 2000.
Fact: Palestinains were sending many terrorists among workers entering Israel. Not a smart move!!
Fact: ONLY AFTER that Gazans were prohibited from work in Israel.
--------------------------
Sequence two:
Fact; Israel ( under a rightwing government) has evicted ALL Jews from Gaza.
Fact: Palestinain chose as theri leaders a fanatical Islamist party absolutely dedicated to war with Israel.
Fact; ONLY AFTER that --blockade from two states committed from limiting the spread of the militant Islamic fundamentalists ( and Iran ) in the Middle East.
Opinion:If Jordan or Saudi Arabia were on Gaza border, they would've blockaded Hamas as well.
Palestinians, never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Freedom does not mean that you aren't punished for what your choose and do.
If I use my freedom of speech to say something about about someone, that doesn't mean there aren't repercussions for what I say.
Egypt opens Gaza border after Israel ship clash
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6502H820100601
"The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." In other words, make them suffer enough to reject Hamas or force its officials to accede to Israeli demands and function like Fatah as Tel Aviv's enforcer - and if fail at both, slowly suffocate and strangle the entire population.
The "Red Lines" document reportedly establishes minimal nutritional requirements at below subsistence levels. Unreleased to the public, it's believed to contain detailed tables of the number of grams and calories of each permitted food item by age and gender. Israel refused to release it, saying the Freedom of Information Act doesn't require it because it's a "draft document" that doesn't serve as basis for policy. Gisha countered by saying:
"This argument does not provide an answer to the question of how Israel manages to 'provide effective warning of expected shortages' of goods in Gaza while continuing to insist that there is no working document that defines (their) minimum required quantities. It is not clear why Israel....chooses to invest so many resources in the attempt to conceal information....How is the disclosure that Israel forbids the entry of sage and ginger, yet allows in cinnamon, related to security needs?"
http://rense.com/general90/exclu.htm
When we critics of this blockade by Israel speak of the Inhumanity of it, it is not hyperbole. It is a reflection on our part that our friend, Israel has abandoned its soul in an effort to subjugate the Palestinians to its will, to break them and to attempt to drive from them any desire for a state of their own.
If any people on the Earth should understand the moral implications of such words, thoughts and deeds, it is the Jewish People, who waited 2000 years to recongregate the Diaspora in the Middle East! Do you believe the Palestinians will not strive for the same for their people?
should have voted for nader again, like i did in 2000. there is no govt. in DC that represents the constitution of the us of a. it only represents zionist interests, whether those interests are in banking, finance, drugs, energy, arms sales, or the military government of israel.
jews and gentiles alike abhor these events, the facts are out there, they cannot be lied or wished away.
http://www.gregpalast.com/obama-is-a-two-faced-liar-aw-right/