Gazans in Peril

So much as been written about the fighting in Gaza and its political and military consequences, but surely not enough has been written about the terrible humanitarian conditions that have befallen its unfortunate non-combatant inhabitants.

Every party -- yes, any party remotely involved in instigating or failing to prevent the latest outbreak of war in Gaza -- is partly the cause as well as the source of any durable solution to this growing humanitarian calamity -- and there are not enough fingers to point. Debating whether Hamas is justified in firing missiles into Israel or whether Israel is justified in its response is really not this blog's principal focus, please. Neither is the plight of Israel's southern cities and its inhabitants who have been terrorized far too long by Hamas' brand of war-like coexistence.

My goal, however treacherous, is to set aside the political blame game that has characterized the debate, and to focus on the terrible civilian conditions inside Gaza with the hope that the plight of Gazans will foster expedited preparation for an emergency international relief effort to address the humanitarian crisis that grips Gaza now and which will surely get far worse in the days ahead.

Whenever Gaza's guns go silent, tens of thousands of Palestinians caught in the crossfire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces will haltingly emerge from the rubble to survey the terrible destruction that has befallen them as winter rains add more misery to the situation.

Entire blocks of stores and homes have been destroyed; services have been disrupted; and families have endured a barrage of fire and counterfire rendering what passes as normality in Gaza a distant memory. If Gaza was destitute and replete with misery before the latest Middle East war, it surely will face an even bleaker existence in the days ahead.

Conditions throughout Gaza were bad enough for its inhabitants before the fighting -- an economic blockade by Israel, and Hamas' Islamic extremist economic disorder had collectively transformed Gaza into a state of perpetual depression.

But things have gone from very bad to much worse in recent days as fighting has escalated.

At this hour, Gazans have almost no electrical power, and are under almost a round-the-clock blackout. Store shelves are empty, urgent medicine is in short supply, and only a few homes have running water since there is no fuel to run the water pumps. Sewage is flowing in the streets, and medical authorities, who cannot cope with the flood of civilian victims, are concerned that this witch's brew will breed a terrible post-conflict pandemic of assorted maladies that will only lead to more deaths. Under such conditions, most would flee becoming refugees again, but in Gaza there is nowhere to run. The borders are sealed and there is no escape.

The human tragedy that has befallen Gaza's Palestinians -- Hamas supporters or not -- warrants every American to take cognizance because of its consequences for a durable Middle East peace. Americans are seeing very little of the human misery in Gaza since Israel has restricted media access. But regional Arab television stations are showing enough disturbing images to enflame the Arab street.

The harsh conditions in Gaza are undoubtedly going to get far worse before they get better, particularly if Israel presses ahead with its ground offensive if Hamas refuses to accept an Egyptian cease fire proposal that is being considered right now by representatives of all sides to the conflict in Cairo.

And as surely as the humanitarian crisis grows, I am concerned that Israel, rather than Hamas, will engender more hatred against it from among Gaza's citizens for what has been wrought on them. That, too, is yet another sorrowful consequence to the fighting.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which is the international humanitarian assistance pipeline for Palestinians will be even more short-funded and taxed to launch and administer an emergency humanitarian relief operation, so a global emergency relief operation facilitated by Israel and Egypt will be vital to supplement what relief agencies have haltingly been able to accomplish during the fighting.

And who will fund such a relief operation? That remains to be seen. Traditionally, the Palestinians have in the best of times received precious little in the way of international assistance over the years, but here, too, regional politics must give way to the plight of Gaza's Palestinians first. Wealthy oil-producing regional states should consider forming a relief consortium supplemented by international donations, including assistance from Israel and Egypt to lay the groundwork for expedited logistical facilitation.

Urgent planning by international relief agencies and donors for such an effective and sustainable relief operation must begin NOW and not when a cease-fire is achieved. By that time, too many more Palestinians will have fallen victim.

The inevitable question lingers: what will become of the hundreds of thousands of Gaza's Palestinians who surely will find themselves still ruled by Hamas when Israeli forces inevitably withdraw from Gaza? Unfortunately, there is no place for them to go in the short term...and they will be forced to remain in Gaza to confront the aftermath of the fighting.

Under pre-war conditions, the Egyptian-Israeli blockade of Gaza's borders had already rendered Gaza's economy a disaster, compelling Gazan's to funnel smuggled consumer goods through the network of tunnels underneath the Gazan-Egyptian border that also served as Hamas' underground missile railroad route. The blockade by both Egypt and Israel cannot continue. If a cease-fire is achieved -- and its chances of remaining durable are questionable -- a better solution must be found to end the economic noose that is strangling Gaza's faltering economy and enable unfettered relief to its citizens.

As much as I believe that Hamas in its current incarnation constitutes an insurmountable roadblock to Palestinian statehood, Hamas will probably remain in control of Gaza despite Israel's hopes that Hamas would just collapse. For that reason, Israel will have to consider ending its economic blockade of Gaza PROVIDED Hamas ceases its missile attacks on Israel and stops smuggling them into Gaza under some form of supervised border control that is "bullet proof." An end to weapons smuggling and missile launches in return for a lifting of the blockade seems to me to be the best that anyone can hope for given the utter lack of common ground that Hamas and Israel share.

In the final analysis, the people of Gaza and Israel's southern cities deserve a concerted international diplomatic and humanitarian response to relieve the suffering on both sides of Gaza's borders. That will require a sustained round-the-clock diplomatic search for a modicum of common ground between Hamas and Israel to get a cease-fire in place as rapidly as possible.

For the sake of those whose suffering is taking a turn for the worse as each hour passes, the urgency to get to a diplomatic solution in Cairo takes on a whole new meaning.

Comments

[hulka37]

Ginsberg's crocodile tears continue to flow.

[DIFILOSOFA]

Politics is at the heart of the problem. Egypt's blockade of the border-crossing hardly gets little or no press coverage. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for as long as I can remember, is terrified of the prospect of the Moslem Brotherhood (a religious based political movement in Egypt) teaming up with Hamas to overthrow his regime.

On the other hand, political parties in Israel use invasions and incursions to bolster their credentials on national security. It is not different in the United States, India and Pakistan. Nationalist fervor in the age of nuclear weapons is a grave danger and ticking bomb. Democracies that depend on polling numbers on serious and complicated issues run the risk of rubbishing the very ideals of the concept.

[Magenta]

Funny why Israel gets a pass while Israeli supporters condemn Arab nations of not doing more to alleviate refeugge suffering.

Shouldn't such high-minded souls be condemning Israel for not doing more to avoid aggravating the refugee problem in the Middle East, which is a legacy based on Israeli aggression that got 8 million Arab refugees expelled by Israel aggression and occupation of Palestine, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights.

Tthe number of Palestinian refugees alone, the result of Israeli land grabs and military aggression, stands at 4.75 million by June 2004, a figure provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA):

Palestinian Refugees An Overview
http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/mepp/new_prrn/background/index.htm

You can find out more at the UNRWA website, a UN agency specifically created to tackle the Palestinian refugee problem caused by Israel, the largest refugee problem in the world’s history:

http://www.un.org/unrwa/

Perhaps Israel's supporters are not as high-minded or even-handed as they think they are.

[olympia333]

Marc, an insightful piece, thank you. Your thoughts on having wealthy Arab nations, international donors, Israel and Egypt provide relief to Palestinians is a sound idea. Jordanian’s are answering this call. Generations of terrorized and displaced children who will become adults are being created. I appreciate hearing “sustainable relief operation must begin NOW and not when a cease-fire is achieved.” We need more voices like yours in congress. Americans we need to write our representatives in congress. On the airwaves here in the US we are experiencing a news black out regarding Gaza. America is a partner in this tragedy unfolding and we need to hold ourselves accountable. Our US tax dollars are supplying the Israelis with stellar military weapons making this conflict possible. We must actively seek peace in this region. Thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza are now severely injured and over one thousand have already been killed in this conflict. President Jimmy Carter and Queen Noor have also both been outspoken supporters towards resolving this crisis peacefully and fairly. Congress and the White House should seek their council as well and enlist your expertise in the region. All of you would make excellent advisors enlisted to end conflict in the region. US foreign policy has for too long exclusively supported Israel militarily, monetarily and politically. This policy has lead to increased conflict in the region and the perception that the US only supports Israeli interests at the exclusion of a long suffering Palestinian population.

[NetProphet]

I am surprised to note that Ginsberg mentions wealthy Arab nations could supply more aid to the Palestinians thru a "relief consortium" supplemented by additional international help.

I thought they already have international as well as regional and religious organizations which ALREADY have been supplementing this returning tragic situation. The Red Crescent, i.e. is the most well-known. There are others, but it seems that when one donates to such causes, they are scrutinized to no end by our own "security" chiefs.

[RonMar]

I appreciate Ginsberg’s balanced, diplomatic, humanitarian and rational approach. I am a frequent worker in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and on the Lebanon and Syria borders – 8x since ’04 and planning to return this year. While there I meet with Israeli Jews, Palestinians and others including in the West Bank, most recently this past May-July. So I have some viewpoints different from Ginsberg’s.

The Gaza Strip borders are not sealed. There is not only escape, but also the Israelis have assisted in evacuation of Christians and provided warnings before Israeli national defense actions at risk to IDF members. Some of the smuggling routes are still open.

Palestinian messages are getting out for the world to see and hear. Palestinians have received international assistance for years. Until tiring of rockets being fired into Israel since the removal of Jews in 2005 Israel has provided essential services to the Strip. Israelis continue to assist the Gazans during the battles. If Hamas and other Islamic jihadists are neutralized they will not rule there. With essential and cautious vetting Gazans can move closer to or with their families in Israel and the West Bank –family members who were visiting the Strip until recently. Some have already done so since December 27.

Gaza’s economy started becoming a disaster at least by the day Hamas took over.

The “roadblock to Palestinian statehood” was in 1948 and remains Palestinian refusal to establish a state based on refusal to recognize Modern Israel as a state.

[Idaho Boy]

Seems to me the Gazans have some in common with Native Americans of the 19th century. Feared, vilified, murdered with superior firepower and unctious self-justi­fications.

Pocatello, Idaho sits on what was once some very bountiful land along the Portneuf River. As a word, Pocatello has no Shoshone or Bannock etymology. Some say there was a starving "favorite" of the soldiers at Fort Hall, who came begging for pork and tallow. Chief PorkandTallow. When I was last in the area, there was family that bore the name with far more dignity.

Pocatello was carved out of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. I expect the "land transfer" had elements of fraud and the casual negligence which followed Indian land treaties through the US federal election cycle. Sound familiar?

Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians must give up their preconceptions and fears about each other. That will not happen easily, but it is happening already - a Google search should find you current records of emails between two men in Gaza and Sderot. Other links can be found, but they receive so very little acknowledgement. Fear and hatred must be calmly eradicated, person to person, day after day. That means segregation must go.

IMHO, thousands of all faiths are willing to help, on the ground, building peaceful lives for people in the Holy Land. Enabling this would be a better move toward peace than just another blind-alley ceasefire, that suits mainly the major geopolitical players and their minions.

[Macready]

Thank you for posting . . . the humanitariam problem continues to escalate . . . everyday Israel flouts international law, the Geneva convention . . . if the US Congress could get its act together and stop kow towing to the Israel lobby . . .and join with the UN and the Red Cross . . a ceasefire might come about sooner rather than later . . . America also has to stop calling Hamas a terrorist organisation . . . it isn't . . . people should think Sein Fein vs IRA . . .

peace is achievable but a big ingredient is the US and as long as Congress supports Israel and supplies Israel with arms; and continues to refuse to recognise Hamas . . the suffering and murder of innocent Palestinians will continue . . .

[twinkerbell]

Egypyt "ruled" Gaza from 1948 until the 6-day War in 1967, whereupon Israel became the "successor" occupier until they withdrew in 2005. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel, referring to it as the "Zionist entity". Why do you think that the truce negotiations are being handley through Egypt? Neither side wants to be perceived as being "weak" by talking to each other. I suspect that the "people" of Gaza and Israel would like to live without war, but the "politicians" on both sides need war to keep in their leadership roles.

[Aaror]

Proposal, Isreal requests that Egypt continue to block the flow of goods into Gaza, but then subsidizes purchases by Gaza of goods from Isreali merchants.
If you have southern Isrealis working every day with Gazan citizens, it will reduce the desire to "kill the enemy," and increase the desire to not kill people who now are human (meeting someone makes it a lot harder to kill them or want them dead unless you are psychotic)

[chaos4700]

You want Israel to profit off its stranglehold on Gaza? Doesn't that amount to extortion?

[MagisterLudi]

Speaking of profit, Hamas charges Gazans fees(!!!) for moving goods though their tunnels into Egypt. Talking about outwardly.

[Silentdances]

After thinking about your piece for a bit longer, I think it would have been more honest if you had started with something akin to 'despite our differences, this is the tragedy taking place'. This would have allowed more weight to your message, rather than the way it came off.

[Fireslayer]

Well I am gratified that this post was focused on the hideous tragedy unfolding for real human beings.

Unconditional cease fire is the only positive option.

Hamas cannot nor ever will be a threat to Israel. They are behvaing exactly how Israeli right-wingers want them to behave for their propoganda purposes.

Israel is making enemies faster than they can kill them. They are behvaing exactly how Hamas wants them to behave for their propoganda purposes.

The largely suppressed Israeli peace movement and the pacist Palestinians are the only sane players in this deadly farce.

[justice2all]

Exactly

[JanP]

Israeli right wingers, come of whom I know, just want the people of Gaza to live peaceful lives.

They were a lot upset that the people of Gaza launched 6,000 rockets at Israeli CIVILIAN population centers since Israel left 100% of Gaza.

I would like to remind all of you that as soon as Israel left Gaza, the TERRORISTS started launching rockets again at Israeli CIVILIANS. That the Israelis had a warning system and bomb shelters to minimize casualties, that they repaired rocket damage quickly does not lesson the guilt of the Gazans for trying to kill Israeli CIVILIANS.

Of course Israel tried to control what went into Gaza. even so, Hamas, islamic Jihad and the other groups smuggled thousands of rockets into Gaza for delivery to Israel in the form of attacks designed to kill CIVILIANS.

I would like to know who the Pacifist Palestiians are. pacifist israeli groups frequently demonstrate. I haven't seen mass Israeli demonstrations calling for "Death to the Arabs", have you?

[chaos4700]

Gaza has never been free. Israel controls the coastal waters, the air space and a "kill zone" /within/ the border security area. This notion that Israel "left" Gaza is a rhetorical fallacy.

[idest]

I guarantee most of the children killed by Israeli bullets and bombs were pacifists.

[MagisterLudi]

"The largely suppressed "Israeli peace movement ...
The peace movement is NOT suppressed. Israel is a free country. The peace movement feels betrayed by Arafat's choice revert to his evil ways and reject negotiations.
Arafat's tragic failure to transcend his hatred is contrasted by a great Arab statesman, Sadat, who achieved peace fro his country at a peril to his life.

[genofear]

Off topic, but I just want to say that I'm pleased that there really are no personal attacks or over-the-top agressive statements on either side of this discussion. A much more civil dialogue than many I've seen. : )

[lcarliner]

For all of the attacks on the proportionality of Israel's response, what would the world have to say if Israel had chosen to respond in exact manner, tit for tat, by firing one rocket indiscriminately into Gaza?

For any durable cease fire to have any credibility, international supervision of ALL of the crossings need to be supervised and monitored by reputable and impartial third party monitors to prevent secretive rearming of the Hamas!

Why hasn't UNICEF intervene in the continuous pouring and cramming into the very young minds by Hamas an unaltered diet of hate and violence of hate and suicide? Isn't it time for a neutral third parties to take control of the schools to stop this!

[libslayerguy]

As part of the world, I say that as long as Israel is confined to firing the same barely-put­-a-dent-in­-dirt, homemade, junk rockets that are available to Hamas. It would at the very least be a fair fight. It would accomplish the exact same thing (nothing), cost less and save a lot of lives.

[JanP]

So, Libslayerguy, if I toss about 50 stones at you every day and only once in a while do they hit you, you have absolutely no cause for complaint nor any justification in stopping me?

If you try and keep me from getting more stones, that is an illegal, immoral and unjustified blockade, no?

If I go in and punch you in the face, that too is unjustified, no?

And if i go in and try and get you to stop, destroying your hose, then I am the agressor, no?

[Geranium]

As part of the world, I say that those rockets are not that benign. Children in Israel cannot even play outside. How would you like 100's of rockets firing on your neighborhood day and night?

[JanP]

We have such a force in Lebanon under the Auspices of UN Resolution 1701. It was charged with not allowing Hizbullah to rearm. Under UN supervision and observation, Hizbullah's rocket supply went from 4,000 to 20,000.

This week, iunknown people in Lebanon with katusha rockets fired 8 of them into Israel.

Unfortunately, International forces seem to side with the terrorists. Keep them out of Gaza.

A Palestinian video is circulating showing Hamas thugs shooting up a wedding, killing the groom because they paled music. Hamas ahs to be destroyed for the benefit of the Palestinians as well as the Israelis. It seems like many Palestinians also feel this way. How else would Israel know which mosques and schools were being used for rocket storage and rocket launchin?

[Hansharriet]

The only long range solution that I see, is for the 15 - 18 Arab states North African and Middle Eastern States to get involved. The problem was created in 1948, over 60 years ago. The UNRWA was created to solve the refugee problem. They created a bureaucracy and lived with it for 60 years, without trying to solve the refugee problem. I think that the UNRWA has to be restructured, so it will begin to place the refugees in other countries. I believe that if you would take a vote in Ghaza, the population, except for Hamas operatives, would overwhelmingly choose to move to other countries.
In 1948 the fledgling State of Israel, took in the millions of Jews fleeing persecution in Morocco, Algiers, Tunesia, Egypt, Yemen and Iraq. They felt compassion for their brethren, though the Arab States turned their backs on their co-religionists for over 60 years.
Israel is here to stay as an independent country and it continues to flourish and contribute scientifically and economically to the well being of people over the whole world, despite the promises by Hamas of its imminent destruction.
I propose that President Obama meet with each one of the heads of the 15-18 Arab States, negotiate wiith them and implore them to address this Ghaza refugee problem and take a number of refugee families into their countries.
Let's get rid of this powder keg, used as an excuse by al-Queda and Hizbolla and other groups for their existence.

[chaos4700]

The "refugee problem" isn't going to be solved by trying to dissolve the Palestinian nationality. It will be solved when Israel retreats to its legally recognized borders and ends its policy of military conquest and occupation.

[billw8017]

This is a water deprived region. The Golan Heights, southern Lebanon, and the West BANK are critical to ground water. Israel forbids Palestinians to drill wells so deep as to reduce the flow to the deeper Israeli wells. Israel cannot maintain its water lifestyle, drip irrigation is a joke that leaves a crust of salts on the land, but control of Muslim areas prolong the country's survival.

[jackie2]

AMEN!!

[Wake-up]

I'm sure Mr. Ginsberg would agree that this longterm problem won't go away till the Arab world accepts Israel, regardless of where the border is and that's likely to happen in our lifetime.

Can BO get the Arab world to accept Israel? I'll be sitting front and center for this one...

[Amb. Marc Ginsberg - Huffpost Blogger]

Your exxcellent comment is much appreciated. Marc

[Repubnomore]

Is this the US government's official view on solving the Gaza problem? Relocating Palestinian refugees to other Arab nations and allowing Israel to settle the strip?

[olympia333]

Allowing free flow of humanitarian aid is correct. But, to suggest we facilitate the transfer of ‘refugees’ to other nations is troubling. Forcing families who have endured interminable deprivation to leave their homeland is not a sustainable or moral solution. Ideologies need to be set aside for our common humanity to flourish.

[windypaperboy]

So you are denying their right to return to their 1948 homes and lands. No way. That will never happen. The should never leave their land.

[cccrider]

Wake up folks, Israel is OUR democratic alliy in that area of the world,

[Baltotoast]

If that's democracy I don't want any part of it.

[Manchurian]

It's not a democracy. In a real democracy, all citizens have equal rights.

[jackie2]

We aren't Israel's friend, we're it's sugar-daddy-They're our good buddy just as long as we continue providing them with over 3 billion dollars a year in "aid" (what do they need aid for anyway?) & give them hundreds of millions of dollars more in our most advanced weaponry & the use of our U.N. Security Council veto-If we ever cut that off, they would ally themselves with our enemies in a heartbeat-And if they were really friends, why would their government keep spying on us?

[JanP]

Part fo the peace treaty between Israel, Egypt and the U.S. included:

1. america would become Egpt's weapons supplier, replaing the russians. since then, Egypt has recieved F-16's and they asemble M1A1 tanks.

2. Israel would recieve military aid to balance the aid to Egypt and to ensure that israel could hold off any likely ocmbination of Arab aermis.

THis has worked. You do not see an Arab repetition of the 6-Day war or the Yom Kippur war or the War of Attrition.

You might notice that russia is sending its most advanced anti-Aircraft weapons and fighter planes to our dear friends and democracies, Syria and Iran.

You might also ponder the dire results if we allow Israel to fall into a stte where they can't fend off an Arab attack and are forced to go nuclear.

[benalbanach]

Israel is your democratic ally ? Really ?

When it became apparent that the US was not going to attack Iran the Israelis came to Washington asking for four things; The right to fly over Iraq. Refuelling of their aircraft. The latest most powerful blockbusting bombs and a defensive missile system should Iran respond (Which they would).
The US realised that Israel might well attack Iran and overfly Iraq without permission leaving the US with the option of more hostility from the Arab world (and rest of the world) or shooting down the aircraft of their 'friends". They also noted that Israel gave not a thought to the more than 150.000 US troops caught in the middle. With friends like that .who needs enemies.