The end of Hana Shalabi's 44-day hunger strike has produced mixed results, and has pointed out another under-reported issue -- the separation and difficulty of movement between Gaza and West Bank.
Shalabi, like Khader Adnan before her, have done a great service to fellow Palestinians by exposing the undemocratic nature of administrative detention. It might be some time before it can be seen whether their struggle will reduce or totally end this kind of detention.
By choosing to reside in Gaza for three years, Shalabi exposed what few people around the world realize: Namely, that the unjust Israeli siege of Gaza also prevents 1.5 million ordinary Palestinians from the strip and over 2.5 million Palestinians from the West Bank to travel back and forth.
Much has been said about the unilaterally imposed economic siege on Gaza Strip. The Israeli land and sea blockade continues until this day. Repeated attempts to break it resulted in a marked easing of some of its aspects.
While the economic siege is meant to extract political results and effect behavioral changes from the Hamas-led government in Gaza, it is inconceivable that the travel ban between Gaza and the West Bank should continue forever. There has never been any serious effort to address this humanitarian need.
Now, Shalabi's exile in Gaza is being reported by local, regional and international media.
When the Israelis offered Shalabi freedom, they indirectly admitted that her detention was not necessary for security reasons. By offering to let her live in Gaza for three years, they hinted that the ban on travel from Gaza to the West Bank and vice versa will continue for at least three years.
The deal is therefore nothing less than a punishment for her and her family. The only possibility for her family to meet her now is if she can make it outside Gaza, to a third country (say, Egypt or Jordan) where her family would have to travel from Jenin to be able to see her.
Shalabi, who was arrested numerous times without charge or trial, was released in the Gilad Shalit exchange and thus legally pardoned.
The architects of the Oslo Accords designed what was referred to as a 'free-passage road' connecting the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. The Protocol Concerning Safe Passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip was signed in Jerusalem on October 5, 1999. Israel's failure to honor this protocol led U.S. officials and peace envoys to work on and reintroduce it, to no avail.
Save for a short stint that lasted a few days, the safe passage road has not been opened, in violations of bilateral agreements as well as the agreement that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer worked on an entire night in Jerusalem to produce.
Israel has used one excuse after another to deny the Palestinians the right to travel from one Palestinian area to another.
The two-state solution, which has received international support and even Israeli public approval, includes a provision that says the Palestinian territory must be contiguous. While a fast rail or a tunnel connecting Gaza and the West Bank might take some time, it is still possible to allow Palestinians to travel back and forth.
The ugly Israeli wall is now in place and the Israelis can install whatever security measures they wish to ensure that the safe-passage road keeps Israel safe, but to deny millions of Palestinians the right to travel to and from Gaza clearly amounts to collective punishment.
Shalabi's agreement to end her hunger strike and live in Gaza for three years has highlighted the absurdity of the cruel Israel policy of separating Palestinians for no reason. International peace envoys as well as Palestinian negotiators must give the issue of a free passage way between Gaza and the West Bank top priority in any talks. By removing barriers from Palestine two geographical areas will the future of a Palestinian state -- as a viable contiguous state -- to be on the right track. As such the struggle of Hana Shalabi would become of even higher importance.
Follow Daoud Kuttab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/daoudkuttab
Israel is not under any obligation to let various Palestinian enclaves to pass thru' its sovereign territory. None whatsoever. In fact it would be seriously detrimental to the security of ordinary Israelis people.
Moving on....
They stone u everyday
They. Jail u in the morning
They jail u in the day
They bomb u in the morning
They bomb u in the day
They hang u in th morning
They hang u everyday
They hate u in the morning
They hate u everyday
These Arabs aRe re-volting every friggin day
“Brothers, half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis. Who are the Palestinians?.”
AND
""Al-Aksa and the land of Palestine represent the spearhead for Islam and for the Muslims. Therefore, when we seek the help of our Arab brothers, we are not seeking their help in order to eat, to live, to drink, to dress, or to live a life of luxury. No. When we seek their help, it is in order to continue to wage Jihad.”
And so what we can conclude is according to a high level Palestinian leader that the "Palestinian Arabs" are Egyptians and Saudis - or at least those in Gaza. It's on record that in the 1970's then Syrian President Hafiz al Assad described Palestinians as Syrians ... and so the argument that they are "indigenous" is a fallacious at best.
And finally, we can also conclude that despite all claims to the contrary, the battle with Israel is about Jihad and NOT about some peaceful conclusion that would result in two states with people living side by side peacefully. According to Hamad, this is all about a religious Holy War and has always been about that
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4213349,00.html
Israeli people's support of Israeli left evaporated due to Palestinians choosing terrorist war over negotiations. The election of Hamas was just the final nail.
I did not realize that an indigenous populations' lack of an actual soveriegn state was an excuse to "partition" and/or "assign" their land without their consent. And Zionists wonder why people call them colonialists.
This is why I post about the Zionist myths that are behind posts like yours, particularly the one about "a people without a land, a land without a people."
What at first started out as a myth to soothe the consciences of well-intentioned Zionists has now morphed into the more nefarious "there are no Palestinians," essentially denying their very existence as a people, if not as human beings.
And finally, whatever one may think about the claim Palestinian Arabs may have to Palestine, the Zionist claim that any Jew (even a converted European or American one) has a GREATER right to the land than these indigenous peoples is the height of ludicrousness.
wrong?
"without reading that article I guess its about how the Jews don't let the poor Palis units between themselfs and stop killing one another."
The article says nothing about Palestinians killing one another, it is arguing for Israel to provide a passageway between Gaza and West Bank so that the future Palestinian state's territory will be contiguous.
Is that enough of a claim for your useless commenting before reading policy?"
o... so Israel isn't gonna do that- it ain't our interest to let them pass thrue our land- they can do the round road via Jordan and Egypt.
unless ofcourse we get something good in return.
But israel doesn't do this. Palestinians are free to travel between the two regions through states that the palestinians are at peace with, the fastest being jordan and egypt. there is no right to travel through a state you are at war with - that would just be silly.
Plus, your entire point is rethorical because Gaza is surely at war, not only with Israel but with its own citizens as well. For every human rights abuse Israel is accused (often wrongly) of, the leaders of Gaza are guilty of 10.
Did you expect the occupied to bless you and shower you with flowers for your benevolent occupation?
The ones who thought occupation would be easy in this day and age are the party at fault.
The only way to make any palestinian state contiguous would be to make israel noncontiguous and to jeopardize israeli lives. Why would israel agree to that? If it's not good enough for the palestinians to have a noncontiguous state, why would it be good enough for the israelis?
You can make many arguments about the travel ban between Gaza and the WB, but I don't see how you could declare it a humanitarian need and I would love to hear your thinking Daoud on why this is a humanitarian need. honestly, you've got me stumped on this one.
That's what israeli jews who want to visit any of their few remaining relatives in yemen have to do. They're not allowed to travel through saudi arabia to visit their families in yemen, they have to go around. There is no right to travel through a state you have ongoing hostilities with.
Well, that's BS, because even is Israel weren't boycotting Gaza, which it does justly and legally, travel for palestinians between gaza and the WB would still be difficult, if not impossible, so long as the Palestinians refuse to negotiate a peace with Israel. Why should Israel, after all, allow non-citizens and potential combatants to travel through their territory - going through israel being the quickest path between the two, and seemingly the only one the palestinians and their supporters know of, since it doesn't seemed to have occurred to any of them to travel between the WB and Gaza through neighbouring arab states, namely jordan and egypt.
When you lose, you surrender. That's how it works.
But your statement does nothing to change the fact that palestinians from the WB and Gaza can see each other and don't have to travel through israel to do it.
You're welcome for the history lesson