Showing posts with label security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label security. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Choosing between two governments in Gaza
In Gaza the reality of being ruled by two governments for some is becoming a daily dilemma. My neighbor Mohamed is a police officer and responsible for security at the AlAqsa University in Gaza City. His superiors in the West Bank have informed him he is to remain home and will continue to receive his monthly salary. In return local Hamas authorities have informed the police force that they will be dismissed from the police if they do not appear for work.
Mohamed is faced with a tough decision, does he respect local authorities, which after all represent the Palestinian people’s elected government and at the end of the day are those that have most say in his day to day life in Gaza (after all the Fatah authorities deserted him along with other non-Hamas supporters, in Gaza)? Or, will he obey those that actually pay his salary, the new emergency government, not elected by the people and yet the governing body recognized by the West and other Arab nations alike as the sole representing political body of the Palestinians?
Mohamed says his colleagues will determine their actions according to who is paying their salaries. If the local Hamas authorities will pay them for their services they will obey them and go to work. If they continue to be paid by the President and his new emergency government in the West Bank they will remain at home.
Word has gone around that some officers will report to the West Bank authorities which members of the police force are obeying Hamas orders and working and that these will then be removed from their posts and their salaries canceled. This way they say the emergency government will determine who is a Hamas supporter (those that obey Hamas orders and work) and those that are Fatah supporters (those that obey Fatah orders and remain at work).
The future is unclear. How long will the Hamas government last in Gaza? Will the emergency Fatah government actually stand by “its people” in Gaza as it promised today? How about the economic boycott that is beginning to be carried out, within two days Gaza will run out of petrol, the electricity company will be forced to shut down, within a week supplies of most basic foods will run dry, will Israel continue the economic blockade?
Meanwhile, temporary Hamas policemen took to the streets today wearing brand new Hamas vests; traffic in the streets has never been so organized and disciplined. Finally, the Gaza Strip has just one government and just one police force governing it. A sense of order and security are the upsides that come along with the fear of a very uncertain future.
Meanwhile, a Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon, landed in Israel. With a government proving itself to be rather incapable, Israel is getting into one prickly situation after another and sending 20,000 soldiers into Gaza sounds to me like another worthless bloodbath.
Mohamed is faced with a tough decision, does he respect local authorities, which after all represent the Palestinian people’s elected government and at the end of the day are those that have most say in his day to day life in Gaza (after all the Fatah authorities deserted him along with other non-Hamas supporters, in Gaza)? Or, will he obey those that actually pay his salary, the new emergency government, not elected by the people and yet the governing body recognized by the West and other Arab nations alike as the sole representing political body of the Palestinians?
Mohamed says his colleagues will determine their actions according to who is paying their salaries. If the local Hamas authorities will pay them for their services they will obey them and go to work. If they continue to be paid by the President and his new emergency government in the West Bank they will remain at home.
Word has gone around that some officers will report to the West Bank authorities which members of the police force are obeying Hamas orders and working and that these will then be removed from their posts and their salaries canceled. This way they say the emergency government will determine who is a Hamas supporter (those that obey Hamas orders and work) and those that are Fatah supporters (those that obey Fatah orders and remain at work).
The future is unclear. How long will the Hamas government last in Gaza? Will the emergency Fatah government actually stand by “its people” in Gaza as it promised today? How about the economic boycott that is beginning to be carried out, within two days Gaza will run out of petrol, the electricity company will be forced to shut down, within a week supplies of most basic foods will run dry, will Israel continue the economic blockade?
Meanwhile, temporary Hamas policemen took to the streets today wearing brand new Hamas vests; traffic in the streets has never been so organized and disciplined. Finally, the Gaza Strip has just one government and just one police force governing it. A sense of order and security are the upsides that come along with the fear of a very uncertain future.
Meanwhile, a Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon, landed in Israel. With a government proving itself to be rather incapable, Israel is getting into one prickly situation after another and sending 20,000 soldiers into Gaza sounds to me like another worthless bloodbath.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Gaza, Robbed Love
Today I moved around Gaza City from meeting to meeting. On the streets movement was limited, as it is Thursday and at least for schools and government institutions the Hamas government has added Thursday to Friday to make for an unprecedented two-day weekend in the Gaza Strip.
This morning once again a new security plan was reportedly taking effect. One taxi driver told me the success of the plan would be seen only after 10pm tonight. I caught a hint of cynicism in his voice. If the lawlessness can be retained after dark then there might be some truth to this new “plan,” or else it would prove to be talk like the last one. Another driver told me, “I see no change, what security plan?” And yet another explained to me that the real issue was an economic one, as long as there are no jobs, there are no opportunities for the future, nothing, no matter what sort of plan is developed, would ever change anything.
The streets once again are littered with garbage as the municipality employees are on strike. Just two weeks ago the same garbage piles were littering the street, just higher, but I was told, since the workers never received what they were promised. They are now striking again. The stench of burnt waste fills the air.
Every taxi I entered today was old and worn, and somehow represented something of the state of the soul of this place and its people. One car had a metal bar welded behind the two front seats, I imagine, to keep them up. The owner of a car, which had the steering wheel held together with tape told me at night cars older than his were being stolen and still they say they are implementing security. Hopelessness could be heard in every word spoken to me; someone pointed out that still no one really knew where the British journalist was, is this the way we treat guests, he asked. In one vehicle there was talk about the owner of a shoe shop being kidnapped, when ransom was paid for him, the perpetrators took his brother and demanded further ransom.
In Gaza, these stories are told like the weather or sports is discussed in other places.
And the sense one gets is that it is inevitable that this society will implode like it did early on this year. How to reduce the hate for the murderer of your brother, how to suppress the anger one feel towards one’s government, towards the perpetrators of crimes, towards one’s occupiers? Israel’s policy of conquer and divide is succeeding. And the world is not listening and the misery, the frustration, the unemployment, the endless cycle of despair and the search for an ordinary life goes on. I have to confess that somehow all this is beginning to rob me of my love for this place.
This morning once again a new security plan was reportedly taking effect. One taxi driver told me the success of the plan would be seen only after 10pm tonight. I caught a hint of cynicism in his voice. If the lawlessness can be retained after dark then there might be some truth to this new “plan,” or else it would prove to be talk like the last one. Another driver told me, “I see no change, what security plan?” And yet another explained to me that the real issue was an economic one, as long as there are no jobs, there are no opportunities for the future, nothing, no matter what sort of plan is developed, would ever change anything.
The streets once again are littered with garbage as the municipality employees are on strike. Just two weeks ago the same garbage piles were littering the street, just higher, but I was told, since the workers never received what they were promised. They are now striking again. The stench of burnt waste fills the air.
Every taxi I entered today was old and worn, and somehow represented something of the state of the soul of this place and its people. One car had a metal bar welded behind the two front seats, I imagine, to keep them up. The owner of a car, which had the steering wheel held together with tape told me at night cars older than his were being stolen and still they say they are implementing security. Hopelessness could be heard in every word spoken to me; someone pointed out that still no one really knew where the British journalist was, is this the way we treat guests, he asked. In one vehicle there was talk about the owner of a shoe shop being kidnapped, when ransom was paid for him, the perpetrators took his brother and demanded further ransom.
In Gaza, these stories are told like the weather or sports is discussed in other places.
And the sense one gets is that it is inevitable that this society will implode like it did early on this year. How to reduce the hate for the murderer of your brother, how to suppress the anger one feel towards one’s government, towards the perpetrators of crimes, towards one’s occupiers? Israel’s policy of conquer and divide is succeeding. And the world is not listening and the misery, the frustration, the unemployment, the endless cycle of despair and the search for an ordinary life goes on. I have to confess that somehow all this is beginning to rob me of my love for this place.
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