This is the story of a friend. I do not use his real name.
This is the plight of being Palestinian, stateless.
The 4km stretch of land was squalid, with no water, no food and nowhere to take shelter. The strip of land truly did justice to its name, No Man’s Land. Roughly 400 refugees were located there with no way of returning where they had come from, the hell of Iraq, and without permission to continue on to the police state of Syria. The people that inhabited this No Man’s Land were paperless and stateless.
The border between Iraq and Syria was the only space on earth where Karim was given permission to exist. It was July when Karim arrived at the border, escaping a death threat and having left his family and all that he knew behind, he was making an attempt at reaching his mother’s homeland that he had never visited, Syria. During those four months, with the sun beating down on the hundreds of people stuck there, the most immediate concern was a mere drink of water. Karim’s only travel document was a Palestinian passport issued by the Palestinian Authority in 1994, but never acknowledged by Israel who holds the official registry of all Palestinians within the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinians residing outside of these areas have no “right of return” while Europeans, Americans, Russians, Ethiopians… really anyone who could trace their family origins back to the Jewish people was given access and legal rights to live, work and die in Israel, the land of historic Palestine.
Four months after arriving at the border, on November 8th, Karim’s mother picked him up, driving him to their new temporary home on the outskirts of Damascus. His skin was like leather she said as every drop of water he was able to find during those months was barely enough for drinking. Karim’s teeth had begun to decay. After months of trying Karim’s family was able to receive a letter from a Syrian government official giving Karim permission to enter Syria but without residency. At any moment he could be deported to the very place he had come from. Syria had given him temporary permission to become an illegal refugee in the police state.
In 1994 Karim’s father, Abu Karim, had chosen not to take on the Iraqi citizenship in the hope of one day returning to a state of Palestine still to be established. Abu Karim was Palestinian, from the Gaza Strip’s city of Deer Al-Balach where his family had fled from Beer Sheva in 1948 today located in Israel. Abu Karim was one of those ambitious Palestinians that despite the odds fought his way into university in Gaza and then continued his higher education in engineering in the UK. When he took on a job with General Electric in Baghdad he settled there with his family.
Karim was raised in an upper class neighborhood of Baghdad, his brother called it, the “Hollywood of Baghdad”. There he described to me a life wholly unimaginable to one who had grown accustomed to the media’s bloody reports of the city. Karim described today’s city of anarchy as the playground of his youth. There, he drove fast motorcycles through the streets and along with his brother was known as a little trouble maker at school. All this was to change with the international community’s siege on Iraq in the early 90s following the first Iraq war. By this time Abu Karim was running Iraq’s biggest import-export company. It was the people of Iraq who suffered most from the siege. At that time Karim’s life was affected dramatically, but it was the war in 2003 that changed everything.
The US lead invasion transformed the way of life in Iraq. It was for one of the US soldiers roaming the streets of Baghdad that Karim translated in a shop one day. Abu Karim had raised his children speaking English, he himself knowing seven languages. After the short encounter in the shop the soldier asked Karim to translate for the army and Karim agreed. But upon interrogation and the US officials realizing Karim did not have Iraqi citizenship, they imprisoned him in order to investigate his status in Iraq. Within seven days he was cleared and yet it was not until eleven months later that Karim was released by the Americans having passed through some of the worst US run prisons in Iraq.
Saddam Hussein, much like the Assads, the neighboring Arab dictators in Syria, was gaining political capital by officially taking the Palestinians under his wing. It was well known in the West Bank and Gaza that the Ba’ath party sent monies to family’s whose members had died as “martyrs”, especially in attacks on Israeli army outposts. Yet, within Iraq this was largely for show and Palestinians though given a space to live in Iraq, a packed refugee camp not unlike those within the Palestinian areas, remained a stateless people at the mercy of a foreign Arab tyrant. Karim had excelled in a private school for advanced students and one day Saddam Hussein had come to visit the academy that was named after him. Upon his discovery that the top 17 students were Palestinians he had all Palestinians dismissed from the school the following day. Karim had been the first in his class and early on experienced the racism of living without rights.
Yet, it was the perception that Saddam made the Palestinians his spoiled favorite minority that brought on them the wrath of Shiite militias that sought revenge on anything connected to the legacy of the man who had suppressed, tortured and killed thousands of Shiites during his reign.
Karim’s family left their neighborhood a ghost town, partially occupied by militias but devoid of anything resembling the life that had not so long ago existed there. Even deeper tragedy struck when Karim lost his father in July.
Abu Karim had remained in Baghdad after the rest of his family had fled to Syria. There he was captured by a Shiite militia. He was tortured and upon release Abu Karim was able to travel to Syria and underwent an emergency operation to amputate his leg to try and prevent the gangrene from reaching the rest of his body. He lost the race against time. One week later Abu Karim died as the virus reached throughout his body.
Abu Karim was a wise man with deep love for his family. With the civil war looming in Iraq he had told his son Karim never to be overcome by a desire for revenge. Revenge, he taught, was an animal instinct that needed to be rooted out of humans. Karim today seeks no revenge on his father’s killers.
Karim is a prisoner in this world, only temporarily escaping the cell of No Man’s Land he has been sentenced to. Karim is fatherless and homeless as a result of war, as a result of occupation, as a result of injustice.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Iran: Palestinian Reconciliation; Israel: Palestinian Division
Some absurdities are taking place in the happy Western world balance of Good ("the West"...oddly enough including War ally Australia) and Evil (the so-called "Middle East" "/" "Islamic World"). It is one of the members of the famed "Axis of Evil" (North Korea by the way has just asked to be excused from this list) Iran, who is hosting reconciliation talks between the various factions.
The Algerian ambassador in Cairo for his part has also called for a "fact-finding committee on Hamas' takeover Gaza Strip to become a reconciliation committee between the Palestinians."
Just a few weeks ago Palestinian premier had seemed to soften his hard line stance towards Hamas when he called for a "return to national unity."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office responded by stating that any Fatah-Hamas unification would cause "a breakdown of the diplomatic process", Abbas they said was "well aware" of their position. Israel seems to be quite fond of this (convenient) division.
The Algerian ambassador in Cairo for his part has also called for a "fact-finding committee on Hamas' takeover Gaza Strip to become a reconciliation committee between the Palestinians."
Just a few weeks ago Palestinian premier had seemed to soften his hard line stance towards Hamas when he called for a "return to national unity."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office responded by stating that any Fatah-Hamas unification would cause "a breakdown of the diplomatic process", Abbas they said was "well aware" of their position. Israel seems to be quite fond of this (convenient) division.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
JPost: Fatah "Intifada" vs. Hamas
The Jerusalem Post can finally appease its readers by writing of an "intifada" that has broken out between Palestinian factions in Gaza. Monday morning a second Hamas vehicle was blown up by unidentified Fatah members. As someone in Jerusalem once told me, the Israelis have never had it better, the Palestinians are attacking and killing each other and for the most part are leaving Israel alone. As I have been trying to point out for the past many months the story goes much deeper than Palestinian "Extremist Muslims" hate and kill "Secular Nationalists" and vice versa.
Division has very often been the strategy to control a people, especially when the occupied population is bigger than the occupying power. One has to look past what the media is telling in its most common platforms in order to see that this is also the case in the Gaza Strip. In no way does this excuse either members of Fatah or Hamas of the actions they are perpetrating, but one always must look beneath the surface for the root of disease. Violence is no natural state of being.
This is the Jerusalem Post's superficial perspective of what takes place in Gaza, by using the Palestinians' own language of "intifada' they are demonizing their Palestinian neighbors and solidifying their place in the annals if history as a self-destructive people that are not to be trusted, who are naturally inclined to such inter-fighting.
"There are increasing indications that Fatah is trying to organize an intifada against Hamas, as Fatah members in the Gaza Strip try to snap out of what one commander termed a state of "depression" following their defeat at the hands of Hamas in June...
Fatah officials expressed deep satisfaction with the anti-Hamas demonstrations...
Hamas leaders said they did not rule out the possibility that Fatah members would resort to an "armed struggle" against the Islamist movement.
Division has very often been the strategy to control a people, especially when the occupied population is bigger than the occupying power. One has to look past what the media is telling in its most common platforms in order to see that this is also the case in the Gaza Strip. In no way does this excuse either members of Fatah or Hamas of the actions they are perpetrating, but one always must look beneath the surface for the root of disease. Violence is no natural state of being.
This is the Jerusalem Post's superficial perspective of what takes place in Gaza, by using the Palestinians' own language of "intifada' they are demonizing their Palestinian neighbors and solidifying their place in the annals if history as a self-destructive people that are not to be trusted, who are naturally inclined to such inter-fighting.
"There are increasing indications that Fatah is trying to organize an intifada against Hamas, as Fatah members in the Gaza Strip try to snap out of what one commander termed a state of "depression" following their defeat at the hands of Hamas in June...
Fatah officials expressed deep satisfaction with the anti-Hamas demonstrations...
Hamas leaders said they did not rule out the possibility that Fatah members would resort to an "armed struggle" against the Islamist movement.
They added that there was growing evidence that Fatah was preparing for armed attacks on Hamas figures and institutions. They also noted that over the weekend Hamas militiamen discovered a weapons factory inside the house of a former Fatah security commander in the Strip."
Saturday, September 1, 2007
First Fatah attack on Hamas since takeover; Hamas breaks up prayers
The DPA and local news sources reported the first Fatah violent attack of revenge on Hamas since the Hamas takeover June 14,
"An explosion in southern Gaza city on Saturday ripped through the car of a member of the Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas movement, which has been running the enclave since June, Hamas sources said.
The sources said the blast has completely destroyed the vehicle which was parked in front of the home of the owner, whom the sources did not identify.
The incident took place following a day of clashes between the Hamas police force and supporters of rival Fatah movement whom Hamas drove from power on June 14.
Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, started to hold weekly Friday prayers outside mosques, protesting Hamas incitement against them."
Few journalists are able to film the events that are taking place in Gaza without permission from Hamas; here are some images that were captured. Depicted is Hamas security members detaining Fatah members who on Friday gathered to worship in a downtown square in Gaza City because they do not feel welcome within Hamas-run mosques.
On August 27th, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights provided the following report of Hamas detentions of Fatah members.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, on Saturday morning, 25 August 2007, the Executive Force arrested 15 residents of al-Daraj neighborhood in the east of Gaza City to interrogate them about their participation in the prayer conducted in the Unknown Soldier Yard in Gaza City on the preceding day, and the demonstration that followed. Fatah movement had called for doing the Friday Prayer in the Unknown Solider Yard, in protest to what it described as “the incitement and politicization of religious preaches at mosques.” According to a number of released detainees, they were beaten and humiliated during their detention at al-Saraya security compound. They were also forced to sign a document pledging not to participate in any activities organized by Fatah movement and not to give any information to the media, and if they break this pledge, they must pay 3,000 JD (approximately US$ 4,285).
In the same context, the Executive Force arrested 3 residents of the same neighborhood on Sunday morning, 26 August 2007. They were also beaten, humiliated and forced to sign the same pledge.
In his testimony to PCHR, one of the released detainees stated:
“At approximately 04:15 on Saturday, 25 August 2007, many members of the Executive Force broke into the yard of our house and arrested my brother who got out to check what was going on. They then ordered me and my other brothers to get out. As soon as I got out, they handcuffed, blindfolded and violently beat me. They placed me in a jeep and then transported me to al-Saraya compound. During our way to al-Saraya compound, they continued to beat me. I sustained fractures to my left hand and upper jaw. In al-Saraya security compound, they interrogated me about my participation in the Friday prayer and the demonstration that followed. During the interrogation, they beat and insulted me. They then forced me to sign a document pledging not to participate in demonstrations and activities organized by Fatah movement and not to talk to the media, and if I violate this pledge, I must pay 3,000 JD. They released me and my brothers at approximately 09:00 on the same day.”
Friday, August 24, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Gaza and the Jordanian Option
In recent weeks the Jordanian Option has been floated in the media as a viable way forward in negotiations to resolve the current Palestinian statelessness. Haaretz ran the initial large piece explaining that Jordanian officials, supposedly with king Abdullah’s blessing, had been in Israel recently as well as Washington in order to float Jordan’s ideas of a confederation.
"According to the plans of the king's assistants, the Hashemite monarch - as the direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed - will serve as the president of the confederation, in addition to his position as the monarch of the Jordanian kingdom; and a federal government will be set up together with an elected parliament that will be composed of both Jordanian and Palestinian representatives.
The security forces will come under the control of the federal government, and this will supposedly allay the fears of Israel about the activities of independent Palestinian military forces. The condition for the establishment of the federation, Abdullah's aides say, is an Israeli-Palestinian agreement over the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Only after that will the independent state be invited to join the proposed confederation."
An unrelated article on the Israeli secret service operated site Debkafiles concerning the release of 250 Fatah prisoners in a deal doctored by Israel in order to “boost” Abu Mazen’s support in the West Bank after the Hamas takeover in Gaza, mentions this account from July 15,
"According to our sources, Gen. Dayton has promised these apparently reformed 178 terrorists - not smart suits and ties, but advanced military hardware, armored vehicles and 4x4s equipped with state of the art communications gear for them to lord it over the West Bank.
Sunday night, July 15, there were reports that Israel was now being asked to give Palestinian security forces the freedom to range over the West Bank. In other words, the IDF is under pressure to abandon its highly-successful system of manned military roadblocks and checkpoints and counter-terror arrest raids, which reduced almost to zero the years of Palestinian suicide attacks in which Fatah played a leading part.
The elements are therefore in place for beginning to ease Israeli troops out of the West Bank and requiring them to hand over the responsibility for fighting terror to the Palestinians."
It is curious just how the pieces have been falling into place for such a plan to be carried out. The Haaretz article provides some historical background to the two solutions considered by Israel, the Palestinian Option and the Jordanian Option, in the past 20 years the latter seems to have hardly been taken into consideration, but is this really the case?
The Palestinian Option refers to a Palestinian state made up of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. By dividing these two entities the project fails. Recent events in Gaza saw democratically elected Hamas claiming its rights to govern by rejecting the plans of Western backed coup-plotters within Fatah and single handedly removing the party leadership from Gaza.
With Gaza’s Fatah leadership seeking refuge in the West Bank, this move made for the decisive division creating two de facto areas of governance, the Gaza Strip under Hamas and the West bank for Fatah. Unless the two governing entities, one elected by the people and not recognized by the world and the other self-imposed and recognized by the international community, can reconcile and find an agreement to share rule over the two areas the Palestinian Option goes up in smoke. Palestinian leaders are digging the graves of their national aspirations. Many international voices are calling for vital talks between the two parties, yet Israel is contently opposing any such action, they want to see that grave dug.
Prior to the events that led to the collapse of the Palestinian Option Israel ascertained two steps to address a demographic threat they face by the Palestinians. Step number one was Sharon’s “disengagement plan” from Gaza. This allowed for an alleged washing of hands on Israel’s part of any responsibility for the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that the state of Israel created the overpopulated enclave in 1948 and the foundation of its contemporary social ills. Step number two was Israel’s covert role in the Hamas takeover in Gaza. Israel acted as midwife to the US plan to strengthen Fatah security forces, which ought to have been under Hamas control, in order to oppose Hamas’ strength.
In an interview, recently elected Israeli president Shimon Peres refers to the London Agreement of 1987, in which secret negotiations were held to start a dialog between Israel, Jordan and a Palestinian delegation excluding the PLO.
“So let’s make a troika, an economic troika. Economics is about relations. Politics is about borders. We have to start with the relations. And here I worked out a plan, which is called the “Valley of Peace,” beginning at the Red Sea and winding up at the Syrian border. And all the three agree. And if there will be a new economy, there will be a new situation, including work for people of the West Bank. And by the way, we cannot postpone this because nature is impatient. We have to solve the problem of the Dead Sea. It may become a catastrophe. So it’s all of this combined. It’s a new world.”
The Agreement was negotiated by non other than Peres himself and today, 20 years later the situation is not all that different. Peres still considers himself at some sort of auction where he can bid for his favorite “partner for peace.” 20 years ago the PLO, the popular representative of the Palestinians was not to his liking and thus he held a secret meeting in order to hold talks without them. Today, Peres seeks to negotiate the regional troika with a new government brokered by Mahmoud Abbas, lead by 2.4% vote receiving Salam Fayyad. Shimon Peres can talk about a valley of peace, while Gaza goes the way of sheol, not unlike Gaza’s Hebrew phonetic resemblance “Aza’el”.
Peres has this ambiguous statement to make about Gaza,
“Let the Gazans do whatever they want. I don’t suggest that we go to Las Vegas for a divorce, or go to the rabbinate for a marriage. Let them do whatever they want.”
The bottom line is, Gaza is out of the plan, out of Israel’s (or is it the US’s?) vision for their proposed “valley” in the Middle East. Gaza will remain a zoo, with humanitarian aid going in and rare visitors granted Israeli permission to enter to discover the devastation within, Gazans in a cage, living off of donated staples without access to the world and no opportunities for self-improvement.
Israeli MK Arieh Eldad wrote in a recent article what many Israeli politicians seem to think but few dare to put into words, “Jordan is Palestine.” She writes off Peres and Netenyahu as naïve and believes the truth needs to be told. Israel desires no other state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. A Rabin quote, reveals her cards early on, "a Palestinian state will rise only on the ruins of Israel." This smokescreen myth, a fallacious either/or logic allows for an Israeli carte blanche in its political maneuverings. Many may consider Arieh extreme and yet is she not speaking the words that most Israelis are thinking, and confessing the idea that Israeli politicians have been acting out since the Israeli state came into existence? Has there ever been any actual implementation of facts-on-the-ground towards a two-sate solution?
The bottom line is this, no matter what comes from the horse’s mouth, history reveals Israel’s continued construction of one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. One Jewish majority state, converse to Rabin’s statement, built on the destruction of a Palestinian state. If one looks a little closer at the recent events in Gaza, an invisible hand is distinguishable. Dahlan’s words come to mind made in an interview shortly after his men were exiled from Gaza in which he points out that Hamas fell for a “trap.” Dahlan may very well have been just a pawn, who was used and then brushed aside, but who knows, maybe just for the time being. If the international community and Israel squeeze the Gazans hard enough and long enough they might one day be ready to cheer the toppled warlord Dahlan back into power. Anything, to replace a Hamas leadership that may have been popularly elected and is able to provide security but economically cannot do more than hold open the door for international aid to pour in, as the world allows them to strangle on the noose of international boycott.
Ultimately, Israel seeks to rid itself of responsibility for the “Palestinian Problem.” Sharon’s genius in the disengagement from the Gaza Strip has not yet been fully recognized. The Haaretz article explains the original concept behind the Jordanian option,
“Instead of wrestling with the complex issue of implementing autonomy, the territory would be handed over to Jordan, and in this way Israel would be freed of the need to deal with the Palestinian problem.”
With the end of the disengagement, Ariel Sharon defiant of international law declared Gaza autonomous, clearing Israel’s responsibility over that territory and thereby delaying the demographic threat facing Israeli society. Although this is far from the reality on the ground as Israel continues to control most dimensions of Gaza’s daily life, the political reality was established. With the Jordanian Option Israel will be able to do the same for the West Bank by negotiating away its responsibility of finding a just solution for the blood of the past. One big question remains, without the Jordan River being reached will Israel be able to settle on a compromise between its political and religious ambitions in order to set its own final borders?
"According to the plans of the king's assistants, the Hashemite monarch - as the direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed - will serve as the president of the confederation, in addition to his position as the monarch of the Jordanian kingdom; and a federal government will be set up together with an elected parliament that will be composed of both Jordanian and Palestinian representatives.
The security forces will come under the control of the federal government, and this will supposedly allay the fears of Israel about the activities of independent Palestinian military forces. The condition for the establishment of the federation, Abdullah's aides say, is an Israeli-Palestinian agreement over the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Only after that will the independent state be invited to join the proposed confederation."
An unrelated article on the Israeli secret service operated site Debkafiles concerning the release of 250 Fatah prisoners in a deal doctored by Israel in order to “boost” Abu Mazen’s support in the West Bank after the Hamas takeover in Gaza, mentions this account from July 15,
"According to our sources, Gen. Dayton has promised these apparently reformed 178 terrorists - not smart suits and ties, but advanced military hardware, armored vehicles and 4x4s equipped with state of the art communications gear for them to lord it over the West Bank.
Sunday night, July 15, there were reports that Israel was now being asked to give Palestinian security forces the freedom to range over the West Bank. In other words, the IDF is under pressure to abandon its highly-successful system of manned military roadblocks and checkpoints and counter-terror arrest raids, which reduced almost to zero the years of Palestinian suicide attacks in which Fatah played a leading part.
The elements are therefore in place for beginning to ease Israeli troops out of the West Bank and requiring them to hand over the responsibility for fighting terror to the Palestinians."
It is curious just how the pieces have been falling into place for such a plan to be carried out. The Haaretz article provides some historical background to the two solutions considered by Israel, the Palestinian Option and the Jordanian Option, in the past 20 years the latter seems to have hardly been taken into consideration, but is this really the case?
The Palestinian Option refers to a Palestinian state made up of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. By dividing these two entities the project fails. Recent events in Gaza saw democratically elected Hamas claiming its rights to govern by rejecting the plans of Western backed coup-plotters within Fatah and single handedly removing the party leadership from Gaza.
With Gaza’s Fatah leadership seeking refuge in the West Bank, this move made for the decisive division creating two de facto areas of governance, the Gaza Strip under Hamas and the West bank for Fatah. Unless the two governing entities, one elected by the people and not recognized by the world and the other self-imposed and recognized by the international community, can reconcile and find an agreement to share rule over the two areas the Palestinian Option goes up in smoke. Palestinian leaders are digging the graves of their national aspirations. Many international voices are calling for vital talks between the two parties, yet Israel is contently opposing any such action, they want to see that grave dug.
Prior to the events that led to the collapse of the Palestinian Option Israel ascertained two steps to address a demographic threat they face by the Palestinians. Step number one was Sharon’s “disengagement plan” from Gaza. This allowed for an alleged washing of hands on Israel’s part of any responsibility for the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that the state of Israel created the overpopulated enclave in 1948 and the foundation of its contemporary social ills. Step number two was Israel’s covert role in the Hamas takeover in Gaza. Israel acted as midwife to the US plan to strengthen Fatah security forces, which ought to have been under Hamas control, in order to oppose Hamas’ strength.
In an interview, recently elected Israeli president Shimon Peres refers to the London Agreement of 1987, in which secret negotiations were held to start a dialog between Israel, Jordan and a Palestinian delegation excluding the PLO.
“So let’s make a troika, an economic troika. Economics is about relations. Politics is about borders. We have to start with the relations. And here I worked out a plan, which is called the “Valley of Peace,” beginning at the Red Sea and winding up at the Syrian border. And all the three agree. And if there will be a new economy, there will be a new situation, including work for people of the West Bank. And by the way, we cannot postpone this because nature is impatient. We have to solve the problem of the Dead Sea. It may become a catastrophe. So it’s all of this combined. It’s a new world.”
The Agreement was negotiated by non other than Peres himself and today, 20 years later the situation is not all that different. Peres still considers himself at some sort of auction where he can bid for his favorite “partner for peace.” 20 years ago the PLO, the popular representative of the Palestinians was not to his liking and thus he held a secret meeting in order to hold talks without them. Today, Peres seeks to negotiate the regional troika with a new government brokered by Mahmoud Abbas, lead by 2.4% vote receiving Salam Fayyad. Shimon Peres can talk about a valley of peace, while Gaza goes the way of sheol, not unlike Gaza’s Hebrew phonetic resemblance “Aza’el”.
Peres has this ambiguous statement to make about Gaza,
“Let the Gazans do whatever they want. I don’t suggest that we go to Las Vegas for a divorce, or go to the rabbinate for a marriage. Let them do whatever they want.”
The bottom line is, Gaza is out of the plan, out of Israel’s (or is it the US’s?) vision for their proposed “valley” in the Middle East. Gaza will remain a zoo, with humanitarian aid going in and rare visitors granted Israeli permission to enter to discover the devastation within, Gazans in a cage, living off of donated staples without access to the world and no opportunities for self-improvement.
Israeli MK Arieh Eldad wrote in a recent article what many Israeli politicians seem to think but few dare to put into words, “Jordan is Palestine.” She writes off Peres and Netenyahu as naïve and believes the truth needs to be told. Israel desires no other state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. A Rabin quote, reveals her cards early on, "a Palestinian state will rise only on the ruins of Israel." This smokescreen myth, a fallacious either/or logic allows for an Israeli carte blanche in its political maneuverings. Many may consider Arieh extreme and yet is she not speaking the words that most Israelis are thinking, and confessing the idea that Israeli politicians have been acting out since the Israeli state came into existence? Has there ever been any actual implementation of facts-on-the-ground towards a two-sate solution?
The bottom line is this, no matter what comes from the horse’s mouth, history reveals Israel’s continued construction of one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. One Jewish majority state, converse to Rabin’s statement, built on the destruction of a Palestinian state. If one looks a little closer at the recent events in Gaza, an invisible hand is distinguishable. Dahlan’s words come to mind made in an interview shortly after his men were exiled from Gaza in which he points out that Hamas fell for a “trap.” Dahlan may very well have been just a pawn, who was used and then brushed aside, but who knows, maybe just for the time being. If the international community and Israel squeeze the Gazans hard enough and long enough they might one day be ready to cheer the toppled warlord Dahlan back into power. Anything, to replace a Hamas leadership that may have been popularly elected and is able to provide security but economically cannot do more than hold open the door for international aid to pour in, as the world allows them to strangle on the noose of international boycott.
Ultimately, Israel seeks to rid itself of responsibility for the “Palestinian Problem.” Sharon’s genius in the disengagement from the Gaza Strip has not yet been fully recognized. The Haaretz article explains the original concept behind the Jordanian option,
“Instead of wrestling with the complex issue of implementing autonomy, the territory would be handed over to Jordan, and in this way Israel would be freed of the need to deal with the Palestinian problem.”
With the end of the disengagement, Ariel Sharon defiant of international law declared Gaza autonomous, clearing Israel’s responsibility over that territory and thereby delaying the demographic threat facing Israeli society. Although this is far from the reality on the ground as Israel continues to control most dimensions of Gaza’s daily life, the political reality was established. With the Jordanian Option Israel will be able to do the same for the West Bank by negotiating away its responsibility of finding a just solution for the blood of the past. One big question remains, without the Jordan River being reached will Israel be able to settle on a compromise between its political and religious ambitions in order to set its own final borders?
Friday, August 17, 2007
UN: Gaza risks economic collapse
How long will the UN have to go on making statements of this kind and the world sits idly by?
"The Gaza Strip is in danger of a general economic collapse, unless Karni crossing, the main point of entry for commercial goods into the territory, is reopened soon."
The assistant deputy commissioner general of the UNRWA went on,
“Gaza risks becoming a virtually 100 percent aid-dependent, closed-down and isolated community within a matter of months or even weeks,” said Filippo Grandi. “The window of opportunity in which we can address this most urgent situation is small and fast closing.”
1.49 million Palestinians in Gaza. 100 percent aid-dependent. Is anyone reading this?
"The Gaza Strip is in danger of a general economic collapse, unless Karni crossing, the main point of entry for commercial goods into the territory, is reopened soon."
The assistant deputy commissioner general of the UNRWA went on,
“Gaza risks becoming a virtually 100 percent aid-dependent, closed-down and isolated community within a matter of months or even weeks,” said Filippo Grandi. “The window of opportunity in which we can address this most urgent situation is small and fast closing.”
1.49 million Palestinians in Gaza. 100 percent aid-dependent. Is anyone reading this?
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Gaza E.R.
Filmmaker Olly Lambert's documentary "The Tea Boy of Gaza" hits the U.S. as "Gaza E.R." on PBS's Wide Angle. If the "Gaza" bit of the title does not grab viewer's attention, maybe "ER" will at least sound more familiar and exciting.
Those of you who have not seen this, it is very much worth 30 minutes of your time, so I am adding the link for a second time on Tabula Gaza.
Those of you who have not seen this, it is very much worth 30 minutes of your time, so I am adding the link for a second time on Tabula Gaza.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Tabula Gaza on vaction
I will be taking a 2 week vaction during wich time I will be away from Gaza and this blog. I need to rest my mind, but even more so my heart.
salamat.
tabula gaza
salamat.
tabula gaza
Thursday, July 26, 2007
More, more, more, more, more weapons
Haaretz reports on arms transfer between Israel and the PA,
"This is the largest arms transfer authorized in recent years, and it is meant to aid forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in preventing the possibility of a Hamas challenge and possible takeover similar to that of the Gaza Strip.
The weapons were delivered to the PA security forces three weeks ago following Israeli authorization.
The transfer of the M-16s was kept under strict confidence on both sides, in an effort to prevent any possible leak that could undermine Abbas' standing."
The Palestine Information Center also reported,
"Israeli premier Ehud Olmert is currently studying Abbas's request to allow entry of armored vehicles, bullet-proof vests and other military equipment in addition to the Badr forces stationed in Jordan to boost his power against Hamas."
"This is the largest arms transfer authorized in recent years, and it is meant to aid forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in preventing the possibility of a Hamas challenge and possible takeover similar to that of the Gaza Strip.
The weapons were delivered to the PA security forces three weeks ago following Israeli authorization.
The transfer of the M-16s was kept under strict confidence on both sides, in an effort to prevent any possible leak that could undermine Abbas' standing."
The Palestine Information Center also reported,
"Israeli premier Ehud Olmert is currently studying Abbas's request to allow entry of armored vehicles, bullet-proof vests and other military equipment in addition to the Badr forces stationed in Jordan to boost his power against Hamas."
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