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As Palestinian militants in Gaza fire rockets into Israel and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) bombard the Strip 'in retaliation', here are ten things you should probably know about Gaza:
1) "PRISON CAMP"
David Cameron once referred to Gaza as a "prison camp" and "some sort of open-air prison". 1.7 million Palestinians are crammed into just 140 square miles; Gaza is one of the most crowded places on earth.
Israel, despite withdrawing its troops and settlers from the Strip in 2005, continues to control its airspace, territorial waters and border crossings (with the exception, of course, of Gaza's land border with Egypt).
2) (UN)FAIR FIGHT
Remember: according to the Israeli human-rights group B'Tselem, in the last major conflict between Israel and Hamas - 'Operation Cast Lead' which kicked off in December 2008 - 762 Palestinian civilians were killed, including more than 300 children, compared to 3 (yes, 3!) Israeli civilians.
We seem to be seeing a similar imbalance in bloodshed this time round: "More Palestinians were killed in Gaza [on Wednesday] than Israelis have been killed by projectile fire from Gaza in the past three years," wrote Palestinian-American activist Yousef Munayyer on the Daily Beast website.
3) "COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT"
Why do they hate us, ask ordinary Israelis? Well, Gaza has been under siege since January 2006, after its residents dared to elect a Hamas goverment in free and fair elections. The subsequent economic blockade imposed upon the Strip by the Israeli government at one stage prevented the residents of Gaza from importing, among other things, coriander, ginger, nutmeg and, even, newspapers.
Most international lawyers, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), consider the blockade to be illegal under international humanitarian law; in 2009, a UN panel, led by distinguished South African judge and self-confessed Zionist Richard Goldstone, accused Israel of imposing "a blockade which amounted to collective punishment".
4) "ON A DIET"
In 2006, Dov Weissglass, the then chief of staff to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon summed up his government's approach to Gaza and its residents when he confessed: "The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger."
A rhetorical flourish? Not quite: in 2008, Israeli defence officials in charge of restricting food and supplies from entering Gaza went so far "as to calculate how many calories would be needed to avert a humanitarian disaster in the impoverished Palestinian territory, according to a... declassified military document."
5) STUNTED GROWTH
Ten percent of children under 5 in the Gaza Strip have had their growth stunted due to prolonged exposure to malnutrition. "Stunting (chronic malnutrition) is not improving and may be deteriorating," concluded the World Health Organisation in May of this year.
6) JOBLESS AND HOPELESS
The unemployment rate in Gaza is 28% - and stands at 58% among young people aged between 20 and 24, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
7) STRESSED KIDS
One in five children in Gaza suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to the award-winning Palestinian psychiatrist Dr Eyad El-Sarraj. (More than half of Gaza's residents, incidentally, are under the age of 18.)
8) KILLING YOUR OWN 'SUBCONTRACTORS'
The escalation of the violence this week was prompted by Israeli's assassination-by-drone of Hamas military commander Ahmed al-Jabari; the IDF said Jabari was a terrorist with "blood on his hands". Yet, as Aluf Benn, editor-in-chief of the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, pointed out: "Ahmed Jabari was a subcontractor, in charge of maintaining Israel's security in Gaza... Israel demanded of Hamas that it observe the truce in the south and enforce it on the multiplicity of armed organizations in the Gaza Strip. The man responsible for carrying out this policy was Ahmed Jabari... Jabari was also Israel's partner in the negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit; it was he who ensured the captive soldier's welfare and safety, and it was he who saw to Shalit's return home last fall."
According to Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin, Jabari was the "key actor on the Hamas side" responsible for keeping calm inside the Strip and the official who would "force" ceasefires "on all of the other factions and on Hamas". Good job, IDF!
9) POOR GAZANS. LITERALLY.
The most recent UN report on Gaza found that 80% of households in the Strip receive some form of financial assistance and 39% of people live below the poverty line.
10) 1948 AND ALL THAT
Two out of three Palestinian residents of Gaza - more than a million people! - identify themselves as refugees; the majority of these are 1948, and not 1967, refugees - that is, they fled to the Strip in the "ethnic cleansing" of 1948 and not the Six Day War and subsequent occupation of 1967. Thus, tragically, even a two-state solution, based on pre-1967 borders, will not deliver justice to these particular Palestinians.
Follow Mehdi Hasan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mehdirhasan
I suspect that any American on the battleflield found to be collaborating with the enemy would also be executed.
We are not getting the truth as to whether Palestinians really are treated in Israeli hospitals and a number are actually citizens of Jerusalem and the Knesset? Sincerely, E.T.
6.Jobless and hopeless
Are the rocket manufacturers and armaments smugglers, drug dealers and tunnel constructors included in the jobless figures? Any chance of reviving the lucrative agricultural industry started by Israelis which infrastructure was wrecked after Israel evacuated in 2005?
7.Stressed kids
Hamas can end their stress by ending the firing of rockets into Israel. Don't be a hypocrite when the cure is in your own hands.
8.Killing Israel's own subcontractors
You should therefore be rejoicing in Jabari's death - knowing as we do how Hamas treats those who collaborate with Israel. How did he survive for so long as Israel's enforcer?
9.Poor Gazans literally
They must be among the highest per capita recipients of international aid in the world. Care to tell us what has happened to the money poured into the bottomless pit? Can you assure us there is no corruption? Have you tapped some of the richer Arab states for some money to relieve their claimed "poverty"
10. 1948 and all that
How can someone be classified as a refugee if he is still living in some part or other of former Palestine? Can "refugeehood" status be passed on to future generations for ever and a day? Look at 1919 and all that and recognize that the Palestinian Arabs presently in 2012 exclusively occupy about 80% of former Palestine and the Jews the remaining 20% which they share with 1.2 million Arabs as equal citizens.
As to your claims
1. Gaza is a prison camp.
How come it has so many rockets? Does any other prison camp in the world have such weaponry? How come Arab emirs and foreign ministers can freely enter and leave the prison camp? How come the media have no trouble entering the prison camp? How does huge international transfers of money find its way into a prison camp?
2. Unfair fight
So why does Hamas and its proxies keep fighting? Gazans are suffering a certain loss and a humanitarian catstrophe because of Hamas's recklessness in refusing to accept the inevitable by recognizing Israel and giving up its attempt to wipe Israel off the face of the map. Change Hamas's constitution for starters.
3. Collective punishment
It is Hamas that is inflicting collective punishment on Gaza's population by pursuing the indiscriminate targeting of Israeli civilians in the sure knowledge that Gazans will suffer as a result. Poor souls have not had a vote since 2007 to state how they feel about what their Government is doing to them.
4.On a diet
I have yet to see anyone suffering from malnutrition. Please post some photos on Facebook and direct us to the site to see for ourselves.
5.Stunted growth
Please respond in similar vein as requested in 4 above.
(To be continued)
quoting :
"Children have presented with a higher level of symptoms of emotional stress and indications of
emotional stress present in 14.2% of kindergarten-aged children. In the first half of 2011, there were
332 cases of children presenting with conflict-related psychosocial symptoms; 20% of children suffer
from familial violence."
I posted a comment to this article a long while ago, yet two comments I just recently made are already up. I didn't say anything offensive to anyone in my previous comments a while back. I'd like to know what is the issue.
Thanks in advance
What I see, is not who did what and when or even Why
The main issues is WHAT is really happening.
DEATH AND SUFFERING .NO EXCUSES FOR THAT.
Notorious crimes which involves many innocent victims.
What if it was YOUR OWN Family?
This can very well happen to anyone of us .
Some may think they are prepared and it will never happen here.
Remember":Nations and World Powers that FELL in History proves very different.
Man has the capability of great harm or destroy the whole planet with just a few careless moves, . look what started WWI ?
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria
.
All Gods Creation
Regardless, If they are refugees or what... many Americans were refugees They are not animals.
Actually, animals are treated better. Doesn't anyone have the love of God within themselves anymore? That area was at one time referred to as "Holy Nation". No wonder Jesus said,
Matthew 23;37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her,—how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings! But YOU people did not want it. 38 Look! YOUR house is abandoned to YOU. 39 For I say to YOU, YOU will by no means see me from henceforth until YOU say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name!’
In addition, Israel clears 100's of truckloads of shipments of food, clothing, and humanitarian aid from other countries to Palestine through its checkpoints. They need to be cleared because militant factions and allies of Hamas/IJ keep trying to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
If Israel wanted to starve Palestine, they could simply stop giving them free food. Instead, they keep sending truck convoy after truck convoy into Gaza.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/humanitarianaid/overview/
If Palestinians are so hard-pressed for food, how do you explain the bustling food markets and loaded shelves? http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001072.html
There's reality, and then there's propaganda. This article is unashamedly in the latter camp.
http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/failing-gaza-no%20rebuilding-no-recovery-no-more-excuses.pdf
1.) Why should Israel give ANYTHING to Gaza? They're giving food to people who are trying to kill them - and you have a problem with them "not doing *enough*"?
2.) Oxfam is biased as all hell. It's apparent in the very wording of the table of contents, let alone the wording of the 1st paragraph.
Fine, drop it as a source. Google "Israel humanitarian aid to Gaza", and pick whichever source you prefer from the 2,990,000.
3.) The blockade was set up after Hamas took over Gaza. Notice how construction materials weren't an issue when the somewhat-sane Fatah was in control? "Gazans have been unable to rebuild because Israel and Egypt continue to enforce a border blockade first imposed in June 2007 after Hamas overran the territory." (http://www.haaretz.com/news/un-builds-mud-brick-homes-for-homeless-gazans-1.2271)
That is Hamas' fault - it started the fight. It uses asymmetric tactics of suicide bombers and human shields. It's to blame for that. In any event, the casualty rate does not indicate guilt in this conflict anymore that it does in Afghanistan. In World War II, far more Germans dies than British. Does that make Britain guilty for the war?
The core issue remains Arab rejection of a permanent Israel, no matter how small, no matter what its boundaries. It is the one thing on which Fatah and Hamas agree. It is in that direction, that Arafat and Abbas have rejected workable solutions. It is because of that that Abbas is seeking unilateral statehood, after which he will accelerate the conflict.