Cynicism in Gaza

Jan 06, 2009 Editorial

Even as we fume and rail at the indignities precipitated into our already beleaguered lives by the torrential downpours since December, we have to feel for the one and a half million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. After a year and a half of siege, on December 27, Israel launched a week-long sustained F-16 aerial bombardment of what has been called the “largest concentration camp” in the world.
It culminated with a punishing ground assault that began three days ago and has split the Strip into two. The operation is still ongoing, and more than 500 Palestinians have already been killed.
The Israelis claim that they are simply responding to rocket attacks by Hamas from the Strip into their country. These rocket attacks have killed several civilians, apart from keeping tens of thousands in constant fear of imminent death.
Hamas, in turn, allege that it was the Israelis that first broke the five-month truce brokered by Egypt, when they made an incursion into Gaza on November 4. Hamas said that it was only responding to the Israeli provocation. But this political and military tit-for-tat has been going on for so long that it appears that the leaders of both sides are now oblivious to the human suffering unleashed as they jockey for oneupmanship.
Since early November, Israel has severely curtailed even the flow of the United Nations essential humanitarian supplies to Gaza. U.N. agencies have said that the Israeli decision to stop food supplies from entering Gaza is leading to a “human catastrophe”.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had personally requested Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to allow U.N. supplies and aid workers back into Gaza, but to no avail. A French initiative to have the situation reviewed by the Security Council over the weekend was shot down by the US. Even as the diplomatic efforts to ease the crisis intensify, so does the misery of the ordinary Palestinians, but it is unlikely that there will be any lasting solution soon.
Behind the public posturings lie very cold and cynical political manoeuvrings from all the parties involved.
There is the question of why Israel chose to launch its attack at this time.
After all, Israel has been under rocket fire on and off from Gaza since 2000, and the late 2008 rocket barrages were no heavier than earlier barrages. There is also the reality of three previous major military assaults on Gaza — operations Summer Rains, Autumn Clouds and Hot Winter — since 2005, which were all unsuccessful.
One answer may be that elections are scheduled in Israel within seven weeks. Polls had been predicting victory for the right wing Likud party on a platform of rejecting peace talks with Palestinians and engaging robust military action against Hamas. The incumbents’ stocks have risen since the onslaught they ordered has unfolded.
There is also the question of US support for Israel. While President-elect Obama has explicitly assured Israel about US commitment to its security, many analysts believe that the Israelis are taking no chances with an unknown element. In the present, they know they could count on President Bush’s support, since he has proven to be their most reliable Presidential ally of all time.
One irony is that the incumbents are supporters of a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They support the plan — backed by America, the European Union and the United Nations — of peace talks between Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership under Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Under the plan, Israel would be willing to give up some of the land it occupied in 1967 for a new Palestinian state, but this is based on the assumption that the land would not be used as a base for attacks on Israel.
A further irony is that the Fatah leadership, which were dubbed “terrorists”, beyond the pale of recognition, are now the “moderates,” with Hamas taking their place operationally and politically. This irony has introduced the final note of cynicism into the equation: there are allegations that the Fatah leadership in Ramallah – Palestinian Authority head Abbas — is keener on ousting Hamas, which is in power in Gaza, than on helping the starving populace.
It would be nice to hope for a Happy New Year for the Palestinian people; but with the politics of cynicism being played out, it does not appear to be on the cards.

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Cynicism in Gaza

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