What You Don't Know About Gaza ..

By RASHID KHALIDI
Published: January 7, 2009 by NY Times


NEARLY everything you've been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip.

THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

THE OCCUPATION The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza's air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

THE BLOCKADE Israel's blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.
The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United States — of a civilian population for exercising its demoocratic rights.

THE CEASE-FIRE Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction20in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.

WAR CRIMES The targeting of civilians, whether by Hamas or by Israel, is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen Israelis killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had Israel fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
This war on the people of Gaza isn't really about rockets. Nor is it about "restoring Israel's deterrence," as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: "The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people."

Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia, is the author of the forthcoming “Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East."

source via TunisNews.net

Gaza: Une autre famille perd 3 enfants...

[SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images]

Gaza: Le massacre continue, 5 soeurs victimes des bombes...

[AFP/Getty Images]

Une bombe dont l'objectif était une mosquée dans le camps de réfugiés de Jabalia,a touché une maison tuant Jawaher, 4 ans, Dina, 8 ans, Samar 12 ans, Ikram, 14ans, et Tahrir, 17 ans. Il n'ya pas de mots pour exprimer ce que je ressens et pourtant le gouvernement israélien et leurs allies occidentaux n'arrêtent pas de nous dire qu'Israël est dans son droit...

Cette politique de la terreur n'engendre que la terreur...

State Terrorism.....

After 60 years , the israeli state never gave up what helped it create the state of Israel: Terrorism...

They just became better in making everyone believes that they have the right to protect their state with all means.. and their foregin minster even "called for international support against "an extremist Islamist organization ... that is being supported by Iran,"

In the meantime 205 dead,700 wounded and more to come..The US reaction is ""The United States ... holds Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement. "The ceasefire should be restored immediately.".....

No reaction yet from any arabic governement besides Egypt saying that it would keep trying to restore the truce....

Cheikh Tantawi: "J'ai salué Shimon Peres sans le savoir" :-)

C'était trop beau pour être vrai! Dommage!!



LE CAIRE, 2 déc 2008 (AFP) - Egypte: un haut responsable religieux a salué Shimon Peres sans le savoir

Cheikh Mohammed Tantawi, plus haut responsable religieux en Egypte, a démenti avoir volontairement serré la main de Shimon Peres lors d'une conférence à l'ONU, assurant n'avoir pas reconnu le président israélien, a rapporté mardi un quotidien égyptien.

La publication de photos de la poignée de main entre les deux hommes lors d'un sommet sur le dialogue interreligieux organisé par l'ONU le mois dernier, a provoqué la fureur de la presse d'opposition en Egypte. Un député d'opposition a même réclamé le limogeage de cheikh Tantawi, qui dirige l'Université islamique Al-Azhar.

"Je lui ai serré la main sans savoir à quoi il (Peres) ressemblait", a expliqué au journal indépendant Al-Masri al-Yom cheikh Tantawi, soulignant que "la poignée de main a été éphémère (...) car je ne le connais pas".

Je dis dommage car une poignée de mains avec Peres est tout ce qu'il ya de plus normal pour le Cheikh d'Al Azahr qui participe a un sommet sur le dialogue inter-religieux, mais apparemment j'ai tort d'avoir pensé que pour deux pays ou la religion et le gouvernement ne font qu'un, un tel geste serait normal dans ce contexte, non?

A bon entendeur!