A Palestinian protester carrying a tire near the Gaza security fence. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
Posted on 05/14/2018 11:31:57 AM PDT by SJackson
All parties interested in bringing change to Gaza need to face the reality that Hamas has failed its own people.
A Palestinian protester carrying a tire near the Gaza security fence. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
As Hamas continues to exploit protests to foment violence against Israel, finding a way to help the people of Gaza in any meaningful way becomes more and more challenging. All parties interested in bringing change to Gaza need to face the reality that Hamas has failed its own people.
The New York Times article entitled “Plan to Storm Fence Gets Bloody Preview in Gaza” by Iyad Abuheweila and David Halbfinger is one of several recent reports that have started to capture more accurately the reality of Gaza, why the people of Gaza are suffering, and what these so-called protests are really about. As with so many issues with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, things are not black and white. The Abuheweila/Halbfinger article doesn’t shy away from hard facts.
Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page.
The authors describe Israeli concerns about “the idea of swarming across the barrier, a mass of tens of thousands of people too numerous for Israeli soldiers to arrest or even to shoot.” They cite an Israeli colonel’s explanation that the protestors are “trying to infiltrate into Israel, damage our infrastructure and kill Israelis,” and that Hamas leader Ismail Radwan urged protestors not to fear death, but instead to welcome martyrdom. For additional context, let’s not forget that another leader, Yahya Sinwar, exhorted protesters on April 6th to “tear down the wall and tear out their [Israeli’s] hearts.”
The April 27 New York Times op-ed “Why I March in Gaza” by Abu Shammalah is an instructive contrast to the Abuheweila/Halbfinger article.
This op-ed has touching aspects – written by a father who says he cherishes his life, speaks about his precious children and his wife. But the author also describes protestors as unarmed, when many are actually armed. And his characterization of protests as nonviolent does not capture the protestors who are quite violent. An inspiring description of how “kites flew” towards the fence must be balanced by pointing out that petrol bombs and swastikas were attached to some of those kites.
Many blame Israel, Egypt and/or the Palestinian Authority for the situation in Gaza. Too few, however, focus their criticism on Hamas – which has been the de facto ruling entity of Gaza for a decade. Let’s get real about this – Hamas, and its enablers, such as Iran, are squarely to blame for the desperate situation in Gaza. Hamas has consistently put its own destructive priorities above those of Gaza’s weary and increasingly desperate population.
The Israelis have indicated that they want to do more to help the people of Gaza, if they could be assured that additional things they allow into Gaza will not be repurposed into weapons or used to build tunnels to attack Israel. Israel might choose to ease restrictions on travel, if it can be assured that those who are crossing into and through Israel will not commit acts of terrorism or smuggling weapons or cash to be used for terrorism. Egypt could also do more to help the people of Gaza, but Egypt shares the same legitimate security concerns as Israel. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the PA could restore all salaries and payments in Gaza. But Abbas also has legitimate concerns, even if the steps he has taken are unfortunate and damaging.
Certainly, we would not want to see the PA running an above-ground government and Hamas running a shadow government below ground. But neither Israel, Egypt nor the PA are the actual cause of the problems; they can only be part of the solution, if given the right opportunity.
Deep and pervasive donor fatigue has set in. In the 15 months I have been on the job, I have heard only quick, temporary, small fixes for the people of Gaza. Donors understand that none of us can significantly change the situation in Gaza in the current environment. No one wants to spend money building and rebuilding, only to find what they built is damaged or destroyed in yet another conflict. I have met many people from Gaza – impressive, resilient people. But there will be a limit to what we can do for them while Hamas is in charge. Hamas has managed to bring the people of Gaza, a people with a proud history and great potential, nearly back to the Stone Age. What an embarrassment, what a desolation, what a failure.
I believe that given a real choice, the people of Gaza would reject this failed Hamas experiment. The fact is, Palestinians in Gaza need to be reunited with their West Bank counterparts under a single, responsible PA leadership. The future that Shammalah says he wants for his children – “a chance to thrive”– is the future we all strive to achieve for Gaza and its children.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
No disrespect meant to the stone age folk. Who probably wouldn't Hamas
The utter failure of the Dark Side is laid bare. It goes far beyond Gaza. Far beyond Hamas and Islam. There are many dark forces at work and they all seem to be failing badly at the same time.
Now is the time for choosing. It will change the world.
I was reading Rudyard Kipling’s autobiography story over the weekend.
In it he described a bit of how the British handled the Muslims and others who would riot occasionally in India/Pakistan.
The soldiers would take their rifle butts and smash the feet of the rioters, so as not to kill them, but it would stop the riots, because hobbling around with a broken foot and toes for a couple of months takes all the fight out of you and you think twice and even three time before doing it again..............
So-called leaders in the Democratic Party have done the same for blacks and Hispanics in the inner cities. It’s never about trying to make life better for these people; it’s about making sure that their anger is directed at the “racist” Republicans for their collective misery.
Like Hamas itself, the MSM prefers to blame the Jews.
These idiots sacrifice everything in the vain hope they can destroy Israel. Not gonna happen.
You mean they had left it? Oh, right. They moved on to the 7th. Century.
Islam = Stone Age
This pretty much sums up the situation.
US Jews buy Gaza greenhouses for Palestinians (DPA)
19 August 2005
NEW YORK — American Jewish philanthropists contributed $14 million to buy former Gaza settlers’ greenhouses for Palestinians, a news report said yesterday.
Without the funds, the Jewish settlers would have destroyed the greenhouses to keep them out of Arab hands as they were forced out of Gaza Strip, The New York Times said.
The greenhouses provide jobs for 3,500 Palestinians and had been a lucrative market for fresh produces for Jewish settlers.
The Times said Mortimer B. Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and a real estate tycoon, last week got a request from former World Bank head James D. Wolfensohn to raise money in order to save the greenhouses. Zuckerman sent out word to Jewish organisations in the United States for help.
Within 48 hours, he received $14 million. Wolfensohn, who contributed $500,000 of his own, is the international envoy to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.
He represents the sponsors of the so-called road map for Mideast peace — the United States, the European Union, Russia and the UN.
The Gaza pullout is part of the quartet’s peace plan.
The private fundraising efforts to buy the greenhouses spread quickly and got US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s support.
She called donors and thanked them for helping the peace process in the Middle East, The Times said.
Palestinians Loot Gaza Strip Greenhouses
- By LARA SUKHTIAN, Associated Press Writers Tuesday, September 13, 2005
(09-13) 13:09 PDT NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (AP) --
Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses on Tuesday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip.
American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own cash.
Palestinian police stood by helplessly Tuesday as looters carted off materials from greenhouses in several settlements, and commanders complained they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized assets. In some instances, there was no security and in others, police even joined the looters, witnesses said.
"We need at least another 70 soldiers. This is just a joke," said Taysir Haddad, one of 22 security guards assigned to Neve Dekalim, formerly the largest Jewish settlement in Gaza. "We've tried to stop as many people as we can, but they're like locusts."
We couldn't bomb them back to where they already were.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.