Fanatics always want us to believe the sky is falling. The Hamas, in cooperation with international "peace" NGOs - paid for with EU funding for the most part - have launched a propaganda blitz to convince the world to "lift the siege" of Gaza because of a "humanitarian crisis." A UN Security Council resolution submitted by Libya and
condemning Israel was averted only by a threatened US veto, and UN Human Rights Council resolutions condemning Israeli human rights violations and ignoring the rocket attacks and deadly sniper fire from Gaza are bound to follow.
The problems of Gaza are, of course, wholly the fault of the Hamas and nobody else.
What the "human rights" groups want you to forget, is the history of the "siege," which in fact has many levels and many causes, all of them due to actions of Hamas and their Palestinian extremist allies.
1. Hamas originally came to power in "democratic" but basically illegal Palestinian elections. The elections were illegal because under the Oslo accords that were the enabling document for the elections, Hamas, which does not recognize the right of Israel to exist and insists on violence, should not have been allowed to participate in elections to a government that is supposed to negotiate peace with Israel. Therefore, international donors imposed an aid embargo of the new government. The elections were not democratic either. Elections in which the competing "parties" are really armed militias are just votes over who has the most Kalatchnikov rifles, and the ultimate result is determined by the rifle, and not by the ballot. The rule of Hamas in Gaza is not due to the ballot, but to their coup in June. The rule of the Fatah and Abbas in the West bank is likewise due to armed force.
2. To prevent importation of weapons, and export of terrorists to Israel checkpoints were set up in Rafah on the Egyptian border, manned by EU personnel, and checkpoint traffic to Israel was curtailed. The Gaza port and airport are closed. Since large quantities of weapons were smuggled in from Rafah and are still being smuggled in, these measures were not completely effective.
3. In June of 2007, Hamas ousted Fatah in a bloody coup in Gaza, resulting in closing of the Rafah crossing by the EU and tightning of the "siege" - in part because Hamas attacked the border crossings. The "democratic" government of Hamas has lost whatever dubious legitimacy it had. Polls show that if elections were held today, Palestinians would overwhelmingly choose the Fatah over the Hamas.
4. In response to indiscriminate attacks on civilians by rocket fire and snipers, initiated or encouraged by Hamas, Israel further tightened the "siege" by cutting fuel supplies to Gaza. Israel then announced that it would allow a one time shipment of fuel, and now announced that all crossings will be closed except for humanitarian aid.
Lifting the "siege" of Gaza would put an end to the peace process and to the rule of Fatah, since it would amount to international recognition of the Hamas government. So the so called "peace" groups are really sabotaging the peace.
Hamas is lying to its people and the world anpit the causes of the siege and of the "humanitarian crisis." All that is necessary to lift the siege and the international embargo and to stop the Israeli military actions is for the Hamas to recognize the right of Israel to exist and to stop the rocket attacks and arms smuggling. Frankly, even the most insincere declaration concerning Israel's right to exist and readiness to participate in negotiations would bring about an end to the aid embargo. They could probably even get away with continuing to hold kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit.
Hamas, for their part, are not interested in stopping the rockets or entering the peace process, because these moves would inevitably oust them from power, and necessarily bring about the return of Fatah rule. They have built their entire political platform on opposition to the peace process. Hamas decisions in this respect are made in Syria and Iran, and those countries have no interest in furthering a peace process that is sponsored by the EU and the United States.
It is certain that the Hamas are lying about the recent short-lived fuel embargo as well. Gaza had adequate fuel supplies. If the power was cut, it was not cut because they ran out of fuel. The diesel powered generators in question together supply about 15% of Gaza's power. 70% is supplied by Israel, and 15% is supplied by Egypt. The dramatic photos of candle light living were media hype. Gaza health authorities earlier complained,
according to Palestinian media, that the Hamas stole hospital fuel supplies for use by the Hamas Executive Force.
According to AP, anonymous Palestinian Health ministry officials in Gaza noted that Hamas charges that 5 patients had died as a result of the current fuel shortage were untrue.
There is no doubt that the people of Gaza are suffering hardships. Today, tens of thousands of Gazans
broke through into Rafah to gather supplies, after explosions tore holes in the barrier separating Gaza from Egypt. The people of Sderot on the other hand are living in constant terror through no fault of their own. Israeli missile attacks on Gaza take their toll of civilian casualties and are not effective in reducing the rocket attacks. Last week, a foreign volunteer,
Carlos Chavez, was murdered by Palestinian snipers as he worked in the fields at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha.
"Ending the siege" of Gaza will not solve any problems. It will create a much bigger problem, because it will entrench a Hamas run government that is free to terrorize not only Israelis, but Palestinians as well.
The Arab governments have done little or nothing to ameliorate the Gaza crisis. On the contrary, Egypt allowed thousands of Hajj pilgrims back into Gaza without checking to see if any were Hamas operatives, and funding from Iran and Arab countries has enabled the Hamas government to stay afloat. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are constantly urging Hamas-Fatah "unity."
The sky is clearly not falling in Gaza, and the Hamas and the various international bodies and "peace" groups know that there is no real humanitarian crisis. There is hardship in Gaza, because the government there chose the way of violence and war. In war, you cannot expect that only the other side will suffer. It is unheard of that a country is forced to supply strategic materials to an enemy force that is firing rockets on it. Such demands could only be made of Israel.
As for the international community, they could end the Gaza problem quickly if they wanted to take decisive action. Instead of condemning Israel and weeping crocodile tears about "human rights" the UN can act to restore peace in Gaza by sending an international force to stop the rockets, stop the smuggling, disarm the terrorists and supervise the election of a truly democratic government.
Ami Isseroff
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Replies: 4 Comments
Congratulations Ami; another clear article. I particularly am pleased about point 1; you are the first commentator that has made a point I've been trying to get out for years, not merely about "democratic" elections in Hamastan, but earlier in pre-war Germany. A point that you did not cover is the Israeli High Court's decision to adjudicate on Israel's "collective punishment" of Gaza through its blockade. It is a nonsense for a court to tell an elected government how it can defend its nation. Further, it is a nonsense to equate the terror tactics used by the Nazis to enforce compliance and submission with a blockade, legal is any war, against an aggressor entity, engaging in a terror campaign.
Paul Winter, Friday, January 25th
There are numerous polls providing evidence that Fatah would be the overwhelming winner of elections - done by every groups and organization, regardless of political opinion - and this has been true for months:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MewBkd/message/32075
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MewBkd/message/32030
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MewBkd/message/31085
And more.
Fatah outpolls Hamas 2-1 in many of these surveys. This is true ESPECIALLY in the Gaza strip. First time I saw those results I was amazed. I wrote to the pollster that they must have a typographical error. He wrote back and confirmed that the Hamas is hated in Gaza because of the regime they have created there.
Regards,
Ami
Ami Isseroff, Thursday, January 24th
I have a problem with #3...what is your source? I see complete support of Hamas in Gaza...these people LOVE to be thought of as the world's biggest victims.
today, on the news, I saw that 5 million have been killed in Congo in the past decade...hmmmm....why is that not a "humanitarian crisis"? I guess it's because there are no JOOOOOS involved in it.
Myackie, Wednesday, January 23rd
You are 99% right, but HAMAS could win even fair elections because the Palestinians don't want Israel to exist - just what's written it the HAMAS election platform. Would Sderot feel better when bombed by the fairly elected terrorists?
Misha SHAULI, Wednesday, January 23rd
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