Gazans bitterly harvest the consequences of Israel’s blockade and occupation of Palestinian territory.
After 18 days of Israeli aggression on Gaza, over 848 Palestinians have been killed, with more than 5,200 injured — over 80% are civilians. Along with that, over 1,000 houses have been demolished, of which 3,500 are partially damaged.
The entire Gaza Strip is under fire and there is no safe place to hide in this tiny piece of land. Hundreds of tons of explosives and thousands of missiles have struck the Palestinian territory. Day and night in Gaza, I cannot not stop thinking of the F-16 pilot whose job it is to launch the message of death on innocent people. How rational can he or she really be when deciding to press the button to launch a missile? What if they make a mistake?
Gaza has one of the highest population densities in the world. Over 1.8 million people live in an area of 360 square kilometers. That is an average of 5,000 people per square kilometer. Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s latest military offensive, is the third war on Gaza in under six years — the first coming in 2008-09 and the second in 2012. The Israeli government’s objectives during these offensives have been to destroy underground tunnels and Hamas, and prevent the launching of homemade rockets from Gaza into Israel.
Unsurprisingly, Israel has succeeded in not only destroying the desire toward a lasting peace among the population of Gaza, but also ensuring that Hamas has grown stronger — its rockets having improved from three kilometers in 2006 to 60 kilometers in 2012, and up to 100 kilometers in 2014. Currently, these rockets have reached as far as Tel Aviv and the nearby Ben Gurion Airport.
The Israeli land, air and sea blockade of Gaza, which, along with Egypt, was imposed in June 2007 and is still ongoing in 2014, was in fact the best formula to create and increase hatred, radicalism, extremism and disparity among Palestinians in the Strip. There are approximately 5,000 newborns every month in the territory, hence 60,000 babies a year, which means there are 60,000 Palestinians who become adults every year. They need jobs, education, housing, food, water and so on. The youth of Gaza, who make up over 50% of the population, have been deprived of traveling, obtaining higher education and from interacting with people of other countries. Palestinian youth are angry with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the siege of Gaza, all of which are seen as direct causes of their suffering and the wasting away of their future.
The question is: Have the blockade, occupation and wars made peace any more achievable? Why do leaders find it easy to enter wars instead of working hard to explore other peaceful initiatives to overcome their differences? Have we not sacrificed enough to deserve peace and stability?
Day and night in Gaza, I cannot not stop thinking of the F-16 pilot whose job it is to launch the message of death on innocent people. How rational can he or she really be when deciding to press the button to launch a missile? What if they make a mistake?
The longer the Israeli siege and occupation continues, the less support for peace there will be. Moreover, can we talk about peace with people who have lost their homes and possessions or those who grieve over loved ones? Wars create more enemies of peace than supporters. Wars, blockades, destruction and death provide a supportive environment to those who do not believe in peace. The least-used word in the everyday Gazan’s dictionary is “peace.”
Whereas the current crisis is likely to have driven up unemployment, most news sources report a rate of approximately 40%, with youth unemployment as high as 50% in the Strip. The blockade has caused poverty, resulting in more than two-thirds of Gazan families being dependent on aid. Consequently, we should expect that these families will shift their support to those who give them aid and jobs. Almost no construction material has been allowed into Gaza for many years, despite the need for 100,000 housing units following one war after another. Additionally, there are 20,000 new university graduates every year, while private businesses have been paralyzed due to a lack of investment and the restricted access to the export industry. There is no doubt that the siege and war on Gaza are highly welcomed by those forces and non-state actors who are not interested in stability and peace.
Peace is the Only Way Forward
In the end, however, it is clear that we have no other option but to make peace. The faster we act, the easier it will be to achieve a lasting peace settlement. We should act today if we are really committed to bringing peace to the region. The Israeli blockade on Gaza must be completely lifted; Gazans should be allowed to travel freely; and elections in the Occupied Palestinian Territories must be carried out sooner rather than later, in order to let a new democratic leadership take charge. Israeli politicians, intellectuals and citizens should understand that no matter how much military strength Israel has, its power will not bring peace.
Since the Israeli blockade on Gaza began, I have met with hundreds of international diplomats, Congressmen, parliamentarians, journalists and researchers. My colleagues and I have written tens of articles and policy papers, telling them that today’s solution — the Israeli siege — will be tomorrow’s problem. Gazans bitterly harvest the consequences of yesterday’s short-sighted solution. For those who are committed to peace, their task has become ever more difficult under the siege and occupation of Palestinian land.
The Palestinian people should be given what they have struggled for since 1948, which is an independent state and an elected leadership that is committed to unity, freedom, peace and prosperity, and living side by side with Israel. Prosperity is good for all sides of the conflict, while poverty and lack of hope can destroy a person. This is not a difficult formula for Israel and the international community to absorb, understand and act in accordance with.
*[This article was updated on July 27 to correct an error.]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.
The British media, and in particular the BBC almost ignored this protest completely.
And yet being there I realised how very big and how very passionate this march was.
I have finally totally lost faith in the BBC as an unbiased news organisation.
Please continue this important journalism.
I will be making a contribution.
Thank you,
Martin.
After decades of safety, relaxed and comfortable as we are today, those of us who grew up during the Blitz, relate immediately, with a certain intimacy, to the victims, particularly the children, who are engulfed and consumed every day by the horrors exploding upon them in the present conflicts in Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, and Libya : – simply the starkest acceptance of murder and madness today that politicians seem unwilling to stop.
How many bags of oats, body parts or corpses is it going to take to tempt the The Four Horsemen to reign in? Who will stop these massacres?
It is impossible for the layman to discover the jockeys, those shady puppeteers who always ensure they remain incognito, but the facemen, their steeds, sired during the time of Blair and Bush are well known as Obama, Netanyahu, Haniyeh and Cameron. with the bits firmly clenched between their teeth, all these mounts on current form would be destined for the knacker’s yard of Humanity, were there a spirit called Justice in the universe.
The casino called the ballot box, might suggest a punt if you wish to make yourself heard, but please, oh please, no matter your political persuasion, don’t let them play the faux democracy card yet again, roll out the standard paragraph platitudes and then tell you that they have a mandate and it’s what we voted for (and get stuffed for another four years). I counsel you to not mistake my well earned scepticism as cynicism.
At grass roots level, I know that within the electorate, the ignored majority, are of the opinion that the blame for this failure to address the situation in a purposeful and humanitarian manner can be laid at the door of those, nationally and internationally who determinedly fog the issue and continue to pretend on the one hand to promote some Utopia of a multi-cultural society, with no regard to society’s inherent social differences, religions, history and geographical environment, while on the other hand, when it suits them, extol the virtues and independence of different cultures.
For example,why should, say, the Scots desire to break away be tolerated, indeed celebrated, and the Slavs or the Palestinians be bombed ? Or, why should Israel benefit from an American Patriot shield and not extend a no-fly zone over Gaza, compliments of a couple of American aircraft carriers off the coast. Possibly the fate of the USS Liberty in 1967 provides one explanation. Or how what were then termed rebels in Libya were able to call upon the RAF to bomb their country to democracy. A shining example for aggressors in today’s war zones – America and Britain today closed their embassies and advised their compatriots to leave asap.
I suggest that the concept of the geopolitical Nation State as engineered by professional career politicians is to blame and the solution to present aggression will only come about if it is turned on its head and emphasis is placed on the legitimacy of ethnic and cultural boundaries. The map of the world cries out to be redrawn.
With hindsight and nigh on 80 years at the University of Life, and coincidentally a soldier in BCFK during the Korean armistice, it is unsettling now to sense how Nations drifted into WWI and WW2 and how we are in grave danger of drifting into global war again.
Something needs to be done, urgently. The UN needs taking by the scruff of its neck. (The template used by the United Nations in 1950 when BCFK provided what was then the British Commonwealth’s contribution at the time needs dusting down, amending to include the participation of China, Russia and others this time and an international ‘police’ force therefrom sent to create and enforce buffer zones.)
Without immediate action, how long does anyone seriously believe that one side or the other in one of these conflicts will not use nuclear weapons? Without the full scale intervention of the major nations the world will become a cinder. Apocalypse awaits.
Diplomacy cannot be relied upon. We have no Diplomats ! Witness the intemperate language today of our Ambassador to the USA and the crude attempt to divert opprobrium on Putin in a different sphere entirely. We shall rattle the sabres and send an armoured column to Poland no less, with no mention that it was the West’s attempts to coerce Ukraine into joining Nato that started that particular merry-go-round. Yes, I know an innocent civilian airliner has since been shot down and I do fervently hope the guilty one’s will be punished. To round this off, there are doubts of course about the manner in which the present “democratic” government in Kiev was installed and the USA’s role then.
Anyhow, the indisputable fact is that children and innocent civilians continue to be maimed and die. Pictures will be harder to come by now as Israel obliterated Gaza’s news facilities last night, along with incinerating hundreds of people. Ironic, coming from a people whose forbears suffered Auschwitz and who gained the admiration of the world for their fortitude. I am sure that Israeli families feel the pain of all families either side of the divide today and my sympathies and those of my family must be with them too as it is with all the war zones families worldwide.
Any ceasefire will only last as long as the next one for sadly the seeds of bitterness have been so widely sown. The question is not who is to blame but what can be done ? At the very least the powers that be should disband the PR/media dept, stop the claptrap, abandon all thoughts of commercial sanctions, which will not work but will simply act as a provocation and apply all their energies into formulating a strike force for peace.
These thoughts bring to mind a certain inevitability of passage of time, expressed in the words,
“And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honour and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand. ~George Bernard Shaw, ”
We do not have the time to wait for the gods but have no wish to see the end of history, do we ?
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