REFLECTIONS ON GAZA
"The problem is not rockets. The problem is people living without rights; people living without hope. Fix that, and you'll fix extremism."
[Repeatedly retweeted Tweet]
This past weekend, there was a lot of activity on social media regarding the constant bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force's Operations Defensive Edge (ODE). ODE was toted as a plan to rid Gaza of Hamas operatives, rocket stockpiles and infrastructure. Although, according to Gaza health authorities, it is difficult to give an accurate figure, due to the ongoing nature of hostilities, resulting in death and injury toll having to be updated almost every 5 minutes; it is clear that the Palestinian people, innocent civilians, are severely punished for their loyalty to Hamas.
Now it is funny that innocent civilians are being punished for standing by their legitimately elected government. Israel keeps calling Hamas a regime, as if they stole the government through a coup or something. Fact is, they won an election that was declared free and fair by a host of international observers, including the United Nations. And it stands to reason that the people of Gaza would support their government, because, so far, Hamas gave the people of Gaza hope, and some form of development. It answered their aspirations and their ideals.
Timeline
In 1994, Israel granted the right of self-governance to Gaza through the Palestinian Authority. Prior to this, Gaza had been subject to military occupation, most recently by Israel (1967-94) and by Egypt (1958-67), and earlier by Syria when Gaza had been part of the Ottoman Empire. Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been governed by Hamas. In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly accorded Palestine non-Member Observer State status in the United Nations. Gaza forms a part of the Palestinian territory defined in the Oslo Agreements and UNSC Resolution 1860.
Gaza has an annual population growth rate of 2.91% (2014 est.), the 13th highest in the world. There is a limited capability to construct new homes and facilities for this growth. The territory is 41 kilometers long, and from 6 to 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of 365 square kilometers. As of 2014, the population of the Gaza Strip was about 1.82 million people. The large Palestinian refugee population makes it among the most densely populated parts of the world.
The Gaza Strip acquired its current northern and eastern boundaries at the cessation of fighting in the 1948 war, confirmed by the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement on 24 February 1949. Article V of the Agreement declared that the demarcation line was not to be an international border (without any input by, or consent of the people of Palestine). At first the Gaza Strip was officially administered by the All-Palestine Government, established by the Arab League in September 1948. All-Palestine in the Gaza Strip was managed under the military authority of Egypt, functioning as puppet state, until it officially merged into the United Arab Republic and dissolved in 1959. From the time of the dissolution of the All-Palestine Government until 1967, the Gaza Strip was directly administered by an Egyptian military governor.
Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the Six-Day War in 1967. Pursuant to the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, the Palestinian Authority became the administrative body that governed Palestinian population centers while Israel maintained control of the airspace, territorial waters and border crossings with the exception of the land border with Egypt. In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip under their unilateral disengagement plan. In July 2007, following the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and the Hamas takeover in 2007, Hamas had functioned as the government in the Gaza Strip, forming an alternative Hamas Government in Gaza.
In 2014, following reconciliation talks, Hamas and Fatah formed a Palestinian unity government within the State of Palestine. Rami Hamdallah became the coalition's Prime Minister and has planned for elections in Gaza and the West Bank. In July 2014, a set of lethal incidents between Hamas and Israel led to the Israeli military launching Operation Protective Edge.
International response
In my opinion, international response to the current hostilities had been tepid, at best. Western governments are using the MH17 tragedy as a convenient excuse not to have to really give attention to the tragedy that is Gaza. They turn a blind eye, because they are busy dealing with a "tragedy that has shaken us to the core, which need to be corrected as a matter of extreme urgency" (US Secretary of State, John Kerry). And Gaza is not?
Mangled bodies lining the streets of Shujeyah; medical services cannot reach dead and injured in Shaf; a constant pall of smoke hanging over Gaza City; throngs of people trying to reach a place of safety, something that's only an illusion in the whole of Gaza. And you dare tell me that one plane being shot down is more of an emergency? I am not uncaring, I do feel for the victims and families of MH17; but when it is used as a scapegoat for an uncaring world, it becomes very hard to find compassion.
Hamas said that they will only accept a peace proposal which had been endorsed by Qatar, but my question is still, why is the Arab League so quiet? Except for a very worrying statement, basically calling for peace, there was nothing else from them. Or is it a case of them being only the mouthpieces of their western masters?
Egypt
Many people have said that they miss Hosni Mubarak, who previously mediated truce and peace deals between Palestine and Israel. Others have lamented Hamas's rejection of a recently Egyptian-brokered truce. Here's my confusion: just a week ago, Israel stated very clearly that they would not accept a peace deal or truce proposal; than all of a sudden, they accept a truce deal that Hamas knows nothing about? How does that work? And than they say that the ground offensive would commence immediately, as Hamas needs to be punished for its reticence. To me it sounds like now we need to prosecute a rape victim for assaulting her rapist!
In my opinion, any truce or peace deal needs to be a matter of compromise on both sides. And clearly, the two previous Egyptian-brokered truces asked for lots of compromises by the Palestinians, while Israel laughed all the way to the Westbank; stealing more Palestinian land and erecting more settlements.
We need to remember that Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, president of Egypt, has vowed to eliminate the Muslim Brotherhood (MB); keeping also in mind that the MB gave birth to Hamas, as it were. Why would el-Sisi want to assist a structure aligned to the very same organisation he wants to annihilate?
Perhaps the most telling of Egypt's animosity towards Palestine is the fact that, during Operation Defensive Edge, they completely closed the Rafah border crossing, effectively trapping scores of Palestinians inside Gaza, ensuring that no one gets out. Perhaps preparing cannon fodder for Israel?
Land invasion
While being a British Protectorate, the people of Palestine, through their leadership, agreed to host Jewish immigrants "rescued" by mainly the USA and UK from German tyranny. This was done in true reflection of the Arab character. They saw hardship, and immediately felt compassion. They also recognise that Judaism and Islam, together with Christianity, are brother-religions of the Abrahamic monotheism school.
But since the inception of the Jewish state, the big brother, Judaism, started purging the land of its indigenous people, moving them closer and closer to extinction. To them, there's clearly no difference between Muslim and Christian Palestinians. As can be seen from the picture above, Palestinians were herded, like animals, into two small pockets of land. Their original citrus and olive groves are no more; their land is lost to Israel; their national wealth diminished to nothing; and their pride and human dignity made subservient to Israel's national sovereignty. As we say in Afrikaans, they really got "stank vir dank".
If we look, for instance, at Gaza Strip, it's an area that doesn't even comprise half of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area.
At its widest point, Gaza (superimposed blue line) is only 40 kilometres long. And it has a population of just under 2 million people (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, March 2014).
Perhaps the best way to describe the Israeli desire to own all Palestinian land, could be had in an op-ed by MK Moshi Feiglin, head of the Manhigat Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) in the Likud party and member of the Israeli Knesset in Anutz Sheva where he advocates the complete annihilation of indigenous people in Gaza, and for Israel to annexe Gaza, which they believe belongs to them.
Feiglin does say that Israel should allow "The enemy population that is innocent of wrong-doing and separated itself from the armed terrorists will be treated in accordance with international law and will be allowed to leave. Israel will generously aid those who wish to leave." But remember that, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, there are no innocent Gazans (Israeli Army Radio, 19 July 2014). So, who exactly would be allowed to leave, and where would they go to?
The disdain of the Israeli leadership could be summed up by another op-ed in the same publication by Oded Revivi, mayor of Efrat when he speaks of the Gazans as a forgotten people, a people not worthy of any consideration. I know this view to be contrary to what many Jews want, but in line with the charter of the Zionist movement.
Palestine's only real friend?
The words from the father of our democracy Nkosi Dalibunga Nelson Mandela, on 04 December 1997, while addressing the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, is the cornerstone of the ANC's continued support for the beleaguered country.
The latest in a list of actions is Resolution 35 of the ANC's 53rd National Conference (Mangaung) in December 2012, where the organisation stated very clearly that it stands firmly with the people of Palestine, that it recognises the State of Palestine, and that it would continue to support, in whichever way necessary, the people and government of Palestine. The Conference further called for the endorsement of the divestment, boycott and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
The Chief Whip of the Majority Party in Parliament released a statement on 18 July 2014, asking, among others, for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Sisa Ngombane to be recalled, and Israel's Ambassador Arthur Lenk to be expelled from SA. Although there seems to be some discontent in DIRCO, this is the official position of the ANC Caucus in Parliament.
South Africa has always insisted that closing its embassy in Tel Aviv would not assist the situation, and perhaps this is true, as diplomatic relations are not easy to restore, once broken. And perhaps the country thinks she can play a better role by keeping this lifeline open to the people of Palestine. Whatever the outcome, the ANC and South Africa had been more consistent in its support for Palestine, much more so than other Arab and Muslim countries.
Every time I see pictures of the atrocities meted out by Israel against the people of Palestine, under the guise of "self-defence", and hear their claims that Hamas has started the conflict, I am acutely reminded of the words of H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, to the UN General Assembly on 4 October 1963 (recorded by Bob Marley in His song, "War" in 1976), that "Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior... is finally and permanently discredited..., everything is war."
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