desperate people
Israel's blockade of Gaza is a war crime*, but the world will not say so.
Desperate Gazans themselves spoke out today when they blew up the wall separating them from Egypt. Tens of thousands have crossed the normally-sealed border to obtain both critical and ordinary supplies unavailable at home.
Much of the beleaguered territory's 1.5 million residents have faced critical shortages of electricity, fuel, food, medicine and other supplies for months, but in the last week the closure has been tightened dramatically by Tel Aviv.
But we all knew this already, didn't we? So . . . .
*
Article 54 of the additional protocol of the 1949 Geneva Conventions states that starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited, and that it is also prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, "whatever the motive".
[image by Abid Katib from Getty Images via NYTimes]
love your blog but am puzzled by the one sided nature of your post.
can you imagine any country or any people tolerating rockets being fired on civilians for MONTHS? why don't you post about how much that bothers you? or is the truth that it doesnt actually upset you very much at all as you've never posted once about it?
Gaza was a golden opportunity for palestinians to show the world what could be done with a palestinian homeland after Israel vacated. Did they do something positive with this opportunity (build schools, clean up the streats, create businesses, employ people, etc.) or did they instead put considerable energy and effort into less productive and often hateful behavior?
Please tell us what Israel *should* in fact be doing to get the rockets to stop short of reoccupying the land?
I agree that the vast majority of people in Gaza deserve better than this....
Sadly Golda Meir had it right: it will only stop when the palestinians love their kids more than they hate the jews.
First of all, it simply doesn't matter what the provocation might be; states are not allowed to do these things under International Law.
Secondly, are you implying that the Palestinians have somehow invaded Israel and that's why they're in Gaza (and the Left Bank)?
I can't carry on a conversation on this subject with someone totally unaware of reality. By that I mean someone ignorant of the complex history of the conflict between Arabs and Jews within what were Palestine lands prior to 1948. Frustration with or rage over the conflict's everlasting present isn't enough to qualify.
I really have no idea how you arrived at your second question. I am implying nothing of the sort and furthermore my grasp on the history of the region is quite solid. I think you have misunderstood me.
In any case: Israel is trying to give land back (in this case Gaza) but whenever they try they are rewarded with rockets making it hard for reasonable people making the case to go back to 1967 borders to be heard.
one has to wonder how is it that people with supposedly no food, fuel or other resources still manage to find enough money to build and fire 140 rockets every day. just think if they spent that time, effort and money on something constructive.
I still ask you: going forward how do you fix it? how does israel stop the rockets? if you were in charge (and assuming you gave a damn about israeli civilians which might not be the case) how would you stop it?
and don't knock the present. it's definitely underrated.