THUS Magazine

Posted by John J Kelly – story by Sameh Akram Habeeb, supplied by Patrick MacManus

Give us this day our daily bread - kids in Gaza queuing for basics.

The good news is that it has been reported that Israel is allowing 100 trucks with desperately-needed ‘humanitarian aid‘ into Gaza. The bad news is that is is probably part of a publicity campaign to divert attention from incursions into Gaza by Israeli forces. The worse news is that the right wing (Hatikva-National Union) MK Arieh Eldad has demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Barak be impeached for ‘aiding an enemy’ by allowing the food and supplies through the blockade, including gifts from the wife of the Egyptian President. It has also been intimated from various sources, including the BBC, that Israel is preparing for a massive assault into Gaza ahead of the forthcoming elections, where the hawks hope to install Benjamin Netanyahu on a wave of anxiety that Barack Obama might withdraw support for genocidal policies towards Gaza and a suicidal assault on Iran. The rest of us hope the US might put pressure on both sides to behave reasonably. It would be helpful if the frankly useless EU stopped sitting on the fence too. Nobody underestimates the difficulty, and several, including myself, are sympathetic to the sense of hopelessness felt by Israeli citizens, the majority of whom are appalled by the situation, exacerbated in large part by the lousy leadership of the two warring Gaza factions. But Israel has it in its power to behave as a civilised member of the international community. Disproportionate response has been shown to fail virtually everywhere apart from in totalitarian dictatorships. Israel, as far as I’m aware, doesn’t aspire to this classification, and the US ‘does democracy.’

As a result of the Israeli blockade (of its own people, depending on how you look at it), up to 80 per cent of the people of Gaza rely on aid to survive. This in itself is unsustainable and contributes to the general air of hopelessness. The UN reported early in December that ‘food insecurity‘ caused by Israeli blockade tactics is leading to malnutrition.  Relaxing the (illegal) blockade, which has restricted energy, food and medical supplies to concentration camp levels in many cases, on the alleged pretext that this will lessen the disapproval of the ‘international community’ as and when the assault comes, is heinous in the extreme, if true, and marks a new low in the Nazification of a once-persecuted nation. Israel, which should know better but regularly proves the opposite, is enacting policies of which its mid 20th Century Nazi persecutors would have approved. There has never been a good reason to hurt and blight the futures of innocent people, even in the pursuit of vicious and misguided fanatics. Facsism always has been wrong. Expropriation is a crime against humanity and aggressive warfare is contrary to international law. Israel and its backers should draw back now and try to be human.

Israeli citizens have a right to go about their business without the fear or the reality of mortars, rockets or suicide bombs landing in their midst, but if we have learned anything, it is that the biblical perversion of ‘an eye for an eye’ leads only to the slaughter of innocents. Below is an account and links to photographs from Sameh Akram Habeeb, an aid worker familiar with the situation.

by Sameh Akram Habeeb

All photos in the link below by Sameh A. Habeeb:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/BakeriesOfGazaOutOfBreadPeopleAreHungry#

Israeli politicians, in the run-up to elections, are promising to deal a severe blow to Gaza as this is how Israeli policy is made. However, every household in Gaza is already under siege. In Gaza you can only find pale, angry and frustrated faces. If you visit my house you won’t find power, while my neighbor is out of gas. Another neighbor seeks potable water as power outages have left him without for four days. A third neighbor desparately looks for milk for his child but does so in vain. Another friend who lives on the corner needs medicine that can’t currently be found in Gaza. 

There is no shortage of such stories in Gaza (though there is a shortage of nearly everything else). Perhaps broadcasting such stories would result in pressure on Israeli leaders to stop the siege. Because what is happening is that the entire Gaza population of 1.5 million — densely packed into a small area — is being punished for crude rockets being fired into Israel by a few.

Shaher Mazen, 25, holds a degree in political science but works as a taxi driver to put bread on the table for his family. I spoke to him while I was on my way to some of the Gaza bakeries to cover some news that was happening there. Shaher was frustrated because of siege and furious towards the two rival Palestinian governments, considering them as weak in the face of Israel.

Mazen said, “We are under an organized Israeli media campaign. We are being starved and victimized by Israel. The world think we are besieging Israel, not the other way around. Israel is playing up the issue of rocket fire to besiege us more and more.”

Al-Shanty bakery in Gaza City is one of the Strip’s largest, supplying tens of thousands with bread. Yesterday, hundreds of people crowded outside the bakery in a very long queue, waiting for a bag of bread. Children, women and men were awaiting the chance to buy some bread, which has become scarce as Israel has not allowed the import of adequate supplies of flour and cooking gas.

“Our bakery is out of bread for days now and what we have will only last for another 24 hours. In fact, we stopped our work yesterday as we ran out of flour. Now, we use animal feed which will finish in a matter of hours,” explained 24-year-old Abed Masod while he busily worked at the bakery.

A woman’s voice arose above the crowd. She started to scream and appealed to God for salvation and relief from Gaza’s dire situation. Forty-five-year-old Om Ali Shoman’s weary face bore the impact of Gaza’s suffering. “This is our destiny,” she said. “It’s a conspiracy designed against us. What did my children do to stay at home with no bread? Did they fire rockets? Did they kill Israelis? Are they holding guns?”

Only about a dozen of Gaza’s 47 bakeries are currently operating as of yesterday, but with rapidly diminishing supplies. The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) had to stop its food aid deliveries because Israel has not allowed it to replenish its stores. This affects 750,000 refugees in the Gaza Strip.

Gazans fear that the worst, however, is yet to come as the Israeli government renews its threats of a major offense against the Gaza Strip, irrespective of the civilian toll an invasion would inevitably incur.

Time is running out in Gaza and mass starvation looms as Gaza’s skies are further darkened with threats of an Israeli military incursion. As a journalist, peace activist, and one of the hundreds of thousands of Gazans who are being collectively punished by Israel, I urge those who read this to appeal their governments to hold Israel accountable to international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, article 33 of which forbids the collective punishment of a civilian population. Though it unilaterally removed its illegal settlement population from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel has remained in control of Gaza’s borders, sea and airspace, as well as its population registry, and remains the occupying power, and as such is obligated to abide by international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.

I urge readers to press their governments to force Israel to respect the countless United Nations resolutions that affirm Palestinian rights, and which Palestinian leaders demand must be immediately implemented.

Please don’t let Gaza’s plight be forgotten, and urge those around you to act as well.