"We are slowly dying"

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Sameh A. Habeeb writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 3 December 2008


Palestinians in Gaza City demonstrate against the economic conditions in Gaza, August 2008. (MaanImages)

Israel has further tightened the screw on Gaza, where some areas have been completely plunged into darkness as fuel shortages shut down Gaza's sole power plant 25 days ago.

The power cuts affect all activities dependent on electrical power as the remaining power sources provided by Israel and Egypt cannot serve the needs of the whole of the Gaza Strip. Access to drinking and irrigation water is affected, as well as sewage treatment, risking disease. Already, this means that millions of liters of sewage water pollute the Mediterranean Sea on a daily basis.

Israel is also denying food to the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. According to the Popular Committee Against the Siege, basic food items like milk, flour, cooking oil, meat, rice and legumes are not sufficiently available. Some figures indicate that only 15 percent of Gaza's food needs are getting in through the Israeli-controlled borders.

Palestinians in Gaza are also being denied the right to access medical treatment. Basic medicines have vanished from the Strip, including those for the treatment of diabetes, heart conditions, asthma and other chronic diseases. There are also shortages of medicine to treat cancer and renal and liver diseases. Sterilization and disinfectant supplies, as well as other needs for the safe treatment medical patients, are in short supply. Machines that mean life or death for Gaza patients are breaking down because Israel is not allowing the import of spare parts. Doctors will have a hard time even diagnosing patients because the power cuts have damaged CT and x-ray equipment at Gaza's hospitals.

Gaza's population is largely dependent on humanitarian aid as Israel has been denying them the right to work since it started imposing closure on the Strip years ago. But now even humanitarian aid is being largely banned from the Strip, and Israel has severely restricted aid to the UN agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA. With UNRWA unable to distribute food aid to its hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries (the majority of Gaza's residents are the descendents of refugees who were forced from their homes and property in what is now Israel, 60 years ago), widespread hunger is not a question of if but when.

Israel has ensured that it's not just Gaza's human population that will be going hungry, but its animals as well. For four weeks Israel has not allowed the import of fodder, while Gaza's agriculture requires 150 tons per day. Gaza's agricultural sector, already suffering since Israel began to prevent the export of food products from Gaza a year and a half ago, is severely affected by the lack of vaccinations, seeds, insecticides and fertilizer in the Strip.

Gaza has become a place where a normal life is impossible. "I'm fed up," said Khalil Barakat, a middle-aged, unemployed refugee of the Beach refugee camp. "We are caged like animals in Gaza. If I had a chance to emigrate to live my remaining years in peace, then I would love to."

This writer asked an old friend of his, a young mother named Um Muhammad Abu Ouf, how her family has been affected by the siege. As darkness descended upon Gaza City's Omar al-Muktar Street, she replied, "The siege has become a daily nightmare, day and night. Electricity cuts off and that frightens my 11-month-old infant. It makes conditions unsafe for him. Further, I'm trying to get some fortified food for him. I went to many stores and shops but in vain. I could not find any food nor necessary supplies for my son as there is a shortage of a lot of the basic products needed to care for infants, such as milk, diapers and so forth."

Meanwhile, Nahed Deeb, who feared that famine looms near, was similarly frustrated: "We are slowly dying and no one is taking action. I lost my work eight years ago and I'm dependant on irregular aid. This is applicable to hundreds of thousands in normal circumstances. Nevertheless, poor people like me are no longer getting any kind of support."

read on...
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10008.shtml

[amdezurik]

1. sadly, it seems it is working a "intended"...

[Phx_Dem]

2. I don't get this part

"I'm fed up," said Khalil Barakat...If I had a chance to emigrate to live my remaining years in peace, then I would love to."

Hamas has only been in power for what, less than 3 years but this guy has resigned himself to the notion that Hamas will always control the strip? Clearly anyone can see that the rise of Hamas in Gaza has led to the present conditions, is Barakat unable to see that or unwilling? Or does he believe that presently no amount of effort on the part of the Gazans could uproot Hamas?

[delad]

3. Are you

being deliberately disingenuous or has the brutal Israeli occupation of the Gaza strip completely slipped your mind?

[Phx_Dem]

4. I don't understand your response

I'm asking serious questions, not looking to play stupid games.

edit:

Maybe you don't understand what I am asking, this guy is expressing a profound sense of helplessness and a lack of self-efficacy. Why is that? He and his fellow Gazans control their own destiny, it was the Palestinians after all that elected Hamas in the first place. To be fair they probably did not think that Hamas would take over in the forceful way they did, but nevertheless the Palestinians still have the power to change that and direct and promote governmental decisions that they can benefit from going forward.

[Vegasaurus]

7. One of the saddest things about the Gazan situation

is that they never seem to see their role in their plight, or their responsibility in improving their own lives.

They always blame others (America, Israel) for their problems, without looking at the fact that they have continued to support violent resistance and that they elected a terrorist organization to run their government.

Israel isn't wholly responsible for the Gazan misery.

They expect other people to do what only they can do themselves.

No one can force unity between Fatah and Hamas.

No one can make them stop their terrorism,

If they want to improve their lives, they will have to unite in their effort to make peace.

Only they have the power to do that.

[azurnoir]

8. Explain just how they are supposed to do that

especially if Hamas refuses elections

[delad]

10. i should have read this

before posting my response. excellent point.

[Behind the Aegis]

11. Are you saying Hamas is also responsible for the situation in Gaza?

Could it be Hamas is not representing its people's needs? Are you indicating Hamas bares some blame for the current situation in Gaza? Could Hamas be responsible, at least in part, for the misery of the Gazan populace?

[Phx_Dem]

14. Ask for help from the UN and UNWRA

Start a new political party if need be, with support from the UN and UNWRA. Bring in election monitors. Protest against Hamas, using non-violent methods. Help Israel protect the crossings so they can stay open. Bring in international media to document Hamas tyranny and violence against Gazans.

[delad]

9. okay

i thought you were ignoring the occupation with regards to his sense of pointlessness. What i mean to say is i doubt it has been just the recent siege and ongoing blockade that has caused his despair. I would interpret his despair as a result of the blockade/siege/ongoing occupation over many years (ie things are getting worse, not better). To say they control their own destiny is, i think, a little rich to say the least. They probably thought they were getting a grip on their own destiny when they voted in Hamas and basically they have been locked up and the key thrown away. Somebody else has stated that the people living in Gaza voted for Hamas because Hamas wants the destruction of Israel, implicitly (or they've probably even stated it explicitly); they deserve what they get. that's one seriously dumb statement and it basically paves the way for an excuse for collective punishment.

[Vegasaurus]

13. The people of Gaza knew that the world looked at Hamas as a terrorist organization

and they voted for them anyway.

Even today, in the midst of their abject misery, they still support Hamas and violent resistance (at least the majority; of course a minority is more interested in peace, but they are the political pawns of the terrorists).

Unfortunately, in a democratic election, which Hamas claims it was (notwithstanding their coup and overthrow of Fatah), the minority has to live with the will of the majority.

The majority wants terror, and misery is what they get in return.

It is really unfortunate for the minority of citizens who would like to work, travel, have electricity, and live without bombs and war.

[azurnoir]

17. Hamas was elected to be the leaders of Gaza?

Sorry to inform that is not true the election was for the leadership of the Palestinian Authority as a whole not the leadership of Gaza and leadership of both the West Bank and Gaza, the election was held in both areas and Hamas won, something it could not have done without broad support from the West Bank area which is more populous than Gaza, the current situation is the result of both internal strife and outside interference

[Vegasaurus]

19. Then they had a coup

and have put the iron boot of militancy and terror on the whole strip.

Why the citizens of Palestine still support these monsters I will never understand.

[Violet_Crumble]

22. The majority of Gazans support terror? Yet another incorrect claim....

This is why it's important for anyone reading yr posts to go off and fact-check before swallowing one-line soundbytes as fact.

Gaza Residents Want Peace with Israel

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A large majority of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip believe it is time to negotiate with the Israeli government, according to a poll by Near East Consulting. 72 per cent of respondents support reaching a peace settlement with Israel.

In addition, 55 per cent of respondents think Hamas should change its position on the elimination of the State of Israel.

Fatah candidate Mahmoud Abbas won the January 2005 presidential ballot in the Palestinian Territories with 62.32 per cent of all cast ballots. In January 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council election, securing 74 of the 112 seats at stake. Ismail Haniyeh officially took over as prime minister in March. The Israeli government believes Hamas is directly responsible for the deaths of 377 citizens in a variety of attacks, which include dozens of suicide bombings.

In February, Hamas and Fatah leaders reached an accord which set the guidelines for a power-sharing Palestinian administration, headed by Hamas, which would "respect" past peace agreements with Israel. In June, amid a wave of violent clashes between Palestinian supporters of the Hamas and Fatah factions, Hamas militants seized control of Gaza. Abbas issued a decree to form a 12-member emergency government—based in the West Bank—and expelled Hamas from the administration. Hamas has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the government led by Abbas.

On Oct. 9, Israeli authorities confirmed that the government is building a 16-kilometre long road in the West Bank in order to communicate Palestinian communities that are currently isolated. Critics said the road will deepen the divide between Gaza and the West Bank, and further complicate peace negotiations between the two Palestinian territories to Israel’s benefit.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an aide to Abbas, said the road could hamper the possibility of founding a country in the future, adding, "How can we establish a contiguous Palestinian state, in the context of this policy of dividing the Palestinian land and turning it into isolated islands?"

Polling Data

Do you support or oppose a peace settlement with Israel?

Support
72%

Oppose
28%


Do you think Hamas should maintain or change its position on the elimination of the State of Israel?

Maintain
45%

Change
55%


Source: Near East Consulting.
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 457 Gaza Strip residents, conducted from Sept. 28 to Sept. 30, 2007. Margin of error is 4.4 per cent.



http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/gaza_residents_want_peace_with_israel/

[Phx_Dem]

16. I think the Gazans learned to be helpless

The Palestinians through the years have watched things happening to them, with little ability for the individual to effect change. The propaganda coming from the Palestinian leadership reinforced this perception of helplessness. With the rise of Hamas in Gaza, feelings of helplessness in the strip have increased to the point where average Gazans like the ones quoted in the article are lacking a sense of self-efficacy, they perceive in themselves a lack of ability to bring about change.

[shira]

5. hamas was elected for their warmongering....this is the result

as opposed to the effort in the W.Bank to stop fighting and focus on state-building, in which Palestinians collectively prosper:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702390538&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

simple cause and effect

[ProgressiveMuslim]

12. Actually, they were elected because Palestinians were sick of the corruption of the Fatah.

Unfortunately, they were never given a shot at governing.

I'm a big believer in the peaceful transfer of power. I wish they had had an opportunity and been judged on their merits.

[shira]

18. hamas was never given a chance?

simple timeline question.....when exactly was hamas elected, when did they take on power, when did Israel start the 'siege', for which exact period of time did Hamas truly attempt to prevent rockets from going into Israel? I'll help you....we're talking around 2005-2006 only.

thanks in advance.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

20. Hamas was isolated immediately. The PA, in their refusal to accept defeat, refused

a unity gov't, and instead of working with their countrymen, joined forces with Israel and the US in a bid to deny Hamas. The culmination was the US-backed coup attempted by Mohammad Dahlan in Gaza in 2006.

[Vegasaurus]

21. You never do tire of the same old revisionist BS nt

[azurnoir]

15. As PM said Hamas was elected because

was seen as corrupt and ineffective and you do realize the election that put Hamas in power was not held just in Gaza but also in the West Bank both area's elected Hamas as their leader not just Gaza

The corrupt and ineffective rule of the Palestinian Authority by Fatah is certainly partly responsible for the lack of real democracy. But the most crucial problem is the continued Israeli occupation -- concerted efforts to destroy the infrastructure of the P.A., the expansion of settlements, construction of a separation barrier effectively annexing large parts of the West Bank, military raids and many internal restrictions on movement. The Bush administration's unwillingness to press Israel to ease the occupation and thus allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas real political successes meant that Abbas could not present a credible alternative to Hamas.

Israel says that it will not conduct political talks with a Palestinian Authority led by Hamas. But since 2001, it has also refused to negotiate substantive political issues related to the removal of Israeli settlements, establishment of a Palestinian state and its borders with Yasser Arafat or Abbas. Instead, it undertook a unilateral redeployment from the Gaza Strip that, rather than creating a zone of Palestinian autonomy, has turned the area into a lawless open-air prison. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sustained the abandonment of the January 2001 Taba talks, where the parties were, as Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo, the lead negotiators for each side, wrote in the New York Times on Aug. 1, 2001, "agonizingly close" to a comprehensive agreement.

http://www.merip.org/newspaper_opeds/oped020806.html

[Name removed]

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