a_brother
Make dua for us all
:salam2:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html?_r=4&emc=eta1
January 8, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
What You Don't Know About Gaza
By RASHID KHALIDI
NEARLY everything you've been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip.
THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.
THE OCCUPATION The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza's air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.
THE BLOCKADE Israel's blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.
The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United States — of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.
THE CEASE-FIRE Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.
WAR CRIMES The targeting of civilians, whether by Hamas or by Israel, is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen Israelis killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had Israel fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
This war on the people of Gaza isn't really about rockets. Nor is it about "restoring Israel's deterrence," as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: "The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people."
Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia, is the author of the forthcoming "Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html?_r=4&emc=eta1
January 8, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
What You Don't Know About Gaza
By RASHID KHALIDI
NEARLY everything you've been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip.
THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.
THE OCCUPATION The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza's air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.
THE BLOCKADE Israel's blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.
The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United States — of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.
THE CEASE-FIRE Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.
WAR CRIMES The targeting of civilians, whether by Hamas or by Israel, is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen Israelis killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had Israel fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
This war on the people of Gaza isn't really about rockets. Nor is it about "restoring Israel's deterrence," as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: "The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people."
Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia, is the author of the forthcoming "Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East."
GAZA IS UNDER ATTACK EVERY DAY AND HAS BEEN SINCE THEIR LAND WAS TAKEN OVER. TRAPPED LIKE RATS TREATED LIKE DOGS DAILY. NO LIGHT NO MEDICINE LOW FOOD SUPPLY. THEY SHOULD B THROWING MORE THAN ROCKETS. ISRAEL AND ALL THEIR SUPPORTERS SHOULD B ASHAMED. USUALLY WAR IS DECLARED ON A COUNTRY OR NATION. BUT WHEN IT COMES TO MUSLIMS THE RULES CHANGE. FULL WAR IS WAGED ON A SMALL NUMBER OF PPL. THEY BRING A WHOLE ARMY FOR A GROUP OF PPL. IN THE NAME OF THE WAR ON TERROR. THIS IS REALLY A WAR O ISLAM. IT THREATENS THE STATUS QUO. IT IS SPREADING ALL OVER BECOMING THE BIGGEST RELIGION IN THE WORLD. IF MUSLIMS OUT NUMBER ALL OTHERS IT WILL THREATEN THEIR EVIL GREEDY WAY OF LIFE. AND MUSLIM LEADERS WHO IMITATE THE ONES WHO OPPRESS US R JUST LIKE THEM. MAY ALLAH SWT BLESS GAZA AND BLESS THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN. SEEMS LIKE BOMBS R BECOMING AS COMMON AS GUNS . THE ARROGANCE OF MAN IS SHOWING ITS UGLY FACE. IF THESE MEN IN THESE GOVERNMENTS THINK THEY CONTROL THE WORLD AND CAN END ISLAM THEY R MISTAKEN. THEY CAN WIPE OUT ALL OF PALESTINE RIP DOWN OUR DOME OF THE ROCK BUILD THEIR TEMPLE. IT WILL NOT STOP ISLAM AND IT WILL NOT END THIS WORLD. THAT IS WHAT THIS IS REALLY ALL ABOUT. JEWS R WAITING 4 THE MESSIAH. CHRISTIANS WANT THE MESSIAH TO COME BACK SO JEWS CAN B CHRISTIANS. THEN THIS CAN B A CHRISTIAN WORLD AGAIN. THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. FACE IT THIS IS NOT A CHRISTIAN WORLD. THIS IS A MUSLIM WORLD. NOT ONLY DO THE MUSLIMS OF THE WORLD PRAISE ALLAH SWT. BUT SO DO THE PLANTS ND ANIMALS. ISLAM IS UNDER ATTACK AND I SEE IT CLEARER AND CLEARER DAILY. THERE IS NO BIGGER THREAT TO THIS NEW WORLD THAN ISLAM. IT STRIKES DOWN ALL THAT IS BAD AND PRAISES WHAT IS GOOD. SHAITAN HAS MADE THE PPL OF THE WORLD THINK THAT BAD THINGS R GOOD. UNTIL THE POINT THAT PPL WILL FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO B FREE TO DO ALL THE BAD THINGS THEY WANT. WE R NOT FREE WE R SLAVES TO ALLAH SWT. I PRAY THAT WE WAKE UP AND STRIVE IN THE WAY OF ISLAM.
KHALIL2U4EVER