Window Into Palestine: Is Israel deliberately strengthening Hamas?
- Nov 22, 2008 at 8:32 AM
- Post a comment
By Amira HassLet's not be dragged into calculating how many tons of rice, flour and cooking oil there are in the Gaza Strip 10 days after Israel once again hermetically sealed all the crossings into the enclave. Let's not count the number of children who wait for a nutritious meal at UN Relief and Works Agency schools, and the number of families to whose doorstep Hamas delivers boxes filled with grocery staples. (There are those who swear that these groceries are only given to Hamas members and supporters.) Let's not calculate the number of people dependent on their families for sustenance. There is food in the Gaza Strip, and there will continue to be. Does anyone really think that Israel, the state of the Jews, would allow 1.5 million people to be tossed, crowded and crammed, behind the barbed-wire fences and watchtowers surrounding the narrow strip and starve to death? Let's leave aside the stories of darkness, of how children do (or don't do) their homework by the light of a candle or kerosene lantern. Let's even put off the discussion on the serious environmental hazards - pollution of the groundwater and sea - posed to the people of Gaza and Ashkelon alike as a direct consequence of the intentional fuel shortage, or of Israel's refusal to permit the entry of pipes to upgrade the water and sewage infrastructure. Let's not go now into descriptions of how the sewage flows directly into the sea because there's not enough electricity to operate the sewage treatment plant. Let's not talk about fears that sewers will back up in the winter and flood residential neighborhoods because parts needed to fix the treatment plant were not brought in.Let's not get dragged into that number crunching, into reducing the Palestinians' lives to a near-animal level, to a humanitarian problem that is easy to prove is not as bad as it can be.The deliberations over the Palestinians and the methods of coping with the blockade should be converted into a discussion about the Israelis -...
Tags:
Next Posts
- alJazeera Magazine - Stuff happens
- Take a look at this demo of software used by counter-terrorism analysts to track down individuals an
- This is zionism: IDF chief to NATO: defeat global terrorism
- Medeshi: Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citigroup
- CF2R - Intelligence and policy makers: general considerations and analysis of the french case
Previous Posts
- Causes and Strategies on World Hunger - Social and Economic Policy - Global Policy Forum
- Will the Slaughter of Iraqis by the US Military Ever Be Reported? - Iraq - Global Policy Forum
- Report: Right-wing Pundits Use Mainstream Media to Smear Muslims
- Making Islamophobia Mainstream
- Anger as Indian police who tortured terror suspects escape action - Times Online
Neighborhood
-
Ima Updated: 5 hours ago
-
MatchMaker Updated: Yesterday
-
Aszalos Family Art Updated: Yesterday
-
Happy Mutant Updated: Yesterday
-
ericola Updated: Yesterday
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
Archives
- November 2009 (292)
- October 2009 (1049)
- September 2009 (1061)
- August 2009 (1073)
- July 2009 (997)
- Powered by Vox