Juan Cole: Limited Israeli Easing of Gaza Blockade Greeted with Dismay

http://www.juancole.com/2010/06/limited-israeli-easing-of-gaza-blockade-greeted-with-dismay.html

Limited Israeli Easing of Gaza Blockade Greeted with Dismay

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Juan

Despite the breathless flurry of approving statements provoked by the English-language pledge issued by the prime minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu that the blockade of Gaza would be ‘eased,’ in fact , Haaretz reports, the Hebrew text of the communique does not indicate that the cabinet made any such decision, and there has been no change at the border checkpoint.

Even if Israel were actually doing what the English text indicated, the Palestinians, the United Nations and aid NGOs do not see the measure as going nearly far enough. PLO spokesman Saeb Erekat dismissed the announced easing as an effort

‘”to make it appear that it has eased its four-year blockade . . . In reality, the siege of the Gaza Strip, illegally imposed on Palestinians, continues unabated. Israel has a so-called ‘white list’ of only 114 items. Palestinian basic needs require at least 8,000 items that continue to be prohibited. These include essential materials for rebuilding and for waste-water treatment.” ‘

For one thing, how many items are let in is less important than the volume of each. The Irish Times quotes Robert Serry, the head of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). During the first week in June, imports declined by a quarter, even though Israel expanded the list of allowed imports by 11 food and health items. OCHA says that the amount of staples and aid going into Gaza is only about 17% of the goods routinely allowed in before the blockade began. So an ‘easing’ would not even restore the status quo ante of pre-2007.

Although in public and in English Israeli spokesmen stress that the purpose of the blockade is to keep arms out of the hands of Hamas, the fundamentalist party-militia that dominates Gaza, in fact an internal document ferreted out by McClatchy demonstrates that the blockade has all along mainly aimed at punishing innocent civilians. If you think about it, the idea that Hamas can form a conventional challenge to Israel, using e.g. tanks, is ridiculous.

Professor Ian Lustick argues that Israel should just take that truce Hamas is always offering, just as Egypt and Jordan have done with their versions of Hamas– and stop trying to pretend that Israel isn’t in the Middle East or that it can change the Middle East all around at will.

The Irish Times quotes Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, to the effect that “What is needed is a complete lifting of the blockade. Goods and people must be free to enter and leave. Gaza especially needs construction material, which must be allowed to come in without restrictions.” He called lifting the bans on chocolates and potato chips “frivolous.”

Christopher Gunness, spokesman of the UN Relief and Works Agency, which cares for Palestinian refugees, said: “We look at deeds not words. There is a massive amount of rebuilding to do in Gaza. Four thousand homes were destroyed, another 17,000 damaged during the [ 2008-09] war. The agency needs to repair its schools and build 100 new schools for 39,000 children.

Aljazeera English reports on the reaction of Gaza’s government. It also points out that there would be no chocolate in the Palestinian Gaza Strip if it weren’t for smuggling through tunnels. And even children’s toys had been banned, officially making the Israelis the Grinches of the Middle East....READ MORE

While homes are often targeted, Israeli authorities have also issued demolition orders against Palestinian schools, clinics, roads, water cisterns...

P U L S E

"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one."

The housing apartheid in Palestine

Amnesty International has called on the Israeli authorities to end house demolitions which leave thousands of Palestinians living in daily fear of eviction from their homes…

According to the UN, in 2009 more than 600 Palestinians – over half of them children – lost their homes after they were demolished on order from the Israeli authorities.

“Palestinians living under Israeli occupation face such tight restrictions on what they can build and where that their right to adequate housing is being violated,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“The Israeli authorities are putting Palestinians in an impossible situation. Whatever choice they make, they face homelessness.

“The majority of people are denied building permits by Israel, even after lengthy and expensive bureaucratic and legal processes, so they have little choice but to go ahead without official permission. But as they do so, they know that these buildings may soon be flattened by Israeli bulldozers.”

Demolitions are generally carried out with no warning of the date, giving no opportunity for Palestinians to salvage their possessions or find elsewhere to shelter. The UN has estimated that some 4,800 demolition orders are pending.

Under Israeli law, evicted families are not entitled to alternative housing or compensation, meaning many would face homelessness and destitution were it not for relatives, friends and charities.

While homes are often targeted, Israeli authorities have also issued demolition orders against Palestinian schools, clinics, roads, water cisterns, electricity pylons, sheds and animal shelters.

You can view and download the report here (PDF).

http://www.imemc.org/article/58955

Israel To Demolish Homes In Jerusalem

Friday June 18, 2010 04:40 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Workers of the Jerusalem municipality and officers of the so-called Border Police broke in Thursday into several homes that belong to the Salah family in Beit Safafa in East Jerusalem, and handed them orders to demolish their homes.

The orders were addressed to Ismail Ali Salah, his brother Mahmoud, Mohammad Salah, and Tahani Mohammad Suleiman.

Resident Ismail Salah stated that municipality workers and Israeli soldiers broke into his home on Thursday morning and told the family that they should move to “Ramallah or Hebron”.

He added that the homes were built during the Jordanian era before Israel was established and that 43 residents are living there.

Israeli soldiers also claimed that members of the Salah family hurled stones at settlers who are currently living in a home that was confiscated from them on April 25, 2010.

They lost their home to Jewish settlers who were granted a ruling by the Israeli High court allowing them to occupy the property.

Calculations

Calculations

To be Palestinian
is protest-
to raise a fist
is to be rage
& to hurl a rock
is to be instigator
of an avalanched
response

poem copyright ©2010 Anne Selden Annab

ASA

Ziad J. Asali, M.D.: Palestine is Open for Business

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ziad-j-asali-md/significance-of-the-secon_b_615684.html

Ziad J. Asali, M.D.

Posted: June 17, 2010 10:18 AM

While No One's Looking, the Palestinians Are Building a State - By Hussein Ibish | Foreign Policy

While No One's Looking, the Palestinians Are Building a State - By Hussein Ibish | Foreign Policy

My letter to USAToday RE Israel's war is our war, too By Bob Beckel and Cal Thomas

UNWRA photo achives: Barefoot and pushing their belongings in prams and carts, Arab families leave the coastal town of Jaffa which became part of the greater Tel Aviv area in the state of Israel.

RE: Israel's war is our war, too By Bob Beckel and Cal Thomas
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-06-17-column17_ST_N.htm

Dear Editor,

Palestine's struggle for real freedom and democracy should be our struggle too, for everyone's sake. Instead we have legions of pro-Israel 'experts', like Beckel and Thomas blithely ignoring Israel's flagrant violations of international law and the Palestinians' basic human rights- and ignoring the crucial importance of empowering a fair and just negotiated settlement to end the Israel/Palestine conflict and the religious extremism on every side.

FYI, here is what we really need to be noticing: "It doesn’t make sense for Palestinians to be part of the lifeline of settlements that are built on Palestinian soil and to be part of the prosperity of the settlers, who are taking a very harsh, radical and violent position against the Palestinians,” said Abu Libda. http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2010/06/16/1276660800_0

And this: "The Oslo Accord and subsequent peace plans and initiatives such as the U.S.-sponsored Road Map required Israel to stop all Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory. Yet, consecutive Israeli governments have continued to expand settlements. These settlements being deemed illegal by the international community and an obstacle to peace, has not stopped the Israeli leadership; the number of settlers has tripled in size since the signing of the Oslo Accord." Peacemaking takes courage, leaders by Mahmoud Abbas

And this "We call on the Israeli government to reverse this decision and to immediately halt all settlement activity and all other violations of Palestinian rights. We also call on the United States and the international community to ensure that Israel abides by international law and begins to live up to its obligations under previous agreements." Christopher Hazou, Communications Officer, Palestine Liberation Organization Mission to the United States http://www.plomission.us/

And this: The Arab Peace Initiative .... "Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties"

And this "It can't, and it shouldn't be, all Gaza flotilla all the time" Hussein Ibish

And this: "ATFP (The American Task Force on Palestine) is strictly opposed to all acts of violence against civilians no matter the cause and no matter who the victims or perpetrators may be. The Task Force advocates the development of a Palestinian state that is democratic, pluralistic, non-militarized and neutral in armed conflicts."

And this: "The political process would fail to meet its desired ends, he said, without a return to credibility. " This cannot be achieved unless the international community adheres to its responsibilities of ending the occupation, applying international resolutions, and securing the Palestinian right to self-determination and statehood."" Fayyad in the Galilee: We won't be hostages

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Peacemaking takes courage, leaders

Israel must clarify Palestine's status

The Arab Peace Initiative

Unclench your fist... Live by the Golden Rule

Growing Gardens for Palestine

Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem

Freedom to me is ... (a poem)

UNRWA programmes currently face a $100 million budget deficit

UNRWA Commissioner General Filippo Grandi noted that UNRWA programmes currently face a $100 million budget deficit, according to a statement released by Zain.

“The Ramadan fund- raising campaign is a prime example on how private and public entities can complement each other for one goal - human development,” ...read more

Media campaign seeks to raise funds for UNRWA programmes

From Growing Gardens for Palestine... Darwish & Dickinson

Darwish & Dickinson

Mahmoud Darwish
& Emily Dickinson
side by side
on my shelves
Alphabetically
aesthetically matched
loner by loner
into a happily ever after
of commingling

Poet to poet
meeting in me

in turn in time
book by book
and page by page

libraries build character

copyright ©2010 Anne Selden Annab

http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=702

Poems of Palestine as Oud Player Abado Sings in Amman

9 June 2010
Amman

Poems of Palestine echoed in the packed auditorium at Al-Hussein Cultural Centre in Amman at the end of May, as Palestine musician Marwan Abado opened a series of concerts being held in support of UNRWA’s education programme.

"I wish for a day without victories. Without murders, without injuries, just a normal boring day. And this normal, boring day will be a feast for a land called Palestine," sings Abado on his new album Nard.

Abado grew up as a refugee in Beirut and immigrated in the late 1980s to Austria, where he studied musical and social sciences at Vienna University. He studied the oud under Iraqi maestro Assim Chalabi and shaped his own style, as he invigorated Arab music by integrating Western influences.

Funding scholarships

As a student in an UNRWA school in Lebanon, Abado's parents always instilled in him that education was their "major weapon as Palestinians." Education is, in his words: “the way for us to overcome our self-victimisation. As harsh as fate has been to us, we need to overcome it.”

The series of concerts in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon was a collaboration between UNRWA and the Society for Austro-Arab Relations. The concerts will help fund scholarships for refugee students in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

"Our ability to provide both life-saving and life-enhancing services is contingent upon the support we receive from the international community, host countries, such as Jordan, and the support from the general public," said Deputy Commissioner-General Margot Ellis.

Belonging to a homeland

The series, Palestine Remains My Melody, reflects the "strong sense of belonging to a homeland" that Abado grew up with and still holds, after living in Vienna for over two decades.

The funds raised in the series, Abado said, will “be ammunition for a weapon called science, this weapon that hits its target and gives us hope of a better future."

By Fabiano Jácome

Elia Suleiman makes tender, funny films about Palestinian life. Why has his latest caused outrage?

"I heard these stories from my father," Suleiman says. "When he fell sick, I asked him to write them down. But I didn't think I was mature enough to handle them: it's a thin rope to walk along without falling into all kinds of aesthetic and political traps."

Elia Suleiman: stories my father told me

Elia Suleiman makes tender, funny films about Palestinian life. Why has his latest caused outrage? Steve Rose finds out ...read more

'I refuse linear histories' ... Elia Sulieman. Photograph: Felix Clay

Helen Thomas is let go for speaking the truth on Palestine

"Thomas practiced her profession with a deep regard for the people’s right to know. To her, as Aldous Huxley noted long ago, “facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”" Ralph Nader