Gaza's Agony

On the night Barack Obama won the U.S. presidency, he announced: "To all those ... who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world ... a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you.... The true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope."

Obama's words made the world shiver with anticipation.

One year later, anticipation has turned to disappointment. The U.S. president's first State of the Union address coincides roughly with the anniversary of the end of Operation Cast Lead, the devastating Israeli military offensive on Gaza last winter. And yet Obama said nothing. During that assault, shuddering under ordnance dropped or fired by American-made F-16s, we Palestinians felt abandoned by the soon-to-be president. We recalled the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who maintained, "History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

The sting of the White House's ongoing silence is devastating. Obama has remained a passive bystander as Israel has declared a faux freeze of settlements, arrested nonviolent civil society leaders, and denied desperate Palestinians, living in woeful conditions in Gaza, the basic necessities of livelihood.

Visitors to Gaza -- those few permitted in by Israel and Egypt -- are horrified at the scale of the human toll and widespread destruction. U.N. Justice Richard Goldstone concluded that war crimes might have been committed. Yet Obama has only broken his silence to defend Israeli war crimes by stifling the Goldstone report.

During Obama's presidential campaign, he visited the Israeli city of Sderot and had no qualms about declaring his solidarity with Israelis terrified by Palestinian rocket fire. "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."

I wonder what his advice would be to a helpless father in Gaza who cannot protect his children from the American-made weaponry that killed more than 300 innocent Palestinian children. What would he say to the Palestinian grandmother ejected in 1948 by Israel and prohibited from returning to the agricultural land that could feed her stunted grandchildren?

In June, Obama stated in Cairo, "America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own." But as each day goes by, Gaza slips into the hands of extremists, and the struggle for an equitable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is being lost.

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F1FAN

11:23 AM ET

January 28, 2010

It is a shame

It seems like Israel likes poking at the camp that wants Israel investigated for war crimes because it takes attention away from what is happening in Gaza right now. Operation Cast Lead wasn't the war crime, the war crime is the concentration camp that Israel has turned Gaza into.

KBBL

3:37 PM ET

February 7, 2010

Its shameFULL

2.7.10

We are not Jewish, Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim. We believe our response has a measure of detachment.

None of the “he said/she said” rhetoric blurs the realities of horrific murder and ethnic cleansing by Israel. While it is clear that Hamas has launched rockets, it is obvious that they did so in self-defense – a right they have. Even if there was a measure of merit to the Israeli self-defense argument, it fails to justify their extreme behaviors over nearly a half-century before Hamas existed. Nothing justifies the decades-long brutal attacks by Israel.

Israel unleashes its 4th most powerful nuclear military in the world on, not another army, but pathetic homemade rockets, children throwing stones, and countless innocent civilians. While destroying most of the Palestinian infrastructure, Israel heartlessly denies access to basic humanitarian needs like food, water, fuel, electricity, and medical supplies, leaving men, women and children to suffer and die. There is no defense for this barbarism.

Over and over we hear Zionist’s hyperbolic whining about “living in fear of rockets,” or “having a right to feel safe.” Everyone has a right to be safe, but not at the expense and killing of others – that is just insane.

It is understandable that Israel feels insecure; it is the brutal occupier. Israel can’t threaten another people’s very existence and terrorize their daily lives without expecting a response.

Israel claims to be like a vulnerable child surrounded by fierce enemies. We have an idea -- Israel should stop with the king of the hill crap and try living with its neighbors as equals.

America should immediately sever foreign relations with Israel and impose sanctions until it conforms with international law, e.g., stop illegal settlement expansion and shamelessly blockading needed humanitarian aid.

Zionists stoop even lower than the unbelievable cruelty described above; they brag about it. It is clear that Israeli souls are being lost as they hone their craft of ruthlessness on fellow human beings. Video at checkpoints reveal mocking Israeli youth being horribly cruel to men, women, and children. How will this shape the future for the Israel people? I hear Israelis say, “We told you not to do that,” “It’s your choice,” or, “you have the power.” For decades Israeli leaders have advanced this twisted thinking, like Golda Meir who said, “We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children.” We will not see decency in the hearts of Israelis until they realize just how mad this is. We suggest Israeli apologists begin to think about how difficult it is going to be to face the rest of the world when this apartheid state is eventually ended.

One more thought. It’s absurd at this stage of our development to support a state restricted to one anything: religion, race, etc. It’s altogether contrary to a democracy.

We are lobbying our government to stop sending Israel over $7 million tax dollars a day (after the smoke and mirrors, it’s more like $13 million) as long as Israel continues to brutally occupy Palestine with the accompanying human right violations, refuses to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, has a strong economy able to provide free national healthcare to its citizens, and remains a “private club,” not a democracy.

JAY1856

2:45 PM ET

Propagandist Author Applies for Hamas Spokesperson Position

Dear Author:
Do you work for Hamas? First, let's be clear, Gaza's "agony" is self inflicted. When Israel completely an unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, the opportunity to build a Palestinian state was in their hands. Instead, they opted for rockets fired at Israeli civilians. Poor choice. Now, while the West Bank's leaders in Fatah try to create a legitimate government and form the institutions of state, Hamas focuses on weapons smuggling and torture of Fatah members. Your article goes back to 1948, and so we should start there. Israel declared independence within the UN authorized zone while the Palestinians allied with their Arab brothers and went immediately to war committed to push the Israelis to the sea. Poor decision again. Gaza was taken in war from Egypt (NOT the Palestinians much like the West Bank was taken in war from Jordan), let's not forget that either. Your article talks about the bombs and American weapons making the U.S. and Obama to be the bad guy. The siege on Gaza would end tomorrow should Hamas turn over 1 (yes only ONE) Israeli soldier. That has been repeated multiple times by top Israeli politicians. Hamas is more concerned with the political gains from their capture than easing the economic siege on Gaza. That siege is, of course, in the place of a much more brutal option which would have seen the Israeli army physically removing Hamas from power. This more brutal option would have been far more harmful to the Palestinian citizenry and was not utilized.

You speak of matching rhetoric with regard to Obama. Where is the same critisism of Hamas and the Palestinians. You point out, correctly, that several Hamas leaders for the first time ever, said they would accept Israel's right to exist under certain conditions. Interestingly, this concession comes only after a year of economic siege and corresponds to Egypt's closure of the smuggling routes. Ironic timing. The Hamas charter and rhetoric, despite these statements, remains committed to destroying Israel. If you were making peace, could you do so with a neighbor bent on your destruction? On the contrary, the Israeli public has been largely committed to peace for years now. In response, the Palestinians make demands and preconditions to talks that will never happen, ending the negotiations before they begin. If the Palestinian leadership was remotely committed to a peaceful existence with Israel, instead of retaining their own positions of power, peace could have happened years ago, and the Palestinian economy could be booming.

The choice remains in Palestinian hands, and they continue to choose violence over peace. I submit, that a peace movement of non-violent opposition to Israel would have lead to international legitimacy, sympathy, and a Palestinian state years ago. Instead, the tactic of suicide bombers and rockets has always been the option of choice.

Authors like you that continue to paint the Israeli and U.S. administrations as the problem only prolong the Palestinian misery. Blame them all you want, and demand 250k person settlements be displaced from the West Bank and the Palestinian situation will remain where it is, nowhere.

ROMNEY

7:20 PM ET

Israel never really evacuated

Israel never really evacuated Gaza. They might have physically removed the settlers, but they still occupied the region in a technical sense: blockading land, air, and sea borders and otherwise keeping the stranglehold on the city.

Obviously, Palestinians - especially those in the Hamas camp - have a role to play in making peace. But Israel can't keep washing it's hands of responsibility either.

ZSINGERB

4:21 PM ET

Give it up for peace

Israel will NEVER part with any of Jerusalem. If Palestinians wants peace they need to understand this. Neither Israel, nor Palestine, has a legal claim to the West Bank. That is what negotiations are for. If Palestine creates settlements, Israel creates settlements. I suggest the Palestinians give up on Jerusalem and acknowledge the settlement issue is one of equal rights, and negotiate territory from that position or this will never be settled.

KSZREMSKI

3:32 PM ET

January 29, 2010

Indigenous people vs. colonialist settlers

Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi published a pictorial history of the Palestinians called "Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians 1876-1948," through the Institute for Palestine Studies.

The amazing photographs show clearly how the Palestinians were a thriving, productive, and dynamic people in Palestine in the 19th centurey - the same time Zionist ideology was being codified.

The United Nations' partition of Palestine in 1947 gave the Zionists 55 percent of historic Palestine, though Zionists owned less than 7 percent of the land. When you look at the United Nations maps from that time, you can clearly see the area that today is called the West Bank (and other land that has since been appropriated by Israel) was clearly left for the Palestinians. Jerusalem was left independent and was to have been administered as an international city.

Even before the state of Israel was declared, the Hagganah - the predecessor of today's Israeli military - and two terrorist gangs - the Stern Gang and the Irgun lead by men who went on to become prime ministers of Israel - began to depopulate Palestine. By the time an armistice was signed in January 1949, the Zionists had illegally claimed another 23 percent of historical Palestine. By January 1949, the Zionists had forced 750,000 Palestinians into exile and killed another 13,000. Also in flagrant violation of international law, Israel refuses to let the refugees return nor will Israel compensate them for their lost land, fields, orchards and other property.

Then in 1967, Israel waged the Six-Day War, in which it illegally occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. No country recognizes the occupation as being legal and legitimate. UN Resolution 242 clearly claims the occupation is illegal and calls on Israel to end the occupation.

The Palestinians have never created 'settlements.' They are the rightful heirs to the land that was cruelly taken away from them, first through misguided diplomacy and then through war. It is the Israelis bent on perpetuating the Zionist ideology of racism and ethnic cleansing who have continued to created colonies on Palestinian land.

BURNINGCHROME

11:28 PM ET

Jews are indigenous Idiot

The word Jew is from Judea as in they are the decendants of the people from Judea.
Modern DNA testing has confirmed that Jews across the world share a common gene pool that can be traced back to the Middle East, the closest genetic matches being other non Arab minorities in both Israel and the immediate vicinity.

10:28 PM ET

"the moderates within Hamas" LMAO

Moderate and Hamas are two words that simply can't be put together. Aziz Dweik has categorically denied Hamas will recognise Israel as El-Sarraj suggested when he repeats a false news report.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/01/21/Hamas-rep-says-Israeli-media-misquoted-him/UPI-53701264085885/

El-Sarraj's pathologically distorted and revisionist narrative of history is exactly why the people in Gaza are suffering to this day.

I would remind El-Sarraj that the majority of Jewish Israelis come from Arab countries, we remember the extreme violence visited upon us by Arab mobs and the Arab governments when we had no means of defending ourselves. This recent traumatic memory guides Israeli actions to the present day.

El-Sarraj's chutzpah knows no limits when he says Israel must recognise Palestinians as human being with equal rights. To date something Arabs are not willing to concede to Jews. Although many Westerners may find the notion that Jews descend from monkeys and pigs an amusing pejorative, it is routinely put forth as a serious proposition in Arab and Palestinian society.

A redundant theme of Arab and Palestinian media is continually separating Jews from the rest of humanity. The repeated notion that Jews must be watched and managed and that Jews can not be allowed ordinary social freedoms lest they corrupt the wider society (like in the west).

I say to El-Sarraj and all, THERE WILL BE NO PEACE UNTIL THE ARABS SHOW A READINESS TO ACCEPT JEWS (AND OTHER MINORITIES) AS EQUAL HUMAN BEING WITH EQUAL RIGHTS!

I have no doubt El-Sarraj's words will be readily believed and championed by those ignorant of the Middle East and the real history of Jews and other minorities in the contemporary times.

ANONMOOS

10:51 PM ET

Semi-disingenuous "humanitarianism" ineffective

My degree of sympathy for Gazans is somewhat limited by the fact that they know exactly what they have to do in order to lead an unhindered life, and they have made a conscious deliberate intentional choice not to do that. Since they have made a considered aware knowledgeable decision, with eyes fully open, to refuse to do what would make their lives a lot better, it would seem that they in fact prefer the kind of lives they're leading now -- and so I leave them to their largely self-chosen fate.

My heart-strings are also left relatively untugged by El-Sarraj's "humanitarian" appeal because I know that such a large proportion of the inhabitants of Gaza take a gloating gleeful cackling delight in atrocities committed against Israeli non-combatants. What's humanitarian for the goose is also humanitarian for the gander, as they say. Over the past almost 10 years, the Palestinians seem to have been doing their best to prove the truth of Golda Meir's maxim that "Peace will come when they Arabs finally decide that they love their own children more than they hate the Jews". Frankly, the Arabs ought to try apologizing for the worst crimes that have been committed in their name, instead of glorifying and celebrating such brutal atrocities (while still reserving the right of lawful legitimate resistance which follows the accepted rules of war, of course) -- this would open a lot of doors which remain firmly closed at present, and as a confidence-building measure would do quite a bit more to advance real substantive peace than much further rehashing of stale issues in deadlocked negotiations.

The same principle applies to prisoners -- a large part of why Israel is very grudgingly reluctant to release Palestinian prisoners is that Israelis fear that released prisoners will be glorified precisely because of the atrocities and crimes against women and children which they have committed (not in spite of them). If Israelis could be assured that this would not happen, then the locks on Israeli jails might be loosened to a degree that many would find startling.

In short, manfully admitting to past mistakes might gain the Arabs a lot, but the last 10 years of a meaningless nihilistic violence binge, unconnected with any concrete practical attainable goals or any larger political strategy, has brought them nothing, and will continue to bring them nothing into the forseeable future -- and many of us refuse to feel guilty about this, no matter how hard others try to make us feel guilty about it...

FREETRADER

5:44 AM ET

Sadly Deluded...

It is sadly amusing that this Hamas-loving writer pretends to be so baffled as to why the the Gazans fail to win much world sympathy. Are the Israeli settlements wrong and misguided? Certainly. Do the innocent civilians in Gaza have my sympathy? Of course they do. They are victims of Hamas, just as the Israeli victims of Hamas suicide bomber are.

When the Gazan Hamas leadership's only answer to any rightful compliaints they may have is terror and random missle attacks on civilians, you aren't going to get much sympathy when you are periodiclly slapped to the floor. The 300 child victims the writer claims are indeed victims of war crimes...war crimes of the Hamas Gazan leadership that provoked the Israeli action. Does he really expect Obama to show solidarity with the clowns who caused all this carnage? Of course, even forgetting that these people were the victims of the Gazan leadership, the number one killer of Palestinians is still...other Palestinians. But let's not talk about that.

FORTUNEHUNTER

3:46 PM ET

January 30, 2010

EL-SARRAJ

HEY FOREIGN POLICY:

And all this time i thought i was receiving news information from all over the world, not one man's opinion about who is at fault in GAZA. Why would you have EL-SARRAJ'S opinion of Gaza and its troubles published at all. I did not subscribe to listen to him tell me he is a human being. But since you would like a quick answer:
GAZA BROUGHT IT ON ITSELF. PSYCHIATRIST, YOUR PATIENT IS HAMAS, NOT ME.

DMJD

6:09 PM ET

February 1, 2010

Thank You

Beautifully written article by Eyad El-Sarraj. Thank you Foreign Policy for publishing the truth about Gaza. The facts are clear, Gaza is being and has been occupied by Israel and not much is being done to help. The Gazans are being silenced. Just look at the number of casualities during Operation Cast Lead, compare the thousands of Gazans to the tens of Israelis that were killed. Can the disadvantage be any clearer? I pray for peace.

Foreign Policy Magazine

Gaza's Agony

A year after the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are still waiting for President Obama's deeds to match his rhetoric in the Middle East.

BY EYAD EL-SARRAJ | JANUARY 28, 2010

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