UN Halts Relief Work in Gaza;
Driver Killed by Israeli Fire;
Starvation Looms for Civilians
The UN is halting its relief works in Gaza, after an Israeli tank fired on a UN truck, killing the driver:
' "The IDF knows all of our movements, and coordinates. Despite that we are still coming under attack," says Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). "Until the [Israeli Defense Forces] can guarantee the safety and security of our staff, everything is suspended."'
It is hard not to suspect that the Israeli army doesn't actually want the aid workers in Gaza (they have already excluded reporters) because of what the workers find when they look into the rubble of buildings the army has hit. AP writes:
' During a three-hour pause in the fighting to allow in food and fuel and let medics collect the dead, nearly three dozen bodies were found beneath the rubble of bombed out buildings in Gaza City. Many of the dead were in the same neighborhood where the international Red Cross said rescuers discovered young children too weak to stand who had stayed by their dead mothers. The aid group accused Israel of an "unacceptable" delay in allowing workers to reach the area."
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has admitted that pictures of civilian deaths coming out of Gaza generate pressure on Israel for a cease-fire, which the government is resisting for as long as possible.
Half of Gazans are children, and half of Gazans depend on external food aid. Even with that aid, about 17% of Gazans are malnourished. If the UN doesn't deliever food supplies, you are talking about vulnerable populations facing starvation.
/End.
posted by Juan Cole @ 1/08/2009 05:32:00 PM
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10 Comments:
Granted, the attacks on Gaza are disgusting and possibly are war crimes. Granted also that having random suicide bombers and uncontrolled rockets exploding in Israeli neighborhoods at random is an operational definition of terrorism.
That noted, when have Palestinians attracted any attention from Israel along the lines of working towards peace or improving the Israeli-circumscribed lives of the Palestinians?
As far as I can tell, it's only when Palestinians are causing the Israelis physical trouble.
As a side note: A 'state' has the right to self-determination, therefore to defend itself, and therefore to arm itself. I just don't see a two-state solution here. Not when one state is scared to death of the other being armed, and then being able to give as good as it's gotten in the past (that past being the current 'now'.)
Palestinians: 'Never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.'
Israelis: 'A democracy is not a theocracy is not a democracy is not a theocracy is not a...'
Repeat both ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
Here is a link to an article, Gaza Seen From Paris, that discusses three practical steps to take to reign in Israel's aggression. The authors suggest:
(1) Get rid of the illusion that Israel is "useful" to the West.
Excerpt: "Israel is of no use to anybody or anything but its own fantasies of domination. There is no petroleum in Israel, or Lebanon, or Golan, or Gaza. The so-called wars for oil, in 1991 and 2003, were waged by the United States, with no help from Israel, and in 1991 with the explicit demand from the United States that Israel stay out (because Israel’s participation would have undermined Washington’s Arab coalition)."
(2) Allow non-Jews to speak their mind about Israel.
Excerpt: "It is imperative to free criticism of Israel from the fear of being falsely accused of "anti-Semitism". The threat of this accusation is an insidious form of moral blackmail that perhaps constitutes the only real potential source of a widespread revival of anti-Jewish resentment."
(3) The practical initiatives are summed up in three letters : BDS- Boycott, disinvestment, sanctions.
Excerpt: "Any boycott is apt to have innocent victims. In particular, it is said that boycotting Israeli academic institutions would unjustly punish intellectuals who are for peace. Perhaps, but Israel itself readily admits that there are innocent victims in Gaza, whose innocence in no way prevents them from being killed. We do not propose killing anyone."
It seems apparent to me the IDF are going to create a no man's land on the southern border in a further attempt to cut off Gaza from any help available through the tunnel system.
Let's just call Gaza what it is:
A prison.
A prison that is being shelled, bombed, strafed, and starved.
Where in the prison controlled media, the prisoners are blamed for their own destruction.
BlueEyes-
In 2005 Bush administration passed the Deficit Reduction act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_Reduction_Act_of_2005 where by billions of dollars were cut from the Medicare, Medicaid and Student Loans. Since then it has continued to fund the State of Israel's wars of aggression. It is time for US to end all funding for Israel. If they want to engage in such atrocities, let them pay for it.
Maybe I'm being too Machiavellian, but I suspect the Isreali's wanted to stop the aid to put further pressure on Hamas through the threat of widespread starvation. Denying the aid outright looks too brutal, but if the aid agencies simply choose to stop delivering, the Isreali's can put the blame on the agencies. It is certainly helpful for Isreali's negotiating a cease fire to have the food aid stopped.
when Bush invaded Iraq, I said "shock and awe" was what was happening to American values. Israel is following the same doomed path.
Thanks Professor Cole for your work in telling us what is really happening.. We are witnessing a vile massacre, with the US under Bush,putting off a cease fire , and thus allowing the slaughter(using no doubt our weapons to accomplish the killing. What has happened to conscience, humanity, that a few nations can dominate and ignore International laws.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time in the last year that Israel has blocked humanitarian relief from reaching Gaza. Even during the 6-month truce, relief supplies were rarely let in - an act that violated the terms of the truce.
It's not surprising that Israel - whom has long seen the UN as a co-conspirator with groups that seek to destroy their state, is attempting to thwart their actions in Gaza. It's part and parcel of their permanent policy towards the UN - minimize, isolate, and frustrate any attempt by the UN to assist Palestinians whenever possible.
While there are some instances of the UN perhaps unfairly piling on Israel, the overall mission of the UN has been to assist those with no other alternative. Seeing the UN as the enemy is something that has spread from the Israeli-right into the American neoconservative movement.
In 2005 Bush administration passed the Deficit Reduction act... where by billions of dollars were cut from the Medicare, Medicaid and Student Loans. Since then it has continued to fund the State of Israel's wars of aggression. It is time for US to end all funding for Israel. If they want to engage in such atrocities, let them pay for it.
Now Obama wants to continue funding those wars of aggression cut taxes some more and then go after social security, medicais, and medicare.
This "new" adminstration is practically a seamless continuation of Clinton/Bush. Change you can believe in... what a charlatan.
Once again the American prople have voted against their own interests... three for three and counting.
"Palestinians: 'Never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.'"
Yet another bit of "received truth" that is, in fact utter nonsense. The Palestinians have never genuinely been offered an opportunity that was not worth missing.
If that phrase applies to either party, it is to the Israelis, who have been given generous offer after generous offer. For heaven's sake, the Arab League has for seven years had on the table an offer of everything the Israelis claim they want - peace, recognition, normal diplomatic and economic relations, and their response has been seven years of the middle finger. Guess that's not really what Israel wants.
And Hamas has repeatedly declared that it accepts a two state solution with Israel existing inside the green line. And what is Israel's response? "We don't talk to teghoghists, we bomb them".
It is not the Palestinians who "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity".
And it is not the Palestinians or the Arabs who are the impediment to peace. They have been ready for a long time.
Only when peace becomes more important to Israel than territorial expansion and military dominance will it be ready for peace. In the mean time, the Palestinians and the Arabs will have to be patient.
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