[Peace-discuss] Aid to Gaza? Huff and puff…

[Brussel Morton K.]

A comment by Mazin Qumsiyeh, who visited us some time ago, formerly at  
Yale, now a professor in the West Bank. --mkb

A donor conference is underway in Sharm Alshaikh in Egypt is “to raise  
funding” for Gaza but is turning out to be similar to all previous  
conference: lots of huff, puff, and posturing.

For the US administration, it is a way to prop the government of  
Mahmoud Abbas (whose term ended January 9).  The US “pledged” $900  
million but $200 million of those will go to cover deficits of the  
administration of Mahmous Abbas, $400 million to West Bank projects  
(many profiting Israel), and the remaining $300 million will be slated  
for Gaza but may never get there because the US refuses to deal or  
help anything associated with Hamas and Hamas is the de facto  
government (and most of the people) of Gaza.  The European Union is  
trying to buy its way out of the nagging conscience of having  
supported a failing US/Israeli policy (a policy that tries to bypass  
democracy and find compliant leaders or pressure them into  
compliance). This money is also getting entangled in the “no  
discussion with Hamas” mantra  (which only strengthens Hamas and their  
fundamentalist ideology). Hamas said it will not allow aid to achieve  
what the Israeli military failed to achieve by force (subjugation of  
the Palestinian people).  Other money pledged is also ending up with  
so many strings attached that hardly any of it is likely to enter  
Gaza.  But even if all these issues are solved, Israel simply  
continues to blockade Gaza and prevent reconstruction supplies from  
entering (a blockade that is not only an act of war but a crime  
against humanity).

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said border crossings into Gaza  
must be reopened to allow aid into the devastated territory. "The  
situation at the border crossings is intolerable. Aid workers do not  
have access. Essential commodities cannot get in," But neither he nor  
anyone else at this conference has even hinted at any pressure to be  
brought on Israel to achieve this opening.  Gaza remains a  
concentration camp with its residents who like all prisoners prefer  
the tough prisoner as their representatives.  Meanwhile, Israel plans  
to build 73,000 more housing units in the occupied West Bank areas  
outside Jerusalem and thousands more inside occupied Jerusalem (in  
tandem with demolishing Palestinian homes and continuing the ethnic  
cleansing)*.

The posturing, speeches, and “pledges” thus distracts from what is  
really needed to achieve peace: pressure on the occupiers/colonizers  
not on the occupied/colonized.  Israel must be told by the outside  
world to a) not only freeze all settlement construction but actually  
reverse it by returning the lands to their owners and removing the  
settlers from all areas occupied in 1967, and b) Israel must pay for  
the damage it inflicted on Gaza and comply with International law on  
the damages of the apartheid wall it is building, c) Israel must allow  
Palestinians including all refugees the choice of return to their  
homes and lands or to be compensated if they chose not to return (and  
compensate them for their suffering), and d) Israel must allow the  
right of self determination for all the Palestinian people (a  
referendum on what we want would be a good beginning) and for full  
equality for all residents regardless of their religion.

Initiatives are in the works along those lines.
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