Israel and Gaza

A Flame Shines For Gaza"World powers have ... failed and even betrayed Gaza's ordinary citizens," said Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International.

I would have to say he is right. You don’t even have to take sides on this one to see that it is a clear case of bullying- bullying you may be happy about if you are pro-Israel, but bullying you may call out as disgraceful and evidence of passive aggression if you are pro-Palestinian. Israel is occupying Gaza. And they have good reason to- there is a history of violence toward the young country from militant Palestinian groups like Hamas and other terrorist organizations. They are protecting themselves in the best way they know how- stay aggressive and don’t use the actual border as the frontline of the battle- use the territory just beyond the actual border. Good on you guys, agreed.

But if you are an organization looking at the present state of what is going on in Gaza, it is not hard to see that Israel is abusing the obvious power they have. They bombed Gaza and are now not allowing the thousands of trucks of materials in to repair the bombed buildings that it will actually take to do it. It’s an act of war- though not defined as such. It’s defined as an act of security- some rhetoric and framing they no doubt borrowed from the U.S. It’s like how we invaded Iraq and countless other countries.

And it’s true. When you are big and powerful people want to knock you down, so you end up defending yourself by being aggressive and keeping the heat on- fine.

But humanitarian groups are calling Israel and the international community that supports them out on their game, saying that the international community has in fact betrayed Gaza by not forcing Israel to end the blockade. They actually argue that Israel is in violation of international humanitarian law, saying that they are doing what is called a “collective punishment,” essentially punishing everyone in Gaza for the militant acts of a small minority. I would say that is also true. It’s like in kindergarten when somebody takes somebody’s candy and nobody will say who did it so you keep the whole class after school. It’s how power operates- You have to stay in power, otherwise people get away with anything and do whatever they want.

"Today, because of the closure, large-scale reconstruction remains impossible," said the Red Cross. “The population lives under constant threat of a collapse of water, sanitation and electricity services," they continued.

Yes. And it will not change. Israel does not want anything rebuilt and there is no way the international community is going to force them to let the Palestinians rebuild anything. The only way any of that will change is if there is some kind of large-scale peace agreement that is actually kept for like 10 years. Then maybe, maybe, Israel will be ok with Palestinians in Gaza rebuilding their homes.

Otherwise, this is an act of power staying in power that will continue, under both the blessing of the international community and with the ire of international humanitarian communities.

Photo Credit: looking4poetry (via Flickr under CCL)