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TechnoratiUnder Siege Again, But Gaza Will Not Die
In a tent in front of Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza, a sign on the photo of a young child bleeding from wounds from the Israeli attack on Gaza read "Gaza Will Not Die."
Shifa hospital received hundreds of bodies of those killed and thousands of those wounded during the December 27, 2008 - January 18, 2009 22-day attack, invasion and occupation of Gaza by the Israeli military.
Now in front of Shifa hospital was a tent filled with military armaments -- rocket parts, ammunition, etc. from Israeli missile and bombs. Several were American made -- a 120 mm artillery shell, a TOW missile. During the past eight years under the Bush administration, Israel has received over $21 billion in U.S. security assistance, including $19 billion in direct military aid. The majority of Israel's military equipment is funded under U.S. assistance programs. The United States has given Israel 226 U.S. F-16 fighter and attack jets, more than 700 M-60 tanks, 6,000 armored personnel carriers, and dozens of transport planes, attack helicopters, utility and training aircraft, bombs, and tactical missiles. The U.S. Arms Export Control Act specifies that US weapons purchased by other countries can be used only for defensive purposes. The attacks on Gaza by the Israeli military are in violation of that act.
Also in the tent outside of Shifa hospital were photos of wounded and dead Palestinian women, men and children. Many photos had phrases written on them: "Gaza will not die," "Despite the pain, Gazans Will Remain," "Targeting all the Palestinians," "We will Take Them (Israeli government officials) to the Tribunal." Outside the tent were the remains of several ambulances that had been attacked and destroyed by Israeli aircraft as they were carrying wounded to the hospital.
Medea Benjamin, Tighe Berry and I were allowed by the Egyptian government to cross the border into Gaza last week, but for only 48 hours. At the end of the 48 hours, the Egyptians, under pressure from the Israeli and American governments, sealed off their border with Gaza putting Gaza again in an economic and political vice, as it has been for the past 16 months. The brief opening of the border allowed minimal amounts of humanitarian goods for the people of Gaza and the evacuation of some of the most injured Gazans in Israeli attacks on Gaza.
During our short visit we talked with persons with many organizations involved in caring for the people of Gaza.
At Shifa hospital, we spoke with members of a 10 person Indonesian Red Crescent medical team who was ending their 2-week mission. The previous day we passed through the Rafah border crossing with a 16-person Moroccan medical team that would spend only two days in Gaza having to leave with us 48 hours later due to the closing of the border by the Egyptian government. Later, we met a large Malaysian medical team that had been in Gaza for ten days. We also met doctors from the United Kingdom who had been in Gaza for almost two weeks. The greatest numbers of medical personnel coming to provide aide to the Palestinians were from Muslim and Arab countries.
The next day at the Rafah, Gaza border crossing, we met 6 British doctors who had just completed two weeks volunteering at various hospitals in Gaza. One doctor told of treating wounds that had been made by the DIME (Dense Inert Metal Explosive) bomb which is designed to produce an intense explosion in a small space. The bombs are packed with tungsten powder, which has the effect of shrapnel but often dissolves in human tissue, making it difficult to discover the cause of injuries. One doctor said it looked like their legs had been sliced off. Another UK doctor told of treating a person who had been wounded by white phosphorous and then having the wound begin smoking from remaining particles of the phosphorus in the wound.
At the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, deputy director Jabr Wishab told us that he believed the purpose of the Israeli attack on Gaza was to administer collective punishment on the people of Gaza for electing Hamas into power in Gaza in 2006 and to deter support for Hamas for the next election. He said that the attack on Gaza "will make the people of Gaza count to one hundred before voting for Hamas -- to make them remember what happened in 2009 so they will not support the resistance and the launching of rockets into Israel." The PCHR has extensively documented the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Their reports on the invasion and occupation of Gaza are available online (http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2007/weekly2007.html) as well as their weekly reports on the siege of Gaza from the past two years.
Mr. Wishbah said the Israeli military targeted and destroyed virtually every Hamas building, police station and home of senior Hamas officials. When one plots the bombing and expands by 200 meters the range of the effects of the explosions on nearby buildings, the amount of territory covered by the bombings was extremely large. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were forced out of their homes into even more densely populated areas in the center of the country.
Mr. Wishbad said that teams of international lawyers will be assisting in preparing criminal charges against Israeli government officials and military officers for violations of international law in the attacks, invasion and occupation of Gaza. Cases will be filed in other countries under universal jurisdiction to prevent Israeli officials from travelling outside of Israel. According to the Jerusalem Post, on January 31, an Israeli Defense Force Colonel had to return to Israel from London due to public protests against his speaking there and his fear of arrest (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304666671&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull).
Mr. Wishab asked for assistance from the international community to investigate the effects of specific weapons, including long term effects of shells made from depleted uranium, and eye and respiratory problems from the Israeli Defense Force's (IDF's) use of white phosphorus in populated areas. Additionally, he said that Flechette weapons with 4,600 nails in each exploding shell were used by the IDF, as well as a warhead with small square metal pieces that penetrated clothing, boots and flesh. He said he was very concerned about the reports of the use in Gaza of DIME bombs (Dense Inert Material Explosive) that contains tungsten particles spray that is so concentrated that arms and legs are sliced off the body by the force.
Dr. Aed Yaghi of the Palestine Medical Relief Association told us that his organization provided blankets, beds, mattresses and clothes for thousands of Gazans who were forced from their homes. Their mobile clinic teams are back in operation travelling, as well as teams providing psycho-social support for communities. They are going into the most devastated parts of Gaza to provide medical services for those whose houses have been destroyed and who have no way of getting to medical facilities.
We also visited the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) that provides comprehensive community mental health services, therapy, training and research, to the people of Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Two thirds of the population of Gaza is refugees and 50% are younger than 16 years. Mr. Husam L. Nounou, the media officer for GCMHP, told us that since citizens in Gaza have been a part of extreme forms of violence and suffering due to Israeli occupation and military operations, mental health problems in the Gaza have grown to unprecedented levels. (http://www.gcmhp.net/)
Mr. Nounou said that his organization has 6 community crisis intervention teams for schools and homes. They train teachers how to identify students under stress and how to assist the student. They have a special program of women affected by war. He also said that during times of conflict domestic violence increases and does violence in general. People are less tolerant, less forgiving and less sensitive as they cope with the effects of war.
Mr. Nounou said the word peace has a different connotation for many in Gaza. Peace according to some in Gaza is obeying Israeli orders, in effect surrendering to Israeli rule. He said that he believes that many in the Israeli military believe that peace is dangerous. But Mr. Nounou also said that some of the best partners for peace are Israelis who are fed up with their government resorting to attacks on Gaza.
As the siege on Gaza continues, the organizations we visited are deeply involved in treating the entire population in Gaza, all of whom have been traumatized by the attacks, invasion and occupation of their homes and land and by the prison conditions in which they live with no freedom to travel outside the small land called Gaza.
Despite all that has happened to the people of Gaza, as the sign on the photo said -- "Gaza will not Die."
22 Comments so far
Show All"Gaza will not Die"
Shouts of defiance - adolescent, if not toddler age, shouts of defiance.
Wright begins to touch on human recognition, and depict the condition of pain and suffering of the Gaza populous, but shows that even the best amongst us will pull their bloomers up in a bunch in the face of human truth and go scurrying back to the realm of veiled consciousness.
Gaza will die, we will all die. But how will Gaza live, how will we all live? Let's try to summon the courage to stay face to face with the reality of the human occurrence, and develop a new language for the new wine that pours through us daily.
A Toddler's and Adolescent's petulant "no" will not create pleasure out of the pain that is "Gaza": admitting the pain and weakness, admitting the desire if not need for betterment, recognizing how lost to restricted consciousness our brothers and sisters can become and are, as we have at times become and are, will create much richer language and point the compass to home during our periods of being lost in oblivion.
Gaza will die, how will Gaza live?
With our aid to Israel, are we providing National Health Care to Israelis that we won't provide our own citizens.
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA has announced that it will divest from Israel. They also were first in the South Africa divestment movement.
http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/301
---USAn---
Bravo! May it be just the beginning.
Joe
Our Government's Support Of Israel Pus Us All At Risk
"Why?"
"Israel's savagery of Palestinians and Lebanese is what stokes the fear and hate that underlies the messianic terrorist movements in the Mideast and elsewhere."
"What about individuals and organizations in America that lobby our government to side with Israel?"
"They put us and America at risk."
"Which makes them?"
"Traitors."
"And those of us who oppose them as well as our government's policies vis a vis the Israeli-Palestine conflict?"
"Patriots."
"Based on?"
"Mark Twain's definition of patriotism."
"Which is?"
"Patriotism is supporting one's country all the time but one's government only when it deserves it."
If you stop and assess all the problems we face in the world today ,you will find the Anglo Saxon finger prints all over it.
It now mostly covertly less overtly. Israel is another of their Debacle in their attempting to play chess with the nations of the world for their selfish benefit.
But they are slowly being unmasked , the none European world is slowly pry their rapacious claws from their collective throats finger by finger
Aloha, Ann!
Thank you for all you do!
On behalf of your friends and admirers back home!
Imua!
Sioux, i have a lot to say in response. Maybe this should go offline, but it is relevant to most of what we are always discussing here, so.
Yes, i completely agree. FEAR based in survival issues. That is the basis. It is a fear based reality at this point. Fear of not surviving. On ALL levels.
And the "sins of the father" is translated into 'original sin'. Which is one hundred percent undermining of human beings ever rising above themselves. Because if you are sinful by your very nature, what chance do you/we have?
It is always about 'not obeying the rules'. That was the original sin, as translated into western religionism. And the idea is that if we don't obey the rules,we will be exiled and thrown out into the cruel and harsh world. And more importantly, that we shouldn't trust our own minds and hearts. Therefore, we are going to be limited as to our responses and in creative ways of thinking about our world.
How does that work for you?
Sorry, that comment should have been posted as a response further down...
When a career military officer and diplomat gives this evaluation, it is well worth heeding.
Like George W. Bush's taunt to insurgent Iraqis to "bring it on" this foolish use of white phospherous and DIME munitions has an echo in the Israeli and US reaction to what has been done to Gazans. It will neither be forgotten nor forgiven by the Palestinians or their Muslim cousins in the Middle East.
Surely the wind we and Israel are sowing will reap both Israel and the US a whirlwind of terrible consequences for such barbarism. Like compound interest the longer the payback is delayed, the greater the consequences will be for us and our posterity.
Poet
The only progressive solution is to force Israel to abandon the jewish supremacy/state position it has had since its founding.
Its bad for everyone.
The Palestinians are not the only victim here.
The other species victimized in the conflict shouldnt be ignored.
Its very irritating when someone who is usually well spoken like Ali Abunimah takes a cheap shot at the mute and says Israel cares more for pets than it does for Palestinians. i dont think israel cares for pets on the Gaza side do you?
Look at the massacre the IDF committed at the Gaza zoo:
http://counterpunch.org/beattie02062009.html
I feel sorry for the animals who will be brought back in there-and once again be at the mercy of both sides. One wanting to please their children, and the other wanting to do the opposite.
Non humans are always the most innocent victims in war.
If you can track down the documentary Animals At war which was rather incredibly, shown uncut on A & E in the late 80s, you will see such wonderful sights and sounds as newsreels like "Animals on Atom's Ark" which shows farm animals being herded onto ships that will be blasted by a nuclear bomb-the camera gets a close up of a young pig and the narrator says: you can understand why this little fella doesnt like being a guinea pig." Or mules having their voice boxes cut out so they dont make sounds when carrying supplies for soldiers(and frustratingly attempting to speak to other mules), dogs with bombs sewn inside their stomachs, pigs that are shot in the leg and then bandaged up before being thrown in a garbage bag(while a german doctor says: this is good since I plan to be a pediatrician one day")
or the rhesus monkey with its head shaved who is strapped into a miniature jet cockpit and given electric shocks to its feet in order to make it keep its hands on a flight instrument(it screams as it does) before it is hit with massive doses of radiation. But all is well since the balding scientist at the lab says: my son is a pilot so this work is important and necessary.
Nothing like selfish interest and benefits to override clear cut morality(I robbed and raped that woman because my family and I benefit).
Whether its Vietnam, Afghanistan or iraq, non humans are always the most innocent victims. Children grow up to be combatants-and at a young age they can write messages on israeli bombs to be dropped in lebanese cities so they lsoe their innocence early. Not so with non humans.
"To be humane is to be cruel, vicious and unrestrained, like humans.
To be inhumane is to be compassionate, restrained, moderate, like non humans."
As regards the invasion, all true no doubt. As regards the effect of the weapons and their sources, all true no doubt.
As regards "resistance", the comment from PCHR is frankly wrong and possibly delusional. The IDF invasion was a campaign ploy by ruling Israeli elites, particularly in Kadima, to tilt the election their way. It was also an attempt to set utterly inhumane and unworkable terms for the Obama Regime - putting him in a corner from which he probably will not escape. Smashing Hamas or rendering them less popular, were more secondary, speculative aims for Israel, especially since prior violent incursions have not resulted in the defeat of Hamas. Another purpose is simply to terrorize the shit out of the Palestinians. In this, the IDF and Kadima have succeeded wildly.
But, having said all that, the idea that the rocket attacks vs. Ashkelon and Siderot are acts of "resistance" is frankly ridiculous. No resistance is accomplished, no victory is obtained, no security advantage is conferred by the rocket attacks. Quite the opposite in fact, these attacks accomplish nothing more than making Israelis bleed, provoking massive, brutal counterattacks and providing justification for all of Israel's claims vs. the Palestinians. Only a twisted worldview aims deliberately for these outcomes. Thank you, Hamas!
Palestine supporters have criticized Israel for creating an "apartheid system" similar to that in So. Africa in the 1980s. True, but maybe it is time for the Palestinians to start looking at how the ANC finally overturned apartheid. Where is the Palestinian Desmond Tutu or Nelson Mandela? Where is the international solidarity campaign, carefully, peacefully and unrelentingly waged by the ANC through the 1960s, 70s and 80s?
And we might ask why over 50% of the population is so young. Is there any sane purpose in having large families under conditions of confinement, repression, violence and economic strangulation? Are kids really the blessing of Allah in such an environment? Some blessing - watching them starve and get bombed. I don't understand the rank perversity and self-destructiveness on either side. Both are staunchly and aggressively rightwing, ultranationalist. Israel may be the aggressor, with lots of US assistance, but neither side proposes a progressive political alternative. Therefore aside from condemning Israeli aggression and supporting peace talks towards a two-state solution, I don't think there is a progressive position on this issue.
jareilly wrote:
"maybe it is time for the Palestinians to start looking at how the ANC finally overturned apartheid. Where is the Palestinian Desmond Tutu or Nelson Mandela? Where is the international solidarity campaign, carefully, peacefully and unrelentingly waged by the ANC through the 1960s, 70s and 80s?"
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I disagree with some of your points, but I would rather respond to your questions I have have quoted.
Apartheid was overthrown, as you say, by an international campaign of non-cooperation. There is growing support for a "boycott, divest and sanction movement, but like all organizing around the Israel-Palestine conflict, the campaign is being undermined by some liberal and progressive American Jews.
For more information on the campaign, go to:
www.bdsmovement.net/
For the statements of "progressive Jewish organizations opposing the "BDS" movement, go to:
http://www.zionism-israel.com/the_zionism_boycotts2a.htm
As you look for a "Palestinian Tutu or Mandela," please keep in mind the Israelis have been brutal in their suppression of non-violent organizing and protests, but most Palestinians have resisted nonviolently. I suspect both Tutu and Mandela could help elevate their Palestinian counterparts to international prominence and encourage the nonviolent struggle IF they were not both barred from entry into occupied Palestine.
Thanks, I was aware of the boycott movement. I don't know to what extent any non-violent Palestinians are coordinating with BDS in strategic or philosophical terms. I was also aware of non-violent Palestinian leaders during the first Intifada, in particular a very articulate woman (forgetting the name at the moment...Hanan Ashwari? something like that). I just don't know where she is now or any of her comrades. I do know that Hamas has no such leaders and seems unlikely to allow women to ascend to that level. Not that the Palestinian Authority or Fatah is much better.
I went to the anti-boycott site. Appalling! Their comparison of the boycott to Nazi oppression of German Jewish businesses is utterly despicable. It's always their first argument and it's why we can't get real dialogue started.
Palestine has plenty of Mandelas and Tutus, but they are either sitting incommunicato in Isreali Prisons or have been killed.
Lets quit looking for leaders - almost all Palestinians are Mandela or Tutu.
---USAn---
Mandela sat in prison for 25 years and still succeeded. You are re-inforcing my point, not refuting it.
Rounding up "collaborators" and shooting them after the Israeli attack on Gaza is not something Mandela or Tutu ever did. Taking UN aid off trucks at gun point isn't either.
Sioux Rose
All war and naked aggression is almost too gruesome for words. Having said that, there is a special form of depravity that goes to those who choose to design such weapons, whatever the trade in transitory dollars; and a special place of accountability for those that sell them. Of course added to that is the depraved indifference to SHARED human life (and the massive suffering these disgusting weapons wreak) on the part of those who actually USE these weapons on people who have done NO harm. It is insane! And it is criminal. I seem to remember something about "cruel and unusual punishment" as part and parcel to the Geneva Conventions. These weapons are beyond cruel... ALL nations should cease and desist from producing, selling, and using them. We are 6 billion living increasingly close together, about to be challenged by a dearth of necessary resources. Is this the best mankind can do?
The financial crisis IS the ultimate opportunity to rethink the militaristic cut alloted almost reflexively to the bringers of death, destruction, and dismemberment. Societies cannot afford to pay grand sums to the merchants of death, if they have an interest in the living and sustainable life practices. The old way of WARS has GOT to stop. Mankind should have transcended the crude use of force by now, but instead invested MOST in technologically "upgrading" weaponry. What a travesty and black spot upon the soul of all those who support such policies or profit from them.
Hi Sioux Rose. It is definitely cruel, but alas, no longer unusual.
""cruel and unusual punishment"
Though in a different context, these words are also in Amendment VIII
Fusion
Sioux, great post.
I have come to believe that the overarching theme in the human condition is survival. It is the most basic instinct, which it would have needed to be.
Now, (and of course i am referring to the big picture), peoples' need to survive has become self destructive. Because of the belief that in order to survive we not only need to be destructive, but it is acceptable. And so, we have obsessively focused all of our resources into 'survivalism'. And even domination-it is a patriarchal form of survivalism, really. Dog eat dog--survival of the fittest and more.
So, of course the only answer is that we will need to realize that what we do to another or others, we do to ourselves. It is simply the truth. We are trying to circumvent these kinds of lessons, with robotic warfare, etc. Trying to distance ourselves from the actual destruction. But there are no loopholes in these kinds of natural laws.
I believe this is the century of do or die. We have invested our resources in survival that is based on a destruction and dominance paradigm. We simply can't seem to see our way clear of that belief system, even when it is proving to be so untrue. We've got thousands of years worth of collective historical memories involved here. It is innate within our psychologies.
Yet there is more to us than our memories. There is the creative part that is connected to truth and genius. We need to reframe our own narrative and radically re-envision human nature itself. If we think we can't do any better than this, then we are finished.
Sioux Rose
Good afternoon, READY. Rather than the "survival" mode, would you accept motivations entirely and utterly driven by fear? And not without a LOT of support from mass media that MAKES this world seem so very fearful. Religion rails against religion, high officials STEAL from the public's trust, decisions are made that further the likelihood of VAST environmental catastrophes. It is hard to believe so much can be MADE to go wrong so quickly and with such an utter absence of conscience on the part of those positioned to DO other, to DO good.
I think much of life is about RECOVERY: recovery of wounds from our parents, because they came from homes where their unique gifts were probably bulldozed over as so many societies insist upon conformity and maim their members, particularly those NOT BORN to conform, but rather set new trends. Recovery, too, of our truer selves, that spark of Divinity placed in each of us, for to me, LIFE is magical. Science can explain certain things, but hardly all... and can words alone account for processes so unbelievably amazing, that only an inspired architect could set so much into motion (like the planets adhering to their regular, clockwork orbs) at once?
UNTIL the sins of the fathers are NO longer visited on the sons, until we learn to forgive so as to short circuit the legacy of unending vendettas and vengeance that reliably lead to yet more wars, we cannot break the cycle that has deadlocked humanity. Of course now, given the TYPES of weapons at the disposal of persons who have too often shown a remarkable lack of respect for life, the call to lay down arms to join hands could not BE louder. It is my work to keep bringing this understanding forward, even if it only can touch today's 2 year olds... if there is to be an ongoing human experience on this wounded planet, it must begin with a new understanding about the fundamental oneness: many tribes, stemming like branches from ONE tree of life.
I just finished the LONG edit of the book! I feel like screaming from a mountain top! (Although the bibliography is before me. I need a Virgo helper!)
Interesting: the human body uses much more energy to recover from an action then to take the action. Also for review, the human body will recover it's eyes and ears to the horizontal and it's torso to it's highest potent state of unstable stability in the field of gravity unless restricted by some motivator. Though the motivation is not clear the fact one is operating under that motivation is(the body tilts the eyes/ears/nose away from horizontal)...and the drama of the story begins. Very few people at this date are able to clearly define their motivations, and if approached to rapidly they will use a limitless array of denials to protect their so called weakness. A weakness that when recognized can lead to great insight, and recovery for resetting the game for the next drama. It's the most mature of human tricks to hold two opposing motivations within the answer to an on going question and recover to unstable stability while holding the question in aware and sub-conscious states; like the child in Gaza who can recover to laugh and jump with joy within a "football" game while the degradation of human actions smolder around them, the human adult can recover to a state of creative revelry as quickly as the child, especially if they can overcome the restrictions of the labels(mind force) they give to the surrounding degradation.