SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Gaza Blockade Hangs Fire in Cairo: Where is the Anti-War Left?
Aug 15, 2014
The greatest struggle facing the anti-war movement in the United States is the struggle to get people who come to anti-war demonstrations after a war starts to engage politically to prevent the same wars in the future. In the case of U.S. policy towards Iran, we created a political movement to support diplomacy with Iran to prevent war in the future. But in the case of Gaza, there is no political movement in the United States to support diplomacy to prevent war in the future.
Consider:
1. While Israel was bombing and invading Gaza, there were demonstrations across the United States against the war and against U.S. support for the war.
2. A key cause of the war was the blockade imposed on 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza by Israel and Egypt. Exports from Gaza are virtually banned. Gaza is not allowed to use its seaport. Palestinians in Gaza can't travel normally to and from Gaza. They have to get permission from the Israeli or Egyptian governments that might never come, blocking their ability to work, study, receive medical care, and see their families.
3. It is generally acknowledged by experts that if current diplomacy fails to end the blockade of Gaza, it is inevitable that there will be another outbreak of violence on the Israel-Gaza border in the future.
4. The question of the Gaza blockade is on the table right now in the talks that have been talking place between Israel and the Palestinians in Cairo. Press reports suggest that it could go either way: there might be an agreement that ends the blockade, or there might not.
5. Thus, there are two likely paths out of the current juncture: either there will be an agreement in Cairo that ends the Gaza blockade, or there will be another war in the future, much like the one that people have been protesting; and which path happens is likely to be decisively shaped by what happens in the next few days of diplomacy in Cairo, a process on which the U.S. government obviously has significant influence.
Why can't we get the people who have protested the war to engage politically to prevent the same war from happening again in the future?
What would be worse than the killing of innocents that has happened so far? Doing nothing to stop the same killing of innocents in the future, when we had the ability to do something concrete to stop it.
Exactly two Members of Congress - Keith Ellison and Barbara Lee - have publicly called for ending the blockade now through negotiations.
Tell me: if the anti-war left would engage on the issue of the Gaza blockade, we couldn't get John Conyers to speak up for ending the blockade through diplomacy? We couldn't get Hank Johnson to speak up? Charlie Rangel, John Lewis, Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Donna Edwards, Karen Bass, Maxine Waters, Eleanor Norton? None of them would speak up, if the anti-war left would engage politically?
Danny Glover took a #StandWithKeith:
Why won't the anti-war left #StandWithKeith?
You can take action here.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Robert Naiman
Robert Naiman is Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy. Naiman has worked as a policy analyst and researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. He has masters degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Illinois and has studied and worked in the Middle East.
The greatest struggle facing the anti-war movement in the United States is the struggle to get people who come to anti-war demonstrations after a war starts to engage politically to prevent the same wars in the future. In the case of U.S. policy towards Iran, we created a political movement to support diplomacy with Iran to prevent war in the future. But in the case of Gaza, there is no political movement in the United States to support diplomacy to prevent war in the future.
Consider:
1. While Israel was bombing and invading Gaza, there were demonstrations across the United States against the war and against U.S. support for the war.
2. A key cause of the war was the blockade imposed on 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza by Israel and Egypt. Exports from Gaza are virtually banned. Gaza is not allowed to use its seaport. Palestinians in Gaza can't travel normally to and from Gaza. They have to get permission from the Israeli or Egyptian governments that might never come, blocking their ability to work, study, receive medical care, and see their families.
3. It is generally acknowledged by experts that if current diplomacy fails to end the blockade of Gaza, it is inevitable that there will be another outbreak of violence on the Israel-Gaza border in the future.
4. The question of the Gaza blockade is on the table right now in the talks that have been talking place between Israel and the Palestinians in Cairo. Press reports suggest that it could go either way: there might be an agreement that ends the blockade, or there might not.
5. Thus, there are two likely paths out of the current juncture: either there will be an agreement in Cairo that ends the Gaza blockade, or there will be another war in the future, much like the one that people have been protesting; and which path happens is likely to be decisively shaped by what happens in the next few days of diplomacy in Cairo, a process on which the U.S. government obviously has significant influence.
Why can't we get the people who have protested the war to engage politically to prevent the same war from happening again in the future?
What would be worse than the killing of innocents that has happened so far? Doing nothing to stop the same killing of innocents in the future, when we had the ability to do something concrete to stop it.
Exactly two Members of Congress - Keith Ellison and Barbara Lee - have publicly called for ending the blockade now through negotiations.
Tell me: if the anti-war left would engage on the issue of the Gaza blockade, we couldn't get John Conyers to speak up for ending the blockade through diplomacy? We couldn't get Hank Johnson to speak up? Charlie Rangel, John Lewis, Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Donna Edwards, Karen Bass, Maxine Waters, Eleanor Norton? None of them would speak up, if the anti-war left would engage politically?
Danny Glover took a #StandWithKeith:
Why won't the anti-war left #StandWithKeith?
You can take action here.
Robert Naiman
Robert Naiman is Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy. Naiman has worked as a policy analyst and researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. He has masters degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Illinois and has studied and worked in the Middle East.
The greatest struggle facing the anti-war movement in the United States is the struggle to get people who come to anti-war demonstrations after a war starts to engage politically to prevent the same wars in the future. In the case of U.S. policy towards Iran, we created a political movement to support diplomacy with Iran to prevent war in the future. But in the case of Gaza, there is no political movement in the United States to support diplomacy to prevent war in the future.
Consider:
1. While Israel was bombing and invading Gaza, there were demonstrations across the United States against the war and against U.S. support for the war.
2. A key cause of the war was the blockade imposed on 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza by Israel and Egypt. Exports from Gaza are virtually banned. Gaza is not allowed to use its seaport. Palestinians in Gaza can't travel normally to and from Gaza. They have to get permission from the Israeli or Egyptian governments that might never come, blocking their ability to work, study, receive medical care, and see their families.
3. It is generally acknowledged by experts that if current diplomacy fails to end the blockade of Gaza, it is inevitable that there will be another outbreak of violence on the Israel-Gaza border in the future.
4. The question of the Gaza blockade is on the table right now in the talks that have been talking place between Israel and the Palestinians in Cairo. Press reports suggest that it could go either way: there might be an agreement that ends the blockade, or there might not.
5. Thus, there are two likely paths out of the current juncture: either there will be an agreement in Cairo that ends the Gaza blockade, or there will be another war in the future, much like the one that people have been protesting; and which path happens is likely to be decisively shaped by what happens in the next few days of diplomacy in Cairo, a process on which the U.S. government obviously has significant influence.
Why can't we get the people who have protested the war to engage politically to prevent the same war from happening again in the future?
What would be worse than the killing of innocents that has happened so far? Doing nothing to stop the same killing of innocents in the future, when we had the ability to do something concrete to stop it.
Exactly two Members of Congress - Keith Ellison and Barbara Lee - have publicly called for ending the blockade now through negotiations.
Tell me: if the anti-war left would engage on the issue of the Gaza blockade, we couldn't get John Conyers to speak up for ending the blockade through diplomacy? We couldn't get Hank Johnson to speak up? Charlie Rangel, John Lewis, Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Donna Edwards, Karen Bass, Maxine Waters, Eleanor Norton? None of them would speak up, if the anti-war left would engage politically?
Danny Glover took a #StandWithKeith:
Why won't the anti-war left #StandWithKeith?
You can take action here.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.