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28
Jun
For most Gazans, any type of food, water or basic hygiene is considered a great luxury and struggling through life, watching family members, neighbours and friends being murdered or blown to pieces is just a regular, every day occurrence for those who live on the Gaza Strip.
This, I suppose, you already know. But it isn’t only the same old, day to day killing and bombing which affects Gazans. Thanks to the walls on either side of the Gaza Strip, on Egypt’s and Israel’s borders, the Israeli-Egyptian alliance has effectively managed to choke off the economic flow for the Gazans and also in the West Bank, where a similar barrier is used. The result of this is essentially a lack of jobs and raw materials; something that’s vital to live any kind of meaningful life.
I suppose the Israelis and the Egyptians have got a point. After all, stopping cocoa powder from entering into Gaza has got to be a smart move. Who knows what kind of weapons of mass destruction Hamas will create from a huge supply of cocoa powder?
But wait. Didn’t all the Islamic countries in the Middle East promise to help Palestinians in their struggle for independence? That includes Iran, Saudi Arabia, even Egypt. So why does it follow that Egypt would also support a blockade to encircle the very people they pledged to defend? It’s a place that’s very difficult for the Egyptian government, admittedly. One the one hand, they’re affiliated with the U.S. cause, in support of Israel’s right to a country, but on the other, they have an obligation as members of the Arab League to defend fellow Muslims such as the Palestinians. So perhaps the wall around Gaza is a move to satisfy those Western and Israeli powers. Then what’s the compromise for Gazans?
There is a break in the Egyptian blockade known as the Rafah crossing, or simply Rafah. From there a whole network of tunnels burrow underneath Egypt and surface in Gaza so that Palestinians can be supplied with some sort of food and supplies to just about live. It’s something that would make you think that maybe the Egyptian government is actively fulfilling its promise to the Palestinian people.
You’re wrong. First of all, these tunnels aren’t funded by the Egyptian government, they’re owned by wealthy families in Rafah. The Egyptian government haven’t and probably won’t act for or against the building of the tunnels. And why would they? Because, instead of these families simply allowing Gazans to use the tunnels as and how they wish, they charge a rental service. And when your tunnel is going to be used by pretty desperate people to transport things that are a a luxury commodity in their own country, charging high rent isn’t really going to be something for Hamas leaders to negotiate on. Of course, with more money on the Egyptian family’s part, there’s either greater spending or higher taxes. Well, both of those outcomes are going to lead to money being fed back into the Egyptian economy which doesn’t give the Egyptian government much incentive to stop anything from going on.
It’s a little short sighted of the Egyptians, and the Israelis, to not understand then that, if there’s trade with only a fraction of the borders open, surely it would increase dramatically if they were completely removed? I’m sure the 36% of Gazans who are currently unemployed would be excited at the prospect of working again, even in Israel. In the 1980s, the Gaza Strip struggled to have unemployment rates reach 5% when the borders were open for Palestinians to freely move. Now, with an increasing fertility rate and a lack of people working, violence and tension rises in the Gaza Strip and it’s pretty simple to see why, in the summer of 2010, a fleet of ships headed for the blockade surrounding this tiny stretch of land to deliver building and medical supplies.
Now, in 2010, it is expected that a new fleet of vessels, sponsored by Iranian activists is to enter the Gaza Strip through the notorious Suez Canal. Already, any possibility of the flotilla breaking through is being strongly opposed by Egyptian authorities. Of course, if you’re making a tonne of money by charging people for basic food and medicine, it isn’t exactly going to turn a great profit if you allow charitable organisations to do it for free, so what incentive have the Egyptians got to let it through?
There was once another wall, similar to the one surrounding Gaza. In 1989, activists and citizens from both sides marched to meet it. And they tore it down.
Links :
-Leak from the CRS report on ‘The Egypt-Gaza Border and its Effect on Israeli-Egyptian Relations’
- Published by hgoutam in: Featured Politics
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3 Responses to “Gaza : ‘What kind of life is this? Dying is better than living this life…’”
Your comparisons are wrong, and while you do raise some valid points, your short summary misses out on some key facts. Egypt enforce the blockade because Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip, and are a fundamentalist outfit, who no doubt have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood (an “enemy” of the Egyptian leadership). I think Israel is completely justified to enforce a blockade, even if it is doing so a little harshly (e.g. cocoa powder)
I, in no way, doubt that Hamas is a fundamentalist outfit. However, one must consider that a fundamentalist attitude arises only within a desperate situation. Had the Palestinians from the beginning been treated with a little more dignity, this entire situation may have indeed turned out differently.
Besides this, the Palestinians are termed a fundamentalist outfit simply due to our own perception and thus labelling of an entire people. Yes, there are some Palestinians who would undoubtedly seek to cause harm to Israelis or any others who opposed them. However, denying Palestinians basic rights to raw materials (the building block of an economy) is surely not doing anything to combat these radicals who are most likely have their views reinforced by things such as the Israel-Egyptian wall and the choking of supplies.
Many Western countries as well, considered to be civilized and thus, more responsible, have committed countless atrocities and war crimes upon innocent people. More than Hamas or the PLO could even manage.
With respect to Egypt’s stance on creating the blockade; surely if they fully believed that Egypt would be under fire from Hamas and these fundamentalists, there would be a greater resistance against the tunnels being built. Rafah is the only area where it is officially known that Gazans have a tunnel network but there may be more at the various checkpoints. In any case, in a pledge to help Palestinians, it would surely be hypocritical for the Egyptians to reject the government Gazans have democratically elected?
I accept your point that Hamas may be a front for a fundamentalist organisation, but upon the backdrop of the situation surrounding them, I feel it would be highly improbable for such organisations not to come to power.
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