Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme In Palestine and Israel
February 5, 2010
The Siege of Gaza: Blunder of the Decade?
By Terry, EA in Jerusalem
Ten Ecumenical Accompaniers, including three from South Africa, were amongst
the
1000 Palestinian and international activists who gathered at the Erez crossing
on December 31, 2009 to express solidarity with the besieged population of Gaza.
Even normally pliant Arab members of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) voiced
their anger at the ongoing oppression of 1.5 million people in the territory.
Television broadcasts around the world documented the ferocity of the three
week onslaught in 2008-9 in which about 1 400 people died. Israel’s reputation
has been further shredded by its furious reactions to an UN investigation into
possible war crimes. Judge Richard Goldstone, a South African Jew with admitted
Zionist sympathies, declares himself to have been appalled and embarrassed by
the behaviour of the Israeli Defence Force. Paragraph 1335 of the Report declares
that a competent court (such as the International Court of Justice) could find
that the government of Israel committed “crimes against humanity.”
The United Nations-sponsored report accuses both Israelis and Palestinians of
having resorted to war crimes, but concludes that Israel’s actions were
totally “disproportionate.” Israel’s goals to undermine Hamas
and to block supplies into Gaza via the tunnels from Egypt have failed dismally.
In violation of international law, the purpose of the siege has patently been
punitive; collective punishment.
Israeli analyst Bradley Burston believes that the siege of Gaza since 2006 and
subsequent bombardment during December 2008/January 2009 was the Israeli government’s
worst diplomatic, humanitarian and military blunder of the past decade.
It is reported that almost everything -- including even new cars albeit at hugely
inflated prices -- is available in Gaza thanks to smuggling through tunnels.
Such supplies are however, beyond the financial reach of 80 percent of the people
who live in dire poverty. There are people in Gaza and Egypt who are profiting
enormously from the tragedy.
Given the failures of the siege to stop supplies reaching Gaza, the Israeli,
Egyptian and United States governments have now embarked upon a truly barbarous
scheme. Reinforced metal sheets, 20 metres long, are being sunk into the ground
to block the tunnels. In addition, pumps are being installed to flood the tunnels
with sea water, and so cause their collapse.
Almost everything may be available in Gaza, but even fish and citrus fruit are
now imported. Fishermen are limited to a three nautical mile zone from the coastline,
or else risk being fired at by Israeli gunboats. The sea is contaminated with
raw sewage following destruction of the sewerage treatment works. Agriculture
has also collapsed.
Gaza faces an ecological disaster. Israeli settlers in Gaza prior to evacuation
in 2005 so abused and polluted the aquifer that hydrologists believe it may
never recover. Amnesty International reported in October 2009 that 90 to 95
percent of the water in Gaza is now unfit for human consumption. The consequences
of nitrate pollution include abnormally high incidences of methaemoglobinaemia
– blue baby syndrome.
The World Health Organisation and other medical experts also report sharp rises
in kidney failure because of existing salination of the water supply. That these
human catastrophes are now to be deliberately compounded and worsened by pumping
seawater into the aquifer confirms that the Israeli government has become a
menace to both the international community and itself. What is the “tipping
point” before Gazans die in tens of thousands? Could it be as early as
the end of the current winter, when the rains stop and Gazans can no longer
collect rainwater?
As Burston notes: “the siege corrupts the moral values of all Israelis,
who, whether or not they are aware of what is being done to the people of Gaza,
bear ultimate responsibility for all acts being carried out in their name.”
South African-born Rabbi Brian Walt is another Jew who is deeply ashamed of
what Israel is doing in Gaza. Now living in the United States, his Hannukah
message was about the dangers of military power: "Human beings tend to
believe that conflict can be resolved by military force. Operation Cast Lead
is based on the belief that overwhelming military force will provide security
for the people of Israel. They are now less secure than before the operation.
There is no military solution to this or any other human conflict. The only
solution is political and direct negotiated settlement. As the prophet Isaiah
said justice is the only way to create peace and security. Hannukah is a rejection
of power and military might and an affirmation of the Spirit of God that inheres
in every human being. And it is this connection to the Spirit of Life that must
be the centre of our lives."