To the editors:
Stuart Forman’s letter on the Gaza flotilla makes several statements which distort or put a spin on Israel’s war with Hamas, the blockade of Gaza, and attempts by protesters to break it.
Stuart writes that as a result of Israel’s evacuation of Gaza Israel became the target of 10,000 Qassam rockets. This is a distortion of the timeline. In 1996 Shimon Peres declared war on Hamas. In September 2005 Ariel Sharon withdrew Israeli settlers from Gaza. In January 2006 during Olmert’s term Hamas won popular elections in Gaza. In 2008 Israel and Hamas agreed on a cease-fire of hostilities which had dated back to the 90’s. During much of this time Gaza was under periodic bombardment by Israel and a number of Hamas leaders were assassinated, often with significant collateral damage. In December 2008 the cease fire ended and Israel attacked Gaza, killing more than a thousand civilians.
Thus, the hostility between Hamas and Israel long predated Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. The thousands of rocket attacks must be considered over decades, not just a few short years – and within a context of a war declared by Israel.
Stuart states that Israel provides 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid each week to Gaza. This aid is actually provided by humanitarian organizations like UNWRA or foreign NGOs and is funded by foreign nations like the US or the EU. The delivery is simply managed by COGAT, the office for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories. And the UN estimates that the amount of aid is only one-quarter of what Gazans actually need.
Stuart suggests that Israel is only doing what is necessary to protect its citizens, but banned aid includes: biscuits and sweets, cardamom, cattle, cement, chickens, chocolate, coriander, cumin, donkeys, dried fruit, fabric, fishing nets, fishing rods, fresh meat, fruit preserves, ginger, glucose, goats, greenhouse planters, halva, heaters, horses, iron, jam, margarine, musical instruments, notebooks, nutmeg, pens and pencils, plaster, potato chips, razors, rope, ropes, sage, salt, seeds and nuts, seltzer, sewing machines, size A4 paper, tar, tarpaulins for shelter, toys, various containers, vinegar, and wood. Israel has also apparently estimated the minimum number of calories required by Gaza inhabitants, though it claims this data has never been used to restrict food.
Stuart portrays the Israeli government’s blockade as a reasonable effort to keep weapons out of terrorist hands and that humanitarian aid could have been delivered if only the protesters had first docked in Ashdod. But as we see from the list above, Israel’s intent goes well beyond protection, to punitively crippling the Gaza economy and depriving its inhabitants for voting for Hamas in 2006. The flotilla organizers’ intent was clearly to point out this collective punishment by an act of civil disobedience.
Israel still has stores of confiscated materials that have never been delivered to Gaza from eight previous attempts to break the blockade. Thus, Stuart’s repetition of promises by the Israeli Foreign Ministry are simply not to be believed. In addition, by failing to deliver humanitarian aid and impounding it, as it has done with all flotilla shipments, Israel is violating any number of international laws.
While Gazans may have originally voted for the political wing of Hamas, the Israeli blockade has only entrenched the military wing. Israel is making the same mistake it made in 2002 in the West Bank when it decided it didn’t like the Palestinian Authority and bombed the government compound in Ramallah. The more Israel beats and bombs and deprives Palestinians, the more radicalized they will become.
But the deprivations of Gazans are not all to be laid at the feet of Israel. Egypt has been complicit in the boycott by closing its Rafah crossing into Gaza. Hamas itself has diverted aid that might have gone to the Fatah faction. Assisting Israel in its punitive measures, a Democratic congress actually cut US aid to Gaza in March 2009. There is plenty of blame to go around. But now that the world knows how dire the situation in Gaza is, it’s time to fix it.
not printed
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