Collision course
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- Written by Yotam Feldman Yotam Feldman
- Published: 24 December 2007 24 December 2007
- Hits: 4935 4935
From his home on the Upper Galilee road between Safed and Rosh Pina, as Brigadier General (res.) Zvika Fogel looks out over Lake Kinneret, the Gaza Strip seems a distant memory. But four years after Fogel retired from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Gaza continues to preoccupy him. He became chief of staff of Southern Command headquarters in February 2000, and in the past few years he has reflected a great deal on the actions he and his fellow officers carried out in the months that preceded the eruption of the second intifada, at the end of September 2000. His conclusion: the IDF created an irreversible situation that led to a confrontation with the Palestinians.
{josquote}The conceptual sequence is that we are creating the conditions for a confrontation by the very fact of our preparations," Fogel says. "It is clear to everyone that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. We want to decide which event would foment the explosion. All we have to do is say what will launch it and then behave as we have planned."{/josquote}
"The constellation of preparations we made actually led to the confrontation - there was no other choice," says Fogel, who is still called up for reserve service in Southern Command. At the end of 2004, a year after he left the IDF, Fogel ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Be'er Sheva. Currently he manages a process analysis and project management company, and is starting work on his doctoral dissertation, which will deal with leadership and decision-making.
The Grim Reality in Gaza
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- Written by Mohammed Omer Mohammed Omer
- Published: 24 December 2007 24 December 2007
- Hits: 4848 4848
—Published in the New Statesman, Dec. 10, 2007
Traffic in the Gaza Strip slowed to a trickle last week, and this week medical centers have scaled back treatment in the medicines- and sustenance-destitute Strip.
"Israel’s decision is a death penalty: our reserve of fuel is almost zero and it may very likely run out by the end of today," said Khaled Radi, Ministry of Health spokesman for the dismissed Hamas government.
Radi spoke in reference to the November 30 Israeli Supreme Court decision to allow further fuel cutbacks, severe reductions which are crippling Gaza’s residents in all aspects of life. Prior to that ruling, as early as October Israel decided to begin limiting fuel, with Gaza soon after enduring serious cuts of over 50 percent of fuel needs, a dire statistic confirmed by the UN body OCHA.
At the Nahal Oz crossing, through which all fuel enters Gaza, the Palestinian petrol authority reported that Israel has delivered around only 190,000 litres of diesel a day since late October, falling short of the 350,000 litres needed by the Gaza Strip. This number plummeted on 29 November, with Israel delivering a scanty 60,000 litres, only marginally improving three days later, 2 December, with a delivery of 90,000 litres.
This week’s increased cutbacks resulted in a several day closure of Gaza’s petrol stations, owners striking in protest to the pittance of fuel allowed in—just one quarter of that normally received.
Gaza’s Association for Fuel Station Owners commented: "Petrol firms considered the amount negligible and so, in protest over the Israeli blockade, refused to accept the paltry offering which does not come close to meeting the essential needs of Gaza’s civilians."
A Gaza taxi driver related his concern: "Cutting off fuel means cutting off our lives. We use it for everything, in the place of wood or coal. It’s tragic not only that Israel is imposing this siege on Gaza, but also that some Palestinians are supporting this cruel embargo, with the naïve idea of causing the people turn against Hamas in Gaza."
Shortages of fuel have greatly affected the public transportation system, leaving students from universities in Gaza City delayed for hours standing in wait for transportation back to Khan Younes and Rafah in the south.
Trickle Effect
The fuel cuts in turn impede water access: with diesel-run pumps unable to function, leaving over 77,000 without fresh drinking water, according to Gaza’s water utility. Oxfam International has warned that soon 225,000 Gazans could suffer from inadequate water supplies, raising concerns for public health.
Ambulances and clinics suffer too, a fact reiterated by Khaled Radi, who related how fuel shortages have already brought some ambulances to a standstill: "This has affected the mobility of ambulances which are especially vital during on-going Israeli air strikes such as that of this morning."
He added that shortages further threatened to close essential clinics, which rely on back-up generators during the frequent electricity shortages in the Strip. Two first aid health centres have already been forced to suspend treatment during electricity cuts. Those that remain open suffer from want of medical supplies, with 91 of 416 essential medicines depleted, according to the WHO.
Even basic things are scarce. Residents are hard-pressed to find a piece of glass to repair a broken window, imperative in December’s cold weather, particularly in a time when electricity and gas are scarce-to-absent.
Eyad Yousef, a 31-year-old Palestinian teacher, has been waiting for cement, unavailable for the last many months, to enter Gaza. Concurrently, prices of building materials have skyrocketed, more than tripled in the worst cases. Yousef waits for any sort of building material, but he knows that he will not find anything, as he has looked all over the picked-clean area. "I have a floor of my home to finish, but can’t do so yet as no sort of building materials are available in Gaza," he said. "I'm using pieces of nylon to cover my windows at home, but I can’t go on like this for long," he added, saying he hopes that the international community will put pressure on Israel to open borders and let vital products into Gaza.
Death Penalty
Yousef, at least, is luckier than the newly dead: since last month at least 31 medical patients have died in Gaza, a result of Israel’s lockdown on borders and preventing of medical access to Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian hospitals, as well as West Bank hospitals.
Since Hamas took over power in June, this subsequent Israeli lockdown has made it virtually impossible for Palestinians to get out of Gaza. The situation then deteriorated with the closing of Karni crossing, Gaza’s only commercial crossing, only opened for the most basic food essentials. Coupled with Israel’s ground and air attacks, the situation for Palestinians worsened yet further still when Israel last October announced Gaza as a "hostile entity", further allowing Israel to justify its closed-borders policy to the international arena.
In the densely-populated region starved of medical supplies, and now facing the shutdown of clinics, Gazan citizens have been given a death sentence with Israel’s control over borders. Yahya Al Jamal, 53, one case among hundreds of people, has cancer and is in serious need of medical care at well-equipped hospitals. For more than two months now he has been refused entry to Israel for treatment. His agonized father reported that his son will die in the coming days if he does not get the medication he needs, an outcome of Israel’s mass denial of the luxury of critical healthcare.
Insult upon injuries, cement—already scarce for building—is no longer available even for graves of the many recently dead.
Empty Stocks
Aid agencies like the World Food Program (WFP) are reporting that food imports are only enough to meet 41 percent of demand in the Gaza Strip.
As winter progresses, resilient citizens desperately seek to survive. In Rafah’s Saturday market, Umm Mohammed Zourub scours the stalls yet again: "I've been looking for new winter clothes for my children, but I haven't been able to find any because no materials are coming into Gaza with the closed borders," the 43-year-old mother lamented.
Indeed, the cold weather has fallen quickly on an internationally-isolated and starved population. From the intense heat of summer months, where water was scarce and air conditioning a fantasy, Gazans now experience the bitter cold in the same homes unprepared for extremes, and the bitter realization that, once again, they have been left to the whims of imprisonment, Israeli air and ground attacks, and a staggering invisibility in the international realm.
To read Mohammed Omer’s articles each month, subscribe to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs by calling (800) 368-5788 ext 1 or visiting our Web site, www.wrmea.com.
Israel confirms settlement plans
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 23 December 2007 23 December 2007
- Hits: 5084 5084
Rafi Eitan, minister for Jerusalem affairs, said Israel had never promised to stop building within Jerusalem and had a duty to house its citizens.
It is budgeting to build 500 new homes in Har Homa and 240 in Maaleh Adumim.
A Palestinian spokesman condemned the plans, accusing Israel of seeking to destroy renewed peace talks.
{josquote}Every day we hear a new settlement expansion plan - this cannot be tolerated - Saeb Erekat, Palestinian negotiator{/josquote}
The two sides agreed at a peace conference in Annapolis in the US in late November to revive the 2003 peace plan known as the roadmap.
According to the plan, Israel must halt all settlement activity and the Palestinians must rein in militants.
But soon after the conference, Israel announced a tender for 300 homes in Har Homa.
Israel Building Plans Could Cause Fury
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- Written by AP AP
- Published: 23 December 2007 23 December 2007
- Hits: 4866 4866
The Construction Ministry's proposed budget for 2008 includes 500 apartments for the Har Homa neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
Plans to build 340 apartments in that same neighborhood, announced earlier this month, upset the first round of negotiations Israel and the Palestinians conducted in seven years.
An additional 240 apartments are planned for construction in Maaleh Adumim just outside Jerusalem, one of Israel's biggest settlements, according to the budget. Israel intends to hold on to Maaleh Adumim, home to more than 30,000 settlers, in any final peace deal.
Rafi Eitan, Cabinet minister for Jerusalem affairs, told Army Radio that Israel never promised to halt construction within the municipal borders of Jerusalem, whose eastern sector Israel annexed after capturing in the 1967 Mideast war. The international community never recognized the annexation.
``Har Homa is an integral, organic part of Jerusalem,'' Eitan said. ``No promise was ever given to anyone that we wouldn't continue to build in Har Homa, because it's within the municipal borders of Jerusalem.''
Maaleh Adumim, Eitan added, ``is an integral part of Jerusalem in any peace accord.''
Israel ministers urge Hamas talks
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 21 December 2007 21 December 2007
- Hits: 4714 4714
Two Israeli cabinet ministers have said the government should examine any serious ceasefire proposal from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Infrastructure minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and transport minister Shaul Mofaz say offers of a truce should be given serious consideration.
Israel refuses to negotiate until Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, recognises its existence.
But Mr Eliezer said this should not be a precondition for talks to take place.
"If Hamas comes to us with a serious proposal for a long-term truce, in my opinion Israel should not reject it," Mr Ben-Eliezer told Israeli public radio on Friday.
"For that, it would not be vital for Hamas to recognise Israel first."
"What is essential is that it stop rocket fire and all other attacks against Israel from Gaza and that it agrees to stop arms smuggling on the Egypt border," Mr Ben-Eliezer said.
{josquote}It would not be vital for Hamas to recognise Israel first - Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Israeli infrastructure minister{/josquote}
He also linked any dialogue with the release of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Palestinian militants in June last year.
On Wednesday, transport minister Shaul Mofaz suggested that Israel should consider talking to Hamas through a third party.
Mr Ben-Eliezer and Mr Mofaz were responding to reports that Hamas had delivered proposals for a truce to end rocket attacks by militants and Israeli military operations Gaza.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said it had not received any messages regarding a truce.
A spokesman for Mr Olmert reiterated that Israel would not deal with Hamas until it accepted three conditions: recognising Israel, renouncing violence and accepting past peace accords.
Hamas has always refused to do this.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7155978.stm
Published: 2007/12/21 15:17:18 GMT
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