POSTED RESPONSES TO AN EDITORIAL IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
Indeed, this editorial misses the point.
Gaza is a concentration camp.
Gaza is not Israeli territory, at least not yet, although for many in Israel that is the ultimate goal – to gain the territory without its people. Gaza was a refuge for huge numbers running from the murderous terrors of Israel’s founding, the work of Irgun and Stern, and it has remained a nightmare for Israeli politicians ever since.
The current and past savage Israeli governments have figured a way to pressure the people of Gaza into surrendering everything, even their right to self-determination – there is no other logical way to see the situation.
I don’t care how many guns were imported into Gaza, they could never become a serious threat. Gaza is surrounded by automated Gatling gun towers, and Israeli Merkava tanks and F-16s equipped with Hellfire missiles are on call within minutes.
Anyone who thinks small arms are a threat to Israel is either dishonest or does not appreciate the situation in this place. Please remember, how do Americans – Israel’s provider of billions in subsidy - keep their own sense of personal security with nearby violent cities? Small arms.
Yet, here are the people of Gaza surrounded by a country armed to the teeth, a country which over the years has killed thousands of them. A country which practices such dark arts as secret service assassins, dressed as Arabs, walking the streets seeking prey (a fact not a fantasy, and many of the killings attributed to Palestinian rivalry are the work of such thugs).
Blockades are considered acts of war.
What have the poor people of Gaza done to deserve this inhuman treatment?
Some hotheads fired homemade rockets into Israel in return for Israel’s godawful policies - my, what a threat.
Now, if you lived in a place where someone treated you the way Israel does the million and half people of Gaza, do you not think you might express your frustration at endless abuse?
And consider what else Israel has done to these people. Arrested a major portion of a democratically elected government. Assassinated dozens of political suspects, along with dozens of family members and neighbors along the way. Deprived them of electricity. Deprived them of water. Deprived them of sanitation. Slaughtered 400 children plus a thousand others in the atrocity called Operation Cast Lead. Holds thousands in its prisons, mostly improperly arrested. Has them surrounded with machine guns and fencing. Puts the pressure on Egypt, who loves its American annual bribe, to stop them crossing into the border with Egypt. And still more.
This all constitutes a monstrous crime against humanity and democratic values, yet newspapers like the Globe, who would undoubtedly make noises about such crimes somewhere else, simply go along for the ride.
It is time for Israel to treat its neighbors as human beings, to reach a modus Vivendi, to talk openly even to Hamas members. Never mind the stupid, phony, endless “peace process” – a cover for delay while more land is taken - just act fairly.
There is no Hamas in power in the West Bank and Jerusalem, yet does Israel do any better there? It steals people’s homes and farms almost on a weekly basis. It treats the non-Hamas government there as beggars. People need permits and permissions to do almost any ordinary task, and they often don’t get them. They are humiliated with countless checkpoints.
No, Hamas and security are clearly not what is at work in the Gaza blockade. They are the excuse.
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The editorial is inherently dishonest.
The silly business over small arms is simply an excuse to maintain the blockade, while sounding superficially humanitarian about food.
A blockade is a blockade. Who in God's name would police Israel in its agreement to the Globe's silly proposal?
No one. The UN? Israel has already shown what it thinks of the UN, having murdered a number of UN workers when they stood in its way.
Israel has no right to blockade these poor people, full stop.
The blockade is a technique to make them give up all rights or leave, full stop.
