Hopeless in Gaza

[LeftishBrit]

We were in east Jerusalem, the day before we were due in the Jordan Valley to document the plight of Palestinian farmers, when the man from Oxfam burst in to the room. This was last week, when I spent five days in the occupied territories – Gaza, Hebron, the Jordan Valley and Bethlehem – inspecting living conditions in anticipation of President George Bush’s visit to Israel today. I’ll get back to the utter hopelessness of the situation in a moment, the misery, the intractable mess – all man-made – the power cuts, the wall, and the things that are festering behind it.

But first, the inconsistencies: the obsession with “narrative”: the utter impossibility of saying anything without being crushed, ridiculed, accused of racism, antiSemitism, Islamophobia, ignorance, brainwashing or lying. This from the Left, the Right, the Jewish lobby, the Muslim lobby, NGOs, evangelical Jew-loving Christians from America, radical Jew-hat-ing Muslims from the Middle East, the Israeli lobby.

More at link:


http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article3153809.ece

[gateley]

1. Good article - thank you! nt

[ProgressiveMuslim]

2. It describes the horrible suffering that pervades the OTs.

I almost posted that myself yesterday.

[ladjf]

3. "Clueless in Gaza" nt

[LeftishBrit]

5. Who is 'clueless' here? The author of the article, Hamas, Fatah, the Israeli government, the

international community, Bush, or any or all of these?

[ladjf]

6. Bush. Excuse my vagueness.

[LeftishBrit]

7. Indeed!

Totally clueless and brainless, I fear.

[ladjf]

8. Add your description to also sadist and you have a very dangerous

character to deal with. It is profoundly unfortunate that Americans were conned into voting for him.

[Englander]

4. lol @ "disputed territories"

Sounds like Ms Marsh needs to read some reports from the ICRC;

Occupied Palestinian territories: ICRC calls for immediate political action to contain deep crisis

Geneva (ICRC) – The Palestinian population living in the occupied territories is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis as a result of the drastic deterioration of the situation there.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is particularly concerned about the impact of the severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods that exacerbate economic hardship and affect every aspect of life.

“The measures imposed by Israel come at an enormous humanitarian cost, leaving the people living under occupation with just enough to survive, but not enough to live a normal and dignified life,” said Béatrice Mégevand Roggo, the ICRC’s head of operations for the Middle East and North Africa. “The Palestinian people are paying an exceedingly high price for the continuing hostilities between Israel and Palestinian factions. Their situation is made even more difficult by intra-Palestinian rivalries. The Palestinian population has effectively become a hostage to the conflict.”

The situation in the Gaza Strip is alarming. The Strip has been progressively sealed off since June: imports are restricted to the bare minimum and essential infrastructure, including medical facilities and water and sanitation systems, is in an increasingly fragile state. Substantial cuts in fuel supplies further add to the hardship experienced by the population. In the West Bank, stringent restrictions on the movement of people continue to severely hamper the economic and social life of the Palestinian population.

“Israel’s right to address its legitimate security concerns must be balanced against the Palestinians’ right to live a normal and dignified life,” said Ms Mégevand Roggo. “In the current situation, humanitarian assistance alone is insufficient. It cannot and should not be a substitute for political action.”

Ahead of the conference of major donors due to take place early next week in Paris, the ICRC therefore appeals for immediate political steps to be taken to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Moreover, it calls on Israel to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law, to ease restrictions on movement in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and to lift the retaliatory measures that are paralysing life in Gaza. The ICRC also calls on the Palestinian factions to stop targeting civilian areas and endangering the lives of civilians.

http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/palestine-news-131207

[Violet_Crumble]

9. An interesting but in places flawed article...

I get the point she was trying to make about being bombarded with propaganda from both *sides*, but she she kicked the article off with one of those bits of propaganda with her reference to 'disputed territories'. And she seems to think Oxfam's concerns over whether a photographer was a settler or not was silly. No, it's not, and her claims that he got pissed off coz people wanted his entire life story is nonsense. All that needed to be done was to ask him if he was a settler or not. End of story. And by the reaction of that photographer, and his OTT reaction, my bet is he was from a settlement...