The extreme right-wing Israeli cries to abandon the Gaza 'disengagement' plan of prime minister Ariel Sharon are becoming increasingly shrill. Among them, the argument is sometimes raised that evacuating Gaza would be 'rewarding Palestinian terror'. Nothing could be further from the truth. Evacuating Gaza (along with the West Bank) is something that the UN has ordered Israel, a UN member, to do since 1967. It was conquered then and gradually dotted with settlements built exclusively for civilians imported by the invaders, something that is expressly illegal under the Geneva Convention, another noble institution which Israel has joined yet continuously ignores. Rather, the Gaza Settler Compensation Bill, passed by the Israeli Knesset on February 16 and amounting to almost a billion US dollars, is the reward by the Israeli taxpayers to the Israeli aggressors for brutal aggression and crimes against humanity. There is a historical precedent: the payment of 20 million pounds by the British government in 1834 in compensation to slave-owners following the abolition of slavery.
Then as now, a huge sum of money was paid by the government because it feared that brutal and habitual violence by the criminals against the usual victims would be re-directed into violence against the government itself. The surviving victims of the systematic oppression, on the other hand – then as now – received nothing.
The Jewish settlers, 8,000 of them today, along with the 4,000 or so soldiers stationed there to protect them, occupy around 30 per cent of Gaza. Together the Israeli occupiers make up 0.5 per cent of the Gaza population today. The settlements were situated in order to bisect the territory into four non-contiguous parts, i.e. as a military strategy. The rest of Gaza is shared by more than 1.3 million collectively terrorized Palestinians. Those 70 per cent of Gaza are one of the most densely populated areas in the world today, and they are the scene of a humanitarian catastrophe, manufactured by the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinians in Gaza are completely surrounded by barbed wire and systematically at the mercy of the invaders whose hands regulate the water supply, the most precious natural resource in this hot and dry part of the world. Jewish settlers in Gaza were guaranteed a steady and ample water supply, enough to keep their swimming pools filled and lawns lush, whereas each Palestinian on an average would receive a fifth of what each settler receives, well below the minimum prescribed by the World Health Organization. Along with water, electricity, gas and fuel will also remain under Israeli control after its 'disengagement'.
During the occupation thousands of Gazans have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers – routinely and illegally, and with almost complete impunity. Nearly 2,000 Gazans were killed by Israelis in the last four-and-a-half years alone. More than 4,000 Palestinian homes in Gaza have been completely destroyed during this time. Sixty per cent of the Palestinian population in Gaza lives below the poverty line. Due to extreme closure policies by Israel, an estimated 40 per cent of the Gazan work force is unemployed. By comparison: during the depth of the 'Great Depression' in the USA in the 1930s, only 30 per cent of the US work force was unemployed.
The UN Human Rights Commission has concluded that Sharon’s 'disengagement' plan does not mean the end of military occupation of Gaza. In particular, Sharon intends to maintain exclusive Israeli military control over all borders, crossing points, territorial waters, and the entire airspace over Gaza. Israel has also reserved the right to militarily invade the territory under the undefined pretext of 'self-defense' (including 'preventive steps'), while simultaneously demanding that Gaza be 'demilitarized', with no means to protect itself from an Israeli invasion. Moreover, Sharon’s government announced this week that a new illegal settlement will be built to house Gaza settlers on Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank. So, where is the alleged reward for Palestinians?
There is none, just as there was none for the millions of slaves who enabled the British Empire to become the world's leading economic and financial power, as well as the premier military power. To call the Israeli withdrawal a 'reward' is as perverse as calling the abolition of slavery a reward. The Israeli 'disengagement' is not something for which Palestinians have any reason to pay a price, though they are sure to celebrate the pullout. It is something ridiculously overdue, just as the occupation and the settlements are something for which compensation should be paid to the main victims instead of the aggressors, as with the transatlantic system of slavery. We are not denying that a number of Israelis have been victimized by Palestinian attacks, but the responsibility for those attacks should at the very least be shared by the Israeli government, not only for illegally importing the settlers and illegally occupying the land militarily, or for provoking the indigenous population with numerous kinds of war crimes and atrocities, but also for knowingly sending its own people into harm's way. The way it looks now, the Gaza withdrawal will be a mere symbolic victory for Palestinians – the so far largest Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian land – and hopefully a sign of much more to come, again: not as a reward but as the beginning of the implementation of international law.
Believing in Jerusalem
Date posted: May 27, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Last week, Israel barred a UNESCO fact-finding mission from entering the country, charging that the Palestinians had ‘politicized’ the mission before it had even arrived. The mission was tasked with looking into conditions of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, something Israel apparently found to be very threatening.
Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.
Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away. A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance. Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.
The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.
The sad truth is that, on the surface, Israel has succeeded in this to a large extent. Pockets of Jewish settlers now live in the heart of Muslim quarters and aim to take over more and more. Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center. The train, of course, is not meant to service the Palestinian population but rather to connect Jewish neighborhoods and settlements in the city, but the area confiscated from Shufat and Beit Hanina for its construction simply fell into the plan.
What the UNESCO mission would not have seen even if they made it into the Old City is the overall humiliation that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem must endure on a daily basis because of Israel’s military occupation. Trips to the Israeli ministry of interior must be made just to prove that one lives in the city for fear that their residency rights may be revoked; young Palestinian men are stopped randomly by Israeli soldiers to check their ID cards or just to harass them, and settlers are always given the luxury of maximum security whenever they walk the streets. If settlers want to march through the city, the Palestinians are told to close their shops, are barred for hours from reaching their homes if they run along the path of the march and are always the ones blamed if any kind of confrontation between the two sides breaks out.
Jerusalem is being squeezed by these measures more and more each day. But there is always that glimmer of hope, that strength that shines through proving that all is not lost. On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.
The sight of the Palestinian flag waving at the entrance to Damascus Gate was a breath of fresh air. All is not lost and never will be because hope is eternal and determination and strength come from a never-ending spring.
That day at Damascus Gate is what all Palestinians must keep in their minds’ eye in spite of the daily oppression of the occupation. No matter how many missions Israel bars from entering or how many houses it takes over, there will always be those brave souls who, despite the risks, will always raise Palestine’s flag.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Let Mohammed rest in peace
Date posted: May 20, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
There is no point falling into the pit of countering the claims being made about the death of Mohammed Al Durra, the 12-year old boy from Gaza whose videotaped killing was seen around the world. The boy, crouching in fear behind is equally afraid father as bullets whizzed around them, was killed admittedly by the Israeli army. Later, the army recanted after investigating the tape, saying Durra was killed by Palestinian fire instead. Well now, Israel is changing its story altogether, saying he was not killed at all. In fact, he was probably not even wounded and the French channel that broadcast the footage and brought some pretty bad rap to Israel, had most likely filmed a charade.
The reason why I will not waste my time countering this claim is that even with the great lengths the Israeli government went to to prove that the boy was never killed, it could not provide any irrefutable proof that Mohammed Al Durra – who would be 25 now – is still alive. No pictures, no testimonies, no hospital or morgue officials giving statements to refute his death, have been provided. Only sketchy information about ‘poor quality footage’ and the fact that it seems as though the boy moved his arm after he had slumped over his father following the explosion.
My point is this: indeed, Mohammed Durra’s death was at least one of the catalysts that fueled the second Intifada, and thus, was an important event in the history of the Palestinians. However, more importantly – most importantly to me –is the fact that this is about a boy who died in sheer terror, with his distraught father futilely trying to shelter him from the barrage of bullets coming their way.
Mohammed Al Durra was a boy, with a life, a family and friends. He died a horrible death and now he is being made to die a second one. I did not know Mohammed or his family, but I can only imagine how awful it must be for them to read these claims now and feel the pain of losing their child all over again. If nothing else, this is disrespect for human life of the worst kind.
Some may postulate that the rehashing of the Durra case is a personal jab at the French cameraman who shot the footage, Charles Enderlin. Perhaps. But as a Palestinian who has seen the pain endured by numerous families who receive the horrible news that their sons or daughters have been killed by the Israeli army, my concern is for his family and for his memory. He should be left to rest in peace. If Israel has axes to grind with French journalists or with the international community for holding it accountable for its actions, then so be it. Israel is not lacking in the public relations department.
That being said, there is just one decent thing left to do. Leave Mohammed Al Durra and his memory alone.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Recognition and justice is our demand
Date posted: May 13, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.
This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.
It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.
But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from their homes have mostly passed, longing for their beloved homes.
We cannot turn back time. What was lost has been altered, destroyed, changed or taken over by Israel’s newcomers. What we can do is hold on to the right to be recognized, for the injustice to be rectified in word and deed and for Palestine to never be lost in our minds or hearts.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
