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What Americans Don’t Know About Gaza

What Americans Don’t Know About Gaza
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Source: NY Times, 10-01-2009

By Rashid Khalidi

NEARLY
everything you've been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about "Israel's" attack on the Gaza Strip.


THE GAZANS
Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Askalan and Beershabaa. They were driven to Gaza by the "Israeli" Army in 1948.

THE OCCUPATION
The Gazans have lived under "Israeli" occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. "Israel" is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. "Israel" still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. "Israel" has control over Gaza's air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, "Israel" has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

THE BLOCKADE
"Israel's" blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.
The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, poverty and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment - with the tacit support of the United States - of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.

THE CEASE-FIRE
Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between "Israel" and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to "Israeli" government figures). The cease-fire broke down when "Israeli" forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.

WAR CRIMES
The targeting of civilians (...) is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen "Israelis" killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had "Israel" fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
This war on the people of Gaza isn't really about rockets. Nor is it about "restoring 'Israel's' deterrence," as the "Israeli" press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the "Israeli" Military Forces chief of staff, in 2002: "The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people."

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