Gaza is the Evidence: Israel is Demented

Some facts and interpretations about Gaza: What are the facts? What things have happened? Why?. Big project. There are literally thousands of articles on the topic from 2005 to the present, so it is necessary to build this post over time or over a number of posts. See here for the Israel is Demented piece.

August 15, 2005: Israel officially began pulling out the settlements from the Gaza Strip. Israel had occupied the strip for 38 years. During that period it had built up 21 settlements peopled with Jewish-Israelis.[1] The total area of Gaza: 363.7 sq. kilometers. Area of Jewish-Israeli settlements: 116.5 sq. kilometers (32.13% of the Gaza territory).[2] Number of Palestinians: approx. 1.4 million. Number of Jewish-Israeli settlers: approx. 8,700.[3]

Even before the official pullout date serious questions were being raised as to what the pullout would mean in practical, no less legal terms:

Ushani Agalawatta (07/28/05 - Inter Press Service):

-under international law the Gaza Strip would still be considered occupied territory

-the Palestinians in Gaza would not have “control over airports, sea ports or natural resources such as water or gas.”

-Renad Qubbaj of the Palestinian NGO Network stated (July 28, 2005) that despite the pullout, “there is a great risk of Gaza becoming one big prison,” and “the Israeli army will still be controlling the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza.”

-Further, “The disengagement plan specifically states that ‘Israel will guard and monitor the external land perimeter of the Gaza Strip, will continue to maintain exclusive authority in Gaza airspace, and will continue to exercise security activity in the sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip.’”

-Jaber Wishah, deputy director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) stated (July 28, 2005), “It is certain that Gaza will become a big prison, there will be no freedom of trade or freedom of movement. Until there is a safe and continuous passage to the West Bank, there will only be movement through the Rafah border with Egypt but even that the Israelis want joint control over.”[3]

The Financial Times (08/01/05) is here caught asking questions that apparently have answers (see above). Nonetheless, they are good questions:

-Will Palestinians be allowed to rebuild and operate the Gaza port and airport? [No] Who will control Gaza’s external borders? [Israel along three and over top. Egypt along one.] How will Gaza be linked to the West Bank? [It won’t.]

They conclude: “Israel has legitimate security concerns but sealing Gaza off from the rest of the world is surely not the way to address them. Turning the territory into an overpopulated prison where economic deprivation persists would only feed the anger and perpetuate the violence.”[4]

Ed O’Loughlin of the Sydney Morning Herald hammers home many of the points/problems discussed above but adds (I paraphrase) (10/08/05):

-Israel will continue to control Palestinian trade and travel which will undermine Gaza’s economic development while enhancing Israel’s trade advantages within the region.[5]

Suffice it to say, anyone looking at the matter with a modicum of objectivity could see that under these conditions, the disengagement was anything but. In effect, the removal of the settlements made it easier for the Israelis to do whatever they wanted to Gaza and its inhabitants without having to be concerned for the welfare of Jewish-Israeli settlers. From the vantage point of today, it is much easier to see how the disengagement was actually a tactic of occupation not its cessation. But what was the overall strategy?

[to follow]

NOTES:

[1] Israel Launches Gaza Pullout - 08/15/05 - islamonline.net

[2] Gazans Eager to Restore Usurped Land - 08/15/05 - islamonline.net

[3] Gaza Will Be ‘Vacated but Still Occupied’ - by Ushani Agalawatta - 07/29/05 - Inter Press Service via antiwar.com

[4] Israel must not leave Gaza sealed off from the outside world - 08/01/05 - Financial Times

[5] Israel urged not to turn Gaza into a prison by Ed O’Loughlin - 08/10/05 - Sydney Morning Herald