7 thoughts on “Gaza=Somalia? – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Aid to PA Nearly Tripled in ’06, Despite International Boycott , but lets not let the facts get in the way of our blind faith in people who refuse to renounce violence.

  2. In an ideal world Daniel Levy’s comments would make for a great deal of sense.

    But it can’t have escaped everyone’s notice that we don’t live in an ideal world. Far from it. If we did, then this whole subject would be little more than ‘academic.’ In fact, the expectation is it wouldn’t exist at all.

    But the world is as it is and we can make of it only what we can. Although an ‘ideal’ world seems far beyond our grasp or understanding, we’re not entirely helpless in our dealings with the one we have now.

    While reinventing the wheel isn’t always the best of methods, there are times when that particular exercise can seriously be worth the effort.

    http://yorketowers.blogspot.com

  3. I find that the general American discourse on the Palestinians depicts them like their animals. The deep-seated racism and Otherization directed at the Palestinians is so embedded in our discourse that I think a lot of people don’t even recognize it. We cordon them off, restrict their movement, cut off their economic lines, demonize and isolate their elected government, shoot them down on their streets and in their homes, and then watch with smug glee as order and stability break down. Gee, who would guess? You severely brutalize and de-humanize a people for so many years, treat them like their sub-human savages, and then, wow, they don’t act like the Queen, all nice with tea and crumpets and pound-cake (probably a bad example). From the outside, one could almost see the whole thing as some kind of vast, sadistic psychological-sociological experiment. How often do you beat someone ’til they turn into a brute.

    I predict that the treatment of the Palestinians will go down in future history books as one of the major dark chapters of Western history of the latter half of the 20th century/early 21st century and the clock is still ticking, the Occupation is still going on. Most all of the world actually gets this; it’s just that here in America we’re stuck inside this ideological bubble. Our stunted news media doesn’t help…

  4. Aid to PA Nearly Tripled in ‘06, Despite International Boycott , but lets not let the facts get in the way of our blind faith in people who refuse to renounce violence.

    Are you claiming that even a tripling of aid would make up for the fact that Gaza, which once had an economy, jobs, infratructure, trade, etc. has none of that now thanks to Israel’s strangulation? Let’s look at a few facts. Has that tripling of aid led to fewer or more jobs existing in Gaza? Has it led to greater or lesser trade bet. Gaza & the outside world? Has it led to lower or higher levels of malnutrition among children & privation among the general population? Has it led to greater or lesser security as people fight for the few crumbs that remain?

    It is typical of progandists to focus on a single factoid like the tripling of aid while ignoring the entire context of Gaza’s predicament.

    And finally, do you feel it is justified to starve an entire civilian population into submission because it “refuses to renounce violence?”

  5. Richard,

    Have I heard you mentioning the interference of the Iranian Junta in Gaza, South Lebanon, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Venezuela….

    Of course, Israel is culpable delegating the management of the Palestinian problem to unqualified Israelis -mostly Arab speaking Israelis.

    But the main problem is the interference of the indecent forces, from Germany via Soviet Union to Iran’s Junta.

    Our hope can be rested in the sanity of the Palestinians in Jordan.

    Their stability may rescue us from the next catastrophe.

    We need an urgent Israeli-Jordanian-Iraqi alliance to stop the Junta in Tehran.

    After that, the Palestinians must enjoy a life free of discrimination in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.

  6. These crossing points were open. There was a time when Israel would import any and all excess produce, and other products (such as cement) that Gaza could produce.

    Then they smuggled people and equipment to perform terrorist attacks through the crossing terminals. So security got tighter, took longer, prices went up. Then they BOMBED the terminal. So security got tighter, took longer, prices went up. Then they smuggled suicide bombers through, and then they bombed the terminal 2 more times.

    Then security became maximized, time and cost became very high, and Israel found other sources for those products.

    Some self responsibility must be taken, Israel can’t be expected to just suck it all up.

    BTW, the other side of the Rafah crossing is EGYPT. It’s not any more open. Why not? (And, how’s that Israel’s problem?)

    Now they’re shooting at Israel, heavily, causing 12,000 Jews to flee their homes. Why? Do they expect to get more commerce that way? Or lower security by proving they’re using the Rafah terminal to smuggle in heavy weapons?

    When the Jews left Gaza, quite a bit of equipment and infrastructure was left behind, especially the farming hothouses. The Arabs looted and destroyed them. That’s Israel’s fault?

    You cannot absolve the Arabs of their significant part in the current situation. Nor can you name practical positive steps, actions, that they’ve actually taken.

  7. Then security became maximized, time and cost became very high

    “Security became maximized” really means they closed the crossings entirely. Thier is simply no excuse for completely sealing off Gaza. Because terrorists attack the crossing justifies strangling the entire population of Gaza? Is all of Gaza collectively guilty of such attacks?

    When the Jews left Gaza, quite a bit of equipment and infrastructure was left behind, especially the farming hothouses. The Arabs looted and destroyed them. That’s Israel’s fault?

    It is as much Israel’s fault as anyone else’s. Sharon left Gaza unilaterally w. no negotiation w. the Palestinians. Unfortunately, the hothouses were seen as a hated product of the Israeli Occupation & thus destroyed. I don’t condone that any more than I condone desecrating synagogues.

    If Sharon had negotiated his withdrawal & made clear that the Gaza withdrawal would be part of a broader negotiation & resolution of the conflict, then things would’ve been much different. What undermined the Gaza withdrawal was that it was a unilateral half-measure that solved nothing & persuaded no one.

    You cannot absolve the Arabs of their significant part in the current situation.

    If that is what you take away from this blog then you’re either not reading carefully or distorting my views. The Palestinians have done much damage to their cause over the years, about as much as the Israelis have done to it. I don’t condone or support the current Hamas-Fatah civil war or Qassam rocket firings. But let’s be clear about who has virtually all the firepower, who has the dominating military force, who inflicts the lion’s share of damage, who (Israel) has whom (Gaza) in a death vise: that would be Israel.

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