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A strangled
people
Sami Abdel-Shafi
in Gaza City
The Guardian,
Saturday
May 3 2008
It is a strange feeling:
after working as a productive professional in Gaza for five years, I have become
a black market junkie. I make several phone calls a day hunting for fuel for my
car, diesel for the electricity generator waiting on standby to power the house,
even cigarettes and vitamins. The only way to get hold of these things, to buy
life-saving medicines, to purchase the essentials for a life of basic dignity,
is through the black market, if at all. Today all Gaza suffers severe water
shortages, with the fuel needed to pump and transport water (as well as sewage)
dangerously scarce. The few cars seen on Gaza's mostly empty streets today
almost invariably run on used cooking oil due to the lack of diesel.
That feeling of
strangeness continued as I read the statement delivered by the Quartet in London
yesterday. The four powers mediating in the Middle East - the United Nations,
European Union, United States and Russia - spoke of "deep concern" and demanded
"concrete steps by both sides". There was no sense, however, that they had
properly grasped the depth of Gaza's plight or the realities in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem. World politics seems to have morphed into a diplomacy of
denial - a denial of how much more firm the international community must be
towards the cause of an occupied and dying people.
This diplomacy of denial
only gives succour to Israel's urge to exercise its will over Palestinians, and
over besieged Gazans particularly. Israel's cabinet seeks to play God over Gaza
by bluntly controlling every facet of civilian life. Tearing up the West Bank
presents a threat of similarly terrible consequences. Israel's separation
barrier and hundreds of checkpoints threaten to create numerous smaller Gazas in
the West Bank. The villages and cities that are becoming increasingly isolated
and economically strangled today could become hotspots of desperation and
violence tomorrow.
Last week in Gaza, Israel
not only continued depriving the people of fuel and cooking gas, it held back
supplies to UN agencies such as Unrwa - the agency devoted to the health,
education, food supplies and more of Gaza's poor and deprived population. In
hindering the operations of the UN, Israel was hindering the Quartet, of which
the UN is a part.
Israel's current policies
are slowly expelling Palestinians from their land and pushing those who remain
into indignity, desperation and extremism. The word "siege" no longer seems
adequate to describe what is being done to Gaza. The territory's 1.5 million
people have been thrust into a humanitarian catastrophe. It has become a
nonsense to speak of peace negotiations while Israel creates more injustices on
the ground in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In statements ahead of the
Quartet's London meeting, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state,
acknowledged the "difficult" issues of borders and the fate of Jerusalem as well
as Israel's responsibility to improve the lives of Palestinians. Rice insisted
that the US does not regard Israel's settlement expansion as a fait accompli
when it comes to a final agreement on borders.
If there was a glimmer of
hope in the Quartet's statement and Rice's words, however, it is hard to foresee
constructive action in its tow. The US administration is nearing the end of its
term. The UN is undermined. Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is appeasing
hawks in Israel's military establishment, the settlement movement and the
Knesset itself - even as he extends what increasingly looks like an illusory
hand of peace to Palestinians. Palestinian politicians, too, must recognise that
their embarrassing and divisive standoff only diminishes the world's
appreciation of the suffering of their people.
In the meantime, the
Palestinian people are approaching something close to destitution. It is not
enough for the Quartet to push for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
World politicians and delegates, including Israelis of all convictions, must be
encouraged, and allowed, to come to Gaza and witness what is happening here
today. Only then will observers be able to assess just how Palestinians are made
to live, and to assess the world's moral obligation towards a people who surely
deserve a chance of a dignified and peaceful life.
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Sami Abdel-Shafi is the co-founder and senior partner at Emerge Consulting
Group, a management consultancy in Gaza City
sami.abdelshafi@emergeconsultants.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/03/israelandthepalestinians.middleeastthemedia
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