"Gaza Violence" posted by lenin

This is the first chance I've had to access the internet while in Rome and all you get from BBC World is the strip headline "Gaza Violence" and vague, airy explanations about "fighting that left up to 100 dead" followed by a courteous interview with the Israeli propaganda minister. It turns out that what they were actually reporting on was an Israeli massacre. "Fighting". "Violence". This massacre has produced solidarity protests in the West Bank, and so undermined Abbas that even he had to withdraw cooperation with the Israelis. He, the disgusting shit who said that the last attacks were the fault of Hamas. The BBC is, of course, the organisation that knows exactly how many Israelis have been killed by rocket fire (thirteen since 2000, as if that was at all relevant), but doesn't know how many Palestinians have died in the same period.

They're talking of a withdrawal on the news, as if it's all over now. But it isn't all over. Israeli leaders are seriously discussing the prospect of open and deliberate mass violence against civilians. Not the usual unreported low-level daily violence against civilians; not the normal sadistic terrorising of civilian populations; not the run of the mill bombing raids that 'accidentally' wipe out civilians. This would be more explicit than the attacks in 2002, with the widespread use of the bulldozer as well as helicopter gunships. This would be an attempt to destroy a substantial part of the Palestinian population. Unlike Saddam's violence against the Kurds, it would be determined as much by ideological as functional purposes. We've had several threats of genocidal violence now, with an accompanying barrage of dehumanising imagery and rhetoric. And the UN general secretary is talking of "disproportionate" violence and Israel's "right to self-defense". What a propaganda coup - how successfully they've mobilised Holocaust memory, when you have routine threats of genocidal violence from the Israeli government, and people are still talking about proportional responses and a right to "self-defence".

One of the most disgusting aspects of this whole affair has been the way in which Israel's propagandists have been mirrored by the Western media, highlighting the claim that many if not most of the dead are "militants". Well, that is probably untrue, and effacing the distinction between combatant and non-combatant is an important first step in the process of genocide - successfully depicting the entire population as itself a mortal threat is the penultimate solution. However, so what if it is true? Hamas is a mass movement, and also the legitimate elected governing party of Palestine. It is a movement of resistance to the occupation and Zionism, and commands mass support. Killing Hamas members and calling them "terrorists" or "militants" is not better than killing civilians, particularly when the attacks are largely unprovoked. (Sderot? Give me a fucking break.) And particularly when there are, as there have always been, other options. Gazans, having been "put on a diet" and subject to repeated incursions, are now the object of planned extermination. The streets of London and every capital and major city in the world should resound in protest.

Labels: gaza, hamas, Israel, mahmoud abbas, palestine, shoah

Peace and its discontents: the Israeli takeover. posted by lenin

Israel and Palestinians commit to peace trumpets The Guardian, with a sick-making portrait of Bush, Olmert and Abbas holding hands. How's that commitment working so far? Well, let's not forget that having launched a 'civil war' against Hamas and used Dahlan's goons to foment war in Gaza on behalf of Israel, Mahmoud Abbas supports Israel's war on the Gaza strip. There is no 'peace' coming here. Abbas is turning Fatah into the armed wing of capitulation.

Previous peace efforts by Fatah, however limited and corrupted, were at least seriously attempting to get something out of Israel, a stretch of continuous land with Olive Trees on it and water running, the dismantling of settlements, demilitarization of the West Bank, something. Now, with settlements more in abundance than ever, with Israel's occupation expanding instead of contracting, with daily aggression against the Palestinian population, Abbas offers himself as Israel's agent. The talks now taking place are about talks that may take place in the future, that may at some point result in an idea, then a concept, then a series of hastily drawn diagrams, then a hint about a possible settlement. There is no prospect of even a remotely legitimate settlement emerging from this charade. Olmert is hasty with vague intimations about bold moves, but Israel's colonisation of the West Bank continues apace. The only promise from today that is genuine is the one from Abbas that he will take apart "terrorist" organisations, meaning rival political groups. So today, as part of Abbas' own 'war on terror', Palestinians in the West Bank who were demonstrating that they were not partial to this Annapolis hoax, were attacked with one killed, and a reporter trying to cover the demo was roughed up by Abbas' men.

This isn't exactly new, which is one of the reasons why Fatah lost the elections in early 2006. The absence of democratic credentials from these talks, led by an America president who prates ceaselessly of democracy, is striking. In fact, none of the three men meeting today has a popularity rating higher than 30%. No deal they negotiate, even if one were forthcoming, could carry the remotest popular mandate. However, that's hardly the point. The talks, aside from involving a temporary tilt toward Syria to isolate Iran, are continuing the coup process launched after Hamas' electoral victory. This is a takeover, not a makeover.

Labels: fatah, hamas, Israel, mahmoud abbas, palestine

Gaza residents worth $54 each to Mahmoud Abbas posted by lenin

This is the most shocking news I have read in some time. The Palestinian Authority has actually campaigned against a UN resolution expressing concern about the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip. It was an extremely modest - actually, pathetic - appeal from some of the Arab states to consider the residents of Gaza as in some respects human. After all, the UN itself states that a humanitarian crisis is emerging in Gaza, esspecially as Israel imposes a blockade:

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press release in July 2007 that humanitarian imports allowed into Gaza in a week early in the month met some of the minimum food needs in the territory, where 80 per cent of the population already receive food assistance. It also stated that three quarters of Gaza's factories were either closed or operating at 20 per cent capacity, placing the direct livelihoods of about 30,000 people in jeopardy and causing at least US$ 500,000 of business losses daily. UN officials reported later during the same month that OCHA noted the layoff of 65,000 workers by companies in Gaza, following the lack of supplies there, to be capable of affecting as many as 450,000 dependents. Patients in the region had been unable to enter Egypt for medical treatment and another 400 to 700 patients were stranded in the open near the Rafah border. At the same time, border closures and restrictions had been stopping agricultural products from being exported, depriving farmers of income and leading to an overabundance within Gaza of items such as tomatoes, melons and apples, and therefore a drop in prices.

As Ali Abuminah points out, the blockade is driven and enforced to a large extent by Abbas. Soon, as a result, Gaza will be 100% dependent on aid, and they're getting precious little of it. Meanwhile, Israel continues to conduct regular raids into Gaza. And Abbas continues to bluster about how he will have no truck with Hamas. He would rather cozy up to the colonial masters than deal with Palestinians. He got $80m out of the Framework Agreement with Bush on 'reforming' the Palestinian security apparatus (to fully convert it into an American auxiliary). That's all he got. For 1.48m Gazans, that's about $54 a head: and that's what Abbas has sold out his fellow Palestinians for.

Labels: fatah, gaza, hamas, mahmoud abbas, palestine