Hello all,
I just found a really intersting site about an organization called the Arab American Institute (http://www.aaiusa.org). If you have a chance to get on and read about it I highly recommend it. They also provide internships for any of you who would like to get involved in D.C.
The founder wrote a very interesting article about Gaza, it is quite long, but I will post it here for those who are interested.
love emily
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Watching Gaza: "The Genovese Syndrome"
by James Zogby
President
Arab American Institute
Today I thought of Kitty Genovese.
Some of you won't remember her, but many in my generation will recall
the horror and shame they felt after hearing the story of how she was
raped and stabbed to death on a New York City street in 1964. What
shocked the nation was the fact that 37 witnesses heard Kitty's cries
but did nothing to help. Years later, social scientists, studying
this disturbing passivity, termed it the "Genovese Syndrome".
That's how I feel about what is happening in Gaza today. Israel is
getting away with murder and the world is letting it happen.
I can hear my critics bellow, "But what about Gilad Shalit (the
Israeli soldier captured and held since June 25th)?" "What about
Hamas and Islamic Jihad?" "What about the Qassam missiles?"
My response is simple: the kidnapping of Shalit was wrong and I have
repeatedly condemned the evil and stupid tactics used by those groups
who target innocent Israeli civilians. Having said that, I must add
two observations: there is no moral or political justification for
the collective punishment which Israel has imposed on Gaza's entire
population; and Gaza's humanitarian crisis began long before the June
25th capture of Shalit.
Reports issued before May of this year, describe Gaza's situation in
dire terms. One of the most densely populated areas on earth, two-
thirds of Gaza's population live below the poverty level. There are
acute shortages of food, fuel and water. Malnutrition and disease are
rampant among the young and, for the most part, only basic medical
services are available.
This crisis in Gaza predates Hamas' victory in 2006. For the first
twenty-five years of Israel's occupation (1967-1993) Gaza was a place
of misery. As Sarah Roy brilliantly describes in her book, "The Gaza
Strip: The Political Economy of Re-development", Israel ruthlessly
suppressed Gaza's people, while denying them economic growth
opportunities. During this time, no infrastructure, (sewers, paved
roads etc.) was built and the population was reduced to, in the words
of one Israeli Minister, "hewers of wood, and bearers of water," i.e.
demeaning day labor employment in Israel.
Gaza's only hope after the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 was that
its economy and infrastructure could be developed and opened up to
the outside world. While many in the West blamed Palestinian
Authority (PA) mismanagement, the facts point in a different
direction. It was the persistence of the occupation from 1994-2005
that resulted in Gaza's continued stagnation. Despite "peace on
paper", Israel retained an iron grip on Gaza. Settlements remained,
as did the physical division of Gaza, north from south and from the
rest of Palestinian lands and the outside world. Being denied access
and egress meant difficulty in importing and exporting and,
therefore, no economic development.
When Israel unilaterally redeployed from Gaza in 2005, the situation
deteriorated even further. Israel projected its removal of 7000
settlers as a "painful sacrifice for peace." But by refusing to
coordinate their departure with the PA or even to honor the agreement
they negotiated with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (that should
have guaranteed movement in and out of Gaza), Israel left behind
disarray and an angry and impoverished population. By tightening
their external controls on the tiny strip, Israel, in effect, created
one of the world's largest prison camps. Inside Gaza, Palestinians
were "free," troubled only by their own poverty and armed gangs. Like
prisoners, they could have occasional visitors and receive gifts –
but, for the most part, they remained cut off from the outside world.
The economy, already crippled, worsened. With Israel refusing to open
Gaza's borders to goods, small Palestinian factories that had once
sub-contracted with larger Israeli firms were forced to close. And,
this summer, tens of millions of dollars of Palestinian produce
rotted at the check points because Israel refused to allow them to be
exported.
With the election of Hamas, in January 2006, Gaza's situation became
worse still. Having been reduced to dependency on international
donors for most of its operating budget, the Hamas-led PA now lost
even that. Tens of thousands of civil servants (the largest group of
salaried workers in the area) now receive no income. Hospitals
provide only basic services, with critically-ill patients or those
requiring emergency care left untreated unless, in a moment of
largesse, Israel decides to grant them admission.
Recognizing the need to resolve at least the crisis created by
Israel's and the West's refusal to deal with the Hamas government,
Palestinian leaders from across the political spectrum launched a
number of initiatives in May and June. These were efforts to create a
new national consensus that, it was hoped, could lead to a new non-
Hamas government that might allow aid to be restored.
It was at this point that violence flared up again. Israel's repeated
assassinations of militants, done with callous disregard for nearby
civilians, resulted in the death of dozens of innocents (many of them
children). These attacks were met by daily Qassam rocket attacks on
an Israeli city just beyond Gaza's borders. And then came the deadly
June 25th attack on an Israeli military post and the capture of
Shalit.
Israel's response has been an overwhelming, though measured, display
of force. Stunned by negative reactions to their killing of
Palestinian civilians in earlier attacks, Israel has mainly focused
its strikes on Palestinian installations: the power plant, bridges,
ministries, a university, and various offices. But it has been the
state of siege resulting in the complete suffocation of Gaza that has
taken the biggest toll. The pre-existing humanitarian crisis in Gaza
has now been magnified with hospitals and social service agencies
reporting new casualties, resulting from alarming shortages of food,
fuel and medicine.
Shielded from criticism by a compliant US administration and press,
this siege is now in its second week. The administration has not seen
fit to publicly challenge the impact of Israel's siege on civilians
and the press has given only scant coverage to the humanitarian
crisis. Gaza is suffering -- and like Kitty Genovese's 37 witnesses,
the rest of us watch in silence with varying degrees of shameful
paralysis.
Some ask, what is going on? There are no good answers and certainly
no justification for this massive act of collective punishment. The
response is disproportionate and cruel, even if one believes that it
is merely an effort by the Olmert government to free its soldier, an
excuse that even the Israeli press no longer believes. What is
occurring in Gaza today is nothing short of a crime against humanity—
unless, that is, you believe that the suffering of one Israeli
soldier outweighs the suffering being imposed on 1.5 million innocent
Palestinian men, women and children.
Worse still, if Israel's intention here, as some Israeli commentators
suggest, is to bring down the Hamas government, then their behavior
is tantamount to an act of terrorism—that is, the use of violence
against civilians without regard to their welfare in order to force a
political end. This is not the first time that violence perpetrated
by a reckless group has brought about a disproportionate response
that has had tragic consequences. No good will come of this.
Two truisms come to mind: Palestinian violence cannot end the
occupation and Israeli violence cannot squash the Palestinian
resistance to that occupation. Only sanity and justice can bring
peace and security but, alas, sanity and justice -- like jobs, food,
and medicine -- are increasingly rare commodities in Gaza.
Meanwhile, like poor Kitty's 37, we watch.
Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute (AAI) is a non-profit
organization committed to the civic and political empowerment of
Americans of Arab descent. AAI provides policy, research, and public
affairs.
