Gaza Myths and Facts

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Gaza myths and facts: what American

Jewish leaders won't tell you

Myth: Gaza is free. Fact: it has been under Israelioccupation since 1!" to this #ery day.

If youve been anywhere near the American Jewish community over the past few weeks,youve heard the following morality tale: Israel left the Gaza trip in !""#, hoping thenewly independent country would become the ingapore of the $iddle %ast& Instead,'amas seized power, ransacked greenhouses, threw its opponents off rooftops and

began launching thousands of rockets at Israel&

American Jewish leaders use this narrative to (ustify their skepticism of a )alestinianstate in the *est +ank& +ut in crucial ways, its wrong& And without understanding whyits wrong, you cant understand why this war is wrong too&

ets take the claims in turn&

Israel $eft Gaza

Its true that in !""#, )rime $inister Ariel haron withdrew Israels more than -,"""settlers from Gaza& .At Americas urging, he also dismantled four small settlements inthe *est +ank/& +ut at no point did Gaza become its own country& 'ad Gaza become itsown country, it would have gained control over its borders& It never did& As the Israelihuman rights group Gishahas detailed, even before the election of 'amas, Israelcontrolled whether Gazans could enter or e0it the trip .In con(unction with %gypt,which controlled the 1afah checkpoint in Gaza2s south/& Israel controlled the populationregistry through which Gazans were issued identification cards& 3pon evacuating itssettlers and soldiers from Gaza, Israel even created a security perimeter inside the tripfrom which Gazans were barred from entry& .3nfortunately for Gazans, this perimeterincluded some of the trips best farmland/&

4)ro5Israel6 commentators claim Israel had legitimate security reasons for all this& +utthat concedes the point& A necessary occupation is still an occupation& 7hats why itssilly to analogize 'amas rockets8repugnant as they are8to $e0ico or 9anadaattacking the 3nited tates& 7he 3nited tates is not occupying $e0ico or 9anada&Israel 8 according to the 3nited tates government8 has been occupying Gazawithout interruption since ;, when haron announcedthe Gaza withdrawal, the 1oad $ap for )eace that he had signed with $ahmoud Abbas

was going nowhere& Into the void came two international proposals for a two statesolution& 7he first was the !""! Arab )eace Initiative, in which every member of the
http://www.haaretz.com/news/idf-pulls-last-troops-from-gaza-ending-38-years-of-military-rule-1.169561http://gisha.org/http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/israel.gaza.occupation.question/http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/league/peace02.htmhttp://www.haaretz.com/news/idf-pulls-last-troops-from-gaza-ending-38-years-of-military-rule-1.169561http://gisha.org/http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/israel.gaza.occupation.question/http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/league/peace02.htm


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Arab eague offered to recognize Israel if it returned to the ;


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plurality of the vote 5 forty5five percent 5 but because of the )As voting system, andBatahs idiotic decision to run more than one candidate in several districts, 'amasgarnered #- percent of the seats in parliament&

7o the e0tent American Jewish leaders acknowledge that 'amas won an election .as

opposed to taking power by force/, they usually chalk its victory up to )alestinianenthusiasm for the organizations ;-- charter, which calls for Israels destruction .7he

president of the Cew Dork board of rabbis said recently that anyone who voted for'amasshould be considered a combatant, not a civilian/& +ut thats almost certainly notthe reason 'amas won& Bor starters, 'amas didnt make Israels destruction a ma(ortheme of its election campaign& In its !""< campaign manifesto, the group actuallyfudged the Euestion by saying only that it wanted an 4independent state whose capital isJerusalem6 plus fulfillment of the right of return&

@ont get me wrong& Im not suggesting that by !""< 'amas had embraced the twostate solution& nly that 'amas recognized that running against the two state solution

was not the best way to win )alestinian votes& 7he polling bears this out& According toe0it polls conducted by the prominent )alestinian pollster Fhalil hikaki, =# percent of)alestinian voters8and a remarkable


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till, Israel and the 3&& would have been wiser to follow the counsel of former $ossadchief %fraim 'alevy, who called for haron to try to forge a long5term truce with'amas& Israel could also have pushed 'amas to pledge that if Abbas8who remained)A president8negotiated a deal with Israel, 'amas would accept the will of the)alestinian people as e0pressed in a referendum, something the groups leaders have

subseEuently promised to do&

Instead, the +ush administration8suddenly less enamored of $iddle %asterndemocracy55pressured Abbas to dissolve the )alestinian parliament and rule byemergency decree& Israel, which also wanted Abbas to defy the election results,withheld the ta0 and customs revenue it had collected on the )alestinian Authoritys

behalf& Fnowing 'amas would resist Abbas efforts to annul the election, especially inGaza, where it was strong on the ground, the +ushies also began urging Abbas formernational security advisor, a Gazan named $ohammed @ahlan, to seize power in thetrip by force& As @avid 1ose later detailed in an e0traordinary article in Kanity Bair,9ondoleezza 1ice pushed %gypt, Jordan, audi Arabia and the 3nited Arab %mirates to

buy weapons for @ahlan, and for Israel to allow them to enter Gaza& As General $ark@ayton, 3 security coordinator for the )alestinians, told @ahlan in Covember !""


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)alestinian Authority police& *hat really doomed the greenhouse initiative, *olfensohnargues, were Israeli restrictions on Gazan e0ports& 4In early @ecember H!""#, he writes,4the much5awaited first harvest of Euality cash crops8strawberries, cherry tomatoes,cucumbers, sweet peppers and flowers8began& 7hese crops were intended for e0portvia Israel for %urope& +ut their success relied upon the Farni crossing Hbetween Gaza

and Israel, which, beginning in mid5January !""

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Gaza Myths and Facts