– fordi tiden kræver et MODSPIL

10. Apr 2006

Virkeligheden i de besatte områder

 
Hamas vil holde op med at bruge selvmordsangreb som våben mod Israel, skriver The Observer:
The suicide bombings happened in an exceptional period and they have now stopped,' he said. 'They came to an end as a change of belief.'
(...)
Hamas is keen to gain acceptance from the international community. On Friday the European Union announced it was stopping direct funding of the PA, while the United States has halted aid projects.
USA og EU kræver, at Hamas skal anerkende Israel, før hjælpen kan genoptages.

Hykleriet i dette krav viser sig ret klart, hvis man vender den om: Vil Israel anerkende palæstinensernes ret til de besatte områder - efter grænserne fra 1967?

Nej, selvfølgelig vil de ikke det. Så hvorfor i alverden skulle Hamas? Det er vel den slags, man skal forhandle sig frem til - man kan ikke begynde med at stille ultimative krav om, at palæstinenserne skal anerkende Israel inden for de grænser, de nu engang selv måtte finde for godt at etablere. Hvis Israel begyndte med at trække sig tilbage til grænserne fra 1967 - den såkaldte "grønne linje" - er jeg sikker på, at de ville møde større forhandlingsvilje.

Hykleriet rækker imidlertid videre end som så. Mens store dele af det palæstinensiske samfunds behov er blevet dækket via nødhjælp, er det faktisk på ingen måde det internationale samfunds ansvar at sørge for, at folk i et besat område ikke lider nød: Det er besættelsesmagtens.

Ved at give denne nødhjælp har EU, USA og de store nødhjælpsorganisationer i realiteten betalr Israels ubetalte regninger.

Men ... er der overhovedet nogen reel nød i de besatte områder? Går alt ikke efter bedste beskub som i ethvert andet arabisk samfund?

For at få svar på dette spørgsmål kan man gå til Israel - nærmere bestemt til journalisten Gideon Levy, som i Ha'aretz skriver, at There is no hunger in Gaza:
There's no need to waste words on the scope of poverty in the territories. Sixty-five percent of Gazans and 48 percent of the West Bankers now live under the poverty line, according to a UN report from last December, issued before the decision was made to freeze the transfer of their tax money to them. There is no need to be an expert in economics to understand that if 37 percent of Gazans with jobs - more than 73,000 people - were employed by the Palestinian Authority and now their livelihoods are threatened due to a lack of money to pay their wages, the situation will only get worse. Palestinian society, which has a very high level of solidarity, will know how to deal with that disaster. Because of the food handed out by UNRWA and the other organizations, there won't be hunger any time soon in Gaza, even if the number of those suffering from malnutrition does increase.

But even if they have bags of flour and rice, the living conditions of the Palestinians are chilling. They live in prison. Their daily routine includes humiliation that is no less terrible than malnutrition. Anyone who has to beg for permission to leave his village, to spend hours crowded in line at a checkpoint just to reach his destination, anyone whose bedroom is brutally invaded in the middle of the night by the occupation army, whose time and life is considered valueless, and whose basic human dignity has been trampled into dust, cannot find any consolation in the fact that flour and rice is available. Those who think that all it takes is providing a quota of flour to be free of any responsibility for the fate of the people they occupy, are suffering from a serious case of moral blindness. Does the fact that a Palestinian youth is not hungry in any way blunt the fact that he cannot dream, cannot aspire to a career, an orderly education, a vacation or simple pleasures of life?
Så, ingen decideret sult - men, som Levy skriver, det er ikke helt godt nok til at skjule, at Gaza selv efter den israelske tilbagetrækning reelt er et fængsel:
Those who have been silent until now can remain enveloped in their silence. Those whose conscience doesn't torture them and whose sleep is uninterrupted by Israel's behavior in the territories can continue resting in peace. There is no "humanitarian disaster." Israel will find a solution to the food crisis, and the stores in Gaza won't lack for flour. But those who regard the Palestinians as only requiring basic food should remember that even in the zoos, where the animals presumably don't lack for a thing, people are often shocked by the conditions of their imprisonment.
Hvis De vil vide mere:

Link til Gideon Levys artikel i Ha'aretz.
Link til Palestinian Centre for Human Rights i Gaza.

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