It gives me no pleasure in referring to the homeland of another people in the pejorative, so I’ll invoke the words of esteemed Palestinian spokesperson, the late Edward Said, to do it for me. “[Gaza] is the most terrifying place I’ve ever been in,” he said. “It’s a horrifyingly sad place because of the desperation and misery of the way people live. I was unprepared for camps that are much worse than anything I saw in South Africa.”
Having passed in 2003, Said never had to see the economic sanctions and blockade that would turn Gaza into a concentration camp of 1.4 million inhabitants or the current blitzkrieg that has enveloped this small island of fear, violence and suffering in so much more of the same. Unambiguously, it is the most unlivable place in the Arab world.
Although recounting the Palestinian narrative over the last century is clich?, without some type of basic context, we are left with an ahistorical snapshot of the current bloodshed. The Israeli invasion of Gaza did not begin with a band of renegade Muslim literalists vowing the destruction of an entire state; it begins with the simple fact that 80 percent of Gazan families originated from what is now called Israel.
Since the naqba (or “catastrophe”) of 1948, the Gaza Strip has alternately been used as a human waste dump and piece of territorial expansion for Greater Israel. Under Egyptian administrative control, it became a giant refugee camp for thousands of ethnically cleansed Palestinians after Israel’s founding. Beginning with the occupation of 1967, it became the new home for almost 8,000 Israeli settlers by 2004, who came to control 88 percent of the water resources and 42 percent of the land. The expense of subsidizing and protecting so small a group of settlers on an unprofitable piece of land, coupled with the demographic surge of the Palestinians population, convinced then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from Gaza. However, Israel still controls its airspace, territorial waters, offshore maritime access and shared border. It has also subjected Gaza to an economic blockade since Hamas’ election in 2007. No longer of any use to Israel or any other state, Gaza’s superfluous land and people have been locked away in the back corner of historic Palestine, a densely populated cage of 139 square miles.
The humanitarian effects of the blockade have reached monstrous proportions, even forcing the International Red Cross to conclude last year “there is no solution that can be reached by humanitarian organizations.” Eighty percent of the population is reliant on international food aid, and almost half still suffer from acute anemia. Electricity is nonexistent in many areas. Most schools have stopped functioning. Basic medical supplies are scarce. In the midst of it all, constant Israeli air strikes and artillery fire serve as a backdrop to everyday life. And now, there are Israeli soldiers firing in the streets.
But perhaps the best indication of the toll of Israeli policy on Gaza is the mental health of its children. According to Dr. Richard Falk, an American humanitarian observer for the United Nations, Palestinian psychologists have found that “over 50 percent of Gazan children under the age of 12 … have no will to live.”
The stated reason for Israel’s policy of collective punishment, including the current invasion, is the continuation of the pathetic, random Qassam rocket attacks, which have killed 16 people since 2001, though no one since last June. The attacks have undoubtedly created a climate of relative fear in southern Israel, especially in the city of Sderot and the western part of the Negev. Given that the attacks provide Israel with an excuse to absolve itself of its sins in Gaza, it’s hard to see how the attacks benefit the Israelis in any way.
But as immoral and counterproductive as they are, the cheap and haphazard rockets flung into Israel are equally inevitable as long as the Gazan people are forced to live without hope. This point is plainly obvious to anyone with some semblance of an open mind.
It’s also important to note that Gaza’s unsystematic attacks have killed an average of two people per year since their beginning, while the ongoing Israeli incursion alone has killed an estimated 971 people. The world has yet to hear from Israel how such a disproportionate “response” can be justified if Palestinian life is held as equal with Jewish life, and it is for this reason — save the United States and Britain — condemnation of the invasion and airstrikes has been loudly unanimous.
Now, the bodies continue to pile up in the streets, entire families are entombed in their homes, the hospitals overflow with mutilated children and Gaza is turned into a giant heap of rubble. This most recent — though certainly not last — chapter of Palestinian suffering confirms that Israeli policy does not regard the inhabitants of historic Palestine as real human beings. As long as this attitude persists, there will never be peace with justice.
Kyle Szarzynski ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history and philosophy.
