Journal of the mental environment
Collectively Punished
Israeli blockade leaves the Gaza Strip in the dark.
- Mon, 10 Nov 2008 5:35 pm — Posted by Staff
- | 17 comments
Much of the Gaza Strip is in darkness tonight as Israel continues to block shipments of industrial diesel fuel into the besieged territory. Israel began the blockade last week, in retaliation to Palestinian rockets fired from within Gaza. In a statement issued today, the Israeli Defense Ministry claims that despite the blockade, Gaza is receiving enough power from Israeli and Egyptian grids to operate at 75 percent capacity.
Within Gaza, however, the story is different. Most of the strip has been hit with “a total power blackout,” according to Sameh Habeeb, a photojournalist and peace activist living in Gaza. He adds that Israel has also announced a comprehensive closing of already-blocked borders, making any delivery of fuel to Gaza’s sole power plant impossible.
Habeeb describes the collective mood within the territory as “an amalgamation of fear, sadness and frustration.” He goes on to say that within Gaza, “no one is allowed to move or travel. We are always awaiting another bad day.” Despite efforts by the Free Gaza Movement with the cooperation of the Popular Committee Against Siege (PCAS), an international committee of activists and politicians that has been sending siege-breaking boats into the territories, Israel has refused to end its policy of collective punishment. It was only at the behest of Tony Blair, former British prime minister and present envoy of the Middle East Quartet, that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak agreed to allow for a “limited resumption” of supplies into Gaza. Article 33 of the Geneva Convention explicitly forbids collective punishment, yet Gaza’s 1.5 million citizens are in darkness, paralyzed with fear at this very moment. When is the world going to organize in support of the millions of innocent Palestinians held captive by Israeli policy? When are Americans going to demand that our government stop bowing to lobbies, and revoke Israel’s carte blanche in the Middle East?
Comments
Some things that you may not know if you read only biased news publishers:
- Israel provides food, fuel, water and allow the entrance of medication and other goods but the distribution is in the hands of Hammas and they distribute it as it pleases them; - common decency ? huum?
- The missiles fired against Israeli territories that killed, injured, left limbless and traumatized thousands are not home made anymore but of Iranian origin; - how would you like that in your backyard? every day…
- Many (many more than you may think) of the deaths in the Gaza strip are caused either by Hammas shooting their enemies (Palestinian authority soldiers, Fatah members)or by “accidents” that happen during the preparation of explosives (the terrorists do their work inside buildings where innocent families live) - so much for cynicism and human decency ha?
- Egyptians do not open their border to Palestinian free transit. Why is that? Because it will ruin the “cleaning” they did many years ago to get rid of terrorists. And they did not arrest them, they killed them, in case my expression “cleaning” wasn’t clear enough. The same thing King Hussein did in Jordan many ears ago.
- Geneva convention also mentions something about kidnapping, hostages but we can’t expect a terrorist Hammas government to follow the Geneva convention right?
- The Palestinians receive millions of dollars every year from many countries, Israel included. Enough money to build schools and hospitals and help them build their country but the money is stollen by their leaders as it has been since Yassef Arafat. Part of the money has also been wisely invested in terrorism. But hey, Hammas government was democratically ellected right? So who are we to judge?
Tens of thousands of US gifted antipersonnel weapons were dropped on Lebanon.
Gaza was handed back to the arabs, in much the same way as the Warsaw Ghetto was created, a safe little haven for the jews to keep arabs in their place, and then to say how nice we israelis are giving back a bit of stolen land, now the israelis respond to a little firecracker fired into a stolen piece of land with total blackouts, dying children, misery and inhumanity on a vast scale. As for youth culture anywhere, many young people say they have never heard of the holocaust, are they deaf? blind? its the only thing we hear about as far as WW2 goes. Now, if those suitcases left in the museum had been Louis Vuitton, if those shoes had been Adidas, pairs or not, if those spectacles had been from Specsavers, well, we would have a whole enlightened youth, no kidding. Better they don’t know about the holocaust or they might make connections with Israel, and then those little acts of genocidal politics from Israel might make them rise up, youth that is. Doubt it. Lay back and buy is more like it.
I invite anyone who dismisses the treatment of Palestenians as anything less than a humanitarian crisis deserving of the world’s attention to get out from behind your computer and go visit. Spend two days in that territory and then tell me that Adbusters’ attention should be focused elsewhere.
Israel terrorizes ALL Palestenians in retaliation to the actions of a FEW Palestenians. That is the definition of collective punishment. Collective punishment is a violation of the Geneva Convention. Israel is in violation of the Geneva Convention. Its a simple f-ing syllogism. Where is the accountablity???
It’s a damn good thing tine Palestine’s fellow Muslim countries are good enough friends willing to help them out by taking them in away from all this, resolving this issue once and for all.
Oh, wait, they’re not. This was never about the Palestinians at all. This is a pissing contest for retards to see which “holy” book is more true, the Bible or the Quran.
But it’s so great that Adbusters cares so much for Palestinians. 30 000 children starve to death each day, but what does Adbusters decide to write about? A reduction of electricity being sent to a country after some people launched rockets. They so aren’t racist, and are totally unbiased and fair humanitarians.
Its pretty cynical and fucked up to think that the palestinians are willing to suffer like this for the sake of PR. Put the blame where it belongs - on the oppressor.
which is why israels collective punishment is unjust, because average Palestinians don’t control what the minority terrorists do. but they are still commiting violent acts against civilians and adding fuel to their own peoples oppression
obviously not the average Palestinian, but the small minority of fighters MUST expect retaliation.
40 years of occupation, illegal settlements, human rights abuses, targeted assassinations, blockades, wall building and collective punishment … it’s all going to catch up with Israel soon.
60 years
So they count in twelves, not tens?
These rocket fire-ers KNOW israel will react violently and possibly kill innocent palestinians.
What is their motivation then?
Possibly to coax israel into commiting more injustices in retaliation and get bad publicity? What do they really expect is going to happen when they fire rockets at a country that is known for violent retaliations?
The latest round of rocket-firing was a response, not an attack. The day before, the Israeli IDF has entered Gaza and killed 6 people during a raid to knock out a tunnel.
What is the other option? To sit there as Israeli tanks and killer squads operate on their soil?
The raid on the tunnel in Gaza was in order to thwart a trrorist plan to kidnap more Israeli Soldiers. Besides, the Palestinians fired more than 20 Rockets over Israel when the agreement of temporary ceasefire was still on. Israel didn’t react those violations military untill now.
The Palestinians are welcoming this blockade, as they can’t honor any agreement they sign.
Just take a look how it’s like to have missiles in the middle of your home town. (Ashkelon, Israel, 14.11.2008):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcrdP3OEMnE
What can you possibly say after you see this?
What about not having a home? Having your home bull-dozed by someone actively destroying your home? Not being able to go to work? Grow your own food? This has focused on electricity, but what about the 750,000 Palestinians that are being denied food via the Israeli blockade, when it’s the UN that’s trying to feed them?
Or how about the announcement that a full scale Israeli attack on Gaza only matter of time?
I know that other people have talked about this before, and I don’t mean to expand the topic too far beyond the article, I only wrote that to emphasize that it’s an important issue. And talking about one facet of it, is a gateway to discussion about the rest.
30,000 children die a day, yes… Many die from neglect, many die from starvation, from disease, and the wrongs of US multinational corporations or the WTO, NAFTA, World Bank, IMF.. But this, this, is US Government sponsored violence, intimidation, discrimination, terrorism (though I shun the word). I think we need to abolish our blatant violations of common decency, and human rights first, before we can work on our other (thinly) veiled wrong-doings.
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