Letters to the Editor
-
Yawn - wake me up in 10 years
when Gary Kamiya explains how Israel has to negotiate with Hamas blah blah blah.
-
This is silliness
Gaza is run by Hamas. At any time they want to, Hamas could decide that taking care of the people is better than fighting Israel and Fatah. They haven't done so. That is not Israel's fault and it certainly isn't George Bush's fault.
If Hamas was smart, they would try a Hong Kong or Singapore free market strategy and be rich within a generation. Neither of those city-states had any resources except for human beings with the normal desire to improve their lots in life. There's no reason Gaza couldn't do the same thing. EXCEPT that Hamas does not care one whit to improve the the lives of the people it claims to represent. Freedom for Gazans would be freedom from Hamas.
-
Thanks for the article
This article demonstrates that salon.com unlike many U.S. media has not gone down the rabbit hole on the Palestinian Territories. Kamiya's analysis underscores the fact that the U.S. is the jailer in this instance, and that the glaring contradictions of U.S. policy on Israel relative to its treatment of Arab states and peoples have taken on a life of their own.
Hamas does not "control" Gaza, militarily or legally. Gaza remains under Israeli occupation, despite Israeli propaganda produced in Tel Aviv or Washington D.C. Israel's removal of its settlers from Gaza does not change that it controls all borders, Gaza's airspace, etc. Israel not Hamas is responsible for the health, education, and general welfare of the Palestinians in Gaza. As the occupying power, Israel is responsible for not changing the population of Gaza, East Jerusalem or the West Bank,
Because Israel has ignored its responsibilities to end its occupation and to provide for the welfare of the Palestinians, and because Israel continues to annex land that doesn't belong to it out of greed and because the Palestinians are not going to leave what remains of their historical homeland, Israel hopes to call an apartheid system a "state" for Palestinians.
Meanwhile, in less than twenty years, the Palestinian population with Israeli citizenship, living inside the green line of Israel, will be close to fifty percent of Israeli citizens.
Each year that goes by it becomes clear that regardless of intentions, statements, road maps, or peace "processes," there is no way to separate the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish populations. No one is going anywhere, despite fantasies that someone will disappear. Thus, the only "solution" is that of a bi-national state or a secular state for all of its citizens.
Partition and ethnic exclusivity and racism have failed. What will have to be tried for the first time is democracy.
-
yeah right
So if Israel let's the Gazans out of their "jail," will they still be responsible for supplying their power, food, and medicine, or will the Gazans have to figure out how to provide these things for themselves? hmmm.
Also, funny how the Egyptians are also now busy walling the Palestinians back up. It only took 6 days for their Arab "brothers" to get sick of them as well.
all I can say is, if those were my neighbors, I'd want one big effing wall too.
-
Speaking Of The Warsaw Ghetto
You'd think that the Israelis, of all people, learned something about how the harder you push on people, the harder they resist. Oh well, time seems to be on Israel's side as long as they control America. Keep up the pressure long enough and they can steal all the damned land . . .
-
Gaza can become Singapore or Hong Kong?
Dude, what are you on?
It takes money to take money. The Palestinians have NO resources. They are supposed to attract investment how? and offering what?
The walls have to go, and Palestinians have to be granted their human rights. That's all.
-
Collective punishment is a war crime. That cannot be spun.
>By punishing all Gazans for the indefensible actions of a few
W-a-r c-r-i-m-e.
-
We Own It
The article is heart-rending. Kamiya is correct in his observations. We own Mubarak, too, as part of our circle of disreputable "friends" (especially in the middle east). We could befriend Hamas and not be worse off. Or we could, just once, do the right thing.
It is difficult to add anything to Kamiya's piece here. It's nothing new, but the brief hole in the wall certainly did add a dimension of the human spirit to the issue.
The words of Bruce Cockburn, from his powerful 1983 song "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" come to mind:
"I want to raise every voice -- at least I've got to try.
Every time i think about it water rises to my eyes.
Situation desperate, echoes of the victims cry;
If I had a rocket launcher...some sonofabitch would die"
And we wonder why they're cranky.
-
That's all they have to do. Just bite the bullet.
"Then they need to bite the bullet and accept that even though Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and renounce terror, it is a rational actor and can be persuaded to accept a two-state deal so long as the final goal of a viable Palestinian state, as described in the Arab League plan, is clearly on the table."
Has Hamas shown any rationality up to now? Firing missles at civilians in Israel is rational?
And defending your population against missles is not rational?
Why are does Gary call the Israelis the jailers and not the Egyptians? More rationality I guess.
Shame on you.
-
Someone underestimated the level of desperation
That mass jailbreak makes the silly show Prison Break look like Mary Poppins.
-
Obama, the "most progressive candidate".
Barack Obama is the "most progressive candidate"? Oh really?
-
Thanks for the article Gary. The ugliness of some letter writers is frightening.
Gaza can become Switzerland or Hong Kong?
Not when its borders are closed by Israel. Dude, they can't even buy cooking oil! How are they going to become in international trading hub when Israel won't allow anything in or out of the country.
Gaza should figure out how to generate its own power?
Uh, actually they did. Gaza had its own power plants. Israel bombed the main one, and won't allow diesel fuel to cross the border to power the smaller one that remains.
Mubarek is in a bad place right now. He should get control of the situation by creating a trade zone where Gazans and Egyptian merchants can mingle to do business, and establish the control/customs points inside Egyptian territory to prevent a linkup between Hamas and The Muslim Brotherhood.
Then, everyone wins, except Olmert and the Likud in Israel.
And they can go to hell.