Gaza on the brink

What I really don’t get about the siege imposed on Gaza is the goal of said siege. To destroy Hamas? Hamas’ popularity is higher than ever-the siege and the incursions and killings just juxtapose the image of Hamas fighting the Israeli army with the frequent image of Abbasshole attending dinner parties with Olmert and Barak in Jerusalem.

To convince the Palestinians to give up the armed struggle? I don’t know how Zionuts think the world operates but when I’m chilling in my living room and an Israeli missile lands in my brother’s lap, I’m more inclined to want to grab an AK and inflict pain on the perpetrator. And then when my sister, injured in the attack, can’t get to the hospital because you’ve banned us from receiving the fuel that the ambulances need to operate, I’m left to live the cruelty of this irony. Say we manage to get her to hospital through the dark (because you banned electricity) and sewage-strewn (because, again, there is no fuel to power the sewage treating plants) streets on the back of a donkey cart, I know she’d die anyway because you’ve somehow convinced the world that medicine is contraband; those dastardly Gazans would just use it to fight their occupiers.

Whatever the goals, these are the results:
• 130+ (and counting) patients dead because Egypt and Israel wouldn’t give them the mercy of medical treatment.



• 55% of Gazan children are bedwetters. These kids see death everyday in their face from the moment they’re born. Forget about this lost generation-the ones that survive are going to have to raise the next one.

• Most of Gaza’s ambulances are inoperable, standing idle as the stream of necessary fuel dries up and the stream of bloody wounded and dead turns into a flood.

• Sewage has flooded entire neighborhoods, as the lack of fuel and electricity required to pump and treat sewage propagates an already deadly health situation.

• Tens of thousands of university students cannot reach their classes with 95% of vehicles in Gaza out of fuel. Ditto for employees.

• 110,000 schoolchildren now rely on emergency UNRWA meals.

And on and fucking on.

See what I don’t get is how the world is so easily fooled. Israel lies and says that it must starve and bomb and kill 1.5 million humans because that’s the only way to weaken Hamas and their flying pipes. And then the Shabak writes up a report claiming that, a year after the total siege was imposed, Hamas is now stronger than ever and has fighters and an arsenal comparable to that of Hezbollah. Eh? So why is Gaza still getting murdered?

One thing is becoming clear though: this cannot last. The people of Gaza are at rock bottom. Throughout the week, Palestinian factions in Gaza, led by Hamas, Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, have been warning that a people explosion is imminent. Many took this to mean that there will be another human outpour across the Gaza-Egypt border. Immediately, Egypt issued threats and proclamations, sent reinforcements to the border, and closed off the main bridge across the Suez supplying the Ariesh and Rafah regions near the Gaza border. That is, should the Palestinians get through the massacre awaiting them at the border, they’d find no food or supplies to restock on in Egypt.

Today, the government in Gaza announced that this explosion is coming within the next two days, and that it will solely be aimed at Israel. I don’t know how they’re going to go about breaching the Israeli border-Israel has never been squeamish about mowing down nonviolent protests. If the Palestinian resistance goes the violent route, the result will be the same: huge casualties.

But whatever happens will be understandable, if unpredictable. After all, the world’s never placed an occupied people under sanctions and a suffocating siege before.