In the recent AP article “Gaza’s economy in tatters, can it be rebuilt?,” the reported shows an implicit disbelief for the Israeli line about its targets in the Gaza Strip.
The articles quotes Israeli military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich to the effect that the Israeli military would never ever intentionally target Palestinian businesses. Any destroyed civilian entities are the result of militant fighters using them as cover to carry out attacks.
The piece profiles Gaza’s largest fish farm and food factory, both of which were reduced to rubble, despite being within the area closest to the Israeli military staging areas and in open fields that fighters avoided like the plague.
The food factory in particular was clearly the site of sick, deliberate destruction:
Not long ago, Yaser Alwadeya’s factory was the largest food maker in the Gaza Strip, producing cookies, ice cream and other treats for residents of the blockaded territory. Today, the sprawling 47-acre complex lies in ruins.
The heavy damage is testament to the scale of destruction caused by Israel’s three-week military offensive, and illustrates the challenges Gaza faces as it tries to rebuild.
“Beyond the human losses, the economy is the other great victim of this war,” said Amr Hamad, Gaza’s executive manager for the Palestinian Federation of Industries…
Before the offensive, Alwadeya’s factory was by far the largest food producer in Gaza.
The family firm, started as an ice-cream shack by Alwadeya’s grandfather in 1962, grew to $10 million in annual sales before Gaza’s embargo, employing 350 workers to produce cookies, potato chips and dairy products. More than half the sales came from exports to Israel.
Alwadeya struggled to stay in business after the blockade, cutting his staff to 190 and buying supplies smuggled through tunnels under the Egyptian border. He was at home in Gaza City during the Israeli offensive and returned when it ended to find a scene of devastation.
“What strikes me is how deliberate this was,” Alwadeya said Wednesday, pointing at the earth dug up next to one of his assembly plants by an Israeli army bulldozer, apparently to create a ramp so it could then roll onto the factory. Bulldozer or tank tracks were still visible on the collapsed roof.
He estimated the damage at $22 million. He doesn’t expect to recover any of that since his insurance company says it doesn’t cover acts of war. Among the losses: 300 tons of powdered milk imported from Israel to make ice cream.
“It’s soon the beginning of the season, and there’ll be no more ice-cream in Gaza,” Alwadeya said as a strong smell of rotting barbecue-flavored chips filled the air.
I know this sounds absurd, like one of our spoof articles. It’s not. The reporter’s outrage is clear as he chronicles of evidence debunking Israel’s claims. The only explanation for these attacks are that Israel thought that punitive measures against the Palestinian population at-large would debilitate popular support for Hamas. How wrong they were with their reckless strategy is exposed in post-offensive chronicles such as this.
When will Israel be held accountable for the scale of its criminality? There is no justification for collective punishment on this level, for shattering a besieged economy and killing so many powerless people.
Related posts:
- Israel Grounds Palestinian Football Team Again
- Israel: The Silent Sabotage of Palestinian Livelihood
- Israel’s Defense On Qana: This Is The Best We Can Do; US Media Must Do The Rest
- Assassination Nation: Israel Voids Palestinian Democracy
- Israel Arrests Palestinian Journalists
You still don’t get it. This was not a police action to root out criminals. This was a war, Will. A multi-storied structure, ESPECIALLY one “within the area closest to the Israeli military staging areas”, and ESPECIALLY “in open fields”, provides a vantage point of the area for everything from reporting on the movement of IDF forces to sniping soldiers assembling their vehicle formations.
But really this isn’t the issue. You still don’t get it. There are no “red” targets. There is no place safe from Israeli vengeance. Who gives a shit about some food factories when Hamas rockets are raining down on Sderot, to this very day!
You need to get it through your head. If Netanyahu takes over and there is rocket fire, the IDF will go back in, and this time it will finish the job. If that takes leveling Gaza, a growing number of Israelis are saying “if they can’t live in peace, so be it”.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 3:42 pmI think the above Anonymous meant:
“If that takes leveling Gaza, a growing number of Israelis are saying ‘if they won’t accept their subjugation and caging in Gaza, as well as our continued occupation of their land, so be it.”
Posted by E. | February 2, 2009, 4:21 pmThey had tried to destroy the Palestinian Authority using the very same tactics. This time, though, there is the added barbarity of targeting children, most probably in the hope that feeling their children’s lives at risk, Palestinians will leave – or at any rate, accept subjugation, as E. wrote above.
Posted by Gene | February 2, 2009, 4:37 pmDon’t forget about the 20,000+ chickens destroyed.
Posted by UJ | February 2, 2009, 4:55 pm“Hamas rockets are raining down on Sderot”
I’m sorry Mr. Anonymous, you must mean the Palestinian town of Najd:
http://nonarab-arab.blogspot.com/2009/01/lets-talk-about-sderotor-is-it-najd.html
As for the rest of your comment, what you are saying is that you are justifying war crimes and ignoring the ethnic cleansing committed by the Zionist terrorist state that is the root of it all. One unified country for all people, Arabs and Jews, with equal rights. The South African solution. It is the only solution.
Posted by NonArab-Arab | February 2, 2009, 5:27 pm…and killing so many powerless people.
Give it a rest, Will. Powerless people don’t behave so belligerently. Look to the Congo during the same time period, to find powerless and innocent victims. It’s really unbecoming for Gazans to have deliberately provoked a fight they knew they couldn’t win, and then raise a fuss and attempt to get everyone to feel sorry for them. Think about how absurd that would seem if you saw it on the street? If some skinny little nerd was chasing a heavy weight boxer around and kicking him in the ass, spitting in his face and slapping him around, eventually got knocked out cold, and then got up whining to the crowd of spectators about how he was a victim, what would the reaction be? Nothing but laughter. Or silence.
There’s nothing to say about this insanity. And it’s not going to end any time soon.
Posted by programmer craig | February 2, 2009, 9:46 pmInsanity is what it is. The people of Israel are so completely traumatized they can’t even demand their government to execute basic functions.
Imagine living with rockets being launched at you, day after day, people being murdered in the streets, in coffee shops, in bars and malls and busses. And your government does nothing. Nothing. Nothing. It is just explained as normal.
Phone calls are made and leaflettes dropped. “Roof knocking”. GPS guided mortars. Apologies after apologies. What is this nonsense?!
If Jews want Israel to be a normal country, then they must demand that Israel behaves like a normal country. There is not another normal country on the face of the planet that has put up with this shit for more than a day.
What is the point of having an army if your enemies know you will not use it? How do you establish deterrence when you allow the enemy to continue killing you, drip by drip, day by day? This is insanity.
If there are any Israelis here you better get your shit together and deal with this.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 10:58 pmIt is easy for a powerfil military power like Irsael to justify everything with the right to defend itself, Israel’s security, and to claim that Hamas was firing from any location inside Gaza.
The politicians of Israel, Fatah and Hamas are screwing up this small piece of land. Israel government is a bully, Fatah are corrupted and thieves, Hamas lack any sense of diplomacy or political wisdom. All act to their interest only while there are many voices inside Israel, Palestine and the Arab World who want only Peace.
Posted by Ali | February 3, 2009, 1:45 amAli you are a hopeless romantic. There is a war going on, habibi, and it’s not between the people desperate for peace.
Posted by Anonymous | February 3, 2009, 2:15 amTrolls, trolls, the Zionist fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot.
Posted by Anonymous | February 3, 2009, 3:05 amLet me break it down for all y’all:
God (through his prophets) prophesied the return of the Jews to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance) in the Bible. In the Bible, He also prophesied that Jews would come to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance), be surrounded, come under attack, and persecuted/killed and receive no peace until they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (their Mesii7, but the only true Mesii7 that ever existed). It’s all coming together in my mind, but I can’t tell an Arab the former because he gets mad. . . I can’t tell a Jew the latter, because he gets even MORE mad. In the end, everyone will see that nothing is going to happen until the Mesii7 comes and fixes things. Face it people: This is never going to end and when it does, everyone will be friends again.
I’m not a crazy fanatic Christian fundamentalist born-again, who believes that the US should not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons so they can then use them on Israel and thus speed up the Second Coming. That’s utterly absurd backwards illogical and wishing death and destruction to happen! That’s ridiculous, although some hardcore Christians I know are like that. I do however believe my Bible, which is the Jews’ Tanakh and the Muslim’s Quran. Read you books people . . . nothing will change . . . nothing is ever going to change . . . it’s just gonna get worse and worse. It just breaks my heart!
Peace and Justice for All!!!
Hanna
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 3, 2009, 6:38 amLet me break it down for all y’all:
God (through his prophets) prophesied the return of the Jews to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance) in the Bible. In the Bible, He also prophesied that Jews would come to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance), be surrounded, come under attack, and persecuted/killed and receive no peace until they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (their Mesii7, but the only true Mesii7 that ever existed). It’s all coming together in my mind, but I can’t tell an Arab the former because he gets mad. . . I can’t tell a Jew the latter, because he gets even MORE mad. In the end, everyone will see that nothing is going to happen until the Mesii7 comes and fixes things. Face it people: This is never going to end and when it does, everyone will be friends again.
I’m not a crazy fanatic Christian fundamentalist born-again, who believes that the US should not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons so they can then use them on Israel and thus speed up the Second Coming. That’s utterly absurd backwards illogical and wishing death and destruction to happen! That’s ridiculous, although some hardcore Christians I know are like that. I do however believe my Bible, which is the Jews’ Tanakh and the Muslim’s Quran. Read you books people . . . nothing will change . . . nothing is ever going to change . . . it’s just gonna get worse and worse. It just breaks my heart!
Peace and Justice for All!!!
Hanna
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 3, 2009, 6:38 amLet me break it down for all y’all:
God (through his prophets) prophesied the return of the Jews to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance) in the Bible. In the Bible, He also prophesied that Jews would come to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance), be surrounded, come under attack, and persecuted/killed and receive no peace until they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (their Mesii7, but the only true Mesii7 that ever existed). It’s all coming together in my mind, but I can’t tell an Arab the former because he gets mad. . . I can’t tell a Jew the latter, because he gets even MORE mad. In the end, everyone will see that nothing is going to happen until the Mesii7 comes and fixes things. Face it people: This is never going to end and when it does, everyone will be friends again.
I’m not a crazy fanatic Christian fundamentalist born-again, who believes that the US should not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons so they can then use them on Israel and thus speed up the Second Coming. That’s utterly absurd backwards illogical and wishing death and destruction to happen! That’s ridiculous, although some hardcore Christians I know are like that. I do however believe my Bible, which is the Jews’ Tanakh and the Muslim’s Quran. Read you books people . . . nothing will change . . . nothing is ever going to change . . . it’s just gonna get worse and worse. It just breaks my heart!
Peace and Justice for All!!!
Hanna
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 3, 2009, 6:38 amLet me break it down for all y’all:
God (through his prophets) prophesied the return of the Jews to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance) in the Bible. In the Bible, He also prophesied that Jews would come to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance), be surrounded, come under attack, and persecuted/killed and receive no peace until they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (their Mesii7, but the only true Mesii7 that ever existed). It’s all coming together in my mind, but I can’t tell an Arab the former because he gets mad. . . I can’t tell a Jew the latter, because he gets even MORE mad. In the end, everyone will see that nothing is going to happen until the Mesii7 comes and fixes things. Face it people: This is never going to end and when it does, everyone will be friends again.
I’m not a crazy fanatic Christian fundamentalist born-again, who believes that the US should not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons so they can then use them on Israel and thus speed up the Second Coming. That’s utterly absurd backwards illogical and wishing death and destruction to happen! That’s ridiculous, although some hardcore Christians I know are like that. I do however believe my Bible, which is the Jews’ Tanakh and the Muslim’s Quran. Read you books people . . . nothing will change . . . nothing is ever going to change . . . it’s just gonna get worse and worse. It just breaks my heart!
Peace and Justice for All!!!
Hanna
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 3, 2009, 6:38 amLet me break it down for all y’all:
God (through his prophets) prophesied the return of the Jews to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance) in the Bible. In the Bible, He also prophesied that Jews would come to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance), be surrounded, come under attack, and persecuted/killed and receive no peace until they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (their Mesii7, but the only true Mesii7 that ever existed). It’s all coming together in my mind, but I can’t tell an Arab the former because he gets mad. . . I can’t tell a Jew the latter, because he gets even MORE mad. In the end, everyone will see that nothing is going to happen until the Mesii7 comes and fixes things. Face it people: This is never going to end and when it does, everyone will be friends again.
I’m not a crazy fanatic Christian fundamentalist born-again, who believes that the US should not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons so they can then use them on Israel and thus speed up the Second Coming. That’s utterly absurd backwards illogical and wishing death and destruction to happen! That’s ridiculous, although some hardcore Christians I know are like that. I do however believe my Bible, which is the Jews’ Tanakh and the Muslim’s Quran. Read you books people . . . nothing will change . . . nothing is ever going to change . . . it’s just gonna get worse and worse. It just breaks my heart!
Peace and Justice for All!!!
Hanna
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 3, 2009, 6:38 amLet me break it down for all y’all:
God (through his prophets) prophesied the return of the Jews to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance) in the Bible. In the Bible, He also prophesied that Jews would come to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance), be surrounded, come under attack, and persecuted/killed and receive no peace until they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (their Mesii7, but the only true Mesii7 that ever existed). It’s all coming together in my mind, but I can’t tell an Arab the former because he gets mad. . . I can’t tell a Jew the latter, because he gets even MORE mad. In the end, everyone will see that nothing is going to happen until the Mesii7 comes and fixes things. Face it people: This is never going to end and when it does, everyone will be friends again.
I’m not a crazy fanatic Christian fundamentalist born-again, who believes that the US should not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons so they can then use them on Israel and thus speed up the Second Coming. That’s utterly absurd backwards illogical and wishing death and destruction to happen! That’s ridiculous, although some hardcore Christians I know are like that. I do however believe my Bible, which is the Jews’ Tanakh and the Muslim’s Quran. Read you books people . . . nothing will change . . . nothing is ever going to change . . . it’s just gonna get worse and worse. It just breaks my heart!
Peace and Justice for All!!!
Hanna
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 3, 2009, 6:38 amLet me break it down for all y’all:
God (through his prophets) prophesied the return of the Jews to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance) in the Bible. In the Bible, He also prophesied that Jews would come to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance), be surrounded, come under attack, and persecuted/killed and receive no peace until they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (their Mesii7, but the only true Mesii7 that ever existed). It’s all coming together in my mind, but I can’t tell an Arab the former because he gets mad. . . I can’t tell a Jew the latter, because he gets even MORE mad. In the end, everyone will see that nothing is going to happen until the Mesii7 comes and fixes things. Face it people: This is never going to end and when it does, everyone will be friends again.
I’m not a crazy fanatic Christian fundamentalist born-again, who believes that the US should not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons so they can then use them on Israel and thus speed up the Second Coming. That’s utterly absurd backwards illogical and wishing death and destruction to happen! That’s ridiculous, although some hardcore Christians I know are like that. I do however believe my Bible, which is the Jews’ Tanakh and the Muslim’s Quran. Read you books people . . . nothing will change . . . nothing is ever going to change . . . it’s just gonna get worse and worse. It just breaks my heart!
Peace and Justice for All!!!
Hanna
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 3, 2009, 6:38 amLet me break it down for all y’all:
God (through his prophets) prophesied the return of the Jews to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance) in the Bible. In the Bible, He also prophesied that Jews would come to Palestine (the lands of their inheritance), be surrounded, come under attack, and persecuted/killed and receive no peace until they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (their Mesii7, but the only true Mesii7 that ever existed). It’s all coming together in my mind, but I can’t tell an Arab the former because he gets mad. . . I can’t tell a Jew the latter, because he gets even MORE mad. In the end, everyone will see that nothing is going to happen until the Mesii7 comes and fixes things. Face it people: This is never going to end and when it does, everyone will be friends again.
I’m not a crazy fanatic Christian fundamentalist born-again, who believes that the US should not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons so they can then use them on Israel and thus speed up the Second Coming. That’s utterly absurd backwards illogical and wishing death and destruction to happen! That’s ridiculous, although some hardcore Christians I know are like that. I do however believe my Bible, which is the Jews’ Tanakh and the Muslim’s Quran. Read you books people . . . nothing will change . . . nothing is ever going to change . . . it’s just gonna get worse and worse. It just breaks my heart!
Peace and Justice for All!!!
Hanna
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 3, 2009, 6:38 amSteve, let me break it down for YOU:
Your silly, pathetic notion of ‘god’ is an absolute falsehood. No such thing exists. It’s a relic from our species’ detestable tribal, brutish past.
Posted by Joe | February 5, 2009, 12:13 pmHe IS real my dear Joe
Psalms 14, Verse 1 :
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
I hope in the end, we can come to the realization that He is real and that His Omnipotence and Omniscience is greater than anyone can possibly realize: Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Everyone else!
Good luck in your endeavors my friend!
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 5, 2009, 1:39 pmHe IS real my dear Joe
Psalms 14, Verse 1 :
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
I hope in the end, we can come to the realization that He is real and that His Omnipotence and Omniscience is greater than anyone can possibly realize: Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Everyone else!
Good luck in your endeavors my friend!
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 5, 2009, 1:39 pmHe IS real my dear Joe
Psalms 14, Verse 1 :
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
I hope in the end, we can come to the realization that He is real and that His Omnipotence and Omniscience is greater than anyone can possibly realize: Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Everyone else!
Good luck in your endeavors my friend!
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 5, 2009, 1:39 pmHe IS real my dear Joe
Psalms 14, Verse 1 :
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
I hope in the end, we can come to the realization that He is real and that His Omnipotence and Omniscience is greater than anyone can possibly realize: Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Everyone else!
Good luck in your endeavors my friend!
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 5, 2009, 1:39 pmHe IS real my dear Joe
Psalms 14, Verse 1 :
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
I hope in the end, we can come to the realization that He is real and that His Omnipotence and Omniscience is greater than anyone can possibly realize: Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Everyone else!
Good luck in your endeavors my friend!
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 5, 2009, 1:39 pmHe IS real my dear Joe
Psalms 14, Verse 1 :
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
I hope in the end, we can come to the realization that He is real and that His Omnipotence and Omniscience is greater than anyone can possibly realize: Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Everyone else!
Good luck in your endeavors my friend!
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 5, 2009, 1:39 pmHe IS real my dear Joe
Psalms 14, Verse 1 :
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
I hope in the end, we can come to the realization that He is real and that His Omnipotence and Omniscience is greater than anyone can possibly realize: Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Everyone else!
Good luck in your endeavors my friend!
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 5, 2009, 1:39 pmHe IS real my dear Joe
Psalms 14, Verse 1 :
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”
I hope in the end, we can come to the realization that He is real and that His Omnipotence and Omniscience is greater than anyone can possibly realize: Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Everyone else!
Good luck in your endeavors my friend!
Posted by Steve "Hanna" Khoury | February 5, 2009, 1:39 pmWhat have we come to…
The goy is telling the Jew there is a G-d.
Posted by Anonymous | February 5, 2009, 11:05 pm