Israel and Palestine: Cognitive Dissonance Required

I can’t find the right Facebook group. I’m Jewish, I’m progressive, I love Israel, but I hate where it’s going politically and I think the Occupation needs to end. I’m in a group that purports to be Zionist and feminist, but they hedge away from anything relating to Palestine or the occupation. “Progressive Zionists of the California Democratic Party” has a damn essay as their mission statement, with a 9-point list of their affirmations and then a compare-and-contrast section of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. But I’m not a Democrat. I’m definitely not in the “Cool Jews” group whose picture is the Palestinian flag. 

All these spaces seem so fraught. People go bananas. I questioned some of the claims in an article critical of Linda Sarsour. Someone posted a quote on my comment saying “Please stop telling people to respect others’ opinions. That’s for things like “I don’t like coffee” not for “I don’t like black people.””  Hey, thanks for woking me up, bro. I said reasonable people could disagree about this, and a lady responded with “#nope.” Turns out that lady owns the studio I exercise at. She’s perfectly nice in person! When it comes to Israel-- People. Lose. Their. Shit.

This was around the time that people were on edge because Israel was protecting itself and then Hamas launched hella rockets in defense, or at least that’s how most people were describing it, depending on which “side” they’re on. But I don’t believe in the idea of sides anymore. Both “sides” can be right at the same time. It’s possible for someone to look at information from one “side” and justifiably condemn the other side. People speak from their truth. The predicament comes when you see both sides as humans who want to live in peace and dignity. For some reason it seems as though there is no room for moderation, balance, or reason. Well, actually, I think I know what the reason is.

In The War on Peace, Ronan Farrow explains how diplomacy prevents military involvement-- military intervention is an indication of a failure of diplomacy. It’s possible to make a case for Israel that is rooted in facts and history. It is also possible to make a case for Palestine that is rooted in facts and history. All of those facts can be true at the same time. However, a lot of the violence that has occurred in the Holy Land could have been avoided with effective diplomacy. No matter which “side” you take, we should agree that the diplomats have failed. I know many pro-Israel folks insist that they have no one to negotiate with, but that is nonsense. A skilled diplomat will be able to negotiate with anyone. Both “sides” seem to lack them.

It’s easy to lay blame at your enemy’s feet. In this conflict, you can keep going back and back to say who started it. I don’t think there is a point to that. Israeli and Palestinian leaders are relying on military solutions because they do not have the courage to negotiate an end to the conflict in which they won’t get everything they want. I know that one day there will be peace, even if I don’t yet know the leaders who will deliver it. 

Real people have experienced profound loss, pain, grief, terror, and suffering over the last few decades in the Holy Land. I want that to end. Israelis and Palestinians have put up with enough bullshit already, and I’m tired of arguing about whose shit stinks more. I want the people engaged in these conversations to keep their eyes on the prize: no more Occupation; no more violence; self-determination, safety, and dignity for everyone.

Ideology vs. Practicality in Gaza and Sderot

When Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, I supported it. All 9000 Jews were removed (some forcibly) from their homes. Greenhouses, synagogues, gas stations, anything that was owned by Jews or Israel was dismantled. Gazans destroyed much of what was left behind. The Jews used the media to promote their causes, and it was terrible to watch them weep as they were removed from their homes and put on buses. And it was terrible to see the young soldiers execute their cruel orders. I supported it because I felt that the Palestinians have a right to their own state in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The peace process had been stalled for years while the intifada was going on, and I felt that this was one giant step towards peace. There were no negotiations, no deals, just Israel handing over the land to the Palestinians.

One year later Hamas won the Palestinian elections, and a year after that Hamas expelled all Fatah members from the Strip. This coup by a terrorist group (Israel was already not thrilled that Hamas was in the government) led to an international boycott of the Strip. This boycott prompted Hamas to increase their rocket fire into Israel. (The rockets began in 2001, but were frequent starting in 2004.) So for a number of years, Israeli citizens were subject to indiscriminate rocket fire. About 15 Israelis were killed, many wounded, and many more suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Additionally, many Palestinians were killed in Gaza as a result of weapons that detonated early or that fell short, and Israeli assaults on the Strip on account of the rockets.

I visited the town of Sderot, which has received a majority of the rockets. I have described it as being my own living nightmare. I also visited the town where the Gaza Jews were relocated. Their pain is still fresh, and they live in very small bungalows with their large families.

That day I realized what an all-around intolerable situation it was: Gaza Jews are removed by their own government, Israelis near Gaza suffer rocket attacks, and Gazans are trapped in what has been described as an “open sewer.” That day I changed my mind about the withdrawal. It had caused great pain for thousands of Jews, and brought no rewards to Israel. The Gazans as well don’t seem to have benefited much from the loss of the Jews (though perhaps they gained some dignity for having their land free of occupation.) I don’t think this could have been predicted in 2005, though.

I don’t know if the Jews should have stayed in Gaza or not, or if Israel should have done something about Hamas being in the government, or if the blockade is useful. What I do know is that we’ve come to a problem of ideology versus practicality. The Jews were removed for reasons of ideology, as if the act itself would usher in some divine series of events which would lead to peace. Gaza is blockaded because of ideology, and rockets are fired for ideology. None of these things have gained anything positive for anyone. But what about reality? What about the Gazans who suffer from the blockade and because their leaders refuse to renounce violence? What about the settlers who long to return to their old homes? What about the residents of Sderot who spend their days in fear? This is not normal for anyone!

When faced with this dilemma of ideology versus practicality, I side with practicality. The settlers, Gazans, and Israelis near Gaza all suffer because of ideology. I wish that Jews could live wherever they wanted. When Gaza becomes part of the State of Palestine—which we all know by now that it will—it would be up to the government of Palestine whether to give citizenship to its Jewish residents, and it would be up to the settlers to decide whether they want to live in an Arab country. Perhaps they could live there as Israelis living abroad. If the Jews were still there, I doubt Israel would blockade it. There has to be a reasonable balance between ideology and practicality. It is good to be guided by a set of ideals, but sometimes the time isn’t ripe for them to be enacted. For some ideas there will never be a ripe time. I think a Palestinian state free of Jews is a fine idea, but would make a horrible reality.

This conflict between ideology and practicality has played out again and again in the Middle East. It has led to endless conflict, and is an excuse to slow everything down. Clearly, doing things according to ideology doesn’t work, and neither does citing practicality as an excuse for not moving forward. Israel and Palestine’s leaders need to step up to the plate and get this resolved in a moderate and just way. I will not go into what that way is, but most Israelis and Palestinians know what it will look like.

Israel: FML! part 1

Israel was accused of many things during its 22-day war with Hamas militants in Gaza. Seven months after the fact, people still can’t agree on what actually happened—a common theme in Mid-East history. Even the disputed facts of what caused the war seem certain compared to how hazy the war looks. Israel attacked Hamas because they had been launching rockets into Israel, because they had blockaded the country, because Hamas had won the election and expelled Fatah. It’s all very simple! There is still a blockade, though Israel and Egypt send in aide daily. What Gazans want most now is construction materials like pipes and concrete, which Israel won’t allow for fear it will be made into weapons. (This fear is not without warrant—Hamas and Hezbollah have both used periods of calm to rearm themselves.)

I regret not citing a source for these, but during the war I kept a list of accusations against Israel. The first was that they used depleted uranium. This claim never went anywhere, and it’s totally ridiculous.

Next on my list is the use of white phosphorus, which proved to be true. White phosphorus is a chemical agent which creates a lot of smoke when it burns, and it is internationally allowed to be used for cover in open spaces. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many wide open spaces in Gaza, and some people were admitted to hospitals with burns suggesting a chemical agent. The IDF defended its use, saying it was using a legal substance in a legal manner.

Then there is the more general accusation of “war crimes.” Israel is a paranoid country, inhabited by paranoid people. When the UN asked to investigate the Gaza war, Israel denied them access to the Strip. The UN has a habit of passing resolutions against Israel, and there is a legitimate lack of trust on both sides. Ynet.com reported that “Berlin's Der Spiegel magazine reports that Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza is trying to get hundreds of alleged war crimes claims heard in European courts.”

Amnesty International accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes.

In an Al Jazeera article which I regret not dating, IDF soldiers reportedly “laughed as they opened fire.” Israel has one of the most humane armies in the world. They do not benefit from civilian casualties, or even militant casualties because those are celebrated as “martyrs.” The IDF dropped thousands of leaflets and alerted residents through phone calls as to which areas they should avoid. Israel sent in troops on foot—at a risk to their own soldiers—so that they could avoid loss of Palestinian life. One doesn’t have to support the political motivations for the war, or Israel’s military tactics, but the IDF deserves credit for some of its actions. Furthermore, painting Jewish soldiers as evil, murdering monsters is an old form of anti-Semitism called the Blood-Libel.

Haaretz.com reported on January 31, 2009, that “A Brussles-based research group accused Israel of enlisting child soldiers,” and “use of underage Palestinians as informants and sometimes human shields.” Those are pretty serious accusations. It was unclear whether the alleged child soldiers were Palestinian or Israeli. Israel drafts most of its citizens when they turn 18. Arabs are not required to enlist, and Haredim can do community service instead. Army service is a rite of passage in Israeli society.

Human Rights Watch blasted Israel’s use of remote-piloted vehicles, saying their indiscriminate fire killed 87 people.

(Haaretz.com’s search engine is useless, and Jpost.com makes you pay for old articles. Rip off!)

So depleted uranium did not happen, white phosphorus did, war crimes have possibly been committed—although Israel doesn’t want to cooperate with groups it know will condemn it, and laughing while killing is just ridiculous. Israel released its own report on the war, which includes details about incidents in which Gazans were injured, and when UN cites were damaged. The report was widely dismissed. I’ve been reading it, and it actually sounds pretty reasonable. On the other hand, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned Israel for everything in their reports. Israel is facing a lot of criticism—more than when US soldiers kill Iraqi civilians, more than when Mexican drug gangs kill police, etc. People (especially in NorCal, it seems) have the impression that Israel is a worse human rights violator than China. Some of the criticism is valid, but some is outlandish. I’d say about half the claims against Israel proved to be false or exaggerated.

Of course, Israel wasn’t exactly perfect in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead. Israelis are paranoid and defensive (often for good reason,) and that gave off the appearance that they had something to hide. However, I don’t want to see Israel doing more apologizing, and I don’t want it to give legitimacy to groups which really have no more credibility in Israel. I find it extremely alarming when so many groups rush to condemn Israel. Why isn’t anyone rushing to blame Hamas for what it let happen in its territory? I am left with serious questions about the media, which will bring me to my next post.

Cultural Learnings 10.0

I went on three trips over the past two weeks, and each was more insane than the one before.

10.1 First I went to Petra. This involved: a bus downtown, a bus to Tel Aviv, buses from and to the bus station since I got berekas in the extra time, a 5-hour bus ride to Eilat, and a taxi ride to the border. We crossed the border easily and got brightly colored dinars. We then took a taxi to the bus station. (Note: the bus station is a parking lot.) I wanted to pee before the 2-hour bus ride from Aqaba to Petra, so I found the bathroom. Instead of a toilet or even a Porta-Potty, there was a room with a hole in the ground. The hole was surrounded by a porcelain cover with spots for one’s feet. There was a spigot and a pitcher with which one could rinse one’s feet and the ground. Gross. We waited an hour for our bus to leave. On the way to Petra I found myself being forced to consider whether I preferred plummeting off a cliff or dying in a fiery crash. The bus took us right to our hostel.

Our hostel was the best rated in Petra. Our host was very accommodating and did everything to make us comfortable, even driving us to and from the park. The room didn’t have air conditioning, and the toilet was so close to the wall that we had to sit sideways on the toilet. There was a map of Jordan in the lobby which didn’t name Israel. We spent the rest of the day walking through the park. It was really phenomenal. Five year old children approach tourists with necklaces and postcards. Bedouin men try to sell donkey, horse, and carriage rides. I got to see a lot of different types of Muslims, including a man and two women from Saudi Arabia. I couldn’t imagine stomping around in the sun with only my eyes exposed, if that. I ended up chatting with a Bedouin vendor for a while. He and his friends really wanted us to come to a tea ceremony. None of us wanted to (I was with four friends,) but some in my group had a difficult time saying no to people. We didn’t end up going and they totally called us out on it the next day (or at least the people who suggested they would come.)

One of my friends has a giant butt and colored hair, and she got a lot of attention. The Jordanian men would glance rather than stare, which I prefer. She seemed to be mostly oblivious to it. She’s a chatty girl who speaks heavily British-accented Iraqi Arabic, so she ended up scoring us some good deals. I think her accent endeared her to the many men we spoke to. However on the bus ride into Petra, the teenager behind her slipped his hand down the back of her shirt while she was sleeping. The kid’s father was there.

Surprisingly, I found Jordanian men really attractive. The Bedouin men wear eyeliner, and most of the police and other men I noticed has chiseled features. The border guard on the way back had super curly eyelashes. I haven’t been interested in Israeli men at all this whole time. Jordanian women wear much nicer clothes than Palestinian women. The robes were nicer, and modern dresses were also way cuter. I didn’t eat much, but I was not impressed with Jordanian food.

The second day we rode horses into the park. My scout said he is a teacher and he makes 200 dinar a month. That’s about $300. He asked how much teachers made in the US, and it pained me to see the wheels turning in his head when I told him $40,000. (I completely made that figure up.) We walked for a ways, then rode donkeys up the 800 flights of stairs. It was kind of horrifying. My friends felt bad for the donkeys. I felt bad for the Bedouins. They barely even broke sweats! I had been chugging water all day, and they carried nothing with them. We saw the monastery at the top, and it was really big. We were definitely too scared to ride the donkeys down hill, so we walked. One of my friends had told a Bedouin lady selling jewelry that she’d stop by on the way down (even though she had no intention of doing so), and she totally called her out on it when my friend refused to look at the necklaces. I usually just ignore all of them.



I felt angry that the Bedouins live without dignity—exploiting their children, living in caves. I didn’t know who to be angry at, though—the Bedouins themselves or some facet of modern society which put them into that place.

We got a taxi ride straight to the border in the afternoon, and we found our hostel in Eilat. It felt like a palace! It was so clean and came with shampoo and a flat screen TV. It was 40°C outside, and it felt like sitting in front of an open oven. We tried to go to the Chabad house for dinner, but it wasn’t for tourists, and we wound up just sitting there for an hour. No one invited us, perhaps because we weren’t all modestly dressed. We spent Shabbat day on the beach. All my friends went home during Shabbat, but I waited until it was over and went by myself. I got home at 2 am.

10.2 At 8 the next day we all attended a seminar in Sderot. Sderot is the closest town to the Gaza Strip, and it gets rocketed the most, though it has been more—though not completely—quiet since the ceasefire. In a previous blog post I mentioned an article which described a caterpillar bomb shelter on a play ground. That was the first place we went. Well, we were actually going to the Chabad house across the street. The whole building is a bomb shelter. We heard a speaker talk about Gaza and Sderot. We went to the police station where some of them Qassam rockets are piled up. Some of them say “Jerusalem al-Quds,” to suggest that they will one day reach there. I used to be an anxious child and always considered how I could be trapped and killed any place I was. Almost everything is bomb shelter in Sderot, but not quite. There are plenty of places where you would not make it into a shelter within 15 seconds. Sderot is my own personal living nightmare. We drove along a street which had been hit frequently, and our guide told us stories about what had happened in those houses—stories of fantastic luck and tragic misfortune. One house was still not repaired, and the roof was shattered and the yard strewn with household items. We saw one school which was only 1/3rd covered with a steel dome—the rest was too expensive. At the Sderot Media Center (also a bomb shelter) we watched film footage of rocket attacks. One showed children at a preschool. “Tsevah adom” sounds, and they all start running into the building. The teacher calmly ushers them inside. Once in the shelter they begin to count down to 1 and then sing so they won’t hear the explosion. We saw what someone in shock looks like. In the news it will often say there was a rocket attack with no casualties, and a few people were treated for shock. I had imagined someone sitting there wrapped in a blanket saying “Wow, I am so shocked. I really didn’t expect that. I was just sitting here and then I heard a huge explosion. Just, wow. I can’t believe it.” And the paramedic is sitting there next to her nodding and handing her a hot chocolate. That is not what shock looks like.



We heard from a dialog group, and they read us poems that Israeli and Palestinian children had written. Because the Gaza Strip is sealed off, we could not speak to any Gazans directly.

In 2005 the Israeli government evacuated 9000 Jews from the Gaza Strip. Many of them are living in Nitzan in pre-fab homes. There is a climbing structure there flying a flag for the Messiah. It was taken out of Gaza by the people, piece by piece. It is the only thing that came out. We heard a speaker talk about how her husband lost an arm and some fingers in two wars, and then the Israeli government made them leave their own home. We watched a very sad video about it. Many of the people in my program thought they were crazy. I was less convinced. I couldn’t help feeling compassion for these people. I had previously supported the withdrawal, seeing it as a necessary step towards peace. But there is no peace, and these people are living with 5 or 7 kids in tiny bungalows. I felt town between practicality and ideology. It was a wild day.
The art on the bomb shelter says "We are with you!" "You expelled orange and got red!" and a verse from the Torah about how we are G-d's people.

10.3 A friend from concerts came to Israel on birthright, and I got to see her. She is in the pro-Palestinian group on campus, but she now loves Israel. She saw most of the country, met soldiers, and went to the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade. That doesn’t mean she no longer supports Palestine, but now she has an excellent perspective on the situation.

10.4 Pride was very calm. The security to get into the park was separate for men and women, which is just inappropriate. Besides some drummers, everything was quiet. There were no chants, music, or singing along the march. The light posts flew rainbow flags. There was one protester along the route, and he held a sign that said “Gays spread AIDS.” I think he’s brave for protesting alone. I’ve been the minority voice before, and it sucks. Hopefully I wasn’t as ignorant as him. There were few children at this event, unlike in SF. Two parents carried signs in Hebrew that said "My son is gay and I am proud of him!" and "My son is gay: so what?" It was peaceful and positive, and appropriate for Jerusalem. There were some mostly Haredi protesters across the street, but they weren't very visible. Their signs said "Holyland, not homoland," "for home's sake go strait," and "strait is butiful!"


10.5 My friend and I went to Bethlehem with some of her friends from birthright. We took an Arab bus to the border. The checkpoint felt a little holocausty. We went first to the Church of the Nativity, which was very beautiful. Next we went to the market. The two boys we were with felt very uncomfortable. I don’t think people noticed us much. Our last stop was the security wall. I was so surprised at how much of it was peaceful and hopeful. As we walked along, a man started chatting with us from his front yard, which faces the wall. He invited us in for Turkish coffee. (I’m just mentioning that because it sounds exotic. He gave us Sprite.) We spoke with him and his family about living across the street from the wall. The cutest old lady ever said it was like living in a prison. She spoke French as well, and she said the nuns spoke it at school. Wow! She said the houses that were in the way were taken down. Our host said he doesn’t think Israel wants peace. He asked how a country that wants peace could … and he gestured to the wall. Sitting in this family’s rose garden literally in the shadow of the wall was one of the most powerful experiences I have had in Israel. Like in Sderot, I felt torn between the ideology of security and the practicality of doing something as crazy as building a big ass wall. I will definitely write more about this after I have had time to ponder.


10.6 Both in Bethlehem and in Petra, we tried not to mention Israel or the fact that we are Jews. I felt ashamed afterwards. I don’t want to put myself into an unsafe situation, but I also feel as though I am the Jewish ambassador to the world. I—personally—have to be an example of a Jew who isn’t greedy, who isn’t a soldier, who isn’t a settler, who isn’t JAPy, and who isn’t all the things people still feel about Jews. I rarely regret things, but I should have found a way to come out as a Jew in Bethlehem. Israelis aren’t allowed into the West Bank, so they really don’t see Jews other than settlers, soldiers, and on Arab-language TV. My adventures over the past two weeks have been eye-opening and confusing for me. And I only have two weeks left here to sort it all out!

WTF Happened in Gaza?

The following is a brief overview of the recent war in Gaza. Reading my Gaza for Beginners post first is recommended.

From the top:
Between December 27th, 2008, and January 18th, 2009, Israel was battling Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It began with aerial bombings of targets associated with Hamas—buildings from which they had launched rockets, headquarters, underground smuggling tunnels, the prison, the university, and other practical and symbolic targets. After about a week of that, the Israeli army sent ground troops. The fighting ended when Israel and then Hamas both declared unilateral cease-fires on the same day. Three Israeli civilians and 10 soldiers were killed in this war. The number of Palestinian dead has not yet been confirmed. Estimates range from 900-1500. Hamas claims about 40 of those were its fighters, and the rest were civilians. Israel claims a majority were fighters.

Why did Israel start attacking Gaza?
Israel wanted to end the rocketfire which had been coming into Israel since 2002. After the 6-month truce ended on December 19th, Hamas increased the number of rockets it launched into Israel. They were also firing rockets during the truce. Thousands of rockets and mortars were launched from Gaza into Israel over the past few years, making life in southern Israel a nightmare. A Fox News article^ counts 3000 Qassam rockets and 2500 mortar attacks on Israel between 2001 and May 2008. A wikipedia.org list of rocket and mortar attacks claims 7500 rockets have hit the city of Sderot.* I don’t consider Fox or wikipedia.org 100% reliable, but any way you look at it, a lot of rockets and mortars have landed in Israel.

Why was Hamas firing rockets into Israel?
Hamas wanted to end the occupation of the Gaza Strip, the blockade of it, and the occupation of the West Bank, as well as simply removing Jews from what they consider Islamic land*. Both sides basically went back and forth saying that they would give the other side what they wanted as soon as they met certain demands.

The Truce.
I think this all has to do with the truce, which no one seems to be talking about. The 6-month truce which ended in December was pretty shaky all along. Israel wanted Hamas to stop arming itself and attacking, which it didn’t do. Hamas wanted Israel to end the blockade, which it didn’t do because the rockets were still coming in. Whether or not that sounds fair, there is no way Israel is going to open up borders to a territory controlled by an organization which has sworn to destroy it, and actively tries to do so. (Most people don’t think Hamas is capable of achieving that objective, but that may or may not be relevant.) So the truce ended, and Hamas immediately said it wouldn’t agree to another one. Hamas wants a truce in which its borders are open. It didn’t think Israel would launch an all-out assault on it; rather, it thought Israelis would be willing to make even more concessions to get the rockets to stop. Israel, on the other hand, wants a truce with teeth— one in which it can act militarily against attacks. It wants a truce which actually assures its citizens live in peace. It figured that if it showed Hamas who’s boss, they would agree to a rocket-less truce so as not to get creamed again. They were both trying to force a truce, but as of now we only have two independent cease-fires. Israel said it would bomb Gaza if rockets came again, and they did. Hopefully they won’t try it again.

Israel has made a number of concessions to the Palestinians, and many Israelis feel there is a lack of reciprocity. The biggest example of this is the 2005 unilateral Israeli withdrawal of all soldiers and civilians from Gaza, which lead to an increase in rocket fire. It’s things like that which make Israelis really cynical. Like, Gaza gets 2/3rds its electricity from the Israeli city of Ashkelon, and then they hit it with rockets.** And then they complain when their electricity is cut off.

More than anything, the entire Israeli-Arab conflict is a political conflict. Yes, land (and religion) seems to be the crux of the problem, but you have to keep in mind that this is mostly a political conflict. Different sides have objectives, and are doing whatever they think will get them the greatest gains. Outside of Israel/Palestine, it’s hard to remember that regular people live there. They prefer Coke to Pepsi, they want those shoes from that magazine, and that neighbor boy is pretty cute. It’s very easy to be ideological here, and say who should live where, who has the right to this, or who should do that. But it’s all politics. Israeli and Palestinian leaders are assholes, just like in America. People are way less fanatical about it there than they are here, if you can believe it.


Wasn’t Israel’s military response disproportionate?
I have a number of responses to this question:

Should Israel wait until 1000 of its citizens die before it launches an intense military action?

The disproportionate argument usually relates to the death count, as suggested above. Hamas is not very good at killing Israelis with rockets, but not for lack of trying. They sent thousands of rockets into Israel, each one an attempt at killing Israelis, or at least making living in that section of Israel intolerable. Hamas acquired bigger and longer-range missiles over time, clearly with the intent of terrorizing as many Israelis as possible.~ Israel built bomb shelters everywhere—even on playgrounds—and created alarm systems to warn its residents. These have saved many lives. So if Israel is good at protecting its citizens, that means Hamas shouldn’t pay the price for its actions?

On the flip side, Hamas is not good at protecting its people. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and firing rockets from urban areas is bound to come with a terrible price. The line between civilian and soldier is blurred with Hamas fighters. They may fire rockets or smuggle weapons in the morning, but they go home to their families at night. Instead of using the billions of dollars in international aide to build infrastructure and promote an economy, Hamas has used its money for weapons. If it can smuggle ammunition, it should be able to smuggle medical supplies and food. Hamas also uses human shields. They launch rockets from schools, store their weapons in mosques, and disguise their soldiers in hospitals. Hamas built no bomb shelters for its people. Israel would also warn Gaza residents of impending attacks with text message or leaflets, which no other military would consider doing. If you only count deaths, you’re missing most of the picture.

How many Gazans died?
Good question. Most of the figures come from Palestinian sources. There have been numerous instances of grossly inflated death counts coming from Palestinian sources (Battle of Jenin), and I am reluctant to give a definite figure right now. Additionally, reporters were not allowed in Gaza, so there were no (theoretically) unbiased sources confirming the deaths. I will update this section as new figures appear.
12/29: 350 dead, 60 civilians. [that’s 17%] NY Times “according to UN officials”
12/29: 314 dead, 57 civilians. [that’s 18%] Guardian UK citing “Palestinian officials.”
1/1: 390 dead; 1600 wounded, “dozens of civilians.” Washington Post citing “Gaza medical officials.”
1/3: 430 dead. NY Times.
1/15: 1000+ dead, 300 children. AlJazeera
1/22: 1314 dead, 412 children; 5300 wounded. Jpost citing “Hamas ministry.”
1/22: A Haaretz op-ed on 1/31 said “according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights”, as of 1/22 are: 1285 dead, 1062 non-combatants (895 civilians, 167 civilian police,) 281 children, 111 women. 4336 wounded, 1133 children.
1/23: 1300 + dead. AlJazeera.
1/25: 1330 dead. AlJazeera.
1/26: 1300 dead. Haaretz.com.
3/25: 1370 dead: 600 Hamas men, 309 civilians of which 189 were children under 15. haaretz.com citing IDF report.
3/25: 1440 dead: 431 are children, 114 are women. haaretz.com citing UN report. From the same article:
3/25: 1434 dead: 960 civilians. haaretz.com citing "Palestinian officials."
There has been a general leveling off of statistics, usually ranging from "almost 1300" to "1330." The sources cited are universally questionable, and any unconfirmed single source is automatically questionable.
4/4: 1100+ dead. Al Jazeera. In the same article, citing Palestinian Centre for Human rights, which has a list of dead: 1417dead, 926 civilians. Citing the Israeli military which doesn't have a list: 1116 dead, 295 civilians.
4/22: 1166 dead: 709 combatants, 295 women, children, elderly. Jpost.com citing IDF Cast Lead probe.
8/24/09: "at least 1400" killed. alJazeera English, not citing a source
7/6/10: "more than 1300." Al Jazeera English.
7/6/10 "around 1400." al Jazeera English

If the rockets have been coming for many years, what was Israel doing about it, and why did it decide on a military assault this time?
The city which comes under the most fire is Sderot. There is a warning system in place. The “Color Red” alarm goes off, and everyone has 15 seconds to get into a bomb shelter before the rocket hits. Israel also flies drones over Gaza, and frequently bombs sites from which rockets were launched. Israelis were quite critical of the lack of response, often lamenting that Sderot and other cities had been abandoned.

The (crappy) truce had ended, and Hamas immediately increased attacks. Israel had been holding back for years, for many reasons. It tried a number of tactics, the most aggressive being the unilateral disengagement of 2005. Nothing worked. When the truce ended, Israel felt the time was ripe for defending its citizens militarily. I think Israelis had enough.

A few points I want to bring up:
If Hamas laid down its weapons, so would Israel. If Israel laid down its weapons, Hamas would not.

Hamas uses human shields. They fire rockets out of densely populated areas, putting thousands of people at risk. Hundreds of Palestinians are killed each year in failed rocket launches, and by other Palestinians who suspect them of “collaborating” with Israel or being members of Fatah (to be fair, they are usually shot in the legs rather than killed.) Hamas hides in schools, hospitals, mosques, and other civilian locations.

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they experience war anymore.”

^http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473868,00.html
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Qassam_rocket_attacks
**http://www.wtop.com/?nid=778&sid=1568377
~ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/hamas-qassam.htm

Gaza for Beginners

What is the Gaza Strip?
The Gaza Strip is a small piece of land in the southwest corner of Israel. It is 360 square km (224 sq mi)^. That is about the size of two Washington, DC’s. It is bordered by the Mediterranean on the west, Egypt to the south and Israel on the north and east. 1.5 million Palestinians live there.


Who is in control of the Gaza strip, and how did that come about?
The Gaza strip is governed by Hamas, which came to power after elections in 2006. Initially, power was to be shared between Hamas and the other leading party Fatah. Because of the terrorist histories of both organizations, Israel and the Quartet (Russia, the US, the EU, and the UN) began economic sanctions against the Palestinian territories, to be lifted when they renounced violence, and accepted Israel and all previous treaties. In June 2007 Hamas fighters expelled or killed many Fatah supporters in Gaza, leaving Hamas in control. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization because it has sent suicide bombers into Israel, and its charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Because of its status as a terrorist organization and its inability to provide security, Israel and Egypt began a blockade in 2007, allowing in only enough goods to prevent a humanitarian crisis. Fatah gained some control over the West Bank, which is occupied by Israel. Because they no longer engage in terrorism, they are supported internationally and by Israel.

What is the history of Gaza?
The land of Israel/Palestine has been under many empires over the past 3000 years. To keep things simple, we can begin at 1900. At that time, Gaza was just a small part of the Ottoman Empire. Because the Ottomans were on the losing side of WWI, Britain and France acquired most of the Empire. Britain controlled the Palestine Mandate, which included Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan—though they weren’t called by those names yet. Jews had been fleeing persecution in Europe, and had started Zionism—a movement demanding a national Jewish homeland. At the same time, local Arabs began asserting their right to national independence. The Jews tried to force the British out of Palestine, and eventually the British left it up to the newly-formed UN to resolve the matter of competing nationalist movements. UN Resolution 181 of 1947 established two states according to population densities. The Arab Palestinians got 3 sections of contiguous land- Gaza and some extra, the majority of central Palestine including the West Bank, and a northern section by Lebanon. The Jewish Palestinians got more land, but not in contiguous sections, and the largest section—the Negev desert in the southern half of the country—was not arable. The Jews accepted this partition, and the Arabs did not, leading to a series of violent attacks. In 1948, the Jews declared the independence of the State of Israel, which was promptly attacked by 5 Arab armies (and a few extra.) A ceasefire was declared in 1949, and Gaza was under Egyptian control.

At this point begins the Palestinian refugee crisis, which I won’t go into now because it is extremely complicated. Palestinians fleeing the violence of the 1948 war fled their homes, but were mostly not admitted into other Arab countries. Those that ended up in the Gaza Strip were not given Egyptian citizenship, and they lived in refugee camps. In the Six Day War of 1967, Israel captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt (among territory from other countries.) Jewish settlers from Israel built communities there. When peace was established between Egypt and Israel in 1979, Israel evacuated its settlers from the Sinai and returned it to Egypt. Egypt was not interested in the Gaza Strip, and it remained under Israeli control. The Gaza Strip went through phases of freedom and restriction, violence and peace. Notably, the first intifada—uprising—began in Gaza in 1987. An estimated 1,100 Palestinians were killed (in Gaza and the West Bank) by Israelis during the first intifada, which lasted until 1993. An additional 1000 Palestinians were killed as “collaborators” by other Palestinians.* This was not an armed uprising, but rather one involving strikes, public demonstrations, and throwing rocks at soldiers.

The 1994 Oslo Accords transferred power from the Israeli military to the Palestinian Authority. Israel still maintained control over Gaza’s borders, coast, and airspace. Its electricity comes from Israel, as does most of its sewage and infrastructure. Egypt agreed to monitor its border with Gaza, and Israel monitors the crossing there with cameras*.

In 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, forcibly removing all of its citizens. While it no longer had any military or civilian presence in the Strip, it still controlled borders, airspace, immigration, etc. That brings us up to 2006, which we’ve already gone over.

I gathered the information here from a number of different websites, and verified much of it with books in my house. Wikipedia.org is surprisingly helpful, and I found that it was rarely unbalanced. A few articles contained notes about lacking citations or being biased. Wikipedia keeps you on your toes. I tried to be objective, but I think a Gazan writing this would have told it differently.



*wikipedia.org
^https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/