What a totally vapid post. Notice this idiocy: "Gaza is the ultimate failed state. It has been failed by the Egyptians, by the Israelis and by the Palestinians."

What a crock. Gaza became a failed state because of the Occupation and subsequent Seige. Notice its collapse since 1967.

You Zionists own this evil. Don't try to generalize it.

Gaza is not a failed state. For something to be a failed state it would have to have been a state at one time. But it was never a state. Gaza is 360 square kilometer Israeli (and Egyptian) prison.

Remember that old movie Escape from New York? It seemed like an over-the-top sci fi melodrama that had no actual correlate in reality, right? But that's Gaza.

The difference is that in that movie, most of the people concentrated and fenced into New York were actual criminals. Most of the Gazans have committed no crime but to be born Palestinians in Gaza.

The dynamics of the Israel-Gaza part of the struggle look like classic prison security techniques. Gaza is entirely enclosed by a security barrier. The ways in and the ways out are blocked and guarded. Entrance by individuals in and out, and what people are allowed to bring in and out, are tightly controlled by the jailers. If the prisoners start building tunnels, the tunnels are destroyed by the jailers. From time to time there is a prison revolt, and when the prisoners get too rowdy, the jailers send in troopers to put it down on foot or from the air.

I think we should also resist the usual divide-and-conquer attempts by the Israeli government and its propaganda organs to speak of Gaza and the West Bank as though they are two distinct entities. There is one Palestinian political entity that has been divided into two remaining chunks by a century of Zionism in Palestine.

People should go over to Steve Clemons's Washington Note site. There is some very interesting stuff going on there. He has a guest post from Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative. Nir Rosen also came by and left a long comment on the previous post from Steve.

Josh never seems to get around to inviting any Palestinians to participate at TPM Cafe.

After weeks of blockade that have seen Gaza starve for food, medicine and fuel, it's difficult to see this ending unless Israeli heads are the noggins "knocked together". As long as America is involved, we know that will never happen. Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com has a good take on the tragedy:

"Before (Obama) even gets a chance to appoint his Middle East team, his special envoys and advisers, the Israelis will have sabotaged the peace effort they can clearly see coming – and put the Americans on notice that whatever "change" is in the air will have to be to Israel's advantage. In short, the Gaza massacre is a preemptive strike against the prospect of American intervention on the Palestinians' behalf, or, at least, a more evenhanded policy framework."

I still remain unconvinced that Isr
ael had a choice about what to do in this situation, i.e. how to stop the shelling of Israeli civilian population centers to the west and north of Gaza. Most folks on here seem to want to look beyond that issue and make the same, what's the word of the day?, oh yes "vapid" points that they make every day, to wit, that Israel is a monster and the issue of defending its citizenry is immaterial. I respectfully, perhaps, vapidly, disagree, although again I remain to be convinced by serious people about what Israel's real options were in this situation.

On the issue of starvation, I am not defending Israel's blockade, but even though I might be accused of being vapid, it appears that, at least according to the United Nations, the starvation meme is a lie being spread perhaps by some well-meaning folks and perhaps by others for propaganda purposes. UN Program Development Program Khaled Abdel Shaafi is cited thusly on this point:

"Reports that as many as 50 per cent of children are suffering from malnutrition are exaggerations, says Khaled Abdel Shaafi, director [of] the United Nations Development Program.

'This is not a humanitarian crisis,' he said. 'It's an economic crisis, a political crisis, but it's not a humanitarian crisis. People aren't starving."

'That doesn't mean it's pleasant, he said. "It's like a prison: You have shelter and food, but it's not a nice place to live."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081212.wgaza12/BNStory/International/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail

I don't justify Israel's conduct in many respects, and I don't condone the blockade to the extent that it has impacted the lives of ordinary Gazans, especially children, but my feelings are not going to be buttressed by lies and propaganda. I can hate the occupation, I can hate the settler movement, and I can hate the prospects for my beloved Israel because of what is going on, but I will continue to challenge propaganda on both sides. And anyone who has read Jo-Ann Mort knows that she is at least as objective on matters pertaining to the Middle East, as anyone, absolutely anyone, on this board.

Some of you are such incredible hypocrites. You extol the virtues of some contributors on here who have written the same blogposts week in and week out, sometimes three times in a single day, and here Jo-Ann Mort, who doesn't stick to certain party lines in this fairly brief post, is attacked as vapid at best, or racist at worst.

I submit this post makes two non-vapid points. First, Gazans have been denied their due by Israelis, Egyptians, and by fellow Palestinians. Second, a strong international intervention is necessary to deal with the I-P conflict, and that means first and foremost by the Obama Administration. Folks might disagree with one or both points, but these points made by Ms. Mort are salient and directly address what is happening now.

You change no hearts, you change no minds, you do, in fact, play parlor games with the lives of people whom you pretend to care so much about, and you pretend to care more than folks like Ms. Mort who may not walk lock step with you. And I'll sign my name to what I write with pride and with conceded and heartfelt distress about what is happening in Gaza right now.

Bruce S. Levine
New York, New York

P.S. Please, there are many serious posters out there, many of whom I disagree with often (are you reading me lally?), who, no pun intended, I read religiously and respect to no end. I do not mean to generalize, but I am miffed by these petty and hypocritical attacks on Jo-Ann Mort. If this were my site, I would ban the person who called her a racist. . .but that's probably why I don't run a website.

Here's a vapid snapshot of bounteous Gaza life, from a John Pilger article in the New Statesman last year:

Whenever I have been in Gaza, I have been consumed by this melancholia, as if I were a trespasser in a secret place of mourning. Skeins of smoke from wood fires hang over the same Mediterranean Sea that free peoples know, but not here. Along beaches that tourists would regard as picturesque trudge the incarcerated of Gaza; lines of sepia figures become silhouettes, marching at the water's edge, through lapping sewage. The water and power are cut off, yet again, when the generators are bombed, yet again. Iconic murals on walls pockmarked by bullets commemorate the dead, such as the family of 18 men, women and children who "clashed" with a 500lb American/Israeli bomb, dropped on their block of flats as they slept. Presumably, they were militants.

And what really disturbed me about the post was that Ms. Mort was trying to suggest something without really coming out and saying it:

"But the cycle of violence-Palestinians living in poverty and without hope in Gaza, Israeli innocent civilians being killed by rockets aimed solely at civilians by the Hamas fighters, and Israel's IDF retaliating with force, will continue without a global response."

You see, Hamas was aiming at innocent Israeli civilians, while the IDF was retaliating with force.

I thought the post made some sense, and certainly didn't deserve the caustic comments by some.
Those who point to the casualty ratio--if the ratio was reversed, would you say that Hamas was at fault? Is that the standard?
There is no question that Hamas sends rockets to civilian areas, with the intent of terrorizing and killing civilians in Israel.
Israel has made some effort to aim at strategic targets, and many/most of the casualties have been what is called a "militant."
The EU classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization. Does that have any meaning to Israel's detractors?
I agree with the comment about the disproportionate amount of attention given to this compared to Darfur, Haiti, the Congo, etc.
How about the oppression of Arabs in Arab countries? Is it only when Jews are involved that some care?

Well at least you didn't blame the Palestinians for Darfur. However, I have been told that Hamas was responsible for the Holocaust.