Israel: the cost posted by Richard Seymour

In addition to being a singularly brutal act, Israel's attack on the Gaza Freedom flotilla may well constitute its most reckless, idiotic gambit to date. It has done irreparable damage to its relationship with one of longest standing regional allies, resulting in Turkey's decision to send armed naval ships along with future aid convoys to the Gaza strip. It has led Egypt to re-open the Rafah crossing indefinitely, thus effectively breaking the blockade. The opinion of Quartet leaders, whose assistance in enforcing the barricades and normalising Israel's behaviour, would appear to have been shifted pragmatically against continuing with the blockade policy. Tony Blair, the grotesque representative of the Quartet in the Middle East, has allowed that Israel must surely find a "better" way to "help" the people of Gaza. Now, it seems that Israel has been forced to agree to release all foreigners kidnapped from the flotilla by its armed forces. I have to suppose that this attack was supposed to terrorise pro-Palestinian activists, deter aid to Gaza, and deliver a rather unsubtle slap in the face to the Turkish leadership for having taken to criticising some of Israel's policies, notably Cast Lead. It was intended, I guess, to remind people who was boss. It would appear to have achieved just the opposite, and given the people of Gaza a potential breathing space.

Labels: blockade, flotilla, gaza, Israel, palestine, rafah, war crimes, zionism

Putting Gaza Back in the Cage posted by Richard Seymour

The all-too-brief moment of liberation for Gaza is over. The cage doors have been slammed shut, elopers shot, and air strikes on the captive population resumed. Israel's collective punishment having been sanctified by the Jerusalem-based Supreme Court last week (the reduction of power to Gaza begins today), and its past war crimes officially denied, the IDF can rampage through its open air prison at liberty. As often as it likes. The IDF are also looking at ways to stop anything like the breach of that wall ever happening again - bad example, you see. What if people starting doing that in the West Bank? And Egypt's coppers are back on the beat, shooting at Gazan protesters. The brief exhiliaration of crossing the border now gives way to a darker reality - the so-called "shopping spree" didn't begin to bring even a fraction of the goods that were needed.

Starvation is afoot. The FAO's last 'Food Security and Vulnerability' assessment, which was carried out in 2006, found that only a third of all Palestinians were food secure. The Gaza Strip is particularly vulnerable, since it cannot produce more than 1% of the wheatflour that makes up 80% of the basic diet. The report notes that "24% of food insecure non-refugees are located in West Bank and 58% are located in the Gaza Strip". (Since we tend to forget about the refugee population, who are given no rights in the 'two state' consensus, it is worth pointing out that they are in the worst condition when it comes to basic nutrition). The last time a survey of Palestinian incomes was taken, to my knowledge, was Oxfam's report in early 2007, which found that poverty had increased by 30% over the previous year. As they note, this is not only because international donors suspended aid upon the election of Hamas. It is because Israel collects Palestinian tax revenue and withholds it. The number of Palestinians living on less than $2.10 a day doubled in 2006. And so, with the economy subject to a blockade, with tax revenues withheld, with aid withdrawn, and with power supplies now cut, Israel is back to its policy of "putting the Palestinians on a diet" (as Dov Weisglass once described it).

Labels: gaza, hamas, Israel, palestine, rafah