The Egyptians called it “Gazzat” meaning the prized city, as it once was, but for most of the 20th century the Gaza Strip has been a host to refuges from other parts of Palestine, and since 1948 has been a victim of de-development.
The most important question Israel must ask as they prepare to remove 2,586 settlement homes covering approximately 20 percent of Gaza land is — does our occupation of the Palestinian territories increase Israeli security?
The intifada and its armed resistance, including operations described as “terrorism” against Israel, is a product of the relentless, systematic brutality inflicted upon Palestinian civilians by Israeli’s military occupation.
In 1987 the Palestinian intifada erupted, a mass civil movement against the occupation, and the second intifada started in 2000, after which Israel instituted a draconian control over every facet of Palestinian existence down to the minutia of marriage licensing, health care, and travel documents.
The airports and seaports were closed bringing the economy to a grinding halt, the agriculture sector and security apparatus destroyed, the Palestinian national identity was shattered, and Gaza was completely sealed off from the rest of the world.
An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of them refugees, live in this 365 square km area, one of the most densely populated places on earth. Unemployment hovers at 38 percent and 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
What is the brutality of the Israeli occupation?
Beatings and abuse are rampant, along with shelling and incursions without warning, often in the night, into Palestinian homes by Israeli soldiers, according to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.
Home demolitions are a form of punishment for taking part in resistance and 24, 547 Gazans have become homeless during the past four year to be exact, according to the Untied Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“Curfews” frequently confine Gazans to their homes, paralyzing all aspects of daily life, as families of 10 are crammed into two poorly ventilated rooms for weeks at a time.
There are over 900 checkpoints, roadblocks, electronic fences, barriers, trenches, and razor wire to restrict the movement of Palestinian goods and people, according to OCHA. Palestinians must cross these checkpoints to reach their job, school, or a hospital.
Israel has crippled the Palestinian economy by dumping cheap Israeli products, while inflating the price of Palestinian products through arbitrary, unregulated import and export procedures. It costs nearly the same to import Chinese products into Gaza, as it is to import Palestinian products from the West Bank into Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been imprisoned by Israel and 70 percent of prisoners are tortured. Also, since September 2000 Israel has held thousands of Palestinians in “Administrative Detention,” meaning without charge or trial, according to B’Tselem.
Israel insists the injustices of the occupation are necessary to secure Israel against suicide terrorism. Suicide terrorism is an unjustifiable disgrace to humanity, but there is no denying that inhumane treatment elicits inhumane responses. During the first intifada 55 percent of children witnessed their fathers being humiliated or beaten by Israeli soldiers, and as a result their identity merged with the national identity of humiliation and defeat. The suicide bombers of today are a product of this violence.
Palestinian factions, such as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are secular, underscoring the fact that suicide terrorism is a product of the occupation, rather than Islamic fundamentalism.
What will Gaza look like after disengagement? Will the checkpoints be closed? Will Israel allow for the movement of goods and people between the West Bank and Gaza? Will Palestinians issue their own identity cards? The Palestinian Authority has no idea.
By refusing to coordinate with the PA Israel weakens their capabilities and their authority, and creates an opportunity for Palestinian factions such as Hamas to criticize them for incompetence or impotence.
Palestinians welcome the removal of the Jewish settlements; however most believe that Israel is strengthening its occupation of the West Bank in exchange for the Gaza withdrawal. Settlements in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya, already slated for expansion, will contain three times the total number of settlers evacuating Gaza once completed, and the “Wall” or “Separation Barrier” will enable Israeli control of 46 percent of the West Bank.
Investment and job creation require freedom of movement. If Israel refuses to open the Gaza airport, along with the seaport, and border crossings, and continues to deny Palestinians safe passage between Gaza and the West Bank, it will only increase the injustice and despair that has spawned tremendous violence against Israelis and Palestinians alike. Gaza must have a window to the world to avoid humanitarian and political crises.
After 38 years Israel must realize that a military occupation that imposes mass suffering and humiliation will not increase Israeli security.
The Palestinian Authority will only succeed to revitalize the economy and restore security under a future Palestinian state; otherwise the barriers to industry, economic development, and control of their own borders, under the occupation are just too great.
— Erica Silverman is an American journalist. She is based in Jerusalem.
