Gazans Resist by Surviving

[ProgressiveMuslim]

'The greatest act of nonviolent resistance in Gaza has been simply surviving.'

By Ramzi Kysia - Gaza

"I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza…" -- Amos 1:7

In a small cafe in Gaza City, Amjad Shawa, the coordinator for the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), sips black coffee and ruminates on the Israeli blockade of Gaza. “This siege isn’t about ‘security’ or even about Hamas,” he says. “Israel’s ultimate aim is to separate Gaza from the West Bank and kill the Palestinian national project.”

The Gaza Strip, a 25-mile-long narrow coastal plain wedged between Israel and Egypt, is home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Despite its small size, Gaza in many ways encapsulates the essence of two of the world’s major conflicts: the rise of political Islam and the use by the West of collective punishment and economic coercion as a brutal counterweight.

Since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006, Israel has subjected Gaza to an increasingly severe blockade. In June 2007, after Hamas defeated militants aligned with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and forcibly asserted control of Gaza, Israel tightened the blockade to include everything except occasional deliveries of humanitarian goods. The local economy has shattered as a result, leading to steep increases in unemployment, poverty and childhood malnutrition rates.

While Abbas and the Fatah party still govern the West Bank with Israel’s full support, Hamas faces an uncertain future. Although Gazans have rallied around the government, there is also increasing public frustration with the moribund economy.

Rawya Shawa, an independent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Gaza, describes Palestine as being in political limbo. “When you’re in power it’s never the same as when you’re on the outside,” Shawa says. “Seventy percent of Gaza are refugees. Fatah led the Palestinians for 45, 50 years. Fatah failed. They didn’t deliver anything. Hamas, now, they are trying. They didn’t succeed yet, so people are still just waiting.”


read on...
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/index.php

[Vegasaurus]

1. If there really was frustration about the "moribund economy"

the Gazans would revolt against their "government", instead of continually using any available capital to purchase weapons for use against Israelis.

The reason their economy is "moribund" is because their government has put terrorism as a national priority.

They had plenty of opportunties (millions of dollars of greenhouses and full global support), all squandered.

[azurnoir]

2. Translation

If there really was frustration about the the Gazans would revolt against their "government", instead of continually using any available capital to purchase weapons for use against Israelis.
moribund economy

We really wish the "Gazans" (Palestinians) would kill each other it would make for much better PR for Israel.

Such ignorance would be IMO more at home on Stormfront

Besides I thought the "Gazans" were spending those aid checks they get in their mailboxes on the fist of each month on motorcycles and big screen TV's as some here routinely claim

[Vegasaurus]

4. I never said anything of the sort

I would like nothing better than to see the Palestinians work harder to improve their lives.

Killing each other? You are nuts. I have never supported thats.

Civil war in Gaza is very bad for Israel too, since a calm neighbor is better for everyone.

The Gazans seem to have money for weapons and big screen TVs and are always starving.

Why is that?

Perhaps they should spend their aid money on food.

[azurnoir]

5. Really?

What does this quote amount to

the Gazans would revolt against their "government", instead of continually using any available capital to purchase weapons for use against Israelis.

Just how are the "Gazans" supposed to revolt? By using harsh language?

And from a certain POV just how is civil war in Gaza bad for Israel, those Gazans who apparently spend their money on weapons would be supposedly busy using them on each other, not to mention those rockets wouldn't have time for that now would they? Why do you think Olmert made the "removal" of Hamas by Fatah a prerequisite to any real negotiations, nothing eases negotiations like a civil war battered enemy. And if Fatah loses no negotiations, no deals, no giving up land, no anything.

[oberliner]

3. Hamas defeated militants aligned with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas?

Very interesting way of reframing the events of June 2007.

According to this writer, "Hamas" defeated "militants aligned with Abbas".

Were there no "militants" on the Hamas side?

Recall that Human Rights Watch described the actions of Hamas as:

"Brutal assaults on the most fundamental humanitarian principles."

HRW specifically drew attention to this incident:

"Hamas military forces captured 28-year-old Muhammad Swairki, a cook for President Mahmoud Abbas’s presidential guard, and executed him by throwing him to his death, with his hands and legs tied, from a 15-story apartment building in Gaza City."

Also this incident:

"At a hospital in Beit Hanun, three family members with ties to Fatah, `Id al-Masri and his sons, Farij and Ibrahim, were killed, and others wounded. Hospital officials reported that the three were being treated for injuries sustained earlier. One was reportedly shot at close range."

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza provides even further documentation of similar behavior:

At approximately 16:00, Hamas gunmen stormed the house of Atef Baker, a Fatah operative, near Beach Camp. They fired indiscriminately inside the house, killing two women and seriously injuring 4 others. The women killed are Jehan Nayef Baker (18) and Heba Jawad Baker (30). And at approximately 17:00, Hamas gunmen surrounded a number of Baker clan members in the same area, and fired at them. Three Baker clan members were killed: Mansour Omar Baker (47), Mohammad Suliman Baker (28), and Hamada Samir Baker (18).

The PCHR identifies numerous acts of violence by, what they call, Hamas "militants".

Any attempt to describe the incidents of June 2007 in the way in which the author of the OP has is disingenuous to say the least.