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With little to lose, Gaza’s men drawn to border protests | NZ Herald

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Marwan Shtewi is poor, unemployed and at the age of 32 has never even left the Gaza Strip.

With few prospects and little to fear, Shtewi is among the crowds of young men who put themselves on the front lines of violent protests along the border with Israel, risking their lives in a weekly showdown meant to draw attention to the dire conditions of Gaza.

While protest organizers voice slogans of defending Jerusalem and returning to the lost homes of their forefathers in Israel, it is the desperation among young men like Shtewi that has been the driving force in the demonstrations. Recovering from a gunshot wound to his arm that sent shrapnel into his abdomen, Shtewi says his protest days are now behind him and he only dreams of finally finding a job.

“I want to see peace and hope and prosperity spread in Gaza when I get out of the hospital,” he said from his hospital bed.

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New Zealand to call in Israeli ambassador over Gaza deaths | NZ Herald

Jacinda Adern, PM of New Zealand

The Israeli Ambassador will be called in again this week by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to raise concern about the deaths of more than 50 people in Gaza and wounding of 2700 while protesting the move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday Mfat met with Ambassador Itzhak Gerberg in the past fortnight and would call him in again after Israeli forces killed more than 50 people.

The deaths were on the same day the US opened its embassy in Jerusalem after US President Donald Trump’s decision to move it from Te Aviv, recognising it as Israel’s capital.

Ardern said such a move was always going to inflame the situation given Jerusalem was critical for hopes of a “two-state” solution to succeed.

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→ 17 May 2018
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AUCKLAND: Israel at 70 Silo Park Video

MP Hon Alfred Ngaro at Israel 70 from Perry Trotter on Vimeo.

As promised, here is the video of the “Israel at 70” event held last Sunday in Auckland at Silo Park, as many may not have been able to go because of Mother’s Day or they did not live nearby.

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→ 16 May 2018
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Eight-month-old Leila, Palestinian martyr and political poster child : Stuff

Leila al-Ghandour’s little face peeked out as her father carried her body from the mosque, wrapped in a white funeral shroud and the green, black and red Palestinian flag.
Her uncles and male cousins passed her small corpse between them as they marched through the streets of the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City towards the graveyard. With each step they chanted their praise of God and their defiance of Israel.
According to her family, the eight-month-old was killed after inhaling a cloud of Israeli tear gas during Monday’s bloody protests on the border. They said her 12-year-old uncle had become confused and accidentally brought the baby to within yards of the barbed wire fence that Israel has vowed to defend with tear gas and snipers’ bullets.

Read more:  https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/103957480/eightmonthold-leila-palestinian-martyr-and-political-poster-child

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→ 16 May 2018
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Hamas Co-Founder: Calling Gaza Riots ‘Peaceful Resistance’ Is ‘Deceiving the Public’ | Algemeiner

A senior Hamas leader said on Sunday that recent Palestinian riots on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip were backed by the Islamist group’s weapons and fighters.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahhar called allegations that the terrorist group was employing “peaceful resistance” against Israel “a clear terminological deception.”

“When you have weapons that are being wielded by men who were able to prevent the strongest army in the region from entering the Gaza strip for 51 days, and were able to capture or kill soldiers of that army — is this really ‘peaceful resistance?” asked al-Zahhar, whose remarks were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“When we talk about ‘peaceful resistance,’ we are deceiving the public,” he said. “This is peaceful resistance bolstered by a military force and by security agencies, and enjoying tremendous popular support.”

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→ 16 May 2018
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Israel at 70: Contrasting images of victory and violence | NZ Herald

JERUSALEM (AP) — Seventy years since the day of Israel’s founding, wildly contrasting images of victory and violence showcased the contradictions that bedevil the Jewish state.

Deadly protests flared along the Gaza border, where troops killed dozens of Palestinians, while politicians feted the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a symbol of ironclad alliance with Washington. And with improbably odd timing, seemingly oblivious to both, crowds gathered in liberal Tel Aviv to exult over the winner of a campy European pop contest.

Nahum Barnea, Israel’s leading columnist, said the events highlighted the country’s fragmented nature and how even after seven decades it still cannot escape its conflict with the Arabs or its unquenchable thirst for recognition.

“This is a small country that typically lives only one story, usually either that of readiness for battle or bereavement,” he said. “This was really an unusual example of the mythological national campfire coming apart.”

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→ 15 May 2018
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Behind bloody Gaza clashes, economic misery and piles of debt | NZ Herald

Bankruptcy cases build up in Gazan courts as citizens run out of cash for essentials

Every Friday for the past month, thousands of Palestinians have surged to Gaza’s border fence with Israel in a show of anger and defiance, some throwing stones and petrol bombs, others simply to be there.

Demonstrators say they want to challenge the loss of their ancestral homes to Israel 70 years ago. But a stream of men who risk their lives – more than 30 have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers – also despair at their mounting economic woes.

“Young people have nothing to lose,” said 31-year-old Mohammed Sukkar, a few hundred metres from the boundary fence on the first day of protests last month as the crowd retreated after pops of gunfire. Sukkar is unemployed and says he is hard pressed to feed his six children.

Across the 360 sq km territory, Gazans are struggling to finance their daily lives. Young people – unable to pay for weddings or homes of their own – are delaying marriage, figures show, while health officials say suicide, once virtually unheard of in Gaza, is on the rise.

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NZ condemns Israel’s actions along Gaza border | Radio NZ

New Zealand has conveyed its condemnation of Israel’s actions along the Gaza border directly to its ambassador here, describing the loss of life as “devastating and one-sided”.

A young protester runs away from tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

In the deadliest day of violence since the 2014 Gaza War, Israeli forces have killed at least 52 Palestinians and wounded 2400. Photo: AFP

In the deadliest day of violence since the 2014 Gaza War, Israeli forces have killed at least 52 Palestinians and wounded 2400.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians had been protesting along the Gaza border against the opening of the United States embassy in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on behalf of the government, raised concerns directly to the ambassador in New Zealand.

The violence showed that the decision by the US to open the new embassy was counter to efforts to find a peaceful resolution in the region, she said.

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→ 15 May 2018
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Green Party condemns slaughter in Gaza

Marama Davidson

Marama Davidson MP on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 – 11:14

The Green Party is strongly condemning the slaughter perpetrated by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza overnight following the opening of the new United States Embassy in Jerusalem, which has resulted in the murder of at least 52 civilians and over 2400 injured.

This is the second deadly massacre of protestors perpetrated by the Israeli armed forces this year and is the deadliest onslaught in Gaza since 2014.

“As predicted the opening of Donald Trump’s confrontational Embassy in Jerusalem has fanned flames of conflict and death,” said Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson.

“Rather than being a step towards peace the Embassy opening has acted as a flash point in the conflict and has been used by the Israeli government to justify their massacre of Palestinians.

“Jerusalem is an internationally recognised disputed territory, and the fair division of it will be a component of any enduring peace deal. The United States setting up an Embassy there purposefully undermines the Palestinian position and makes peace less likely.

“This slaughter is all the evidence we need that Trump’s move makes peace less likely and makes life for those living in Gaza more dangerous.

“Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza constitutes a breach of international law and has caused an unsustainable humanitarian crisis since 2009. The people of Gaza are a trapped population with no access to humanitarian aid or access to adequate healthcare or education.

“The Green Party is calling on Israel to end its siege on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian Territories, and take positive steps towards an enduring peace in the region.”

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→ 15 May 2018
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Everyday, a Nakba; and response | Jerusalem Post

On May 11, the Jerusalem Post published an opinion piece by a university student living in Ramallah.  Later a Facebook poster responded with his own views of the Nakba.  Both make for fascinating reading:

For Palestinians, the Nakba is every day, not just once a year

This might be Israel’s day of independence, but for the Palestinians it is known as al Nakba, ‘the catastrophe’

Palestinian protestors look toward Israeli forces during clashes following a demonstration near the West Bank city of Nablus in February 2018
Palestinian protestors look toward Israeli forces during clashes following a demonstration near the West Bank city of Nablus in February 2018 (Photo: Getty Images)

This might be Israel’s day of independence, but for the Palestinians it is known as al Nakba, “the catastrophe”, marking 500 ruined Palestinian villages and millions of refugees. It is a reminder of the misery and suffering of a nation, generation after generation.

I believe I am right in saying our Nakba is every day, not just once a year. I would like to tell you a little bit about the life that I and millions of other Palestinians endure every day in Gaza and the West Bank.

The Nakba today is the hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank that are manufactured to treat humans like caged animals. It is the people killed in Gaza — medical staff, journalists and UNRWA employees — who are not safe from Israeli attacks.

It is the thousands of houses, mosques and charities destroyed by air strikes. It is the innocent people living in the streets, each with enough misery and experience to fill the pages of a book.

You may not have heard of the woman giving birth at a checkpoint because soldiers did not allow her through to a hospital. Or the whole family who had to enter and leave their house through a window because the Israeli army blocked their door.

There are constant, unending restrictions: you aren’t allowed to look through this window, you may not access your own rooftop, you cannot step out of your house after five in the evening.

Today, Israel is deliberately concealing the realities of day-to-day life in the West Bank and Gaza.

Settlements are increasingly taking away what is left of my country’s land. The number of checkpoints is rising, some of them resembling military bases and with specific opening and closing times.

In Hebron, Palestinians have to go through multiple cages and electronic gates and are body-searched three times in five minutes — simply so they can pray. While Israelis celebrate their independence with parties on the streets of Tel Aviv, their fellow soldiers are proudly stopping frail old men from crossing a checkpoint to get to the Ibrahimi mosque.

In Gaza, youthful soldiers — themselves with no experience of life — film themselves shooting dead Palestinians.

This is the victory of hatred and insanity over morality and compassion.

There is a huge difference in the narratives that Israelis and Palestinians tell their respective sides but I think there are some basic points about the situation today that we should all accept are true.

I do not understand why this situation is called a “conflict”. A conflict requires some sort of power clash, a semblance of parity, but in Palestine and Israel this is not the case.

We have two different sides: one powerful, the other powerless; one armed, the other punished for peaceful resistance; one an occupier and conqueror, the other the occupied and conquered.

If you ever come to Palestine, you will see how there are borders everywhere that we do not control. The West Bank is divided into three zones: Zone A under Palestinian control, Zone B shared by both sides and Zone C under total Israeli administration — and it is the last of these that covers most of the West Bank.

Just anybody can visit, but not every Palestinian can exit.

In its 70th year, Israel is a deeply contradictory country. I hope that, in time, its actions in Palestine today and the steps it took to reach this stage will be fully revealed to the world. I hope that the Palestinians will reverse their situation.

The author is a university student who lives in Ramallah.

Source

Please keep reading:

David Collier’s Response

Last week the Jewish Chronicle ran a piece titled ‘our Nakba is every day, not once a year’. It was penned by a Palestinian, Ehab Naser, a university student who lives in Ramallah. I asked the Jewish Chronicle if I could receive a comment as a ‘right to reply’, they chose to turn me down. This is what I had sent them:-

I don’t intend to address all the fallacies within Ehab Naser’s article, but I will say this. Naser’s description of Palestinian life uses worst case examples of life during conflict in Gaza and then conflates it with Palestinians living everywhere. People unable to look through windows or climb on a roof do not exist in Ramallah.

As it happens I was in Ramallah last week. A bustling, lively city with many large houses and flashy cars. I did not see any sign of occupation there at all whilst I was there, and the only weapons I saw were in the hands of the Palestinian police.

I spent the rest of my time in the West Bank, visiting the new Palestinian city Rawabi, eating lunch in Berzeit and walking through an exhibition in Banksy’s ‘Walled Off’ hotel in Bethlehem. I had the same problem viewing the exhibition in the hotel as I did reading Nasser’s comment piece. Neither are trying to tell the truth.

The ‘Nakba’ was the result of a civil conflict between the Jews who wanted to create the state the UN had promised them in 1947, and an Arab front that wanted to stop them. The local Arab communities received the help of irregular Arab forces that entered the Mandate areas as early as January 1948 and then by May from the forces of several armies of regional Arab states. The Arabs failed in their attempts to destroy the Jewish enclave and Israel survived its war of independence.

The Nakba is the price the Arab communities paid for this loss. I agree with Ehab that the price was heavy, but it was one that did not have to be paid. The Jewish side did not ask for the Arabs to oppose partition. The Jews did not want Arab irregular forces to enter the fight and they certainly had no desire to fight the forces of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq.

The Jewish community lost 1% of its total population in this battle. The alternative, defeat, would have led to a far greater loss.

What Ehab experiences everyday is not a ‘nakba’, but rather the result of his own Arab community still unable to come to terms with the presence of a Jewish state. More importantly, and it is why I have such trouble with his article and the Banksy exhibition, there still does not appear to be any acceptance at all, of the responsibility his own community must also take in having helped to create the environment in which he lives. In the stories they tell, everything is Israel’s fault. For as long as this remains the case, there will be no progress.

When I first went to Israel before the first Intifada, people moved about freely. Then the stabbings started. During the Oslo peace process, as I tried to work with Palestinians on building joint ventures, the buses started exploding. The cooperation between my own business and the PA stopped, when the violent second Intifada started. Then the wall went up as a way of protecting Israeli communities from terrorists infiltrating from PA areas.

Finally, there was the election, that saw Hamas receive the largest number of votes. Israelis didn’t vote for Hamas, Palestinians did. The result of voting for terrorists is the situation we see in Gaza today.

At every turn, Palestinians have been let down by their own leadership, their own extremists and the way they vote when given the chance. Israel cannot, nor should it be expected to take responsibility for these contributing factors.

If a Palestinian leader was to stand up tomorrow and recognise Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, if Palestinians were able to unite and reject the extremism of groups like Hamas and if they really sought to co-exist with Israel, peace would quickly follow.

It doesn’t mean Israel doesn’t make mistakes. Nor does it mean the Palestinians are not suffering. It only points out that the beating heart of the conflict is in Palestinian attitudes towards Israel and not the other way around.

At one-point Ehab rejects the term ‘conflict’ as a description because Israel has the power and the Palestinians do not. He is mistaken. Almost all the power in this conflict is with the Palestinians. They just need to do what they have not been able to do for a hundred years. Accept the right of the Jewish state to exist. Once they do this, peace will quickly follow and Ehab’s ‘Nakba’ will come to an end. That step isn’t ours to take.

DC”

Source

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