We aren’t likely to hear discussion about the Gaza crisis during the political campaigns, given the negative press it might entail about Israel’s collective punishment of a million and a half Palestinians, many of whom have died as a consequence. There is also the danger that talk might spill over into mention of the military occupation of Palestinian people/lands on the West Bank, which Bush recently let out of the bag.
Just where are the candidates on this issue, as well as other human rights issues around the world, like Darfur/Sudan, which demand that they speak out. Although some media sources are breaking through the censorship that exists about the Israeli occupation…there’s just so much injustice one can stand before speaking out…the Democratic debates have been strangely silent about human rights.
In the meantime, people who are interested in Palestinian human rights (at least for liberal Democrats) can tune into the Electronic Intifada to keep up. The Electronic Intifada (EI) publishes news, commentary, analysis, and reference materials about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective. It is the leading Palestinian portal for information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its biased depiction (and cover-up) in the US media. At present, EI is making a special effort to follow the Gaza crisis. Here are some recent stories with links:
GAZA’S LAST GASP
By Sonja Karkar, The Electronic Intifada, 23 January 2008
Israel might find that giving the Palestinians their freedom and allowing them the dignity of self-determination in their own land might be far more effective in bringing about a peaceful solution than all this bloodshed and misery. Fifty years have passed since Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan said, “How can we complain about Gaza’s hatred towards us? For eight years, they have been sitting in refugee camps while right in front of them, we are turning the land and villages of their forefathers into our home.” Sonja Karkar comments.
PALESTINIANS FORCE OPEN PARTS OF BORDER WITH EGYPT
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 23 January 2008
GAZA/JERUSALEM, 23 January (IRIN) – In the early morning of 23 January Palestinian militants blew up sections of the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, effectively allowing tens of thousands of Palestinians to freely leave or enter the enclave for the first time since last June 2007. “I’m going to al-Arish to see my married daughter. I have not seen her in four years,” said Um Muhammed, as she prepared to go through a two-meter-wide hole in the border wall. “I hope I can see her.”
GAZA SIEGE INTENSIFIED AFTER COLLAPSE OF NATURAL GAS DEAL
By Mark Turner, The Electronic Intifada, 23 January 2008
Israel claims its recent moves are retaliation for continued rocket attacks originating in Gaza that despite their consistency cause scant damage and few actual casualties. But the reasons may include motivations with roots back in 2000, when the British firm British Gas Group (BG) discovered proven natural gas reserves of at least 1.3 trillion cubic meters beneath Gazan territorial waters worth nearly $4 billion. Mark Turner writes.
NO RIGHTS, LITTLE MERCY
By Mohammed Omer, The Electronic Intifada, 22 January 2008
GAZA CITY, 21 January (IPS) – Seventy-six-year-old Mustapha al-Jamal goes door to door, looking for help in finding medicines for his son. At home, the 53-year-old son Yahya al-Jamal lies back, staring at the ceiling. By his side, an oxygen cylinder keeps him going for now. “My son’s condition continues to worsen,” Mustapha says. “We’ve been waiting two months for the medicines.” Last year Mustapaha’s 44-year-old daughter, a mother of six, died of breast cancer. She had been recovering, but the Israeli siege blocked supply of medicines, and no one could then save her.
WHERE DOES IT END?
By Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 21 January 2008
The New York Times, always to be counted on to provide the right euphemisms, reported that “Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, ordered a temporary halt on all imports into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip late last week. The measure, along with stepped-up military operations in Gaza, was meant to persuade Palestinian militants there to stop firing rockets at Israel.” Terms like “measures” and “persuasion” sound so gentle. But they cover up a brutal reality that Israeli leaders are keen to boast about. Ali Abunimah comments.
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