 Three years ago the Israeli army initiated a major military offensive against the people of the Gazoo Strip with the aim of stopping the shelling from Gazoo and the release of one of their soldiers that was held in the strip.
Over 1,400 Paleostinians, many of them women and kiddies, were killed, thousands were maimed,
| Most were actually members of various "armed wings" of terror groups, most of the rest human shields, a very few innocents in the wrong place at the wrong time. But do go on, O PalestinianJournalist. |
and public, private and internationally owned properties were damaged as a result of the attack that came from land, sea and air.
| War is destructive. If you want your buildings whole, hale and hearty, don't provoke one. |
Both publicly stated goals failed in this criminal war against a defenseless population and lightly armed militants.
| There's not a single truth in that sentence, though the writer taught at Princeton. Admittedly, they didn't keep him on long -- perhaps this kind of thing has something to do with it. |
Shelling from Gazoo has continued intermittently since the war. It slowed down considerably as a result of a unilateral decision by Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,,
| Why do you suppose they decided such a thing, O Palestinian Journalist? |
and could end immediately if Israel were to deal with the Islamic movement.
| Israel did. That's why the pace of shelling has slowed. |
As to the captured Israeli soldier, the Israelis were forced to do what Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, offered them from day one, to trade him for imprisoned Paleostinians.
| Some have already been re-arrested, of those who were not sent into exile, and more will no doubt be in the near future. Some have actually learnt from the experience to cherish time with home and family. |
Israel and to a lesser extent, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, were accused by renowned UN appointed international jurists of having committed war crimes.
| The UN's number one activity is accusing Israel of stuff, followed by the unexpected enrichment of employees and the rape of women and children by troops engaged in Blue Helmet assignments. |
Following extreme pressure on him and his family the head of the UN commission South African judge Richard Goldstone, later wrote an opinion article changing some of the conclusions of the committee he headed. He never made any official change in the report that was submitted as an official document to the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
The Israeli-imposed siege on Gazoo has continued and has been publicly justified by major world countries even though this siege was and remains totally illegal.
| For a given definition of illegal that means completely legal. |
No international body has approved the restriction of movement of people and goods into or out of the Gazoo strip.
| No international body was consulted. None has jurisdiction. |
An international effort to break the siege has resulted in a de facto loosening of this siege.
| Mostly due to tunnel digging and smuggling activity, enabling Gazans to have their choice of potato chips, donkeys, and elaborate shopping malls. |
Unfortunately this effort has cost nine Turkish peace activists.
Israel's relations with an important NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
member has since collapsed due to Israel's refusal to apologize for killing Turks in international waters.
| Turks engaged in an act of war at the behest of their government-- even the UN investigating committee ruled Israel was justified. You neglected to mention the follow-up event collapsed, O Palestinian Journalist. |
While the slight easing of the siege (especially in regards to badly needed building materials) has resulted in the beginnings of a rebuilding campaign, much more is needed. The hundreds of millions of dollars pledged at the Sharm al Sheikh conference for the rebuilding of Gazoo have slowly trickled into the populated strip but have gone mostly to or through international organizations such as the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
Refugee Works
| Golly -- those generous pledges were lies? Shocking! |
Whether it has been the result of the Arab Spring (especially in as far as Hamas's almost deserted Damascus headquarters) or for other reasons, Hamas has slowly experienced discernible change since the breakout of the war. Ruling and governing can do a lot to soften any movement's ideologies.
| The poor darlings -- how do they live with themselves?! |
The fear of losing in future elections can do amazing things for softening the sharp edges of any movement.
| Or perhaps the fear of provoking another Israeli operation... |
In this respect, the Paleostinian reconciliation efforts have produced some unprecedented changes in the political discourse as well as in the daily actions of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement and government. Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal is now proclaiming his movements' change of resistance strategy.
The cut-thoat movement is now committed to prioritizing nonviolent resistance in all its activities.
This position is translated on the ground in Gazoo by the movement refraining from launching missiles towards Israel and in arresting or otherwise preventing any individual or group from doing so. This is explained as necessary for the higher interest of Paleostinians in Gazoo.
Politically the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement is slowly removing all the issues that caused it international isolation.
By agreeing to join the PLO Hamas is indirectly recognizing Israel, which the Paleostinian Liberation Organisation officially did on the eve of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Internationally, the world community will not be able to justify continued isolation of Hamas even if Israel insists on such an isolation. After all, US and other western leaders have publicly stated their willingness to work with the Moslem Brüderbund and other Islamists who have won elections or power in Tunis, Libya and Egypt.
Gazoo at the end of 2011 is not the same as it was at the end of 2008, both negatively and positively.
The Arab Spring requires that the current siege and all its effects are once and for all removed so that Paleostinians in Gazoo can live normally with the ability to move in and out of the strip.
| Try talking to the Egyptians, who much prefer you keep your thieving selves behind their security wall, however much they may emote about their persecuted brothers. |
Also, Paleostinian goods and people from the West Bank should equally have the right to move unfettered to the strip without the illegal and immoral siege restricting them.
| Why would they want to do that? Even they think Gazans are rabid madmen, and y'all aren't even cousins...and then there's that sewage pond that periodically overflows its banks, a metaphor for all sorts of things |
Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and former professor of journalism at Princeton University.
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