A few days ago Hamas’s politburo Chief Khalid Misha’al warned that Gaza could explode sooner than many people think if the present incendiary situation continued.
He described conditions in Gaza as an untenable powder keg that could go off any moment if the international community continued to drag its feet especially with regard to the unfolding human tragedy wreaking havoc throughout Gaza.
Misha’al was alluding to the continuation of the hermetic blockade of Gaza and the general paralysis affecting nearly all aspects of life there.
Misha’al was not exaggerating or indulging in hyperbolic rhetoric. His description of the overall situation in Gaza is shockingly accurate as most Gazans have reached or even passed the bench mark of endurance.
A few months ago Israel effectively committed a real holocaust in Gaza murdering and maiming thousands of people mostly innocent civilians and destroying completely or partially as many as 100000 homes.
The massive campaign of murder and terror occurred in full view of the peoples of the world who looked on rather passively as if the genocidal killings were taking place on a distant galaxy.
Donor countries meeting in Cairo several weeks ago pledged $5 billion dollars to reconstruct Gaza. However apart from some petty efforts Gaza more or less continued to resemble Dresden following the end of WWII.
In addition the Gaza economy is in a state of real paralysis thanks to the enduring blockade.
Needless to say tormenting the estimated 1.6 million Gazans seems to be the official but undeclared policy of the Israeli government.
Israel would deny this but a fleeting glance at Israeli behavior toward Gaza in particular and the Palestinians in general leaves no doubt as to Israel’s malicious intentions and criminality.
Israel never contented itself with killing and maiming thousands of innocent people including hundreds of children in summer. It has ever since been murdering Gaza farmers and fishermen trying to eke out a living. “It is a piece of bread soaked in blood” as one Gazan fisherman put it describing the daily struggle for survival.
Israel is adamantly refusing to let the Gaza economy breathe the oxygen of life. Israel which controls all border-crossings to Gaza refuses to allow Gazans to import or export commodities. Even the pettiest and seemingly insignificant tasks which most people around the world take for granted are considered formidable challenge for the people of Gaza.
In addition to Israel there are two other major suspects augmenting and perfecting the persecution and attempted strangulation of Gazans. First the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah which seems to be more interested in undermining and weakening Hamas its political and ideological rival than helping Gazans withstand Israeli repression.
Hamas and Fatah reached a reconciliation agreement earlier this year giving the impression that Gaza would finally be able to breathe once again. However it was amply clear from the beginning that the Ramallah leadership was driven by some ulterior motives including a monomaniac desire to harm and weaken Hamas mainly in order to receive a certificate of good conduct from Israel and its guardian-ally the United States as well as please some other regional players which are at Israel’s beck and call.
The PA erroneously thinks that Israel would reward the Ramallah authority (an authority without any real authority) if it moved against Hamas. However there is no shred evidence corroborating this theory. Indeed more than 20 years of so-called “peace talks” between Israel and the PA have produced virtually no results. On the contrary during that period Israel continued to build Jewish colonies all over the West Bank effectively killing any prospective chance for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.
The third party that is thoroughly implicated in trying to strangle Gazans is the Sissi regime which has been closing the Rafah crossing apparently in order to please Israel and the American Jewish lobby. Like the PA the Sissi regime thinks its very survival depends on appeasing Israel and the U.S. especially the Jewish controlled Congress. And since fighting Hamas and tormenting the Palestinians is the shortest and most effective way to win the hearts of Jews in Israel and the US Sissi has gone further than expected in his efforts to torment and savage the people of Gaza.
He even resorted to destroying thousands of Egyptians’ homes along the Egyptian part of Rafah in order to create a buffer zone with Gaza all in order to please and appease Israel. The Sissi role in starving and tormenting Gaza actually amounts to a de facto alliance between Cairo and the Judeo-fascist regime in occupied Palestine. Indeed several Israeli officials and commentators have insinuated to this alliance between Cairo and Tel Aviv.
Uprising won’t be confined to Gaza
The ultimate goal of savaging the people of Gaza is simply to enable the PA leadership to rid itself of any truly patriotic opposition to the prospective final liquidation of the Palestinian cause by Israel.
Israel believes that if only Hamas didn’t exist it would be relatively easy to convince or cajole the Abbas leadership to accept a “peace deal” that would more or less allow Israel to liquidate the Palestinian question even without allowing for the repatriation of the refugees.
The US also believes that Hamas is a stumbling block preventing the PLO leadership from succumbing to Israeli-American pressure.
There is no doubt that the outbreak of violence in the Gaza Strip would reach the West Bank where a low-combustion intifada or uprising is already in full swing.
Interestingly instead of allowing Gazans to breathe and live a dignified life Israel has been effectively pushing and encouraging Gazans toward extremism. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a pathological liar by any standard of imagination has been making desperate efforts to lump Hamas with IS in one category. But Hamas unlike the IS is a genuine national liberation movement seeking freedom from the Nazi-like Israeli occupation.
And the people of Gaza only want to be able to make a decent living just like other people around the world. That is all.
