Settling Affairs: Sharon's Strangulation of Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: The Israelis have a political term that isn’t applied as much as it should be to the current conflict. Tahalikh Medini," means "settling state affairs."

Wipe away all of the humanitarian masking on this topic and you are left with Israeli pragmatism. Unchallenged in any serious political manner by either the Palestinians or the Israeli left, PM Ariel Sharon is simply proceeding as he wishes to settle his affairs and to move on. It’s a callous, one-sided calculation to say the least, but it goes much further to explain things than UNRWA or the Red Cross will ever be able to do in the rubble of Jenin.

The human rights organization I work at, Al Mezan Center, issued a press release on April 16, warning that the situation is becoming dire in the Gaza Strip. It isn’t a case of interrupted services and destroyed infrastructure as is the case in the West Bank – a far more dire situation – but rather one of slow and unnoticed strangulation. The Israeli government has been quietly squeezing the life out of the Gaza Strip. Because they are in total control of the passage of goods and transit inside the Strip, they can shut down Palestinian life here at will. And this happens constantly without any fanfare or attention from the outside world, as Sharon settles this matter out of the limelight.

The Gaza Strip of course, despite perceptions in America, has never been fully free of occupation. Indeed, tiny Israeli settlements continue to prosper, where some 6,900 Israelis along with their security cordon, occupy about 40% of the total area of Gaza while 1.2 Million Palestinians share the remainder. What’s more, small incursions into Palestinian controlled areas in towns like Rafah, Khan Yunis and Beit Hanoun are so frequent, the press typically just ignores them.