Al-Jazeera
The Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla was met with popular fury in the Arab world [EPA]
By Lamis Andoni
The visit by Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, to Gaza is the first serious attempt by an Arab official to break the Israeli-imposed siege on the tiny Strip.
It took a war, the lives of 1,400 Palestinians, and nine Turks, killed during a lethal Israeli interception of an aid flotilla, for Arab states to finally move against the blockade.
There is no doubt that the visit will send an important message to the international community that the siege can no longer be tolerated.
(I would say, the international solidarity movement, the Palestinian and Turkish Blood sent a serious messsage to Arabs regimes and their master that the siege can no longer be tolerated.)
Endorsing collective punishment
Popular fury in the Arab world and beyond, triggered by the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara, has spurred American and European leaders to call for an easing of the Gazan population's continued suffering.
But, instead of calling for an immediate end to the siege, most statements and proposals have been aimed at "easing" or finding an "alternative" to it. And such prescriptions to make the siege more tolerable will only alleviate the pressure on Israel rather than on the beleaguered Gazans.
Finding an "alternative" to the siege is paramount to endorsing the Israeli policy of collective punishment and guaranteeing its own security while maintaining a free hand in arresting and killing Palestinians whenever it sees fit.
The Israeli argument that the siege is necessary to undermine the Hamas movement, which has been in control of the Strip for three years this week, has been proven invalid.
Israel knows that it can secure an end to rocket attacks from Gaza through a mediated truce, such as the one brokered by Egypt in 2008. When Israel broke that truce - leading to a response from Hamas - it was as though it wanted an excuse to unleash its superior military arsenal on the Strip.
Israel's very insistence that it has the right to control the Gaza Strip and to use military power against Palestinians must not be accepted or even accommodated by the international community.
Even before Hamas won the 2006 elections and after Israel unilateral "withdrew" from Gaza, Israel was sending clear messages that it remained in control of the Strip - its land crossings, port and even skies.
Palestinian divisions
Moussa is visiting the territory for the first time since Israel imposed its blockade in 2006 [AFP]
It maintains the same attitude in the West Bank.
Negotiations and a halt to armed operations against Israel have not stopped the latter from conducting raids, rounding up Palestinians, killing those who are determined to remain "wanted", demolishing homes, confiscating land, displacing residents and building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Under international law the siege on Gaza and all Israeli acts in the West Bank are considered illegal.
As an occupying power international conventions forbid Israel from imposing collective punishment on those under its control and from altering the demographic status of the territories under occupation.
Thus, if there is to be a serious Arab or international undertaking to end the crisis in Gaza it should be a real effort to end the occupation and not simply to help Israel manage it.
It is true that Palestinian divisions complicate efforts to find a solution, but an Arab rejection of any accommodation of or participation in the siege is crucial for a credible initiative by the Arab League to bring about Palestinian reconciliation.
Egypt - as the Arab party enforcing the Israeli siege by virtue of its border with Gaza - has argued that it cannot keep the Rafah crossing open until there is a return to a 2005 agreement that stipulated that the crossing be operated on the Gazan side by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The presence of European Union observers was also deemed necessary "to placate Israeli fears".
But this arrangement was in reality an accommodation of continued Israeli control of Gaza, after "disengagement" transformed Israel's direct and visible control of the Strip into something indirect and invisible.
In other words Israel remains in control and therein lays the fundamental problem.
The rift between Hamas and Fatah (The Rift is actually between Resistance option and Collabration) over who should control the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing has distorted and eclipsed the real issue - the fact that Israel remains in control of all of Gaza's land and sea entries.
This power struggle is part of a broader battle for legitimacy. Hamas won the majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in the 2006 election, while Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, won the 2005 presidential elections.
The terms of both the PLC and the presidency have expired and new elections are overdue.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in its capacity as the decision-making body above the PA, has extended the terms of both the president and the council.
Ironically, Hamas has effectively accepted the decision to prolong the term of the council even though it rejects PLO sponsorship. But the issue is political, not legal.
(Yes the Issue is Saving Palestinian Rights, rather than Power Struggle)
Moussa's visit to Gaza, as the end of his term draws near, is an opportunity to genuinely break the Israeli siege and to bring Palestinians together. But Moussa cannot act alone as most Arab governments continue to partake in fuelling the Palestinian fraternal feud. (Moussa acted with green light from Pharaoh)
But, ultimately it is the Palestinian leadership who must now show the political will to unite.
(Unite on What???)
Days before the Israeli assault on the aid flotilla Abbas was reportedly planning to visit Gaza. (For Propaganda)
It is time he does.
(What he did is telling Obama that he opposed lifting the Israeli naval blockade on the Gaza Strip...steps easing the blockade should be taken with care and undertaken gradually so it will not be construed as a victory for Hamas." His Fayyad calls to open Gaza via 2005 agreemnet , therefor Hamas doubts Fatah's reconciliation bid )
Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
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Abbas: "Do not lift Gaza blockade!"
Haaretz/ here
"The Peace Makers!"
Chief buffoon-collaborator conspires against his people ... in "..... because this would bolster Hamas, according to what he told United States President Barack Obama during their meeting at the White House Wednesday. Egypt also supports this position.....The issue of the Gaza flotilla and lifting the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip was the main topic of discussion between Obama and Abbas last Wednesday night. European diplomats updated by the White House on the talks said that Abbas had stressed to Obama the need of opening the border crossings into the Gaza Strip and the easing of the siege, but only in ways that do not bolster Hamas. One of the points that Abbas raised is that the naval blockade imposed by Israel on the Strip should not be lifted at this stage. The European diplomats said Egypt has made it clear to Israel, the U.S and the European Union that it is also opposes the lifting of the naval blockade because of the difficulty in inspecting the ships that would enter and leave the Gaza port..."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 9:30 AM
Uprooted Palestinian
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