Asia Online
Ramzy Baroud
The latest punishment of Gaza may seem like another familiar plot to humiliate the strip to the satisfaction of Israel, Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, and the military-controlled Egyptian government. But something far more sinister is brewing.
This time, the collective punishment of Gaza arrives in the form of raw sewage that is flooding many neighborhoods across the impoverished and energy-choked region of 360 square kilometers and 1.8 million inhabitants.
Even before the latest crisis resulting from a severe shortage of electricity and diesel fuel that is usually smuggled through Egypt, Gaza was rendered gradually uninhabitable. A comprehensive United Nations report last year said that if no urgent action were
taken, Gaza would be "unlivable" by 2020. Since the report was issued in August 2012, the situation has grown much worse.
Over the years, especially since the tightening by Israel of the Gaza siege in 2007, the world has become accustomed to two realities: the ongoing multiparty scheme to weaken and defeat Hamas in Gaza, and Gaza's astonishing ability to withstand the inhumane punishment of an ongoing siege, blockade and war.
Two infamous wars illustrate this idea: the first was Israel's 22-day war of 2008-9 (killing over 1,400 Palestinians and wounding over 5,500 more), and the second was the conflict of November 2012 - eight days of fighting that killed 167 Palestinians and six Israelis.
In the second war, Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was still in power. For the first time in many years, Egypt sided with the Palestinians. Because of this and stiff Palestinian resistance in Gaza, the strip miraculously prevailed. Gaza celebrated its victory, and Israel remained somewhat at bay - while, of course, mostly failing to honor its side of the Cairo-brokered agreement of easing Gaza's economic hardship.
Read more
Ramzy Baroud
The latest punishment of Gaza may seem like another familiar plot to humiliate the strip to the satisfaction of Israel, Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, and the military-controlled Egyptian government. But something far more sinister is brewing.
This time, the collective punishment of Gaza arrives in the form of raw sewage that is flooding many neighborhoods across the impoverished and energy-choked region of 360 square kilometers and 1.8 million inhabitants.
Even before the latest crisis resulting from a severe shortage of electricity and diesel fuel that is usually smuggled through Egypt, Gaza was rendered gradually uninhabitable. A comprehensive United Nations report last year said that if no urgent action were
taken, Gaza would be "unlivable" by 2020. Since the report was issued in August 2012, the situation has grown much worse.
Over the years, especially since the tightening by Israel of the Gaza siege in 2007, the world has become accustomed to two realities: the ongoing multiparty scheme to weaken and defeat Hamas in Gaza, and Gaza's astonishing ability to withstand the inhumane punishment of an ongoing siege, blockade and war.
Two infamous wars illustrate this idea: the first was Israel's 22-day war of 2008-9 (killing over 1,400 Palestinians and wounding over 5,500 more), and the second was the conflict of November 2012 - eight days of fighting that killed 167 Palestinians and six Israelis.
In the second war, Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was still in power. For the first time in many years, Egypt sided with the Palestinians. Because of this and stiff Palestinian resistance in Gaza, the strip miraculously prevailed. Gaza celebrated its victory, and Israel remained somewhat at bay - while, of course, mostly failing to honor its side of the Cairo-brokered agreement of easing Gaza's economic hardship.
Read more
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