Caterpillar breakthrough in Gaza

Ah, now, what is this? Could it a Caterpillar, creeping up on me? Read our report of who is actually using this fearsome weapon of modern mass destruction in our article on TimesOnline. Actually, today for once it is a case of thank God for these bulldozers. Those poor beleagured occupants of Gaza can now, thanks to the destruction of the wall between Gaza and Egypt, actually get something to eat and drink. Who now remembers the days when juicy, succulent cherry tomotoes grew all over Gaza? Long gone, sadly. Gaza's occupants now have to break down walls to get anything to eat at all, never mind tomatoes, while Sderot suffers bombs raining down upon it daily. Thank heavens the Church of England did not succeed in its attempt to promote disinvestment. The US Methodists are still trying, but once they see how useful these machines are to the Palestinians, I am sure they'll desist. One of my first ever blogs was about the Caterpillar debate. Things have moved on since then, and Muslims are now complaining that we in the media don't give fair coverage to the Palestinians. Read on for their complaint in full.

From the BMI:

Is British media complicit in imposing a blackout on the siege of Gaza?

One and a half million citizens of Gaza have been suffering under an atrocious siege imposed by the Israeli occupation and supported by its allies in Europe and the United States. The siege of Gaza and the continuous sanctions against its residents, most of whom are refugees, have caused untold misery to Palestinians who have been suffering from a brutal occupation and oppression for decades.

This latest deprivation of the most basic needs of Gaza's impoverished citizens is being portrayed in the British media as part of Israel's retaliation to continuous firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza, disgracefully buying into Israeli propaganda to hide its brutality levelled against the entire population of Gaza by imposing a system of collective punishment in violation and breach of all international conventions and standards. Whether by ignorance or by design, it is sad to see how the British media including the BBC have failed to highlight the real causes behind the current crisis and the devastating impact of this criminal and inhumane siege on human lives in Gaza over recent weeks.

On a day which is compared to the fall of Berlin wall when the people of Gaza at the height of their suffering decided to break the siege by breaking through border crossing points in Rafah, our media has chosen to totally ignore this historic event in the continuing Middle East crisis.

When the sad death of a Hollywood actor grabs the main headlines and attracts significant airtime throughout our media, it is reprehensible that the plight of millions, including hundreds of thousands of children suffering at the hands of a tyrannical government in Israel, is not even offered a second-rate spot.

We, the undersigned, urge our media to stand up for the highest standards of reporting it has adopted for decades and to be fair-handed, impartial and balanced in covering the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

Mohammad Sawalha - British Muslim Initiative

Dr Hafiz Al Karami- Palestinian Forum in Britain

Betty Hunter- Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Dr Arafat Madi-  Palestine Return Centre

Comments

[emanuel appel]

a letter from America

Dear All,

Funny, it seems that the most traffic can be found in topics dealing with gays and Israel. Aren't you all concerned with Religion?

Dr. Irene spends her time and energy currying favor with exactly those people who'd humiliate her in a UK setting, who'd assault her synagogue and person at the University.

What a dumb idea for a PHD thesis, a simple compare and contrast of ethnic attitudes in an educational power position. And she's worried that the Druze couldn't afford her! Did any Brit ever lose sleep over the possibility that this Jewish woman was overpaying for anything in the UK? Give me a colossal break.

It is exactly this solicitude over the "stranger" that will kill Israel. This weakness , of course, will enable the remaining Jews to do what we do best - mourn and set up Holocaust observances rather than doing the basic things of protecting ourselves and killing our enemies.

[Robin Bather]

Hettie
Funny how pro Israeli websites only talk of Sderot after 1951, ignoring the fact that the land was occupied previously.
It is an undeniable fact that Israel was established in Palestine, a land with a preexisting overwhelmingly non Jewish population. Najd (aka Sderot) is just one case of many.
Have you ever compared the 1947 UN Partition Plan map of the land granted to Israel, with present day Israel which has swollen to occupy large parts its neighbour's lands.
It has been a blink of an eyelid since Israel was established and since then land grabbing has been a national priority.

[Dr. Irene Lancaster FRSA]

Funny about ethnic cleansing. I've just been asked to edit the PhD of a Druze head master, studying with a colleague of mine at Haifa University.

His thesis looks at the difference in attitudes of Muslim, Druze and Jewish head teachers in the Haifa area.

When I was asked how much I charge, I was concerned that the guy might not be able to afford it, coming from an 'oppressed minority' and all that.

So my friend, an eminent Jewish educational psychologist, who studied and taught at Oxford University and the LSE in the 70s, said:

'Don't worry - he's earning far more than me:

Here's my latest blog on the matter:

http://irenelancaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/oxford-universi.html

[emanuel appel]

a letter from America

Dear me,

Sderot is evidence of the Jews's crime of settling their own country, the country area they agreed to settle in following the UN partition in 1947-1948. How many years is that now?

On the other hand, any Arab taking of land from Jews is held as sacrosanct. For example, the West Bank had many Jewish towns before 1948 but they're history now and that's not theft, is it darlings?

Bagdad had 500,000 Jews before WWII but there are none now. Anyone agitating for restoration of Jewish property? No, I didn't think so.

Therefore, our proper station in the eyes of some of you is to squat in some miserable corner of your country and accept your contempt. No, we pass.

[Hettie]

Robin Bather: funny that your claim can ony be found on openly Palestinian supporting blogs, and can be traced back to one single blogger called umkhalil. None of the traditional media mentions this even though plenty of them are sympathetic to the Palestinian Arab "narrative" You know what this means?

(you don't believe me? just enter the words Najd's and Sderot in google)

[Robin Bather]

A little investigation on the Internet presents some startling information regarding Sderot, namely:

"Sderot was settled by Jews in 1951....established on the village lands of Najd.
Najd's Palestinian villagers, approximately 620 in 1945 were expelled on 13 May 1948.
In 1945 Jews owned 495 dunums of land (about 125 acres)in Najd.
Palestinian arabs own 12,669 dunums in Najd, although Israel refuses to honour their rights to their personal property and refuses them their right to return home."

So, surprise, surprise! We have yet another example of Israel stealing land. I won't bore you by relating the other examples, which we all know anyway.
So, with a tiny modification to my previous remarks, I again say that the Gazan people can be likened to the French resistance fighters in WWII who attacked the Germans who had conquered their land.
And we can add "ethnic cleansing" to the list of crimes committed by Israel.

[Dr. Denis MacEoin]

To make an unrefined and uncommented comparison between the number of Sderot residents killed and the number of Palestinians is typical of this 'debate'. If I remember correctly, twelve people have died in Sderot, and most of the Palestinians killed were Hamas gunmen. But that isn't the point either. The point is that the inhabitants of Sderot have been going through hell ever since the rockets have been landing. Rockets have fallen into bedrooms and schoolrooms. Try bringing you children up in a town where rockets crash down every fifteen minutes on some days. People's nerves are stretched to breaking point, and many succumb to that alone. The rockets may not be the most lethal, but they do cause damage, and they are probably only harbingers of bigger, more dangerous missiles. Personally, I blame the Israelis for none of the suffering of the people of Gaza. If there is blame, it lies at the feet of Hamas and associated terror groups.The reason there are no tomatoes in Gaza any more is because Gazans destroyed the greenhouses (worth $14m) that the Israelis left there in order to kick-start the economy of the new statelet. The Israelis continue to send aid, to treat Palestinians in Israeli hospital, to supply 70% of Gaza's electricity, but the most constructive thing the Gazans can do is fire rockets. And when the Israelis try to stop the rockets, everybody screams and shouts 'poor little me, what did I ever do wrong?' There could have been peace decades ago, but Hamas decalres itself opposed to any form of peace talks, negotiations, or conferences. Their only, highly unrealistic and unjust aim is to destroy Israel. No doubt Israel will then spiral into economic and civil chaos. And no doubt Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt will build huge walls to keep the Palestinians out. When will this ever end?

[Lawrence Budner]

This episode continues a pattern of Hamas manufacturing crises to sway public opinion. The Palestinian's own news agency states that Hamas looted the hospital's fuel supply to tend the leaders' transportation needs, and a Palestinian was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying the bakeries were ordered by officials to stay closed even though they had enough fuel to stay open.

[Tom Jackson]

"In the last few years, 2 people have died in Sderot. The UN states that 27 Palestinians died between 2-8 January."

The closing of the Gaza Strip on 17th January followed "a sharp escalation in rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants on Israeli communities across the border ".

So, define a "war crime", Joe.

Is it the "targeting of a Hamas government office " with unfortunate collateral damage to the civilian population as retaliation to the 'escalation' in activity by the Palestinian militants trying to kill Israeli citizens?

Or is it those Palestinian militants, indiscriminately shooting rockets and mortars at Israeli settlements in an attempt to kill and maim civilians, men, women and children?

Help me out here, Joe.

Because as things stand at the moment, if someone attacks my home and my family with the intention of murdering or injuring my wife and children and then I retaliate by attacking those people, I pretty certain who is committing the "war crime".

And, believe it or not, if I prove more successful with my retaliation than those who attack me, it doesn't make one iota of difference to the decision about who committed the "crime"!

[Dr. Irene Lancaster FRSA]

This is a good response to the above:

http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2008/01/sderot-gaza-and.html

[saint]

Yep gotta get those cigarettes.
Frankly much as I would like to see the Palestinians (not that I subscribe to the notion of Palestinians as an ethnic group) have their own state and just get on with their lives, their track record leads me to believe that they are incapable of governing themselves much less living peaceably with their neighbours.

[joe]

Many Palestinian businesses use Caterpillar vehicles. I pointed this out a long time ago.

Other than that, you are quite wrong. As I wrote here here one company has been able to continue exporting from Gaza, through the depths of the problems. That is the Israeli monopoly Agrexco.

Ridiculously, food and medicine cannot enter Gaza, but strawberries can leave. As long as it is by the monopoly 50% owned by the Israeli government.

In the last few years, 2 people have died in Sderot. The UN states that 27 Palestinians died between 2-8 January.

If committing war crimes by punishing a whole population of people, as defined by John Ducard the UN Human Rights rapporteur, is not a reason for divestment, I don't know what is.