Sabbah Report » Disengagement

Video: Closed Zone

Haitham Sabbah — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:48:03 +0000

Growing crisis in Gaza after Disengagement

Haitham Sabbah — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 22:20:30 +0000

If Americans Knew, has just created a 3-minute video on the growing crisis in Gaza. Please view this and email the link to as many people and lists as possible, and include it in forums and chatrooms!

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Source: http://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/gaza.html

Disengagement: One year later

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 21:51:29 +0000

One year ago today, Israel began its unilateral disengagement from Gaza, removing 8,500 settlers from 21 settlements in Gaza and 500 from four small settlements in the West Bank.

One year later, what is new? Literally, Nothing! Same shit, same occupation, same atrocities, same Israeli terrorist army, same killing of innocents, same... same... same...

Here are some FAQ quoted from Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), which sums up what you need to know after one year of what is called "disengagement":

1. Why did disengagement from Gaza lead to more, rather than less, conflict?

Gaza Palestinians greeted Israel's disengagement plan with a mixture of skepticism and cautious hope. Many believed that while Israel marketed disengagement as a step toward peace, the plan was designed to forestall peace negotiations and to consolidate Israel's control over Jerusalem and much of the West Bank. Nonetheless, they looked forward to freedom from the daily humiliations of life under Israeli military occupation.

Israeli leaders are aware that no truly representative Palestinian leadership could ever agree to Israeli designs for Jerusalem and the West Bank; to do so would eliminate the possibility of a viable Palestinian state. As Dov Weisglass, advisor to former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon said in October 2004: "The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that's necessary so that there will not be a political process with the Palestinians." (1) By appearing to make concessions to the Palestinians over the Gaza Strip, Israel hoped to gain sufficient international good will to unilaterally implement its plan to annex territories designated for a Palestinian state. Further conflict with Palestinians, therefore, was inevitable.

2. Were Palestinians grateful to Israel for withdrawing from Gaza?

Palestinians saw disengagement not as a generous concession by Israel, but as a decision forced on it by a logic of racial preferences for Jews. Israel could not annex the Gaza Strip without absorbing 1.4 million Palestinian Muslims and Christians, thus jeopardizing Israel's commitment to remain a "Jewish and democratic" state. With an estimated 8500 Jewish settlers in Gaza, comprising only 0.6% of the population, it was cheaper and more politically expedient to exclude Palestinians, and give up Gaza, a relatively small land area with minimal natural resources.

3. Has Israel's occupation of Gaza ended?

No. Israel continues to control the entry and exit of all people and goods into the Gaza Strip, to patrol its coast and airspace, to provide its water, fuel, electric utilities, and sewage, and to enter Gaza with military forces at will. Under international law, "effective control" is the measure of whether a territory is occupied. Thus it is most accurate to say that while Israel decolonized the Gaza Strip, its military occupation of the region has continued.

4. Did Israel's redeployment allow Palestinians to develop a viable state?

No. Israel has maintained tight restrictions on movement of people and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, smothering the Palestinian economy. As a World Bank report observed prior to disengagement: "Palestinian economic recovery depends on a radical easing of internal closures throughout the West Bank [and Gaza] the opening of Palestinian external borders to commodity trade, and sustaining a reasonable flow of Palestinian labor into Israel." (2)

In the Occupied West Bank, Israel maintains hundreds of checkpoints that fragment Palestinian communities. Palestinian goods are unloaded and reloaded onto different trucks several times before reaching their final destination. For example, goods originating from Hebron (in the Occupied West Bank) destined for Nablus (also in the Occupied West Bank) must be unloaded and reloaded an estimated seven times, increasing transportation costs and the time goods take to reach their destination.

The Gaza Strip has witnessed significant economic decline owing to Israel's frequent closures of Gaza's borders. Investors are unwilling to invest with such uncertainty. Indeed, despite a 2005 promise by G8 countries of a $3 billion USD investment in Gaza for its reconstruction, no money has actually been invested in the Gaza Strip's redevelopment.

5. Do Gaza residents now enjoy greater freedom?

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip no longer face daily confrontations with Israel soldiers, nor suffer the indignity of watching Israeli settlers traveling through their midst on Jewish-only roads – phenomena still faced by fellow Palestinians in the West Bank. They were also able to participate in parliamentary elections in January 2006 that were hailed globally as the most free and fair elections ever held in the Arab world.

But Gazans still grapple with severe restrictions on their freedom to travel.

The Rafah crossing point is the only access for Palestinians to Egypt. Pursuant to a November 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access brokered by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israel was to permit Palestinian-only travel through Rafah (other foreigners and Palestinians lacking Israeli identification documents were not permitted to use Rafah crossing). In June 2006, Israel dismissed European monitors, who had been dispatched to staff the crossing, and closed the facility. Since then, it has opened only briefly to permit some Palestinians stranded abroad to return home.

The Erez border station is the only place Palestinians can enter Israel for either work or to travel to the West Bank. Almost all Palestinians are barred from using Erez for "security reasons". Erez has been repeatedly closed since redeployment, again for unspecified "security reasons." Palestinian workers have been denied entry to Israel since March 2006, and only a handful have obtained permits to the West Bank.

In the November 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access, Israel committed to facilitate Palestinian travel between the Gaza Strip and West Bank, but has failed to abide by the agreement.

As a result of all these restrictions, Gazans are trapped within the narrow confines of the Gaza Strip – unable to travel abroad or to visit relatives or conduct business in the West Bank.

Even Palestinian members of parliament are not permitted to travel. Parliamentary sessions are now conducted via video conference between Ramallah, in the West Bank, and Gaza City.

6. Why did Palestinians vote for Hamas and what are the implications?

Palestinians voted for Hamas because they were disillusioned by the failures of the Fateh leadership – corruption, incompetence, and most of all, inability to effectively defend Palestinian territory against further seizures by Israel. However, in a December 2005 poll, fewer than 3% of Palestinians supported Hamas's proclaimed goal of establishing an Islamic state. (3)

Since the elections, Israel has strived to undermine the Hamas-led Palestinian authority. Under the 1994 Paris Protocols, Israel collects taxes and customs duties on goods passing into the Occupied Palestinian Territories on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Israel has refused to honor this legal obligation, retaining approximately $50 million monthly of Palestinian money.

The U.S., European Union, and other international donors have also withheld aid to the Palestinians until the Hamas government renounces violence, recognizes Israel, and agrees to honor prior agreements of the Palestinian Authority. The United States, which considers Hamas a "terrorist organization," has threatened to prosecute subsidiaries of any banks that facilitate transfers of funds to the Palestinian Authority.

As a result, the Palestinian Authority has been unable to pay nearly a million government salaries since January. Small private donations and aid from Arab countries have alleviated the resulting crisis only minimally.

John Dugard, South African law professor and Special UN rapporteur on conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has warned of an impending humanitarian crisis, and observed that "In effect, the Palestinian people have been subjected to economic sanctions - the first time that an occupied people have been so treated." (4)

7. Are Palestinians in Gaza healthier and safer than they were a year ago?

No. The Palestinians of the Gaza Strip have suffered serious deterioration in nutrition, health, and psychological well-being, particularly since the international blockade against the Palestinian Authority. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 70% of Gaza families are now dependent on aid to meet daily food needs. (5)

Since the electoral victory of Hamas in January 2006, tensions between Hamas supporters and members of the former ruling party, Fateh, have heightened, occasionally leading to armed clashes. Approximately 100 Palestinians have been killed over the last year in internal violence. Some members of the security services – which had been stacked by Fateh with its own supporters - have resorted to kidnappings in an attempt to coerce payment of their salaries.

Israel has continued its policy of "targeted killings" – assassinations of those it deems members of Palestinian armed groups. The killings typically are by air attack, employing missiles or bombs, and commonly kill innocent civilians.

Israel fired over 5,000 artillery shells into the Gaza Strip from the end of March 2006 to the end of May, ostensibly to halt the launching of "Qassam rockets" into Israel.

8. What are "Qassam rockets", and why did Palestinians fire them at Israel?

"Qassams" are homemade rockets of various types. All are unguided, carry small warheads, and most have a very short range. Although they have certainly contributed to a sense of insecurity in Israeli towns bordering Gaza, since the first Qassam was launched in 2002, only about ten fatalities ensued in Israel. No Israeli fatalities have been registered since the disengagement, although some Israelis have been wounded.

Israel's decolonization of the Gaza Strip by no means ended its control over the Gaza Strip, and the daily life of Palestinians there has, in many ways, declined as a result of this control. Israel continues to hold more than 9,000 Palestinians in prisons in Israel, including hundreds of women and children. Many have never been tried, and some are held under indefinite "administrative detention". Gaza Palestinians are glad that their lands are not being taken for Jewish-only settlements, but they are aware that Israel continues to expand its illegal colonies in the West Bank on land it seizes from Palestinians there. The number of new settlers in the West Bank exceeds the number that were withdrawn from the Gaza Strip, and the process of Israel's colonization of Palestine, in net terms, has advanced. Israel continues to attack and kill Palestinians. Palestinians resent Israel's apparent effort to overthrow their democratically-elected government.

Unfortunately, some Palestinians have grown cynical about the willingness of the international community to enforce international law and U.N. resolutions in their case. They point, for example, to the 2004 ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel's West Bank separation wall is illegal and must be dismantled. The ICJ judgment has been flaunted by Israel with impunity – as have the many U.N. resolutions calling for an end to Israel's military occupation and condemning Israel's policies there, including its illegal colonization. Some Palestinian groups have concluded that only violent resistance can stop the seizures of their lands and win them their freedom. While reprehensible, that is why Qassam launches continue.

Hamas, the leading religiously-based Palestinian organization, suspended armed actions on Israelis for approximately 16 months until June 2006.

9. What precipitated the capture of the Israeli soldier on June 25, 2006?

The immediate trigger for the capture of the Israeli soldier was a June 9 bombing on a Gaza beach that killed seven members of the Ghalia family. Israel denied responsibility for the bombing, but Human Rights Watch determined that the wounds and shrapnel were consistent with Israeli ordnance. Then, on June 24, Israeli forces abducted Palestinian doctor Osama Muantar and his brother, Mustafa, claiming them to be Hamas members. The June 25 retaliatory raid was jointly mounted by the Izz ed-deen al-Qassam brigade (the military wing of Hamas), the Popular Resistance Committees (a coalition linking members of Fateh, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad), and the Army of Islam (a previously unknown group). The groups announced their willingness to release the captured soldier in exchange for the release of all Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.

Beginning June 28, Israel has laid siege to the Gaza Strip, closing it almost entirely to travel and trade. Israeli jets bombed civilian infrastructure, including roads, bridges, government buildings, and Gaza's main electrical generating plant. Civilian homes, agricultural fields, orchards, workshops, and offices have also been attacked. To date, 184 Palestinians have been killed, including 42 children, while another 650 have been wounded. 3,400 Palestinians have sought shelter from Israeli attacks on their neighborhoods. (6)

On June 29, Israel abducted 64 Hamas officials, including Palestinian Authority cabinet ministers and up to 20 parliamentary representatives. The abductions were reportedly planned weeks in advance and had been approved by Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. On August 6, Israel also abducted Palestinian parliamentary speaker Aziz Dweik. Many Palestinians view this as further evidence that Israel exploited the capture of its soldier to launch a broader attack against the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

10. Is the lesson from this that Israel should not withdraw from the West Bank?

No. The lesson is that Israel cannot expect unilateral redeployments of troops that only shift the character of its control over Palestinian lives to bring peace. Palestinian aspirations for independence, freedom, and prosperity cannot be realized when Israel controls the borders and airspace of Palestinian territories, and exploits this control to throttle a democratically elected Palestinian government. Palestinians are not likely to abandon resistance to Israeli policies that deny their freedom and take their land. Unfortunately, that resistance is likely to include violence as long as the international community is unwilling to enforce international law and U.N. resolutions that apply to Israel, and thus to ensure that justice for Palestinians can be achieved through peaceful means.

(1) Ari Shavit, Haaretz.
(2) See "Disengagement, The Palestinian Economy and the Settlements", the World Bank, June 15, 2004.
(3) http://www.jmcc.org/publicpoll/results/2005/no55.pdf.
(4) John Dugard, Human Rights in Palestine, 21 June 2006.
(5) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, HUMANITARIAN FACTSHEET ON LEBANON, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, 9 August 2006.
(6)Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, HUMANITARIAN FACTSHEET ON LEBANON, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, 9 August 2006.

God Bless The World – Not Just America. Spam and Ignorance!

Haitham Sabbah — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:44:36 +0000

As usual, daily Spam, but this one was interesting A couple of days ago, I received a spam email from Orville Records (I don't know who the hell are they).

Subject: New Anthem for World Peace by Greg Jones garnering global accolades!

Here is an excerpt:

New Anthem for World Peace garnering accolades worldwide. FREE DOWNLOAD in honor of troops!

Cleveland, OHIO (USA) August 25, 2005 "WOW'...'BEAUTIFUL'...' possibly the most important musical message of today'! These are a few of the responses regarding the hot new Maxi-Single CD recording entitled GOD BLESS THE WORLD-WHILE YOU BLESS AMERICA (aka... Not Just America) written, produced and performed by Cleveland, Ohio native GREG JONES.

With a We are the World 'feel', this special release is a unique blend of adult contemporary, easy listening, soul and inspiration combined with a powerful message of peace and harmony. In fact, the special CD was recorded on the same mixing board which was owned by Kenny Rogers and used by Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and others for the 'We are the World' project. A section of the song's lyrics reads 'God bless the world...not just America...God Bless the whole wide world...so our kids can live in harmony...God bless the world'!

Internet radio giant, Live365, the world's largest network of online radio stations, has signed on and is 'special featuring' GOD BLESS THE WORLD through close to 2000 web radio stations worldwide. Commercial radio is fast catching wind of this special release and is next in line while experts are declaring GOD BLESS THE WORLD-While You Bless America a future classic!

I'm so very thankful for the response worldwide that the anthem is receiving. It's exciting how so many people have embraced the song and the message ... and the snowball effect has been incredible!. For a limited time we are offering the anthem as a free download in honor of the Ohio troops (and all of America's heros) who were killed in Iraq, and in honor of their families'.
Visit _www.godblesstheworldonline.com_ (http://www.godblesstheworldonline.com/) and please help spread the musical message of Peace!

***This is a special release in that a portion of proceeds will go to spouses of lost troops through Red Cross. For more info contact Orville Records via e-mail at _orvillerecords@aol.com_ (mailto:orvillerecords@aol.com) or call 216/531-7676.

For FREE DOWNLOAD in honor of America's fallen heros visit: (http://www.godblesstheworldonline.com/lyrics.cfm)

"The more seeds of Peace are planted...the greater the tree of life will grow" (Greg Jones)

GregJones

-------------------
I hope you don't mind but we have attached an MP3 file of GOD BLESS THE WORLD (Radio Version) Please feel free to listen, play and share with the world.

Thanks! Here I'm sharing it. Ok, so apart from the spam, I was curious to look farther and see who is 'Greg Jones' (no offence man, but I really don't follow too much the Western Music). So I went and checked godblesstheworldonline.com. First thing that got my attention was the dedication:

In Honor of America's fallen and in memory of Ohio's Heros

My eyebrows goes up... excuse me? I thought this is a song for the World Peace, not only American... So why biased here?! Going further into the website:

America's New PEACE SONG !

Ahh... ok. America only...again. Fine, but I thought the guy said "God Bless The World - Not Just America"? Maybe he is not responsible for the content of this website...

So I search further to find Greg's blog. I was lucky to find out that Greg just started a blog a couple of months ago. He seems to post there regularly. I decided to read some of his posts, trying to understand Greg's background, style and beliefs, etc... I WAS SCHOCKED. Other than the posts talking about his song, he seems to be interested in Middle East, specially Palestine and what is going on there.

What shocked me was that this Peace Song Musician, seems to be ignorant of the subject he is talking about. He writes "There CAN be Peace in the middle east!!!Don't blow it!". So I read:

Israel's Sharon has done an absolutely incredible major gesture toward peace in the middle east.

Gesture? What gesture? Drawing back from a Palestinian occupied land is a gesture? Ok, never mind...

It's almost shocking. For year after year, the Israelis (and proponents) have considered it to be ok for the Israelis to 'settle' in Gaza, stating that it is the promised land from God. I love God, but I never thought God would condone people literally coming into another person's home (the Palestinians) kick them out of their home, with the help of military backup, move into their homes, and call it the new Israeli 'settlement'. Incredible! And I've been saying for years; how would you like it if someone came into your kiving room...said that they like your living room...and decided to just 'settle' in your living room. Bring the whole family and just 'settle'. And if you were to resist, you were called the bad guy. Weird huh.

Well, that is exactly what the Israelis did in Gaza. And I am so very thankful that Sharon has realized A) that it was wrong and B) that it is time to move out. It may have taken a while, (and bloodshed) but WOW, Sharon is the man!!!!

I don't blame you. This is what the media tells Americans. But what your media didn't tell you is that Gaza "Disengagement" = West Bank Engagement. Where do you think these sellers went to? Sharon's home?

NOW! Are the Palestinians going to realize that this is one of the greatest gestures toward peace in modern day history? Are they going to realize that this is the gift of peace, not a surrender on the part of Israel or even a victory.

Excuse me... We paid a very high price for this disengagement. Thousands of people where killed over decades of US support to Israeli occupation.

Are they going to be thankful to have their land back and realize that Sharon has done a great act? I certainly hope so.

I certainly don't think so. Gaza is not Palestine. Gaza is only 360 kmï¿½ (nearly double the size of Washington D.C.). What about the rest of Palestine? Forget Palestine... What about the West Bank? Do you know the size of West Bank? It's about 6000 kmï¿½. Did Sharon withdraw from the West Bank? Ok, you heard that they escaped from 21 colonies of the Gaza Strip. But, do you know how may colonies are there in the West bank?

Have a look at this map and count...

More maps here...

There are more than 242 colonies in the West Bank. The largest colony inside the West Bank is Maale Adoumim (63 kmï¿½), compare that to Tel Aviv - 54 kmï¿½!!! A colon bigger than Israel major city?! And Maale Adoumim is still getting bigger. Did your media tell you that? I guess not.

In the past, many Moslems have declared that so much of the terrorism has been due to the wrong occupation of Palestine land. Well, Sharon has solved that problem. And it is time for the Palestinians to Peacefully accept the gift of peace and cease animosities toward Israel.

Read above again!!! Beside, resistance to occupation is NOT terrorism. You occupy my home, I have the right to kill you.

Right now is the key to the entire future of the Middle East. Don't blow it Palestine!

I recommend that you switch to other media stream!

p.s. A note for American media: PLEASE refrain from escalating negativity during this very delicate transition for the sole purpose of maintaining audience attention through pre-meditated sensationalism designed to create doubt in the potential success of this monumental period. Don't YOU blow it either !!!

Welcome to the game. Good that you noticed that your media escalating negatively. But did you ask yourself if they are telling you everything? Did you ask your self why?

Then, in another post, Greg writes:

Attention Moslems. Don't blow this. Moslems with good common sense have the responsibilty to keep the 'ignorants' in check....

Then, some dummies in Jordan decide to shoot off 3 attack missiles toward U.S. ships and Israel. How ignorant are these people? You're getting exactly what you have been claiming that you wanted. The Gaza Strip back in the hands of Palestine. That's what Sharon is doing. So why in the name of whoever you pray to, would you think you need to shoot a few bombs off?

First of all, terrorist are not Muslims, and Muslims are not terrorists. If you wish to call them that, as your media does, that's your problem. US can't live without an enemy, so they decided to call it terrorism, and then a stupid -Talk Show Host like Graham Fired defines Islam as "a terrorist organization". I'm a Muslim, I never killed anyone, I never paid or funded anyone to kill anyone, yet Muslims are called terrorist. However, when US Tax payers support (indirectly) terrorists groups, and when the US Army kills thousands of innocents, and when Israelis kills babies and kids in strawberry field, and when Israel demolish Palestinian homes, they are called "Freedom Fighter"!!!!

When someone blows a bomb, he is called terrorist. But when someone blows a nuclear bomb, he is not!!!

Second, these dummies who shoot the missiles in Jordan are all non Palestinians or Jordanians. And they have nothing to do with Palestine. And no one in Palestine or the Arab or Muslim world applauded what they did. So, why in heavens do all the world wants to stick these assholes with Islam?

Dear Greg,

Please, don't take this personal. I recommend that you switch off your TV, write some non- biased music, and God Bless The World - Not Just America!!!