Sunday, January 11, 2009

Report From Rafah

The article is by Bill Quigley. Quigley did great work exposing many of the injustices in New Orleans post Katrina. Some will remember his reports heard on Democracy Now. Here he reports from Rafah, Egypt where doctors are being kept from the Gaza. We are witnessing a humanitarian disaster.

The invasion of Gaza continues with an intention to halt Hamas and Hamas missile attacks into Israel. This is understandable however, I am not certain how this escalating invasion, which is clearly killing hundreds of innocent people, will help establish a new Palestinian government that is pro-Israel. How exactly does that work and benefit Israel given the deep seated cultural and religious roots of the Palestinians. One might assume that for every innocent child killed here, someone perhaps a father, brother, or mother, is now disposed towards assaulting Israel in an act of revenge. An interminable situation now becomes even more interminable.

Z-Net: Doctors Stopped At Borders
"Three thousand victims of bombs and gunfire would overwhelm the medical system of New York City," Nicolas said. "Gaza now has no functioning medical system at all. Most of it has no electricity nor running water. These people are in crisis - they need medical help, so we are here to help them."

But the borders of Gaza are sealed off preventing basic humanitarian and medical assistance from entering.

3 comments:

Glynn Kalara said...

Ask yourself this, why is Egypt an Arab country refusing to help Hamas or even their kids? Israel is at WAR with Hamas and sorry but in War unfortunately these days lots of civilians seem to get caught in the crossfire. The days when armies went out to some field lined up and fired away is long over. War is waged against populations since WW1 and before, way before. The Romans laid siege and you got to surrender your town or die. It's ugly as all sieges are. Hamas should have thought about what would happen as it was firing the missiles and mortars day and night. Actually, I think it did. It wants this level of bloodshed. It wants this because in their sick minds sacrificing their families will spread this war. They want a pan-Muslim jihad against the Jews in Palestine. Read their literature on this it's available all over the net and the Arab/Muslim streets. They want WAR and on a much bigger scale.

Jim Sande said...

Egypt is an Arab country but also the recipient of billions in US military "aid." The US subsidizes the Egyptian military. I would presume Egypt does whatever the US wants it to do and its clear that the US gives Israel full support here in this war.

I don't have any answers here at all. What is going to happen is that Israel will escalate into the Gaza and along the way a significant group of people are going to get fatally wounded and injured. This happens regardless of who is protesting and who censors the Israelis in the UN.

Israel has a media war on its hands as well. They have to battle world opinion. The extent to which the perception of Israel's actions in the Gaza is or is not adversely affecting their geopolitical interests is unknown.

From a simple point of view, I would assume that the Geneva conventions and simple humanitarian sensibility particularly in the 21st Century would allow for some medical aid into Gaza. If it becomes evident that Israel is enacting their own revenge through their conduct of the war, then this is wrong regardless of the potential larger considerations. I have no idea if this is happening, but this article from Quigley throws up a warning sign in this direction. I mean, come on, let's help the people that are wounded, what's the problem.

No Arab alliance is going to eliminate Israel. This is not going to happen as long as the US remains the most formidable military power ever. No way, not ever, it is implausible, there is no scenario that can occur where any gesture in this direction would not be met with overwhelming annihilation.

Glynn Kalara said...

The fog of war. We are so far removed from this that it's really hard to know the whole truth. I'm sure however that Israel only moved because of intense political pressure from the Israeli public. I have friends that I stay in touch with that are Israel-Americans and they all have e-mailed me that the Israeli public was sick and tired of the missile and mortar attacks that were increasing and becoming more strident. Also, they know that Israel would take an awful beating in the court of world opinion if they did attack but they're more immediate concern was to stop the missile attacks etc. Let's be honest here no nation on earth would tolerate such attacks from it's enemies territory on a daily basis forever.
I agree many more innocents will be killed and wounded before this ends. I don't enjoy knowing this. I don't want any WAR period. Tell Hamas that. It takes two my friend to Tango as they say and Israel hasn't attacked just because it has nothing else to do.