Home

Opinion & Commentary:
Things go from 'batty' to worse in Gaza
By Seth Mandel
Feb. 1, 2008

No doubt Shel Silverstein books were among the first things Gazans purchased after they destroyed parts of the Gaza-Egypt border wall and 300,000 of them flooded Egypt. The above poem, appropriate titled "Batty," can be found in Silverstein's A Light in the Attic and aptly describes just about everything that took place in Gaza-Egypt beginning Jan. 17.

That day, Israel enacted economic sanctions against Gaza in retaliation for the constant barrage of rockets Palestinians there were firing at Israeli citizens. The sanctions included limiting the amount of fuel Israel was sending to Gaza's power plant, and when ruling Hamas decided not to supplement with their own stockpile of public fuel supplies, it was, periodically, lights out in parts of Gaza.

On Jan. 23, the supposedly starving Palestinians blew open the Egyptian concrete and metal border fence and ransacked Egyptian markets to buy the essentials they no longer could procure in Gaza. Those essentials were displayed proudly as the Palestinians carried brand-new television sets above their heads and called taxis with their new cell phones, all the while smoking newly purchased cigarettes -- presumably to help them deal with all the excitement.

The next day, as Egypt flatly refused to lower the white flag they raised the day before, the "United" "Nations" "Human Rights" Council condemned Israel for pursuing rocket launchers in Gaza.

Also that day, the Palestinian Authority's public relations firm, United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), urged Arab states to donate almost $10 million to the PA's Swiss bank accounts, sometimes referred to as Palestinian aid funds. That money would, UNRWA suggested, go to help Gazans pay for things they forgot to buy in Egypt, like food and medicine.

If it all sounds crazy, well, it is. But it's no laughing matter. The situation in Gaza is serious and requires serious attention by those who are serious about peace -- Israel and the United States.

The Washington Post rightly and productively joined the conversation with one of its best and most lucid editorials in recent memory on Jan. 24. It begins: "The Hamas movement provided a dramatic illustration yesterday of its ability to disrupt any movement toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians."

The editors write that as the Palestinians flooded Egypt, "Hamas security forces directed traffic;" as terrorists blew open the fence, "they stood by".

As for Egypt, the Post writes that they "greeted this illegal invasion with a quick surrender," and the Post called shenanigans on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's assertion that it was happening because Palestinians were starving in Gaza.

"In fact, as Mr. Mubarak well knows, no one is starving in Gaza -- though food, fuel, and cigarettes are much cheaper across the border," the Post writes.

The editorial also called on Mubarak to stop "roll[ing] over" in the face of "al-Jazeera television," and characterized the UN's ignoring of Palestinian rocket fire a "farce."

Such clarity was welcome and overdue, and the Post should be commended for its strong words, which were probably aimed as much at Mubarak as at Washington power-pols.

Two days earlier, President Bush's office showed the same clarity; White House Press Secretary Dana Perino reminded reporters that "When... upwards of 150 rockets a day are landed on your territory and injuring or potentially injuring your citizens, you have a right to defend yourself. Imagine if that was happening here. We would certainly defend ourselves."

US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns declared that restoring order was Egypt's responsibility, and said Gazans had become "prisoners of the Hamas government."

Nor were the Israelis shirking their responsibilities. The Israeli government is helping humanitarian aid trucks get through to Gaza, despite finding on those trucks literally tons of materials that can be used to make explosives.

The IDF, for its part, has targeted only Hamas terrorist centers, rocket launch pads, and armed Palestinians headed for the Israeli border. Israel continues to supply more than 70 percent of Gaza's electricity from its own power grid, and recently agreed to deliver hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and industrial fuel to Gaza.

About a thousand Palestinians have been taken to Israeli hospitals in the last few weeks, half of them needing treatment and the other half along for the ride.

But in the face of such honorable respect and restraint, the Hamas high jinks continue. Perhaps summoning the aforementioned Shel Silverstein poem, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh devised a brilliant public relations ploy, and he knew just who to call. Bent on reminding the world why it is known for its "fauxtography," Reuters happily answered the call to action.

The plan: In order to show the world the mayhem Israel was causing by withholding some electricity to Gaza, a Hamas parliament meeting was to be conducted in romantic candlelight. Reuters' fauxtographers dutifully showed up and snapped photos of the Hamas ministers, visible only thanks to the light provided by candles and... the bright sunlight coming through the curtains. Oops.

One Palestinian journalist told the Jerusalem Post: "It was obvious that the whole thing was staged." Another Palestinian journalist told the Post that he wasn't allowed to enter the hall where the meeting was taking place until all the Hamas parliamentarians had time to light their candles.

Palestinians and Israelis all agreed: The level stooped to by Hamas and Reuters was stupefyingly despicable; at least they found some common ground.

But that isn't much comfort. Palestinian leader Khaled Meshaal said that the plan is to shame Egypt into leaving the border open while encouraging them not to take responsibility for Gaza. That would allow Gazans to escape economic sanctions in response to the daily rocket attacks -- 4,200 of which have fallen on Israeli territory since disengagement -- while keeping up the pressure on Israel to clean up the mess.

Of course, the courageous Meshaal lives in Syria, and would need Google Earth to find Gaza on a map, but he's pretty sure he knows what's going on there because he watches CNN on his flat-screen hi-definition plasma television in Damascus.

Such is the state of Palestinian leadership. You may have noticed I haven't mentioned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. I will, as soon as he says or does something -- anything -- worth repeating.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rarely gets a pat on the back these days, but he and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have responded quietly and intelligently, managing a severe diplomatic and security crisis while working against each other in a fractious and weak governing coalition.

It's true, they haven't been able to stop the rocket attacks. But squeezing Gaza's fuel supply and directing pinpoint attacks against terrorists there -- attacks that have become more and more accurate -- are both steps in the right direction.

And couple that with the public relations miscues coming out of Hamastan, and you have a situation wherein Israel has Canada and the US foursquare behind her; French President Nicolas Sarkozy is at wit's end with Hamas patron and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; London, in an otherwise forgettable statement, condemned both Israel and the Palestinians, but at least named the Gazan Arabs first, refusing to take sides against Israel; and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that Israel has a right to defend herself.

An affirmation of Israel's right to defend herself coming from the 38th floor of the UN Secretariat?

Maybe there's a light in the attic after all.