As the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza continues, the pro-Palestinian side naïvely advocates for a ceasefire thinking it will end the fighting in the Middle East when it will do nothing of the kind. Since Israel militarily responded to Hamas attacking, kidnapping, torturing, raping, murdering, and decapitating hundreds of Israeli civilians, pro-Palestinian activists have been on the warpath to make Israel look bad. It fallaciously lobs the accusation of Israel committing genocide, which has become especially en vogue since October 7. Other such untrue accusations as occupier, colonizer, and apartheid state have been part of the verbal arsenal of the pro-Palestinian side for some time now.
An article from the Right-of-center Wall Street Journal, of all places, made another claim earlier this week: Gaza is an open-air prison. The premise of this argument is that the citizens of Gaza have such restrictions in movement, whether physical or economic, that Gaza de facto acts as one large prison. What this language invokes is the image of Israel acting as a warden oppressing Gazans. This argument is nothing new; it has been made by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Left-leaning Slate, amongst others, over the years. The Gaza Strip was not always riddled with poverty, unemployment, and corrupt terrorists running the government the way it is now. How did we get here?
The current version of fence between Israel and Gaza was built in 2002 and fortified in 2005 after the IDF's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. In 2007, Israel imposed an economic blockade. Why a blockade? In early 2006, Hamas defeated its political rival, Fatah, in political elections. In June 2007, Hamas took over Gaza. Shortly thereafter, Hamas started attacking Israel. Hamas has not been what we would call friendly towards Israel. Since its founding in 1988, Hamas has called for the destruction of Israel and indeed all Jews. Since 1993, Hamas has employed suicide bombings against Israel. As for launching rockets, Hamas has been at it since 2001. And let's not forget the violent and death that came with the First and Second Intifadas. With that level of animus, it is understandable that Israel would impose a blockade and a border wall on its borders with the Gaza Strip to protect its citizens.
This leads to the first inconvenient truth: The purpose of the border fence and blockade is not to keep civilians locked in Gaza or to enforce "collective punishment" out of vindictiveness, but rather to prevent terrorists from entering Israel's borders and wreaking havoc. Hamas has posed a militaristic threat since it took over Gaza in 2007. This level of national security would be a basic precaution that any country with an antagonistic neighbor who is hellbent on wiping out one's entire citizenry would take. The United Nations, which has typically been antagonistic towards Israel, accepted in its Palmer Report that Israel's blockade exists for legitimate self-defense purposes (UN, p. 40).
This brings us to the second inconvenient truth: In 2005, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, which means the accusation of Israel being an occupying force in Gaza loses any merit. Before the IDF left Gaza in 2005, American Jewish donors gave Gaza 1,000 greenhouses valued at $14 million. These greenhouses were producing millions of dollars of revenue in flowers and agricultural products. What did Gazans do? Shortly after the IDF disengaging from Gaza, Gazan citizens destroyed the greenhouses. This was before Hamas was ever in charge of governing over the Gazan people or before Israel imposed a blockade.
Yet another inconvenient truth: Hamas has been running the show for well the better part of two decades, not Israel. Gazans voted Hamas into power in 2006. As the governing entity of Gaza, Hamas is the one responsible for the day-to-day well-being of Gazans, not Israel. Hamas could have taken that international aid it received from various countries and international organizations to build schools, hospitals, and infrastructure to provide amenities for its people. What has Hamas decided to do instead? It has mainly invested in rockets and building tunnels to attack Israel, meanwhile grinding everyday Gazans into a state of poverty when it is not using its citizens as human shields. Hamas continues to bombard Israel with rocket attacks to this day. Hamas leaders, who have a net worth of $11 billion, are living the high-life in Qatar while its people suffer. Ultimately, Gazans had two choices after the IDF's disengagement from Gaza: build a prosperous economy or use that newly found freedom to attack Israel because hating Jews is a bigger priority than living peacefully. The Gazans opted for the latter. The fact that was the choice they made is not Israel's fault.
Here is an inconvenient truth that has to do with some basic geography. Israel is not the only country that shares a border with Gaza. Egypt also shares a border with Gaza. There has been a border wall on the Egypt-Gaza border for the better part of two decades. While it is convenient for the pro-Palestinian side to blame Israel, the reality is that the Egyptian government completes the enclosure. Why does Egypt make the choice to not let Gazans cross into Egypt? For a very similar reason that Israel does.
In January 2008, Hamas demolished the border wall that previously between Gaza and Egypt. Shortly after, Egypt started building a steel wall with the help of the United States. The concern was that Hamas would team up with the Muslim Brotherhood, which would have destabilized Egypt. Much like with Israel, Egypt realizes that securing one's land borders is a standard part of national security. Even now, most pro-Palestinian advocates have not even thought to ask why Egypt or other Arab nations are not helping out their Arab brothers and sisters in their hour of need.
Non-rhetorically, that would be a combination of not being able to absorb the influx of refugees along with the instability that would come with allowing Hamas terrorists and sympathizers into the country. While I do not disagree with Egypt's or Jordan's decision to deny Palestinian refugees access to their countries, it does mean that the indecision of the Arab nations has been contributing and continues to contribute to the plight of Gazans. Yet you do not hear for the pro-Palestinian side accusing Egypt of committing genocide or being an apartheid state. The pro-Palestine puts all the onus on Israel while ignoring the fact that Arab nations (Egypt in particular) also place restrictions on Palestinians entering their countries.
In the next Part, I will discuss additional inconvenient truths that undermine the "Gaza is an open-air prison" argument.
No comments:
Post a Comment