Reconstruct Gaza? A Likud adviser says 'No'
Egypt is today hosting a big conference in Sharm al-Sheikh to rally (mainly pro-western) donors to the task of rebuilding the large amounts of housing and public infrastructure in Gaza that were destroyed by Israel during the recent war.
Ramallah-based Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayad is requesting $2.5 billion for the task. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is reportedly carrying with her to Sharm a pledge of $900 million of US funds. Different governments and groups around the world are even competing to give (or be seen to give) money for this reconstruction effort. In some cases, like that of the US, this intention of giving reconstruction aid now seems bizarre and hypocritical, given that Washington could have stopped Israel's assault on Gaza in its very first hours, and thereby prevented just about all of the horrendous damage Gazans have suffered; but under Pres. Bush it chose not to do so.
But there is one party that might well be strongly opposed to the rebuilding of Gaza: the Likud Party, which is shortly going to take over power in Israel. In a telling op-ed published in The Jerusalem Post in early February, Prof. Efraim Inbar, an adviser to Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, argued that,
- The developing international campaign to reconstruct Gaza is strategic folly. It is also unlikely to be effective. And, under current circumstances, it is also immoral.
I interviewed Inbar here in Jerusalem yesterday. Referring to his article and to today's donors' conference, he admitted that the international community might (misguidedly) insist on rebuilding Gaza-- "but we can always slow the process down."
Indeed until now Israel, which is the "occupying power" in the Gaza Strip, has complete control over the passage of all freight into or out of the Strip. Since the Gaza war it has used that power to prevent the entry of just about all the basic materials required for physical rebuilding: cement, rebar, glass, piping, etc. So it seems that the outgoing Olmert government has already been working hard to prevent or slow down the rebuilding of Gaza.
Inbar is the Director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. In another part of yesterday's interview he talked about the need to maintain the extensive series of roadblocks and other movement-control mechanisms deep inside the West Bank with which Israel controls its 2.3 million Palestinians. Those roadblocks currently number more than 600, and have completely paralyzed the ability of West Bankers to build anything like a functioning economy.
Inbar described the West Bank roadblocks as another part of the effort to punish, or "train", the Palestinians. The US and other governments have urged Israel to reduce their number. But Inbar told me, "The Americans may push us on this, and we may remove one or two roadblocks. We'll just play with the Americans!"
He expressed a lot of confidence that, despite the different "tone" he now hears coming out of Obama's Washington, the new president will not end up doing anything very different on the Palestinian issue than his predecessor. "Time is on our side," he said a number of times.
Sure, the destruction could have been stopped, but think of the lost profits from 'disaster capitalism' (see Naomi Klein) that would have resulted.
Why is it that the rest of the world just stands by and waits for Israel to tell them if they may contribute to the relief of the Palestinians of Gaza or not?
Why is it up to Israel to determine just who will live and who will die in Gaza?
Why is it Israel's prerogative to blockade the Gaza coast?
Why does the rest of the world implicitly cede Gaza and the West Bank to Israel?
Is it any wonder that Israel thinks of Gaza and the West Bank as hers?
The US... OK, Israel owns the US.
But what about the rest of the world?
A bunch of two-bit thugs let their hatred and greed run rampant against their much weaker neighbors and the rest of the world is like.. yeah, OK, whatever you say.
How obvious does the Israeli 'braintrust' have to make it to us that they need a cold hard dose of reality along the lines of 'you (Israel) are not the boss of us (the USA)'?
I find Prof. Inbar's views entirely without humanity. He treats Palestinians not even like sub-humans, but more like a piece of dirt.
Inbar talks wildly, in his op-ed, of "an organization intent on destroying the Jewish state". Hamas texts talk at best only of the illegitimacy of the Israeli state, entirely parallel to the Likud refusal to recognise a Palestinian state. Inbar deliberately confuses Jew and Israeli. Now why would that be? Not difficult to find an answer.
Still, we have to understand that Inbar is representative of the Likud point of view. Or close; We haven't heard many denials.
It's the kind of extreme point of view that the Americans took in Iraq in 2003. Now where are we in Iraq? Obama has promised withdrawal by the end of 2011.
It is true that it is difficult to see how things are going to be regulated between Palestine and Israel. But it is clear that Inbar's views cannot but do damage to Israel's case.
Thanks for this interview exposing the terrorist face of Israel. Inbar is a supporter and advocate of state terrorism, pure and simple. And terrorists like him should be added to the no-fly list. I'll see what I can do about that.
This interview is important because the world should know these are the Israeli leaders and policymakers we'll be dealing with in the next four years.
"US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is reportedly carrying with her to Sharm a pledge of $900 million of US funds."
And apparently none of it is to be used to reconstruct Gaza. According to the information I have seen $300 million is designated for "urgent humanitarian needs" in Gaza, $200 million to cover deficits of (former) President Mahmoud `Abbas's government, and $400 for various projects in the West Bank, many of which will reportedly result in profits for Israel. According to reports none of the paltry $300 million that is to go to Gaza is to be used for reconstruction because they don't want to reward Hamas or some such nonsense.
So, 2/3 of the money will go to Fatah in the West Bank, and nothing to reconstruct Gaza.
The shame continues.
Let the Iranians fund the rebuilding of Gaza, since they goaded Hamas to war. As a US taxpayer, I would rather my funds go to the National Institutes of Health, than to rebuild Gaza, only to have it destroyed when the Iranians need another distraction from their nuclear weapons program.
The Iranians? Come on. It was Israel who goaded on Hamas and began the war. The presence of an independent-minded Iran, of course, has served as Israel's rationale for many questionable actions. I would rather have the aid we send to Israel be used as reparations for the reconstruction of Gaza (true, the Israelis will probably destroy it again--so let them pay for it then). All of this because no one wants to talk to or negotiate with the elected representatives of Gaza and Iran (i.e. Hamas and Ahmadinejad). A lot more could be gained for all sides by pressuring these parties through negotiations rather than perpetuating hostilities.
The Iranians? Come on. It was Israel who goaded on Hamas and began the war. The presence of an independent-minded Iran, of course, has served as Israel's rationale for many questionable actions. I would rather have the aid we send to Israel be used as reparations for the reconstruction of Gaza (true, the Israelis will probably destroy it again--so let them pay for it then). All of this because no one wants to talk to or negotiate with the elected representatives of Gaza and Iran (i.e. Hamas and Ahmadinejad). A lot more could be gained for all sides by pressuring these parties through negotiations rather than perpetuating hostilities.
Some Jewish academicans living mostly in Switzerland, Austria and Germany have issued a worldwide call against the way Israel is treating Palestinians and breaching Human Rights Laws. You can read it here and sign if you are a Jew disgusted by what the Israelian government is doing to the Palestinians. Make it known and sign it if you are Jewish and against the actual politic of Israel.