- December 28 was Cast Lead's second anniversary, a three
week onslaught inflicting an appalling human, destructive and environmental
toll. The war ended. Regular attacks continued, and Gaza remains suffocating
under siege. Yet world leaders are doing nothing to end it or hold Israeli
war criminals accountable.
-
- The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said "Gaza
remains sealed-off from the outside world (after) the single most brutal
event in" the occupation's history, and "impunity for war crimes
prevails."
-
- To date, victims' rights have been unaddressed. International
law remains ignored. Indisputable war crimes were airbrushed from history.
Israeli war criminals were shielded from justice. Only three lower-ranking
soldier were convicted for war-related offenses. One was for credit card
theft, two others for using a nine year old boy as a human shield. Israeli
government officials who ordered war, generals and top commanders who planned
and implemented it, and other complicit figures were uncharged and unpunished.
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- World leader silence condoned them. The rule of law was
trashed for imperial Israel, including allowing it to slowly suffocate
over 1.5 million Gazans. Moreover, a newly released WikiLeaks cable says
Israel plans major wars on Gaza and Lebanon. More on them below.
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- Preventing Gaza's Reconstruction
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- On December 21, the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of
Movement asked "Who will rebuild Gaza?" Six months after Israel's
cabinet decision to ease closure, a new Gisha report headlined "Reconstructing
the Closure: Will recent changes to the closure policy be enough to build
in Gaza," saying:
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- "Despite the cabinet's decision, Israel continues
to ban the entrance of steel, gravel and cement, (essential) items which
are not considered to be dual-use according to international standards."
Narrow exceptions only were allowed with "burdensome bureaucratic
strings attached."
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- For most items, Israel bogusly claims Hamas may use construction
materials to build bunkers and "enhance its military capability"
in other ways. As a result, little rebuilding progress has been made. Gaza
remains in ruins, and over 1.5 million Palestinians struggle daily to cope.
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- For example, from July 6 - December 6, 2010, only 744
truckloads of cement, gravel and steel entered Gaza for international projects.
In addition, up to 900 tons of concrete (equaling 36 truckloads), 300 tons
of steel, or 250 tons of gravel move through tunnels on any given day.
Though way short of enough, whatever's supplied helps. In contrast, prior
to June 2007 (when siege began), over 5,000 truckloads of these materials
came in monthly. Israel is determined to suffocate Gazans, committing the
equivalent of slow-motion genocide.
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- Ongoing Gaza Displacement
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- On December 27, the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights
new report headlined, "On-going Displacement: Gaza's Displaced Two
Years after the War," saying:
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- Two years after Cast Lead, "tens of thousands of
Gaza residents continue to live a life of displacement" because of
Israel's suffocating siege. As a result, they've gotten little "meaningful
relief (or) their right to adequate housing."
-
- After Cast Lead ended, UN Under Secretary for Humanitarian
Affairs, John Holmes, said it's "absolutely critical that (construction)
material(s) be allowed into Gaza on a regular and hopefully free basis."
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- For over two years, Israel's prevented them, collectively
punishing tens of thousands of Gazans, unable to rebuild their homes and
lives. Gaza's Ministry of Housing and Public Works said 51,553 homes were
destroyed or damaged. Of these, 3,336 were completed demolished and 4,021
sustained major damages.
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- Most aid Gazans got came from Hamas, the UN Development
Program (UNDP), and UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Other agencies
also provided materials, equipment and food. Also, families whose homes
were totally destroyed got cash. Refugee homeless families received about
$5,000 from Hamas and a comparable amount from UNWRA. Others whose properties
sustained major damage got about $2,500 from Hamas and another $3,000 from
UNWRA.
-
- Non-refugee families were also helped, amounts based
on whether their homes were entirely or partially destroyed. Families who
lost properties have been most harmed, needing alternate shelter, mostly
in leased apartments until their homes are rebuilt.
-
- Based on a random survey from its "home demolitions"
database among families whose homes were entirely destroyed, Al Mezan estimates:
-
- -- 93.3% of families haven't gotten rebuilding help so
must live elsewhere;
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- -- 13.3% rebuilt their homes;
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- -- 86.6% can't do it because they didn't receive enough
help;
-
- -- 56.6% have rented homes or apartments; of those, 41.2
% (23.3% of the total) get regular assistance, covering their full rent
expense; another 35.3% receive only partial help;
-
- -- 33.3% get no help for rent;
-
- -- 10% live in houses other than their own;
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- -- 6.7% live with relatives or their families;
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- -- 10% live in tents;
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- -- 30% had to move their children to new schools;
-
- -- 66.7% said alternative housing doesn't provide comfort
and privacy like their own; and
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- -- 86.7% are dissatisfied with how service providers
handled home demolition and destruction problems.
-
- A second survey among families whose homes were partially
destroyed showed findings only modestly better, except that:
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- -- 83.3% were living in their own residences, despite
damage; and
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- -- 43.3% were dissatisfied with service providers, half
the percentage of homeless families.
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- Overall, however, Gaza remains in crisis, ongoing since
June 2007, and exacerbated by Cast Lead destruction, atrocities, regular
assaults, little concern by the international community, and no accountability
for Israeli war criminals. Occupied Palestine's history shows sustained
justice denied, especially in Gaza under siege.
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- Another Lebanon and Gaza War?
-
- A disclaimer: nations like Israel and America regularly
prepare operational plans for wars that never are fought. Why? So they're
ready in case they are. For example, America's Afghanistan war began on
October 7, 2001, four weeks post-9/11, a conflict that took months to plan.
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- It's also true for Israel's 2006 Lebanon war and Cast
Lead. Neither was impromptu following pretexts cited to launch them. They
were in place many months in advance as are preparations for all wars.
In other words, plans alone don't automatically mean war. Most often, they
don't. However, given the belligerent history of America and Israel, information
suggesting more war can't be discounted. Too many previous ones were waged
so sooner or later expect another.
-
- Juan Cole writes regularly for his Informed Comment site,
on January 2 headlining "WikiLeaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon,
Gaza," saying:
-
- Norway's Aftenposten newspaper "summarized an Israeli
military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi" for
US congressional members over a year ago, saying:
-
- "The memo on the talks....as well as numerous other
documents from the same period, to which Aftenposten has gained access,
leave a clear message: The Israeli military is forging ahead at full speed
with preparations for a new war in the Middle East."
-
- Cole emphasized "serious and specific" preparations,
not contingency planning. US cables quoted Ashkenazi saying:
-
- "I'm preparing the Israeli army for a major war,
since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the
opposite....In the next war Israel cannot accept any restrictions on warfare
in urban areas."
-
- Neither did Israel's last two conflicts in 2006 against
Lebanon and Cast Lead, under its "Dayiya Doctrine," named after
the Beirut suburb destroyed in summer 2006. It reflected how future wars
would be fought as IDF Northern Command head Gabi Eisenkot explained at
the time, saying:
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- "What happened in the Dayiya quarter of Beirut in
2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. We will
apply disproportionate force at the heart of the enemy's weak spot (civilians
and non-military targets) and cause great damage and destruction. From
our standpoint, these are not civilian villages (towns or cities), they
are military bases. This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it
has been approved."
-
- Cast Lead (like Lebanon 2006) showed that civilians and
non-military targets are attacked freely without cause to inflict maximum
damage, deaths, injuries and human misery - "Dayiya."
-
- Whether or not true, Ashkenazi and America's State Department
claim Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah amassed large stockpiles of rockets,
threatening Israel. In fact, no nation endangered Israel since the 1973
war, and given its dominant regional strength, none does so now. Other
nations' weapons are purely defensive and no match for Israel, nuclear-armed
and dangerous.
-
- Cole observes that Israel "could have a peace treaty
with Syria and Lebanon tomorrow by giving back the Golan Heights and the
Shebaa Farms...." For decades, Palestinians have also sought peace,
but Israel chooses conflict. So does America.
-
- As a result, Cole fears that Washington's support for
Israeli belligerence will incite inevitable blowback, "finally finish(ing)
off the (few remaining) civil liberties enshrined in the American Constitution."
Already on life support, they need only a shove to be cut off.
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- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays
at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
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- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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