New Orleans Trip to Gaza Strip

My friend Emily Ratner is part of a group of New Orleans human rights activists attempting to visit Gaza in a few days. Emily and I very much do not see eye-to-eye on Israel, but we have similar views on the treatment of non-combatants in the Gaza Strip. I wasn't going to mention Emily's visit, but I just read this article on Haaretz that turned my stomach. I'm not anti-Israel, and I fully appreciate that Israel is deeply concerned about supplying terrorist groups with items that could be used as weapons against Israel. But to not allow books or musical instruments? That's not even what makes me the most angry, but it is the most ridiculous--Gaza is a hell-hole, why aren't some sources of distraction, fantasy, culture, and education allowed into the territory? It's embaressing for Israel.

The thing that makes me the most angry are the limits on building supplies. Now, I totally understand exactly why building supplies are forbidden. Nails, saws, and timber can be used to make deadly bombs. Nails have been used as shrapnel in many of the suicide bombs that have exploded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The terrorists add the nails so that anyone nearby who survives the explosion itself dies, or is at the very least wounded and disfigured, from additional exploding pieces of metal. So Israel doesn't want building supplies going into Gaza.

I get this. But as someone who has lived in post-Katrina New Orleans, and volunteered in the Lower Ninth Ward, trying to help people salvage their destroyed homes, the idea that only NGOs may bring in building supplies is deeply upsetting. Many many Gazans just want to move forward. NGOs simply do not have the resources to help every Gazan family that lost their home rebuild. I'm sure many families would borrow at insane rates from loan sharks, or sell any remaining belongings, just to begin the process of rebuilding. But they can't, because even if they have the funds, the materials are not allowed into the territory.

Of course, lots of the materials appear on the black markets, arriving in Gaza through the tunnels. But since the tunnels also smuggle weapons, Israel regularly bombs the tunnels, and they aren't open for very long.

I know the Israeli arguments about Gaza. I've heard them many times. "[The Palestinians] elected Hamas, so this is what they deserve." "[The Palestinians] want to kill us, we can't allow them the chance to re-arm." (This one is somewhat futile, as Hamas obviously re-armed easily.) Blah blah blah. It's not that I don't appreciate these arguments. Hamas is a horrible horrible government. In fact, they aren't a government, they're a group of armed thugs masquerading as a goverment. When Hamas officials raid UN supply offices, its safe to say they aren't interested in helping their people.

Israel is a thousand times better than Hamas. But that's not enough. Israel isn't being graded on a curve. Israel is a nation, founded on the principles of Judaism. And while the enslavement and persecution of another people is common in the history of Israel (by Jews, Romans, Assyrians, Ottomans, and on and on), that doesn't make it ok. Israel has to be better. In general, its rules of engagement are far superior. The IDF is to act defensively, not offensively. If someone comes at you with a gun, you must shout warnings before you shoot them. If someone comes at you with a knife, you can't shoot them, you have to run, unless they're less than a meter away. Good. But it's not enough. It's not hard to show more respect for human rights than terrorists.

There's another argument that's common in Israel, which is that since Hamas receives considerable assistance (in the form of transportation, storage of weapons, and lookouts) from 'non-combatants', the difficulty in distinguishing a combatant from a non-combatant means that everyone should be punished. If this kind of punishment actually worked as a deterrent, I would see their point. But the mass punishment of Gazans serves only to humiliate and demean people who have done nothing, or very little, against the state of Israel.

It's a messy situation. I don't have a brilliant solution. But I do know that Israel is capable of being a better nation than the petty, insecure demagogues that currently run the country like to suggest. Peace will only be possible when each side recognizes that the other has valid complaints and concerns. To wash either side with the label of "Totally and Completely Wrong and Immoral" is to guarantee the future of violence and hatred.