By Lamis Andoni
Al-Jazeera
"While most Israeli leaders are resistant to fully lifting the blockade of Gaza, Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing foreign minister, is advocating that Israel abandon the Strip to international monitoring and economic rehabilitation.
The proposal, recently leaked to the Israeli press, does not amount to freeing Gaza but rather to placing it under European sea and land inspections and a reconstruction plan.
If implemented, it will permanently sever the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, transforming the Strip into an internationally supervised ghetto - with the dual purpose of ensuring Israeli security and reigning in the Palestinian population.
The isolation of Gaza would further undermine the vision of a contiguous Palestinian state or any form of equitable coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis. It would also divide those families with members in the West Bank, creating a permanent schism in Palestinian society and deepening the sense of fragmentation.
Hamas would effectively be ruling a development project with no meaningful ties to the rest of the Palestinian people.......
Breaking Palestinian will
This proposal not only limits the vision of Palestinian statehood, but is also designed to break the will of the Palestinian people - reducing them to a population consumed by the immediate needs of living at the expense of their freedoms and aspirations.
While it might provide a deceptive sense of peace and calm for Israelis in the short-term, and temporarily subdue the Gazan population, it will ultimately obstruct chances for a viable, long-term peace and lead to further hostilities in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Gazans may witness an improvement in their economic status, but this will be at the expense of their freedoms and aspirations, which cannot be satisfied by prosperity alone. Gazans are part of a larger nation and any attempt to deny this will only further radicalise Palestinians.
The proposal may serve Lieberman's right-wing, racist agenda, in which Palestinians are viewed not as people with human rights and national aspirations but as an obstacle to be either marginalised, or better still, removed. But it will permanently submit Palestinians to the mercy of others and irreversibly alter any vision for peace.
But the Palestinians are not guiltless or powerless in this - it is in their hands to achieve the Palestinian national reconciliation that would make such proposals meaningless."
Al-Jazeera
"While most Israeli leaders are resistant to fully lifting the blockade of Gaza, Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing foreign minister, is advocating that Israel abandon the Strip to international monitoring and economic rehabilitation.
The proposal, recently leaked to the Israeli press, does not amount to freeing Gaza but rather to placing it under European sea and land inspections and a reconstruction plan.
If implemented, it will permanently sever the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, transforming the Strip into an internationally supervised ghetto - with the dual purpose of ensuring Israeli security and reigning in the Palestinian population.
The isolation of Gaza would further undermine the vision of a contiguous Palestinian state or any form of equitable coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis. It would also divide those families with members in the West Bank, creating a permanent schism in Palestinian society and deepening the sense of fragmentation.
Hamas would effectively be ruling a development project with no meaningful ties to the rest of the Palestinian people.......
Breaking Palestinian will
This proposal not only limits the vision of Palestinian statehood, but is also designed to break the will of the Palestinian people - reducing them to a population consumed by the immediate needs of living at the expense of their freedoms and aspirations.
While it might provide a deceptive sense of peace and calm for Israelis in the short-term, and temporarily subdue the Gazan population, it will ultimately obstruct chances for a viable, long-term peace and lead to further hostilities in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Gazans may witness an improvement in their economic status, but this will be at the expense of their freedoms and aspirations, which cannot be satisfied by prosperity alone. Gazans are part of a larger nation and any attempt to deny this will only further radicalise Palestinians.
The proposal may serve Lieberman's right-wing, racist agenda, in which Palestinians are viewed not as people with human rights and national aspirations but as an obstacle to be either marginalised, or better still, removed. But it will permanently submit Palestinians to the mercy of others and irreversibly alter any vision for peace.
But the Palestinians are not guiltless or powerless in this - it is in their hands to achieve the Palestinian national reconciliation that would make such proposals meaningless."
No comments:
Post a Comment