Benaz Batrawi, IAWRT member, writing from Ramallah in the Palestinian Authority Areas, offers a personal view from a Palestinian perspective of the recent fighting in Gaza.
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The flying peace in the Middle East
January 26th, 2009
By: Benaz Batrawi
Ramallah/ Palestinian Authority Areas
For almost 23 days I woke up earlier than usual, not only because of the sleepless nights watching news coming from Gaza, but also to call my mother in Khan Younis city, south of Gaza. Hearing her voice made me feel confident that she was still alive. Her words came weak, and tired "I had short, interrupted and annoying sleeping hours" she used to say.
For me, sleeping hours were also few, watching the news for 18 hours a day and searching the web sites for extra news and analysis, and calling my grandmother in Rafah and aunts in Gaza city as well as other friends to make sure that they were still part of our living world. Horrible thoughts about war come to my mind such as why? How? Where are we heading? Civilians were paying huge price because the political leaders wanted to follow their agendas no matter what happened to their people!
The Israeli army aggression on Gaza Strip between December 27th, 2008, and January 19th, 2009, changed the Palestinians' reality and added more tragedy to their lives. That aggression left great loss in human lives and infrastructure, around 1,300 people were killed, 82.6% were civilians, 43% of them are women and children, in addition to 4,500 injured people, a further 20,000 economic establishments and buildings either completely or partially destroyed. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/arabic/2008/19-2009.html. On the other side Israelis lost 13 people during its military operation.
This aggression came after a comprehensive siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than eighteen months when ‘Hamas' the Islamic movement controlled Gaza and took over the authority. Israel claimed that its military operation came as a reaction to Hamas rockets on its cities north of the Gaza Strip. People in Gaza were in a big prison, dying of hunger, and sickness they were not allowed to get out for any reason and many food products, medicine and construction materials were not allowed.
No-one in the world saw or heard their suffering; they resisted the siege and wanted to drag the world's attention. Hamas and other political parties did not want to extend the truce for another six months with the Israeli government because they signed a truce agreement before and did not launch any rocket for the whole six months but Israelis in return did not lift the siege or open the boarders.
After the truce ended the Israeli army assassinated six Hamas militants and Hamas reacted by launching some homemade rockets at the Israeli cities. Hamas leadership did not expect the Israeli reaction or this huge military operation which was called Cast Lead. The Israeli army acted very aggressively without any consideration to International and human laws, it acted above the law.
They killed hundreds of civilians, they targeted and erased whole families, and shelled mosques, hospitals, UNERWA Schools, factories and many other civilian targets. The pictures coming from the UNERWA School and Red Crescent Hospital were horrifying. Women and Children suffered so much from this aggression they composed almost half of the casualties for no reason other than being Palestinian and living in a conflict zone.
The essence of this conflict is in the continuous Israeli occupation of Palestinian land since 1948 and the refusal to withdraw and comply with UN Resolutions 242 and 338 issued in 1967. Moreover, Israel is not seriously committed to the peace process through long-lasting building and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank , expanding its control of Jerusalem and building the separating wall in the West Bank www.stopthewall.org . Palestinians lost hope in the peace process and see it as a non-stop negotiation process without specific targets, just wasting time and allowing the confiscation of more of their land.
This conflict and this suffering will only end when people get their freedom and declare their independent State according to international legitimacy. History indicates that people keep fighting and resisting till they obtain their freedom. The two-state solution is the most appropriate solution for this conflict and it will not happen until the international community obliges Israel to accept it.
The peace strategy is the choice of the Palestinian majority, they decided to live peacefully next to the Israelis. This choice was taken in the mid-nineties when the Palestinian Liberation Organization signed Oslo accord with the Israeli state, but up to now this peace is flying in the sky, it did not settle on the ground. It is still a dream in every Palestinian man's, woman's and child's mind. In order for this dream to come true, fairness and justice are strongly demanded in the Middle East.
