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Gaza Notebook - The Bullets in My In-Box


By ETHAN BRONNER
nytimes

Donald Macintyre: An assault on the peace process

Israel devastated the Strip's production capacity as well as destroying homes


Israeli forces used aerial bombing, tank shelling and armoured bulldozers to eliminate the productive capacity of some of Gaza's most important manufacturing plants during their 22 days of military action in the Gaza Strip. The attacks – like those which destroyed at least 4,000 homes, left some residential areas resembling an earthquake zone and more than 50,000 people in temporary shelters at their peak – destroyed or severely damaged 219 factories, Palestinian industrialists say.

Leaders of Gaza's business community – who have long stayed aloof from the different Palestinian political factions – say that much of the 3 per cent of industry still operating after the 18-month shutdown caused by Israel's economic siege has now been destroyed.

Chris Gunness, chief spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said that widespread destruction of "civilian economic infrastructure" was a strike "at the heart of the peace process" because "economic stability is an essential component of a durable peace."

While the main impact of the destruction is likely to be on the already politically fraught prospects of medium to long-term reconstruction in Gaza, it it is unlikely to make efforts to help its many stricken and displaced residents any easier. It is those humanitarian relief efforts for which the main British aid agencies are appealing for help in the advertisement so far barred by the BBC. Meanwhile, the UNRWA is separately pressing donors for $345m for immediate repairs to homes still standing and to its own damaged premises.

The destroyed factories include: Alweyda, the biggest Palestinian food-processing plant and the only one still operating in Gaza until the war; Abu Eida, the largest, and now flattened, ready-mixed concrete producer; and the 89-year-old Al Badr flour mills, which have the biggest storage facilities anywhere in the Strip. The owners of all three said yesterday they were proud of their close and long-standing contact with Israeli partner firms and suppliers. Dr Yaser Alweyda, owner and engineering director of the demolished food-processing plant, estimated the total damage to his plant at $22.5m and accused Israel of wanting "to destroy the weak Palestinian economy". He added: "They want to ensure that we will never have a state in Palestine."

Tawfiq Abu Eida, the owner of the concrete factory, said he had been preparing just before the war to supply the Beit Lahiya sewage works, a key project of the Middle East envoy Tony Blair.

The air and ground strikes have compounded the impact of the trade embargo, which Israel imposed in June 2007 after Hamas's enforced takeover of the Strip. Amr Hamad, the executive manager of the Palestinian Federation of Industries, said: "What they were not able to reach by the blockade, they have reached with their bulldozers." He added: "Businessmen are not connected at all to Hamas and are very pragmatic and open-minded.

"They are the the last layer in Palestinian society who believe in peace and the importance of the economy. They also believe that the only economic link should be with Israel," Mr Hamad said.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, told his cabinet that with "typical moral acrobatics", the "terrorist organisations" were trying to lay the blame on Israel, and that "the State of Israel did everything in order to avoid hitting civilians." Israel would ensure that soldiers and officers who took part in the operation would be safe from any tribunals investigating them, he said.

At the Al Badr mills in Sudaniya, north of Gaza City, owner Rashed Hamada, 55, said his company had been making flour for bakeries right up until the attack on 10 January. He strongly denied that his compound, which was locked at night and had a security guard, had been used by Hamas gunmen, and said it was clear the production line itself had been the target.

"It seems that the father of the commander had owned a flour mill," he commented ironically. "He knew exactly where to hit. The Israelis ... used to encourage me to expand production here. Now they have destroyed it. I don't understand why."

Standing beside mangled and incinerated refrigeration vans and the burned-out ruins of his food factory and warehouses, located for ease of access to Israel between the eastern Gaza City district of Shajaia and the border 650 metres away, Dr Alweyda said that, as well as the production lines, 26 vehicles had been destroyed. The company, sole Gaza agent for Tnuva, an Israeli milk-products company, had managed to keep biscuit production going up until the outbreak of war. The Israeli military said yesterday that it was still investigating allegations of civilian casualties and property damage but that it "does not target civilians or civilian infrastructure, including factories, unless it is being used by Hamas for terrorist purposes."

But Amr Hamad said that he believed the two purposes of the strikes was to make Gaza's economy dependent on Israel's, and to stimulate popular pressure on Hamas to agree to certain compromises as a precondition to a reopening of the crossings – such as allowing the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority control of the crossings and also the release of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit, abducted two-and-a-half years ago by Hamas and other militants.
Independent

EU commissioner hits out at Hamas on Gaza tour

A senior EU official touring Gaza on Monday blasted the "abominable" destruction in the enclave and said its "terrorist" Hamas rulers bear overwhelming responsibility for the war.

"It is abominable, indescribable," Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told reporters in Gaza after touring some of the areas worst hit in Israel's deadly 22-day assault on the territory.

"At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," he said. "I intentionally say this here -- Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such.

"In order for the EU to relaunch a political dialogue with a minimal chance of succeeding and a chance of moving forward towards peace, Hamas must accept the two little conditions that were put to it -- one, the right of Israel to exist and two that it abandon the armed struggle, the terrorist dimension of its approach."

Michel, also known for his harsh criticism of Israel, ruled out any dialogue with Hamas, sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state and which the European Union considers a terrorist organisation.

AFP

Army rabbi 'gave out hate leaflet to troops'

By Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
The Israeli army has been urged to sack Rabbi Avi Ronzki over the booklet


The Israeli army's chief rabbinate gave soldiers preparing to enter the Gaza Strip a booklet implying that all Palestinians are their mortal enemies and advising them that cruelty is sometimes a "good attribute".

The booklet, entitled Go Fight My Fight: A Daily Study Table for the Soldier and Commander in a Time of War, was published especially for Operation Cast Lead, the devastating three-week campaign launched with the stated aim of ending rocket fire against southern Israel. The publication draws on the teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Jewish fundamentalist Ateret Cohanim seminary in Jerusalem.

In one section, Rabbi Aviner compares Palestinians to the Philistines, a people depicted in the Bible as a war-like menace and existential threat to Israel.

In another, the army rabbinate appears to be encouraging soldiers to disregard the international laws of war aimed at protecting civilians, according to Breaking the Silence, the group of Israeli ex-soldiers who disclosed its existence. The booklet cites the renowned medieval Jewish sage Maimonides as saying that "one must not be enticed by the folly of the Gentiles who have mercy for the cruel".

Breaking the Silence is calling for the firing of the chief military rabbi, Brigadier-General Avi Ronzki, over the booklet. The army had no comment on the matter yesterday.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the executive director of the Rabbis for Human Rights group, called the booklet "very worrisome", adding "[this is] a minority position in Judaism that doesn't understand the ... necessity of distinguishing between combatants and civilians."
Independent

Resurgent right dashes peace hopes as Mitchell flies to Israel

Polls predict election triumph for Netanyahu as Gaza war whips up jingoism

By Patrick Cockburn in Jerusalem
Tuesday, 27 January 2009


Barack Obama's new Middle East peace envoy, George Mitchell, arrives in Israel tomorrow charged with working towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. But the expected victory of the right in the Israeli election on 10 February may doom his efforts from the outset.

Benjamin Netanyahu, who did much to bury the Oslo peace accords when he was last prime minister in 1996-99, will almost inevitably be the next prime minister, according to the latest opinion polls. His right-wing Likud party is likely to be the largest party, and the right-wing bloc of extreme religious and nationalist parties is likely to have a majority in the Israeli parliament. Mr Netanyahu would probably have won without the war in Gaza, but the conflict has shifted Israelis significantly to the right. "Prior to the war there was already disillusionment with negotiations and the peace process," says Galia Golan, political science professor at the Interdisciplinary Centre at Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. "Patriotism and nationalism were whipped up as never before by the media who treated the war as if it was one of the wars when we were really under attack."

Benefiting from this jingoism, the biggest winner in the election is likely to be the super-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party of Avigdor Lieberman with its generalised anti-Arab racism. A likely coalition partner of Mr Netanyahu, Mr Lieberman recently suggested that Israeli-Arab MPs be treated like Hamas. "Ideas that nobody would have dared to let cross their lips 10 or 20 years ago, lest they be thought utter fascists, have been bolstered in recent months by the war in the south," lamented the daily Haaretz.

Senator Mitchell is the most powerful politician ever sent by Washington to talk to Israel and the Palestinians. The former Democratic Senate majority leader, his reputation as a peace-maker established by his successful mediation in Northern Ireland, wrote an even-handed report, promptly ignored by the Bush administration, after the start of the second intifada in 2000, calling, among other things, for a complete halt to Israeli settlement building on the West Bank.

Professor Golan says she is encouraged by his appointment "because he has tremendous political clout, but I don't think Hillary Clinton [as Secretary of State] will be willing to put the sort of pressure on Israel that the US needs to put in order to get results." She suspects that Mr Netanyahu will try to divert attention from the Palestinian issue by talking with Syria about a peace agreement.

Israel's two most important actions in its relations with its neighbours have been in the form of unilateral withdrawals – from south Lebanon in 2000 and from the Gaza Strip in 2005 – neither of which led to peace. This failure helps explain the dramatic shift to the right in Israeli politics.

The next government will be right wing but it is not clear how far to the right. All Israeli governments are shaky coalitions. Though Mr Netanyahu may emerge from the election as leader of the largest party, Likud will still have only 28 or 29 MPs or less than a quarter of the 120-member Knesset while, according to the latest polls, the centrist Kadima will win 24 or 25, Labour 16 or 17, Yisrael Beitenu 14 to 16 and the Sephardic religious party Shas nine.

Israeli voters do not like governments with bad relations with the US as would probably be the case if Mr Netanyahu relied solely on the right-wing parties. Instead he will probably bring in Labour or Kadima to give his coalition a more moderate image but without diluting his basic opposition to concessions to the Palestinians.

Obama gives first interview to Arab channel


Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Barack Obama gave his first formal television interview as US President to an Arabic cable TV network, telling Al-Arabiya that when it comes to Middle East matters "all too often the United States starts by dictating".

Mr Obama taped the interview with the Dubai-based network as his envoy to the Middle East, former Senator George Mitchell, set out for an eight-day trip to the region and elsewhere.

The interview complemented the new administration's first efforts to reach out to Arab leaders in the region, who have been wary at best of US efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Mr Obama said he felt it important to "get engaged right away" in the Mideast and had directed Mr Mitchell to talk to "all the major parties involved."

His administration would craft an approach after that, he said in the interview.

"What I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating," Mr Obama told the interviewer.

The president reiterated the US commitment to Israel as an ally, and to its right to defend itself.

But he suggested that Israel has hard choices to make and that his administration would press harder for it to do so.

"We cannot tell either the Israelis or the Palestinians what's best for them. They're going to have to make some decisions. But I do believe that the moment is ripe for both sides to realise that the path that they are on is one that is not going to result in prosperity and security for their people," he said.

Mr Obama added: "There are Israelis who recognise that it is important to achieve peace. They will be willing to make sacrifices if the time is appropriate and if there is serious partnership on the other side."

Mr Obama stopped short of giving a timetable, but he said he is certain progress can be made. Zimbabwe opposition contests power-sharing claims
Independent

Public gives £600,000 to Gaza appeal before broadcasts are aired

By Jerome Taylor
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Independent

Release soldier and we'll end Gaza blockade, says Israel

Olmert tells US envoythat release of Gilad Shalitis crucial to peace deal

By Donald Macintyre in Gaza City
Thursday, 29 January 2009


Israel will not allow the full re-opening of Gaza's crossings until it has secured the release of Gilad Shalit, the army corporal seized more than two-and-a-half years ago by Hamas and other militants, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told President Obama's new Middle East envoy yesterday.

Mr Olmert's message came in talks with US envoy George Mitchell, who afterwards said that consolidating the 10-day-old ceasefire was of "critical importance". The tough task facing Mr Mitchell was underlined by Israel's bombing of Rafah tunnels overnight, their latest response to the killing of an Israeli soldier on Tuesday.

In a short statement after his lunch with Mr Olmert, Mr Mitchell said that entrenching the ceasefire would include a "cessation of hostilities", an end to arms smuggling across Gaza's border with Egypt – which had been a central aim of Israel's 22-day offensive – and the re-opening of the Gaza crossings in line with the 2005 agreement brokered by the previous US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

Israeli officials confirmed that Mr Olmert had made it clear that the full opening of crossings – which would include Karni, the main cargo terminal with Israel, whose 18-month closure has brought Gaza's productive economy to a total collapse – would require the release of Cpl Shalit.

Israel has been arguing that as the 2005 agreement was made with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, his Ramallah-based authority would need to control the Gazan side of the crossings, rather than Hamas.

The reference to the agreement by Mr Mitchell – who will not be meeting Hamas on his visit – appears tosuggest that the new US administration accepts that interpretation.

Mr Olmert is said to have suggested in his talks with Mr Mitchell that Hamas had been sufficiently weakened by Israel's military campaign that the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza "in one form or another" was now a possibility.

But Mr Olmert also appears to believe that Hamas could be more willing than it was before to consider releasing Cpl Shalit in a prisoner exchange on terms acceptable to Israel.

Also yesterday, the French foreign ministry said Israeli soldiers had fired two rounds of warning shots at its consul-general's convoy on Tuesday after blocking it for more than six hours.

The British Department for International Development said it has donated £1.5m to help the charities Oxfam and Mercy Corps provide clean drinking water, sanitation and emergency shelter for Palestinians in Gaza, as well as psychological support for traumatised children there.

Hamas has confirmed that it has stopped those wounded during Israel's Gaza offensive from being evacuated to a temporary Israeli hospital at Erez on the other side of the border. Bassem Naim, the Health Minister in Gaza, said the de facto Hamas government would not allow Israel "to brighten its face" by providing treatment."

Meanwhile in a new report on the West Bank, the Israeli pressure group Peace Now disclosed that 1,257 new structures were built in Israeli settlements in occupied territory during 2008 – a 57 per cent increase over 2007. The Annapolis summit on the peace process at the end of 2007 was based on the internationally-agreed road map, which calls for a freeze on all settlement activity.
Independent