Word: gaza
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...defenders say the attacks are a legitimate response to Hamas’ rocket-fire, and a clear case of self-defense. Anyone with a political memory longer than three weeks, however, knows how utterly hollow this statement is in light of the months-long blockade of Gaza. Israeli blockades of fuel, electricity, and food supplies from Gaza, which have been in place for well over a year, have drastically affected homes, businesses and hospitals in a region where 90 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, the most devastating effects of which are seen in the chronic malnutrition...
...censure Hamas for using violence to call international attention the slow killing of its 1.5 million citizens, is profoundly troubling. To condemn Hamas without acknowledging that they were elected democratically, that they are the only organization offering tangible social services to the suffering citizens of Gaza, and that they are acting out against a sustained, violent occupation, does nothing to advance the peace process. It is worth remembering that Hamas’ rockets were wildly inefficient, homemade devices incapable of posing a real threat to the world’s fourth-largest military power. While this is not a defense...
Watching the TV coverage of Israel's ground offensive on Gaza over the weekend, I could have sworn that I heard the ghost of Abdel Aziz Rantissi laughing. (See pictures of Israel's sweep into Gaza...
Rantissi was Hamas' political leader in Gaza when we met in a dark safehouse in April 2002. The second Palestinian intifadeh was at its height. The previous week, Israeli troops had bulldozed into the refugee camp in Jenin, in the West Bank, smashing the infrastructure of another militant group, Islamic Jihad, but also killing civilians. Israeli forces were easily beating Hamas forces in Gaza too; in Ramallah, Yasser Arafat was practically under house arrest as Israeli snipers took up position around the seat of the Palestinian government...
Rantissi's analysis, which seemed so perverse and bizarre in 2002, has now become conventional wisdom. Most commentators agree that while Israel's incursion into Gaza may leave Hamas deeply wounded in the short term, the militants will ultimately benefit...