Ramzy Baroud's Blog

Breaking Gaza’s Will: Israel’s Enduring Fantasy

My three-year-old son Sammy walked into my room uninvited as I sorted through another batch of fresh photos from Gaza.

I was looking for a specific image, one that would humanise Palestinians as living, breathing human beings, neither masked nor mutilated. But to no avail.

All the photos I received spoke of the reality that is Gaza today - homes, schools and civilian infrastructure bombed beyond description. All the faces were either of dead or dying people.

I paused as I reached a horrifying photo in the slideshow of a young boy and his sister huddled on a single hospital trolley waiting to be identified and buried. Their faces were darkened as if they were charcoal and their lifeless eyes were still widened with the horror that they experienced as they were burned slowly by a white phosphorus shell.

It was just then that Sammy walked into my room snooping around for a missing toy. "What is this, daddy?" he inquired.

I rushed to click past the horrific image, only to find myself introducing a no less shocking one. Fretfully, I turned the monitor off, then turned to my son as he stood puzzled. His eyes sparkled inquisitively as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen.

He needed to know about these kids whose little bodies had been burned beyond recognition.

"Where are their mummies and daddies? Why are they all so smoky all the time?"

I explained to him that they are Palestinians, that they were hurting "just a little" and that their "mummies and daddies will be right back."

The reality is that these children and thousands like them in Gaza have experienced the most profound pain, a pain that we may never in our lives comprehend.

"I think that Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons," Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor who had recently returned from Gaza told reporters in Oslo.

"This is a new generation of very powerful small explosives that detonates with extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 metres

"We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb, because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations."

The dreadful weapons are known as dense inert metal explosives (DIME), "an experimental kind of explosive" but only one of several new weapons that Israel has been using in Gaza, the world's most densely populated regions.

Israel could not possibly have found a better place to experiment with DIME or the use of white phosphorus in civilian areas than Gaza.

The hapless inhabitants of the strip have been disowned. The power of the media, political coercion, intimidation and manipulation have demonised this imprisoned nation fighting for its life in the tiny spaces left of its land.

No wonder Israel refused to allow foreign journalists into the tiny enclave and brazenly bombed the remaining international presence in Gaza.

As long as there are no witnesses to the war crimes committed in Gaza, Israel is confident that it can sell a fabricated story to the world that it is, as always, the victim, one that has been terrorised and, strangely enough, demonised as well.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on January 15.

"Livni said that these were hard times for Israel, but that the government was forced to act in Gaza in order to protect Israeli citizens.

"She stated that Gaza was ruled by a terrorist regime and that Israel must carry on a dialogue with moderate sources while simultaneously fighting terror."

The same peculiar message was conveyed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as he declared his one-sided ceasefire on January 17.

Never mind that the "terrorist regime" was democratically elected and had honoured a ceasefire agreement with Israel for six months, receiving nothing in return but a lethal siege interrupted by an occasional round of death and destruction.

Livni is not as perceptive and shrewd as the US media fantasises. Blunt-speaking Ehud Barak and stiff-faced Mark Regev are not convincing men of wisdom. Their logic is bizarre and wouldn't stand the test of reason.

But they have unfettered access to the media, where they are hardly challenged by journalists who know well that protecting one's citizens doesn't require the violation of international and humanitarian laws, targeting medical workers, sniper fire at children and demolishing homes with entire families holed up inside. Securing your borders doesn't require imprisoning and starving your neighbours and turning their homes to smoking heaps of rubble.

Olmert wants to "break the will" of Hamas, i.e. the Palestinians, since the Hamas government was elected and backed by the majority of the Palestinian people.

Isn't 60 years of suffering and survival enough to convince Olmert that the will of the Palestinians cannot be broken? How many heaps of wreckage and mutilated bodies will be enough to convince the prime minister that those who fight for their freedom will either be free or will die trying?

Far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman, a rising star in Israel, is not yet convinced. He thinks that more can be done to "secure" his country, which was established in 1948 on the ruins of destroyed Palestinian towns and villages. He has a plan.

"We must continue to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II," said the head of ultra-nationalist opposition party Yisrael Beitenu.

A selective reader of history, Lieberman could only think of the 1945 atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. But something else happened during those years that Lieberman carefully omitted. It's called the Holocaust, a term that many are increasingly using to describe the Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip.

It is strange that conventional Israeli wisdom still dictates that "the Arabs understand only the language of force." If that were true, then they would have conceded their rights after the first massacre in 1948. But, following more than 60 years filled with massacres new and old, they continue to resist.

"Freedom or death," is the popular Palestinian mantra. These are not simply words, but a rule by which Palestinians live and die. Gaza is the proof and Israeli leaders are yet to understand.

My son persisted. "Why are Palestinians so smoky all the time, Daddy?"

"When you grow up, you'll understand."

Gaza and the World: Will Things Ever Change?

In times of crisis, most Arabs tune in to Aljazeera television. Sometimes it’s comforting for the truth to be stated the way it is, with all of its gory and unsettling details, without blemishes and without censorship. When Israel carried out massive air strikes against Gaza on Saturday, December 27, terrorizing an already hostage and malnourished population, I too tuned in to Aljazeera.

Within seconds I learned of the tally: 290 deaths and climbing, with 700 more wounded, all in one day. But as dramatic as this event may have seemed – the highest Israeli inflicted death toll in one day in Palestine since Israel’s establishment in 1948 – there was nothing new to learn. Tragedies anywhere - natural or manmade – tend to lead to social, cultural, economic and political upheavals, revolutions even, that somehow alter the social, cultural, economic and ultimately political landscapes in the affected regions, save in Palestine.

I gazed pointlessly at the screen. Learning of the aftermath of such tragedies seems more of a ritual than a purposeful habit. The Arab and international responses to the killings can only serve as a reminder of how ineffectual and irrelevant, if not complacent their timid mutterings are.

Once again the US blamed Palestinians, and the Hamas “thugs” using words that defy logic, such as “Israel has the right to defend itself.” The statement remains as ludicrous as ever, for a country like Israel with an army that possesses the world’s most lethal weapons, including nuclear arms, cannot possibly feel threatened by an imprisoned population whose only defense mechanism are fertilizer-based homemade rockets. While Israel has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians in Gaza (one thousand on Saturday alone) a handful of Israelis have reportedly died as a direct result of the Palestinian rockets in years. Do numbers matter at all?

European governments chose their words carefully, “expressing concern”, “calling on Israel to use restraint” and so on. Arab governments were, as usual, distracted with trivialities, protocols and easily lost sight of the crisis at hand.

Then, the same, ever predictable outbursts began. Passionate callers from all over the world called various TV and radio stations in the Middle East and shouted, yelled, cried, vented, called on God, called on Arab leaders, called on all of those with “living conscience” to do something. In turn, audiences too cried at home as they listened to the heated commentary and watched footage of heaps of Palestinian bodies throughout the Gaza Strip.

The passion soon spilled to the streets of Arab capitals, of course under the ever-vigilant eyes of Arab police and secret services. Flags of US and Israel, and in some cases Egypt were sat ablaze along with effigies of Bush and Israeli leaders.

‘Rising up to the occasion’ some Arab governments declared, with much hype their intention to send an airplane or two of medicine and food to Gaza, a few boxes clad with the donor country’s flag, flashed endlessly on local media. Meanwhile, news reports spoke of Palestinians attempting to flee the Gaza prison into the Sinai desert. They were met with decisive Egyptian security presence at the border.

Strangely enough, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas remained faithful to the script, despite Gaza’s unprecedented tragedy. On Sunday, he blamed Hamas for the bloodbath. "We talked to them (Hamas) and we told them, 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop", so that we could have avoided what happened."

Was Mr. Abbas informed of the fact that Hamas hasn’t carried out one suicide bombing since 2005? Or that the ‘truce’ never compelled Israel to allow Palestinians in Gaza access to basic necessities and medicine? Or that it was Israel that attacked Gaza in November, killing several people, claiming that it obtained information of a secret Hamas plot?

Even stranger that while Abbas has chosen such a position, many Israelis are not convinced that the war on Gaza was at all related to the Hamas’ rockets, and is in fact an election ploy for desperate politicians vying for Israel’s dominating right wing vote in the upcoming February elections. In fact, the Israeli design against Gaza had little to do with the ‘escalation’ of the rocket attacks of mid December.

"Long-term preparation, careful gathering of information, secret discussions, operational deception and the misleading of the public - all these stood behind the Israel Defense Forces "Cast Lead" operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip," wrote the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz on December 28, which also revealed that the plan had been in effect for six months.

"Like the US assault on Iraq and the Israeli response to the abduction of IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser at the outset of the Second Lebanon War, little to no weight was apparently devoted to the question of harming innocent civilians," said Haaretz.

And why should Israel devote a moment to the question of harming civilians or violating international law or any such seemingly irrelevant notions – as far as Israel is concerned - as long as their “Palestinian partners”, the Arab League, or the international community continue to teeter between silence, complacency, rhetoric and inaction?

By Thursday, January 1, the death toll climbed to 420, according to Palestinian medics and news reports, and over 2000 wounded. A doctor from a Khan Yunis clinic in Gaza told me on the phone, “scores of the wounded are clinically dead. Others are so badly disfigured; I felt that death is of greater mercy for them than living. We had no more room at the Qarara Clinic. Body parts cluttered the hallways. People screamed in endless agony and we had not enough medicine or pain killers. So we had to choose which ones to treat and which not to. In that moment I genuinely wished I was killed in the Israeli strikes myself, but I kept running trying to do something, anything.”

Until Arab countries and nations translate their chants and condemnations into a practical and meaningful political action that can bring an end to the Israeli onslaughts against Palestinians, all that is likely to change are the numbers of dead and wounded. But still, one has to wonder if Israel kills a thousand more, ten thousand, or half of Gaza, will the US still blame Palestinians? Will Egypt open its Gaza border? Will Europe express the same “deep concern”? Will the Arabs issue the same redundant statements? Will things ever change? Ever?

Unscripted: Green Zone Theater and the Shoe Drama

The plot, so unexpectedly, thickened in Iraq on a Sunday like no other. The two main actors - US President George W. Bush, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki – took to the stage to perform another well-rehearsed press conference. The scripts were ever so predictable: Bush to tout the ‘progress’ achieved in Iraq, while al-Maliki to express gratitude for the freedom bestowed on his country. Both men were to caution from overstated optimism, and to forewarn of the great challenges that are yet to come. The two partners were to shake hands, smile and walk away. Things, however, didn’t go according to plan on Sunday, December 14.

A surprise appearance by till then little-known Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi provided a most unpredictable conclusion to the public performance regularly held in Baghdad’s Green Zone theater. Every joint press conference of US and Iraqi officials has, for years, concluded, more or less according to plan. Since the toppling of President Saddam Hussein’s statue in 2003, in a well orchestrated - Shakespearean even - series of events, until that fateful Sunday, few have dared to violate the carefully prepared, monotonous media appearances, which often end with a handshake, unconvincing smiles, and the mutter of disgruntled journalists for failing to land a last minute question.

But al-Zaidi changed all of that when he hurled his shoes at President Bush at the exact moment the two main actors were scheduled to exit the stage - compelling the US president to duck twice, astoundingly escaping the makeshift, but largely symbolic weapon. Truth be told, Bush’s timely dodges, were as impressive, as al-Zaidi’s seemingly impeccable pitches.

Much has been said of al-Zaidi’s daring act, which will indeed secure a permanent footnote in history books for an Iraqi man’s footwear. Stories are told of poems, computer games and artwork idealizing al-Zaidi’s shoes; and a rich Arab has reportedly offered millions of dollars for the pair of shoes that were meant as a “farewell kiss” to Bush. While most Americans are likely to remember Bush’s legacy as that of a man who has guided a nation into unprecedented economic mayhem, Iraqis, and others, will remember him as a brutal, self-righteous zealot, who invited untold bloodshed, humiliation and the destruction of a once a magnificent and leading civilization.

According to the US government’s logic, Iraq is now better off than ever before. As for the millions of lives that have been unjustly taken, and the millions of Iraqis on the run, their plight is a worthy price for freedom and democracy, precious US commodities that apparently come at a heavy price. Americans and the sanctioned Iraqi government are never to blame for any wrong doing. Iraq’s tragedy is always someone else’s fault, but largely the making of elusive terrorists, whose identities and sources of funds change according to whatever Washington’s political mood dictates. The insurgents, as they were called until recently, were initially remnants of and Ba’ath Party loyalists, disgruntled Sunnis, then they morphed into foreign fighters, then they were depicted as al-Qaeda sympathizers, copy-cats, then al-Qaeda itself, then Iranian agents in cahoots with rogue Shitte militants loyal to whatever character doesn’t suit the interests of the US and its allies. New characters were occasionally added to the Green Zone’s ever predictable play, unwanted characters were swiftly removed, and the play’s language was repeatedly rewritten.

Then al-Zaidi showed up and hurled his shoes at a grinning Bush, who just finished shaking al-Maliki’s hand and was ready to conclude his own ominous chapter in Iraq, one filled with lies, deceit, and the blood of many people, in fact too many to count.

As al-Zaidi was being overpowered, then dragged away by Iraqi security - who must’ve tried to impress their American security ‘counterparts’ by teaching the poor al-Zaidi a lesson in good manners, Abu Ghraib-style – the script writers, and stage directors and actors were likely to have been summoned to discuss what CNN described as a ‘security breach,’ but what should be more accurately described as a deviation from the script. Their orders were straightforward and seemingly simple: to create a parallel reality to the anti-occupation fervor and bloodbath outside, by staging a play of few actors that depicts the occupier as a friendly, obliging outsider, violence against the Iraqi people as a war on terror on behalf of the Iraqi people, governmental corruption as a fostering process of democracy and good governance, and so on. Naturally, the moment that al-Zaidi flung his shoes at cowering Bush, a new, although haphazard play was drafted, mixing the painful reality outside the Green Zone, with the comforting, imagined reality inside. If the al-Zaidi episode is to be credited in one thing, it should be for tossing up the terminology of the two stages. Bush was called “dog” by angry Iraqis for years, but not in a press conference. Iraqis mourned their dead, cried for their orphans and widows, millions of them, outside and Green Zone, but never inside. An Iraqi man, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, in a seemingly fleeting moment, changed everything.

What also confused the script is that al-Zaidi was not al-Qaeda, or an al-Qaeda sympathizer, not a foreign fighter, not a member of the dissolved Ba’ath Party, nor was he affiliated with it in any way, and not even an Iraqi Sunni, for any such affiliation would fit perfectly in the political and media scripts that would demonize the man as an enemy of the Iraqi people, stability, democracy, freedom, and the rest of the redundant clichés. Al-Zaidi is simply an Iraqi man who has, as a journalist, highlighted the suffering of his people as politely, ‘objectively’ and ‘professionally’ as he could, and when he could no longer tolerate the lies told in the Green Zone’s ever malicious drama, he scrapped the script altogether, chucking his shoes at the main actor: This is a farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.” His words, although uttered for the first time in the Green Zone theater, echoed the voices of millions of Iraqis outside, who have chanted these words, for six long, tragic years.

-Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers, journals and anthologies around the world. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London).

Bush’s Last Bullet: Why the US Attacked Syria

The sovereignty of an independent, stable country that has carried out many constructive moves in recent months and weeks, which could have surely contributed to the stabilization of the Middle East, has been violated, its borders breached and its civilians killed.

But when the country targeted is Syria, an Arab country, and the perpetrator is the US military, then, somehow things are not as appalling as they may seem.

The US raid on a small farming community near the Iraq-Syria border on October 26 is being treated differently than the Russian attack on Georgia in August 2008. The latter was vehemently condemned by every last leading US official, who specifically decried Russia’s violation of international law, laws governing the sovereignty of nations, and the destabilization of a whole region. Few in the US government, and fewer in the ever-willing mainstream media, dared offer any alternative reading to what truly triggered the conflict. For example, Georgia’s initial violent attacks on South Ossetia, killing many Russian citizens and peacekeepers, seemed a negligible fact.

The Syria case, where a dozen US commandos killed eight Syrian civilians, including a father and his four sons, is somehow an entirely different story. Georgia is an ally of the US; Syria is not. Georgia was armed and trained largely by US-Israeli weapons and military experts; Syria is a key recipient of Russian weapons. Georgia was used as another US foothold in an extremely strategic and rich region; Syria is a safe haven for the political leaderships of various Palestinian groups that continue to fight the Israeli occupation. Georgia is serving the essential role of tightening the geopolitical belt around Russia; Syria’s strong relations with Iran, is rather complicating US efforts to tightly control Iraq.

Considering the Bush doctrine - not just that of preemptive war and rationalising torture, but others that rank US interests above international law, and regards US actions with different standards to those of any other nation — one hardly needs to infuse UN resolutions that forbid the sort of action as bombing a quiet village inside some other country’s borders. It is simply ‘irrelevant’, a term that is dear to President Bush, for that is how he wished to delineate his government’s view of the UN for refusing to give him the green light to invade Iraq.

True, the attack on Syria may seem like a classic belligerent military policy, carried out by a president who defines national security as perpetual violence. But there is certainly more to the story that is largely missing from most analyses offered by government officials and in US media.

The Times of London quoted an anonymous US official in an October 29 report as saying: “You have to clean up the global threat that is in your backyard (that being Iraq) - and if you don’t do that, we are left with no choice but to take these matters into our own hands.”

The official repeated the claim that the target was an Iraqi national affiliated with Al Qaeda, Abu Ghadiyah. His real name is Badran Turki Hishan al-Mazidh, who “was appointed as an Al Qaeda commander by the organisation’s late founder, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.” Of course, once alien Arabic names are offered, then most analysts take such claims at face value. Who is daring enough to question the integrity of that claim altogether, especially as Abu Ghadiyah has allegedly been killed. Thus, Randall Mikkelsen’s Reuters analysis: “The US helicopter attack into Syria this week underscores the Bush administration’s determination to cross borders when it can strike an enemy target, and to weather any international backlash.”

But here is the source of oddity. Syria had recently initiated indirect peace talks with Israel, via Turkey. It officiated its diplomatic relations with Lebanon, raising hopes that both countries might settle their protracted feud that has affected the stability of Lebanon, and more recently of Syria itself. These friendly moves had already inspired even more surprising gestures in Lebanon itself, as the leaders of the country’s main rivals, Hezbollah and the Future Movement, have met amidst smiles and friendly handshakes. More, Syria and Iraq are also closer than ever, to the point that the Iraqi government offered some of the strongest condemnations of the US attack on Syria, using Iraqi territories.

Equally important, is that Syria has been improving its relations with Europe, including its once greatest detractor, France. Not only is the relationship between Syria, its neighbors and the EU significantly improving, but also the type of language used to describe such relationships: endless accolades of Syria’s important regional role in bringing peace and stability to the Middle East and so forth. The European response to the US military raid also highlights the already existing rift between the US and the EU. “France calls for restraint and underlines its attachment to the strict respect of the territorial integrity of states,” read a statement by Sarkozy’s office. Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos of Spain demanded an end to “such dangerous events.”

The claims that US national security comes first, and that Al Qaeda terrorists are infiltrating the border into Iraq, hardly suffice. In recent weeks, US military officials admitted that “Syria has been more cooperative than in the past in dealing with the problem of foreign fighters entering Iraq, and the number has declined over the past year.” The percentage decline of the reported infiltration is so significant that one has to question the military wisdom in carrying out such a raid now, while refraining from doing so in the past.

The Syrian regime is aware of its limited military options, and had opted to choose a calmer approach to mend fences with others, while, at the same time, hoping to strengthen its relationship with Russia, inviting the latter to plant Russian missile defense system in its territories. Naturally, neither Israel - who wants to ensure that the balance of power remains in its favour — nor the US — who wants to keep Syria isolated regionally and internationally, and keep Russia at bay, are pleased with the successful Syrian strategy, thus the bombing of October 26. Indeed, it was a warning to Syria, but considering Bush’s dwindling weeks in office, it might as well be a late warning that would yield nothing but further animosity towards the US, not just in Syria but throughout the world.

Playgrounds for Palestine: One Marathon at a Time

My right knee is wrapped. My left ankle is iced. I lost the nail on my right big toe, and have about 20 blisters and a similar number of bruises on both of my feet. This doesn’t even begin to convey half of the story of the punishment that my body has been subjected to in recent months. Why, you ask? Because I will join Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian American activist, writer and founder of Playgrounds for Palestine -www.playgroundsforpalestine.org - in running the Philadelphia Marathon on November 23. Our goal is to raise enough money to build a large playground in a Palestinian refugee camp, likely in Lebanon. We are more than half of the way there, but have about 5,000 dollars to go.

I ran a full marathon before (the Vancouver Marathon in Canada in May 2008). I finished at a 4:10:29 and intended to break the four-hour mark in the next run. But since then, I sustained a knee injury. Compounded with an old back injury, training for the Philly Marathon has been much harder than I thought it would be.

I try to maintain a 40 miles per week running routine and juggle many hours of writing, editing, interviews, travel and public speaking events at the same time. Needless to say, it’s been really tough. But I had a cure to keep me motivated. Before every major run, especially when I am feeling particularly demoralized, I visit www.playgroundsforpalestine.org.

Pictures of Palestinian children enjoying the many playgrounds that this organization has already established inspire me to trot on. I was born and raised in a refugee camp in Gaza, and truly understand what these playgrounds mean for the children.

My last a major runs in the last two weeks were around 13, 15 and finally 20 miles each. I think I am ready for Philadelphia, but still, we don’t half enough to build that playground in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

Today, I read a new report filed from Nahr Al Bared refugee camp in Lebanon. The camp was entirely destroyed during a recent fight between the Lebanese army and Arab fighters. It included a photo gallery of the camp, flattened to the ground as if hit by a major earthquake and massive hurricane all at once. IRIN News said that UNRWA’s international appeal to assist the refugees, fell largely on deaf ears. What a shame.

What have these poor refugees - betrayed at every turn for many, many years - done to endure such a fate? All of those frantic moms, and dads, hauling their kids in beat up trucks or by foot and moving from one place to another, seeking help and receiving little, or none at all. Indeed, there are many vital questions that should be asked of those whose decisions affect the lives of the refugees, but also there is much work to be done to help them survive the harshness of their life. For Susan and I, running one marathon to raise money to build one playground is our main focus, and we are adamant to meet our goal.

I am also certain that there are many who care just enough to build one more playground for the children in the refugee camps. My hope is that your involvement will exceed that of making a one-time financial contribution to sponsor our run, but will rather get involved yourself as a runner, or in any other way to support such important organizations as Playgrounds for Palestine: they provide hope in a time when only misery and despair seem to eclipse the lives of so many children in Gaza, in Lebanon and in those caught behind Israeli walls in the West Bank.

Please contribute to our marathon fundraiser now, and also get involved.

Click Here to Help: http://www.playgroundsforpalestine.org/homepage.php

World Food Day: Global Crises’ Double Standards

The 25th annual World Food Day, marked on 16 October, was an occasion whose
arrival and passing received little media attention or governmental fanfare.
Evidently, much of the world media and governments are consumed with an economic
crisis of epic proportions, which is perceived in the US as the worst such
upheaval since the Great Depression. In the rest of the world, it's depicted as
the worst economic crisis in recent memory or, as the BBC termed it, "the most
tumultuous times on record in the global financial markets." 

There is hardly any disagreement that Wall Street's woes are manmade.
Regardless of what terminology one wishes to apply (miscalculations, greed, or
wholesale failure in the US capitalist system, rooted in the economic
philosophies of Milton Friedman and his ultra laissez- faire approach), the fact
is the US economic crisis is not a fleeting phenomenon and no quick fixes can
provide a magic remedy. 

In an interview with Fox Business Network, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
expressed regret, unusual to any top US official, for the economic "mistakes"
made and which are promising a global recession for years to come. "We're not
proud of all the mistakes that were made by many different people, different
parties, failures of our regulatory system, failures of market discipline that
got us here." However, he promised that the US "will mitigate the impact on the
real economy and we'll get this financial system working again." 

There is no reason to doubt Paulson's commitment to the financial system. In
fact, when it's the rich and powerful whose wealth and influence are at stake,
the US government, if not most world governments, hold true to their word. While
the IMF had repudiated governments in Asia, Africa and South America for many
years for any slight intervention in their country's economies (for a "free
market economy" has to be entirely unregulated in order for natural checks and
balances to resolve whatever crisis is at hand, they were told), the Bush
administration and leading Western powers moved with no hesitation to
nationalise some of the largest institutions in their own markets. Like China's
brand of capitalism that operates under communist symbols, the US, the UK and
others are becoming increasingly socialist under the banner of capitalism. Of
course, it's not socialism for the downtrodden, but corporate welfare in its
most stark manifestations.

Consider the size of the entire US GDP for 2007 -- $13,800 billion -- to
appreciate the awesomeness of the US rescue package of $700 billion. Still, in
the UK the percentage is much higher as the country's GDP for 2007 was estimated
at $2,457 billion while the government's rescue package is $680 billion. A more
astonishing number: the rescue package for the entire Eurozone estimated at
$1,370 billion. Conventional wisdom, as parroted by almost every financial
expert on most media outlets, states that such lofty numbers are simply a
reflection of the scale of the crisis at hand. In fact, some argue that the Bush
administration's greatest fault is intervening too little too late, by failing
to nationalise Lehman Bros as it did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

It's rather ironic that those who cried foul every time a Third World
government dared intervene in their national economy -- even if to guarantee the
welfare of the poorest segments of society -- said nothing as the US, the UK and
others defied every rule of the free market economy long championed by
neoliberal economists. Even leading US Republicans who chastised "Big
Government" at every turn (especially to block welfare programmes that mostly
benefit the poor) cheered the government on as it moved to bail out the rich
who, as usual, are likely to remain unaccountable for risking the retirement
funds and life savings of millions of Americans. 

A dominant argument to justify government behaviour is, yet again, the trickle
down effect: a term coined by a Ronald Reagan speechwriter that simply means
that what is good for the rich is, eventually, good for the poor. While elites
in every society eagerly infuse such "Reaganomics" at every turn, the world's
poor is yet to feel the trickles, which poses an interesting question: Why the
unprecedented and historic urgency to bailout the rich (for the sake of the
poor, at an imaginary point in the future), while the poor can easily be saved
without such roundabouts plans? 

The fact is that neither America's poor nor Africa's poor are on the minds of
European leaders, nor the Bush administration, as their high officials continue
to hold anxious meetings and offer the most generous rescue packages. If indeed
it's the plight of humanity that is worrying these governments, then maybe they
should consider the following, according to Oxfam, UK: "The number of hungry
people now stands at 967 million. And around 24,000 people die daily of
hunger-related causes. Around 2.7 billion people live on less than £1 a day; up
to 80 per cent of this income goes on food." Care International's calculations
are equally bleak, with 220 million people of the number above on the brink of
starvation. 

According to Oxfam, the main reasons for world poverty are also manmade:
"biofuel policies, high fuel prices, growing global demand, unfair world trade
rules, and climate change." Long before the Wall Street financial crisis, there
existed a much more dangerous crisis, the world food crisis, dubbed a "perfect
storm". The latter is much more consequential for it affected the very lives,
not simply the standard of living, of many millions around the world. 

Barbara Stocking wrote in the New Statesman, "According to the latest figures,
the food crisis has resulted in an extra 119 million malnourished people,
bringing the total to almost one billion -- nearly one in seven people now goes
hungry. This is hunger on so vast a scale that it is difficult to understand how
the world arrived at this point." 

It's very telling that trillions have already been spent to patch up leading
world financial institutions, while out of the comparatively small sum of $12.3
billion pledged in Rome earlier this year, to offset the food crisis, only $1
billion has been delivered. The hope that at least extreme poverty can be
eradicated by the end of 2015, as stipulated in the UN's Millennium Development
Goals, seems as unrealistic as ever, not due to lack of resources but a lack of
true concern for the world's poor. 

Whether the American, European or any other government infused bailout packages
rectify the financial crisis or not, chances are that 16 October 2009 will bring
similarly devastating news about the plight of the world's poor and which is
likely to remain that: mere "news" that requires little action, if any at all.

Europe and the Middle East: Will EU Be a More Just Mediator?

Europe has showed greater willingness in recent months to play a larger part in the Middle East's most protracted conflict, that of Israel and Palestine. But willingness doesn't necessarily indicate readiness.

For the European Union (EU) to be truly ready to take on a conflict of such magnitude, it must fully and clearly abandon its old ways of almost complete subservience to US-tilted and pro-Israel stances, and of refusing to treat Palestinians as equally deserving of the same rights and security gladly assigned to Israel.

In other words, Europe would have to function as a truly independent political body, and renounce the damaging policy of treating Israel with utter sensitivity, and perceiving Palestinians, at best, as a people undergoing economic hardship.

True, Palestinian projects funded by the EU are many and far reaching, but while Europe has demonstrated a degree of generosity towards Palestine, it has never had a fraction of the leading role that the US gives itself in the region. This is partly because while Israel mostly welcomes American involvement, it has long shunned a significant European role under various guises and logic, claiming Europe is soft on terror and that the continent is rampant with anti-Semitism.

Israel is, of course, referring to the fact that Europe has been much more receptive to the idea of dialogue with Palestinians, even with groups which are dubbed "terrorist". Public opinion polls in much of Europe have long reflected much greater sympathy for Palestinians, and regarded Israel as a danger to world peace. From Israel's point of view, that qualifies as anti-Semitism.

Thus, the nature and extent of any European role has always been delineated by the US and Israel. If the EU, or one of its countries dared to defy its appointed role, Israel would immediately cry foul and the organization would simply back off. Even when Israel bombed several projects that were fully or largely funded by the EU in Gaza and the West Bank, including Gaza's electric generator, the EU failed to act in any consequential fashion, aside from a measly and ineffective statement.

While Gaza is punished by Israel and others for electing Hamas, and as the EU watches the unfolding human drama, it continues to be Israel's largest trading partner.

But is Europe ready to step up to the challenge of taking over as America's influence is likely to wane in the coming months and years? And why is there growing media focus - especially in Israel - on the rising EU role and involvement in the Middle East?

There are many signs that reflect a clear shift in the EU's level of involvement in the Middle East. Starting in March, several European heads of state traveled to Israel in highly touted and "historic" trips, including a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

These appearances were followed up by equally important visits by European dignitaries, last of whom was French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in early-October. The number of official statements made by the EU, and the nature of these statements are all promising a different kind of European involvement. Yet again, so what?

Some of the officials used their visits as an opportunity to chide Palestine on violence, terrorism and so forth. Some failed to utter a word of disapproval over Israel, as if a country that maintains a decades-long, and oppressive occupation, as well as a long record of violating international law, can do nothing wrong.

That said, there is no denying that Europe has been more, if not much more sensible in its treatment of Palestine, and not just because of its many vital development projects in the occupied territories. Europe unlike the US, doesn't always view its relationship to Palestine as an arrogant power with a list of uncompromising demands which have to be fulfilled or else.

The US's fundamentally erroneous approach to the Middle East in general, and Palestine in particular, has created untold animosity towards Washington, and generated a lack of trust that will eventually undermine its position in the entire region - a process currently underway.

Europe on the other hand, still has a chance, and a good one. True, Sarkozy sang the Israeli tune like the "true friend of Israel" that he is during his visit, but he also dared to criticize Israel's settlement policies, even before the Knesset. The EU has followed the US-Israel lead of isolating, and eventually destroying the fresh Palestinian democratic experience, but some European countries seemed willing to engage Hamas, and invite some of their top officials for "unofficial" dialogue.

Various news outlets reported in April that Switzerland had invited then prime minister of the newly formed unity government, Ismail Haniyeh, for his first official European state visit. Norway and other European countries seemed willing to explore various channels of dialogue with Palestine.

Although very careful with his wording, French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said in a Jerusalem news conference on October 5, 2008: "Officially, we have no contact with Hamas, but unofficially, international organizations working in the Gaza Strip - in particular, French NGOs [non-governmental organizations] - provide us information." His statement was understood as an indication of French willingness to indirectly talk to Hamas, the isolation of which has spelled disaster for the Palestinian communities of Gaza.

It's no secret that the EU is positioning itself to play a greater role, but little is known of what that means. Is that new role orchestrated jointly with the US and Israel, or is it taking place in spite of both governments? The answer would certainly help determine the future direction and degree of the EU's involvement.

If the EU is there to supplement the US's expected absence due to economic crisis at home and endless wars abroad, then little change is expected. If, however, Europe has decided to tackle the conflict as an independent power, separate from the discredited US, then it's an entirely different story.

The Palin- Biden Debate: High Time to Move Beyond Clichés

One should rightly assume that the weight of the US financial crisis, the full impact of which is just beginning to unravel, and the widening military debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, would compel new thinking amongst leading US politicians. And then again, maybe not.

Aside from tactical and rhetorical differences, presidential candidates and their vice-president-hopefuls are yet to strictly champion and act upon a truly different leadership strategy: Barack Obama’s current foreign policy visions are more or less those of President Bush in his second term. Republican candidate John McCain, however, advocates a less solid and increasingly confusing set of principles: he strives to distance himself from a discredited, unpopular president, position himself as a man of experience and resolve, yet pander to the religious right and defend a hawkish strategy that is no less destructive than that championed by the neoconservative-designed Bush Doctrine, which led to two major wars and a near-complete loss of US credibility and leadership abroad.

More alarmingly however, are both candidates’ choices for their vice president. Obama, who has repeatedly cornered his old rival Hilary Clinton with the tireless accusation that, unlike him, she is a Washington-insider, has chosen Senator Joe Biden, the embodiment of what partisan politics is all about, and someone who, prior to his candidacy, seemed much closer to McCain’s views, than to those of Obama. On the other hand, McCain, in an apparent game of wit, picked Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, a poor choice by any count, simply because he wished to exploit Obama’s fallout with a supposedly disgruntled female constituency following the defeat of his Democratic rival, Clinton.

Back to the seemingly odd choice of Biden. Columnist Susan Abulhawa rationalized Obama’s decision. “Biden, the self-proclaimed Zionist, assuages Israeli and Jewish American fears that Mr. Obama might not be so accommodating to Israel.” This view was corroborated repeatedly in Israeli media, but most importantly by Biden himself in the first vice presidential debate on October 3. To outdo Palin’s passionate answer to a question about Israel, where she asserted that a McCain-Palin administration “will never allow a second Holocaust,” Biden cut to the chase: “… no one in the United States Senate has been a better friend to Israel than Joe Biden. I would have never, ever joined this ticket were I not absolutely sure Barack Obama shared my passion.”

The new mantra was sure to work. At least he tried it successfully in a talk before Jewish Democratic audience in Florida, on September 23. According to the Israeli Jerusalem Post, Biden sent the audience to repeated rounds of laughter, then, in a solemn decided moment he declared: "My support for Israel begins in my stomach, goes to my heart and ends up in my head ..I promise you, I guarantee you, I guarantee you, I would not have joined Barack Obama's campaign as vice president if I had any doubt, even the slightest doubt, that he shared the same commitment to Israel that I share."

Considering the deafening cries for war that emanated from Israel and neoconservative circles prior to the Iraq war - and now against Iran - and the unmistakable disastrous policy that has contributed to America’s largest foreign policy breakdown in the Middle East, one would think that the agents of “change” in this time of political decline and economic collapse would have the courtesy to exercise a level of restraint in their love for Israel, and, for once place the long-term interests of their country, and the world, first.

Following his ‘knockout’ answer, Palin graciously opted out of the who-loves-Israel-the-most debate: “I'm so encouraged to know that we both love Israel, and I think that is a good thing to get to agree on, Senator Biden. I respect your position on that.”

It’s not an overstatement to argue that peace with justice in Palestine and Israel should be the most pressing issue before any future US administration. In order for that administration to embark on a serious rethink with any chances of success in the Middle East, there has to be a complete overhaul in the US’ total backing of Israel, and total disregard for Palestinian rights. But neither Biden and Palin, nor Obama and McCain have expressed the slightest interest in abandoning the current course of action, which has fueled untold animosity towards the US in the Middle East and far beyond.

Unlike the Palestinian-Israeli problem, where both parties are clear on their love for Israel and their total dismissal of Palestinians, the Iraq debate is much convoluted. Republicans continue to push mantras of a victorious America with global military responsibilities. Democrats, on the other hand, wary of the unpopular Iraq war, feel the need to paint a different image, albeit a more confusing one. Yet, ironically, according to Biden: “Barack Obama offered a clear plan; Shift responsibility to Iraqis over the next 16 months. Draw down our combat troops…you've got to have a time line to draw down the troops…we're spending $10 billion a month while Iraqis have an $80 billion surplus. Barack says it's time for them to spend their own money and have the 400,000 military we trained for them begin to take their own responsibility.” Not only does Obama’s plan, articulated by Biden lack clear finality, and can always finds reasons to justify the delay of the promised withdrawal (such as the Iraqis are not taking responsibilities, the Iraqi army is not yet ready, and so forth), it lacks any hint of moral liability. After all, the US invaded, under flimsy excuses, a sovereign country to control its oil and to extend US-Israeli hegemony in the Middle East. Pointing the finger at the Iraqis for Bush-made disasters is highly dishonest, to say the least.

It’s unfortunate that even such hard times as these when America is rife with fears and anticipation, are yet to awaken top politicians in the two leading parties to the urgent need for a different and more sensible course of action in foreign policy. Yet more clichés and more mantras, ones that can perhaps rake in substantial donations but do nothing by way of earnest and decided change, for the sake of America itself, and by extension, the world.

Palestinian Economy: From Bad to Wretched

The numbers are grim, whether in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The
Palestinian economy is in one of its most wretched states, and the disaster is
mostly, if not entirely manmade, thus reversible. 

The World Bank made no secret of the fact that Israeli restrictions are largely
to blame, as poverty rates in the Gaza Strip and West Bank have soared to 79.4
per cent and 45.7 per cent respectively. It concluded: "With a growing
population and a shrinking economy, real per capita GDP is now 30 per cent below
its height in 1999." "With due regard to Israel's security concerns, there is
consensus on the paralytic effect of the current physical obstacles placed on
the Palestinian economy," it added.

With a declining economy, lack of developmental projects and Israeli
restrictions, Palestinians are increasingly reliant on foreign aid, which is
largely controlled by political interests. For example, the US proved more
generous than ever in supporting the Ramallah-based government of Mahmoud Abbas
as it led an international regime of sanctions and embargo against the
Gaza-based Hamas government. Such funds are often conditioned on such murky
concepts as "cracking down on the terrorist infrastructure", which is duly
understood as fighting those who challenge Israel and Palestinian Authority (PA)
rule in the West Bank. 

Nonetheless, even if the PA had no history of corruption and genuinely intended
to invest in a sustainable economy, no truly free and independent economy can
flourish under occupation, whose very intention is the disempowerment of
Palestinian workers, farmers and the middle class. It is these strata of
Palestinian society that have led the struggle to end the occupation on the one
hand and to resist local corruption on the other. 

Indeed, Israeli restrictions are not coincidental and hardly confined to the
classic reasoning pertaining to national security. "In reality, these
restrictions go beyond concrete and earth-mounds, and extend to a system of
physical, institutional and administrative restrictions that form an impermeable
barrier against the realisation of Palestinian economic potential," the World
Bank said. It concluded that more aid would not revive the Palestinian economy,
unless the above restrictions are removed. 

But these restrictions represent the backbone of Israeli policy; removing them
would deny the Israeli government political leverage over Abbas's government. By
extension, the US is in no mood to help Palestinians develop a strong economic
base and infrastructure, enough to spare Palestinians the indignity of living on
international donor handouts.

In the West Bank, Palestinian economic woes are compounded by a terrible water
crisis, a nightmare for farmers who are already struggling to endure Israeli
water theft and disproportionate water distribution. According to a recent
report by the Israeli human rights group B'tselem, an Israeli household consumes
on average 3.5 times as much water as a Palestinian household. The group blames
Israel for its discriminatory policy and tight restrictions that prevent
Palestinians from drilling new wells. One fails to see how Israel's "security"
concerns can ever justify Israel's plundering of Palestinian water using West
Bank aquifers while many Palestinian families in cities like Jenin have been
denied water since April.

While many farmers found themselves unable to preserve their livelihoods,
ordinary people have to spend a significant proportion of their meagre incomes
buying water. A recent UN report, cited by news agencies, estimated that
Palestinians in the hardest-hit communities spend 30 to 40 per cent of their
incomes to purchase water delivered by trucks. How can a sustainable economy
with a sensible growth level be achieved under these circumstances? 

If the situation is difficult in the West Bank, it's impossible in Gaza. A
report in March sponsored by Amnesty International, Care International UK,
Christian Aid, Oxfam and others, described the situation in the Strip as the
worst humanitarian crisis since the Israeli occupation of 1967. The report
called on Israel to change its policies towards Gaza. A few months following the
release of the report, Israel seems to be stiffening its control over the
impoverished Strip, rendering its hapless 1.5 million inhabitants more miserable
by the day. 

According to the report, 80 per cent of the Gaza population relies on food
assistance. Some 1.1 million people receive their food aid from UN agencies,
which are themselves struggling to operate under fuel cuts and the near-total
isolation of Gaza. 

Unlike the West Bank, Gaza's aim is hardly economic development but mere
survival. Gaza's reliance on food aid has increased tenfold since 1999,
according to the report. Concurrently, 98 per cent of Gaza's factories are no
longer functioning, leaving thousands unemployed and wreaking havoc on the
income of numerous families. 

Coupled with inner-Palestinian violence, US-led international sanctions and the
perpetual Israeli siege and violence are destroying the very fabric of
Palestinian society in Gaza while turning the West Bank into a charity-based
society, with funds provided largely as political incentives with hardly any
long-term vision.

Equally disheartening is that the PA in the West Bank has actively shut down
Muslim charities, kindergartens, orphanages and schools in the ongoing
tit-for-tat action between rivals Fatah and Hamas. It's intolerable that the
animosity between both parties has reached a point of victimising the most
unfortunate in society: orphans, widows and the physically and mentally
impaired. Some 82 children didn't return to school this year -- they were killed
in the previous year. And over one million students will have to negotiate their
way around 600 Israeli military checkpoints. With the shutting down of Muslim
charity-run schools, hundreds of students will lose their right to education.
But this time, Israel is not the one entirely to blame.

Palestinians cannot survive on handouts through a charity- like economic
system. They need, and deserve, sustainable economic development, with a
long-term vision, one that can overhaul the economies of the West Bank and Gaza
and make use of the precious human resources available. Israel will do its
utmost to undermine such a possibility, as it has done for decades. This
represents the very struggle that Palestinians are undergoing: between their
need to break free, and Israel's insistence on maintaining its matrix of
control. Without proper channels to empower the Palestinian individual and
community, Palestinians will remain economically disadvantaged and thus
politically handicapped. This is hardly a recipe for an equitable, lasting peace
with justice.

Palestinian Unity: Goal or Mantra?

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa used exceptionally tough language
during a Cairo news conference 9 September, when he lashed out at Palestinian
factionalism, saying that the League is going as far as studying the possibility
of imposing sanctions on quarrelling Palestinians. 

"I am extremely angry with the Palestinian organisations... We are studying the
measures to be taken in the face of the current Palestinian chaos," he said,
after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers. He added, "the sanctions would not be
against anyone in particular. They would be against the party which obstructs
reconciliation and maybe against everyone or against the organisation which
obstructs Egyptian efforts."

Considering Moussa's devoted efforts in the past aimed at solidifying a
Palestinian front and generating a semblance of a Arab unity in its support, one
can only sympathise with the head of the League's frustration and indeed
"extreme anger".

Palestinian disunity, and political -- if not, geopolitical -- fragmentation is
eroding the Palestinian cause more than all Israeli efforts, walls and military
incursions combined. The painful-to-watch televised bickering between
representatives of various Palestinian factions has led to confusion among
traditionally pro-Palestinian groups worldwide. The political objectives -- once
agreed upon as "constants" -- and symbols that once united Palestinians
everywhere are now wide open for extreme interpretation. 

In fact, "respecting the sanctity of Palestinian blood", which for long served
as the lowest possible denominator agreed on by every Palestinian grouping, has
been violated many times in recent months and years; too many times to count.
Repeating the slogan is, at this point, an empty mantra, joining the numerous
other mantras that have for long served as a sedative for the hapless masses,
whether Arabs, Palestinians or both. 

That said, a reality check is also in order. It might be easy for the Arab
League to pass a measure or two to sanction Palestinian groups who might be
perceived as the ones jeopardising the Cairo talks, whether the ones underway or
the larger gatherings scheduled for October. Not even Palestinians would dare
criticise the League for practising some brotherly tough love for the sake of
the cause of Palestine, which is supposedly the main overriding priority for
every Arab state -- another mantra. Nonetheless, it is incumbent on the Arab
League, as it mulls over the issue of sanctions, to consider the role that some
of its own members have played in instigating Palestinian infighting. 

Following Hamas's majority victory in Legislative Council elections in January
2006, Arab countries could have congratulated the winner, promised cooperation
and urged unity among rivals. Instead, some chose to do the exact opposite,
ostracising Hamas from their meetings and conferences, playing favourites and
smoothing the way for US-led international sanctions that have devastated
Palestinian society in Gaza, leading to utter desperation and strife.

Moreover, some of those countries found it appropriate to train Palestinian
fighters loyal to the Fatah faction in preparation for combat not against Israel
but against their own Palestinian brethren in Gaza and the West Bank. The funds
for such camps were, of course, provided courtesy of Uncle Sam, and some of the
weapons were widely reportedly to have been channelled through Israel. 

As for the embargo that has turned an already desperate Gaza into a secure
open-air prison, with medicine being smuggled through tunnels and malnutrition
wreaking havoc among the young and old, it would have not succeeded if Israel
were the only gatekeeper. Unfortunately, the fact that Egypt has sealed its
borders to Palestinians in Gaza made the punishment complete. 

Secretary-General Moussa perhaps enjoys more respect among Palestinians than
some of their own leaders, but the truth must be told, especially since has he
had the courage to open the door of candour and honesty. "Do they [the
Palestinians] have a state for them to be fighting over [for] ministerial
positions? We kidded ourselves and called it the state of Palestine. It's not a
state until it obtains its full rights." 

He cannot possibly be anymore accurate. Palestinians are nowhere near the
process of state building and they should remain a national liberation movement
until freedom is attained. But equally we also kid ourselves when we place our
full trust in the Arab League, which is merely a reflection of the wishes of its
members with records that are morally porous themselves. 

What is the point of lending the Egypt talks complete trust if some parties
receive their pointers from Washington and brazenly consult with their "peace
partners" in Tel Aviv? It makes good sense for those who are not on Washington's
payroll -- but on its "terror list" -- to be immensely wary and constantly
alarmed. 

On the other hand, one cannot completely override the possibility that Hamas is
in consultation with, and maybe to a degree influenced by, Iran. But let's be
realistic for a moment. What is Hamas's political leverage amid reconciliation
talks given the level of political and financial validation and backing that its
main rival enjoys? Very little, indeed, aside from its ability to hold on to the
impoverished Gaza Strip and with a lonely Israeli soldier in its custody. Iran
stepped up its support of Hamas and the latter is willing to accept the support
of Micronesia if that latter is willing to offer it. 

True, Palestinian unity is a must and is a prerequisite to any meaningful,
large scale Palestinian strategy aimed at ending the Israeli occupation. But the
term must be appreciated, qualified and its practical meaning understood fully
before it too turns into another cheap Arab mantra, inscribed on many street
corners, but no longer meaning anything.