For more than fifty
years, the pattern has repeated itself: Israel continues its brutal occupation,
Palestinians respond violently out of desperation and anger, Israel uses overwhelming force claiming that it is
“defending” itself. Israel has been
allowed to make this fatuous claim for
too long.
By far the worst
failing of the American press when it comes to the Israel/Palestine conflict is
its tendency to report the latest incident as though it were occurring in a
vacuum, neglecting to contextualize it with essential history. The coverage of Israel's latest bombardment
provides us with characteristic examples of this media myopia. Consider this CNN report, which begins with
the following: “Strikes flew across the Gaza border in rapid succession Thursday, as Israel
responded to an onslaught of militant rocket attacks
by targeting "terror sites.[1]" The picture painted is clear: there was an
“onslaught of militant rocket attacks,” Israel “responded” and is now attacking
“terror sites.” This is all the relevant information. The report continues thereafter as a megaphone for Israeli propaganda, uncritically (a sin
in journalism) reciting Israel’s claims of self-defense. The headline from Fox News is even
worse. It proclaims: “Israel battles
Hamas rocket blitz[2].” Again, a clear picture--innocent Israel defending itself from a "blitz" of rocket-fire. The New York Times, a supposed bastion of
liberalism, is little better, as it too neglects to offer context and instead
merely informs us of Israel’s stated purpose with this attack, [3] as
though it is important for us to
know.
Unsurprisingly,
what virtually no voice in the American press tells us is the truth. This latest
attack is not a “response” to Palestinian attacks, nor can it credibly be
called self- defense. Rather, it is the inevitable result of
Israel’s harsh and brutal occupation that has been
in place since 1967, and of its inhuman blockade of Gaza that has wreaked havoc
on its inhabitants since 2007.
A proper
understanding of the effects of this blockade is essential to understanding
this latest eruption of violence. U.N. human rights groups have said the blockade amounts to the
illegal collective punishment [4]
of Palestinians in Gaza. A 2010 report
by Amnesty International entitled “Suffocating Gaza – the
Israeli blockade’s effects on Palestinians,” illustrated the misery that it has
produced: “Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises
caused by shortages have left four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian
aid.”[5] The report
continued: “The blockade prohibits most exports and restricts the entry of
basic goods, including food and fuel. Much of the available food is provided by
the UN and other aid agencies, or smuggled in through tunnels running under the
Egypt-Gaza border and then sold on at exorbitantly high prices to Gaza’s
beleaguered residents.” [6] Human Rights
Watch, also reporting on the effects of the blockade, describes it as "[having]
crippled Gaza's economy and led to high rates of unemployment, poverty, and
food insecurity[7].” Children, who are more than half of the Gazan
population, have been impacted in a particularly egregious way. According to a 2009 UNICEF report, 65.8% of
Gazan children ages 9-12 are anemic, one-fifth are iodine deficient, 22% of
Gazans ages 12-59 lack Vitamin A, and
34% of Gazan families are food insecure with 12% more at risk.[8] Though Israel
eased the effects of the blockade in 2010, things have not improved much. In 2011, UNICEF provided an update:
"Demolitions of homes, schools and health-care centres
continue to cause disruption in services basic to human rights, such as
education and health care. Heightened regional tension
during the ‘Arab Spring’, coupled with internal political reconciliation and
statehood application have brought about further strain. The Israeli blockade
on Gaza has entered its sixth year, with continued serious humanitarian
consequences for 1.6 million people, of which more than 50 per cent are under
age 18."[9]
The blockade’s effects also extend beyond the restriction
of food and other critical supplies. For
example, Palestinians who seek medical care must apply for a permit to leave
the Gaza Strip. A report by the WHO states
that in 2011, 10% of these permits applied for by Palestinians seeking medical care were denied with no reason stated, causing at least six Palestinian
deaths.[10]
These startling reports, which detail the unspeakable
misery daily endured by Palestinians in Gaza, conform to Israel’s stated goal
for the blockade, which was candidly expressed in 2007 by Dov Weinglass,[11]
an aide to Ariel Sharon (the brutal Israeli Prime Minister responsible for
multiple terrorist atrocities including the facilitation of the Sabra and
Chatila massacres[12]). Weinglass said that the blockade aimed to “put the
Palestinians on a diet.” Only a
psychopath could regard the cruelty inflicted by the blockade with such
flippancy.
To make
matters worse, the effects of Israel’s last invasion of Gaza in 2008, which Amnesty
International described as “22 days of death and destruction[13], are still felt by Palestinians as this new attack
begins. Due to the blockade,
Palestinians have had extreme difficulty rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure,
which was obliterated in that 2008 attack along with 1,400 people, the vast
majority of whom were innocent civilians.[14]
Incredibly,
none of this barbarism –the blockade, the occupation, or the 2008 invasion—is discussed in the American media’s presentation of the current
conflict. It is as though history is
irrelevant, or non-existent. All we need
to know to form a judgment is that there were rockets, and now Israel is
responding. How absurd. One might imagine a Palestinian
father living under the effects of Israel’s blockade,
watching his children suffer. Can anyone seriously be surprised when that father turns to violence against the people who are starving them?
Israel’s
occupation has persisted now for over forty years. Since 1967, it has continually built illegal
settlements in the West Bank (and at times in Gaza), further alienating the
Palestinian people from their land. Today, the settlement enterprise continues, while the Israeli politicians who are funding it unctuously declare their desire for peace. It is out of this
sordid history that Palestinian rocket –fire is borne. But the American press doesn’t want to talk
about it.
[1] http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/15/world/meast/gaza-israel-strike/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
[2] http://www.foxnews.com/
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-assault.html?pagewanted=2&hp&_r=0
[4] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-independent-panel-rules-israel-blockade-of-gaza-illegal-1.384267
[5] http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/suffocating-gaza-israeli-blockades-effects-palestinians-2010-06-01
[6]
Ibid.
[7] http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/06/21/israelgaza-easing-blockade-imports-first-step
[8] http://www.unicef.org/oPt/General_fact_sheet.pdf
[9] Ibid.
[10] http://download.thelancet.com/flatcontentassets/pdfs/palestine2012/palestine2012-12.pdf
[11] http://www.juancole.com/2012/10/creepy-israeli-planning-for-palestinian-food-insecurity-in-gaza-revealed.html
[12] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/opinion/a-preventable-massacre.html?pagewanted=all
[13] http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/015/2009
[14]
Ibid.
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