Crucial Quotes on Gaza Crisis:

WHO BROKE THE JUNE 2008 HAMAS-ISRAEL TRUCE?

“Israel, not Hamas, broke the recent truce (June to December 2008), both by attacking Hamas on November 4
and by imposing an economic strangle-hold on Gaza. Israel’s blockade left the people of Gaza desperately lacking
in food, fuel, electricity, medical supplies, and other necessities for weeks before the current attack began.

Israel has consistently ignored Hamas truce offers. Instead, helped by the U.S., it has tried to destroy the Hamas
government, which Palestinians democratically chose to rule them.

Anyone who does not know, or ignores, those crucial facts can hardly hope to frame a just resolution to the
conflict. Yet all of that background simply disappears from the supposedly even-handed approach in our news
media.” Jewish professor Ira Chernus, Common Dreams | News & Views, 1/6/09

“There were only three rockets fired at Israel in July, September, and October (2008) combined. Israeli civilians
living near Gaza experienced an almost unprecedented degree of security during this period, with no Israeli
casualties. Yet despite the major lull, Israel continually raided the West Bank, arresting and frequently killing
“wanted” Palestinians from June to October, which had the inevitable effect of ratcheting up pressure on Hamas
to respond. Moreover, while the central expectation of Hamas going into the ceasefire was that Israel would lift
the siege on Gaza, Israel only took the barest steps to ease the siege, which kept the people at a bare survival
level. This policy was a clear affront to Hamas, and had the inescapable effect of undermining both Hamas and
popular Palestinian support for the ceasefire.

But Israel’s most provocative action, acknowledged by many now as the critical turning point that undermined
the ceasefire, took place on November 4, when Israeli forces auspiciously violated the truce by crossing
into the Gaza Strip to destroy what the army said was a tunnel dug by Hamas, killing six Hamas militants. Sara
Roy, writing in the London Review of Books, contends this attack was ‘no doubt designed finally to undermine
the truce between Israel and Hamas established last June.’

The Israeli breach into Gaza was immediately followed by a further provocation by Israel on November 5,
when the Israeli government hermetically sealed off all ways into and out of Gaza. As a result, the UN reports
that the amount of imports entering Gaza has been ‘severely reduced to an average of 16 truckloads per day -
down from 123 truckloads per day in October and 475 trucks per day in May 2007 - before the Hamas takeover.’
These limited shipments provide only a fraction of the supplies needed to sustain 1.5 million starving Palestinians.”Prof. Steve Niva, from Foreign Policy In Focus, 1/8/09


WERE THE ISRAELI ATTACKS ON GAZA DONE IN SELF-DEFENSE?

“Henry Siegman, the director of the U.S./ Middle East Project at the Council of Foreign Relations, noted correctly
that Israel ‘could have met its obligation to protect its citizens by agreeing to ease the blockade, but it
didn’t even try. It cannot be said that Israel launched its assault to protect its citizens from rockets. It did so to
protect its right to continue the strangulation of Gaza’s population.’ ” Chris Hedges, “With Gaza, Journalists
Fail Again”, truthdig.com, 1/26/09

“Hamas appeared willing to renew its cease-fire in return for Israel lifting the blockade on humanitarian and
other aid and ending its periodic raids into Gaza and assassinations of Hamas officials. However, Israel -- again,
supported by Obama and Democratic congressional leaders -- refused. Now, however, despite these leading
Democrats’ opposition to nonmilitary means, which could have salvaged the cease-fire and prevented the rocket
attacks into Israel, they are now claiming that Israel had “no choice” but to launch its massive assault on Gaza
Strip in retaliation.

This opposition to peace talks comes despite polls showing that a majority of Israelis -- including the mayors
of the Israelis towns on the receiving end of Hamas rocket attacks -- do support negotiations with Hamas.
Unlike the Democratic Party, the Israeli public is much more cognizant of the fact that -- whether it be a shortterm cease-fire, a permanent peace agreement or something in between -- ending the violence without such
negotiations will be impossible.” Prof. Stephen Zunes, www.alternet, 1/6/09

“Ephraim Halevy, the former head of the Mossad intelligence service, wrote in the Israeli press today that the
government in Jerusalem could have stopped the rocket attacks long ago by lifting its siege of Gaza. . . ‘If Israel’s
goal were to remove the threat of rockets from the residents of southern Israel, opening the border crossings
would have ensured such quiet for a generation. But the real objectives of the operation include preserving
Fatah’s status as the sole sovereign in the Palestinian Authority and as a partner for negotiations,’ he said.” Chris
McGreal, UK journalist, guardian.co.uk, Sunday 4 January 2009

“Rockets from Gaza aimed at Israeli civilians violate international law. But any assessment of whether military
actions constitute lawful self-defense has to take account of the context. . .The proper Israeli response to such
Palestinian actions is not ‘self-defense,’ but full withdrawal from the occupied territories.” Stephen Shalom “Question And Answer On Gaza”, znet, 1/16/09


HAMAS PEACE OFFERS AND ACCEPTANCE OF ISRAEL

“(In the NY Times, 11/1/06) Ahmed Yousef, a senior adviser to Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh repeated
the same offer Hamas has been making for years. In Arabic it’s called a ‘hudna.’
As Yousef explained, a hudna is ‘a period of nonwar but only partial resolution of a conflict.’ It ‘extends
beyond the Western concept of a cease-fire and obliges the parties to use the period to seek a permanent, nonviolent resolution to their differences.’ A hudna ‘affords the opportunity to humanize one’s opponents and understand their position with the goal of resolving the intertribal or international dispute.’

‘This offer of hudna is no ruse, as some assert, to strengthen our military machine,’ Yousef pleaded. And he
offered several reasons to believe it: ‘A hudna is recognized in Islamic jurisprudence as a legitimate and binding
contract. . It goes back to the Koran itself. . When Hamas gives its word to an international agreement, it does
so in the name of God and will therefore keep its word. Hamas has honored its previous cease-fires, as Israelis
grudgingly note with the oft-heard words, “At least with Hamas they mean what they say.” ’
Back in June (2008) Hamas leaders offered a hudna. On the same day, the Israelis began renewed military
action in Gaza...

Sadly, opinion polls show the fear-based, right-wing view growing among Israeli Jews. They would rather
hold on to their self-image as helpless victims than take any meaningful step toward peace.” Jewish Prof. Ira
Chernus, Common Dreams | News & Views, 11/4/08.

“Hamas accepts a two-state solution. When asked by Newsweek-Washington Post correspondent Lally Weymouth
on 2/26/06 what agreements Hamas was prepared to honor, the new Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh
answered, “the ones that will guarantee the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital
with 1967 borders.’ Weymouth went on, ‘Will you recognize Israel?’ to which Haniyeh responded, “If Israel
declares that it will give the Palestinian people a state and give them back all their rights then we are ready to
recongize them.’ This view encapsulates the Hamas demand for reciprocity.

In 1989, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin (assassinated by Israel in March 2004) stated, ‘I do
not want to destroy Israel. We want to negotiate with Israel so the Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine
can live in Palestine. Then the problem will cease to exist.’ ” “Setting The Record Straight On Hamas”, by
Oxform University Fellow, Jennifer Lowenstein, in Counterpunch, 6/12/06

“Our problem is not with the Jews, our problem is with the occupation.” Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh,
quoted in “Haniyeh: Hamas willing to accept Palestinian state with 1967 borders” by Amira Hass, Haaretz.
com, 9/11/08


BACKGROUND ON HAMAS/ISRAEL RELATIONS

”The problem is that most Israelis say Israel left the Gaza Strip three years ago and Hamas is still shooting rockets at us. They forget the details. The detail is that Israel maintains sovereignty. The detail is that the Palestinians live in a cage. The detail is that they don’t get basic foodstuff, that they don’t get electricity, that they don’t get water. And when you forget those kinds of details, all you say is, ‘Why are they still shooting at us?’ That’s what the media here has been pumping them with, then you think this war is rational. If you look at what’s been mgoing on in the Gaza Strip in the past three years and you see what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians, you mwould think that the Palestinian resistance is rational. And that’s what’s missing in the mainstream media here.” Israeli prof. Neve Gordon, quoted in an Amy Goodman article on TruthDig, 1/7/09

“In January 2006, Palestinians voted in a carefully monitored election, pronounced to be free and fair by international observers. . . The punishment of Palestinians for the crime of voting the wrong way was severe. With US backing, Israel stepped up its violence in Gaza, withheld funds it was legally obligated to transmit to the
Palestinian Authority, tightened its siege and even cut off the flow of water to the arid Gaza Strip.

The United States and Israel made sure that Hamas would not have a chance to govern. They rejected
Hamas’s call for a long-term cease-fire to allow for negotiations on a two-state settlement, along the lines of an
international consensus that Israel and United States have opposed, in virtual isolation, for more than 30 years,
with rare and temporary departures.

For Palestinians to be permitted to peek out of the walls of their Gaza dungeon, Hamas must recognise Israel,
renounce violence and accept past agreements, in particular, the Road Map of the Quartet (the United States,
Russia, the European Union and the United Nations). The hypocrisy is stunning. Obviously, the United States
and Israel do not recognise Palestine or renounce violence. Nor do they accept past agreements. While Israel
formally accepted the Road Map, it attached 14 reservations that eviscerate it. . .The Israeli cabinet proclaimed
that ‘the Roadmap will not state that Israel must cease violence and incitement against the Palestinians.’ ” MIT Prof. Noam Chomsky, “Guillotining Gaza”, 7/30/07, www.informationclearinghouse.com

“The main requirement for any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip must be the opening of the border crossings. There
can be no life in Gaza without a steady flow of supplies. But the crossings were not opened, except for a few
hours now and again. The blockade on land, on sea and in the air against a million and a half human beings is an
act of war, as much as any dropping of bombs or launching of rockets. It paralyzes life in the Gaza Strip: eliminating most sources of employment, pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning, disrupting the supply of electricity and water. . . The logical conclusion for an Israeli mgovernment seeking peace would have been to make wide-ranging concessions to the Fatah leadership: ending mof the occupation, signing of a peace treaty, foundation of the State of Palestine, withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a reasonable solution of the refugee problem, release of all Palestinian prisoners. That would have arrested the rise of Hamas for sure. . .Nothing of this sort happened.” Uri Avnery, Israeli peace activist with Gush Shalom “It’s like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die,” Israeli official Dov Weissglas, speaking about the blockade of Gaza, from Gideon Levy, Znet.org - broadband internet Resources and Information. This website is for sale!, 2/22/06

“One might note that opening the border crossings would in fact reduce the incidence of weapons smuggling.
Obviously, weapons are not going to come in through the Israeli crossings or through an EU-staffed Rafah
crossing. But the incentive to dig tunnels would likely decline, since as long as the crossings were closed digging
tunnels, no matter how dangerous, has been essential for obtaining food and other necessities.” Prof. Stephen Shalon, zcommunications.org, 2/16/09

“The siege on Gaza and the West Bank began after Hamas’s 2006 electoral victory with an international diplomatic
and financial boycott of the new Hamas-led government. Development assistance was severely reduced
with the improbable aim of bringing about a popular uprising against the very government just elected to power.
Since then, the siege has been tightened to an unprecedented level. Over 80 percent of the population of 1.5
million (compared to 63 percent in 2006) is dependent on international food assistance, which itself has been
dramatically reduced.

In 2007, 87 percent of Gazans lived below the poverty line, more than a tripling of the percentage in 2000. In
a November 2007 report, the Red Cross stated about the food allowed into Gaza that people are getting ‘enough
to survive, not enough to live’ ” Eyad al-Sarraj & Sara Roy, Counterpunch, 1/28/09
“Karni crossing is the sole official crossing point for commercial traffic between the Gaza Strip and Israel. . .In
recent months (2008) Israel has completely shut down Karni. . .(and) has routed a few types of permitted ‘essential items’ mostly through Kerem Shalom and Sufa crossings further south. . .They are not commercial crossings but essentially gates in the fence. . .Cargo at Kerem Shalon and Sufa is offloaded from trucks and then left on pallets in the open for Palestinians to come and pick up when they are allowed to approach. . .Gazan human rights lawyer Raji Sourani told The New York Times, ‘Now we live in a kind of animal farm. We live in a pen, and they dump in food and medicine’ . . .

The notion of ‘essential humanitarianism’ reduces the needs, aspirations and rights of 1.4 million human beings
to an exercise in counting calories, megawatts and other abstract, one-dimensional units measuring distance
from death.” “Disengagement and the Frontiers of Zionism”, Darryl Li, MERIP Reports, 2/16/08

“The problem in being “balanced” in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that it fails to recognize the
unbalanced nature of a conflict between an occupied people and their occupiers. While balance in the sense of
recognizing that both Israelis and Palestinians have the fundamental right to live in peace and security is indeed
critical, it should be remembered that Palestinian land is being occupied, confiscated, and colonized, not Israeli
land; that Israeli military and economic power is dramatically greater than that of the Palestinians; that Palestinian civilians have been killed in far greater numbers than Israeli civilians; and that it’s the Palestinians and not the Israelis who have been denied their fundamental right of statehood.” Prof. Stephen Zunes, Foreigh Policy in Focus, 1/26/09


COMMISSION OF WAR CRIMES, HUMAN SHIELDS, ETC.

“Senator John Kerry and Reps Keith Ellison and Brian Baird visited Gaza last week. The three were by all
accounts absolutely shocked by the devastation that they witnessed, and Reps Ellison and Baird, at least, have
issued very strong statements.

Rep. Baird writes, ‘What went on here, and what is continuing to go on, is shocking and troubling beyond
words.’ Rep. Ellison describes his impression, reporting: ‘Devastation. Devastation and destruction of facilities
that to my mind were not legitimate military targets in any sense of the term, for example the American International School of Gaza was hit, and it is not in a crowded densely packed area, it is kind of out in the middle of a field almost, and it is hard to see how it represented any sort of threat to anyone.’

Both Representatives were struck by (and deeply critical of) not only the massive suffering, loss of life, and
destruction, but also the vicious and arbitrary manner in which Israel continues to block humanitarian supplies
from entering Gaza, supplies such as lentils, tomato paste, and basic building materials. They write, ‘The arbitrary
and unreasonable Israeli limitations on food and repair essentials is unacceptable and indefensible. People,
innocent children, women and non-combatants, are going without water, food and sanitation, while the things
they so desperately need are sitting in trucks at the border, being denied permission to go in.’ ” from Jewish
Peace News, www.jewishvoiceforpeace, 2/24/09

“The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian
law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the
requirements of the laws of war. . .Certainly the rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel are unlawful. But
that illegality does not give rise to any Israeli right, neither as the Occupying Power nor as a sovereign state, to
violate international humanitarian law and commit war crimes or crimes against humanity in its response. . .Israel
has also ignored recent Hamas diplomatic initiatives to re-establish the truce or ceasefire since its expiration
on 26 December.” Richard Falk, professor of international law at Princeton University and the UN’s special
rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, 12/30/08 on Common Dreams | News & Views,

“Human Rights Watch. . . found no instances of Hamas actually using human shields in the legally defined sense
of deliberately using civilians as a means of deterring counterattacks. Despite my contacting the offices of more
than a dozen Democratic members of Congress who supported the (1/9/09) resolution none of them could provide
any examples of Hamas actually using human shields.” Prof. Stephen Zunes, www.alternet, 1/6/09


INCITEMENT GOES IN BOTH DIRECTIONS

“Israeli soccer matches were suspended during the assault on Gaza. When the games resumed last week, the
fans had come up with a new chant: ‘Why have the schools in Gaza been shut down?’ sang the crowd. ‘Because
all the children were gunned down!’ came the answer.” Neve Gordon & Yigal Bronner, “Fueling The Cycle Of
Hate”, guardian.co.uk, 1/27/09


HAMAS’ USE OF TERROR TACTICS

“Hamas operatives first utilized suicide attacks in 1994, after an American-born Israeli settler, Baruch Goldstein,
fired on and threw hand grenades at unarmed worshippers in the al-Haram al-Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron on
February 25th, killing 29. It was thought that Goldstein had attained entry with assistance of Israeli troops. Until
that date, Hamas’ only targets were Israeli military. It ceased such attacks, which were very controversial with
other Palestinians, in 1995, and reintroduced them after the ‘targeted killing’ of Hamas leader Yahya Ayyash.
[Up to the present, Hamas has not authorized any suicide attacks since 2005 - Ed.]” U.S. Army War College Professor Sherdia Zuhar, “Hamas And Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Grou-Based Politics”
THE US ROLE
“ ‘Sen. Mitchell is fair. He’s been meticulously even-handed,’ said Abraham Foxman, national director of the
Anti-Defamation League. ‘But the fact is, American policy in the Middle East hasn’t been “even handed” — it
has been supportive of Israel when it felt Israel needed critical U.S. support. So I’m concerned. I’m not sure the
situation requires that kind of approach in the Middle East.” www/thinkprogress.org, 1/21/09
“Direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, disproportionate attacks and indiscriminate attacks are war
crimes,” the (Amnesty International) report states, describing such attacks during the war in Gaza.

The organization recommends that all arms sales to Israel be frozen until ‘there is no longer a substantial risk that such equipment will be used for serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses.’
‘The Obama administration should immediately suspend U.S. military aid to Israel,” Malcolm Smart, Amnesty
International’s Middle East director, said ahead of the report’s release.” Amnesty International’s report,
‘Fueling Conflict: Foreign Arms supplies to Israel/Gaza,’ “None of the Western diplomats imposing conditions on Hamas have demanded that Israel renounce its aggressive violence. . . For Palestinians to “renounce violence” under these conditions is to renounce the right to self-defense, something no occupied people can do.

Palestinians will certainly note that while Abbas stands impotently by, neither the US nor the EU have rushed to the defense of the peaceful, unarmed Palestinians shot at daily by Israeli occupation forces as they try to protect their land from seizure in the West Bank. Nor has Abbas’ renunciation of resistance helped the 1,500 residents in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan whose homes Israeli occupation authorities recently confirmed their intention to demolish in order to make way for a Jewish-themed park. A cessation of violence must be mutual, total and reciprocal --something Hamas has repeatedly offered and Israel has stubbornly rejected.” “Did Clinton sabotage a Palestinian reconciliation?” by Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 4 March 2009


WHAT TO DO? THE JEWISH PEACE MOVEMENT PERSPECTIVE

What is the best thing we can do for the people of Israel? What is the best thing for the Palestinian people?
What is the right thing to do according to our Jewish ethical tradition? What are our obligations under international law? Fortunately, all of these questions have the same answer. That is, we must live and let live. We must stop causing pain to others and see to it that some semblance of justice for all concerned is the final outcome.

We must stop the use of force to try to get our needs met and instead we must sit down and talk, in good faith,
so that everyone can get their needs met. We must have faith that, in the final analysis, everyone is just a human
being and that Palestinians want and deserve the same as Israelis— peace, security and a place to call their own.

That means a viable, peaceful Palestinian state next to a secure and peaceful Israel. It can happen and it must
happen. Fellow Jews: Don’t settle for just blaming the other side—educate yourself on how the conflict looks
from both sides. Work for Justice. Work for Peace.

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