Chalk Up Another Absurdity on the Gaza War

Published November 01, 2009 @ 01:16PM PT

Israeli flag flies beside a Palestinian mosque in Hebron, Daniel J Gerstle. Egypt is finally opening the border to Gaza but only for three days to allow people who need urgent medical care, etc, to finally get out of their neighborhood-turned maximum security prison. All due respect and consideration to those who were affected by the pre-war rocket fire in Israel, but why would civilians lying in hospitals needing dialysis or advanced surgeries have to wait for a peace deal or for Egypt to negotiate with Israel before being able to go to Cairo for lifesaving medical care?

On Halloween, as most of us are running down the street dressed as zombies, bleeding celebrities, or story book characters, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Abu Dabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Another kind of charade, perhaps. Since last winter's Gaza War, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have predictably fallen into the usual rut. Anyone with any civil approach to resolving tensions gets knocked away from the microphone by someone obsessed with isolating the Other.

While the core dispute about how to allow free passage for innocent Palestinian civilians and trade goods out of the isolated Gaza enclave moves forward at a snail's pace, with tunnels being the controversial steam release, many of the decision-makers are distracted by related but should-be-separate issues of whether one side or the other committed war crimes. The second issue is vital, but does not need to slow down progress on the first issue. On closer look, one of the reasons Israeli authorities claim it is important to limit goods and people going in and out of Gaza is because of do-wrongers posing as the sick or using "dual-use" items such as metals or cans that can be turned into bombs. What do you think?

[Photo: Hebron's old city, West Bank, Daniel J Gerstle.]

Share this Post

Comments (4)

Man O man this web site is not telling you the truth

It is a distortion to get you to hate

We have to pay more attention to what we read and do our own truth search

Posted by Sharon White on 11/01/2009 @ 03:21PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Sharon
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Hi Sharon, Can you elaborate? If you write in, go ahead and give us your opinion; it's welcome. And feel free to disagree and offer an opposing view. My view here is shaped from work on the Gaza issue in Washington and with time on the ground in Israel and the Palestinian territories during 2009.

Posted by Daniel J Gerstle on 11/01/2009 @ 03:42PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Daniel J
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Also, Sharon, I'm not sure I understand why you would say this website is encouraging people to hate. It's not true and you haven't presented any reason to suggest it. This site, and all of it's blogs, are geared toward discussion about how to reduce violence and pursue peace.

We are kind people who genuinely care about both Jewish families fearing random rocket shells landing on their house and Palestinian families whose houses were hit by artillery and can no longer work because of the blockade. People on most political spectrums would agree with this. Again, please feel free to elaborate or disagree; I'm simply responding to what you offered in discussion.

Posted by Daniel J Gerstle on 11/01/2009 @ 03:58PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 1 person likes this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Daniel J
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
This is a great post, keep it up.

Posted by Nadir Q on 11/02/2009 @ 04:39PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 1 person likes this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Nadir
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Daniel J Gerstle is a creative long form crisis journalist, human rights researcher, and humanitarian aid consultant who's covered Bosnia, Croatia, Karabakh, Chechnya, Ingushetia, the Ossetias, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia very deeply, spiced with highlights of Sudan, Palestine, Jordan, Tajikistan, and Georgia. Prior to all this, he served as a US Marine reservist stateside.