The Gaza Blockade: How and Why to End It

The Gaza Blockade: How and Why to End It

Jo-Ann Mort: The Gaza Blockade

There is a lot of misinformation flying around about what is going on in Gaza. Didn?t Israel evacuate Gaza? Are people in Gaza starving? What is going on with the Egyptian side of the border? Does Hamas want peace with Israel or not? Is the current blockade stopping arms from entering Gaza via Iran?

Yes, Israel did evacuate Gaza in August 2005, but the unilateral pull out meant that while Israel evacuated the Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, Israel maintained full control of the border, in concert with Egypt on the other side. After Hamas wrestled control from the Fatah leadership in 2007, Israel sealed the border, due to Hamas? lobbing rockets into civilian Israel and also in retaliation for the capture four years ago of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who remains in Gaza.

While food shipments do get into Gaza?and there is not starvation in Gaza?there is poverty, and mostly, there is hopelessness. Israel has refused to allow enough building supplies in to rebuild the damage from Israel?s war last year with Hamas.

The stated purpose of the blockade is to keep out weapons, but that seems to have failed. Indeed, Palestinian Authority leaders have told me that they fear weapon smuggling via Gaza from Iran.

And Hamas remains a power there, not only as the government in Gaza, but also through its social services like summer camps and schools. Their strength is in the refugee camps. As long as Gaza remains a prison?which it is?Hamas? strength on the ground grows. They are not immune to enforcing social dictates by force, and there is no way that the NGO community can bring in enough heft to challenge Hamas in the refugee camps unless the borders are opened.

One can still find a small business class in Gaza City and a tiny band of secular intellectuals and NGO activists, who congregate around a few restaurants in the city that amazingly serve tasty food (but no alcohol). But, the blockade is counterproductive to any growth of the private sector or secular or intellectual life in Gaza. In fact, Israel has consistently not allowed students to travel from Gaza to the West Bank to attend university there, or to travel out of the country on academic scholarships. Palestinians from the West Bank are, likewise, not allowed to travel to Gaza. So the notion that Gazans will see the relative prosperity of the West Bank and overturn the Hamas regime is ridiculous, since none of them do see this prosperity?either close up or otherwise.

There was a dream of Gaza as Singapore, one of the many dreams that died with the failed Oslo peace process, but that dream could, ironically, be resurrected today in a more serious fashion than in its earlier wishful phase.

One of the consequences of the current situation in the West Bank is that the Palestinian private sector has taken a leadership role in building their state. The old model, first used in the early days of the peace process, of pouring in aid money without also building the private sector, has taken a back seat to this new way.

There is no reason that this couldn?t also happen in Gaza?the beach strip is sitting there waiting to be cleaned and prepped. Hamas doesn?t have the will or the know-how to build a robust private sector. Nor do they have the raw materials or the global recognition that they would need. That is the good news, as seen through a dark cloud.

But, we now know that the Palestinian Authority does have that ability?and the best chance to win the hearts and minds of the Palestinians in Gaza would be to open the gates, create a multi-lateral arrangement that will police the arms in and out of Gaza?and reunite Gaza with the West Bank.

Photo: Rafah Border Crossing 2009 (gloucester2gaza / Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons 2.0)