Is Raf OK? -- Installment #29
2023-11-09 -- Tel Aviv
Update: 2024-06-02: The section “Gaza Overview” has been updated and expanded.
Let's see if I can get to the intended content of the day (Raf's “Gaza Explainer”). But… there was an unexpected email:
I am coming to Israel on Friday morning to volunteer for about 9 days.
We went to the same yoga studio in Seattle. He is Jewish. We never went to coffee or emailed until this message. To my knowledge, he is not involved with the Jewish community at any level.
Normally I'd skip a video like the one below: Montana cowboys who flew to Israel to help out on farms? S.F.'s engagement catches my eye, why not theirs? (3 minutes, Important parts in English)
Seen
Walking home from the gym, I thought of lunch from "the Libyan Bureka guy" in Shuk Hacarmel. Haven't gone in months.
Shuk HaCarmel Report
About %95 open, even the touristy stuff
Foot traffic is very light. Even at noon, when it would normally be elbow to elbow
Sights, near and in the shuk
The cafe is closed due to the situation. We hope there will soon be better times.
Entering the Shuk
The shirt with the X-d out skull and crossbones:
“Together we will eliminate Hamas. It is impossible to live with them. We paid too high a price.”
Mr. Bureka is there! No line (usually there’s a throng). Walk up, order and chow is cooking!
To content.
Gaza: Preface
Why try to engage this?
I believe P.Y. grew up on the Indian subcontinent. He is a work colleague from years ago and asked for a "Gaza overview." I threw a few bullet points his way to buy time.
He wrote an appreciative thank you note.
Here is a try.
Gaza Introduction
Gaza - As It Was 6 Weeks Ago
The shiny parts…
Those places don’t look like that today.
100 Years of Gaza -- Highlights
Until 1918: Part of the Ottoman Empire (which ruled a large swath of the Middle East for centuries)
1918: Post WW-I: Ottoman Empire is over. This region is carved up by Britain and France: Britain takes control of Egypt (including the Sinai and Gaza), Palestine and parts east (such as Jordan). France controls Lebanon and Syria.
1947-48: U.N. votes to partition Palestine into Jewish and Palestinian Arab regions; Britain pulls out of Palestine.
The Gaza Strip is now part of independent Egypt
1967: "Six Day War" Israel captures the Sinai, and along with it the Gaza strip.
1979: The Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty hands Sinai back to Egypt, but Egypt does not want the Gaza Strip. It continues under Israeli administration (but not part of Israel itself)
1993: Oslo Peace Accords intend the Gaza Strip to become part of an independent Palestinian state
Progress toward Palestinian sovereignty stalled by Palestinian terrorism (Intifada One and Two) and the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Rabin by a Jewish extremist.
2005: Under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel pulls out of Gaza, forcing thousands of Jewish Israelis to leave Gaza.
2007: Hamas does well in elections in Gaza but does not want to share power or be answerable to an electorate. Hamas initiates a civil war in which Hamas drives out and kills members Fatah (the main party in the West Bank and Hamas’ political rival). Hamas is now the sole governing force within Gaza. (No elections have occurred since.)
Over the years, violence originating (rocket barrages on Israeli cities, attacks on the Israeli army including kidnapping soldiers) in Gaza causes the physical isolation of Gaza to intensify, on both Egyptian and Israeli sides
Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza have been rocketing Israel, off and on, since 2009.
Hamas and other militant groups have attacked Israel many times over 12+ years, launching thousands of rockets, killing civilians and soldiers, and taking hostages, sometimes keeping them captive for years.
Israel has attacked Gaza a number of times in response to Hamas rocket attacks and incursions: 2008-2009; 2012; and 2014
Hamas uses its control over Gaza to generate revenue, taxing everything and everyone who comes and goes.
Hamas leadership is understood to be corrupt, having siphoned billions for themselves and living in luxury outside Gaza, while poverty is widespread in Gaza.
The corruption seems to be a joint Hamas-Egypt project. For example, it is estimated that in six months since October 2023, Hamas extorted over half a billion dollars from Gazans on food and cigarettes imported through the Rafah Crossing (which connects to Egypt).
For example, when the Rafah crossing was closed in May 2024 and goods were brought in via crossings to Israel, food prices fell precipitously. (When the IDF took control of the Gaza side of the crossing, Egypt refused to open its side so as not to be seen as “cooperating” with Israel.)
Since 2007, Hamas excavated tunnels for offensive military purposes.
350-500 miles of tunnels, 60 to 150 feet underground
Gazan civilians are not allowed to use them for shelter
Many have air conditioning and bathroom facilities. Even data centers have been found. Some tunnels are large enough to drive a car through
In many neighborhoods, nearly every building has a tunnel entrance
Nearly every mosque, hospital and UNRWA building has access to the tunnel network
The “blockade” of Gaza had lots of holes.
Hamas stockpiled essentially unlimited guns, RPGs, anti-tank weapons, rockets, mines, ammunition and other armaments
Tunnel building material and equipment seems to have been unlimited
Many safes full of cash have been found in the tunnels. Tens of millions of dollars have been found by the IDF (how many millions more are yet undiscovered?)
The “blockade” has many authors: Israel controls access to the sea and two of the three “sides” of the Strip. Since 2006, Egypt has full control of the southern border (including the Rafah crossing).
Is this the whole story of “control?”
Ahhh no. Hamas controls its side of every crossing. And it has tunnels that go to Egypt. Everything it wants to smuggle in and out (tools, weapons, explosives, people) it does.
For Gazans to leave, they have to both get permission from Hamas and pay the Hamas fee.
It may be fair to call Gaza an “open air prison.” One of the main jailers is… Hamas. And a primary jailer is Egypt.
An Operating Summary
The population of Gaza has had different levels of restrictions over the years. All the way into the 1990's it was largely open. As the "security wall" in the West Bank was erected in reaction to terrorism (by Hamas and others), the fencing of Gaza was incremental and in reaction to the same thing.
In recent years, at a high level, it is reasonable to say: The population of Gaza is trapped by at least three forces (any one or two of these could open it up considerably):
Egypt (controlling one border - land)
Israel (controlling two borders - land and sea)
UNWRA (fostering a culture of dependence and hindering emigration) -- Raf understands %60-70 of the population of Gaza is registered with UNWRA
Hamas (charging huge $ to leave & imposing a tight exit quota, restricting how many can leave each month)
I can’t go into other layers of the mess here: How countries in the region grossly discriminate against Palestinians (recently demonstrated by Egypt announcing they won’t let in a single Gaza resident): Thousands of Palestinians affected by the Syrian Civil War in 2012; Thousands killed in Lebanon in 1982; and other such incidents.
Washington Post Gaza Explainer
Available here (PDF here—PDF seems to be missing the last 1-2 pages, WaPost site security seems to prevent me from putting it all in).
Media Observation
The Western Press seems to accept Gaza Health Ministry death counts: Those counts do not say how many of the dead were Hamas soldiers/militants/terrorists (pick a term). Arabic language footage from Gaza shows Hamasnikim in civilian clothes firing automatic weapons and anti-tank rockets. Their deaths are then counted as "civilian" by the Gaza Health Ministry.
Pick a number… %15 of the dead are Hamas? %25? More?
There is messaging on many channels before Israeli bombs fall: Mass SMS messages, leaflets from the sky, messages sent via UNWRA and other mediums. I saw footage today of a Hamas weapons workshop in a central Gaza apartment. The next room over: A little girl’s bedroom.
I was just at the beach. Water: Warm. Tourists: Gone. Crowds: Small. Rockets & red alerts: Much reduced (a ground invasion accomplishes something). Movie theaters, museums and the like are still closed in Tel Aviv. Schools “opened,” but universities postponed the academic year at least two months (something like %30 of university students have been called up for the reserves).
Stay well,
Raf
(Thanks to A.K,, S.F. and P.Y. for engagement, feedback and content.)