Amid
This Chaos,
Suffering Will Get Worse
By Sami Abdel Shafi
15 June, 2007
The
Independent
Gaza
is a place of captivity. Yet, when the violent clashes between Fatah
and Hamas erupted on our streets this week, my wife and I wanted to
defy them. We did not want to be held hostage again in our home, which
happens every time these so-called titans clash. So we went to see friends.
Shortly after crossing an
intersection on our way back, there was a deafening explosion followed
by the crackle of gunfire. Not daring to look back, I put my foot down.
When I did look back, I could see that a minivan had been blown up with
what we later learnt was a rocket-propelled grenade.
Four days on, the Gaza Strip
has seen acts of appalling slaughter and brutality. Nearly 30 are dead
and hundreds have been wounded. These shameful events, and the almost
total breakdown of Palestinian leadership and governance we are now
seeing, have not come out of the blue. All the while, Israel's government
has avoided dealing with the renewed Arab and Palestinian peace initiative
of earlier this year. The Palestinian unity government has been kept
in a state of bankruptcy because Israel is withholding hundreds of millions
of dollars in Palestinian tax and customs monies.
The Gaza Strip has long been
a virtual prison where the movement of goods and people in and out is
unbearably difficult. What is under-publicised is how disastrous the
siege imposed on Gaza's 1.4 million inhabitants by air, land and sea
is, when coupled with the overwhelming sense of uncertainty about the
future felt by most of us here. We feel isolated, stowed away on the
edge of the earth.
Peace initiatives have gone
nowhere, a new government with a peaceful programme has been incapacitated,
and the agonies of daily life grow harsher with an absence of medical
care, municipal services and any semblance of normal civil life.
Now it is clear that the
factional fighting in Gaza will serve no advantage but to Israel. Israel
will not only claim it has a weak partner, or none, for peace but it
will have more room to further its military policy against Palestinians,
in the Gaza Strip particularly, by claiming it now has no functional
partner.
The suffering for civilians
here can only grow worse. We have not abandoned hope for an eventual
peaceful outcome, but right now it feels as if Gaza is staring into
an abyss.
Sami Abdel-Shafi
is co-founder and senior partner at Emerge Consulting Group, LLC, a
management consultancy in Gaza City
© 2007 Independent News
and Media Limited
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.