Why the Cairo Peace Talks Will Also Fail

Gaza is a small country at best, five miles wide and twenty-five miles top to bottom. Blocked by Egypt to the south, Israel to the east and north and the Mediterranean Sea on their west, Gaza is 147 square miles, tip to toe. Now with Israel’s “buffer zone,” in effect, Gaza will be reduced to a mere 82 square miles.   Moshe Feiglin,  deputy speaker of the Knesset, called for Gaza to “become part of sovereign Israel and to be populated by Jews. This will also serve to ease the housing crisis in Israel.”

“Housing crisis in Israel!” Not a word of concern for the housing crisis in Gaza. Israel’s population density stands at 964 persons per square mile. Gaza’s people are crowded into 22,000 per square mile.[1]

So far, three Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas rockets.  Israel has killed 1,900 Palestinians, including 415 children, injured over 10,000 plus ten thousand homes destroyed and 30,000 damaged. Gaza is in a crisis with more destruction than it has ever experienced during its seven year siege.  Israel bombed Gaza’s only power plant, knocking out electricity for sewage plants and hospitals. According to Jewish Voice for Peace:

Before the crisis, Gaza had 2,047 hospital beds. That’s about one bed for every five injured Palestinians. Medical supplies, including pain medication, are in extremely low supply. “Never seen such massive destruction ever before,” is how Peter Maurer, president of the International Red Cross, described Gaza last week.[2]

So, once again, Hamas goes into “peace talks,” knowing full well what the outcome will be, and who will be blamed for the breakdown. All across the world there will be little demonstrations against Israel’s devastation but little will change. Thousands of Americans will take to the streets in protest and congress will still vote 100% to support Israel and praise Netanyahu in his slaughter of Palestinians. Obama will continue to announce that Israel has a right to defend itself.

I think it was Einstein who said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.  The Palestinians have been down this road so many times before and nothing changes.

Why? Because the “peace talks” do not focus on International law. They ignore the Geneva Convention. The talks will slide right over dozens of UN resolutions. Such things are not the goal of Israel.  All Israel wants is “calm,” and for the human rights of the Palestinians and their equality as citizens of the world. to be forgotten as soon as possible so Israel can get back to the business of occupation.

Recognition of Palestinian rights to their own land and water will be announced as a threat to Israel’s security, which is another word for “We have no responsibility for violence, no matter what we do."

Everybody knows Israel only kills terrorist. And how do we know that those killed are terrorist?  Answer: Because Israel kills them.

My father’s brother, Ismail al-Ghoul, 60, was not a member of Hamas. Hisdra, 62, was not a militant of Hamas. Their sons, Wael, 35, and Mohammed, 32, were not combatants for Hamas. Their daughters, Hanadi, 28, and Asmaa, 22, were not operatives for Hamas, nor were my cousin Wael’s children, Ismail, 11, Malak, 5, and baby Mustafa, only 24 days old, members of Islamic Jihad, the Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine or Fatah. Yet, they all died in the Israeli shelling that targeted their home at 6:20 a.m. on Sunday morning.[3]

There may be some talk by Israel of “easing” the siege at the check points, just enough to let the anti-Palestine Zionists proclaim the “generous offer” by Israel and make sure Hamas gets no credit for brokering a deal.  But, in the big picture, it will be a continuation of the status quo. Occupiers will remain occupiers and refugees will remain refugees with no right of return and little economic opportunity to meet basic human needs. In the words of Jeff Halper, Palestinians will remain “warehoused.”  Israel’s goal is not to change the facts on the ground, but to stop the exposure of its violence. If that happens, if there is a “peace deal” without a change in Israel’s choke hold on Gaza, in a few years there will be rockets and Cast Lead bombardment all over again.

Einstein is right. It’s insane.

                                                                                                Thomas Are

                                                                                                August 13, 2014

[1] Dennis Kucinich, Gaza Buffer Zone,  The Guardian August 5, 2014.

[2] Action Alert, Jewish Voice for Peace,  Stefanie Fox, Red Cross, Never Seen Such Massive Destruction. August 11, 2014

[3] Nick Wing and Samantha Lachman, 17 Things To Read If You’re Trying To See All Sides Of the Israel-Gaza Conflict., Huffington Post, August 5, 2014