Palestinians Eat Grass in Gaza: For Israel, the Ultimate Holocaust Denial

This incredible blog post is all the more powerful for the comments. Meanwhile, the Times reported that:

AS a convoy of blue-and-white United Nations trucks loaded with food waited last night for Israeli permission to enter Gaza, Jindiya Abu Amra and her 12-year-old daughter went scrounging for the wild grass their family now lives on.

“We had one meal today - khobbeizeh,” said Abu Amra, 43, showing the leaves of a plant that grows along the streets of Gaza. “Every day, I wake up and start looking for wood and plastic to burn for fuel and I beg. When I find nothing, we eat this grass.”

Abu Amra and her unemployed husband have seven daughters and a son. Their tiny breeze-block house has had no furniture since they burnt the last cupboard for heat.

“I can’t remember seeing a fruit,” said Rabab, 12, who goes with her mother most mornings to scavenge. She is dressed in a tracksuit top and holed jeans, and her feet are bare.

Israel forgot their own experience from the Holocaust, as described by commenter Sonja:

“I used to get …very hungry,” Blum said. “And then something came to me. I said, ‘The cows eat grass to live. How come I can’t do that?’ So I started hunting for grass. But you couldn’t find grass too many places. You find the roots. I used to clean the grass off the roots and chew on the roots, too. But then I discovered an area behind the kitchen. It was a restricted area. Nobody was allowed to go in, and the grass was growing nice. And I used to smuggle myself inside somehow… I ran in, took a handful [of grass] and ran out.”
By Rosa Blum, holocaust survivor, Romania

Holocaust in Romania, by Matatias Carp (6. Life and Death in Transnistria)
June 10, 1942
The buildings on the right housed deportees who had managed to save some
of their money, or because of their good connections were able to receive
aid in Moghilev. On the left side, however, hunger reigned. A number of
those interned had no choice but to eat grass from the meadows and leaves
from trees.

Yom HaShoah: The Train to Belzac
By Eva Galler (holocaust survivor)
It was cold. In one corner there was a little iron stove but no fuel. We were not given enough to eat. The children looked through the garbage for food. There was not enough water to drink. There was one well in the backyard, but it would not produce enough water for everybody. To be sure to get water you had to get up in the middle of the night. Once I had a little water to wash myself, and my sister later washed herself in the same water.
Some people started to eat grass. They would swell up and die. Because of the unsanitary conditions people got lice and typhus. My brother Pinchas got night blindness from lack of vitamins. Every day a lot of people died.

Holocaust survivors remember Lodz ghetto
Reuters - August 29, 2004
LODZ, Poland - Sam Weinreich remembers the last time he came to Radegast train station in Poland’s second-largest city - the day in 1944 he was forced into a cattle car and sent to Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz death camp.
“They promised us bread, so we came here … when you’re hungry, you’ll eat grass. People in the ghetto became like animals,” said Weinreich, one of some 400 survivors who on Sunday commemorated the liquidation of the Lodz ghetto 60 years ago.

Story of Survival - Holocaust experience remembered
by Johnell Lytle-Davis
“Why do they hate us?” Meisel said she asked her mother. “Because we are Jews,” her mother replied. “At least we are alive.”
Meisel revealed that she survived on about 300 calories in a day. “I would eat grass I was so hungry,” she said.

Thank you, Sonja, for this incredible collection of relevant stories.

It seems Israel has no intention of respecting or remembering, let alone learning from, the Holocaust.

Instead, they are trying to create, on perhaps a smaller scale - but in terms of human tragedy, is the death of children ever small for the conscience? - their own little Holocaust, inflicted on someone else.

And the reason is always the same. Security. For the Fatherland.

Revenge Against Children for Parents' "Crime": Being Arab

Israelis are very defensive. No argument on that point. So they must hate "Save the Children" when that organization described the situation in Gaza as a "man-made, completely avoidable" "humanitarian implosion", laying the blame for the suffering of Gaza's children, who make up almost half of the population, on Israel's morally abhorrent policy of communal punishment on Gazans.

The number of people living in absolute poverty in Gaza has increased
sharply. Today, 80% of families in Gaza currently rely on humanitarian aid
compared to 63% in 2006. This decline exposes unprecedented levels of poverty
and the inability of a large majority of the population to afford basic
food. ...
In June 2005, there were 3,900 factories in Gaza employing 35,000 people. One and a half years later, in December 2007, there were just 195 left employing
only 1,700. The construction industry is paralysed with tens of thousands of labourers out of work. The agriculture sector has also been badly hit and
nearly 40,000 workers who depend on cash crops now have no income....
In September 2007, an UNRWA survey in the Gaza Strip revealed that there was a nearly 80% failure rate in schools grades four to nine, with up to 90% failure rates in Mathematics. In January 2008, UNICEF reported that schools in Gaza had been cancelling classes that were high on energy consumption, such as IT, science labs and extra curricular activities.

This is not the result of some unforeseen tragedy. This is deliberate, calculated "punishment" against children first - for they suffer the most - because of rockets launched by Hamas militants. Did this policy succeed to stop the rockets? No. Did it bring the region closer to peace? Quite the opposite. Did it succeed to kill and sicken innocent children, bringing them to the brink of starvation in front of their desperate, heartbroken, trapped and walled-in parents? Yes!

As the head of UNRWA has pointed out, ‘Hungry, unhealthy, angry communities do not make good partners for peace.’

Someone - wonder who? - said "You shall know them by their fruits." Here are the fruits of the Israeli occupation: Suffering and pain, near-starvation, deprivation of freedom - against children first! They are the most vulnerable, and the ones who bear the brunt of Israel's retribution and thirst for revenge. Is that the nation who celebrates their 60th anniversary? Do I hear a party?
Partying at the expense of whom? Do they feel no shame, dancing on the graves and pain of innocent children? What just God could possibly sympathize with them?

What the World Thinks of Israel's Gaza Slaughter

This editorial from The Star so clearly points out the ruthlessness of Israel's treatment of Gaza that what I began as an idea to collect quotes from various world sources and personalities on this issue has ended with an urge to quote this in its entirety.

From Indonesia:

"Gaza a Stain on the World's Conscience" by Martin Khor

THE merciless Israeli air and ground assault on Gaza over the last few days has re-focused world attention on the massive suffering of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza.
On Saturday alone, at least 52 Palestinians died in the Israeli helicopter and tank attacks in northern Gaza. An even bigger ground assault is expected this week.

Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai threatened last Friday that the Palestinians “will pay for it, I’m sorry for their population” and said the Palestinians are facing a “shoah”, the Hebrew word for a big disaster as well as for the Nazi holocaust.

The Israeli justification for this latest round of assaults is that the Hamas-led resistance in Gaza are firing rockets into Israel. Last Wednesday one Israeli was killed, and the next day the Israeli attacks on Gaza intensified. More than 80 Palestinians have been killed since then.

(Note: The count is now at 116 and presumably the Israelis are shooting for a higher goal.)

This latest Israeli military assault on Gaza comes on top of months of intensifying economic and social strangling of the occupied Palestinian territories, especially Gaza, where electricity is switched off, and supplies of essential goods are blocked.
The breaking of many international laws by Israel and the pitiable situation of the Palestinians are highlighted in a news report by John Dugard, the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian occupied territories.

It says that judged by international law, Israel is in serious violation of its legal obligations. The collective punishment of Gaza by Israel is expressly prohibited by international humanitarian law and has resulted in a serious humanitarian crisis.
The report adds that the human rights situation in the West Bank has worsened. Settlements expand, the construction of the security wall continues, and checkpoints increase in number.
On the issue of terrorism, the special rapporteur distinguishes between “mindless terror” and acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation against colonialism, apartheid or military occupation.
History is replete with examples of military occupation that have been resisted by violence, for example, the resistance in European countries to the German occupation in the Second World War, and how SWAPO resisted South Africa.
Acts of terror against military occupation must be seen in the historical context. This is why every effort should be made to bring the occupation to a speedy end. Until this is done peace cannot be expected.

The report says that Israel exploits the present international fear of terrorism to the fullest. But this will not solve the Palestinian problem.

Israel must address the occupation and the violation of human rights and international humanitarian law it engenders, and not invoke the justification of terrorism as a distraction, as a pretext for failure to confront the root cause of Palestinian violence – the occupation.

On Gaza, the special rapporteur said in the past two years 668 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in Gaza. During the same period, four Israeli civilians were killed by rockets fired by Palestinians, and four Israeli soldiers killed by attacks from Gaza.
The report details the difficulties faced by the Palestinians living in Gaza.

> Israel has closed most crossings from Gaza to Egypt and elsewhere. Trucks bringing goods into Gaza have dropped alarmingly – from 253 a day in April 2007 to 74 a day in November.

> Since September, Israel has reduced the supply of fuel and electricity to Gaza.

> The only two Israeli commercial banks dealing with financial institutions in Gaza announced that they would cut ties with Gaza.

> Over 80% of the people in Gaza are dependent on international food aid. Fruit and vegetables are no longer available to supplement the food aid. Few can afford meat, and fish is virtually unobtainable.

> The closure of crossings prevents Gaza from exporting its goods, while also preventing materials from entering Gaza, resulting in the end of most construction works and the closure of factories.

> Farmers are without income and some 65,000 factory employees are unemployed, as 95% of Gaza’s industrial operations have been suspended as a result of restrictions. Fishermen are likewise unemployed as a result of the Israeli ban on fishing along the Gaza coast.

> The United Nations announced that it has halted all its building projects in Gaza because it has run out of building materials. This affected 121,000 jobs.

> Those working in the public sector remain unpaid. Municipal employees in Gaza City have not been paid since March 2007.

> Over 80% of the population live below the official poverty line.

> Healthcare clinics are in short supply of paediatric antibiotics, and 91 key drugs are no longer available.

> There are frequent power outages as a result of Israel’s destruction of the main Gaza power plant in 2006. The supply of water is also affected, and 210,000 people are able to access drinking water supplies for only one to two hours a day. At present there is a real danger that sewage plants could overflow.

> Cutting off fuel and electricity will endanger the functioning of hospitals, water services and sewage, as well as deprive residents of electricity for refrigerators and household appliances. A humanitarian catastrophe is imminent if Israel continues to reduce fuel and carries out its threat to reduce electricity supplies.

Israel has largely justified its attacks and incursions as defensive operations aimed at preventing the launching of Qassam rockets into Israel.
But serious questions arise over the proportionality of Israel’s military response and its failure to distinguish between military and civilian targets.

It is highly arguable that Israel has violated the most fundamental rules of international humanitarian law, which constitute war crimes, said the rappporteur.
These crimes include direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects, and attacks which fail to distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects, the excessive use of force arising from disproportionate attacks on civilians and civilian objects and the spreading of terror among the civilian population.

The Special Rapporteur has done a great service not only to the Palestinians but also to everyone else, for providing such graphic and up-to-date information. In other parts of his report he also argues why it was the responsibility of the UN Secretary-General as well as all states to act to end the Israelis’ violations of international law.

But the rapporteur’s call will not lead to Security Council action, due to the power of the United States. This will again open the United Nations to criticism that it practices double standards, in that the countries the United States dislikes are punished while its allies are protected from actions.

Before signing off, here's another article from medialens, a progressive UK site, on the subject, that also refers to John Dugard's work and his opinion that, as the article put it:

The report, authored by UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard, concludes that
Palestinian terrorism is the "inevitable consequence" of Israeli occupation.
While Palestinian terrorist acts are deplorable, "they must be understood as
being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or
occupation." Dugard, a South African professor of law, accuses the Israeli state
of acts and policies consistent with all three.

...

(Quoting from Dugard's report:)

“Above all, the Government of Israel has violated the prohibition on collective
punishment of an occupied people contained in article 33 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention.”
In the days that followed, as killings and injuries rapidly rose under a massive Israeli assault, we could find not a single mention in any UK national newspaper of this important assessment by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories.

Let alone US media, which is notorious for leaving out points of view inconsistent with the current Administration or "mainstream" (a misnomer that means "acceptable to those in power") opinion, policies, or views.

Who in "mainstream" US condemned the slaughter for what it is?

Gaza's Inner Breakout: Human Freedom for a Week, or ...

Laila at Raising Yousef has a great post on the breakout from Gaza, joined by some interesting comments, too. Here's a sample of the thought-provoking and sensitive outlook Laila brings to this usually-backburnered subject (picture from her blog):

People often ask me why such things-meaning people powered civil protests that can overcome even the strongest occupation- don't happen sooner, or more often, or at all for that matter. We underestimate the power of occupation to destroy a people's will to live, let alone resist and and attempt to change the situation. This is the worst thing about occupation, whether a military occupation like Israel's, or a political one like Hosni Mubarak's in his own country. And it is only when you can overcome the psychological occupation, the occupation of the mind, that the military occupation in all its manifestations can be defeated.

Tying this in with Mubarak's occupation of Egypt is such an astute observation. And the devastation to the society there is also real, but as for now, Gaza is a true humanitarian disaster area, thanks to Israel's illegal and unconscionable collective punishment policy - and the occupation itself.

All the stats on the humanitarian disaster can be found here on Heathlander's important post.

They Do Starve Children, Don't They?

The NYT takes the stance that although

The neglect and mistreatment of the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in the
Gaza Strip is a disgrace, and a very dangerous one. They are pawns in the
struggle among Hamas, which controls Gaza and uses the territory to
bombard Israel daily; its rivals in the Fatah movement that run the
Palestinian Authority and the West Bank; and Israel.

Oops editors! You mentioned Israel twice, presumably because NYT readers might have missed it the first time. Anyway, as I was saying, after the NYT staff gets past this necessary bit of humanitarian-sounding jive, they get to the meat:

Hamas has turned a deaf ear to the Gazans’ plight, refusing to negotiate peace
or accept Israel’s right to exist.

Oh, those nasty Hamas guys! They "refused" to negotiate peace? Or refused to accept the terms of humiliation, not terms of endearment, that were offered as "peace" - or shall we say, force-fed? And for those who are force-fed propaganda, Hamas actually is willing to accept Israel's right to exist - but not as Fatah-defined and Annapolis-defined "Jewish state", because that opens the way, in their understanding, for Israel to expel thousands of Palestinians from their now-free-to-be Jewish-only state, causing even more refugees, misery, etc. The line that Jews would not be welcome in a Palestinian state (Wow, and I'll bet they feel real bad about this possibility) has been more or less quashed by the brave Daniel Barenboim's acceptance of Palestinian citizenship - before a state even exists...

Arab states, who for years have pleaded the Palestinian case and have
thrown their support behind the Annapolis peace process, must use their
influence (and their oil profits) to pressure Hamas’s leaders to halt rocket
attacks, renounce terrorism and align with Fatah in pursuit of a peace deal.
Egypt, whose stature as a peacemaker has withered under President Hosni
Mubarak, should take immediate, robust steps to shut down the tunnels that allow
arms and money to flow to militants in Gaza.

So it's the Arabs again who have to bear the brunt of responsibility because, as we all know, Israelis are innocent occupiers, pure as the driven snow, and totally incapable of acting any way other than as militant, robotic occupiers, being pure as aforementioned, and therefore it's the Arabs who have to do the dirty work of taking "robust steps". And since when have Arabs been noted to take "robust steps" except in the path of securing some petty dictator his little immutable world? And who is Hosny Mubarak except a petty dictator who takes very, very robust steps - or should I say "stomps" - in the path of securing his little immutable world? Which world is located in Sharm el-Sheikh, far, far from the madding crowds of Cairo and those other dust-ridden dirty enclaves of seething humanity.

Don't the Israelis see that the Arabs are just like them? The sheikhs in their crystal-pure palaces in Dubai and Saudi Arabia like to look at those messy, uncouth crowds as much as Israelis in their European-style luxuries like to get down with Palestinians. But all that uppity-ness and wealth has a price, the price of disconnect.

And the fate of Gaza is the responsibility of that irresponsible, floating decimal point-dream Israel, and that means Gaza's people's fate should be on Israel's conscience.

They do have a conscience ... don't they?