Oh, crap.

Israel declared the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity” and prepared to impose economic sanctions on the territory.

Convening Wednesday to decide on a response to Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Security Cabinet voted unanimously to brand the territory, which has been under full Hamas rule since June, an “enemy entity”.

The designation could allow Israel to argue that it owes Gazans no support in terms of allowing movement of goods and people across the shared border.

The Security Cabinet further agreed to restrict imports to Gaza as well as Israeli supplies of fuel and electricity, though implementation of the sanctions was delayed pending consulations with experts on humanitarian law.

Hamas, which has either ignored or abetted the rocket salvoes, denounced the Israeli decision as a “declaration of war”.
From JTA

Crap. Also, oh #%*$!! Who the heck thought it would be a good idea to declare the Gaza an “enemy entity”?! Who the heck thought this wouldn’t escalate and/or be seen by Hamas as a “declaration of war”?

The BBC’s article on the same new piece claims that

“Additional restrictions will be imposed on the Hamas regime, limiting the transfer of goods to the Gaza Strip, cutting back fuel and electricity, and restricting the movement of people to and from the strip,” [an Israeli statement form the Prime Minister's office] said.The sanctions will be implemented “following a legal review” to examine the legal and humanitarian consequences, the statement added.

Israeli officials reportedly hope the new measures will put pressure on Hamas, which ousted its rivals Fatah to seize control of Gaza in June, to halt rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Ok, so it they actually follow through with this study, and realise that, for example, cutting off the water supply to the Gaza is inhumane and would have serious consequences, they’re not going to impose sanctions? Does anyone actually believe that? (Oh look, a flying pig!) And even if the Israeli government kept its word, would Hamas be willing to appreciate the lack of sanctions and not increase their warfare against Israel?

This does not bode well.

Hamas and Syria and Iran, oh my!

War and Peace

It’s really peculiar living somewhere that has an ongoing conflict raging in the background. I don’t see it in my daily wanderings, yet sometime yesterday, perhaps as I sat in a cafe with EKO, or wandered Ben Yehuda negotiating cell phone plans, an Israeli air strike killed five people. And possibly while I was sitting in yet another cafe, supping with a few friends, Palestinians fired two Qassam rockets into the Negev region, hitting a preschool or kindergarden (no one was killed).

This strikes me as being utterly surreal. It’s happening within a couple hours’ drive of where I am, yet I don’t know it’s happening until I read the news the next morning. As long as I can remember, I’ve read of wars in the newspapers, seen pictures and video clips on the televised news… wars from far away places. I’ve never lived close to a war; we’re friendly and polite peace-keeping Canadians, after all! So I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around being in a place where fighting is happening on the periphery. Close enough to be real, far enough away not to effect me. … But that’s something that I struggle with as well: the “life goes on” mentality, that no one stops to care about the ongoing conflicts, until a bomb goes off in their own neighbourhood.

Darfur meets Google Earth

More so than any other conflict during my lifetime, individuals are taking on the cause of the genocide in Darfur by raising awareness, campaigning, and educating on a grassroots basis. (For a brief overview of the conflict, and what’s being done to try and stop it, click here.) Moreover, the bulk of the campaigning is happening online and by young(er) people. One way to increase visibility, and educate yourself from the comforts of your own computer, is via Google Earth, thanks to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum:

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The Sad Story of Darfur in Google Earth
[From here.]

“Girl with traumatized baby sister. The baby has not made a sound since the day their parents were slaughtered and the village burned.”

When you hear about sad stories from far away, they rarely touch you. It’s hard to be impressed by the sufferance of someone who doesn’t have too much in common with you.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum presents in a Google Earth layer the consequences of a conflict from Darfur, a region situated in Sudan.

BBC tells the story:

Sudan’s government and the pro-government Arab militias are accused of war crimes against the region’s black African population, although the UN has stopped short of calling it genocide. (…)The conflict began in the arid and impoverished region early in 2003 after a rebel group began attacking government targets, saying the region was being neglected by Khartoum. The rebels say the government is oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs. (…)

[The government] admits mobilising “self-defence militias” following rebel attacks but denies any links to the Janjaweed, accused of trying to “cleanse” black Africans from large swathes of territory. Refugees from Darfur say that following air raids by government aircraft, the Janjaweed ride into villages on horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping women and stealing whatever they can find.

“I was living with my family in Tawila and going to school when one day the Janjaweed entered the town and attacked the school. We tried to leave the school but we heard noises of bombing in the town and started running in all directions. All the girls were scared. The Janjaweed entered the school and caught some girls and raped them in the class rooms. I was raped by four men inside the school. When they left they told us they would take care of all of us black people and clean Darfur for good.”

The refugees, their destroyed villages and a disturbing story - in a Google Earth layer (requires Google Earth, obviously).

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I strongly recommend downloading and installing this layer, then checking out all of the information provided within. The photos, quotes, testimonies of the victims; the photos of the government agents burning food supplies and villages… the children’s artwork.