This file photo taken in Gaza shows a woman reacting next to the destruction caused by Israel’s military in 2014. (By AFP)
- On My Sixth Visit, I’ve Never Seen Gaza So Devastated.
by Abby Smardon, http://mondoweiss.net/
I’ve visited the Gaza Strip for each of the past six years, including in 2014 a few months after Israel’s devastating military assault. And yet, I’ve never seen Gaza like I did when I had the privilege of visiting this summer.
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I call it a privilege because, due to the blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel (with the support of Egypt), which is part of Israel’s now 50-year-old military rule over Palestinians in the occupied territories, internationals allowed in and out of Gaza are few, and Palestinians even fewer. This illegal land, air, and sea blockade, which has just entered its tenth year and amounts to collective punishment, as has been noted by the UN and human rights groups, has decimated the economy of Gaza and allowed for the near complete destruction of critical infrastructure. Experts use the term “de-development” to describe this once-bustling Mediterranean coastal enclave of two million Palestinians.
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Nearly half the population are now unemployed and 80% rely on humanitarian assistance from organizations like UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Nearly one million refugees require UNRWA food assistance now, up from 80,000 people in 2000, before the blockade was in place. At its heart, UNRWA is a human development agency, running the largest and one of the best performing public school system in the entire Middle East, 10 times the size of DC Public Schools. But due to decades of Israel’s dispossession, occupation, and systematic oppression of Palestinians, UNRWA is forced to prioritize emergency interventions like food assistance and emergency protection. It’s an affront to humanity.
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Upon arriving in Gaza, which requires a permit from Israel and extensive humanitarian coordination, I immediately saw the crippling effects of the ongoing electricity crisis which has been wreaking havoc since March. Electricity is now only available for 2-4 hours a day, a situation that has been exacerbated by internal Palestinian political divides. This has brought life to a near complete stop for many in Gaza, and has enormous public health and environmental implications. In 2012, the UN determined that if trends continued, Gaza wouldn’t be liveable in 2020. Today, the effects of the blockade, recurring violence, and now the electricity crisis have led the UN to conclude that Gaza is basically already unlivable.
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The first day of my visit, I visited a water pumping station at Al-Shati refugee camp by the coast. There, I witnessed raw sewage pumping directly into the water. The sewage would normally flow to a treatment plant, but without electricity, that’s not an option. Instead, it pumps directly into the sea, not far from where people swim and fish. Their fish will be contaminated, just like their water. The sea, which is at the heart of Gazan culture, now poisons them. Despite more than 65% of the shoreline being unsafe for humans, people continue to go to the beach because it’s the only source of relief left during the sweltering summer.
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Revelation 2:9 – …. and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
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True story. Jews did a study to determine the cause of antisemitism. ( which is a total oxymoron as Semitic means the Arabic race , Jews are not a race just a religious tribe, so those not practicing have to stop calling themselves Jewish ) In their wacky, self-centered way of looking at the world, they decided, since it is completely out of the question that they themselves are responsible by their own jewish behavior, that the true cause of the prevailing anti-jewish sentiment was the 'authoritarian' father figure who sits at the head of the traditional family, warning his children about the jews.
So for the jews end 'antisemitism,' without compromising their jewish supremacist worldview and corresponding agenda, they had to destroy the family. Then they went about publishing all manner of pseudo-scientific books and mainlined them into the universities and popular subconscious, attempting to demonize fathers and the family, and accusing fathers of being ignorant and bigoted and so forth.
Isn't that twisted and evil? Rather than modify their offensive jewish behavior, they set out with an elaborate plan to destroy everyone's families.
a Read Genesis, where it is written how Rebecca, Jacob's mother, taught him to deceive his own father, Isaac, on his deathbed, to steal Esav's inheritance. Esav was Jacob's brother. What a mother... What a wife... A rabbi I knew said, once, that Jacob is the beginning of the Jewish lineage as Esav's of the Arabs. And they hate and mock the Arabs. It is worthwhile reading that text. While Jacob stayed home with his mommy, Esav was the one who went out to bring food for the family. And he was betrayed by his own mother and brother.
And for all you ‘Zionism is not Judaism’ addicts, please note how the ‘good rabbi’ cites the manner by which the use of curses led to the death of Yitzak Rabin for having made a peace deal with the Palestinians which is considered a direct affront to the teachings of Judaism, specifically as laid out in the book of Deuteronomy, to wit–
‘When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are to possess and casts out the many peoples living there, you shall then slaughter them all and utterly destroy them…You shall save nothing alive that breathes…You shall make no agreements with them nor show them any mercy. You shall destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people unto the LORD thy God and He has chosen you to be a special people above all others upon the face of the earth…’ yes this is the Torah just as evil as the Talmud
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