Why does Israel see Gaza as an “existential threat”?

Why does Israel see Gaza as an “existential threat”?

Peter LarsonChair,National Education Committeeon Israel-Palestine

Outline

• Where is Gaza?• What is an “existential threat”?• Hamas as a military threat• How did it come to this? – a bit of history• Gaza today

• Who lives there• Deteriorating situation

• The rights of refugees• Why is Gaza a special problem• Conclusions

Ahlar Arab Hospital in Gaza – supported by Anglican Church

A little

geography

reminder…..Haifa

Acre

Definition: Existential threatThat which challenges the very existence of a person or group of people

Examples of “existential threats”• Thermonuclear war• Catastrophic climate change• Genocide• Desertification• invasion

Military capability

Israel Gaza

Pop’n 8 million 1.8 millionGDP $300 Bn (US) $6.6 BnPer capita GDP $36 K (us) $6 KArmed forces (active and reserve) 600,000 10,000Attack aircraft 600 0Helicopter gunships 191 0Self Propelled Guns 176 0Tanks 3780 0Light armoured vehicles (LAV) 9436 0Naval ships 110 0Nuclear weapons 80 – 100 0Rockets ??? 5000?

Source: Janes Military Aircraft, CIA world fact book, Israeli sources, USA Today

Damage incurred during Operation Protective Edge

Israel Gaza

Mortalities 64 mil’ry +6 civils 2160Severely injuredInfrastructure destroyed ??? hundreds of buildings, including

hospitals, schools, medical clinics, power station, sewage pumping facilities, roads, etc.

Left: Israeli examines a hole left by Hamas rocket

Gaza after “Protective Edge”

How did it come to this?- A bit of history

Nov. 1947 – United Nations decides to divide Palestine in two in order to create a new State for Jews

UN Partition plan• Israel 56%, Arab state 43%•Jaffa Palestinian•Jerusalem to be international

Post 1949 truce Israel 72% Jaffa Israeli Jordan controls WB Gaza smaller and

under Egyptian protection

Jerusalem divided

The “Naqba” (Dec. ‘47 – Dec. ‘48)

Starting immediately after UN vote, in

December ‘47, Jewish militias move to

“liberate” Israel of Palestinians

by May 15th, 400,000 Palestinians

expelled

the operation continues another 6 months

- in total about 750,000 flee

About 100,000 fled to Gaza

• After Jaffa, Gaza biggest Palestinian city• Relatively rich - Best agricultural land along the coast• The major agricultural products are strawberries, citrus, dates,

olives, flowers, and various vegetables• Heading for safety to Egypt

Twenty years later, Israel military completes takeover of historic Palestine

• 1967 – “the Six Day War”

• defeats Jordan to take over the West Bank, (which it calls Samaria and Judea)

• And defeats Egypt to take over Gaza

Where are the

Palestinians today?

1. West Bank 2.4 M

2. Gaza 1.8 M

3. Israel 1.4 M4. Refugees

(Lebanon, Jordan, Syria)* 3.7 M

5. Diaspora 2.0 M

Total 11.3 M

* - there are also refugee camps

in Gaza and the WB

Israel 1.4 M

Gaza 1.8 M

West Bank 2.4 M

Gaza today

Approximately 1.8 million

Of whom• 1.2 million refugees• 600,000 “Gazans”

• Total area 365 km2• (15% of Ottawa)

• Under almost complete Israeli blockade

• Parched, but surrounded by rich farm land

Facts & Figures

• 1,240,082 registered Palestine refugees

• Eight camps• 245 schools with

232,384 pupils• Two vocational and technical

training centres• 22 primary health centres• Eight community

rehabilitation centres• Ten women’s programme

centres

Figures as of 1 January 2014Source: UNRWA

Suffocating Gaza – The Israeli blockade’s effect on Palestinians

Israel's military blockade of Gaza has left more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women and children trapped in the Gaza Strip, an area of land just 40 kilometers long.

Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages have left four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. As a form of collective punishment, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law

03 September 2014

“Palestinian economic deterioration, which is largely rooted in the territory's

occupied status, has resulted in weak growth, a precarious fiscal position, forced

dependence on the Israeli economy, mass unemployment, wider and deeper

poverty, and greater food insecurity.”

NOTE: This report prepared before Operation Protective Edge

Trying to get out65 years of fruitless negotiations

2006 Hamas elected• Hamas elected (76 of 132 members).• Hamas leaders in Gaza not allowed to

come to Ramallah• Israel cut off relations, starts complete

blockade• Economic conditions in Gaza deteriorate

rapidly• Their issues completely ignored in “Peace

negotiations”

Hamas program• Dig tunnels to get out and get goods in• Send rockets into Israel• Israel responds:

• Operation Pillar of Cloud• Operation Cast Lead• Operation Protective Edge

“Protective edge”

Israeli attacks on Gaza focused on refugee camps

This was also true in

• Operation Cast Lead

• Operation Pillar of Cloud

Where are the Palestinian refugees?

• There are 5 million Palestinian refugees

• Their right to return is supported by international law (and fairness)

• But they are mostly distributed in 58 UN refugee camps in 3 different countries (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan)

• They are not an effective political/military force

• Israel hopes that they will “eventually’ be absorbed into their “host” countries

Why is Gaza special?

Gaza is the biggest concentration of refugees (over 1 million) and they are still on Palestinian soil.

They have no place to go… but back home

But Israel doesn’t want to allow them to return

Because they are not Jewish and if they return Israel will no longer be a “Jewish State”

This is an existential threat toThe Israel as a Jewish State

What are Israel’s options?

1. Exterminate the Palestinians in Gaza

2. Drive them out of Gaza Militarily – by killing leadership Economically - make Gaza unliveable Diplomatically – by moving their refugee camps to Egypt

3. Say “sorry” and begin a process of truth and reconciliation

Until the refugees are accommodated, exterminated or dispersed, Israel will have a big problem on its hands

Conclusion

• Gaza is an “existential threat” to the Jewish State of Israel

• The threat lies in the 1 million Gazan refugees who want to return but can’t because they are not Jewish

• The refugee camps in Gaza are the “flip side” of the “ethnically cleansed” State of Israel

• Until this is resolved, the refugees in Gaza will continue to resist, and Israel will be obliged to continue to bomb and attack them.

• Canadian values of fairness and human rights should impel us to push Israel towards a process of truth and reconciliation