The time for leadership has come

In a well delivered and penetrating State of the Union address, President Obama proposed an ambitious agenda to jolt the country out of the recession, and set it upon a new path of economic growth, innovation and renewed economic leadership.
The President acutely realizes that if the worst of the crisis is behind us, and even though the financial sector has recovered, the devastation remains, as 10% of Americans remain unemployed.
For them, change has not come fast enough.
The President’s program is impressive, and if put in place, would transform the country.
After having preserved the US from an even more severe economic depression thanks to the Recovery Act, the President seeks to use all the resources of the government to stimulate growth, and job creation, his top priority of the moment.
The new Jobs Bill that he is advocating would provide financing for small firms (currently neglected by large banks), entice them to hire or raise salaries through a new small business tax credit. It would also encourage the renovation of infrastructure and the manufacture of clean energy products, because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation, the President asserted.
He plans also to reform the financial system in order to ensure that it can never again revert to its reckless and speculative practices, which almost brought the world economy to its knees.
He intends to encourage innovation, stimulate exports, and revamp the education system, by improving the quality of schools, and revitalizing community colleges.
Furthermore, he also plans to defend the interests of the middle class, and, as such, pledged not to abandon his heath insurance reform. On this question, he issued the following challenge to its numerous detractors, but if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know. Let me know. Let me know. I'm eager to see it.
As he emphasized, a comprehensive reform of the system was nearly at hand, and yet, the project has stalled since the President lost his super majority of sixty in Massachusetts last week.
Don’t walk away from reform, pleaded the President. Not now. Not when we are so close.
The President’s plans are clearly ambitious and would undoubtedly benefit the nation as a whole were they to come to fruition. Moreover, the measures advocated by the Republicans have been tried in the past and have failed, notably that if we just make fewer investments in our people, extend tax cuts including those for the wealthier Americans, eliminate more regulations, maintain the status quo on health care, our deficits will go away. The problem is that's what we did for eight years. That's what helped us into this crisis. It's what helped lead to these deficits. We can't do it again.
As he also pointed out, the Democrats have the largest majority in decades, so why has he not prevailed in the health insurance reform battle that is now twelve months old? He urged the Democrats not to run for the hills, but have they not done so already?
How is it that such a sizeable majority cannot approve the President’s reforms, and, first and foremost, such a symbolic and signal one as the health insurance bill?
Since Obama has not won that battle, how will the rest of his bold program fare, considering that this is an election year and that in two years, the presidential campaign will be in full swing?
The President’s term is only a year old, yet time is already pressing.
Will the inspiring and formidable candidate of 2008 finally evolve into the transformational leader his supporters in the US and elsewhere were yearning for?
I campaigned on the promise of change –- change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren't sure if they still believe we can change –- or that I can deliver it, he conceded.
The time has come for Obama to dispel these doubts, and impose his agenda.
Yet, the obstacles, overwhelming, remain, as he well knows.
One is lack of ambition, or the desire for collective greatness is undermined by a lack of faith in our ability to achieve it, due to the great difficulties involved, and, indeed, the efforts required to prevail.
As a result, preserving the status quo becomes the default policy, the one likely to rally the most supporters in Congress, from the day I took office, I've been told that addressing our larger challenges is too ambitious; such an effort would be too contentious. I've been told that our political system is too gridlocked, and that we should just put things on hold for a while.
For those who make these claims, I have one simple question: How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?
You see, Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse. Meanwhile, China is not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany is not waiting. India is not waiting. These nations -- they're not standing still, he said.
Another is the nefarious and poisonous effects of partisan politics on the ability of the government to effectively lead and reform the country. This phenomenon, an inherent characteristic of democracy (authoritarian regimes do not face such difficulties, but simply impose their will on the people), is compounded in the US by the fact that congressional elections occur every two years. As such, office holders are perpetually campaigning, thus fundraising, and doing their utmost to ensure they do or say nothing that may harm their prospects for reelection. They are condemned to flattering their constituents and financial backers, catering to their needs, instead of leading them, and invariably (and opportunistically) lambaste all those, and all those policies that may irk their supporters and their interests, no matter where the greater public good may reside.
As a result, legitimate and necessary policy debates degenerate into partisan, populist rows, but what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. We can't wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about the other side -– a belief that if you lose, I win. Neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can, the President said. Indeed, the abuse of the super majority rule in the Senate has effectively paralyzed the government, by denying it (and all those that will follow) the ability to reform the nation. Case in point, the Senate recently rejected a bill to establish a bipartisan fiscal commission designed to reduce deficits significantly, in order to preclude any possibility, less and less remote, of fiscal bankruptcy. Fifty-three Senators, a clear majority, approved the measure but, under Senate rules, sixty votes were necessary…As one of the sponsors of the bill, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H, later lamented, this result was yet another indication that Congress is more concerned with the next election than the next generation…
The third major obstacle, lack of leadership, is conditioned by the first two. It also leads however, to an absence of ambition and rabid, partisan politics. It is a vicious circle, just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership, the President said, addressing the Republicans.
The political culture engenders apathy and cynicism, but each time a CEO rewards himself for failure, or a banker puts the rest of us at risk for his own selfish gain, people's doubts grow. Each time lobbyists game the system or politicians tear each other down instead of lifting this country up, we lose faith. The more that TV pundits reduce serious debates to silly arguments, big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away, President Obama stated.
His assessment of the obstacles he faces, of democracy’s natural predilection for populist and demagogic politics is an astute one, but what does he intend to do about it?
Obama is a fine analyst, with a keen intellect, but the time for leadership has come.
What does it take to transcend such divisions in a democracy?
Can it still be done, or are all ambitious attempts at reform doomed to fail, precisely because they are ambitious? If not, what kind of leadership does it take to modify deeply entrenched patterns of behavior?
A catastrophe, Pearl Harbor, September 11, profoundly alters a nation’s psyche and its habits at least, temporarily. Can intrinsic leadership abilities solely exert the same transformational influence?
In short, is the system broken, or is Obama lacking the necessary qualities to overcome its deficiencies?
Time will tell, but, surely, the time for action has come.
Of what use is any bold program if the President cannot get it approved by Congress, if the many enemies of change, those who benefit from the status quo succeed in cajoling and intimidating a majority into rejecting what the people supported on Election Day?
Obama is a skillful rhetorician.
He should use the power of eloquence and suasion and travel the country, rally the people for, in a democracy, the only force capable of brushing aside special interests is the people, the might of public opinion. With substantial popular support, everything becomes possible. Nevertheless, to garner that support, one must earn it. How? By convincing the people that you intend to make every effort to implement policies that will benefit them, a sizeable majority of them…
Naturally, this power must be used sparingly so as not to blunt its potency. The President must choose his battles carefully, because he will not be able to wage all of them personally. But, when vital issues or projects are at stake, he must lead.
The President should thus appeal to the nation in order to rebuff narrow, special interests whose sole vocation is to preserve the status quo, and thus the privileges of those who benefit from it. He should lobby the American people against lobbyists of all shades who in effect, coerce elected officials into subverting the will of the people. He should expose those who seek to undermine the political process so as to protect the privileges of the few, at the expense of the many…Engage the ethical debate on the merits of bank reform and universal health care…Let his opponents support the bankers and their egregious bonuses, or a health care system that leaves forty-five million Americans without any coverage, but make sure and plain to the people whose side he is on…Let him dare his opponents to oppose these policies, and shame them if they do.
So I know the anxieties that are out there right now. They're not new. These struggles are the reason I ran for President, Obama declared.
Now he is the President. It is time to address them forcefully, and obtain results.
That is what the people expect and what he promised them.
Time is of the essence, for he has only two years left to undertake any meaningful action. Then, it will be time to judge whether he was just a gifted orator or a determined leader as well…
(the photograph above can be found here)
　
　
　
　
　
　

Sarkozy's vindication depends on tangible results

Last night, French President Nicolas Sarkozy vigorously defended his policies during a prime time television show, and vowed to pursue his reformist agenda come what may.
Questioned by a panel of eleven French citizens from all walks of life selected by the French television network TF1, he sought to allay their fears, as well as those of the nation at large, claiming that the worst of the economic crisis was behind us.
A recent poll highlighted the issues the French believe Sarkozy should be concentrating on: unemployment (48%) the state retirement scheme (39%), and the standard of living (32%).
On the unemployment front, the President argued that France’s performance was far from mediocre. France resisted better than most, for the unemployment rate doubled in the US, doubled in Spain, and increased by 60% in the UK. Only one nation was more successful than we were, and that is Germany, the President asserted. Yet, an additional 450,000 did join the ranks of the unemployed in 2009, he admitted.
Currently, 9.5% of the population is unemployed, some 2.7 million people. Of those, the young have the greatest difficulties in finding work: almost 25% of those between 15 and 24 are jobless, the highest rate in Europe.
Nevertheless, he insisted, the situation is improving, and he believes the French economy will start creating jobs anew in 2010. The economy is expected to grow at a rate of 1.5%, and not the dismal 0.75% previously announced, a sign that the recovery may be accelerating.
In France, the unemployed are more generously taken care of than elsewhere, Sarkozy added. They are financially assisted much earlier, and for much longer (two years) than in most countries. As such, though the unemployment rate is high, no other allocations will be created. France’s problem is not working less, but more, he said. As such, France does not need additional handouts, but growth, jobs and innovation, he added. Promoting economic growth is the key to creating jobs.
In order to improve the private sector’s competitiveness, Sarkozy recently abolished the taxe professionnelle, affecting all businesses and used to finance local councils.
Sarkozy also plans to reform the nation’s retirement pension system, an explosive issue here. Currently, all those employed are entitled to retire at the age of sixty, and benefit from a state pension. In some industries, the retirement age is fifty-five, if not fifty…
In order to prevent the system from going bankrupt (currently, 10% of all pensions are not funded), the retirement age will have to be increased to sixty-one or sixty-two, to begin with. There is a growing consensus that something needs to be done, for life expectancy rates have vastly increased since the end of the Second World War. Even the opposition Socialist party leader, Martine Aubry recently admitted as such.
He vowed to preserve the system (le régime par répartition) whereby those currently employed contribute to a fund that provides the pensions of the retired. He hopes to have a bill ready by the summer…
The third major issue is the standard of living that has been battered by the financial and economic crises. The issue is a sensitive one, especially in the current context. The salaries of CEOs have made headlines and been much discussed of late, particularly Henri Proglio’s, the man Sarkozy chose to lead EDF, the French, publicly-owned energy giant. As CEO, he will earn 1.6 million Euros per year, or 150 times the minimum wage, a fact repeatedly emphasized here.
Sarkozy defended these wide disparities in salaries. I prefer a good CEO who is well paid, to a badly paid, mediocre one. What I find shocking is a high salary that is not proportional to great responsibilities. To press his point, he criticized the bloated salaries of soccer stars.
For Sarkozy, the surest way to earn a better paycheck is to work more. This is why one of his first measures was to exonerate from income and social taxes all overtime hours, in order to encourage the French to work more, and employers to provide additional opportunities for overtime. That, he claims, is the only way to stimulate consumption, economic growth, and thus job creation…
Although he was clearly in command of the issues, and his arguments cogent, was his performance a convincing one?
Predictably, the opposition was merciless in its assessment.
One Socialist leader, Pierre Moscovici, called the exercise rather pitiful.
The official Socialist party spokesman, Benoît Hamon accused Sarkozy of having given up on the major issues confronting the country.
Not so long ago, the standard talking point was that Sarkozy was doing too much. Now, it seems, he is doing too little…
For Manuel Vals, an up-and-coming Socialist leader, his policies are lacking something vital and essential, the notion of justice, he declared.
The far right leader, the octogenarian Jean-Marie Le Pen accused Sarkozy of resorting to shameful lies, with the complicity of a compliant television network.
The centrist François Bayrou denounced the President’s lack of stature last night and the absence of any vision for the future.
The main, leftist opposition‘s line of attack has been the following:
Sarkozy has chosen sides, and caters to the rich and influential…
Laurent Joffrin, a prominent columnist and editor of the leftwing daily Libération, wrote that the President defended his policies with indisputable skill…And yet, here resides the main weakness of his policies, even if they are adeptly defended, in the eyes of those present, and those who were watching, the sacrifices imposed by the recession were unfairly apportioned.
Sarkozy is thus dismissed as defending the wealthy, at the expense of the middle class. The charge is facile, but potent in a time of economic crisis.
Perhaps it is the resurrection of the classic left-right debate. The Socialists are still seething due to the bouclier fiscal (the income tax shield) he instituted in 2007, and which limited the top tax bracket at 50%.
They have been clamoring for its repeal ever since, finding it unconscionable that the earnings of the wealthy should not be taxed more than 50%…For them, this was a clear sign of where Sarkozy’s allegiances resided.
Sarkozy and his supporters argue that alienating and overtaxing the rich will not help France’s downtrodden and only benefit London, Geneva or Brussels where they are bound to relocate. Though that line of reasoning does have some merit, it holds little sway in egalitarian France.
In addition, Sarkozy has refused to adopt the Socialists’ populist and opportunistic agenda. At the height of the economic crisis, he rejected calls to nationalize (in whole or in part) banks and automobile manufacturers preferring to provide financial assistance instead (thereby earning the state some two billion Euros in interest on the funds devoted to the financial sector). He considered that the policies the Left was advocating were mere replicas of the failed policies of the past. It is precisely the excessively burdensome and meddlesome presence of the state in the nation’s economy that has limited France’s growth these last thirty years. As such, Sarkozy argues, why resurrect a model that has clearly failed?
In a time of economic crisis and dislocation, however, it appeals to many…
People yearn for protection at any cost.
Nicolas Sarkozy has two years left to press his case.
Yet, his vindication can only come through tangible results on the economic front.
If the economy rebounds, the unemployment rate falls and the standard of living, however slowly, begins to rise anew, then he will be justified in claiming that his policies, though controversial, were adapted to the context at hand.
Until that happens, however, all his energy, drive and eloquence will not suffice in reassuring a nation worried about the present, afraid of the future, and uncertain of its place and status in a globalized economy…
(the photograph above is by Gérard Cerle/AFP)

Progress is possible

Many believed that Obama would change the world, because, even though he was a young, African-American liberal, or, perhaps, precisely because of that, he won the presidential election in 2008.
His election was a sign that America was reinventing itself.
Obama was the personification of that change, and his election thrilled all those yearning for the US to once again champion the values of peace, justice and democracy, brutalized by the Bush-Cheney administration for eight, long years.
Obama was thus both the embodiment, and an agent, of change.
His unlikely victory created great hopes and, inevitably, those hopes have been disappointed.
So many wanted to believe that he would change the world, that the great intractable issues his predecessor had exacerbated or failed to resolve, an unprecedented economic crisis, universal health care, constitutional rights, Guantanamo, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process, to name but a few, would be addressed forcefully, rationally, and, at last, successfully.
This has not happened, and it does not matter that we were foolish to expect that it would, in his first year in office.
The disappointment is real, even if it is in many ways unfair.
You know, on the heels of that victory over a year ago, there were some who suggested that somehow we had entered into a post-racial America, all those problems would be solved. There were those who argued that because I had spoke of a need for unity in this country that our nation was somehow entering into a period of post-partisanship. That didn’t work out so well. There was a hope shared by many that life would be better from the moment that I swore that oath.
Of course, as we meet here today, one year later, we know the promise of that moment has not yet been fully fulfilled, the President said, in a speech delivered on Sunday at the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, in Washington, in remembrance of Martin Luther King.
Our disappointment is simply a consequence of our great faith in Obama’s ability to create that America so many in the US and around the world craved for: a beacon of progress and justice, exerting an enlightened and benign influence around the world, dedicated to resolving conflicts, not provoking them…
And yet, millions are jobless, the health care debate grinds on, Guantanamo is still not closed, US troops remain in Iraq, the war is escalating in Afghanistan, a new front may be opening in Yemen, the Middle East peace process is dead, and Obama has shown little interest in resuscitating it…
Yet, that, in fact, is the very frustrating nature of politics.
In a democratic society, it is very difficult to change reality durably and rapidly.
The forces pitted against you, such as an opportunistic political opposition, saturation and often demagogic media coverage, vested interests, conventional wisdom, a society’s inherent conservatism, apathy and inertia, these forces are formidable and demand vast amounts of energy and public support to overcome. They also exact great political capital, which explains Obama’s mediocre poll numbers. Victories are rare, and usually diluted due to the concessions awarded to obtain them, a process that even alienates one's own supporters, without attracting any new ones.
We must do our utmost to reform society, Obama claims, but we must also refrain from scorning the progress that we are able to achieve, even though it falls short of our hopes and expectations. A little progress is better than no progress. Sometimes, I get a little frustrated when folks just don't want to see that even if we don't get everything, we're getting something, the President said. It’s not enough, he said later in the speech, but it’s progress. Progress is possible.
This disappointment and frustration, the recognition that the progress being made is insufficient, when not altogether absent, must not lead us to give up on the idea that politics is a vehicle for change. In a democracy, it is the only one, and thus must be fostered, respected and cherished.
The political process is frustrating and slow because every initiative taken by the President (it is exactly the same thing in France) is immediately attacked, resisted and ridiculed by a host of antagonists.
The Chinese autocrats do not have that problem, and are able to impose change much more quickly and effectively. Yet, freedom and democracy is the price of such efficiency...

In a democracy, the pace of change is much slower, as a variety of forces must be dealt with and accommodated. The task demands great energy, determination and patience.
An abundant supply of self-confidence is also vital.
There are times when progress seems too slow. There are times when the words that are spoken about me hurt. There are times when the barbs sting. There are times when it feels like all these efforts are for naught, and change is so painfully slow in coming, and I have to confront my own doubts, the President admitted.
Yet, those who have faith must plod on, even if the results are sure to be imperfect.
Some even consider he has exerted too much energy in his desire to transform the country. But his has become a voracious pragmatism. Driven by circumstances and self-confidence, the president has made himself the star performer in the national drama. He has been ubiquitous, appearing everywhere, trying to overhaul most sectors of national life: finance, health, energy, automobiles and transportation, housing, and education, among others, wrote the NYT columnist David Brooks.
The very same thing has been said of Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been dubbed l’hyper-président.
However, change, even when limited, comes at the price of drive and ubiquity.
Sarkozy himself was elected on a platform of rupture with the past, the conventional and failed policies of his predecessors.
His ambition was to revitalize the country by rehabilitating the work ethic and curb the excessively intrusive role of the state in the economy…
Yet, the financial meltdown of 2007, followed by an unprecedented economic crisis doomed that ambition, and he was compelled to use all the resources of the state to limit the effects of the crisis, and protect jobs and living standards, the reverse of what he aimed to do…
As a result, he has also disappointed a great many in France, and the prospects of the President’s party, l’UMP, look dim in next March's Regional elections…
Both Obama and Sarkozy will be up for reelection in 2012.
Much can still be achieved during those two years. Then shall we be able to make a genuine assessment of their performance.
Undoubtedly, much support will have been lost along the way, but the cause they serve, progress, is still a noble one.
In the end, as citizens, we shall have to determine if what they have achieved has any lasting value, and deserves to be rewarded with a second term.
Furthermore, do we believe that, under the circumstances, John McCain or Ségolène Royal could have done better?
It remains to be seen however, if the cause of progress can find more effective and efficient promoters than Obama and Sarkozy…
(the photograph is by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Our silence and complicity shames us all

The convoy left London on December 6.
Some two hundred trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid provided by the charity group Viva Palestina were bound for Gaza.
Yet, on Tuesday, the five hundred activists accompanying the convoy clashed with Egyptian authorities in the port city of El Arish, forty kilometers from Rafah, when they were notified that some of their aid would have to enter Gaza through Israel, which has imposed a tight embargo on the strip since 2007.
All goods slated to enter the strip must first be screened by the Israelis at the border crossing of Kerem Shalom.
The sole Egyptian gateway to Gaza, Rafah, handles travelers only, not cargo.
It is unacceptable and we have refused this. It is completely unconscionable that 25% of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza. Because nothing that ever goes to Israel ever arrives in Gaza, said George Galloway, a firebrand British MP, and a leader of the convoy. The activists tried to organize a sit-in, but were vigorously shoved aside by the Egyptian police.
In response, the Hamas government of Gaza called for a demonstration to protest Egypt’s meddling with the international aid convoy.
Two hundred or so Palestinian youths angrily denounced the Egyptian government and began hurling stones at the soldiers across the border in Rafah. Hamas police tried to restrain the demonstrators, but to no avail.
The Egyptians responded by firing tear gas.
There are reports that they also then fired into the young Palestinian crowd.
Two Palestinians were instantly wounded from five bullets, a witness told the NYT.
Palestinian police fired back, killing one Egyptian border guard.
Twelve Palestinians were also rushed to the hospital, most suffering from gunshot wounds. Some of the vehicles were allowed to proceed to Gaza on Wednesday. Mr. Galloway himself, after having entered the territory, was subsequently deported by the Egyptian authorities on Friday.
The Gaza Strip has been under siege since 2007 when Israel imposed a blockade on the territory following Hamas’ defeat of Fatah in the Battle of Gaza.
Eighteen months after the beginning of the blockade, Israel’s Operation Cast Lead devastated what was left of the Strip’s economy and infrastructure.
Now, one year later, nothing has been rebuilt, and nothing is likely to be rebuilt in the foreseeable future.
The current state of the Gaza Strip was made plain in a report compiled by some sixteen human rights organizations, called Failing in Gaza: no rebuilding, no recovery, no excuses, and published on December 21, 2009.
Even though the international community pledged to contribute $4 billion to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the devastated territory at a March 2009 conference, virtually none of it has been spent.
Indeed, in spite of the widespread destruction, Israel, with Egyptian complicity, has refused to lift the blockade.
Consequently, the materials and resources needed to rebuild all that the Israeli Defense Forces destroyed have been prohibited from entering the territory.
Hence, as the report states, much of Gaza lies in ruins.
Before the Israeli siege, 70 trucks left Gaza on a daily basis with local goods meant for export, and an average of 583 entered the Strip filled with goods and humanitarian aid.
After the blockade was imposed, exports were banned, and the importation of goods fell by 80%, as only about 112 trucks were allowed to enter each day, according to the report.
Before June 2007, when the siege began, some 4000 different types of goods were imported. Now, only thirty-five are authorized, though the list varies…There is no published list of permitted items and there appears to be no consistency in what is, and is not, permitted. For instance, particular fruits allowed in one day as ‘essentials’ can easily be branded ‘luxuries’ and turned away on another day, the report stipulates. For some reason, unless it is to deliberately punish children, even toys are banned.
Those goods that are allowed are often blocked for weeks before being released, for no apparent reason, other than to antagonize and demoralize the Gazans, presumably.
Shelter kits take an average 85 days to cross the border.
Such delays are seldom explained.
Last year, Turkey donated 488 prefabricated buildings to the homeless families of Gaza. The Israelis refused to authorize the humanitarian aid, and gave no explanation for the decision, they don't say yes and they don't say no, Kazim Yilmaz, of the Turkish Red Crescent, told The Independent.
The Israelis seem to be sending a message to the world at large, but particularly to the Gazans when they behave in such an arbitrary fashion: «we do what we please, when we please; you are at our mercy, and on a whim we will authorize, or not, humanitarian aid designed to alleviate the misery we created in Gaza…»
Since the end of the war, the Israelis have authorized the entry of only four trucks of construction materials per month. That represents 0.05% of the total allowed before the blockade. As a result, all kinds of construction materials –cement, gravel, wood, pipes, glass, steel bars, aluminum, tar – and spare parts are in desperately short supply or completely unavailable, with little or no capacity to produce them locally given both the destruction of local industry and the lack of raw materials, which were also banned under the blockade, the report indicated.
Even though Gaza lies in ruins (the Israeli onslaught engendered 600,000 tons of rubble), the resources needed to rebuild its infrastructure and homes are prohibited from entering the territory.
The only cement to reach Gaza enters through the smugglers’ tunnels that run between the Gaza and Egyptian borders.
The tunnels, about 1000 of them, are of vital importance, for they allow Gazans to have access to essential products such as consumer goods and food. Recently I took a Western journalist to the supermarket. He was shocked. Food imported from the Israeli side was in the refrigerator corner; yoghurt, cheese, hummus. On the other shelves, 90 per cent had been brought in from Egypt via the tunnels, wrote Fares Akram in The Independent.
Yet, even this vital lifeline to the outside world is under threat. The Egyptians intend to build a wall, designed by the US military, that will run eighteen meters deep into the ground in order to block as many of these tunnels as possible.
Israel, Egypt and the US accuse Hamas of using the tunnels to receive weapons from Iran.
Many in Egypt condemned this Egyptian initiative. Ibrahim Issa, a newspaper editor, referred to the structure as the Wall of Shame.
Egypt does not intend to alleviate the pressure on Hamas, a radical Islamic movement whose ideas, it fears, could contaminate the country, were the borders to open. Hamas is affiliated to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, barely tolerated in the country.
Furthermore, the Egyptians intend Gaza to remain an exclusively Israeli responsibility, and will do nothing to help Israel shoulder it. Egypt’s strategy for Gaza is to make sure it’s Israel’s problem, Yossi Alpher, a former Mossad officer, told Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker.
Residents of Gaza disapprove of Egyptian complicity with Israel, however. Egypt should open the borders and let the people breathe. We are surrounded by the Israelis, and the Arabs are watching us too, a Palestinian told the LAT.
The Israelis killed 1393 Palestinian during the twenty-one-day-operation, 25% of which were children (347). It also destroyed much of the Strip’s infrastructure, 84% of the damage was inflicted on three key sectors: housing, agriculture and the private sector, according to the EU, quoted in the report.
Over 21,000 homes were destroyed, or severely damaged, forcing 100,000 to find shelter elsewhere.
Without construction material, no rebuilding is possible. That is probably precisely why the Israelis refuse to authorize them.
You could say that Israel has bombed Gaza back into the mud age, because that's what they're building their houses out of now — mud, Chris Gunness, of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, told TIME.
The war also destroyed the facilities and equipment of some 700 private businesses. The blockade had already led to the demise of 98% of Gaza’s industry even before the first bomb fell during Operation Cast lead.
As such, it is not surprising that 40% of Gazans are unemployed and that, since the blockade, 70% live on $1 a day…The term «economy» is no longer valid in the Gaza Strip, the economist Omar Shaban told Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker.
Agriculture used to be a thriving sector of the Gazan economy. Tomatoes, flowers and fruit were exported. Local farmers were able to produce 25% of the Strip’s food consumption. The blockade banned all exports. The war destroyed 17% of the area’s farmland. Furthermore, Israel unilaterally decided to extend its buffer zone inside Gaza to 300 meters from the actual border. As a result, between 25 and 33% of Gaza’s farmland is now off limits…Soldiers patrolling the Israeli border shoot those who penetrate inside the buffer zone. Taking direct damage caused by the offensive and the expanded buffer zone together, an estimated 46% of agricultural land has been put out of production, states the report.
Sameh Sawafeary, Gaza’s largest producer of chickens and eggs lost everything in Operation Cast Lead. All his installations were destroyed by the IDF. Yet, he is determined to rebuild. I have no other choice; we have no materials coming into Gaza because of the Israeli blockade. Usually businessmen move one step forward after years of work, but thanks to the Israeli army, my automatic farm has gone and now I have to start from scratch by building a manual farm instead. I am waiting for compensation from the government or any donor so I can rebuild my farm and the lost future of my family. Every time Israel destroys my farm I will rebuild it because this is the only business and life I have, he told the authors of the report.
Fortunately, Gazans are accustomed to hardship, and very determined…
Power lines were destroyed, the Strip’s lone power station is deprived of the necessary fuel to function adequately.
The Strip’s water is now so salty that it is no longer fit to drink.
The water is no longer fit for human consumption, with analysis and international studies showing that just 10 percent of water in the Gaza Strip is usable... threatening the lives of Palestinians, Munzir Shiblak, a Palestinian official, told AFP.
As for the Strip’s health infrastructure, 48% was destroyed by the IDF.
Eighteen schools were destroyed, 280 were damaged. The American International School, offering an American curriculum and the territory‘s finest, was obliterated by the Israeli Air force, because, according to the Israelis, the American college in the area of Beit Lahiya was being used as a rocket-launching site, as well as a munitions storage dump. Therefore, it was a legitimate terrorist target.
The accusations were never substantiated.
One fifth-grader who attended the school told the authors of the report,
I miss my school because it was big and beautiful. We had a library to read books and a yard to play and have activities. Our new schools are small. The classrooms are tight and too small. It is too hot to learn…I want to be a doctor to help Palestinian children – but how? How can I when my school is destroyed?
The Israelis destroyed a school disseminating Western values in its war against terrorism! In this context, does the war on terrorism still make sense?
The most potent antidote to extremism is education, and in particular, a Western, secular one.
The Israelis as well as the entire international community should be funding thousands of these schools in Gaza and across the Middle East, certainly not destroying them.
As such, we cannot help but wonder what Israel’s true goals are here. If it was the least interested in helping foster an educated, moderate Palestinian elite, eager and equipped to design a modern Palestinian state able to live in peace with Israel, would it have destroyed the Strip’s finest educational establishment?
Gaza’s population is very young. 52% are under 18, and, characteristically, 67% are refugees. Its youth is its main asset. It is perhaps not yet too late to educate young Gazans and provide them with opportunities to lead productive, meaningful lives. Destroying their schools and their homes, killing their parents and brothers, all this is unlikely to engender a moderate, thoughtful and productive population. If we wish to spawn a generation of extremists embittered and vowing revenge, considering the wrongs that have been done to them, the Israelis should pursue its current policy of victimizing a helpless population, and we should continue sitting on the sidelines in silence, and doing nothing to help them.
Finally, the Israelis regularly prevent those students who have been able to enroll in a university abroad from doing so. In 2009, some 42% (838) of those who could have studied abroad, among Gaza’s best students, were not authorized to leave their own territory…
The Israelis are bound by international law to lift the blockade.
Victimizing an entire civilian population because Israel cannot tolerate the Hamas government, which, by the way, the people elected in a democratic election in 2006, is collective punishment and illegal under international law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states the following, No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
UN Security Council Resolution 1860 reminds Israel of the need to ensure sustained and regular flow of goods and people through the Gaza crossings.
Yet, respecting international law is not an Israeli priority, as the Goldstone Report clearly established.
Furthermore, to intensify the Strip’s isolation, the Netanyahu government prevents foreign officials form traveling to Gaza
The Foreign Ministers of France, Ireland and Turkey have all recently been refused access to the territory. Our general policy is not to have visits to Gaza included as part of official visits to Israel. This is out of concern for the safety of our guests visiting an area that is under the rule of a terrorist organization, as well as because of our overall policy of objecting to gestures which give the Hamas regime legitimacy. This legitimacy is created by visiting the area, even if no direct meeting with Hamas officials takes place, an Israeli ambassador told the Jerusalem Post.
Could it be that Israel does not want the world to see the effects of Operation Cast Lead, and the absence of reconstruction since the onslaught ended?
In the end, few Israelis seem genuinely concerned about the consequences of the operation, and the fact that the territory remains in ruins one year later.
The world also saw Israel wrap itself in sick apathy despite what was happening. It saw the town squares almost empty of protesters, the cafes in Tel Aviv full of people having a good time. It even saw Israeli families who went to visit the hills around Gaza to show their children the bomb strikes. Later, it also saw that Israel was not even prepared to investigate what it had done, but rather lashed out at all its detractors, wrote the Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy.
The Israelis are already preparing for the next war, and have no plans to change strategy. The next round will be different, but not in the way people think. The only way to be successful is to take much harsher action, Giora Eiland, former head of Israel’s National Security Council told the NYT.
Apparently, the IDF was not harsh enough during Operation Cast Lead…
The Dahiya Doctrine is now standard policy. Dahiya was a Shiite suburb of Beirut razed to the ground by the Israelis during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
The aim is to destroy the other, the enemy. Distinctions are no longer made between the innocent and the guilty, because they are all guilty by definition. Hence, there are no innocent victims, only terrorists and their accomplices. What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. This is not a recommendation. This is a plan, declared Gadi Eisenkot, the head of Israel's northern command, in October 2008.
The Israelis have repudiated the distinction between civilian and military. As the Israeli journalist Yaron Alon put it, without saying so explicitly, we reached the conclusion that nations are responsible for their leaders’ acts.
In practical terms, the Palestinians in Gaza are all Khaled Mashaal, the Lebanese are all Nasrallah, and the Iranians are all Ahmadinejad.
Since the Gazans have not overthrown Hamas, the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iranians the clerical regime, then this implies that they all condone and support the policies of their leaders and are thus their accomplices. As such, in times of war, they are fare game, the facilitators of terrorists, not innocent victims that should be spared.
This explains the high casualty figures of Operation Cast Lead: since, in these conflicts, there is no such thing as a civilian, why not shoot anyone in sight? All Gazans are held responsible for the fact that Hamas won a democratic election, routed Fatah during its failed coup attempt in June 2007, and is still ruling the Strip, in spite of the Israeli onslaught, one of the aims of which was to topple the Hamas regime.
Moreover, we should never expect Israel to second-guess its military, even when much of the international community decries its conduct as morally reprehensible. The Israelis have no plan to launch an independent investigation into the conduct of its forces during the war, regardless of what the Goldstone Report demanded. The IDF launched its own enquiries…
So far, one soldier has been convicted as a consequence of his actions during the conflict. A sergeant was sentenced to seven and a half months in prison for stealing a credit card…
We should not expect the international community to intervene to end the blockade either, for the siege will soon be three years old, and nothing has been done to put an end to it.
And yet, everyone knows what must be done: end the siege; allow the Gazans at last to live like human beings, and start talking with Hamas, because there will be no end to this conflict until all the relevant parties engage in meaningful negotiations.
The only contact Israel currently has with Hamas is through German and Egyptian intermediaries to negotiate the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006.
At this juncture, we must ask ourselves the following question: is Israel genuinely interested in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict?
It seems Israel needs enemies so that it can substantiate its claims that it has no one with whom to negotiate. Israel must want peace, no doubt, but on its terms, only if it gets to dictate the terms of any agreement. Negotiations would be dangerous because they entail concessions. Is Israel willing to make them? Would not a significant segment of its population rebel against any agreement that made painful concessions, such as evacuating settlements in the West Bank, and returning East Jerusalem?
Would it not be preferable, from its standpoint, to preserve the status quo, currently favorable to Israel, the region’s military superpower, since a negotiated solution is fraught with political perils?
Last February, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said that Gaza can’t go on being the world’s biggest open prison! That is exactly what the Strip remains, however, to everyone’s satisfaction, it seems.
Has hope been the latest casualty of the war between Israel and the Palestinians?
We are entering very dark years Slama Bissiso, vice chairman of the Palestinian Bar Association told the NYT.
The Strip is more and more isolated and desolate, and its prospects are bleak.
This is a traumatized nation. Many children we work with are not able to sleep for fear of soldiers returning. Young children in Gaza are surviving under extreme levels of stress, which will pose long-term dangers not only for their mental health, but for the future of the region, Osama Damo, of the British charity Save the Children, told the Telegraph.
All the Gazans desire is to live a decent, dignified existence. Should all Gazans pay for the fact that Hamas is in power?
Israel is saying, ‘Because you elected Hamas, you should have no life. Yet people elected Hamas because of Fatah corruption. I believe in peace with Israel, but I wanted desperately to get away from the corruption. I didn’t expect Hamas to win. Next time, I won’t vote at all, one Gaza resident told the NYT.
Most Gazans in fact, support no one, for they have been disappointed by all their leaders, who have all failed to protect them, let alone improve their lives.
Hamas or Fatah, they are all illusions. Nobody is standing with the people, Ghaleya Al-Samouni told Reuters. She lost twenty-nine members of her family in the war.
Many Palestinians don't give a damn about politics. They want their houses to be rebuilt - they've been living in tents for 11 months, Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist in Gaza, told the Telegraph.
And yet the siege continues…
My message to the international community is that our silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all, said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, in May 2008...
It is a shame that we have learned to live with and are in no rush to redeem...
(the photograph is by Ashraf Amra Polaris/eyevine)
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

Ring out, wild bells

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Bonne Année à tous,

Richard

(the photograph can be found here)