Archive for November 27th, 2008
No Shekels anymore
Posted on: November 27, 2008
No Shekels anymore for Gaza (September 29, 2008)
Note: For a whole month now Israel has plunged over 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza in the dark and conscious famine of genocidal magnitude. The US has prohibited the UN to include this atrocity in the report. I figured to reprint my previous article for an advanced taste of what Israel was in the planning all along.
The Israeli Central Bank has stopped delivery Shekel (its money) to Gaza. Since 1967, after the occupation of Israel to Gaza, the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza have been linked to the Israeli economy and the Shekel was used for internal commerce. For reasons to investigate Egypt refuses to have her currency at the disposal of the Palestinians this tiny and most dense strip of land. There are certainly dollars in the market but the economy is so linked to Israel that Israel would not accept any other forms of currencies with businesses doing commerce with her. This is sort of the last resort that Israel is displaying to pressure Hamas in Gaza to be at her beck and orders.
Since there is no economy when enough currencies are injected in the market then we comprehend that Israel is playing the last most dangerous tactics that can turn against her when the Palestinians in Gaza finally realize that there is no hope to dealing with Israel fairly and have nothing to lose anymore. Before Israel refrained from injecting Shekels in the economy of Gaza two days ago the inhabitants of Gaza were already living in wretched misery on $2 a day and over 60% of the work force was out of employment because this kind of democratic outcome where radical Hamas won the election does not suit the western nations.
I decided to review an interesting book of chronicles that explains in details the political and social conditions in Gaza. Caroline Manger, a correspondent to the weekly French magazine Paris Match, wrote “Chroniques de Gaza. Sous les bombes, la vie”, a documentary of the lives of the Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza district. The manuscript is of 270 pages and divided into 24 chapters spanning from February 2004 before the Israeli colonies in and around Gaza were dismantled to August 2007 after the Islamists party of Hamas displaced the security services of the Fateh authority from Gaza.
During the second Palestinian “intifada” there were frequent skirmishes between the Palestinians and the Israelis living in the colonies in and around Gaza; the security conditions on both sides became untenable. Israel tried to bring security in Gaza by military force and by target assassinations of the Palestinian faction leaders but it failed.
Before former Israel Ariel Sharon PM decided to withdraw the colonies from the Gaza strip, no more than 360 square kilometers and surrounded by Israel from all sides, there were 21 Israeli colonies in this crowded and most dense location on earth. The colonies were established after 1967 when Israel captured Gaza from Egypt at the instigation and strong support of Arial Sharon; they claimed that practically most of the houses and makeshift residences belonged to Ariel Sharon.
The Israeli colons were ultra-extremists on two counts politically and religiously; politically they wanted to push the borders of Eretz Israel as far as they could and they were as strict religiously as the Islamist Hamas Palestinians faction. The colons prohibited the establishment of movie theaters in their colonies and the households refused to install TV on account of impure display of images; the women washed fully closed, were hidden from male visitors by a partition and the beaches were separated by gender. The pre-fabricated apartments and houses were mostly trailers ready to move out on short notice. The colons adored Sharon they nicknamed him Arik. All the palm and olive trees in the fields separating the colonies from the nearby Palestinian villages were cut down so that the colons could have a clear view of any Palestinian infiltration! The families were mostly freshly arrived adventurous immigrants from France and ultra US conservative Christian-Jews. Many US billionaires contributed to building bypass bridges so that the colons would not drive through Palestinian villages.
One colony needed 600 soldiers to protect 50 families and the Palestinian inefficient homemade missiles drove the Israeli government for frequent reprisals to the angst of the European Union. Sharon then decided to vacate the colonies from Gaza because as he declared “Gaza was anyway never mentioned as belonging to the promised land”
Israel was not serious about any peace plan after the Oslo agreement in 1993 for offering a viable and sustainable Palestinian State and continued to impoverish the Palestinian newly formed Authority in Ramallah and Gaza and endeavored to destroy whatever new facilities and infrastructure that the European Union contributed to. In May 2004 Israel launched operation “Rainbow and cloud” and sealed off Gaza and pounded it for 5 days and demolished the infrastructure and razed houses for a corridor before the final withdrawal of the colonies in August 22, 2005. On the fifth day of the war when all the guns went silent the Israeli snipers killed many children less than 10 years old to keep the reign of terror. The author gives horrid detailed account of the Palestinian victims and the situation in these makeshift clinics, transformed into hospitals, during Israeli military incursions.
For a year when Mahmoud Abbas was elected President the Palestinians wanted to believe in a peace process but it failed and Israel resumed its targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders such as its founder, blind and paraplegic leader, Cheikh Yassine and then his successor the pediatric Al Rantissi; thus Hamas gained supporters. In the meantime, the colons who had pledged to fight the fight against any eviction left voluntarily two days before the ultimatum; the hefty compensations were a serious factor (obviously paid for by the US tax payers).
As soon as the Israeli colons departed then the Palestinian resistance fighters ventured into Gaza City; they were hiding for over six months in their dug out and undergrounds resisting Israel frequent incursions in Gaza and then they were awestruck to discover the luxurious trend that the cronies of the Abbas’ Authority were carrying on. These fighters were not even merged into the Authority internal security forces because President Abbas decided to hire only young people of less than 22 of age to secure their loyalty. The fighters found out that they were out of employment and their dedication and sacrifices not appreciated.
When a democratic election that the western States insisted on carrying in Gaza took place then Hamas ended up winning the parliamentary election by a land slide. The Abbas’ Authority refused to cooperate with Hamas in the re-shuffling of the security services that harassed, imprisoned, tortured and even killed Hamas members since 1998. Maybe Hamas prematurely agreed to form a majority government because the Western States cut off all financial aid to the new Hamas government and the civil servants were not paid for over 4 months. The States of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia didn’t appreciate the coming into power of a radical Islamic party and did their best to put the squeeze even more.
Finally, Hamas evicted the Fateh forces, headed by strongman Dahlan, from Gaza when it realized that the US is funding the Authority’s preventive security services with over 60 million dollars for cracking down on Hamas. The offensive didn’t last 5 days before the Fateh forces fled Gaza; many of the high paid and corrupt officers bribed heavily to have passages through the underground tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt.
There is no Shekels for Gaza right now but who would bail out the Shekel anyway? The way I see it Israel has reached a period of deep corruption at many high levels in its civil administration and military infrastructures and total mistrust in its leaders and the validity of its Zionist ideology that it is on the verge of serious chaos.
Personal note: In the mid eighties Israel transferred Islamic Palestinians to the southern borders of Lebanon hoping that Lebanon would welcome them as refugees; this did not happen. The transferred Palestinians lived in makeshift tents for over six months before Israel was forced by the international community to re-transfer them to Gaza. Thus, a new Islamic fundamentalist party was instituted called Hamas. Many claim that Israel created Hamas, as the USA administrations created the Afghan Mujahideens to face the Soviet invasion, in order to destabilize the concept of a democratic bi-partisan government with Israel. The Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (OLP) was lead by the Palestinian secular main faction of Fateh and headed by Arafat. Israel would not accept this political structure for fear of demographic imbalance in the near future and wanted a purely Jewish State.
Grand plan of Artax
The ultimate goal of Artax was to weaken the religious clergy and liberate the mind of the people of centuries old misgivings of total reliance on the good wisdom and knowledge of the clergy since they monopolized learning and writing. The medium-term strategy was to establish strong presence in the peripheries of the Empire and then fan in from many sides to the heart of the Empire. The short-term strategy was to secure his rear bases and re-organize his army and project the impression that his forces are the armies of the people, from the people (obviously), and to the benefit of the people. Deep in his guts, Artax knew that he had to fulfill a vow to making a sort of “pilgrimage” to China, a huge Empire, the center of all the mysterious tales and outlandish stories spread by travelers and merchants.
Short-term planning
The short-term strategy took off by establishing sort of a cartel in the trade business. The Silk Road was in its infancy and it was the cartel that played the catalyst into its future boom. The “Mogul” caravans used to bring silk, spices, fur, firework, and delicate Chinese products. A specialized division of Artax army endeavored to barter its products of incense, wheat, woodwork, utensils, jewelry and any consumer goods manufactured in India and Pakistan in mid way at the town of Kashgar. The difference in prices was paid in gold coins. On the return trip, the Artax caravans halted in Azarabad and from there caravans bifurcated in many directions. After satisfying the local needs and demands caravans crossed the Khyber Pass to serve the Persian Empire. Other caravans headed by land eastward; the remaining merchandize were shipped on the Indus River or roads alongside the river to the port of Deb, on the estuary. (It is recounted that four centuries later, St. Thomas, the twin brother of Jesus, founded the first Christian community in Deb and that the Kushan princes were very favorable). Commercial ships were loaded; some ships served the coast of Persia and the northern shores of the Arabia Peninsula for the ultimate port of Basra. Other ships served the port of Adan in Yemen, the southern shores of the Arabia Peninsula for their last destination in Akaba. Other ships crossed the Red Sea to serve the Egyptian market and the eastern colonies in Africa.
Pirate ships were hired for the dual job of protecting the commercial ships, such as confronting other pirates or other navies long enough to permit the commercial ships to escaping, and the other job was to confiscate the cartel products of the other commercial ships or charge them steep taxes. It goes without saying that representatives of the cartel boarded the pirate ships and they had the last words on the procedures. The cartel trade machine became well oiled and the details for accurate accounting were ironed out after many pitfalls, misunderstanding and conscious pilferage.
The fat merchants, maharajas, and the Iskandaranian mafias had the right for representation in every sector of the trade from being affected to caravans, in pirate ships, and at headquarter in Azarabad where decisions were made on a bi-weekly basis. Profit was split according to investment. The major portion of expenses was paying the special Artax division, an excellent source for retaining and maintaining an army. Other divisions were specialized in escorting caravans on demands, on land, river, or in seas.
In the heart of the Persian Empire
The newly installed “Eldest-Son of God Incarnate, “Khosro the Magnificent” was continuing to throw lavish parties and festivities in the vicinities of the two Capitals of Souze (the summer Capital) and Persepolis (the winter Capital). The tradition observed a whole year of lavish and generous gesture toward the population as excellent omen and good augur of the emplacement of the constellations as concurred by the Highest Priest.
Artax was forgotten as an impotent Monarch who did not behave as Monarchs should; Artax was expected to direct his troops immediately for a major, all out frontal battle. Since Artax failed to follow the customs of the time then he was considered unfit for the throne.
The army is trained for new jobs
The Monarch Artax wanted to rely first on his army to disseminate the new political philosophy: at that stage Artax had no other disciplined manpower to rely on in the first place. Consequently, an intensive re-orientation of the educated ranks and files was programmed. The army had to study, analyze and discuss new concepts and ideas that should secure a more solid structure for the society to grow and prosper for years to come. His officers and soldiers will have to learn new concepts; they had the task to indoctrinate and spread his new philosophy to the common people.
How his armies should go about different jobs that they were not trained for? Tasks of proselytizing the new Constitution and Bill of Rights, how to win over the minds and hearts of the new generation, boys and girls, how to secure the acceptance of the older generations, how to infiltrate towns and cities and spread the new rights and responsibilities, and how to help the peasants in their fields and to keep the economy growing were not accessible if the only structure remaining intact was not involved on a wide scale. Well, the trained army proselytizers had to memorize whole paragraphs suited for specific situations and then deliver the speech correctly and with no hesitation: projecting the impression of total conviction and mastery of the new philosophy was the crux of the endeavor.
A difficult process for the ratification of the constitution
Artax political acumen had improved with experience and hardship. The draft for a Constitution went too far in reform and the number of articles was far too many to digest but that was a calculated risk to blunt reflection on matters too new and very complicated to ponder at on short notice. The main objective was to weaken the overwhelming power and authority of the religious hierarchy on the mind of the population which robbed this intelligent and hard working people from serious individual reflections that would use the rational mind into resolving fundamental problems of centuries old. “Khosro the Magnificent” was selected and appointed by the religious structure to circumvent any reforms no matter how insignificant it might be.
Most of the articles in the proposed Constitution were subject to alterations and modifications to suit the majority of the power base but Artax insisted on the first two articles that would educate the population on their legitimate rights as citizens. Anyway, democratic elections for municipalities were agreed upon and carried through undemocratically. The fat wholesale merchants and mafias have rigged the voting process. One good thing resulted from this election process: the fat merchants realized that they needed from now on to drop their blunt cockiness and resort to under the table deals, to invest time listening to the people demands and to invest some of their surplus profit for maintaining a few infrastructures and a lot for propaganda. Some kind of muted dialogue and communication were taking the shape of undercurrent popular energy.
Adonis Diaries 