Just as Yassar Arafat stole millions via the PLO and lived in an apt in Paris...so do the rulers of Gaza deny and use their people, and have lavish lives in the theatre of Gaza. Israel returned this same land after the war which they did not initiate..they left beautiful farms and homes and flowering gardens they had built and nurtured, which the Palestinians mindlessly torched and destroyed. Here’s a few quick questions for astute minds: what is their history with their Arab neighbors? And, if, the Israelis and Palestinians switched sides of the fence, each moving their lives and families to the other’s territory and lands, after only one to five years...what would Israel look like and what would Gaza look like? Would the young Israelis be eating until the afternoon, bar-be-queuing chicken wings, dancing and throwing stones while their leaders withheld their water and electricity and forced/manipulated them to throw stones and handmade kites like spit balls at the border? I totally believe Gaza, with Jewish creativity and energy and discipline, would then be flourishing with brilliant results and Israel would be torched and destroyed with numerous angry disturbed and misguided young men throwing stones now at Gaza with their leaders piled up in lovely surroundings plotting and devising more schemes to have their people engaged as martyrs\puppets while enriching themselves, reclaiming tunnels, obtaining donations and pity from the world. That’s what is truly pitiful!
1
The biggest enemy of the Palestinian people are their leaders; not Israel.
3
Flash Update: the longstanding (unelected) President Abbas finally met with his Palestinian National Council in Ramallah, the first of 4 days. His urgent pronouncements: European Jews have no lineage to Biblical Jews, and no rights to Israel! His "proof" - Arthur Koestler's book, "The Thirteenth Tribe" (debunked by DNA testing and much historical facts), which is all he needs to advance his beliefs. Next, the Jews and their bad behavior in Europe resulted in the Holocaust-they brought it on themselves. Wow! Who knew there was/is no such thing as anti-Semitism, after all. So says the chief!
So yes, Israel, open up the floodgates, let the long suffering Palestinians in, who have no grudges against you. After all, they too are Semites, so they couldn't possibly be anti-Semitic.
So, there you have it. Tune in for more (mis)adventurous reporting. Certainly by Friday.
2
Gerim's grandmother's name is 'Al Kurdi', The Kurd. Ironic that he and his friends call for Israeli's to 'return to the countries they came from'. Fathi Hammad, Hamas Interior Minister in a TV interview "Personally, half my family is Egyptian. We are all like that. More than 30 families in the Gaza Strip are called Al-Masri ["Egyptian"]. Brothers, half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis. Who are the Palestinians? We have many families called Al-Masri, whose roots are Egyptian. Egyptian! They may be from Alexandria, from Cairo, from Dumietta, from the North, from Aswan, from Upper Egypt. We are Egyptians. We are Arabs. We are Muslims. We are a part of you." Add to that there are less than 50,000 alive today of the 1948 refugees according to one (optimistic) estimate so its misleading describing Gazans as 'refugees'. The UNRWA (special agency for 'palestinians') staff stands at 30,000, or 3.5 times the staff that the rest of the world gets for actual refugees. It services only 13% of the people that UNHCR assists. The UNRWA infrastructure and systems have been established for decades. Yet, the UNRWA biennial budget is over $2 billion, or $370 per person serviced compared to $130 for each UNHCR refugee who needs real and immediate services and infrastructure such as shelters, medical facilities and schools (such as the Rohingya). Not to mention the UNRWA has been caught storing weapons for Hamas in its schools and employing Hamas operatives.
4
The Palestinians are vocal about their right of return but over 800,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries in 1948, no one talks about their right of return, because of course if they tried they would be risking their lives. The Palestinians just continue to vow to erase Israel and kill all Israelis. Any wonder there is a border barricade? Also what about the Gazan border with Egypt? Notice there are no riots there? That border is equally closed to Palestinians. But we only hear about the Israeli border conflict, like Bassam Did (former head of Human Rights for Palestinians) said, "No Jews, no news"!
4
It is clear from the story that this family came to protest because of free food by the organizers. Such a shame how Hamas and a writer exploited the poor family of this unfortunate family. At the end of the day they hope that the kid get dhot so they will get a stipend.
3
Just an idea - every arab country take the Palestine's in and integrate them in the their society . For example we can start with , jordan , and saudia arabia . Close up Gaza ,and leave it deserted . The other arab countries can follow. ,Every one will be happy . Time to start new.
5
I am supposed to feel very sorry for the young man based on his personal hardship. I certainly do, just as I feel sorry for many others like him in Gaza. But I also am well aware that much of his hardship is a function of the leaders that run Gaza. The hamas, which took over in a violent rebellion from the corrupt Palestinian authority, has done little to improve the lives of gazans. Hamas together with other more radical Islamist groups seem to have only one task on their agenda and it has nothing to do with improving the lives of their people.
6
Yet another pro terrorist story. There are plenty of things Gaza’s can do other than attacking the internationally accepted border of a sovereign state, how about breaching the Egyptian border, also blockaded. How about removing terrorists like Hamas from power? How about non violence altogether. How about accepting that Israel is real and permanent.
6
The lede to the story is irresponsibly simplistic in saying, "More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel."
More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans not to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel. The relevant question is why some do and most don't. At the very least it would be appropriate to examine the leader-led, martyr theology enveloping many of these Palestinian youths. I'm very much an egalitarian and believe Palestinians are just as capable of being mislead by "fake news" and "alternative facts" coming out of the mouths of their leaders as Americans are capable of being mislead by "fake news" and "alternative facts" coming out of the mouths of our leaders.
It takes something other than poverty and desperation for groups of people to engage in suicidal behavior, whether we are talking about kamikaze pilots, 9/11 hijackers, suicide bombers, the people at Jonestown, or some of the Gazans. It takes a religious imperative foisted on them, usually by leaders who have no intention of making the sacrifice themselves.
9
Actually, I only care about my family and me.
2
Palestinians will never go back to Israel. The Palestinian leadership should tell that to its own people and send emissaries to the Palestinian diaspora with the same message. It’s time to put the keys away to homes from 70 years ago that don’t exist anymore. The Palestinians gambled that Israel would fall. Their original 1947 Palestinian partition has shrunken to half its size. Through war, terrorism, boycotts and law-fare, they have failed over and over again. They have only become poorer. Assad bombs them in Syria, Iraq and Kuwait expelled them, Iran uses them like human shields and Egypt walls them off. With friends like these, who needs enemies. The Palestinian leadership, if such an entity exists, should make peace with Israel, take what they can get and start building a civilized nation.
24
If the headline is actually true how about they just take the die option. What a joke that headline is.
14
The lede to the story is irresponsibly simplistic in saying, "More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel."
More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans not to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel. The relevant question is why some do and most don't. At the very least it would be appropriate to examine the leader-led, martyr theology enveloping many of these Palestinian youths. I'm very much an egalitarian and believe Palestinians are just as capable of being mislead by "fake news" and "alternative facts" coming out of the mouths of their leaders as Americans are capable of being mislead by "fake news" and "alternative facts" coming out of the mouths of our leaders.
It takes something other than poverty and desperation for groups of people to engage in suicidal behavior, whether we are talking about kamikaze pilots, 9/11 hijackers, suicide bombers, the people at Jonestown, or some of the Gazans. It takes a religious imperative foisted on them, usually by leaders who have no intention of making the sacrifice themselves.
12
An absence of sympathy in Israel for the plight of the Gaza Palestinians just saddens me.
9
Far worse is the absence of sympathy among the Gaza Hamas leadership for the Gaza Palestinians. They might encourage their health, education and economic development instead of hogging funds for a luxurious lifestyle and spending the rest on sending Gazans on suicide missions and building invasion tunnels.
31
The land of Palestine was partitioned and divided by the United Nations in 1947, half given to the Jews, the other half given to the Palestinians. The Palestinians did not want their share and fled their land when the 1948 war broke out between the Jews and Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Palestinians who fled were counting on the Arab countries to drive the Jews into the Mediterranean sea. Fortunately, it didn't happen that way. The Arab states lost in 1948, again in 1956, yet again in 1967, and 1973. Contaminating the environment by burning tires and running on the Israeli border is not the way to solve the Palestinian problem.
25
As a human being, I feel for the refugees. I cannot imagine what they are going through. It is an all-around awful situation.
But as a Jew, these individuals can not enter Israel under any circumstance. Middle East refugees have entered Europe. And with them came virulent anti-Semetism that has made it impossible for Jews to wear kippas without either harassment or physical assault. The Palestinians are taught in their schools that the Holocaust is a myth. Palestinians who murder Jews are rewarded with pensions.
It’s an awful situation. The root causes are known to all. But the reality, today, is that there cannot be one state. It is suicide for the Jews of Israel. The Palestinians must either accept the land they currently have or go to other Arab nations. Kicking them out should not be controversial- no one today seems to care that Jews all over the Middle East were kicked out of their ancestral homes on the threat of death. If the Palestinians deserve their land back, then the Jews should demand the same
25
What the protesters are doing serves no purpose whatsoever.
In order to improve their lives, they should try to get rid of Hamas. They should accept the fact that Israel has created an independent Palestinian state in Gaza. If they can recognize Israel, their lives will improve immediately--and radically.
23
How about an article on how the Egyptians also blockade Gaza?
30
So let's see. Take an oppressed people who are forced from their immediate ancestral lands (as in the last century or so), herd them into the most inhospitable lands you can find, lands you constantly encroach upon, manifest destinyesque, and then you brutally repress any resistance, even futile symbolic acts, picking up a stick or a stone (or a bow and arrow perhaps). Now where have I heard this story before? Bury my heart in Gaza. Then as now. Who are the savages?
19
I am amazed that the Times doesn't ask those it interviews why they don't protest against Hamas. After all, it is Hamas (their government that they voted for) that builds tunnels into Israel instead of subways, rocket launching facilities instead of hospitals, and uses electricity to manufacture arms instead of operating water treatment plants. I wonder what motivates The New York Times -- a newspaper with years of respectability -- to complete lose its standard when writing about almost anything in regard to Israel.
34
Many of the comments here are absolutely shameful. I guarantee half of you have used the hashtag "resist" at least once and would cry foul if you were made to personally suffer for the conduct of the Trump administration, or for any of the U.S. government's misdeeds at home or abroad. Most of us are just ordinary people trying to get by and provide a better life for ourselves and our families, regardless of who rules us and what they do. That does not exclude Israelis, Palestinians, North Koreans, or anyone else.
12
This is what Trump is doing to the refugees at our border with Mexico. Shame on him allowing women and children to languish and suffer. His immigration blockade was planned to keep out refugees and tear the heart out of America. The only way to make America great again is to impeach Trump and the GOP Congress.
6
Such a miserble circumstance. One would need a heart of stone not to feel some sympathy for it.
11
Simply stated, were the Palestinians wise enough to accept peace, recognize Israel, and reject Hamas, their collective lives and existence would be a whole lot better.
50
Really? Isreal has always been only interested in land, not peace. Oh and Btw I suspect you think the occupation is a civilizing process. Every time I hear this nonsense that the Palestinians are irrational and the Israelis I ask How would you behave if the US was occupied by a foreign power? Would you just sit back and take it or resist?
12
Uhhhh....yea, irrational. Unless of course you believe that a gov't (Hamas) who wholeheartedly believes in terrorism is rational.
A correction: "their forebears left behind", a phrase found in this article is suggesting that Palestinians walked away from their homes, continues the myth that denies the reality of 1948. Recounted by Jewish authors themselves, it has been stated that Palestinians were forced from their homes and lands by marauding Zionist forces. Many killed by massacres, some instigated by future prime ministers (Sharon being one). The truth of this situation has been so distorted by Zionist propaganda and American acquiescence that Palestinians will likely end up going the way the the American Indians. They will be relegated to small parcels of desert land, surrounded by the Zionist colonizers who believe in a God who blesses this theft. The difference between Judaism and Zionism is as great as the difference between American Christian evangelicals and followers of Jesus. The Jewish prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures (Amos especially) would be quick to condemn modern day Israeli actions as would Jesus be quick to condemn American Christian hypocrisy, especially in their support of the current Republican "pro-life" administration and its amoral president. I embrace Judaism. I abhor what it has morphed into as seen in modern day Israel.
23
Hey ... Why doesn’t the US and Western Europe open up their Borders to take in the “poor” Palestinians ...?
11
What's happening in Gaza right now is a human catastrophe orchestrated by Israel and the U.S. Gaza is nothing more than an open-air prison brutally guarded by the Israeli army with weapons far more sophisticated than the slings and stones an unarmed populous can muster in their own defense. How would we feel if the U.S. declared itself a "Christian only" country and all others were driven from the land? Israel is an apartheid state that is criminal in nature and funded by our tax dollars. What's happening now is collateral mass murder of the people of Palestine and it's shameful!
22
When Israel left Gaza in 2005 they left an intact infrastructure. Greenhouses, factory buildings, paved roads. It is Hamas that has turned it into a prison. Concrete for construction goes to the construction of attack tunnels. The greenhouses are gone. It is not just Israel that is wary of Gaza, but Egypt too! The charter of Hamas calls for the elimination of Israel. This is a call for genocide by definition. Let me list a few Muslim only countries. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan. There are Arab Israeli MKs and and Arab Israeli sits on the Supreme Court. Doesn't sound like an apartheid stated to me. On the other hand, any Christians or Jews in the government of Jordan? Dont think so.. Isn't that apartheid? Can a Jew live in Saudi Arabia? Sorry Bonnje. Tired arguments using misdirected facts. You want to place blame? Place it squarely on Hamas and those who support them.
33
In Israel all religions can practice equally including Christianity and Islam. Judaism is the state religion in the same way as Italy and Costa Rica have declared their state religion Catholicism, England has declared their state religion Anglicanism, and many Muslim-majority countries have constitutionally established Islam like Afghanistan: Algeria: Bangladesh
Bahrain, Brunei, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt: Iran: Iraq: Jordan, Kuwait:L Libya, Maldives, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia: Article 2 of the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The State of Israel supports religious institutions, and recognizes the "religious communities" as carried over from those recognized under the British MandateThese are: Jewish and Christian (Eastern Orthodox, Latin [Catholic], Gregorian-Armenian, Armenian-Catholic, Syrian [Catholic], Chaldean [Uniate], Greek Catholic Melkite, Maronite, and Syrian Orthodox). The fact that the Muslim population was not defined as a religious community is a vestige of the Ottoman period[citation needed] during which Islam was the dominant religion and does not affect the rights of the Muslim community to practice their faith. In 1961, legislation gave Muslim Shari'a courts exclusive jurisdiction in matters of personal status.
6
Bingo! Couldn't said it better even if I really, really tried!
7
When will the palestinians stop dog dreaming!! let´s face reality, make peace with Israel like any normal people would do, and stop whinning... You can´t blame on Israel your own problems forever..
32
The Right of Return? Most of the people that left was today is Israel were told by their Arab leaders to leave as it would make it easier to “drive the Jews in the sea!” And now they want to return? After the Israelis have made “their” desert bloom? Maybe the Jews who were forced to leave all the Arab countries where they lived for centuries should ask for what was theirs back? If the Arab world had wanted to deal with a few thousands- at the time - refugees in 1948 this whole problem would have disappeared but they opted for the political option to keep them in poverty as a prop. Now, let them deal with them!
39
Israel is not the only country in the blockade, but it is singled out for attack in many articles. Perhaps young Gazan men have a fourth option, which is to fight the rule of Hamas. If Hamas were gone, the blockade might end and these men would find new ways of making a living. Storming the border is definitely not productive.
34
So sad. One of the greatest moral and political mistakes of the Twentieth Centry was the creation of Israel. The comments to this article are so overwhelmingly biased In favor of Israel, that one cannot help but recognize that it is impossible to reason with people who have a world view which will not be swayed by an objective reading of history. It also shows why U.S. Policy has been so completely distorted in favor of Israel for its entire existence.
20
"One of the great moral and political mistakes of the twentieth century was the creation of Israel". Oh yes, it was much, much, much worse than Nazism, much worse than the concentration camps, much worse than the extermination camps, much worse than mobile killing squads in the Ukraine, much worse than the anti-Semitic Jew hatred in Europe prior to World War 2 (you know, the sort that you exhibit in your comment). To say nothing of the morality of say, Japan, Cambodia, Jim Crow, South Africa . . . You never stop to think, do you, let alone think of why Israel was created in the first place?
3
A country territorially bounded by an international border is not an "open air prison". It is just a country subject to borders. The so called right of return is just a euphemism for an expansion of the territory of Gaza into Israel -- i.e., an invasion and conquest.
Not only is that not feasible, it wouldn't even solve any of the problems in Gaza.
Now if the Gazans are just protesting the Israeli blockade, I could see their point because that policy makes life in Gaza harder than it needs to be -- but Israel is willing to negotiate on the blockade if Gaza would cease its militancy. The Gazans just need to determine to live in peace and they'll see Israel offer the same.
28
Palestinians in the West Bank made a collective decision to elect Hamas to represent them, knowing full well that Hamas was a terrorist organization and that both Israel and the United States would never accept Hamas as a negotiating partner. Since then they have continued using terrorist tactics to attack Israel, and this latest attempt is nothing if not one more such attempt. They know that Israel will not and cannot allow anyone to breach the barrier, but they organize this rabid mob to try and do it anyway, knowing full well that there will be bloodshed. They do this because they know that the majority of the media, the NY Times included, will garner sympathy for them. Israel is a sovereign country and cannot allow a hostile force to enter its territory. It is entitled to use whatever force is necessary to repel such a force whether or not that force is armed with rocks, knives or AK47's.
23
Protest Hamas and the culture of nihilism it has professed and driven deep into the heart of the Palestinian people. Power carries with it responsibility, and that runs on both sides of the fence. The Palestinians need to hit bottom and take control away from the party of failure and death - as hard as that will be. if they start to do so, they will find allies and hope.
13
Look at it this way.l Subject of the article is presumably a young man, since median age in the Territories is between 16 and 24, enjoys his chai with mint with his friends, and has enough falafel . chicken and rice to sustain himse]f. Its not as if he were Syrian living or subsisting in Douma province at the mercy of chemical attacks and or bunker bomb assaults. Since there is a Palestinian diaspora, he could join it as have millions in the US alone. Or he might approach the Israelis, declare "al fet met,"or "the past is dead,"and apply for a scholarship. Am sure that if he came in peace, he would
14
Just exactly how is it that Jewish settlers have a right of return to Judea and Samaria, based on events that took place thousands of years ago, and Haniya al-Kurdi has no right of return to her home in Ashdod taken from her in 1948?
8
She left of her own accord. The Jews who left two thousand years ago did not.
5
The League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, a legal instrument under international law, demarcated the area set aside from lost Ottoman Territories as the historical homeland of the Jewish people who were, alone, granted national (as opposed to civil and religious) rights to exercise their right to self-determination and closely settled through that territory. Hence, Jews have a right, enshrined in international law, to settle in Judea and Samaria (as even the UN called those territories until Jordan's illegal nineteen year occupation.
Civilians displaced in a war of aggression begun by their rulers do not have a "right of return" nor do any of their descendants.
I hope this answers your question.
8
There were Jews in Judea and Samaria not just thousands years ago but as recently as 1948.
5
The lede to the story is irresponsibly simplistic in saying, "More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel."
More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans not to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel. The relevant question is why some do and most don't. At the very least it would be appropriate to examine the leader-led, martyr theology enveloping many of these Palestinian youths. I'm very much an egalitarian and believe Palestinians are just as capable of being mislead by "fake news" and "alternative facts" coming out of the mouths of their leaders as Americans are capable of being mislead by "fake news" and "alternative facts" coming out of the mouths of our leaders.
It takes something other than poverty and desperation for groups of people to engage in suicidal behavior, whether we are talking about kamikaze pilots, 9/11 hijackers, suicide bombers, the people at Jonestown, or some of the Gazans. It takes a religious imperative foisted on them, usually by leaders who have no intention of making the sacrifice themselves.
8
The choices you list for Mr al-Gerim and his compatriots-- education, smoking, joining Hamas, etc don't include the only option that will improve their lives; replacing the destructive Hamas-led government with one that will reach accommodations with Israel, Egypt and West Bank Palestinian leadership. al-Gerim and his friends can hurl themselves against fences all they want but it's the wrong target.
50
I agree.
3
Why are these Gaza protests at only the border with Israel and not at the border with Egypt??
46
Because the Egyptians didn't steal their land and drive them out.
6
Because these people were systematically killed, forced out of their homes and are now currently occupied by Israel, formerly known as Palestine. Check a pre-1948 map, or, you know, read a book.
1
Ms Reich: Jews are welcome in what Arab countries? The failure of those established states to integrate ‘Palestinians,’ actually unaffiliated Arabs, is at major fault.
5
Non-Israeli sourced statistics cited in Wiki state that 70-80,000 Palestinians fled as refugees to Gaza in 1948.
And today there are no fewer than two million Gazans demanding to replace the Israelis in pre-1948 borders? Sounds ridiculous to suggest that this is a problem completely of the Jews' making.
25
Nine out of ten of these comments manage to blame the Palestinians--or their Arab brethren--for their plight.
Do Americans not read Middle Eastern history?
22
We do read Middle Eastern history (legitamate history), hence the blame. Twisted and revisionist history no longer flies.
8
Yes they do and put the blame where it belongs.
6
Yes. We DO know the history, that is what many of the comments are about. The question is, do YOU?
A million and a half Arab Muslims live in Israel. How many Jews live in all of Arabia? A handful of people too old to move?
7
As a Jew, I am disgusted by the Zionists, who have become something entirely unfamiliar. Who are these strangers doing these injustices in MY name? they may be Jews, but they have stopped being Jewish.
23
Imagine if Israel existed in 1938. Perhaps my cousins would be alive. Imagine if Israel had existed in 1838, many other Jews would have lived. I am a Zionist even though I think the occupation should have ended 40 years ago. But the occupation of Gaza did end. We got rocket attacks on civilians and attack tunnels. There are many Zionists who did not support the occupation. I use the past tense since the Palestinians have consistently refused to accept Israel with any borders and continue to think that the descendants of the refugees of 1948 will return to Israel. This makes peace impossible.
13
Nothing can sum up the moral dissonance between the Arabs and Israelis better than the headline to this article. When life and death are equal outcomes, and you're willing to blow yourself up or use your children's lives to kill others, then the value of your own life is diminished.
23
Desperate people do desperate things when you take away all their hope
5
Nardone, your rationalization means you sympathize with ISIS who could also be characterized as desperate with no hope that their political will come to pass. The alternative is to support a clear principle: terrorism is wrong in every circumstance, period.
5
Israel has never declared war on the Palestinians or their neighbors. The Palestinians & their neighbors have been trying to destroy Israel ever since the Un Recognized it as a sovereign,state & a member of the UN.Saber is supporting Hamas that leaves him to believe, that there is no difference between living & dying, in a every country in the world this type of leadership would be overthrown.Those that support the reasoning of the authors of this article, should ask themselves, would they be better off with a Government that offers them prosperity & a lust for life, it’s available, it’s right across the fence in Israel.All Saber & the Hamas followers have to do is demand a peaceful relationship with Israel & the fences will come down, & they will have a State of their own and peace and long wonderful life for them & their children.
24
Another one-sided article written by the times. These rioters are playing to the uninformed reader. Yes, the living conditions are horrible though not caused by Israel. As the article mentions, the relative in 1948 "left" probably listening to the propaganda being shouted at them that soon Israel will be defeated and they can return. When Hamas stops talking about destroying Israel and ceases from aligning themselves with Iran- that will be the time to sit down and talk. These op-eds do nothing but reinforce the anti-Israel biases
30
Check out Ilan Pappe, Amira Haas- perhaps you'll learn a thing or two about the systemic and systematic (and continued)destruction of an entire people.
3
Always protesting Israel for their hardships, but never HAMAS the diverts all their handouts from EU and US to building terror tunnels and making missiles. Talk about the power of denial...
30
Does the NYTimes ever say something positive about Israel? Gaza is as much under siege by its supposed Arab friends as by Israel. If the PA refused to work with Gaza and Egypt does everything to keep Gaza isolated, why should Israel be blamed for the state of Gaza? If Gaza built factories and houses and developed farms, would they not be better off than they are spending huge sums on armaments and plots to destroy Israel at which they have failed? Your coverage of the situation just as it was during the Gazan wars is one sided, superficial, incomplete and almost pure propaganda.
34
Gaza is an "open air prison" because Hamas rules the Strip with an iron fist. If Hamas had renounced its anti-Semitic charter, its hateful ways and ruled Gaza in a democratic fashion, the conflict would be over. Your implicit criticism of Israel is badly misdirected and turns logic on its head.
34
Look at the distortions:
1. Calling it "pacific" while many articles cite the express intention to trespass the border, some burning tires, some shooting and almost all using slingshots.
2. Call those youngsters "refugees" when they were born AFTER 1948.
3. Accussing Israel of "occupying Gaza when Israel left years ago.
4. Not protesting against the Egyptian blockade.
5. No mention of the unpaid electric bill to Israel by the PA.
6. No confrontation between Gazans against the PA who together with Hamas are strangling them.
7. Not even a word about the multiple vociferous Hamas declarations to destroy Israel "from river to sea".
8. No analysis of what ANY OTHER Country would do facing thousands attempting to invade, not to mention doing so with rockets, 1000s of them
Why risk being accused of diseminating fake (deceiving, incomplete, insuficient) news?
44
When Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip some years ago they left vast amounts of produce in greenhouses and other agricultural infrastructure behind. What did the Palestinians do with this bounty? They destroyed everything, the same way they destroy everything else. These people cannot accept that the war is over and they lost. They live in a dream world of superstition and religious fantasy. Their leadership should use all the aid and donations from around the world and try to create a functional economy instead of wasting it on tunnels and rockets.
37
I understand that Canadian loyalists, who were forced at bayonet to Canada following the American victory at Yorktown during the Revolution, will be mourning the founding of the United States of America on next
July 4th
by describing our Independence Day as
"Catastrophe Day" (also known in English as '"the Catastrophe").
According to Canadian loyalist authorities, there are approximately 6 million Canadians of loyalist descent who are awaiting their right of return
To New England, and several Southern coastal states.
Please be prepared to give up your Boston homes and verdant Virginia fields for these much neglected and maligned people who were forced from their homes at gunpoint and forced to flee in the middle of the night.
Barring your capitulation to our right of return, we will have no choice but to boycott American product, universities, students, and all cultural exchanges with the occupying presence known as America.
27
The Arab - Israeli conflict underscores the dynamics of successful and failed states. The contrast is stark. The Arab Spring did not change a thing. Or regime change in Iraq, for that matter.
8
Almost buried in the article are some myths and misrepresentations.
One myth is that all the Arabs living in Gaza are refugees from what is now Israel. That is not true. Gaza was a developed area before Israel declared independence in 1948. It also used to have non-Arab inhabitants, and in towns like Shujaiya the Jews were the majority group. Implying that all of Gaza's Arabs are seeking to return to homes they lost in Israel is a wrong.
Another myth is that the Jews of Israel are all 'outsiders' from Europe. Aside from those who were refugees from other states in the Middle East, there are those Jews who had been living in cities like Ashqelon, Hebron, Jerusalem and others for thousands of years. Yassir Arafat used to refer to them as being "Palestinian Jews".
The authors speak of the desperation of Gazans, but seem to ignore how Hamas has money to pay for members who will train to attack Israel, and for food and shelter at the current demonstration, but not for the infrastructure or development that would support industry. As Hamas representative Mahmoud Zahar notes, if we wanted to make Gaza into Signapore we could have done so. So why are we left with the impression that only Israel's embargo of Gaza is to blame for Gaza's problems?
I also have to wonder where the depiction of Gaza as a "deadly virus" came from. Although the authors are not quoting anyone, they appear to imply that this dehumanization of Gaza is being done by Israel. It is not.
For shame.
33
The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government during WW1 announcing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The Jewish population in Palestine at the time was 3 to 5% of the total population. The Balfour Declaration also stipulated that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. Some things certainly got lost in the translation.
7
Israel exists on 0.25% of the lands the British seized from the Ottoman Empire during WWI. Today, the other 99.75% are ruled by Arabs. That’s about as far as the West was interested in restoring to the Arabs their imperial conquests, lost to the Turks eight centuries earlier.
Israel, unlike every other country in the region, is an actual functioning democracy with an independent court system that protects the civil and religious rights of all its citizens.
As far as i can see, nothing of substance "got lost in the translation" by the Jewish people. They did what was required of them under the rights granted under the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. The same cannot be said for Britain as the Mandatory power. But that’s another story.
9
Two options? Living or Dying?
Try a third. Make Peace!
19
In a world where the powerful entities humiliate on a daily basis the occupied people, there is no hope for a peaceful future. Any country that is occupying and or invading others is not democratic. Countries that invade other countries and utilize force to fragment and erase their institutions are chauvinistic in practice.
5
Palestinians are living in miserable circumstances in Gaza and need look no further than their own "government". Their leadership/Hamas receives millions of dollars yet most citizens are living without electricity?! Much attention is focused on the border with Israel but there is also a border with Egypt. That border is equally militarized and equipped with a monitored exit/entrance check point. Regardless of where one's sympathy lies creating a wall of burning tires is not a form of "peaceful protest", it's a literal smoke screen.
18
At last, a story in the Times about a live Palestinian refugee. I can hardly believe it; he has a name and he has dreams, very unlikely to come true. The death kart, yes, but anything else? Unlikely. Thank you for this. It has restored a little of my faith in my favorite newspaper.
11
This man is 22 years old. He and others are paying for the sins of his grandfathers, the sins of the Israeli grandfathers, and (the lost factor that is rarely discussed) the sins of the fading British Empire and its supporters who deemed it the right of the Empire to gift the land of Israel to the Jews.
Lest we forget, the 22 year old Israeli soldiers are also paying a price, albeit a different and lesser one, for the same reasons.
The grandfathers had better figure out something, quickly, before they are gone and their grandchildren have no memory of why this whole mess started in the first place, replaced instead with only unbridled hatred of the other side.
5
The fact is, we pay for Isreal's existence. We pay for them to have the national health care we ourselves lack. We pay for their weapons. We as a nation are responsible for their actions, aggressions and human rights abuses because we hold the purse strings. We also allow them and their AIPAC lobbyists to hold our politicians hostage to their agenda and to shape our media coverage. Our complicity in Israeli human rights abuse (and Saudi as well) harm our national image and give lie to our rhetoric on the issue.
It is past time to exercise our influence and tie our foreign aid to Israel's behavior demanding an end to Apartheid and to the occupation of Palestine. Either they pull back to the 1968 borders or declare everyone in Israel-Palestine an equal citizen with equal rights of we hold the money and use it to help our own citizens.
10
Bingo!!!
The situation in Gaza is a tragedy and it is time for the UN to step in. Why the UN? If one works back through history one quickly comes to the realization that the party who has legal responsibility for Gaza is not Israel, not Egypt and certainly not Hamas (although they are responsible for the humanitarian nightmare that is now occurring) but the United Nations. Gaza was part of Mandatory Palestine which was a UN responsibility. It was occupied by Egypt after the Arab world rejected the UN Partition plan. It was captured by Israel in the 1967 war and then turned over by Israel to the Palestinian Authority who lost it Hamas in a civil war. Given that no recognized state has sovereignty responsibility falls back to the UN.
It is time for the UN to step in an take control of Gaza and establish it as an international territory. This would allow borders to be open, goods to flow without them being stolen by Hamas and for the economy to grow. Liberated from Hamas Gaza's seaport could be opened and an airport could be built as originally planned when the territory was turned over the the PA. In a perfect world the UN would relocate all of its operations to Gaza instantly reviving the economy of the beleaguered strip. Gaza's residents could be given international passports allowing them freedom of travel. It is a solution to the nightmare that currently exists.
A dream I know...but there is nothing stopping the world from turning a nightmare into a dream.
1
I was born in India where for thousands of years many invaders came, occupied and changed the culture, language and religions more times than history could remember. The last of the invaders were British. There were no better or worse than the Israelis. Yet we chose non-violence as a form of struggle for freedom. It worked.
If 3 millions Palestinians fast until death for their rights will the world just watch until all of them die?
4
Sorry Ghandi but this ain't India and the Palestinians ain't Indians. India had a legitimate right to their homeland: the same cannot be said for Palestinians. To answer your question I have full faith in the ignorance and heartlessness of mankind that yes, we would stand by and watch 3 million people starve.
2
It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the Palestinian leaders do not WANT peace, the better to keep themselves ensconced in their positions and lifestyles.
See http://www.newsweek.com/clinton-arafat-its-all-your-fault-153779:
Clinton said he told Arafat that by turning down the best peace deal he was ever going to get-the one proffered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and brokered by Clinton . . . Clinton . . . described Arafat as an aging leader who relishes his own sense of victimhood and seems incapable of making a final peace deal.
20
In 1948 250 thousand jewish citizens of middle eastern countries were forced out of their homes, and emigrated to Israel. Their descendent number in the millions. I am waiting for a
'Right Of Return' for these people. 1/4 of the population of Bagdad in 1948 was JEWISH. The first Iraqi finance minister was Jewish.
In 1989 Yassar Arafat was offered 94% of what the Palestinians wanted, but would not/ could not accept because he had promised them the ' right of return'.
The 'Right of Return' will only occur if there is a comparable 'right of return' for jewish citizens to Morocco, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon ... etc. and thats probably not going to happen.
So the Palestinian leadership draws the worlds attention by sacrificing their young men to 'Matyrdom'.
It is in itself a criminal act. Leading your own people to death for a cause that will never come to be.
Egypt borders Gaza on its southern edge, but won't open its border because it considers Hamas a terrrorist organization.
And the people of Gaza are held hostage by their own political leaders bent on self destruction and Matyrdom.
Very Sad indeed.
89
Two wrongs do not make a right!
8
Yes!
In news from the past 24 hours which does not appear to have made it to the front of the Times (if at all):
"IDF troops shot dead two terrorists who infiltrated into Israel and hurled explosive devices at soldiers, the military spokesperson's office said in a statement Sunday evening.
"In response, the soldiers fired toward the terrorists, who were killed," the statement said.
In a separate incident a short while earlier, one Palestinian was killed and another apprehended after breaching the Gaza border fence in the southern part of the enclave."
(Jerusalem Post).
Are these the peaceful protests? The Times seems to be stepping up its deadly game of "let's pretend none of this is happening".
Again, if this were a merely a boundary dispute, Israel would understand and react accordingly.
46
Israel must do the following when it comes to dealing with Gaza decisively:
1) Israel must invade Gaza and return it back to Israeli control.
2) Israel must seize Hamas headquarters and arrest every single Hamas leader. Then bolt the doors shut and bulldoze it to the ground
3). Israel must destroy the rocket launchers that have been wrecking havoc with cities and towns in Southern Israel.
4). Israel must continue to destroy those underground tunnels and confiscate those secret stashes of weapons.
Israel I always knew must become that tough country that ignored world opinion. Who cares what they think anyhow?
Come on Bibi -- do what has to be done to bring peace to Israel again.
18
Israel should stay out of Gaza. The only result would be more dead Israeli soldiers.
2
Despair at the situation in Gaza? The protesters are protesting at the wrong location. Why not protest at Hamas headquarters? Why not protest failed Palestinian leadership that has hoodwinked a population into believing all their problems are caused by Israel, not by “ leaders” who have rejected multiple peace overtures over the last 30 years, have now refused to even try to negotiate peace, and who have, literally, stolen international funds to build terror tunnels, and pay compensation to families of murderers? The demonstration is in the wrong location.
52
Sorry but this is a phony, ginned-up PR stunt orchestrated by Hamas. Instead of wasting lives and resources, here's an idea: How about investing the hundreds of millions of dollars the Gaza authorities receive into infrastructure and building up civil society instead of terror tunnels and missiles?
Yeah, what a concept.
Meanwhile, they're getting the pictures they want. But Israel's justified defending her border from tens of thousands of angry people with hostile and violent intent from crossing.
52
I am a Jew of Middle Eastern descent.
For thousands of years, Jews have lived and flourished in Arab countries.
After 1948 the Arab governments decide to expel the Jews, and they were forced to leave everything behind. They didn't feel bad for themselves and label themselves as "refugees." They started their lives and recreated themselves.
For years the Palestinians have been sitting in misery looking to show the world how oppressed they are. Their misery is because of their government that chooses to use their money for only two things: To build tunnels, buy missiles, and for their own personal pleasure.
Maybe they should stop feeling bad for themselves and start to feel good.
Reading this article, I can't help but notice that the author avoids the obvious.
What does Mr. Gerim and the other refugees want? They want all the Jews out of Israel; They want to slaughter the Jews. Unlike Israel, they aren't willing to coexist with Jews.
It's about time that the NYT stops euphemizing the scenario and acknowledges that the Palestinians are not a peaceful people and do not want to live in peace alongside the Jews.
65
Instead of the hyper focus on Israel, if the world was truly concerned about the plight of Palestinians, then why is there so little coverage of the Syrians 200 barrel bombings of the Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus? Why is there so little coverage of the horrible corruption within the Palestinian governments. In Gaza Hamas steals cement meant for rebuilding. Does it use this cement to build public bomb shelters or safe rooms in homes? No, it builds tunnels under the Israeli border as a means to attack Israeli civilians. Does the press cover the theft of donating countries contributions by both Hamas and the PA that enriches the leadership? Does it cover that over the past 70 years the sheer number of peace treaties offered them? Does it cover the torture and at times, summary executions, of political rivals? Does it cover the plethora of terrorist groups backing up these protesters? Does it cover the quantity of problems faced by everyday Palistinians because the PA & Hamas doesn't deliver the services to the population caused by intra Palistinian divisions? Does it ever mention that Egypt also has entrance and exit facilities and jointly with Israel oversees their borders?
It feels like the family of the addict enabling the Palestinian leadership. Blame it on everyone but don't take responsibility for its own failures.
46
The USA should cut off ALL money being sent to Gaza. I don't want my tax dollars not only funding Hamas, but also used as a safety net for others.
Let's take care of OUR elderly, veterans, and homeless first.
19
I agree that the US should cut all foreign aid to the middle east.
Let's just walk away and leave them to it.
Let's stop paying that on that 38 billion in military aid that goes to Israel as well.
5
Tragic situation
1
When I commented on lack of coverage in the US on an issue that I learnt about from international media, especially with regard to the protests, the shootings and the terrible toll it has had on children and families in Gaza, I was asked in an aggressive snarky way if I am an Israeli, a Jew or a Middle Eastern by several commentators. As if only an Israeli, a Jew or a Middle Eastern has the right to comment on these things. Considering how much the US has spent on Israel since its founding, on the conflict and so many other ME issues...Americans and American residents are not allowed to comment or offer intelligent criticisms on these issues?
It shows that "a non democratic mindset": be it "an exclusive Jewish communal mindset" ; "a Muslim theocratic mindset" "or a Christian fundamentalist or nationalist mindset" or "an Atheist-Only mindset" have penetrated, and have begun to dominate, American public discourse..stifling intelligent honest open fair exchange on many important issues, including this one.
Thanks for publishing this article...but the issue itself is almost two or three months behind.
11
More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel.
[ I can only think of the impossible tragedy created by and in the Warsaw Ghetto. ]
19
In addition to being an inaccurrate comparison, it is offensive to the memory of the heroes that fought and died in Warsaw. The Jews did not build the Ghetto. Most young people manage to get to the truth of the things. The young fellow interviewed for the article does not seem to realize the billions pouring into Gaza to build and create a viable economy, are used instead to build terror tunnels.
12
Please show me the article/photos about the
1) hundreds of million dollars donated by the world to the Warsaw Ghetto Jews.
2) Warsaw Ghetto leaders leaders spending that money on themselves.
3 Warsaw Ghetto Jews attacking German and Polish pregnant women , babies and the elderly.
4) the malls and amusement parks that were in the Warsaw Ghetto.
5) the fresh food sold there in the marketplace.
6) Warsaw Ghetto Jews cooking "22 pounds of chicken wings on a grill about 18 inches across."
7) Overweight Jews enjoying themselves.
I must have missed all that.
12
It has been a general rule that if a country launches a war of aggression and loses, they lose land.
This was true of Germany after WWI and WWII, of Austria and Turkey after WWI, and of Italy and Japan after WWII.
The Palestinians launched 3 wars of aggression: 1948, 1967, and 1972.
I see no moral reason why any land should be given back to them.
51
Gaza was given back to them, and look what's happened.
8
OK, but then what? The people are still there.
If you rule out a two-state solution (giving back land, plus an economic partnership to make the independent Palestine stable), the remaining courses are a one-state solution (incorporating Palestinians as Israeli citizens)... or a "final" solution of total war and genocide.
I would simply suggest that you look back into the 1948 partitioning before you cite "wars of aggression". Ad then go back even further starting with the Roman Empire, maps are available from many sources to get a good historical picture.
2
Israel continues to treat the tiny coastal enclave like a deadly virus to be quarantined and, other than that, more or less tunes it out.
The closest anyone else in the family has gotten was in 2013, when Mr. Gerim’s sister, Sabreen, now 26, contracted cancer and was allowed to spend a year in Tel Aviv getting treatment.
So which is it? That Israel does not concern itself with the "Palestinians," or that it provided critical medical care to sick "Palestinians?"
19
My attitude towards the Palestinians is similar to my attitude towards all the poor white people who voted for Trump: I have enormous sympathy for them, but there needs to come a point where personal responsibility is considered and some introspection needs to take place. They have received billions of dollars worth of aid, yet squandered it. They buy bombs instead of books. They have no visible interest in expanding civil liberties. I mean, where are all the women in these photos? I always see men. Where is the push for women's rights? I, like a lot of people, cannot in good conscience support these protestors who scream for human rights but don't extend the same courtesy to other people.
31
The lede to the story is irresponsibly simplistic in saying, "More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel."
More than a decade of deprivation and desperation has led thousands of young Gazans not to throw themselves into a bloody protest against Israel. The relevant question is why some do and most don't. At the very least it would be appropriate to examine the leader-led, martyr theology enveloping many of these Palestinian youths. I'm very much an egalitarian and believe Palestinians are just as capable of being mislead by "fake news" and "alternative facts" coming out of the mouths of their leaders as Americans are capable of being mislead by "fake news" and "alternative facts" coming out of the mouths of our leaders.
It takes something other than courage and poverty for groups of people to engage in suicidal behavior, whether we are talking about kamakazi pilots, 9/11 hijackers, suicide bombers, or some of the Gazans. It takes a religious imperative foisted on the masses, usually by leaders who have no intention of making the sacrifice themselves.
12
Perhaps the cruelest thing Israelis have done to the Palestinians was to depart from Gaza and leave the Palestinians to govern themselves. Clearly they are not up to the task. The harsh restrictions placed on Gazans were not implementd out of malice. They were imposed as a direct response to attacks endangering Israel's citizens.
You would think that the Palestinian government in Gaza, Hamas, would respond in a positive way to the dire situation of its people. Instead, it foments actions that are likely to make things worse.
28
As an American non-Jew, the conflict kind of reminds me of the current state of affairs with black - white relations here. The Arab Palestinian culture of eternal exploitation and victimization of its citizens to benefit the “leadership” is a losing strategy but apparently, the only game they’ve got. I don’t identify with that. But I do respect Israel’s culture of success and resilience. And unlike some Christians and Muslims, Jews don’t proselytize.
15
Through all this, It is important for people to realize the Israelis often bring Palestinians to Israel for advanced medical treatment. Mr. Gerim’s sister was treated for cancer...now, do we think the Palestinians would do the same if roles were reversed? I would say no. There are Palestinians who refuse medical treatment, fearful of receiving Israeli blood. That’s the ultimate expression of hate.
If the Palestinians used their money to build, not destroy, Mr. Gerim would have work, might even be educated, but it’s the Palestinians, and other Arab countries who let him down, not the Israelis. What does he want from a people he wants to wipe from the face of the Earth?
26
As a model for genocide, many use the extermination practices of the US against the "native americans" .. suppress them, wait for them to fight back, annihilate with over whelming force ..
12
The Palestinians should be happy and grateful for all that the Jews have done for them; instead they are cross and complain. I don't understand.
9
What a remarkable accompanying photograph. In depicting the dramatic brutality and devastation of war, it's like a Goya painting. And it should be nominated for a Pulitizer prize.
7
I had a similar reaction, that it looks like a 19th-century painting. I had to zoom in before I quite believed it was a photograph. Quite stunning.
1
"Death or life--it's the same thing": that in a nutshell captures how delusional Mr. Gerim is. As if it needed to be said -- no, death is not the same thing as life.
Delusional too is the Palestinian's demand of "right of return" for Gazans who have never lived in Israel.
How about a right of return for the Jews of the Middle East that were forced to leave their homelands? Or maybe we should go back to AD 70 when the Romans destroyed the Jewish homeland and renamed the land "Palestine"? Or is there a statute of limitations which extends 70 years but not 2000 years. What exactly is the time span for it to be OK? In truth there is not a square acre on earth occupied by its original inhabitants, including America.
In the original 1947 partition Israel was smaller than today and all of the West Bank and Gaza was to be Arab. Instead of this compromise solution the Arabs chose war with the goal the destruction of Israel. This same goal remains the core principle of Hamas. Mr Gerim and other Gazans have been taught from an early age to hate Jews and Israel.
If instead of being a Jewish state Israel was just another Muslim nation in the Middle East would Mr Gerim get this coverage?
How different things would be if instead of choosing war and death in 1948 and again after the failure of Camp David in 2001 the Palestinians chose life. But just because Mr Gerim and his cohort seem intent on suicide doesn't mean Israel is obliged to also commit national suicide.
25
The Occupation and Blockade of Gaza is a plague on all our houses. The suffering of these people lays at the feet of not just Israel and Egypt but all of the countries involved in the Balfour Declaration.
With an unemployment rate of 64% in Gaza it is no wonder Saber al-Germin says "It doesn't matter to me if they shoot me or not, death or life, it is the same."
Let us not forget that Trump has with held desperately needed and long provided aid to the Palestinians.
I wish them peace and freedom, something I also wish for the people of this country.
18
There are about 300 million arabs. There are about 2 million arabs in Gaza. The moslems kicked all the jews out of every country in the Middle East, post 1948. (The moslems are now working tirelessly to kick out all the christians.) Israel has offered a home to every expelled jew - approximately 2 million of them, in a country of fewer than 9 million people.
20% of Israel's citizens are arabs, with all the rights of citizenship. Israel is the only functioning democracy in the Middle East. One could argue about Iran, but their are no functioning Arab democracies.
Why don't the moslem nations of the Middle East offer homes to the arabs living in Gaza? They don't want to.
24
The moslem nations of the middle east don't want the Palestinians. The Syrians just bombed a group of them. Somehow that was not reported in the NY Times. Odd.
9
"Why don't the moslem nations of the Middle East offer homes to the arabs living in Gaza?"
For the same reason that Christen Americans will not give homes to Christen South Americans.
1
3 weeks ago, at the height of the previous round of protests, it went completely unreported in the Times that the Israeli military found the longest tunnel yet dug by Hamas into Israel.
Literally, the very same days that the "peaceful protest" was going on above ground, Hamas was digging a long, concrete lined tunnel under Israel's border.
Here is the BBC coverage of that incident.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43775110
Also unreported, there have been more than 10 rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since the start of this year. Yes, they're ineffective, but shouldn't they at least be covered in the press? Wouldn't that provide a little more relevant information?
23
Maybe because a few rockets that didn’t even hit anything is nothing like teenage protestors getting shot in the head by government soldiers weekly over a fence dividing an apartheid state.
4
Thank you for this.
Humanizing, and important for people to read. Well done.
12
Horrible to know we're allied with a regime willing to use live fire to sound and kill innocent protestors. Impossible to buy the IDF claims that these protests pose an existential threat to Israel. Time has shown that Israel's true goal is to maintain the status quo, brutally, as it slowly gobbles up land that would belong to Palestine in a two state solution. As an alliance, the USA is weakened financially and morally compromised by Israel.
28
Hey Robert are you paying attention? The land the Palestinians are standing on when they are protesting is land Israel withdrew from. The border from which the Israeli army is defending the country is the 1967 border. This is where those people who supposedly want peace want Israel to withdraw to.
Did you look at the picture? Do you see all the smoke? The smoke is there to obscure the views of the Israeli soldiers so they can't see who is at the border and what they're doing. You believe the NY Times knows Israel's true goals. I read it every day. The NY Times said no such thing and even if they did does that make it the truth?
If the Israelis can't see, and the people approaching the border state their goal is to kill Israelis then what choice do the Israelis have?
I think you should start paying attention.
17
At least this article, unlike many others, mentioned Egypt. But why is Israel blamed? The official policy of the government in Gaza is to destroy Israel; no enmity towards Egypt. Palestinian terrorists attack Israel, not Egypt. No wonder Israel is defending its border. But why don't the protesters go to the border with Egypt? Egypt has no legitimate reason for preventing Palestinians from leEgyptaving Gaza. The furthest point in Gaza from the border crossing to Egypt is less than 50km away. So do not blame Israel, which has a legitimate reason to defend its border; blame Egypt
25
Palestinians view the 1948 War, the 'Nakba', as the ethnic cleansing of their own country to create a Jewish ethno-state. This has two implications: firstly, for the two million Gazans living in what is essentially a ghetto, they do not view the enclave as a home so much as a displaced persons camp. Secondly, the demand for the 'Right of Return' for refugees. The behaviour of Egypt is a secondary concern, because Palestinians do not want to leave Palestine and go to Egypt, they want a Palestinian State, and many of them want it in what they view as their own villages in present-day Israel.
These desires may be impossible, but they are not wholly unjustified. No matter what moral and intellectual justifications you might offer, the State of Israel violently expelled up to 700,000 Arabs to create itself, and those people and their descendants don't view that as legitimate. What's more, Israel's existence and legitimacy depends on accepting the logic of a diaspora's right to return - an irony I'm sure Palestinians don't particularly appreciate.
10
CV has bought into a narrative that is historically inaccurate and morally questionable.
The so-called Nakba was the result of Arab political decisions that were both foolish and immoral. Had the Palestinians and Arab countries accepted the partition plan, an Arab Palestinian state would have been established in 1948 and there would have been no refugee problem. Instead, the Arabs invaded Palestine with the intention of destroying the nascent Jewish state. The result was the displacement of hundreds of thousand Arabs.
At no point during the 1948 war was there a political or military decision to engage in the ethnic cleansing of Arabs. Some Arabs were indeed expelled for local military reasons. But most of those who left did so for their own reasons, primarily to get out of harms way (cf. Syria). (Approximately one-third of the refugees left before the fighting started.) And, in fact, there was a large population of Arabs remaining in Israel after the war, which is not exactly consistent with ethnic cleansing. Otoh, the Arabs did carry out an efficient program of ethnic cleansing: they expelled each and every Jew from any territory they captured in 1948. Not a single Jew remained in Gaza, the West Bank, or East Jerusalem.
7
The so-called "Palestinians" are a collection of Arabs who came to Israel, or Palestine, as it was called while under Ottoman and then British rule. Their arrival mostly coincided with the arrival of Jews returning to their ancestral homeland and the economic opportunities these Jews brought with them.
Look no further than the subject of the article's grandmother's name,al-Kurdi, i.e. of Kurdish origin.
15
It is simple to blame Israel for Gazians suffering. Truth is, Gaza is miserable. Israel had built houses, infrastructure and city planning but was destroyed by gazians out of pride not to live in israeli built homes. The reason they have limited electricity is because they refuse to pay for electricity; so Israelis use their own tax money to provide the area with at least partial electricity. The pamphlets they laugh about are something the idf does to protect the citizens of Gaza. And, if Gaza is so poor then how can they afford to build underground tunnels costing more then 100million dollars. With only 2 million citizens, that money distributed could make each citizen rich. Israelis have a 25% below poverty rate; pay extremely high taxes for all the money to be invested in security. The citizens of Gaza deserve better then their chosen leaders provide them, filling their private Swiss accounts instead of investing in their people. They have a terrorist group as a leader forcing higher security from Israel. The situation is sad. Tragic! But the blame and solution not as simple as pointing a finger.
29
The yearning for Freedom in a genetic predisposition. Gazans are no different.
Many say that Hamas has led the revolt. The truth is that Hamas is merely a spearhead of a collective angst of an open air prison. Was the month long weekly revolt organized by Hamas? Yes. Was the people in support of that revolt? Yes.
Many of the commentators are opposing Hamas but supporting the angst and the expression. The are politically correct (needed for the society) but logically incorrect.
The real culprit is the international society that has allowed the Gaza Ghetto to exist.
9
Israel left Gaza to the last inch.
Israel also left the settlement infrastructure - roads, greenhouses, water lines etc.
Hamas, intent on destroying Israel, used none to settle Arabs but rather attacked Israel with missiles and out of tunnels dug under the border.
Hamas, having failed to provide Gaza citizens with decent living - diverts the anger against Israel, sending children to sabotage the border fence and get hit by snipers.
11
If they built a society instead of keeping to their 70-year-old goal of destroying Israel, they would have meaning to their life. Israel left the infrastructure for thriving businesses when they left Gaza in 2005. The locals destroyed the buildings instead of continuing the businesses. They could have been exporting flowers all these years, which is a big business. They claim they are starving but even publicity photos never show any emaciated or even poorly dressed people. They claim they are crowded but continue to breed out of control.
When the US cut off its support for the 70-year-old "refugee" agency a Gazan woman was quoted as saying, "Who will look after me, I'm a refugee. I depend on UNRWA for everything." A refugee? Her grandparentss were born where she lives now. When the world stops listening to the whining of the Arab and cuts off the phony refugee agency, they will be forced to actually build a society. Hamas is their enemy. They want Arabs to die for publicity's sake. The hundreds of dead Palestinians in Syria hold no interest for them. They are interested only in showing dead Arabs when Israel is defending itself from their violent attacks. Anyone who thinks Israel should give back land should analyze their thoughts on our returning all US land to the indigenous peoples.
29
Glad to see you finally opened the comments section on of the many articles covering this "Palestinian" thing. Not surprised that the coverage hear is completely one-sided and ultra-left-wing-biased - in a word, antisemitic. Perhaps, had the people of Gaza not elected the terrorist organization, Hamas, as their government (a group which terrorizes its own people more than Israel, although it does a good job terrorizing Israel also) then they wouldn't have such miserable lives. Perhaps, if Gaza's used the little resources they had to rebuild their homes, instead of building tunnels into Israel to launch terrorist attacks, then they would have homes and schools and hospitals and jobs and lives. The people of Gaza chose their own fortunes - where in your article does it say that?
27
Does the NYT ever miss an opportunity to cast Israel as evil? The Muslin world will not rest until Israel is destroyed. Having the people of Gaza throw themselves at the border of Israel is just the latest attempt of Muslim leadership to undermine Israel. The NYT is doing its part.
26
Does the NYT ever miss an opportunity to cast Israel as evil? Sure. All the time. They could write an article like the one Peter Beinart wrote a few days ago outlining recent history of Gaza and how the supporters of Israel constantly repeat myths to absolve Israel of its responsibility for the misery of Palestinians.
Anyway, "evil" is melodramatic. Israel is a major human rights violator which gets away with it in part because Americans support them no matter how badly they behave.
9
pawns.
there's more than plenty of culpability to go around, but it still comes down to the Gaza Arabs, especially the young, bring sacrificed as pawns in someone else's political game.
they obsess about a past most have never known, but the reality is they have had their future stolen.
16
It is deeply disheartening to see the readers of one of the most liberal news papers in the US (that probably consider themselves as intellectuals) are so ignorant about the truth and so willingly embracing the propaganda story on Hamas making bombs and it is not Israel's faults that Gazans have been living like prisoners for a long time...(Just look at the most popular comment attacking NYT for reporting another side of story in Palestinian and Israelis conflict). I wonder if any ever picked a book to read on this topic before braging about seeing picture of nice Malls in Gaza! (Seriously?! Is this really the way we want to argue about this?)
In the end, although we see majority of the NYT readers are passionately critical of Trump supporters for their ignorant, in the core, they are just as ignorant but probably just in different setting. We are all driven by our own interests and cannot stand the truth when it is not aligned with our own wrong beliefs. Like Fox News audience that will not stand tiniest bit of truth about Trump administration, NYT readers cannot stand the truth about Israel and Palestine conflict.
There is a poem by Nezami Ganjavi saying " if the mirror showed your ugliness, don't break the mirror, break yourself." I hope we all learn to accept the truth and fight for it even when it conflicts with our previous beliefs and interests. It is the only way of our salvation in this crazy modern world of lies and deceits.
13
Let's pretend for a moment that all of that is true - why then - do their Egyptian brothers keep the border closed with them?
Could it be that they recognize and work to contain the same terror that Israel struggles against on a daily basis?
Follow the 600,000 tons of stolen cement .
11
Pick up a book and read it? How about going there as I have. I have been to Israel many times and Gaza. Spent a pretty fair amount of time in the Middle East and Egypt. I am well aware of the facts on the ground; self-evident to anyone who cares to actually see rather than having a pre-ordained agenda as do you.
Do you not understand that Gazans were given fully working greenhouse farms and they immediately destroyed them to sell them for scrap? Do you not understand that Gazans were given houses to live in that they didn't build or buy from the Jews? Do you not understand that hospital and school facilities and roads were already built and operational when Gaza was turned over to them? Do you not understand that Gaza gets 100% of its electricity from Israel because the money meant to build a power plant has been used to build tunnels and fund terror strikes, pay "Martyrs" for suicide attacks, and buy rockets? Do you not understand that not a week passes without those rockets being sent randomly into the Israeli population?
You have no idea what you're talking about.
11
Actually, many of have picked up a book(s) to read on this topic and based on fact (not revisionist fact, not propoganda, not made up facts) we still support Israel because the facts are clear.
6
Why blame Israel? Billions have poured into Gaza/Hamas. Where has it gone? What has it been used for? Has Hamas paid it’s power bill Or repaired it’s sewer system yet? Does the New York Times reporter asked the young border crashers if it ever Dawns on them that may be Hamas is the entity they should be protesting?
30
Is there a template for reporting on demonstrations favored by the press? From New York to North Dakota, and now to Gaza, they're all the same. Emphasize the cultural aspects, highlight the industriousness of the inhabitants and the orderliness of their surroundings, etc. Some reporter needs to break that mold, especially when, as in this article, the central conceit turns out to be false. Its subject, Mr. Gerim, held back at the critical moment of the attempt to breach the fence, showing that, in fact, death or life was not the same thing after all.
13
majority of the aide that is sent to gaza is blocked by Israel. Of course there will be unemployment of over 64%, and no prosperity in gaza.
Israel needs to treat the people of gaza as human beings and stop the killings. This is no way to achieve peace.
16
Stand on the Canadian or Mexican borders while lobbing Molotov cocktails and burning tires at USA immigration officers and see what happens.
Why isn't Gaza another Singapore or Hong Kong? Blame it on their leaders who have stolen UN billions to buy penthouses in New York and villas in France and then spending what remained on rockets to aim at Tel Aviv and tunnels to kill babies in their beds.
32
The mess in Gaza is completely the fault of Hamas. They are nothing but a brutal gang of Islamic thugs. They siphon off whatever money they get to built terror tunnels, buy weapons, and fund lavish lifestyles. The people of Gaza are at their mercy.
Israel bears no fault whatsoever. They took the courageous (stupid, really) route of turning over Gaza and its infrastructure built by Israel to the Gazans at NO COST. The deal was land for peace. The Gazans got the land; but Israel got no peace. And the Hamas charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
31
I am so sick and tired of reading comments in this paper and the WSJ that dismiss the suffering of the Palestinians with one excuse after the next: they just want to kill Israelis, they all are with Hamas, they have done this to themselves, they have been doing this for centuries, they should want to live instead of die, they don't try hard enough to better themselves. Americans did the same thing when when the Serbs were killing the Bosnian's. The fact is that Israel has created a ghetto out of Gaza and the world stands by. Every responsible newspaper should be sending journalists to cover the current protest and document every second of it.
38
Wow and I thought that the report was over the top pro-Gazan. Eye of the beholder, I guess.
12
MC,
Thanks for telling it like it is. Israel got a huge partisan break in 1948, the Arabs were unprepared to battle for their confiscated land, and the track of history was set. How there can be peace is a huge question, but certainly Israelis have to have some sort of empathy for what has happened to the Palestinians, by the cause of history, by the Israelis, and by the Palestinians themselves. Israel is definitely top dog here. Why not give back some of the land it has, so it seems, illegally misappropriated? Why not allow more Palestinians of good will -- properly vetted -- to work in Israel? Why is there not more compassion on each side, and less hatred?
4
Just like article on victims of chemic as long attack are pro victim.
Yet another article by the Times on this topic = another heart tugging piece on the poor helpless Palestinian whose only wish is to tend the olive groves of his ancestors, hoping for peace and justice in the face of the cold hearted Israeli occupation . . . Is the push for a Pulitzer that great, the photos alone must be up for a National Geographic award for the best capture of a staged heroic struggle? It has been said before but the Gazans have a choice, keep up the futile protests or get down to the business of nation building.
31
I think much of the world is really getting tired of the Palestinians. I wonder what they intended to do if they breached the fence? Then what?
26
Actually, I just read (in another media source) that the Saudi Prince is pushing the Palestinians to come to the negotiating table with a "start negotiating or shut up" statement. Too bad the NYT can't see fit to report on leading Arab countries losing patience with the conflict. Come to the table, negotiate, and help your people instead of inciting violence.
13
The Times describes Gazans as wanting to return to homes “their forebears left behind in 1948.” Would it not be more accurate to say homes “from which their forebears were forced to flee in 1948”? The belief that the Palestinians left because their Arab leaders told them to and that Israel is therefore not responsible for causing them to leave has turned out to be a myth. Archival evidence shows a premeditated ethnic cleansing campaign designed to cause the Palestinians to flee so that Israel could be a Jewish-majority state on territory beyond the borders recommended by the United Nations partition resolution. This campaign began well before Israeli statehood was unilaterally declared and the Arab states attacked. Sadly, the ethnic cleansing continues today in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while Gaza, which has a largely refugee population, has been under siege. What Israel is “defending” with its sniper attacks against Palestinians is the “right” to keep the land and property it stole from the Palestinians, whose right to return, despite numerous U.N. resolutions affirming that right, Israel has ignored. For the sake of peace and the reputation of world Jewry, it is time to bring this conflict to an end by allowing Palestinians to return and creating a society in which both Palestinians and Jews have equal rights, dignity, freedom, and self-determination.
20
All of the Arabs who did not flee Israel in 1948 are Israeli citizens. Yes, Israel did everything they could to get many to flee, but many arabs left at the urging of the Arab governments.
All the jews have been expelled from every Arab nation. The state of Israel offered a home to every jew who wanted one. Why can't 300 million arabs do the same for their Arab brothers and sisters?
9
Oh, come on. This is completely one sided. There are 2 million Arabs living among Jews in Israel; I do not believe there is a single Jew living among Arabs in Gaza, and if there was no Israeli army defending them, there would be no single Jew living in the West Bank. Who is ethnically cleansing whom?
8
They tried that, then when the wars came the Palestinians joined the Arabs and fought against that "society", then started blowing themselves up when Israel beat the Arab countries back. The "open air prison" status of Gaza is the result of decades of Palestinians refusing to let that society exist.
6
zionism is based on jews vs. goyim! as long as that philosophy exists, you will have more colonized Palestine natives die! and more ''articles'' written, but nothing changed!
5
Why is it that the comments on this thread are so overwhelmingly unsympathetic to the Gaza Palestinians, yet right below the article, adjacent to it, is a story reporting Pompeo's approval of Israeli Gazan attacks, and the majority of the comments there are sympathetic to the Palestinians? That doesn't make a bit of sense. I would even go so far as to wonder if there isn't something weird, something irregular, going on. Seriously! Why should two articles, essentially about the same issue, inspire opposite reactions from the same NYT readers?
13
It makes complete sense.. most readers are liberals who distrust Pompeo and do feel sympathy for the Palestinian's plight. However, they're also smart and are fed up of Palestinians constant whining and realize that their plight is deep down their own fault for having such idiotic leaders for 70 years
10
That's an interesting point, Jim. One possibility is that there are orchestrated or semi-orchestrated efforts to get readers to discourage coverage by the NYT that gives credence to a Palestinian narrative. (I do not know whether this is actually the case, BTW). In any case, I suspect that this article particular touches a nerve since the question of Palestinian displacement and a right to return raises fundamentally difficult and uncomfortable questions about the foundation of Israel.
“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
- Golda Meir
https://www.haaretz.com/golda-meir-s-gems-did-she-really-say-that-1.5371930
48
The big lie in Gaza is that Israel, not Gaza's Hamas rulers, is mainly responsible
for the terrible ills of its populace. And that from the start the Arab world
has refused - even despite some of the present rhetoric - to accept the
existence of a tiny Jewish state in its midst says it all, not the shilly shallying
rhetoric of Israel's detractors...and haters. The takeover of Gaza by Hamas
after the complete Israeli pullout is perhaps only one indicator of what might
yet happen if the same things happen elsewhere. No wonder so many
Israelis, almost all of whom were once refugees either from Europe or
the Mideast - know this.
27
Hamas in effect weaponized these people. Hamass explicitly encouraged the population to rush the fence, telling them they would die as martyrs. No matter how reprehensible Netanyahu's policies may be, the blame for this latest outrage rests solely with the Gaza government. The only thing that will solve this problem is the restoration of governance by the Palestinian Authority, which contrary to Hamas, is not a terrorist organization.
23
The most remarkable aspect is that world leaders still believe they can talk of peace when Gazans are confined to this open air prison. Palestinians must have a sovereign homeland that has both rights and responsibilities that are guaranteed and enforced by the UN.
12
In open air prison that has billions pouring into it. Maybe instead of taking Tara channels Hamas can try getting the economy Started.
6
and they should be handed everything they want without questions or conditions because Jews.
4
Just withdraw the Egyptian guards from the "open air" prison
2
Where is the Palestinian Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela? So many commenters lay blame for the despair of Palestinians on Israel, but it was not Israelis which rejected the 1948 partition of the British Mandate, it was Israel's Arab neighbors. In the following decades, the leaders Israel's Arab neighbors tried war to destroy Israel, while the PLO and Hamas advocated the destruction of Israel through terrorism and violence. Nonetheless, in the past 18 years, Israel twice offered peace terms to Palestinians that gave Palestinians 95 percent of their demands, yet Yassir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas rejected these proposals. Simply put, the Palestinians have been the author of their own misery.
28
if Arafat or Abbas had accepted the Israeli offers, or negotiated even better terms, a settlement would have put them out of a job. so, it didn't happen.
5
Any wonder Arafat died a billionaire? Too bad he didn't spend any of that money on peace instead of his Swiss bank account?
4
Where is the Palestinian Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela?
He has been assassinated. Along with hundreds of others. https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Kill-First-Targeted-Assassinations/dp/140006...
1
Israel continues to slide and solidify its status as a pariah.
8
Not what I'm seeing in these comments. Hamas continues to hold its own people hostage, drive them to martyrdom, deprive them of funds and a way to make a living. Israel feeds them and keeps the lights on. Egypt and Saudi Arabia want nothing to do with such a useless bunch of whiners. It is the Palestinians who continue to slide and make themselves irrelevant. This is a death cult; we are all getting sick of trying to stop them from killing themselves.
12
Gaza is Palestinian self-rule. This is what you get when you allow the so-called "Palestinians" autonomy and self-governance: you get state-sanctioned mass murder (lifetime stipends paid to the families of suicide bombers), redirected humanitarian aid transformed to weaponry, utter indifference to the needs of its people (hospitals, housing, healthcare, roads, bridges, libraries) and complete obsession with war against Israel.
I say so-called because the Palestinian as a singular nationality is incorrect; "Palestinians" are in fact a collection of Arab peoples who populated the specific land now known as Israel in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They are Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, Jordanian and so forth in their origins. "Palestine", the name itself is simply a British term denoting the region they controlled during that time. Thus, the identity of a Palestinian is itself a misnomer, misunderstood by many.
It is worth noting that none of the Palestinians' Arab brethren have ever offered them land to build their nation. And they have plenty of it, just look at a map. It's almost comical that of all the land in the Middle East, this minute sliver between the Red & Mediterranean Seas is the land these Arabs want.
31
The American taxpayer should no longer be forced to subsidize Israel. I have been to the country, and the people are great. At issue is not Israeli’s or Jewish people, but the actions of the morally reprehensible government of Israel, which for over half a century has continued its “temporary” occupation of Palestinian Arabs (Christians, Muslims, etc.). Until the Israeli government abides by international law and listens to us, we should end their subsidies. If they want to take unilateral actions against the wishes of our country and the world, then they should walk alone and not drag our reputation along with them.
10
I think you need to do some history reading. Based on what has happened since Israel withdrew from Gaza there is no reason to believe it would be secure from further with drawls. As for our taxpayer dollars, A great deal of it comes back when they buy US products such as our aircraft.
10
Hey, if its such a great deal let's reverse it. We wouldn't want to take advantage. Israel should give the USA $4,000,000,000/year and we will spend it on Israeli arms.
How sad for the Palestinians that they have to suffer the consequences of their own actions. The next time you see a country welcoming a violent, bomb throwing mob into their country for a hug, let me know. If they live in poverty, the most subsidized people on the planet should ask Hamas why most of the money we send to Gaza goes for tunnels and rockets. The article could have mentioned the mansions of the Hamas leaders, could have mentioned that Egypt keeps a closed border, could have mentioned that Israel allows hundreds of trucks of supplies into Gaza every day. But then if those things were mentioned then it wouldn't be a front page NYTimes article.
If the people of Gaza are miserable, they should blame themselves for voting into power a fundamentalist death cult a dozen years ago. The Arabs rule over 99% of the land in the middle east, 22 countries. There is enough room for the residents of Gaza, distant descendants of the Arabs who fled the Egypt's genocidal attack on Israel in 1948, to move to one of the 22 Arab dictatorships in the region if they don't like living in a place ruled by Palestinians.
32
The bottom line is that Israel was created out of Palestine. Hey you people in New Jersey leave your homes without compensation as a new state is being formed on the land in which you live to create a homeland for a people who suffered immeasurably during WWII. if you Jerseyites don't move out fast enough you might be massacred. This is what happened to the Palestinians. The land of Palestine was 70% Arab until 1947. The Palestinians have never been offered a fair deal--they have been offered only what Israel was willing to give, that is, at best 16% of the land cut up into non-contiguous cantons, whose natural resources, and air, sea, and land is controlled by Israel The interloper gets to decide the fate of the indigenous population they have displaced. Wye was accepted by Israel with 200 caveats including that they are allowed to use their massive military against a people that has no weapons other than rifles and in Gaza some homemade rockets. Americans are considered Israel's enabler and as such are the targets of hate. A political solution is desperately needed.
11
Pre-World War II Jews were also called Palestinians. Arabs were 70% of the population in an area that was not totally in habited. Most of the land the early settlers farmed was purchased from Arab Landowners. Unfortunately in the 1930s and 1940s the British responded to the Arab leaders demands, and severely limited jewish immigration When it was desperately needed to save some human beings in Europe.
7
Okay. And much of Georgia and Tennessee was once the home of the Cherokees. And the Turks from Asia displaced the Anatolians. Spanish people took over almost all of South and Central America. The Anglo Saxons encroached on the Celts in England, then the Vikings invaded and then the French. Where are the political solutions to all these injustices? Now we call it history and learn to live with it.
7
But the USA doesn't have 2,000,000 Cherokees in an open air prison. That is the issue.
1
Another blatantly biased anti Israel article from the New York Times. Why is there not a single reference to the fact that Israel left Gaza to the Palestinians and they turned it into a terror state? Why is there no mention that the current economic instability is a result of years of the hamas government spending international aid funds on building terrorist tunnels rather than economic development? Why is there no mention that when Israel left Gaza, they left behind an agriculture industry that could have enabled the government to provide for its people, but instead they chose to Burn it all down and fire rockets from schools for ten years. Israel does not control Gaza. Hamas does. Stop pointing the blame elsewhere and look inwards
27
I hope those supporters of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, including members of groups like Hamas that engage in unjustified and inexcusable killings and attempted killings of Israelis, will read this story. Maybe this story will enable the person whose comment questioned my own moral integrity for criticizing Israel's assassinations of a Hamas member after killing 18 members of his family (and those readers who registered agreement with him) to see somehow beyond his own moral myopia that prevents him from understanding why Palestinians are so desperate and angry that they would join groups like Hamas and want to lash out lethally against Israelis. Maybe he would try to understand why Palestinians feel Israelis keep them imprisoned in Gaza and, along with their relatives and friends in the West Bank, in a state of continuing humiliation and degradation. But such hardcore supporters of the Netanyahu government and its policies appear to be so willfully blind to what Israel is doing to its Palestinian neighbors that they probably don't see the harm it is also causing to Israelis, diplomatically, economically and morally.
This is not the Israel that I fell in love with about 60 years ago. She has really gone astray. And there don't seem to be any leaders there capable of bringing her back to her senses. I pray she will somehow find her way back as one of the world's great moral leaders.
4
Let's say the Israelis pick a new, much better leader, one free from corruption, who stops the building of settlements, stops taking an eye for an eyelash, and proposes a new two state solution which s/he stands by with actions as well as words. Who in Hamas would take that deal? No one.
2
After five wars and years of terrorism, as Golda Meir said they would like to be liked but not to the point of committing suicide. We attacked Canada and lost. Rather than continue barking up that tree, founding fathers had the good sense to focus on creating a country instead. Hummus is more concerned with destroying Israel then creating a functioning government to care for its people.
4
No one is asking, let alone expecting, Israelis to "commit suicide" or to make friends with Hamas. All people like me want is for Israel to be able to live in permanent peace with its Arab neighbors and to stop violating the human rights and misappropriating the properties of the Palestinians in the meantime. Is that too much to ask?
It really gets tiresome to hear Israelis and their supporters justify and excuse Israel's daily humiliations and other mistreatment of Palestinians and the taking of their property on the specious if not phony grounds that Israeli security interests and fundamentalist Judaism require those measures. Israel is not at risk of "destruction" by anyone, much less the pitiable Palestinians. So can we at least be honest for once and stop using the fear-mongering, false excuse of Israel is at risk of being "driven into the sea" unless it continually intimidates, bullies, bludgeons and bloodies its helpless neighbors? For the truth seems to be that most Israelis believe the Arabs are an inferior people who do not deserve to occupy their remaining portions of Palestine except as quasi prisoners in Gaza.
2
The blame rests squarely on Hamas who has chosen death and destruction over a better life for the people they rule over. Of course, for a Palestinian in Gaza to say that is a death sentence.
20
It seems like Mr. Gerim, a captive in Gaza, is a victim of both Israeli and Hamas policies. However, which side is forcing him -a non-terrorist- to remain there ?
Back in March a Jewish citizen was stabbed and killed by a Palestinian in Jerusalem - a tragic, horrific crime. Here in the imperfect democracy of the United States the man would have been brought to trial and, if convicted, served a very long time in prison. In the "democracy" that is Israel he was shot on the spot. His parents' house in the West Bank was bulldozed, and over 50 of his relatives had their work permits revoked. Is this just, proportional, or legal ?
7
The Israeli defense policy of appearing "crazier than thou" has served them well as a tiny state surrounded by death cult Islamic countries.
5
Question: did he still have his weapon when he was shot? The debate on the usefulness of destroying the family’s House continues in Israel. But ignoring the context in which Israelis live every day of their lives, Is disingenuous. It is also not truthful to note that most Palestinian terror arrests are arrested, tried and also serve prison sentences. How Our street assassins treated in the surrounding countries?
4
Only days ago, Saudi Arabia in its long-running campaign in Yemen bombed a wedding party, killing dozens of Yemeni civilians. The New York Times published one brief article that did not permit readers to comment on that story. It was the first story on the killing by Saudi Arabia and its many allies in Yemen in weeks. Why doesn't the New York Times devote as much energy to informing readers on dozens of Yemenis being killed? Last week, the PBS NewsHour ran a segment that detailed the ongoing genocide of Rohingya by the Myanmar government. How many articles has The Times run this year on the thousands of Rohingya displaced and killed?
16
Ugh, a lot. I'm sick of hearing about Rohingya and Yazidis and people who never exist to the world except when they are being slaughtered. I'm sure that's not moral or pc, but it is very hard to rend one's garments about every single manifestation of too-many-people-and-not-enough-resources.
2
There is no right of return for Palestinians into Israel. In 1948, the United Nations voted to partition the British Mandate in Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab state. Jewish leaders accepted this partition plan, their Arab neighbors did not.
15
A veritable tragedy of suffering, wasted lives and potential. But what can one expect when a culture indoctrinates its young from the very start with hate: hate for Israel, for Jews, for the West, for all non-Muslims.
Palestinians are not the only people who have been displaced from their homeland. After World War II, there were over twenty million displaced persons around Europe and the Far East. Where are they today? They are not demonstrating against Germany or Japan for the return of their former homes and property. I'm not weighing in on the Israel-Palestinian conflict in general; their are rights and wrongs on both sides. But the continued isolation of the Palestinians from their co-religionists in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, et. al. is practically unique in modern times.
A genuine tragedy for these poor people; pawns of Israel and the Arab countries both.
9
If this article were to be taken seriously, the entire problem could be solved by the United Nations installing a Salt Water Desalination Plant and a free gym.
Romanticizing the Gaza mess really isn't helpful - certainly, not to the locals on either side, who have to live (and maybe die) with it.
5
The hopelessness of young Palestinian men is a tragedy. But Gaza is no longer an occupied land. It was turned over to the Palestinians by the Israelis. And, as this article points out, the blockade against Gaza is being overseen by Israel and Egypt. But do we see Palestinians massing on the Egyptian border? Are they calling for an end to the Egyptian blockade? Do they claim the Egyptians are "occupiers"? These protests, which are staged along with bbqs and socializing, are a public relations campaign meant to exploit Palestinian suffering at Israel's expense. The vilification of Israel with the hope of its ultimate destruction is their objective. Even the picture associated with this news story plays along, placing the Palestinian forces on the right side while fires on the Israeli side head toward them. But these are fires the Palestinians themselves have set by throwing molotov cocktails, not fires the Israelis have set to threaten these men. Israel is not the singular enemy of the Palestinians, but Israel has consistently been the Palestinians target. In good conscience we should ask ourselves whether we are abetting this unequal distribution of responsibility and thereby creating an atmosphere that will promote further senseless violence.
10
I recently went to POLIN, the Museum of the History of Jews in Poland, to pay my deepest respects to those who, 75 years ago, bravely began the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. I live several blocks from the Ghetto wall remnants. As I see the situation in Gaza, which, to be clear is different, I am saddened by Israel's blockade and collective punishment of the people living there. Most of Gaza's population are refugees, displaced into what is a de facto open air prison. Israel has committed acts that violate international law, attacking civilians who are protesting for dignity, killing journalists who are clearly marked as press, and all of this by heavily armed snipers, who shoot at unarmed protesters. The horrors of the Shoah cannot be forgotten. And the need for a place where Jews are safe is essential. However we cannot ignore the forced expulsion and now concentration of Gazans into a terrible Gazan Ghetto. Israel cannot be allowed to continue to bomb, kill and shoot at an entire population that it views as inferior. The lessons of WW2 need to be applied. Refugees have a right to return, Israel must become a secular and democratic state, enfranchising those displaced by its founding. Natalie Portman's brave statements against Israel's violence, and some hard right Israeli politicians calls to strip her of her citizenship, belies the notion that Israel is a safe place for all Jews. We must reject antisemitism, and we must support the people Gaza who are standing for freedom.
93
The total irresponsibility of Hamas is responsible for what is happening in Gaza, not Israel.
11
Please note that the march is to reclaim the land - remove Jews and Israel from existence - what those Arabs who fought in 1948 had hoped would happen. But, the five Arab armies did not push all the Jews into the sea as promised. Those who fled went to camps in lands that were to be part of the Palestinian State, but were, from 1948-1967, "occupied" by either Jordan or Egypt. Right now, Syria destroys Palestinians, but the world is silent, because it is focused on the "inhumane" blockade of Gaza. Finally, really compare the "ghetto" of Gaza to that ghetto fighting Hitler 75 years ago in Warsaw. If you look at the facts, you will see that there was quite a significant different treatment and rational for what the Germans did and what Israel is doing. Hamas says it wants to destroy Israel and kill all Jews. Should Jews should just ignore these words and actions?. Then what? A repeat of what happened in WWII? Hamas builds tunnels to kibbutzes and promise to kill Israeli residents, and Israel has no right to do anything to stop such "peaceful" actions and protect its own? As to forced evacuations, had the Arab armies not attacked, there would have been a Palestinian state in 1948 and no refugees. Also, the refugees pushed out of the surrounding Arab countries in which they had lived for centuries have been accepted into Israel and elsewhere and are now productive citizens. Only Palestinian refugees sit in camps, waiting for generations to return "Home"...
9
Perhaps all those Germans displaced after WWII should have the right to return to East Prussia, as well?
7
how awful that he feels living or dying is the same thing. How warped is that? Jews who lived in real ghettos (pit there by anti semitic populations/rulers) throughout history never stopped trying to make life better for themselves against enormous odds. They never equated life and death. Even the Jews during the Holocaust who were in Concentration Camps did what they could to stay alive against enormous odds. They learned, and helped one other even while suffering. There are numerous stories of people sharing the little food they had with each other. No overweight prisoners there.
25
We are all temporary keepers of the Book of Life.
2
I suppose the Palestinians are fortunate that Israel is giving them the opportunity to learn the proper way to respond to oppression.
As Israeli atrocities reach new lows, so do the rationalizations of their supporters.
6
The blame-the-victim, Israel apologists are again out in force. To them I say stop living in an echo chamber - your lame arguments and sophistry are of no interest to most of the world, which sees only the brutality of Israel's rigorous oppression of the Palestinians. The world is looking. Israel is the face of Judaism and it's behavior is bad for Jews everywhere. We are not the ultra right wing ultra Orthodox people of the ruling Netanyahu coalition.
36
I'm looking, and I see no Gandhi, no Mandela, no MLK Jr. among this lot. Just a death cult with tire fires.
9
Israel is not the face of Judaism. To conflate the two creates yet another opportunity to express anti-Semitism.
4
Blame the victim. It's there fault because they have no Gandhi.
No money for Hamas in peace. It's simple.
8
Terrible to think that Palestinians value life so little!
If their leaders would pass on the money to the people instead of stealing it (Hamas today, and Arafat in the past), and concentrated on peace and building an infrastructure, then maybe the West Bank would change. To continue on the course of tunnels, riots, killing of Jews is sheer madness!
30
Hard hearts and certainty pervade the comments to this sad tale. No wonder the conflict never ends, no one cares.
13
The rioting Hamas-driven mobs make it awfully hard to care. I interviewed a student in Gaza for MIT. He got admitted. I have no idea what he is doing during these Fridays. I have no idea if he'll be able to get out and come to the US to attend MIT. But if he is willingly participating in these foolish acts of martyrdom, I have no sympathy, even for this fine, brilliant young man. Life and death are not the same.
4
Not a word about sitting down with Israel and discussing peacefully rebuilding Gaza and developing the West Banks. Germans and Japanese did that after WWII and look at those nations today! Borders change after war and the losers always suffer but where is that acceptance! The Palestinian leader, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem spent WWII in Berlin, leading an Muslim SS unit. His side lost in 1945 and again in 1948 and 1967. It is long past time for the world to insist Palestinians lay down their arms, talk to Israel and and build a nation.
40
Instead of directing their anger towards Israel the Palestinians should be blaming their own leaders and other Arab states for the quandary they are in. There have been numerous opportunities since 1948 for the Palestinians to have their own state, living in peace with Israel, but their leaders have never accepted it. Also, 25% of Israeli citizens are actually Arabs whose families chose to remain in Israel in 1948 instead of leaving under orders of Arab leadership. It's time for the Gazans to turn against Hamas and approach Israel with an olive branch instead of a rock, fire bomb, or rocket.
34
What does one think would happen when you take land and property from someone, then lock them in a concentration camp for decades?
25
A concentration camp with malls, water parks, amusement parks, open air markets with plenty of fresh food.
I am a Palesinian by birth and Jewish by faith.
I was born in what was renamed Palestine by the Romans who occupied my ancestral homeland (and crucified Jesus during that time).
Over the years, there has also been a Muslim occupation.
Arabs have always fought the Jews in the Land of Israel a.k.a. Palestine and in mid-20th century, when Jews have returned from post-Holocaust Europe and from pogroms in the neighboring Arab countries where they have been living - the Arabs began attacking Jews on a larger scale.
When the UN's predecessor - the League of Nations - decided on the partition of the land between a Jewish state and an Arab state, five Arab countries attacked Israel. They lost the war and a large part of the Arab population fled, to become refugee camp residents for 70 years. The Arabs who stayed in Isrsel became full citizens enjoying full rights.
For 70 years Israel has become from a Jewish refugee absorbing country to a world leafer in innovation, science, industry etc., winning numerous Nobel prizes in the process.
Arabs, on the other hand, in spite of billions of Dollars in aid, perpetuated their misery anf fought Israel using terror as a wrapon.
Does one have to pity one who killed his parents and begs for mercy as an orphan? I do not think so.
If Palestinian Arsbs wanted peace and resolution of the problem - they would have certainly found a counterpart in Israel. Palestinians by their own have, for the last 70 years, been their worst enemy.
192
"If Palestinian Arsbs wanted peace and resolution of the problem - they would have certainly found a counterpart in Israel."
What's the evidence for this?
5
What's the evidence if the Palestinian Arabs wanted peace and resolution they would have an Israeli counterpart? Jordan's population is 70% Palestinian and its King Hussein signed a peace treaty with the Israelis, as well as helped President Clinton to negotiate the Rabin-Arafat accords after Oslo. There's your evidence.
10
Just a small correction: The League of Nations agreed to the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” but it was under the United Nations General Assembly that nations officially voted, on 29 November 1947, to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, thus reaffirming Jewish right to self-determination in the land of Israel.
3
Overall, the article does a good job of showing the desperation and utter waste of human potential that continues to flow from the Israeli blockade of Gaza, aided by tacit US and Egyptian support and failed leadership from Hamas and Fatah. However, in the section where the authors describe the young man's grandmother's exodus from Ashdod, they do not discuss why she (and 700,000 other Palestinians) left. They did not leave voluntarily but were forced out in a massive case of ethnic cleansing by Jewish fighters as the state of Israel was brought into being. This issue is the crux of the problem and the justification for Palestinians' continued insistence on their right to return - a right recognized by international law many times over. This is an essential component of the story that makes the rest make sense.
33
I doubt the One God intended people of the Jewish faith to be GIVEN land to form nation. The Allied nations had no right to hand over the Holy lands of THREE faiths from one sovereign nation to create another. Period. Yet they did, and until the Israeli's allow the Palestinians to come home and live together in Godly brotherhood, what is happening now and has been happening for 70 years will continue. Yep, one form of genocide to another.
17
Here we have three different variations of the same sect waging a population growth war for political and economic hegemony. This has been the root cause of wars since the first hunter-gatherer tribes wiped out the game and vegetation they depended upon. Now there are 50 great grandsons pining to return to each of their forebear's olive groves long since paved-over.
1
"live together in Godly brotherhood"?
What kind of ganja marijuana are you smoking?
The Arab peoples have been fighting the Israelis ever since Israel was created in 1948. Israel has moved on to become the 14th largest economy in the world, and has borne many Nobel Laureates, created new ways of farming and agriculture, and created many new industries. What have the rich Arab nations done beside rest on their laurels and get those huge oil revenue checks?
The rich oil nations have the money and means to resettle the Palestinians and Gaza people, but they simply don't want to , nor do they want them.
Why is that?
13
The Gazans and West Bank residents can't even stand each other. The Sunnis and Shias hate each other. Live together in godly brotherhood? I've got a bridge to sell you.
5
This is not ancient history, there are many people alive today that remember the events that created the Jewish State and the aftermath. It is impossible to gain any accurate perspective when only one side is highlighted like this. Remove the whole drape that covers the painting and look at the whole picture, not just onecorner of it. I suggest a reading of "Parallel Realities" by Eric Black.
6
If Gaza is s prison, the blame sits squarely on the backs of Hamas who have terrorized their own people. Hamas has killed far more Palestinians than Israel, often abducting their victims leaving mosques after Friday prayers and dragging them from behind motorcycles to their deaths. You won’t see much coverage of that though
59
Apparently reporting Hamas's murdering of Palestinians (or that of Syrian's murdering Palestinians) does not fit neatly into the editorial agenda of the NY Times. The paper seems to have forgotten to label its editorials as such or even as "Opinion", and now labels it "Middle East". Then again, based on the NYT's history of reporting in the Middle East I suppose readers already know that they are going to get "Opinion", so why bother with the obvious?
Not that there is any bias intended. Of course, indeed not.
Every dime wasted on this senseless and futile endeavor is a dime not invested in the future of Gaza and it's inhabitants.
I'm sure his neighbors home was destroyed by the airstrike because it was publishing "Give Peace a Chance" in Arabic.
How much steel, cement, and aid money is diverted to tunnel building?
Is there a metric that does the cost per meter of tunnel dug allowing for depth? Could you tell us?
And what could be built above ground instead that would benefit people living in tents?
It costs the Israeli's too. Strike aircraft are in the 30-40K USD per hour. Plus munitions. Keeping a nation on alert.
Two groups of people who allegedly have business heads seem to be intractably stupid about the costs of war.
If you tie in facial recognition software to a scope mounted atop a rifle, you can have a go-no go signal based on target recognition.
If I can imagine it, it's already been done.
12
Hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries, thrown out of their homes after the founding of modern Israel have been able to get integrated into their new homeland or in other countries. Jewish refugees from European countries, survivors of the holocaust, have been able to build new lives in Israel and many other countries. Other refugees from countries all over the world have been able to start new lives, rebuild themselves and their families.
Why have the Palestinien refugees remained in camps, unable to immigrate to any of the other Arab countries, or any other countries in the world for nearly 70 years? Rather than focus on trying to destroy Israel, accept its existence, integrate these poor people from the refugee camps into other countries. Allow them to build their lives in peace and dignity. Look forward, build, stop trying to destroy.
52
The Palestinians and Hamas and the PLO deserve plenty of criticism. But I'm struck by some of the comments here and those in response to prior articles on Gaza demonstrations that adamantly support the harsh and disproportionate Israeli response. Aside from dismissing very real and legitimate Palestinian claims and grievances (as well as dehumanizing the Palestinians and devaluing Palestinian life), some of the comments ignore the fact that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was less than complete (the Israeli military controls the airspace and most of the borders) and that the Israeli post-Oslo offers had very significant strings attached (control of borders, airspace, unequal land swaps, other restrictions). Maybe this is just another example of people ignoring facts to confirm and rationalize pre-existing biases and beliefs.
24
Hamas controls Gaza and their aim is to destroy Israel. Then. why is so strange that Israel control Gaza borders?
7
I'll add that the article by Messrs. Abuheweila and Halbfinger was not only interesting but also (by the standards of a mainstream U.S. media outlet) courageous, with unpleasant facts that obviously challenged some readers. I hope that the flood of comments that objected to the coverage of Gazan and Palestinian perspectives does not deter the NYT from similar articles in the future. But we'll see.
1
Palestinians could have been thriving in their own country for decades by now, if they had accepted any of the peace offers. Israel was even eager and willing to help them thrive. But they turned away and chose hatred.
50
Complete nonsense. The NY Times which invented the term "genocidal non-violent demonstrations" in a recent editorial will invent any story if the goal is to condemn Israel.
Hamas was elected. If Gazans are desperate maybe they should have considered that before they voted.
Economic desperation has been a moronic explanation for terrorism and violence for over a century. It has been disproven ad nauseum. The September 11th hijackers were wealthy, improving economic conditions doesn't matter, Israel preserved Gaza's infrastructure when they left Gaza and the Palestinians destroyed it. Only morons still believe this matters.
Finally, if the goal is to get Israel to retreat to the 1967 borders than an assault on the 1967 borders needs to not only be rejected but Israel's defense of its borders needs to be supported.
If you want to convince the Israelis they will get peace by retreating to the 1967 borders than condemning Israel for defending their borders simply reinforces what everyone in Israel already understands. Retreat means weakness, negotiations mean weakness, weakness means more terror.
Israel has every right to defend its border. Gazans can demonstrate non-violently anywhere they want except at a border. This is a cruel, callous, genocidal attempt by Hamas, which stated the goal of the demonstrations is to kill as many Jews as possible, to garner international sympathy.
Publishing this article enables them.
79
So sad. And, apologists continue to defend Israel. If it wasn’t for the Jews like the Jewish Voices for Peace, all Jews will get a bad name as heartless oppressors. These poor Gazans want ‘liberty or death’. The world watches. It’s a shame.
33
Why exactly will "all Jews get a bad name" if not for groups like Jewish Voices for Peace? Is this one activist group really the only thing keeping the world from condemning all Jews as "heartless oppressors"?
In the ongoing debate over the situation in the Middle East, the argument frequently circles to whether criticism of the Israeli government or policy is antisemitic. And it's a valid point that some supporters of Israel tend to label criticism of Israeli policy as
Antisemitism too easily.
That being said, conflating "all Jews" with Israel or Israeli policy is antisemitic. It's antisemitic in the same way that conflating all Muslims with the government of any predominantly Muslim country is Islamophobic.
There is no excuse or justification for blaming world Jewry for Israeli government policy. And there's no reason to assume that just because a Jewish person hasn't joined Jewish Voices for Peace, that his or her view on the conflict isn't nuanced, let alone that this makes them a "heartless oppressor."
Almost universally, calls for peace include calls to stop generalizing and demonizing groups of people. There's no reason why your sense of compassion for Palestinians in Gaza has to be tainted by cruel generalizations about Jews (or even Israelis, for that matter).
3
Yes Andrew, if actions taken in the name of a ‘Jewish State’ will unfortunately rub on all Jews, unless voices are raised. Muslims must speak out against the actions of groups like ISIS, if they act in the name of what the group claims as an Islamic State. Jews have contributed to the welfare of the world. Israeli government needs to act according to democratic and international values.
1
[Apologies, my earlier comment submitted before it was done].
1,000,000 well-trained clinical psychologists might not be enough to cure Gazans of the psychological projection that blames the Israelis for their situations instead of looking inward. First, if they want to look outward, look west toward Egypt, which administered their territory for decades and maintains a blockade just as severe as that of the Israelis. Egypt speaks their language and is a natural trading partner. Fix that. Second, look inward. When aid flows in from international agencies, and ends up lining the pockets of Hamas and expresses in the walls of attack tunnels, maybe what should be rushed with crowbars is not the border fence, but the Hamas buildings in Gaza City.
44
Gaza's beef is with the UN. Why is Gaza not an independent state? Israel left it 10 years ago. Egypt, a former occupier, wants nothing to do with it. Right now it's a big nothing. Is there a similar situation anywhere else in the world?
The UN should grant statehood to Gaza immediately, whether or not Gaza wants it or asks for it.
There's your independent Palestinian state. Gaza.
As far as the West Bank becoming an independent state goes, that ship has sailed. The best that West Bank Arabs can hope for is a measure of self-rule, like Quebec gets from Canada.
19
most interesting thing I find about this article is that while stopped reading comments after about 20, almost none of the readers who cared to comment are buying the portrait...interesting
11
Because the entire premise of "innocent protestors" falls flat.
12
Saber’s real enemy is Hamas, not Israel.Israel has never declared war against the Palestinians or any of their neighbors.The Israelis have defended themselves against the likes of Hamas who’s goal is not peace with Israel but the total destruction of Israel.Saber & those that cannot see the difference between dying or suffering, have their leadership to blame. Peace with Israel will offer them prosperity & a lust for life.
25
This 19 year old boy sees his future as suicide or nothing. Perhaps, if instead of Hamas using money and concrete for building tunnels and rockets to destroy Israel as per their Charter, they had built businesses, funded schools, grown crops to sell, etc. this young man would have seen a future for himself. Perhaps, if Hamas' goal was to build a society instead of to destroy another state and murder Jews everywhere, there would be a cooperative relationship with Israel instead of a blockade. Perhaps, in a world where Israelis didn't fear murderers emerging from underground tunnels to kill them, but felt that they had neighbors with whom they could cooperate, there would also be Israeli jobs open to him. Instead, he protests the existence of a state and the loss of the home of perhaps a grandfather or great grandfather who, seventy years ago, fled either because the invading Arab armies encouraged it. Or, perhaps his relative fled because Jewish fighters, after the five Arab countries sent armies to destroy them, fought back and destroyed their village. Remember, quite a few Jewish kibbutzes also were destroyed during that war and a huge percentage of the Jews living in the state were killed. Remember also that in 1948 and again in 1967 no state wanted peace with Israel. This young man's usefulness to his society is as a propaganda tool or martyr, and too many have bought into his "pathetic status" created to move public opinion to blame it on Israel. This is wrong
43
How is such building possible when every exit including the sea is blocked by Israel? You tell me? It is not possible for Gazans to trade, get materials to produce goods, or to do anything productive, despite their high level of education (overall) and entrepreneurial mentality. There is certainly a failure of leadership among Palestinians but don't blame the ordinary people themselves for failing to "build a society" when every avenue to do so is blocked by Israel.
12
Nonsense! Where does Hamas get materials to build tunnels and rockets? Supplies are permitted to come into the country and they could be used for positive things rather than for war things. Further, when the Israelis left, they abandoned greenhouses producing vegetables that could have been sold for money.What happened to the very good green houses and the possibility of using them to start a better agricultural program? Sure, when ordinary people are controlled by evil leaders, their options are limited. However, it is still possible for parents to train and educate children to love life and to have dreams of success. Read about the schools in the WWII pre death camp ghettos where Jews were denied sufficient food to exist and access to the outside world - very different from what exists in Gaza. Those Jews set up schools to educate their children, and did not create a culture of death and martyrdom. It is possible that in Gaza which is no way as restricted as was the Warsaw Ghetto that these young folks could be given something besides a dream to go "home" to Palestine.
9
And the reason for the embargo? Hamas was using the materials brought in to--go ahead, guess--make underground tunnels to smuggle things illegally in from Egypt and infiltrate Israeli soil. If Gaza could somehow have a free election NOT under Hamas boot, the story might be different. Hamas is a death cult and sees nothing wrong with committing suicide and taking every Palestinian down with it. Utterly cynical cruel and sick. Note that even the rest of the Arab world wants nothing to do with them.
9
Wow, the one-sided bias is just oozing from yet another story about the poor Gazans who are manipulated by their terrorist government. I can’t wait for your next story about the poor ISIS recruit in his quest to re-establish a new caliphate across the Middle East and Europe, and take back their “ancestral” lands on the Andalusian Peninsula (now called Spain & Portugal). Can’t wait for that sob story.
Meanwhile, there’s NO news reports in the NYT of Syria bombing the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria last week— but I guess Arabs ethnic cleansing other Arabs isn’t much of a concern. BTW, nearly 4,000 Palestinian refugees have been killed in Yarmouk alone in the Syrian Civil War. Yet, crickets. https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12221/palestinians-airstrikes
32
The NY Times is still working on how to blame Israel for the Syrian bombing of Palestinians as well as blaming Israel for the fall of Rome, the rain in Spain, black holes in space, and the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.
7
What has Hamas done lately to improve the life of Gazans??
build more tunnels and buy more missiles?? How long has Hamas been in power? Is Gaza democratically ruled? They use their people's death and suffering as just another propaganda weapon, so it is promoted.
What would the US do if they had thousands of people rush the border to destroy the fence and breach it, with the risk that they would have people bent on terrorism get into the country, throw firebombs and grenades, fly burning kites to set crops on fire, etc?
This is the Hamas version of "peaceful protest"
28
My heart bleeds for Mr. Gerim and his friends, who are cynically used as pawns by Hamas. The "right of return"? It's utter foolishness, and anyone with any education knows that. But Mr. Gerim--poor, uneducated, directionless--will probably live his entire life in that dreadful place, a captive of the evil of his leadership.
26
I believe the key to peace in this region lies with the Christians on both sides of the border. They are the Arab Christians and the Messianic Jews who both love and understand Palestinians/Arabs and Israelis/Jews, respectively. If these groups aren’t working together to make peace then shame on them for not following Jesus’ (Yeshua) teachings.
1
Note the lack of women at these front lines.
9
Egypt controls 12 km of border with Gaza. Why Egypt which keeps its border sealed as well, doesn't get equally blamed for any of this "open-air prison", "occupation" etc etc. Its hate of Israel and the Jews that motivates those liberals, leftists, pro-Palestinians, pretending to care about the human rights of Gazans. I doubt any of them care about the half a million Syrians dead from the civil war. Oh, which war?
21
The so-called Palestinians may be idiotic in attacking the Israel side of the fence but they know they will be machine gunned down as soon as they approach the Egyptian border. Not that the NY Times actually reports that the Egyptians don't want the Palestinians either. No one does.
4
Israel was given a small area of land by the UN in 1948 and despite hostile neighbors look what they accomplished; The Palestinians were given Gaza by Israel in 2005 and look what they’ve accomplished.
25
If someone put you in a cage in the grounds of a house you used to live in, should you blame them for your situation, or yourself? Seems like NYT readers think you are to blame. Most of the rest of the world blames the captors.
This is why the BDS movement is important. Sanctions caused the South African regime to reform. The lack of sanctions and unyielding US support for Israel hasn’t lessened the Palestinians desperate plight.
14
Absolutely, and Natalie Portman's brave statements against Israel's violence have dismantled the Israeli PR machine's messaging.
The Palestinians haven't done anything to improve their own plight. Maybe they just are not smart enough?
3
He wants to 'return' to a place he's never seen?
He approaches a border fence planning to tear it down?
And is surprised when the defenders may shoot?
24
Where in the article does it say he's suprised? He knows he's likely to die. That doesn't sound like suprise to me.
2
Today in Israel, would you rather be an Israeli or a Palestinian? When the answer to this question becomes difficult, which seems impossible, there will be justice in Israel.
2
"He is a young man with nothing to do, for whom the protests have offered a chance to barbecue with friends late into the night, sleep late most mornings, make himself useful while singing songs of love or martyrdom or an end to suffering, and lash out at a hated enemy all afternoon."
If that doesn't sum up the difference between the Palestinians and the Israelis I don't know what would. Israelis aren't sleeping late and eating BBQ, or singing songs of martydom. Its people have turned a desert into a garden by hard work and sacrifice, while it is surrounded on all sides by its enemies who want to push it into the sea.
If the Palestinians want to protest they should turn their energy toward Hamas, and demand that the millions of dollars the world has given it be used for job training and education, rather than building tunnels and lobbing rockets into israel.
25
When you watch the scripted footage, look how quickly a bunch of young men sprint over and haul away a supposedly wounded Palestinian. You never see any of them bleeding. And the gangs that go pick them up and hustle them to waiting ambulances are amazingly well choreographed--like they are waiting off-camera. They probably are. Hamas dumb-show, still making useless propaganda for the arab street, while most ME governments, having had enough of this idiocy, ignore them.
4
"Let us not today fling accusation at the murderers. What cause have we to complain about their fierce hatred to us? For eight years now, they sit in their refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefathers have lived."
Moshe Dayan, 1956.
9
The Palestinians and their Arab supporters in the Middle East have to decide what they want more: The destruction of Israel or their own state. As long as the destruction of Israel takes primacy they will not get their state.
This is something the Jews understood about their own aspirations for a state when more than 100 years ago it was promised and with each generation the parcel of land allotted got smaller. At all such times they complained bitterly but accepted the opportunity.
Palestinians throughout that history have continuously insisted on the whole loaf and nothing less--all to their detriment.
They need to learn from others half loaf is better then no loaf. A quarter loaf is better than no loaf. Even crumbs are better than nothing if you want to survive as a people--and no one is suggesting that they are being offered crumbs.
12
UNWRA has primary responsibility for the despair in Gaza and the West Bank. Hundreds of millions of US dollars are funneled through UNWRA to the millions of Palestinians whose existence is subsidized by UNWRA. As a result they have a vested interest in keeping their status as permanent refugees with a right of return. UNWRA schools teach the Palestinians that they have been oppressed by the Jewish state.
Cut off UNWRA funds and these people may finally decide to be self sufficient. Interesting to note that Israel provides water and electricity to Gaza and allows basic necessities to be trucked in without interruption. Is this the actions of an enemy ?
13
I thin that was Trump's idea also, cut off the funding for these phony humanitarian groups whose only fealty is to keeping their bloated staff in jobs and their useless-in-the-private-sector directors rolling in money they don't earn.
4
Israel is so arrogant and stupid. Instead of shooting people if they touch the fence, the Israelis should wait and capture them (in nets) a few hundred yards into Israel. Then the Palestinians would be guilty of trespass, the law would be on Israel's side. Also, obviously taking people alive is more humane.
1
Idiotic suggestion. Once they are on your soil, you are responsible for pampering them and paying for them until you can get them off your soil. Exactly what is wrong with current EU policy of letting illegal migrants into your country and THEN letting them apply for asylum. At that point, YOU (and your taxpayers) are liable for their care. And if they will not leave, you have to somehow force them to. And if the slavering, slavish press shows up and starts whining about "human rights" than you are stuck.
2
Americans commenting here about Israeli misdeeds ought to check to see if they're living on occupied Native American lands and then act accordingly.
12
In 1995, the then Israeli Prime Minister, Barak Ehud, offered Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians 95% of what they were demanding, including a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital. Arafat walked away and later Hamas came to power in Gaza, from which Hamas has launched terrorist attacks against Israel and has launched thousands of rockets into Israel...... Maybe the Palestinians should blame their political leaders for their current plight rather than Israel.
17
The headline and frontpage placement of this article is very disturbing because of the emotion the writer or editor of the NY Times has tried to bring out in readers without balancing it with the fears and the everyday chance of terrorism in Israel from Gazans that have been going on for ages.
In addition, there are so many sentences in this article that belie the headline. First and foremost is stated by Abu Moaz who says that Isreali soldiers should evacuate their houses and return to the countries from which they came. As another person wrote here, most of the Israelis today were born in Israel. In addition, this sentiment reveals what is the main obstacle to peace between the Palestinians and Israel: the sentiment on the part of many Palestinians and particularly their government that Israel should be obliterated. Also, the Egyptian government has also isolated the Gazans because of the fear of violence that Hamas could and possibly would wreak in Egypt.
Rather than blame Israel for their problems, the Palestinians in Gaza need to turn inward and examine how they are being manipulated by their own government, Hamas. If they are truly weary of conflict, as Mr. Gerim states, then they would think seriously about their methods and work toward a solution that does not include the destruction of Israel or throwing kites with gasoline over the fences.
17
Without the support of American Jews, the state of Israel would not have been created. Most of that generation identified with the victims of the Holocaust. That generation is dying and being replaced by a generation that does not identify so closely with the Holocaust and is repelled by the harsh treatment of Palestinians by Israelis who treat their adversaries' lives cheaply.
This new generation will stop supporting Israel politically and economically. It will re-allocate its energies and resources to supporting BDS, JVP, and J Street.
3
Don't count on the new generation to support anything as idiotic as BDS and J Street.
5
Killings like this, if done by any other country in the world, would cause an international crisis and UN intervention. The oppression of the Palestinian people will only stop when the US stops sending billions in aid to Israel, allowing the expansion of the settlements and stealing of Palestinian land.
6
"Killings like this, if done by any other country in the world would cause an international crisis and UN intervention." Really? UN intervention? There have probably been more black men killed in Chicago this year (by other black men) then Palestinians. Think the UN intervention could handle that? Or should?
3
When will the Jews, kicked out of every Arab country in 48/49, have the right of return? Maybe Hamas can figure that out when they start using cement for schools, hospitals and resorts on the Mediterranean. The business of terror and war always fall on the civilians back.
20
Young men such as Mr. Gerim should be directing their anger towards the Hamas government that his society elected in 2005. The facts are quite straightforward and quite stark. Israel withdrew every soldier and civilian from Gaza in 2005 and left behind tens of millions of dollars of infrastructure, including hothouses and irrigation systems, intact, ready for Palestinians to take over. All of that was destroyed by the Palestinians in a matter of hours. The border to Israel remained open to Palestinians as did access by sea, until the Hamas government was elected and began pouring every available resource into building rockets and tunnels with which to rain down terror on Israeli civilians. Thousands of rockets were fired into Israel and billions in international aid squandered. Political opponents of Hamas were thrown out of windows. Concrete meant to build homes and hospitals went into building terror tunnels to kill Israeli men, women and children.
The Palestinian's suffering is of their own making, yet the media insists on portraying them as victims. When the world stops coddling the Palestinians and forces them to face reality -- Israel will not be destroyed and there will be no "return" to towns that they lost in a 1948 war of genocide against the Jews which was launched by them and their Arab brothers -- perhaps there will be a chance for peace.
13
The individual in this story sounds like a normal guy who could be anywhere. That makes his story compelling. Thank you for highlighting his story.
It's easy to dismiss this issue because of the failings of Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic State. I realize that the individual would be treated worse in about any Arab or Muslim country for protesting against oppression. Seeing these people throw rocks and burn tires looks to me like these are kids being kids within the lousy confines of Gaza. They've got nothing to lose, and (unfortunately) the only enemy they will ever be able to identify is Israel.
4
Had the Palestinians spent all the money they got over the years to improving their lives instead of on armaments and futile wars, they could have been living like kings, free to travel, and pray in Jerusalem at the Dome on the Rock.
17
Gaza is these people’s country. All they do is spend all their time and money toward killing Israelies. Instead of building an economy they import armaments and construct tunnels to kill Israelies.
They are driven by killing and death. So, it is no wonder they live in such a pathetic place.
Now, they want to live in Israel, where people have worked hard for generations to build a beautiful country. Not going to happen.
15
Right to return, right to get your property back, right to compensation are only reserved for those who are victims of Nazi regime and not to Palestinians. Palestinians should give up their claim to their property, not ask for compensation and just move on.
5
The poor guy you wrote a long article about has been brain washed by the education he has received from UNRWA and Hamas which by the way our taxpayer dollars are paying for.. Yes there is no question "Allahu akbar" but this guy is being played as a fool by the Hamas rulers of Gaza that don't really care if he is dead or alive. Hamas is not offering him any prospects for a life and has him pine and fantasize about returning to Israel and killing Jews. Like all fascists and dictators Hamas needs to create an outside enemy so they can rule without any resistance. Of course no Arab from Gaza would ever admit to that as that would mean torture and languishing in prison if they are lucky. That's the real Gaza story that The Times should be writing about.
15
So this article opens up for comment. Of course there are the "blame it all on Israel" comments, but surprisingly, more folks see through the sham. How many mega millions did Hamas divert for themselves, enriching a few thousand while simultaneously diverting mega tons of building supplies into a labyrinth tunnel system designed for attacking Israel while the Hamas army lives underground. NOT ONE WORD of who is responsible for the protracted misery in Gaza. No jobs? Do you think one foreign investor would go into Gaza to build anything? What about the ultra racist attitude of Hamas and its "protestors" who only wish to slaughter the Jews of Israel?
We can feel sorry for Mr. Gerim. But does he ever think why these thousands aren't willing to protest against Hamas? Where is the U.N.? Quiet, maybe tacitly supporting these self destructive "non-violent protests"? Shouldn't their officials who run UNRWA be delivering a different message to the people in Gaza?
Maybe those who condemn Israel reflexively should re-think what, and who, is behind this painful parody at the fence? The irony of it all is that Gazans lived far better before Israel pulled out its citizens.
19
The Koran and the Hadiths command observant Muslims to kill Jews wherever they can be found so there will be conflict between Israel and her neighbors until adherents of Islam reject their own holy texts. Good luck with that.
9
A glancing attempt to describe The Great March of Return, but missing by a mile! Not once in this pathetic attempt at journalism is there ever a mention that the Palestinians, enduring persecution, similar to what the Jewish ghettos in Warsaw suffered at the hands of racist, fascist Nazis! Not once does this mockery of journalistic integrity declare that Plestinians living in Gaza under extreme hardship are demonstrating for their freedom, justice and equality.
“Israel continues to treat the tiny coastal enclave like a deadly virus to be quarantined and, other than that, more or less tunes it out”? No! Israel continues to “treat the tiny coastal enclave” as the world’s largest concentration camp!
“It has cast a light onto the unsolved problem that is Gaza,” writes the New York Times. Wrong again! Gaza’s Great March of Return protest is casting a bright light on Israel’s ongoing aggegeous human rights violations in all of what little remains of Palestine, countless violations beginning more than 50 years ago.
And this pathetic excuse for true journalism ends: “Mr. Gerim’s industriousness shows at the protests, as does his stoicism.” Why not state the raw truth, New York Times? “Mr. Gerim’s industriousness shows at the protests, as does his [extreme pain over being imprisoned under excruciating conditions with little hope for the future.]
5
yes-Gaza it is just like the Warsaw Ghetto. Please show me photos from the Warsaw Ghetto showing overweight Jews, shopping malls, water parks, markets full of food.
8
"he wanted to use a kite to drop leaflets in Hebrew and Arabic warning Israeli soldiers to “evacuate your houses and return to the countries from which you came.”"
Most of those soldiers are probably native to Israel. Either the young man knows this & is lying, or he truly believes this from having been brainwashed by over 12 years of Hamas rule. And therein lies the rub. Most Israelis today are not "colonialists" but were born in Israel proper. They (and I'd wager a good number of Israeli Arabs) are not going to simply consent to become subjects under an Islamic State, which is what most Palestinians appear to desire. Israel has done some censurable things to be sure, however ultimately the onus for peace is on the Palestinians: until they are willing to accept a state of coexistence with Jews (that does not entail making them dhimmis), then this destructive conflict will never end.
92
As long as Gaza is under a terrorist rule - nobody disputes the fact that Hamas is a terror organization - spending millions of dollars building tunnels and villas for themselves rather that helping the Gazan population - the Gazans will not be able to join the civilized world....
15
Palestine belongs to its indigenous people not the mid-late 20th century foreigner/colonists or their descendants.
Even Jewish historians (eg. Ben Gurion, Ben Zvi, S. Sand) write that there was no exile of Jews after the revolts of the 1st & 2nd centuries were put down by the Romans (ie. no diaspora) & that the Palestinians are the descendants of the Judaist majority that converted to Islam in the 7th century CE to avoid paying tax on all non-Muslims.
Ironically historians & now DNA studies have confirmed that the Ashkenazi (20th century colonists) are descended from European converts from the Roman Empire era + the Khazars & are not Semites.. Eg.
1/ “Historian Ben-Zion Denur & Israeli former minister of Education called Khazaria the mother of one of the greatest Diasporas-of Israel in Russia, Lithuania & Poland”
2/ Abraham Polak, founder of Univ of Tel Aviv`s dept`t of Mid East History wrote that it was an unlikely thesis that the Jews in the Khazarian kingdom originated in Israel/ Palestine ie. they had no Abrahamic descent.
3/ 2013 genetic study: "Ashkenazi Jews do not stem from Hebrews" http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1208/1208.1092.pdf. ie They are not from the Near East while of course the Sephardic Jews & Palestinians are both Semitic peoples.
1
The Palestinians have had decades to chose a better life for their children, but they have never missed an opportunity to mess-up. Now we suppose to feel sorry for them? Their own (supposedly) Arab brothers have turned their backs on them countless times...........no Arab nation wants the Palestinians. If they did, they would have carved out a piece of the endless deserts in the middle east and given them a place to start. But no, terrorism and using Israel as a scapegoat is much easier then building a future and life.
97
Blame the victims, and blame them with lies.
Israel never negotiated peace in good faith. Israel negotiated only when the US pressured Israel. Israel's only real offer to the Palestinians was to surrender and leave Greater Israel.
Peace will only come when Israel admits Palestinians are human beings with as much worth as Jews.
4
Gavak:
At what point do they take responsibility for themselves? Or is this concept one that applies to every other citizen in the world except Palestinians?
5
Wrong again. They could have been neighbors with the Israelis, working on their own nation. No, hate and destruction is all they know. Why? They have had millions thrown at them. Remember over 10 years ago when the Israelis left Gaza? All those buildings and greenhouses destroyed.
5
Gazans have nobody to blame but themselves and their leaders for their current plight. Hamas has built on the stupidity of Yassar Arafat, who turned down a peace treaty with Israel that would have given the Palestinians 95% of what they demanded. Now, after years of preaching hatred for all Jews in their Islamic schools, while simultaneously failing to improve the economy and prospects of their own people, Hamas is fomenting violence at the border. Some things never change, and one of these things is the strident hatred and arrogance of Hamas, along with the willingness of Palestinians to follow their failed leaders like obedient sheep.
129
The entire Arab world has turned its back on the Palestinians, so exactly why does Israel have a special obligation to these people?
107
There is history to consider. If you lock 2 million people up in an open air prison with all the insults to basic humanity that this implies, a small percentage of the youth will do violent things. This has always been so. So this suffering of Gazans and violations of Jewish values will continue. Pompeo, he of West Point intelligence, supports Israel. He must have missed studying history, philosophy, ethics or perhaps been raised poorly himself. Israel's behavior is profoundly unjust and it will not stand. The Jewish diaspora is now rising up and soon most decent human beings will as well.
103
If 2 million people elect to power and support a group that is dedicated to the utter destruction of a neighboring country, and if those 2 million people spend a large part of their money and efforts launching thousands of missiles and building infiltration tunnels to attack their neighbor, then those 2 million people shouldn't be too surprised when they find themselves fenced in and blockaded.
Gazans aren't being fenced in by Israel and Egypt because they are excessively peaceful.
19
The moment- literally- the leadership of Gaza says "we recognize the existence of Israel and wish to live peacablly aside it", then borders open and normalization begins.
Until then, Israel is under no obligation -legal, ethical, moral, historical- to allow trade, medicine, travel, anything, through it's sovereign territory.
16
You have it backwards, Kevin. They aren’t in an open air prison, they are in an open air terrorist base. And that is the source of the immediate problem and the cause of the blockade. Hamas runs a brutal military dictatorship - they kill more Gazans than Israel on a day in day out basis. No challenge to their rule and policy is allowed.
20
It’s weird, I wonder why none of the Arab countries have stepped in to help these people? Could it possibly be that they are being used? Just saying.
39
Re this paragraph, pasted below, this isn't a "say what you will" scenario. This is a dreadful situation, rooted in real facts, real history, and resulting in real suffering. "Say what you will," strips this story of all context and as usual, implies that Israel bears all responsibility for what has transpired in Egypt since they withdrew over a decade ago. One shudders to think how the Egyptian government would react if this protest were happening on their border.
"Say what you will about root causes and immediate ones — about incitement and militancy, about siege and control, about who did what first to whom — one thing is clear. More than a decade of deprivation and desperation, with little hope of relief, has led thousands of young Gazans to throw themselves into a protest that few, if any, think can actually achieve its stated goal: a return to the homes in what is now Israel that their forebears left behind in 1948."
9
Why exactly are Native Americans not being given their land back????
2
Desperate hopeless young men engaged in a desperate hopeless endeavor. A plague passed on from generation to generation.
8
The "Palestinians", a loose term for a collection of Arabs that squatted upon the land of Canaan in the 19th and 20th centuries, have only themselves to blame. Setting rubber tires on fire speaks volumes as to the idiocy and utter planless-ness of their so-called "cause" which is simply, "take Israel from the Jewish People." That isn't a plan- it's an act of terror. In 1947 the United Nations voted to partition the land and create the State of Israel. Any grievance these people have is with the UN, not the Israelis.
Most important, they need to stop teaching their newborns hate, like the countless children's videos we see on YouTube exploiting their innocence and planting seeds of hate. Despicable.
48
To the NYT:
How many times can you write the same article? Open air prison, right of return, throwing stones and bombs, burning tires, 20, 30, 40 killed, hundreds injured, high unemployment, poverty, etc.
Yes, their are grievances all around, and rehashing history again, again and again isn’t going anywhere.
I keep coming back to the same thing, and sometimes I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall, but allow me to say it again:
Israel had offered to recognize a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza at least three times (in 1948, 2001 and 2008).
How about just once Hamas publicly offer to recognize Israel as a sovereign state and promise to give up all attacks and attempts at violence in exchange for Israel easing the Naval blockade and other steps to raise the quality of life for Gazans?
Wouldn’t that be preferable?
178
If the Israelis are so avid for peace why did they reject the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 as "a non-starter," even though this proposal was endorsed by the Arab League & enthusiastically received by the Palestinian Authority, the US, and Europe ?
Also ask: how much power does Hamas really have at this point, isolated as they are in Gaza ?
When Israel pulled out of Gaza international organizations bought thriving businesses in Gaza which were developed by Israelis. The idea was to provide jobs and improve the economic situation there. What happened? Hamas ordered them destroyed! Then there is the international aid which went to building more tunnels rather than the infrastructure which had been destroyed after Hamas started hostilities with Israel a few years ago. As long as Hamas rules Gaza will suffer.
80
Try this simple thought experiment. If the Israelis were in Gaza and the Gazans back in Israel in a Twilight Zone upending of reality what would be the result? Gaza would be the Monaco of the Middle East, prosperous and inventive, with skyscrapers, ports, tech, trade. The Gazans would be throwing themselves at the fence around the tiny Jewish state, trying to return to their beloved Gaza. Europe has shifted the German population in and out of Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, in and out of Argentina. Wherever they go they work, create and prosper. Think about it.
45
So the citizens of Gaza, some of whom have put on weight because of no work, have decided that they want their right to return to their parents' homes who, for the most part, left willingly.
As a journalist, I suggest you step back and put things in perspective, if your employer will allow you to do so. Step back and notice that Israel is celebrating its 70th year as a nation, the first 70 years since Biblical times. You perceive a wall that makes the "Gaza Strip into an open-air prison". We Jews perceive a wall that surrounds our tiny nation. Israel is surrounded by Jew hating Arabs. Non-religious Arabs, without Hamas or Hezbollah affiliation or even an affiliation with a mosque. Yet there they stand screaming Allah Achbar, as if that is the only way to legitimize their ingrained hatred of the Jews.
For those who think it inconceivable that at this point Israel's very survival is assured, think again. Hitler almost got his way. Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, may be allowed to build a bomb, with multiple violations of the treaty, with respect to heavy water.
But you keep writing about Gaza's, why? Just to stay focused on what the UN, the NYT and the rest of the world likes.... Israel bashing?
Thank you VP Joe Biden for giving me a heads up that I always have Israel to protect me (as an American Jew). So when things go "south", as they have done over the millennia, for the Jews, I want Israel secure, so I have some place that will give me shelter, thank G-d.
37
Beautiful, beautiful young Gaza protester, young Saber al-Gerim singing a song of weariness with conflict at the barricades between Israel and Gaza - "all pray for prevailing peace." A moving report from Iyad Abuheweila in Gaza and David Halbfinger in Jerusalem. Accounts of charity and despair. We weep and await peace.
3
very poetic and very teary-eyed article designed to conjure up images of peaceful protesters (ie the "victims") beaten crushed by evil israel (ie the "dictator"). this biased article interestingly forgot to mention that the "innocent civilian protesters" happened to be affiliated with terrorist groups hamas and islamic jihad. oh, an by the way, the article also conveniently forgot to mention that the peaceful protesters that approached the fence and were shot by israeli soldiers happened to be armed with knives and grenades...innocent protesters indeed
8
This is a story about individuals but it should be a story about leadership. Instead of leading these people to a better life, the Hamas leaders instead encourage them to commit suicide for some elusive goal, which at best is bad PR for the Israelis. If, instead, the Palestinians had better and enlightened leaders perhaps they could improve their lot. There isn't a country in the world that wouldn't get behind that, including Israel, as long as that instead of focusing on something that happened 70 years ago, they focus on bettering their lot in its current place. Until then, no change will come about and the Hamas leaders will continue to send these dupes to suicide.
50
And let's not forget the notorious lifetime stipend(s) Hamas gives to any young man's family for his planned suicide bombing, better known as mass-murder. Yes, a lifetime stipend, given by Hamas, for committing murder. That alone should be grounds for a UN sanction.
7
For all the millions of words of support and billions of dollars from oil revenue that have spewed from the Palestinians' brethren in the Middle East, nothing has actually been used to help the average Palestinian. It is all just fodder to feed the anti-semitism and Israeli haters. Thank you for making this clear.
39
Unfortunately, the Palestinians are just wrong. Attacking the Israelis is not the same thing as protesting their actions.
25
Doesn't anybody in Gaza believe, if instead of calling for killing or expelling all Israeli Jews, doing all they can to spread hate, and using their limited resources to buy rockets and dig tunnels to carry that out, instead made peace with Israel and joined their vibrant economy to rebuild Gaza. I'm not aware of any such vision, even though with its Mediterranean coastline, excellent climate, wealth of historic sites, and the intellectual/entrepreneurial spirit of both Israelis and Palestinians, the region should be one of the most prosperous in the world. I don't see any other way to help the people of Gaza, but on both sides, religion, maximum demands, and an endless sense of grievances keep getting in the way.
19
He wants to 'return' to a place he has never been? His Gazan leaders use whatever aid they get not to build homes, schools, and infrastructure, but tunnels with which to wage war.
His lack of a future is because of the way the Palestinian leadership led. The Jews agreed to the 1947 partition plan, the Arabs did not. Gaza was Arab under that partitian plan. When the Jews pulled out of Gaza, the Gazans decided to make a war, rather than make a life.
If this one person were allowed to 'return', where would he return to? What would he do there? What is he qualified to do? Go on welfare?
27
I see your point, and would also be wary about so many incoming people.
Can I ask why you're so skeptical about the Palestinian right to 'return' without asking about the Jewish right to 'return', and even the idea of 'right' for both sides? International law, tribalism, and the law of the jungle have different answers for these questions.
Your article illustrates the point that the Palestinians will not improve their living conditions because they are entirely uninterested in addressing the root causes of their situation. You purposely ignore the Central Fact that Hamas calls for the Violent Destruction of the State of Israel and the Jews (the rhetoric at the border was not limited to Israel but to Jews generally). Hamas is not an artificial power usurping the will of its people. It was freely elected-because the PLO was so corrupt and Hamas was an even more violent and uncompromising alternative(much to the psychological chagrin of Western nations). They reflect the peoples' will-and that is (and this bares repeating because you do not like this simple fact) The Violent Destruction of the State of Israel and Jews. it's official policy. The border is closed because Hamas at Every opportunity-secretly smuggles serious weapons of destruction through tunnel networks,commercial shipping, children, soldiers posing as humanitarian aid workers etc. They actively shoot ordinance into Israel on a daily basis with the only regret being it does not cause more destruction and death. No other nation in the world needs to justify its very existence and its defense under such circumstances. Yet Israel does, because reporting such as this, whether or not motivated by humanitarian instincts-ignores the uncomfortable fact that racial violence,displacement and destruction is the solution advocated by the perceived victims.
33
Advocates of Israel have their narrative of the Israeli-Palesrintinan conflict and Palestinians have another. My view is that Palestinians would have been wise to accept the Partition of land into a Palestinian and Israeli state. If they had they would not be refugees and would have a state and Israel would have peace, security albeit a somewhat smaller state. Jews cannot return to homes in Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Poland, Russia or Germany from which they were expelled or exterminated nor can their descendants. Nor can native Americans regain the lands in our country they lost. Time marches on, wars occur, someone wins, someone loses. Those Palestinians who rush the border and attempt to fire into Israel or penetrate the border are victims,to be sure,but they must know they risk their lives in an attempt to alter history which is to fair to anyone.
11
Jewish victims of the Holocaust can make claims to property, at least here in Poland
1
Unfortunately so many of these comments are one sided. Putting the pressure on struggling, starving citizens of the Gaza strip to "rise against" Hamas is ill considered and careless. Given we are a world of humans, brothers and sisters who live on adjoining lands, the onus should fall on both Netanyahu and Hamas to work together and work towards peace. Let's not forget our own administration and the toddler tantrum like squabbles in the white house that effect many innocent civilians in our country and our immigrant community. It is easy to see where the loyalty and bias lie in th commentary.
7
How a people could survive the horror of a holocaust and then themselves turn into monsters is beyond sad.
14
A large number of people in Gaza seem to view the Holocaust as a wonderful thing and fervently hope to emulate it. The Israelis established a fence to keep themselves separated from those people. When the Gazans, encouraged by their leaders, burn tires to create thick smoke and rush the fence en masse, the Israelis first warn them, and then shoot. This does not make the Israelis monsters. This makes them people who would prefer not to be massacred by violent rioters, such as the person in the article who was hoping to set something or someone in Israel on fire.
6
Israel needs to recognise that the world has moved on! It can no longer expect its apartheid regime to be respected, recognized or revered.
It is a wonder when there are so many in the diaspora who support humanity and fairness, while a few in Israel itself remain stubborn in their treatment of palestinians, have so much power to nullify the palestinian struggle nad despair.
AJ
5
Why did his parents leave Israel? Because they were told to leave by Arabs who promised to destroy Israel and Israelis? And then they could return?
Why did their neighbor's house get bombed which may have killed his pigeons? Was it inhabited by militants bent on attacking Israel?
This article sheds much light and I appreciate that part of it. But intentionally leaves much in the dark.
12
In 1947, the UN voted to create 2 states, one for Jews and one for Arabs in Mandatory Palestine.
Question: Why did that Arab state, which the Palestinians should now be calling home, never get created ?
Answer: Because the Arabs would never take half a loaf.
The Palestinian objective from 1947 to today is to throw the Jews into the sea.
As soon as the Palestinians are willing to take half a loaf, peace will break out.
Until then, the Palestinian people will continue to waste their lives, and it is not at all clear that the NY Times should spend any effort building sympathy for them.
9
1,000,000 psychologists would not be enough to cure the people of Gaza from the projection of their biggest problemsa0
4
And so we have the usual “ Israel can do no wrong” crowd singing their usual song. Israel steals people’s land, blockades them, creates a no man’s land on the Gaza side of the fence, shoots at farmers and fishermen and by some magic they aren’t responsible for anything they do.
This is simple racism. Growing up I used to hear the same logic from some fellow white southerners about the causes of black poverty. Literally a few years after the signs on the drinking fountains came down, white racism was in the distant past if it ever happened at all.
89
Israel gave back gaza 15 years ago genius. What happened? a terrorist group took over and ruined it.
20
Oh please, Donald! Israel has its back to the sea and is surrounded by enemies bent on its destruction. The Jewish people need apologize to no one. The world hasn't exactly treated the Jews with love and open arms.
I say Go Israel! If Hamas wasn't so intent on destroying the Israeli state, building tunnels, launching rockets into Israel - if Hamas really wanted peace in the region, Israel would meet it half-way.
But until that time, let's not bash Israel for defending itself.
18
Gaza was part of Egypt and should go back to Egypt.
5
Sorry, but if life is so tough in Gaza, why do they insists on using threats to destroy Israel as a rallying cry? Israel is not going to allow 100,000 Palestinians to run across the border into Israeli territory. The ONLY answer for Palestinians is to unequivocably recognize the existence and sovereignty of the State of Israel and give up its Hamas charter still sworn to Israel's complete annihilation. Is this really difficult to comprehend? What is the goal of the "demonstration"? I can assure you that its not to sign a peace treaty with Israel. I suspect that the world will truly not be happy until there is no more Israel and the area gets overrun by arab maurauders who take advantage of the vacuum left by 6 million dead Jews. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!!!
87
When Israel ceded land in the past, there were buildings and also hydroponic agriculture that were very successful and profitable. What did the Arab people who took over the land do? Destroy the hydroponic agriculture that could have created jobs and generated monies for the newly taken-over lands.
Why don't the Gaza and West Bank peoples demonstrate against the thieving leaders of Hamas, instead of blaming everything on Israel?
You can blame and blame Israel for everything, but unless the Palestinians accede to new ways of showing Israel that they in fact have peaceful plans, live as the Palestinians have today will go over, and the new generations of Palestinians will be no better than their forefathers!
5
Regardless of blame, it’s an incredibly tragic situation and one where there is no easy solution.
“It doesn’t matter to me if they shoot me or not,” he said in a quiet moment inside his family’s tent. “Death or life — it’s the same thing.”
If they do rush the fence en masse it will truly be a huge nakba, or day of catastrophe, because Israel will have no choice but to shoot to defend the country from however many protestors share the hopeless attitude expressed by the young man interviewed in this article.
7
I knew there was a leftward slant, but I never thought the NYT was as unfair and unbalanced as Fox News. But the title of this article and failure to mention the protestor’s sentiments as to whether Israel has a right to exist make for a despicably slanted piece. Life or death?! Life or death when life is either getting stoned at home or staying up late at a BBQ with your friends? Put this editorials or stop calling yourself a newspaper.
You’ve lost one daily reader.
12
Another tale of Palestinian woe where the Palestinian bears no responsibility for rejecting every effort at peace in favor of a death cult that is the sole message of Palestinian nationalism.
114
Why don't the Gazan Palestinians protest their own Hamas government's stated Charter aims- the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews everywhere? When Israel pulled out of Gaza over ten years ago, the Palestinian missile launches started in less than a week. Instead of embracing peace, development and progress, Palestinians have continued war, while provoking Israel into response, and then crying foul. The Palestinians are unable to take responsibility for their own misery.
83
They could have had their state already, for god’s sake. But, that’s not what they want. And, what they want they ain’t gonna get.
33
I can not help but compare the Palestinians with our own Native American people that had their land taken from them and forced on to what amounted to concentration camps.
But the Israelites very shrewdly played the Bible card and the holocaust card, which is all they had to use, and American Evangelicals, believing the Biblical nonsense, fell for it hook line and sinker. If you do not believe me just read a real history of the area and forget the bible stories.
36
No holocaust card needed. If you want to use that comparison, then the Jews were the equivalent of Native Americans. The Jews have been in that land for the past 2000 years, even after being expelled by the Romans. At the same time, no one speaks of the hundreds of thousands of Jews that were expelled from Arab lands after the establishment of Israel. That's because they were successfully absorbed into Israeli society. It is a small land, but the Jews have used the past 70 years to rise economically. Hamas has full control of Gaza. How has the Palestinian leadership used these years to benefit their people?
4
The analogy is apt, but backwards. Jews had been living in Judea for a couple of millenia before the Arab imperialists arrived from Arabia. We had already been to Babylon and back and built two temples in Jerusalem. The long history of our habitation there is recorded not only in the Bible but in the rich chronologies of those who conquered, enslaved, massacred, expropriated, and expelled us. We have always returned to our homeland. Only someone ignorant of history or hardwired to blame Jews regardless of fact or logic, could regard the Arabs as indigenous and the Jews as interlopers. Like Native Americans, Jews have held fast to their ancestral claims through a trail of tears lasting centuries. Like Greeks, Hungarians, Spaniards, and others, Jews have regained their sovereignty. We have defended it against all odds; Gazans with slingshots will not succeed where gangs of armies failed again and again. The division of British Palestine into all-Arab Jordan and mostly Jewish Israel 70 years ago answered the call for justice: two lands for two nations. Calls for division of tiny Israel into additional Arab Palestines has only one intent and it is not to build more Arab homelands, but only to demolish the Jewish one. Someday, when "Hispanic" Americans reclaim the Native American part of their patrimony, as well as majority status in the US, perhaps Native American sovereignty will return, as Jewish sovereignty has returned to Zion.
3
Semper Fi, Brother!
I feel bad for the protester. He might want to take up his issues with Hamas. After all, Hamas has diverted all of the funds for the Gazans to weapons, terror tunnels and luxury condos in Qatar for its leaders, rather than jobs, food, education and healthcare for the Gazan people. And now that the gravy train is ending for Hamss, this protester is their pawn as they seek to “martyr” their own people in another fundraising campaign at the fence. For Hamas, the higher the body count of their own constituents, the better.
193
It is crystal clear that his issue is with his own government which refuses to allow for their own people to build their own lives. Israel left and hoped Palestinians would build something (even removing Jewish remains from graveyards). Instead an endless stream of rockets and calls for Israel’s destruction. If left alone there is no doubt Israel would leave Gaza alone. Let them take the money pouring in to tunnels and weapons and leadership corruption and use it to build an infrastructure, and economy, education. Instead they perpetrate a fraud on their own people and line their own pockets while paying citizens to foment violence and paying even more if they die. Place blame where it belongs. Please
63
Among the options you list for Gazans like Mr. Gerim that I did not see is the overthrow of Hamas and its replacement with a government which is not dedicated to the continuation of self-destructive armed conflict with Israel at the expense of Gazan residents. If you׳re willing to die you might as well do that for a worthy cause, not for the dubious and futile goal of "returning" to a land you've never been to.
69
Withdrawal from Gaza was not "land for peace" as the Zionist propaganda reiterates but a strategic move based on the recognition that to keep the 10,000 illegal Israeli colonists in Gaza would eventually result in having to assimilate the 1.5 million Palestinians that were forced from THEIR land in 1948 from the 4X larger Gaza province which UN resolution 181 demarked as part of the 44% of Palestine allotted to the indigenous people of Palestine. UN Res# 181 was a rigged vote that passed by the bare minimum of 33 votes. Eg. Haiti`s vote (yes Haiti had a vote) was purchased via a "loan". Liberia`s vote was coerced via threatening it`s only export (Nat Rubber). Pres Truman wrote in his memoirs that never before or after was there so much political pressure put on the members of the UN to vote for the resolution.
It is unclear how a third party such as the UN can decide to donate 56% of someone else`s country to another group. If UN Res 181 came up for re-ratification today it would fail miserably in spite of AIPAC`s control of USA`s Mid East policy. eg. In Nov 2012 ,only the USA , Israel & 7 other nobody countries of the UN`s 193 members, voted against recognizing Palestine.
1
History is not without irony. The Jewish "return" from thousands of years in exile has itself produced the exile of the more recent inhabitants. Who is right? Who is wrong? All we know is that suffering begets more suffering.
7
Enough is enough. Gaza is a humanitarian disaster. Israel has one of the most advanced military forces in the world, thanks in no small part to the United States. It faces no existential threat from Gaza or Hamas. Isreal can choose to be a democracy, and recognize the human rights of the Gazan people; or it can be an apartheid state, maintain its "identity" and continue to force Gazans to abide inhumane conditions. It cannot be be both.
62
How do you recognize the human rights of people who want to kill you?
8
The inhumane conditions you speak of are in large part due to the funneling of resources away from what benefits the population and into tunnels and missiles.
The Palestinians have rejected any peace accord proposed and is just bent on the destruction of Israel. That will never be a solution to the problem.
Israel does face a threat from Gaza. When you have terrorists coming in to kill Israelis, then existential or not, it is a threat. I don't think you would be so generous with terrorists breaching the US fence and coming into the US even though they posed no existential threat.
5
Mike,
Your suggestion reminds me of the old story about the scorpion and the camel.
A camel is about to cross a river, when a scorpion asks the camel for a ride on its back. The camel says to the scorpion - "if I carry you, you are going to sting me, and we'll both die".
The scorpion promises not to sting the camel, and so the camel (with some hesitancy, takes on his passenger on his back to cross the river.
Sure enough, in the middle of a raging river, the scorpion stings the camel.
The camel asks the scorpion, "why did you sting me. We're both going to die".
The scorpion answers, "because this is the middle east".
In the 70 years since Israel was created, how come Israel has prospered, and the Gaza Arabs and West Bank Arabs have remained in 1948, and Israel has prospered so much since then. Israel has the 14th largest economy in the world.
Why haven't even the rich Arab countries ever helped their Gaza and West Bank brethren?
Because they know who is the scorpion and who is the camel!
6
These protests will raise the ire of many people in the world but will end up being futile. Israel won't change and the Palestinians won't win. Are there any real answers at this time? Probably not.
10
There is an answer. A new government in Gaza.
7
Any effort at balanced journalism would mention Hamas's still-active goal of eliminating Israel from the map and its control of the education system teaching hatred of the Jews. It would mention the opportunity for a productive society created when Israel left Gaza, and left working greenhouses behind as the "seed" for agricultural exports. It might mention that Egypt sealed the other Gaza border, and wants nothing to do with the inhabitants of Gaza, despite the fact that Gaza was originally part of the Egyptian Sinai prior to the 1967 war. It could discuss the percentage of foreign aid that Hamas has spent on attack tunnels and rocket development. None of this is meant to diminish the hardships faced by Gaza residents, but solving their problems requires solving the entire Israeli-Palestinian problem, which so far has remained intractable.
193
It should be mentioned that the Palestinians burned and tore down those greenhouses because they came from the Israelis.
19
Solving the problems of Gazans has nothing to do with Israel. The Gazan leadership has to decide if it wants a prosperous country or a wasteland.
4
Sure, Pete - as opposed to Israeli Ministers who speak openly about the "genocide" of Palestinians, or a PM who says "there will never be a Palestinian State". Or as opposed to Israeli State Education that teaches its children a racist and biblical narrative.
I wish you would drop the repetitive 'Hamas' misrepresentation. However awful Hamas may be, you all know zero about Hamas and what goes on in Gaza. However, one thing is sure, Hamas is the resistance and resistance against illegal occupation (don't tell me Israel left Gaza) and blockade is internationally recognised. They have paltry little rockets that do no real damage while confronting one of the most militarised countries on earth that has disgracefully twice bombarded them with thousands of the most sophisticated missiles.
Gazans are proud people, like us, and they think for themselves. They resist because their life is made hell by Israel's blockade. You don't understand this because Zionist narratives have reduced Palestinians since early 1900s to the status of animals. Now Israelis shoot them down like animals.
A civilised society would never tolerate this from any country. So why from Israel?
3
Palestinians in Gaza have a fourth option: to revolt against Hamas.
They could establish an internationally-acceptable government keen on nation-building in Gaza, attract investment by the US and EU and build an economically viable enclave based on daily workers in Israel, some agriculture and low-tech industry in the joint Erez industrial zone. They could set an example that a Palestinian-governed state is not by definition corrupt, belligerent and theocratic and give us reason to believe in the future of an independent Palestine within the borders of the formerly occupied territories.
272
But there still remains the need to unite the Palestinians of the West Bank with those of Gaza, unless one desires two Palestinian states (essentially what there is now).
2
There's actually three if you count Jordan.
3
Hamas is backed by Iran, for whom it plays a vital role in its rivalry with Saudi Arabia and, now, its contention with the US. Any attempt to displace Hamas within Gaza would be met by violence of the highest order, probably in its early stages. A few assassinations, not even bombings, and it's over.
(Let's get real here.)
3
Who rules these desperate people? Are those rulers doing a good job? If not, why are the demonstrations not aimed at them?
78
There has to be a solution to this. Many Israelis and Palestinians want a solution. We as humans can remain angry (often with good reason) forever. Let's start with the premise that we are all brothers and sisters. We are ea h responsible for EVERYTHING that happens, even if we aren't directly involved in the action. Our human history is filled with numerous countries that invaded, took land away and killed others to get what they wanted.
2
Palestinians should express this same frustration against their own rulers who have squandered the millions they’ve received in aid for tunnels, arms and salaries of their Hamas leaders. Unfortunately if they were to do this we all know what Hamas would do them.
120
Discrimination is obviously not solely an American occurence
20
The goal of Hamas is the destruction of Israel. They are not open to any other option. If you had someone trying to destroy the border fence to get into the US to commit terrorism and kill Americans, what would you be doing? Would that be discrimination?
6
Another ny times article about the poor Palestinians. No mention that the reason why there is “nothing” in Gaza is because of Hamas and the corruption of the Palestinian authority. Where has all the aid given to the Palestinians gone? Why didn’t it go to the people? Why is it I hear of photos of the airplane the Palestinian government bought or the palace Abbas built for himself? If they are all living in poverty why have I seen photos of the beautiful malls in Gaza? Why no mention of the battle between Hamas and Palestinian authority that hurts the average Palestinian citizen? Why is it if israel pulled out of Gaza they have the right not to let people in from the “country” next door.
222
If you push a man into a ghetto, and give him no chance of advancement in this life, he will undoubtedly react in a savage way. I am quite sure people stabbed each other in the back in the Warsaw ghetto as well, and the fact that it is Jewish Israelis perpetrating this blockade makes this all the more concerning.
27
Does Israel have the right to blockade Gaza?
"The blockade has been criticized by Ban Ki-moon (the then-UN Secretary-General), the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)[7] and other human rights organizations. The International Committee of the Red Cross termed it "collective punishment" in violation of international humanitarian law.
The World Bank estimated in 2015 that the GDP losses caused by the blockade since 2007 was above 50%, and entailed large welfare losses. Gaza's manufacturing sector, once significant, shrunk by as much as 60 percent in real terms, due to the wars in the past 20 years and the blockade. Gaza’s exports virtually disappeared since the imposition of the 2007 blockade. "
"items that have at various times been denied importation into Gaza in 2010 include ordinary consumer goods such as jam, candles, books, musical instruments, shampoo, A4 paper, and livestock such as chicken, donkeys, and cows. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs at various times, Israel has blocked goods including wheelchairs, dry food items, and crayons, Stationery, soccer balls, and musical instruments...International aid group Mercy Corps said it was blocked from sending 90 tons of macaroni and other foodstuffs"
13
I have never read an article in this paper discussing the points you mentioned. The fact that Egypt has an impenetrable wall on their side of the border. That Israel continues to provide electricity, food and water to people that want to destroy them.
14
It seems to me the young people of Gaza should be looking West at their own government rather than East towards Israel. It is their government who has squandered money on bombs and tunnels instead of schools and hospitals.
237
Yes!
4
What evidence do we have that 'bombs' and tunnels are being used against the Israelis? I am sure that if one whisker of an Israeli citizen was hurt by a 'bomb' from Gaza it would have been worldwide headline news. No, there has been a non stop effort to make the lives of Palestinians as miserable and deprived as possible. They are killed at every opportunity and their infrastructures needlessly destroyed at every open conflict. The Palestinians have turned down every peace 'deal' because the terms have always been untenable in the long term, and what they also did not know at the time is just how bad it would get for them. Astonishing to me that a people that have been treated so badly in war would inflict the same cruelties on others. By the way, some 80 milllion people died of various causes during the Second World War. They all lost lives, family, land and their treasures.
7
I agree with your sentiment but thought I should point out that you have your directions reversed.
2
It’s hard not to feel pity and sadness for Mr. Saber al-Gerim’s undeserved plight
-- a plight primarily due to the ongoing short-sightedness and refusal of Palestinian leaders to allow Jews a small space in their ancestral homeland to live in peace and security.
I feel similar pity and sadness for the young Jewish soldiers forced to waste their youth and risk their lives defending their country against young people like Mr. Gerim who they really don’t hate, but rightly fear as enemies.
151
The Jews consider themselves modern,liberal and humane. Why do they have to occupy this piece of land occupied by an agricultural pre modern Palestinian people. There is lot of land available, the size of Palestine which many governments will gladly give to have this perennial problem solved. The fact that they are not able to consider this,shows that the veneer of culture and liberality which they cloak themselves is a thin one. They are as tribalist as they try to portray their opponents.
9
"The Jews consider themselves modern, liberal and humane."
Not really.
What Jews rightly consider themselves to be is an endangered species, who like any other endangered species, has a right and a duty to look out for themselves.
8
The Jews have a right to this land, they have lived in it for the past 2000 years, and the UN acknowledged that right in 1947. The Jews accepted the partition plan, the Arab states decided to invade.
But just curious....
Where do you think the whole population of Israel should move to?
I think that the people of the US should vacate this country as it rightfully belongs to the Indians. After all, "there is a lot of land elsewhere in the world".
11
In a paragraph lamenting the lack of opportunities for an industrious young man, one occupation was glaringly missed, start a new political party.
Saber al-Gerim could start a new political party, perhaps a true alternative to Hamas dedicated to ending the “armed resistance” and dedicated to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
92
He would be jailed, if not killed outright. Violence and oppression are how Fatah and Hamas maintain control over their fiefdoms.
20
Yet he said himself he doesn't care if he dies.
1