Witness: Writing on the walls in the Holy Land
Mon Jun 21, 8:49 am ET
Alastair Macdonald has been Reuters Bureau Chief in Israel and the Palestinian territories for the past three years. As a foreign correspondent over the past 20, he has previously been based in London, Paris, Moscow, Berlin and Baghdad.As he ends his assignment in Jerusalem, he reflects in the following story, on how he has watched people in the region build an array of barriers, both physical and emotional, to cut themselves off from each other.By Alastair Macdonald
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - With one last exit stamp in my passport, I end a three-year reporting assignment in the Holy Land that has been marked by images of frontiers, by a sense of walls going up and fewer and fewer people finding a way through.From the minefields of Israel's frontlines with Syria and Lebanon to the fortified fences around the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- much in this month's headlines -- to the walls, old and new, of Jerusalem, physical barriers shape the lives of the 12 million people cut off here in what was once called Palestine.But those lives, and millions more touched by events that reach far beyond these borders, are marked, too, by less visible internal frontiers -- religious, cultural, ethnic, political.
What has struck me is seeing people locked in, and locked out, by a spreading labyrinth of boundaries and parallel worlds, all in an area just a third the size of my native Scotland.As a Reuters correspondent, I'm used to explaining what I see to people living a world away. In Israel and the Palestinian territories, I'm as often asked to describe lives being led only a few miles down the road, to neighbors who no longer meet.Is it true their women can't go out in public now? an Israeli soldier asked me over cappuccino at a shopping mall just outside the Gaza Strip after Hamas Islamists seized the enclave.The answer was no. But the questions can be just as naive from Palestinians about an Israel many once knew quite well.As a foreigner and a journalist, I've had special privileges to cross these frontiers, whether the daunting maze and cages of Gaza's Erez Terminal or the once-walled, now invisible but still palpable, Green Line from Jerusalem's Arab east to Jewish west.Most locals cannot, or do not, make such journeys.Between Gaza and Israel, foreign journalists join just a few dozen aid workers each day and Palestinians heading to Israeli hospitals on a half-mile (700-meter) trek across no man's land.Normally, these days, it's a peaceful place, teeming with wildlife, a brief buffer zone between Gaza, an Arab city going backwards on donkey carts and embargoed scarcities, and the neat farms, hi-tech factories and shopping malls of southern Israel.
ADRIFT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
But Gaza is not the only island in this landlocked chain.Israel is essentially cut off too. I've stood on its borders with Lebanon and Syria, where mines and tanks and trenches mark frontlines that are still on alert. I've crossed its little-used transit points to Jordan and Egypt, signatories to a cold peace.From Israeli bases on the Golan Heights you can make out the lights of Damascus. From Jerusalem, the Jordanian capital Amman glows across the valley. Israel sits adrift from both. I've watched the estrangement between Palestinians of rival political camps leave Gaza and the West Bank virtually at war. I've seen Israelis grapple with divisions among themselves too -- between descendants of early European immigrants and later arrivals from the Middle East, Ethiopia and the Soviet Union.Ultra-Orthodox boys hauling barriers around their expanding neighborhoods in Jerusalem to protect their Sabbath observances from intrusion by secular Jews has also been a potent image.
Inside the Old City's gates, Ottoman-era Quarters -- Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian -- map communal rivalries still alive today. Small battlefields marked by razor wire, flags and hurled garbage show where Israelis are settling in Arab areas. As communities turn their backs on each other, I've seen the city's trilingual street signs defaced: Arabic is blacked out in the west, Hebrew erased in the east. (The English is ignored.)I've also watched smaller groups like the Christian Arabs slugging it out in turf wars, in the church around Jesus's tomb.
WALLING OFF MEMORIES
The most visible wall is the new one that snakes around greater Jerusalem -- protecting it, Israel says, from suicide bombers while cutting them off from their families, according to Palestinians.I've found myself describing to colleagues in Ramallah, just a 15-minute drive away for me, how the scenery of their native Jerusalem is changing. Like Israelis who reminisce to me fondly about trips to beachfront seafood restaurants in Gaza, for many Palestinians Jerusalem exists now in the mists of memory alone. They complain, too, that the barrier penning them into the West Bank is a frontier in one direction only. Half a million Israelis live there, in an archipelago of hilltop settlements, their red, pitched roofs an image of contrast to Arab villages.Other partitions and parallels abound. In Hebron, the shrine of Abraham, patriarch of both faiths, is divided into Jewish and Muslim sections, though that has not prevented bloodshed.Many argue all this wall-building is the only way to contain violence, though geography and demography hardly make it simple. Yet there are images that stay with me of those who reach over the walls. I've seen it in the Reuters journalists I worked with. Their professionalism is blind to being Palestinian or Israeli, even if partisan critics from all sides question that.But as borders have closed, ordinary folk who shake hands across them can find themselves shunned by their own community.Professional collaborations have grown rarer, too. I've seen it, still, in Israeli hospitals, where injuries and violence to colleagues have taken me. Staff and patients of all communities mingle easily, an extraordinary contrast to the world outside.So it's probably no coincidence it was a Gaza doctor, fluent in Hebrew, who inspired a rare outbreak of empathy across the frontiers last year, when Israeli television aired his plea for help after his children were killed during Israel's offensive. Sympathy for him among many Israelis and the doctor's own dignified refusal to bear grudges stood out for me, though they hardly began to offset bitterness the war left on either side.
As I leave, passing yet another frontier checkpoint for a final time, I see little sign of any of these walls coming down.(Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
Easing of Gaza blockade helps Hamas: Israel minister
Mon Jun 21, 3:32 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's deputy defence minister claimed on Monday that the easing of the Gaza blockade the government has announced would end up strengthening Hamas, the Palestinian territory's Islamist rulers.There is no doubt that the decision to allow the entry of more goods into the Gaza Strip will indirectly help Hamas strengthen its power, Matan Vilnai told public radio.Everything that enters Gaza comes under the control of Hamas, he added.Israel has announced the easing of the blockade it first imposed in 2006 when Gaza militants kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, and tightened one year later when Hamas seized power in the coastal strip.It said it would allow the import of strictly civilian goods, but will restrict problematic dual-use items -- thought to include construction materials which Israel says can be used to build rockets and bunkers.
Israel made no mention of allowing exports out of Gaza.The new policy is a response to mounting calls to ease the blockade after Israeli forces killed nine activists during a May 31 raid on a flotilla of activist aid ships.Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, who is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted the blockade did not achieve the desired effect of weakening Hamas.The blockade caused damage to us: it did not enable us to weaken the Hamas power or to speed up the release of Gilad Shalit, Erdan told army radio.One should not cling to principles that bring no profit and for which one has to pay.
Obama and Netanyahu to meet July 6
Mon Jun 21, 3:08 am ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Sunday hailed Israel's easing of its land blockade of Gaza and said President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would discuss further steps when they meet in Washington on July 6.The White House welcomed Israel's new rules for its land embargo, which has drawn heightened international criticism since a deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.We believe that the implementation of the policy announced by the government of Israel today should improve life for the people of Gaza, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.Israel said it would start allowing in all goods over land except for weapons and materials that can be used to make them.
But Israel did not ease its sea blockade on Gaza, despite international calls to do so since commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists during the interception of a Turkish aid vessel on May 31. Israeli officials said the troops acted in self-defense when attacked during boarding.Obama, in talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on June 9, called for a new conceptual framework to replace the Israeli embargo. But he stopped short of joining a broader international outcry against Israel, a staunch U.S. ally.Netanyahu, who was due to see Obama on June 1 but scrapped his trip because of the flotilla crisis, will now meet Obama at the White House on July 6.Gibbs said the United States would work with all parties to explore additional ways to improve the situation in Gaza, including greater freedom of movement and commerce between Gaza and the West Bank.There is more to be done, and the president looks forward to discussing this new policy, and additional steps, with Prime Minister Netanyahu during his visit to Washington,he said.Obama and Netanyahu are also expected to try to mend fences after recent strains over Jewish settlement construction on occupied land.In another meeting between Obama and a key ally in the Middle East, Saudi King Abdullah will visit Washington for talks on June 29, the White House said.Gibbs said Obama looks forward to discussing with King Abdullah the strengthening of bilateral ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia as well as a range of common concerns related to Gulf security, peace in the Middle East and other regional and global matters.(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Govt welcomes Israel's plans to ease Gaza blockade
Sun Jun 20, 5:43 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – The government on Sunday welcomed Israel's announcement of its plans to ease its Gaza blockade, hailing an important step in the right direction.I welcome today's announcement on Israel's intentions to ease restrictions on Gaza, said Foreign Secretary William Hague.This evening I spoke to Quartet representative Tony Blair. We both agreed that this marks an important step in the right direction.
His comments came after Israel on Sunday said it would allow all strictly civilian goods into Gaza while preventing weapons and certain dual-use items from entering the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.The new policy is a response to mounting calls to ease Israel's four-year siege on the coastal enclave after Israeli forces killed nine activists during a May 31 raid on a flotilla of aid ships attempting to run the blockade.The decision was formally announced following a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair, who has been spearheading discussions on easing the closures.Israel's decision to ease the blockade was first made public on Thursday but more detail was given on Sunday by government spokesman Mark Regev.In a statement, Hague urged the changes to be brought in swiftly to help revive Gaza's economy, while continuing to meet Israel's legitimate security concerns.Israel's long-term interests lie in creating an environment where Gaza's economy can flourish. The test now is how the new policy will be carried out.
US envoy Mitchell ends tour with visit to Egypt's Mubarak
Sat Jun 19, 12:03 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – US special envoy George Mitchell on Saturday met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as he wrapped up a regional tour aimed at advancing Middle East peace efforts.Mitchell, a go-between in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians that started in May, discussed with Mubarak Washington's drive to broker a long-elusive regional peace, the official MENA news agency reported.Mitchell told reporters after the meeting that Washington welcomed an Israeli announcement to ease a blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, enforced since the Islamist group seized the enclave in 2007.The current arrangements are unsustainable and must be changed, he said, repeating criticism made by US President Barack Obama's earlier this month.
A botched Israeli raid against a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza last month killed nine Turkish activists and sparked an international furore, leading to Israel's announcement that it would ease the blockade.Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons, but the embargo, which banned seemingly arbitrary food items as well as concrete, is also widely seen as a pressure tactic against Gazans.Earlier in the week Mitchell met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The Palestinians have refused to resume direct negotiations with Israel until it completely halts settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, where they hope to found the capital of a future state.Abbas suspended the previous round of direct negotiations, conducted in the absence of a settlement freeze, when Israel launched a war on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 in response to Hamas rocket fire.
Israel warns UN over Lebanon to Gaza aid bid by Steve Weizman – Sat Jun 19, 6:53 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – As women activists in Lebanon prepare a blockade-busting voyage to Israel its UN envoy has warned the world body that the Jewish state is entitled to use all necessary force to stop them.In a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon quoted by Israeli radio stations and Internet news sites on Saturday, Ambassador Gabriella Shalev said Israel suspected that organisers might be linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah.Israel reserves its right under international law to use all necessary means to prevent these ships from violating the existing naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, the website of newspaper Haaretz quoted her as writing.It appears that a small number of ships plan to depart from Lebanon and sail to the Gaza Strip which is under the control of the Hamas terrorist regime, she added.While those who organise this action claim that they wish to break the blockade on Gaza and to bring humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, the true nature of the actions remains dubious.The Israeli foreign ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.A group of dozens of Lebanese women activists is planning to set sail for Gaza on a ship loaded with medical supplies in a new bid to break Israel's four-year blockade of the Palestinian territory.
The women have not yet announced a departure date but on Thursday they gathered near a shrine to the Virgin Mary in south Lebanon to pray she bless their vessel, christened Mariam in her honour.The participants are committed to making progress and our only weapons are faith in the Virgin Mary and in humanity, spokeswoman Rima Farah told AFP.Dozens of Christian and Muslim women gathered in prayer in a cave near Our Lady of Mantara in the town of Maghdushe, where Mary was said to have waited for Jesus while he was preaching nearby some 2,000 years ago.The women deny Hezbollah involvement in their planned trip and the militant group itself said on Friday that it was not backing the voyage of the Mariam, because it did not want to give Israel a pretext to attack the activists.Preparations are also underway by other pro-Palestinian activists to send an aid ship carrying educational supplies and journalists from Lebanon to Gaza.Israel fought a deadly war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. The battles destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers.
Israel came under international censure over its May 31 seizure of a six-ship aid fleet bound for Gaza, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by naval commandos in clashes on the lead boat.It says the blockade is essential to stop arms reaching Gaza's Hamas rulers. The group has fired thousands of rockets and mortar rounds into Israel and killed nearly 300 Israeli civilians in suicide bombings since 2000.Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday warned the Beirut government that it would bear responsibility for any violent and dangerous confrontation with any vessel sailing to Gaza from Lebanese shores.You are responsible for the boats leaving your ports, which have the clear and stated intention of trying to break the naval blockade on Gaza,he said in a statement.Last year, a Lebanese freighter which tried to deliver aid to Gaza was intercepted by Israeli warships.
Hezbollah denies ties to Gaza-bound women aid ship
Fri Jun 18, 1:47 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – The Lebanese Hezbollah on Friday denied it was backing an all-women aid flotilla planning to sail from Lebanon to Gaza, saying it did not want to give Israel a pretext to attack the activists.Hezbollah confirms that it decided from the very beginning to stay away from this humanitarian act in terms of organisation, logistic support and participation so as not to give the Israeli enemy any pretext to attack the participants, it said in a statement.Hezbollah firmly believes this peaceful, civilian effort will succeed, the Shiite Muslim group added.A group of Lebanese women activists joined by Europeans and journalists are planning to sail for Gaza in the latest bid to break Israel's four-year blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.The organisers have not yet announced a departure date for the ship, christened Mariam in honour of the Virgin Mary.The plans for the women-only operation come as Israel faces an international backlash over its deadly May 31 seizure of a six-ship aid flotilla bound for Gaza, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by naval commandos.But Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday warned Lebanon it would be responsible for any violent and dangerous confrontation.Israel also approved a plan to ease its blockade of Gaza after heavy international pressure, while providing few details on what new goods would be allowed in.
The Jewish state fought a deadly war with the Lebanese Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. The battles destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers.The Jewish state recently accused Syria, which along with Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah, of smuggling sophisticated arms to the Shiite militant movement.
