The Gaza Blockade
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations greeted news of the flotilla disaster by repeating a common “pro-Israel” talking point: that Israel only blockades Gaza to prevent Hamas from building rockets that might kill Israeli citizens. If only that were true. In reality, the embargo has a broader and more sinister purpose: to impoverish the people of Gaza, and thus turn them against Hamas. As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported, the Israeli officials in charge of the embargo adhere to what they call a policy of “no prosperity, no development, no humanitarian crisis.” In other words, the embargo must be tight enough to keep the people of Gaza miserable, but not so tight that they starve. ~Peter Beinart
Beinart’s emphasis on the blockade as the main issue is correct and something I did not discuss enough in my earlier post. This economic and political purpose of the blockade has never been a secret. During Operation Cast Lead, we heard all about how inflicting deprivation and misery on the Gazan population with the siege was intended to turn the population against Hamas. As I noted at the time, sanctions and embargoes do not cause people to rise up against their rulers, but they do make them resent the people imposing the sanctions and embargoes. Now that the blockade has produced an enormous political disaster, we are supposed to forget about that and focus on arms smuggling that has nothing to do with what the flotilla was attempting to bring to Gaza.
The blockade is a policy aimed at the steady immiseration and deeper impoverishment of Gazans. This not only deflects attention from Hamas’ abuses and misrule, but it also ensures that there will not be enough prosperity in the future to foster any sort of viable political opposition against Hamas. That tells me that Israel is actually quite willing to tolerate a Hamas-run enclave on its doorstep so long as it can keep the people living there poor and dependent.
You really should read Frum’s article which suggests in all seriousness that CONCRETE, thats right, CONCRETE is a weapon of war. I guess my buying of spackle the other day at Lowe’s should put me on the list of terrorists for daring to repair my drywall. Obviously anything could be diverted to military uses, and humanitarian aid, by virtue of allowing say Hamas to divert its resources to NOT improving the lives of its people, could be considered facilitating their military build up. But thats an incredibly granular view of aid, and by that argument, all food-aid to North Korea should be cut off and millions allowed to starve just because Kim Jong Il continues in his provocations.
The blockade also gives power and comparative riches to non-arms smugglers. I assume HAMAS has control over common item smuggling, making the blockade practically counter-productive as well.
I agree the blockade is a bad idea, but Gaza is a special case in that they’re part of a single territory (sort of) that has two rulers: Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in Judea and Samaria. Israel’s objective isn’t to get the Gazans to turn against their rulers in favor of some indefinite future rulers; it’s to get the Gazans to side with the current rulers in Judea and Samaria, who were also the previous rulers in Gaza. So it’s not clear your general rule about embargoes applies in this case. I think your conclusion is correct, but I’m skeptical of the deductive reasoning you used to get there.
“As I noted at the time, sanctions and embargoes do not cause people to rise up against their rulers, but they do make them resent the people imposing the sanctions and embargoes.”
Yeah – “vote for who we tell you to vote for, or we’ll starve your family through a blockade” doesn’t seem like it will win a lot of hearts and minds. Collective suffering always brings people together.
[...] smart pieces from Daniel Larison- the first on the intent of the blockade, and the second, which I will focus on, about the reaction from the most fervent Israel [...]
Cast Lead. Dubai. The Flotilla Debacle.
Two characteristics distinguish all three. Flagrent disregard for international norms. Mind numbing incompetence.
And this is a nation that expects to receive special dispensation to maintain a nuclear arsenal, just in case.
This Israeli government is beginning to look both like it can’t help itself and like it can’t be helped, not a reassuring combination. Whatever pablum gets pumped out of the White House, DoD, and State, one would hope that the people in the offices down there who have a little common sense are developing some strategies to rein these bozos in.