Gaza headlines

As I have mentioned in the past, in order to keep current on the situation in Gaza, one need only read the headlines. The articles generally contain good information, but at this point, the headlines suffice.

Some recent examples include "Israeli air strike in Gaza kills two" (Guardian), or "Israelis shoot dead 'mentally ill' woman near Gaza barrier" (BBC).

When the situations are reversed, they read strangely: "Palestinian air strike in Tel Aviv kills two." The thought experiment requires effort. One strains to picture the Palestinian Air Force (which doesn't exist) conducting air strikes in occupied Israel. Both occupation scenarios, the real one and the imagined one, are illegal and immoral. And the corresponding headlines should be disturbing regardless of who is occupying whom.

The title of a recent article in Al Monitor, "Cement shortage in Gaza leaves thousands jobless," says it all, with the article offering additional details. The piece opens with a young man secretly buying black-market bags of cement so he can finish his house and get married. By Gaza standards, he's lucky to be able to do so.

Since 1967, the Gaza Strip (about the size of Las Vegas) has been under Israeli occupation, and since 2007 behind what is called the blockade or siege. The territory is internationally isolated and has relied on tunnels to import various goods and materials and help sustain its feeble economy.

According to a Nov. 2013 report by Oxfam,

In the first ten months of 2013 only 111 commercial export trucks left Gaza, compared to 254 in 2012, and over 5,000 a year before the blockade was imposed. ... Imports are currently at half the pre-blockade levels. 

Over 80 percent of people in Gaza are now in need of humanitarian aid, and 65 percent of families are expected to be food insecure by the end of the year—up from 44 percent in 2011. Two thirds of Gaza's population currently receives clean water supply only once every three to four days.

(See also the Israeli human rights organization Gisha's "Gaza Cheat Sheet.")

At present, there is outrage among American commentators over Russia's projection of power in Ukraine. The disapproval is indeed appropriate, as Moscow's actions are aggressive, destabilizing, and illegal. However, the level of indignation seen in the mainstream press—coverage in the New York Times is endless and the columnists frenzied—is ordinarily reserved for the misconduct of foreign powers. On the topic of US authorization and support for Gaza's suffering, however, the analysis is often measured and contemplative. Israel is a US client, and therefore a different set of standards is applied.

Much like monitoring Gaza, to know when American pundits are going to become morally agitated, one need only read the headlines.