Gazans suffer, and Israel is not the reason

Joel Brinkley
Sacremento Bee
24 December 09

(There is a number of points I can take issue with, nevertheless, there seems to be an awakening to whose doorstep their suffering belongs.)

While Palestinian Christians in the West Bank celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, Palestinians in Gaza, no matter their religious affiliation or political bent, are suffering in squalor and growing ignorance. Thousands are trying to flee.

Gaza has never been a prosperous enclave; the 140-square-mile territory has always been a poor, dependent state. But for Hamas, the radical Islamic terrorist group that seized control of Gaza in 2007, the long-term pursuit of a political impossibility trumps even the slightest concern for the welfare of the group's 1.5 million "constituents."

Residents of the Palestinian territories have been subjects of foreign states - Turkey, Great Britain, Jordan and then Israel - for half a millennium. But all the while, during both prosperous and desperate times, Palestinians have struggled to ensure that they educate their children. As a result, Palestinians have been among the best educated people in the world. Literacy rates, even for girls, have hovered around 99 percent. By comparison, in Iran, perhaps the Palestinians' biggest defenders now, and Israel's greatest enemy, UNICEF reports that only 77 percent of the population can read and write. Even Israel's literacy rate is lower: 97.1 percent.

But now, for the first time in the modern era, Gazans as young as 9, 10, 11 are being put to work in ever larger numbers, forgoing school. "Learning achievement has declined along with primary school enrollment," UNICEF reports.

Much of the world blames Israel. During its invasion of Gaza last January, Israeli troops damaged or destroyed nearly half of the territory's schools along with much of the remaining infrastructure. The condemnation of Israel, much of it justified for the assault's brutality, continues to this day in the United Nations and elsewhere.

Still, most of the people behind the continuing reproval take little note of Hamas' own campaign of terror in the previous months, lobbing hundreds of missiles toward Israeli population centers. No matter. That's a debate for another day. The point is, a year has passed.

What political concessions has Hamas offered that might have enabled it to make repairs, improve the lot of its people? None. So, poverty and malnutrition are growing so fast that these pernicious blights are reaching epidemic status. The United Nations reported this fall that one in five Gazans now live in what it called "abject poverty." That is why many parents are no longer sending their children to school. They need the pennies their children can earn at menial jobs to buy food.