Ami Ayalon in Chicago

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Below, please find a number of resources, actions, and policy regarding Gaza.

Table of Contents: Statements, Actions, Policy, Q & As, Commentary

J Street on the Gaza Flotilla and Its Aftermath

The events of recent days are shocking and tragic. We mourn the loss of
life and wish the injured a full and speedy recovery.

J Street believes strongly that without immediate leadership to change
the course of events, the status quo in the Middle East will lead to
further tragedy and ultimately to the demise of the Jewish, democratic
Israel that we seek to preserve and protect.

It is incumbent on President Obama, the leaders of the worldwide Jewish
community, and the leaders of Israel to seize on this moment of crisis
and tragedy and turn it into a meaningful opportunity to end the
underlying conflict once and for all.

We urge that Israel immediately appoint a scrupulously independent
commission to investigate the events onboard the Marmara and the
decisions and circumstances surrounding the tragedy. We do believe that
the government of Israel is capable of carrying out such an
investigation but recognize its credibility is in doubt. Nothing but an
immediate inquiry led by an impartial figure outside the government can
produce a report that would be viewed as fair by Israel and the wider
international community.

We harbor no illusions about the motives of those who organized the
flotilla. While the cargo they carried was humanitarian in nature, their
intent was to force the Israeli government to confront the consequences
of the blockade of Gaza – including by using the media coverage to
further damage Israel’s standing in world opinion.

They have succeeded not only in creating negative publicity but in
highlighting for the world that Israel’s actions and policies go far
beyond the measures necessary to prevent the import of weapons and other
material aid to terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

Israel may have had the necessary legal justification to enforce its
blockade, but the correct question isn’t whether it had the right to use
force, but whether that decision was strategically wise and furthered
the clear goal of promoting the security of a Jewish, democratic and
safe Israel. We believe it did not.

J Street’s Position:

We call for

  1. Lifting the unproductive blockade of humanitarian and construction
    materials into Gaza while supporting serious, effective security
    measures to prevent weapons and other terrorist supplies from entering.
  2. The immediate release by Hamas of Corporal Gilad Shalit and Hamas’
    renunciation of violence as a means of achieving the political goal of
    Palestinian freedom and independence.
  3. An immediate, serious and dramatic effort, led by President Obama,
    to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and achieve a two-state solution
    now.
  4. An outpouring of support from the American Jewish community and all
    those who care about preserving a Jewish, democratic, and safe Israel
    for immediate movement on the part of the state of Israel toward a
    diplomatic two-state resolution.
  5. The leaders of all sides – Arabs, Palestinians and Israelis – to
    begin an honest conversation with their people about how this conflict
    will end and the compromises and sacrifices that will be necessary to
    avoid further generations of violence, bloodshed and terror.

Finally, we echo President Obama’s call for a two-state solution in
Cairo one year ago this week:

“Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us
have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis
and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the
Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God
intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews
and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of
Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when
Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer.”

Click here for a PDF version of this one-pager.

Key Questions and Answers on the Gaza Flotilla

Here are a few examples of some of the most overheard questions
following the Gaza Flotilla Tragedy and J Street’s answers. If you’d
like to see another question answered on this page, send us an email at
info [at] jstreet [dot] org.

Q: Why didn’t the boat go to Ashdod and unload supplies, as the IDF
offered?

A: The flotilla’s organizers were trying to break the blockade and
Israel knew that. It is obvious that the flotilla was not simply a
humanitarian aid mission but also a strategic effort to force an Israeli
response and to bring attention to the issue of the ongoing Israeli
blockade of Gaza.

The proper response to the flotilla would have been – and to future
ships, will be – a shift to a policy that sensibly protects Israel,
prevents weapons importation and allows in all other humanitarian and
basic supplies.

Q: Weren’t the Israeli Defense Forces acting in self-defense?

A: Video does show that the IDF soldiers were attacked by a violent mob,
and we hope that an independent inquiry will determine the exact
circumstances. However, the major lingering question is why soldiers
were sent onto these ships in the first place – the strategy itself
placed the soldiers in an exceptionally difficult situation and
predictably led to the tragic outcome.

Q: Was the flotilla funded by Hamas allies and terrorist agents?

A: There are a lot of questions that will need to be answered in the
days ahead about all aspects of this incident. Even presuming the worst
about the people on the boats and the people who funded them – there is
little strategic justification or rationale for either the underlying
blockade policy or the response that was planned and carried out.

The Flotilla organizers, regardless of their politics or where their
funding comes from, have now succeeded not only in creating negative
publicity but also in highlighting for the world that Israel’s actions
and policies go far beyond measures necessary to prevent the import of
weapons and other material aid to terrorists into the Gaza Strip.

Q: Doesn’t Israel have a right to defend itself and impose a blockade
on weapons headed to Hamas in Gaza for use against Israel?

A: Of course, J Street believes Israel has the right to act to prevent
weapons from ending up in Hamas’ hands. The question is not whether or
not Israel had the right, but whether it was wise to act in this manner
to enforce a counterproductive blockade that does not effectively deny
Hamas weaponry, increases Hamas’ stature at home and abroad, further
undermines Israel’s international reputation, and contributes to
humanitarian strife in Gaza.

Q: How can Israel be the one to investigate itself? Shouldn’t the
International Community do that?

J Street supports a credible, independent commission that would provide
the world with a full and complete report into the causes and
circumstances surrounding the day’s events and establish responsibility
for the violence and bloodshed as similar commissions have in the past.
An immediate inquiry, led by an impartial figure outside the government,
can produce a report that would be viewed as fair by Israel and the
wider international community.

Q: Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist – why shouldn’t
Israel blockade them?

Make no mistake – Hamas is an organization that threatens Israel, uses
terror and is holding Gilad Shalit hostage. We should recognize at the
outset that it is a dangerous organization that must be dealt with
openly and honestly as such.

The appropriate question is what the best strategy is for dealing with
them. Israel is right to put into place a rigorous system of border
control that will ensure that weapons and materials clearly intended for
terror purposes do not enter Gaza – and there would be international
support for such efforts.

However, the present policy of total closure goes far beyond measures
needed simply for security – and the consequences of that policy are
actually undermining Israel’s long-term interests and security. There
is no justification for keeping out humanitarian supplies (food,
medicine and the like). There is no reason not to work with the UN to
provide the materials it needs to rebuild damaged schools and construct
new ones to meet demand. Actions such as these – not to mention the
raid on the flotilla – damage Israel’s standing in the world, continue
its march toward becoming a pariah state, ratchet up hatred and tension
among the Palestinians – and make Israel less secure in the long run.

Click here to download a PDF version of the Gaza Flotilla Q & As.

Gaza Blockade Questions and Answers

Here are a few examples of some of the most overheard questions about
the Gaza Blockade and J Street’s policy. If you’d
like to see another question answered on this page, send us an email at
info [at] jstreet [dot] org.

Q: What does
Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip entail?

A: Israel’s blockade of Gaza
includes a ban on weapons, materials that can be used to create weapons,
and humanitarian goods that are not applicable to military purposes.

It
prohibits articles, including food, medical goods and construction
materials
deemed by Israel not to be, in the language of the Israeli Foreign
Ministry, “vital
humanitarian goods” [1] from entering the territory. It also prohibits
all exports from the Gaza Strip,
and limits the amount of fuel and electricity allowed into the
territory.

The
Israeli Government has not released an official list of goods it is
preventing
from entering the Gaza Strip. However, an
ad hoc list by The Economist, compiled based on observations of people
in Gaza, includes such
items as coriander, fresh meat, wood for housing, tarps and heaters.
[2] Israel
alters the list of prohibited goods without notice, and has at times
prohibited light bulbs, candles, matches, books, clothing, shoes,
mattresses,
sheets, blankets and pasta.

Additionally,
items allowed into Gaza are entering at greatly reduced volumes. It is
estimated that Gaza’s population of 1.5
million now relies on less than a quarter of the volume of imported
supplies they
received in December 2005, before the blockade began. [3]

Q: Why is Israel
blockading Gaza?

A: Following the intensification of
Qassam rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians in September 2007
and
Hamas’ political takeover of the Strip, Israel declared Gaza “hostile
territory,” expanding more limited restrictions on goods entering the
territory
into the current blockade.

While
Israel has every right to institute measures to prevent the entry of
weapons to
the Hamas-controlled territory, its blockade of the Gaza Strip is
intended “to compromise the ability of Hamas to govern in Gaza as
the quality of life deteriorated.” [4] Israeli
officials have repeatedly characterized their blockade policy in the
following
terms: “No prosperity, no development, no humanitarian crisis.” [5]

Q:
Is the blockade effective at protecting Israel’s security and weakening
Hamas?

A: According
to the Associated Press, support
for Hamas in the Gaza Strip has not been weakened, as Gazan civilians
blame
Israel for the deprivation they are suffering under the blockade. [6]
Hamas has continued to ship arms into Gaza
through tunnels, along with prohibited food and building materials which
it
distributes to the besieged population to garner additional goodwill as
the
sole provider of essential articles. Meanwhile, Israel’s standing in the
international community continues to deteriorate in lock-step with
conditions
in Gaza.

Q:
Is there really a humanitarian crisis in Gaza?

A:
Many international organizations consider Gaza to be experiencing a
full-blown
humanitarian crisis. [7] Not
only is the blockade harming the nutrition and health of Gazans, but the
economy — and the means for Gazans to provide for themselves — in the
territory
has been significantly undermined by the dearth of materials and energy
for
businesses and the total ban on exports.

Consider
the following statistics provided by the U.S. State Department-funded
charity
American Near East Refugee Aid:

  • 8
    out of 10 Gazans depend on foreign aid to survive;
  • Gaza
    requires a minimum of 400 trucks a day to meet basic nutritional needs,
    but an
    average of just 171 trucks worth of supplies enter Gaza every week;
  • Clothes
    that were held in the port of Ashdod for over a year were released into
    Gaza
    but arrived unusable, covered with mold and mildew;
  • 95%
    of Gaza’s water fails World Health Organization standards, leaving
    thousands of
    newborns at risk of poisoning;
  • Anemia
    for children under the age of 5 is estimated at 48%.

Q:
Is there an alternative to the blockade that protects Israel’s security
and
prevents weapons from getting into the hands of Hamas?

A: Yes.
Israel could end the general blockade while maintaining strict border
inspections and controls for interdicting weapons and articles which
have military
applications. Israel is a world leader in the monitoring and border
control
technology necessary to ensure weapons are not moved across the border
into
Gaza. [8] With fewer soldiers and resources assigned to enforcing the
current blockade on
non-military items, Israel could more effectively devote its energies to
detecting and closing the tunnels through which Hamas is currently
shipping
arms. It could also count on a much
broader spectrum of international support in stemming the movement of
such
weapons into Gaza.

[1] “MFA legal expert Sarah Weiss Maudi on the legal
aspects of Gaza aid.” Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 26,
2010.

[2] “Partial List of Items Prohibited/Permitted into the
Gaza Strip.” Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, May 2010.

[3] “Guide: Gaza under blockade,” by Heather Sharp. BBC,
May 31, 2010.

[4] “Cabinet declares Gaza ‘hostile territory’,” by Avi
Issacharoff, Barak Ravid, and Shlomo Shamir. Haaretz, September
20, 2007.

[5] “Gaza Bonanza,” by Yotam Feldman and Uri Blau. Haaretz, June
11, 2009.

[6] “Israeli blockade of Gaza at heart of crisis.” Associated
Press, June 2, 2010.

[7] “Guide:
Gaza under blockade,” by Heather Sharp. BBC, May 31, 2010.

[8] “Rethinking the Gaza Blockade.” The New York Times,
June 1, 2010.

Click here to download a PDF version of the Gaza Blockade Q & A.

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