Amira Hass / Lexicon of most misleading terms in Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli media is rife with false terms and statements that distort the public's perception of reality.
By Amira Hass Tags: Gaza Israel news separation wall* "Humanitarian crisis." "There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza," say official Israeli spokesmen such as Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Ministry director general Yossi Gal say repeatedly. And they are correct, because a "crisis" is a sudden change, a deviation from a norm, while what's going on in Gaza has become the routine.
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A demonstration against the separation barrier in the West Bank. |
| Photo by: Haggai Matar |
They are right also about the "humanitarian" aspect, if what they mean is that hundreds of thousands are not dying of thirst or hunger. There is no humanitarian crisis, if you think that all a person needs is a set number of daily calories. And for someone who lives in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, it is easy to ignore the non-crisis-like fact that 90 percent of the water produced in the Gaza Strip from its only water source - part of the Coastal aquifer - is not fit for human consumption. People who do not get purified water are risking their health - high blood pressure, and kidney and intestinal diseases. Indeed, only thanks to the extended-family support system, charitable organizations, UNRWA, international aid programs, public-sector wages and the "tunnel economy" are people not being starved.
But what about a person's need for freedom of movement, a person's right to create, to produce, to earn a living and study, to leave for timely medical treatment and to travel? The spokespeople and PR professionals who try to prove things are fine reduce human needs to a graph containing only water, food and shelter. These graphs tell more about their presenters than they do about human beings.
* "Israel transfers humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip." This is a routine statement that leads many to conclude that Israel pays for the Gazans' food and medicine that do enter the strip. This is a mistaken conclusion, but it might be based on an accurate perception of the situation: In prison, the warden is responsible for providing the inmates' food. But not in the 360-square-kilometer Gaza prison, which houses 1.5 million people. What we should be saying is, "Israel permits basic commodities to enter Gaza." Some are ordered, paid for and distributed by international organizations. Most are sold to Gaza merchants, who sell them in the markets, stores and pharmacies.
* "Closures/a closure was imposed/a closure was lifted." Once, before the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, these misleading definitions included the Gaza Strip. Now they refer to only the West Bank. On the eve of every Israeli holiday, the radio news reports that "a closure has been imposed on Judea and Samaria." And then it is lifted. That is also the source for the strange plural form, "closures." A closure comes and a closure goes and in between everything is fine.
But the "closure" has been in effect since it was declared in January 1991. Since then, all the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been deprived of the right to freedom of movement. Since then, they have been subject to a complicated regime of permits which is becoming ever more sophisticated. Israel decides which categories of people get permits to move around, and determines the number of people in every category. It is always a small minority that gets to move, and always under restrictive conditions. Meanwhile, Jewish settlers in that very same territory come and go without permits.
* "In 2002 when the West Bank was reoccupied." One hears this fairly often from Palestinian spokesmen. This is an extremely senseless statement, even when replaced by "When the Israel Defense Forces reoccupied the towns of the West Bank." When the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994, the Israeli occupation and its far-reaching authority was not abolished. When IDF troops left West Bank towns at the end of 1995, the presence of armed Palestinian policemen did not make the towns un-occupied. When the PA took responsibility for most of the Palestinian population and its health, sewage and education problems, it did not receive the authority and resources of a state. Israel still has these. And the sovereign has remained the IDF - in 1996, in 2002 and today.
* "A non-violent struggle." The IDF rejects Palestinian and international claims that the fight against the separation fence is "a non-violent struggle." The IDF is correct. This should be immediately erased from the lexicon. "Non-violent" is not an appropriate term for the demonstrations at Na'alin, Bil'in, Nabi Salah, Walaja, Maasra, Iraq Burin and the others to come. But this is not due to the reasons given by the army and other Israeli officials. "Violent" has a negative connotation, of course, implying the unjustified use of force, which goes against the existing order and the values of civilization.
When we define the struggle against foreign rule as "non-violent" or "violent," it's as if we asked the occupied to prove their resistence is kosher (or not ). And to whom? The very foreign ruler who considers boycotting settlement products to be unkosher. The adjectives "non-violent" or "violent" presume that the occupation is a natural state of affairs, whose violence is permitted, a civilized norm meant to tame its subjects. "A non-violent struggle" therefore diverts attention from the fact that forced rule is based on the use of violence. Every soldier at a roadblock, every camera on the separation fence, every military edict, a supermarket in a settlement and an Israeli diaper factory on Palestinian land - they are all part of the nonstop violence.
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may God bless you for your humaine, intelligen&, impartial repotring ,that in the long run, will be good not only for the Palestinians but also for the Jews of Israel.
I would like to say to the writer not to worry because most of the readers who commented are extremists, that doesnt make you wrong Haas. Thank you for this honest depiction.
Granted life in Gaza is not a bed of roses for the poor but Kassams being shot at you are not too terrific for Israeli citizens....so much aid and money has poured into to Gaza...where did it go? Perhnaps corfruption in Gaza should be checked out instead of always blaming Israel. Also why does Eygpt not let them bring aid thru Eygpt? Why not fault Egypt too?
Another egregious instance of misleading terminology is to refer to Amira Hass as a journalist instead of a Hamas propagandist.
I commend you and commend your newspaper for publishing such article. You have my respect Miss Hass!
Thank you Amira Hass for your perspicasity.
Amira Hass’ lexicon isn't going to create any competition for Samuel Johnson or Noah Webster or Even-Sapir, for that matter. Hass: "Humanitarian crisis." …They are right also about the "humanitarian" aspect, if what they mean is that hundreds of thousands are not dying of thirst or hunger. There is no humanitarian crisis … But what about a person's need for freedom of movement, a person's right to create, to produce, to earn a living and study, to leave for timely medical treatment and to travel? What about them? Israel is imposing a blockade, so freedom of movement, etc. is naturally constrained, but Israel is correct there is no humanitarian crisis. Ms Hass seems to be despairing of those so beings adding new human rights that, while reasonable under normal circumstances, don’t amount to a humanitarian crisis. Hass: "Israel transfers humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip." This is a routine statement that leads many to conclude that Israel pays for the Gazans' food and medicine that do enter the strip.” Really? Transfer means to me “move across,” which is what Israel is doing. If Israel said it was providing humanitarian aid that would be another story. This complaint is about nothing except Ms Hass misreading the text. Hass: "A non-violent struggle" therefore diverts attention from the fact that forced rule is based on the use of violence. Ms Hass seems to be saying through the prism of windy argument, yes, the protests in Bi'lin, etc. are violent but justified. An interesting reading on the use of non-violence but it doesn’t suffice as for a lexicon. In other words, Israel’s terming the protests violent is correct, but Ms Hass wants to argue it away. The fact is, however, that however nasty roadblocks are, they don’t kill, neither does building a diaper factory on Palestinian land. The question is how many innocent Palestinians are killed or wounded by Israeli actions in the space of say a year, not by the use of complicated and self-serving analogies’. Violence is violence.
After the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel was attacked by, and repelled, 5 Arab armies, the Gaza strip was occupied, as was Sinai. (Sinai was later returned to Egypt when peace was declared between the two countries. It is today a flourishing tourist attraction, including for Israelis.) Billions of dollars were invested in Gaza. Israel built major infrastructure, mainly for Israeli settlers, but everyone benefitted. Gazans flowed into Israel seeking work, and returned with consumer goods and money. Everyone benefitted. But the Arab leadership would neither make peace, nor leave the situation be. Arab violence ultimately led Israel to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza and leave it to the Arabs. The first thing they did was destroy the infrastructure. Greenhouses, silos, irrigation systems, machinery. Buildings (they could have used for schools, hospitals and more) were destroyed. Total destruction. Then, with massive amounts donated mainly by the EU, instead of restarting, instead of investing in education, social welfare, human rights, medical care, science, tourism and more, what little donation money that was not spirited to foreign private bank accounts, was used to buy arms and to attack Israel. The downtrodden Gazans deserve better. They deserve moral leadership. Blaming Israel for all their woes is risible.
why they don't earn their own bread?
Amira, Although i agree with you that the Palestinians have suffered in the last forty years because of the Israeli occupation, I would also like to remind you that the Israelis have also suffered painful scars because of Palestinian terrorism - do not forget the Jerusalem surgeon and daughter who were killed by terrorist suicide bomber at Jerusalem cafe the day before her wedding. You attack the separation wall very vehemently but have not offered viable alternatives to this medicine. Let me remind you that since the separation wall has gone up, the number of suicide bombings has plummeted. Separation walls not only exist in Israel but also in Belfast, Arizona, Texas, Korea, Cyprus, etc where violence is far less acute. When the Palestinians and Israeli can come to a durable peace agreement, it might be a good idea to rethink the existence of the wall. Until then, be happy that such a wall is protecting you when you board the next Egged bus around Jerusalem. Shalom to you... Jed Nightingale NYC
Just because you speak Arabic and have a job at a lefty newspaper doesn't give you the right to whine about what you think are corruptions in the "lexicon". What is it about "The Arabs of Judea, Samaria and especially of Gaza are committed to killing and murdering ALL of us" don't you understand? How dare you say they are not creative or that their creativity is being restricted ! They created airline hijackings, suicide bombers and other such "contributions" to human civilization. Their actions speak louder than all your whining ever will.
Evidently all Palestinian violence against Israelis is kosher for Hass, but Israeli cameras are a tragedy
Congratulations, you did it again. No mention that Israel tried to negotiate security arrangements with Hamas--and their response was to bomb the border crossings, the jointly operated factories and, did we forget, bomb Israel 7000 times with rockets and mortars. Perhaps that is why there is an embargo on chocolate. You try to kill me, I will make life less comfortable for you. Any normal country would have destroyed Gaza years ago. England, remember WW2 and the firebombing of Dresden?
palis want to create, eat, be prosperous. All they need do is stop shooting at Israel and jews, and release Shalit. The blockade will be over. Simple. Food and prosperity before bombs and bullets. After all you cant eat a bullte can you.
... Hitler sending anything to London except bombs from 1939 to 1944. Or Japan sending a lot of food, medicine, medical care, etc to USA from 1942 to 1945. Gaza, according to charter and actions, is at war with Israel, honey. They are getting lots better treatment from Israel than anyone has a right to expect. You are right about the Gaza aquifer giving way to population pressure. But exactly who is responsible for creating all these little aquifer pressures?
The stated object of those responsible for this dramatic exercise in uniting the Eurtopean anti semites in further condemnation of Israel, is to drive all Jews into the sea. It has been their rallying cry since conception and this propaganda exercise underlines Israel's right to defend itself from frustrated terrorists who can't achieve their aims through military means.