One commenter wrote that when I wrote here recently about the greenhouses in Gaza that an American Jewish group helped hand over to the Palestinians last year, the source I quoted, Khaled Abdel-Shafi “had not told the whole story.” That commenter, RB, then helpfully provided URLs to some earlier versions of this story, which featured accounts of some serious looting of greenhouse paraphernalia that took place immediately after the “handover”.
This September 13 story referenced by RB tells us that, “Jihad al-Wazir, the deputy Palestinian finance minister, said roughly 30 percent of the greenhouses suffered various degrees of damage.”
Actually, Abdel-Shafi did tell me about the looting. He explained to me that because of the Israelis’ firm insistence on not coordinating any aspect of their departure with the PA, it was almost impossible for the PA to arrange to deploy sufficient security forces into the greenhouse region, or to make a plan on how to secure the greenhouses, before the IOF soldiers simply up and left the greenhouse areas in, as I recall it, the wee hours of one morning in early September.
However, despite the setback caused to the Palestinians’ plans by the looting, the Palestinian Economic Development Company did manage to get some decent-sized crops of specialty items out of those greenhouses– as did the owners of other existing large Palestinian greenhouse operations up and down the Strip in the most recent (indeed, ongoing) growing season.
But the most recent part of this story remains the fact that the Israeli government has not lived up to its commitment under last November’s “Rafah Agreement” to keep the Karni goods crossing– the only way for these ultra-perishable goods to reach the international markets for which they were grown– fully open to expedite their transit to these markets.
Reuters told us yesterday that,
- [A] report, prepared by a U.S. Agency for International Development contractor and obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, estimated agriculture losses in Gaza due to the closure of the Karni crossing at more than $450,000 per day.
The Palestine Economic Development Co., which manages the greenhouses left behind by evacuated Jewish settlers, has been losing more than $120,000 a day, the report estimated.
The greenhouse project was launched with much fanfare late last year as a sign of Gaza Strip’s potential after Israel’s withdrawal.
A border deal brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was supposed to clear the way for Gaza to increase sharply its agricultural exports.
But a World Bank report released on Monday found “no sustained improvement” in the movement of goods across Karni before or after Israel’s Gaza pullout, completed last September.
Israel closed Karni for 21 days between Jan. 15 and Feb. 5. It was closed again on Feb. 21 after a mysterious explosion in the area and has remained closed because of “continued security alerts”, the army said.
The phenomenon of the looting in the abandoned Israeli settlements and the greenhouses reminds me of the story of the looting in Baghdad in the days aftere the fall of Saddam Hussein. In both cases, you had these elements:
- (1) A population that had been living under a lot of socioeconomic pressure for a long time, and in which many of the norms of respect of property rights had seriously broken down,
(2) A population, moreover, that lacked trusted police forces, and
(3) A much more powerful military actor that through its actions had caused the change that left the major security vacuum, which some — though certainly, in both cases, far from all– elements of the population sought to exploit… and an actor that crucially had made no preparations at all to deal with the very foreseeable probability of this security breakdown— indeed, that seemed almost wilfully oblivious to such consequences.
I think this case needs to be included in my intermittent study of military occupation-ology. Today, I drove back through northern Gaza from Gaza City to the Erez Crossing. The landscape was generally very bleak. The population density throughout the Gaza is enormous, and vast portions of the landscape are covered with raw concrete dwellings, two, three, and four stories high. Trash and sand blew across the rutted streets, and there were vast areas of rubble from the remains of former Israeli settlements and military bases. Actually, the most colorful thing is the election-related flags that still fly high above the buildings and utility poles… green for Hamas, yellow for Fateh, and red for the Popular Front. They are so numerous! And today they were all snapping smartly in a brisk wind.
Anyway, as we drove those few miles, I thought: what a contrast here, or in Iraq, with the situation in Germany or Japan after just a few years of US military occupation… In those earlier occupations, the US made it clear from the get-go that it had no ambitions to control either the land, the resources, or the population of those occupied areas, and that it would not maintain its military-occupation rule over them for any longer than was absolutely needed. In both areas, moreover, the occupying had a long-prepared and well executed plan for the rehabilitation of the indigenous society at all levels, including the socioeconomic and the political.
But Israel in the West Bank and Gaza? … Or the US in Iraq? What terrible betrayals, in both cases, of the “trust” that running a temporary military occupation over someone else’s country represents.
(Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is coming up to its 39th burthday this June.)
I agree with most of the substance of this post, but I think the security considerations deserve more weight than you’re giving them. The “mysterious explosion” of February 21 occurred in a tunnel adjacent to the crossing, and was not the first attempted attack. Also, as the Israeli agriculture minister has argued, the closing is hurting the Israeli economy as well. Obviously the Palestinians are being harmed more, but I doubt Israel would gratuitously do something to hurt itself.
Two points: First, did Abdel-Shafi give any explanation of the PA’s position with respect to Kerem Shalom? The Israeli government claims that it offered to open the Kerem Shalom crossing (which is better protected) as an alternative freight route for the duration of the Karni closing, but that the PA refused. Do you have any information to suggest that this is false or that any unacceptable conditions were imposed on freight passage through Kerem Shalom?
Second, has there been any movement to develop alternative export routes (or markets) in Egypt? The Novemeber agreement called for the Rafah crossing to be open to outgoing goods, and this is one crossing that Israel can’t close. Has the crossing in fact opened to freight, and has there been any attempt to use al-Arish or Ismailiya as a port or to develop markets among the Sinai resorts?
Your comments as a person on the scene would be very much appreciated. In the meantime, let’s home that Ze’ev Boim prevails and that Karni is reopened this weekend.
What I heard from some Palestinian friends is that their objection to exporting through Kerem Shalom instead of Karni is based on two factors. (1) The agreement they reached on crossings states that Kerem Shalom will be developed as a supplement to full operation of Karni, not a substitute for it: in other words the total through-put capacity should be increased above the capacity of Karni at full operation, and (2) KS is under sole Israeli control and therefore gives the Palestinians nothing of what they seek at Karni in terms of longterm capacity-building for their own ability to run border crossings (since Karni is explicitly, by agreement, under the joint control of the two authorities.)
Look, Jonathan, I know the Israelis have some valid security concerns. But the way that they use “security” as a blanket excuse for all kinds of collective-punishment measures, which impact extremely harshly on the human security of the Palestinians, makes it hard to disaggregate their legitimately “security” responses from the hyped ones. It is also a classic case of the “security dilemma”, whereby the actions Party A takes allegedly to improve its own security, impact negatively on Party B, who then takes actions that increase the threat to Party A….
The best way to ramp these escalatory spirals down is through negotiation– something Abu Mazen’s been crying out for for more than a year. But his position has never been rewarded, has it?
Helena, there is a typo in your diary entry. You spelled “IDF” incorrectly.
Thanks for the quick response. I had thought Kerem Shalom was to be under joint operation, but it looks like I was wrong. I wonder if it would be profitable for the PA to make a counter-offer suggesting that KS should be operated jointly, or possibly in a tripartite arrangement with Egypt and/or the EU. In any event, an early opening of KS in anticipation of a later reopening of Karni would still fulfill the spirit of the agreement (assuming, of course, that Karni is reopened).
I agree with what you say about security, and this might be a basis for distinguishing between the initial closings (which were prompted by threats aimed directly at the crossing) and the continuation of the closings longer than necessary. At the same time, I don’t think the motive for continued closing is punitive, although it can sometimes be hard to distinguish punitive measures from those motivated by excessive concern for security.
BTW, Ha’aretz says that Karni will reopen tomorrow. Let us know if it happens. And what’s the status of the high-tech scanners that will allow trucks to pass through rather than being offloaded? I’d heard there were some technical hitches.
“I don’t think the motive for continued closing is punitive”
Why would you think this when Israel and the U.S. have embarked on a campaign to economicly strangle the Palestinians to destabalize the Hamas government? Remember the “Weisglass diet”??
BTW, Ha’aretz says that Karni will reopen tomorrow.
It’s very kind from them.
The greenhouse if left for one day all its gone that’s its there is no juke about it.
Also the products if left it’s gone…
What terrible betrayals, in both cases, of the “trust” that running a temporary military occupation over someone else’s country represents.
Germany and Japan actually surrendered, they didn’t keep on fighting and they didn’t keep on threatening or planning to attack anybody else. The borders of Germany and Japan were not in issue. Germany and Japan had a trained industrialized population, the Palestinians are trained to accept aid and wage war. The very governments of Germany and Japan were created wholly by their conquerors, who participated in shaping the nature of the new society. In Gaza Hamas is not a compatible creature of Israel. After WWII, the US and allies stood astride the world. Israel stands astride itself.
And on and on. In other words, the situations are so different that no meaningful comparison could or should have been made. Pure wind, Helena, pure wind.
And for all the lack of planning, the Greenhouses were a focus of attention and the Palestinians knew for a long time that they would have to administer Gaza and it’s resources. The chaos is the fault of those who are chaotic.
And as for the idea that planning together, with Israel, would have made all the difference, you have to ask; What would be planned? Everybody knew where the greenhouses were and that they were valueable. If the Palestinians couldn’t handle it they should have asked for help.
And Karni is not “The only way for these ultra-perishable goods to reach the international markets for which they were grown”. And it’s the Palestinians own “Objection to exporting through Kerem Shalom” that is costing them that money.
And the population density in Gaza is not that enormous. Manhattan has a greater density, plus there are all the daily commuters Manhattan handles that Gaza doesn’t. Gaza has a density of about 3,800 people per square kilometer, Manhattan has about 25,000 per square kilometer. Gaza is dense but nothing special.
You can argue that Israel closed Karni out of intrinsic cosmic evil or just bad manners but the truth is that the Palestinians keep on giving Israel the security excuses.
Helena, you worked very hard to try to paint Israel as the bad guy here. Why?
Also, the cost is truly not just the spoiled produce itself. In marketing something as ultra-perishable as fine, out-of-season strawberries or cut-flowers or other items like this there’s a whole delivery-chain that has to be arranged in advance, including the air-freighting and all the associated arrangements at both ends of the flight, and the marketing arrangements at destination (Schipol for cut-flowers, not sure where in Europe for strawberries). So if a planned shipment doesn’t make it, many of the providers of these services have penalty clauses in their contracts that require penalties to be paid (and as it happens many of these companies are Israeli), plus the supplier totally loses the reputation for reliability with potential customers in Europe. So the losses are much bigger than “merely” the spoiled produce.
(Gaza was awash in cheap strawberries.)
Germany and Japan actually surrendered, they didn’t keep on fighting and they didn’t keep on threatening or planning to attack anybody else. The borders of Germany and Japan were not in issue. Germany and Japan had a trained industrialized population, the Palestinians are trained to accept aid and wage war.
Any one had his mind in his head will object this argument…
Did any German or Japanese enforced to leave their homes and land and threatened if they not will be killed?
How some one try to fool the all problem in Palestine when it’s clearly its never happened in the history like that just when the Europeans went to the new world and some colonials power did what the Israli/Zionest did in Palestine’s on fails clams.
“Did any German or Japanese enforced to leave their homes and land and threatened if they not will be killed?”
In the case of Germany, yes.
Pop quiz. What was the city of “Gdansk” previously known as?
In the case of Germany, yes.
I meant leave a country not a city.
I wonder do we need to be very specific to let you know that State of Israel planted over a complete country Palestine all of the citizens left their home and their country either to a refugees camps or neighbouring Arab courtiers.
Just reminds you that most Israelis and pro Israelis stated that the Arab have a lot of land that the Palestinians can go their and Israel only had tiny small land in ME, ask your friend David how hide for long time he will agree with this statement.
Salah, type “Oder Neisse Line” into Google, or Wikipedia, or some other search engine.
Maybe then you’ll understand what can happen to people who choose to wage war and lose.
Sorry I don’t need to look/Google as you said.
We live in 21 century, as you said we still like a black ages where the stronger get off the poor and take all their assets and lands..
What ironic thinking Joshua, thas why Israel keep all the Arabs under pressure and make hidden problems all around include Iraq now and those who push to destroy the State of Iraq that fear them that one day they may be stronger and will through Israel to the Sea isn’t?
The basic of human dignity which the Babylonians told us in their The Code of Hammurabi that we should respects each other not eating each other Joshua.
Helena,
My apology being out of topic, also to all readers
IMO, what matters is that as a result of Oslo, Palestinian economy got integrated with Israel.
Unfortunately, the net result is Fateh corruption without any particular benefit for averegare Palestinians.
The conclusion from this strawberries story is that it can’t work this way. Although painful, economic disengagement is inevitable.
There was no surrender by Germany. At the end of the war eight million Germans from “the east” fled and were forced to flee to West Germany. They included many ethnic Germans from countries previously under Nazi occupation rule, as well as people from what became East Germany. West Germany integrated them all.
When I write about “good”, responsible handling of the post-WW2 occupation of Germany I am referring specifically to the policies pursued by the western Allies, and not to the USSR which pursued a much more punitive approach w/ rgd to the DDR. In Japan, of course, the US was running the occupation quite unilaterally, and did so w/ great wisdom overall.
The Palestinians did not launch a war against Israel in 1967. But they have suffered nearly 39 years of occupation, expropriation, and dispossession since then, nonetheless.
I think the main problem w/ the economic arrangements of Oslo was overwhelmingly not the Fateh corruption, but rather the attempt to keep these two economies in a single economic zone under the sole control of Israel. It’s called a customs “union” but Israel dominates all the decision-making. Also, of course, the economic starting-point of the two societies when the arrangement was started in 1994 was highly unequal. Palestine became (or rather, continued to be) a captive market for Israeli products, but Israel could and did impose unilateral limits on anything the Palestinians might choose to export to Israel. (Q.v. Karni.) Historically this was generally judged to be the quintessential type of economy associated with colonialism.
Actually, Abdel-Shafi did tell me about the looting. He explained to me that because of the Israelis’ firm insistence on not coordinating any aspect of their departure with the PA, it was almost impossible for the PA to arrange to deploy sufficient security forces into the greenhouse region, or to make a plan on how to secure the greenhouses, before the IDF soldiers simply up and left the greenhouse areas in, as I recall it, the wee hours of one morning in early September.
Really, what do you expect him to say?
As I recall, there was no shortage of media film crews, or of armed PA security personnel (many of whom were actively participating in both looting and wanton destruction)in the area immediately after the pullout. At some point the PA, and especially the looters themselves have to be seen as being at least partially responsible.
“There was no surrender by Germany”
From Wikipedia:
To this day, the leaders of the Palestinians do all they can to roll back the creation of Israel. In all this time, they have launched wave after wave of unnecessary terrorism. After the 1967 conquest by Israel of Jordanian and Egyptian territory, there was no surrender and no peace. The Arab policy was “No peace, No negotiations and No recognition”.
It would have been foolish and impossible for Israel to administer the Jordanian and Egyptian territories (West Bank and Gaza) with the same friendliness as the Allies did with West Germany.
After the war, the Germans and Japanese gave up their supremacist ideology. Hamas especially maintains an ideology of superiority through belief in the Dhimmi system.
The Germans and the Japanese were just as fanatical as the Islamists and the Arab world. The difference is that the Palestinians know that they can continue their fanaticism without being totally annihilated, so they do. If Palestinian society was as devasted as Germany and Japan it might give up their fantastic dreams and we could have peace. But that is unlikely.
The situations simply do not compare, even though many Germans were forced to migrate from East to West.
The real question is: Why does Helena Cobban adhere so tightly to an outdated and inaccurate world view?
To this day, the leaders of the Palestinians do all they can to roll back the creation of Israel.
This is really one of the stupidest things I have seen on this blog. The PLO recognized the necessity of a two state solution as far back as the 1980s. Arafat and his successor Abu Mazen certainly recognized Israel and had no ambitions for “rolling it back”.
What you do here is ignore reality, as you did in a recent thread where you complained about Palestinians building houses without permits in “Israel”, which was actually the West Bank.
You’re really one of the most biased, unpleasant posters I’ve seen – not that I haunt sites like Little Green Footballs.
No Preference
The PLO said it recognized the necessity of a two state solution. Then found ways to block the creation of a two-state solution. The PLO never did modify it’s charter. Arafat kept on saying in Arabic that the peace would just be a temporary thing, until they could take the rest. And certainly the decision to launch the second Intifada prevented a two-state solution.
I am sorry you don’t like me. I have a commitment to the truth and I would very much like to see peace ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Little Green Footballs is just another website like this one. LGF occasionally has good articles or references, just like JWN. I make it a point to read the opinions of people who disagree with me. Can you think of a reason for doing that? I suggest you adopt the practice, if you haven’t already.
Re the “customs union” that was created by the Oslo Accords and which Israel controls: Is this the same agreement that gave Israel the right to collect all customs duties on behalf of the Palestinians on goods in and out of Palestinian territories? Are these the duties that Israel has now decided to “withhold” from the Palestinians? Is this not stealing someone else’s money? Oh well, the zionist project has been stealing from the Palestinians for so many decades, it no longer can tell the difference.
Re the “customs union” that was created by the Oslo Accords and which Israel controls: Is this the same agreement that gave Israel the right to collect all customs duties on behalf of the Palestinians on goods in and out of Palestinian territories? Are these the duties that Israel has now decided to “withhold” from the Palestinians?.
Yes these are the same agreements. At the time, these agreements, including the adoption of the Shekel as legal tender for the PA, were in the interests of both parties. From the Israeli side this prevented the establishment of a de facto Palestinian state economy prior to the final status agreements. One should not forget, however, that these same agreements were adventageous to the PA, as it dramatically reduced the number of administrative responsibilities required during what was seen by both sides as a state-building period.
Is this not stealing someone else’s money?
No, it is not stealing. Israel is not taking the money and using it for its own purposes. The monies collected are currently being deposited in interest-bearing escrow accounts. I think that it is quite reasonable for Israel to ensure that these funds are not going to be used against its military or civilians. Once the PA can satisfy the requirements for transparency currently demanded by every outside souce funneling funds into the territories, they will receive the collected duties with interest.
One final point. The Palestinian side has consistently viewed Israel as providing essential services within a combined economy – since Oslo and right up to today. Most significantly, Israel is viewed as the main market for Palestinian labor. Under any separation of the economies, Palestinians are going to have to look elsewhere for work. I think that this is something that will, ultimately, be good for both sides.