Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: When Egypt was in Gaza

When Egypt was in Gaza
Jun. 3, 2009
ELIEZER WHARTMAN , THE JERUSALEM POST
When I first visited the Gaza Strip after the Six Day War, I
encountered a territory that bore stark witness to Egyptian
aggression, callousness and inhumanity. For 19 long years, the area
had been run directly by the Egyptian army. Under a "constitution"
drawn up by the Egyptians, all legislative powers were invested in the
Egyptian military commander, who controlled the civil administration.
All political parties, except one endorsed by the Egyptians, were
banned. The military governor also acted as the judiciary, and there
was no appeal.
There were no elections. A puppet government automatically ratified
all legislation that the governor brought before it. In 1965, even
this façade of local autonomy collapsed when the Egyptian army
dismissed the legislature.
The secret police probed everywhere. No one was immune from sudden
arrest and unlimited imprisonment without trial or, at best, a secret
trial. The jails were always full and torture was common. There was
official censorship of the press and mail, and telephone lines were
regularly tapped.
For nearly 19 years, the inhabitants of the Strip were prohibited from
leaving their homes from 9 p.m. until dawn on pain of death. This
curfew was enforced by roadblocks. Men between 18 and 40 were
prohibited from traveling to Egypt unless they were fortunate enough
to secure permits. If they failed to return at the expiration of their
permit, the military authorities took steps against their families.
The Egyptians seized property at will, while refugees were prohibited
from owning land. Thousands of young refugees were forcibly
conscripted into the Egyptian army. Many were sent to fight Gamal
Abdel Nasser's war in Yemen; others were sent into Israel to murder,
sabotage and disrupt communications.
Three-quarters of the able-bodied were unemployed. Medical and social
services were almost nonexistent The Egyptians did nothing to help
farmers, create housing or develop industry. The majority of Arabs in
the Strip outside the town of Gaza were left to rot, without sewage,
running water, electricity or roads.
INDOCTRINATION TO HATRED of Israel started at the very tenderest
years. I saw pictures which children had drawn, with the encouragement
of their teachers, depicting themselves killing Israeli children. The
textbooks dripped venom. One text for the third grade, entitled Arabic
Islamic History read: "The Jews are always the same, in every time,
every place. They live only in darkness. They secretly plan to do
evil; they fight only from hidden places because they are cowards. We
must purify holy Palestine from their filth in order to bring peace
back to the Arab homeland."
So harsh was the Egyptian rule in Gaza that Radio Mecca broadcast this
protest on March 10, 1962:
"We would like to ask Cairo: What is this iron curtain that Abdel
Nasser and his cohorts have lowered around Gaza and the refugees
there? These are the very methods which the dictator Hitler used in
the countries he occupied. Imagine, Arabs, how Nasser (who claims to
be the pioneer of Arab nationalism) treats the Arab people of Gaza,
who starve while the Egyptian governor and his officers bask in the
wealth of the Strip..."
THE ONLY AREA in which the Egyptian army was active, aside from
suppressing human rights, was in smuggling. There was a lively trade
between its warehouses in Gaza - stuffed with television sets, French
perfumes, Italian silks and US whiskey - and Cairo, with the
cooperation of top officials in Egypt. Long convoys would arrive in
Cairo biweekly loaded with contraband. When the Israeli forces
captured Gaza in 1956 they found these warehouses. (Predictably the
military governor and his cohorts had skipped with all the savings
that Gazans had deposited in local banks.)
Egypt's policy for the Strip was succinctly spelled out by the deputy
governor, Muhammad Flafaga, in an interview appearing in the Danish
newspaper Aktuelt on February 9, 1967:
Question: Why not send the refugees to other Arab countries? Syria
would no doubt be able to absorb a vast number of them. Are you afraid
that national bonds with Palestine will be loosened, that the hatred
against Israel will vanish if they become ordinary citizens?
Answer: As a matter of fact, you are right. Syria could take all of
them, and the problem would be solved. But we do not want that. They
are to return to Palestine.
UNRWA reported in 1956: "One of the obstacles to the achievement of
the General Assembly's goal of making the refugees self-supporting
continues to be the opposition of the governments in the area."
Ralph Galloway, an UNRWA official who quit in frustration, observed
bitterly: "The Arab states don't want to solve the refugee problem.
They want to keep it as an open sore, as a weapon against Israel. Arab
leaders don't give a damn whether the refugees live or die."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244034989178&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter


E speriamo che ci torni...
Tb
-- 
"A vote is like a rifle, it's usefulness depends upon the character of
the user."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

E speriamo che ci torni...
Begin a Camp David ci provo'..ma i mediatori egiziani declinarono
gentilmente l'invito.
Gente sveglia
MMAX
-- 
http://bloggoanchio.splinder.com