July 26, 2014 -- Updated 1752 GMT (0152 HKT)
More Middle East
'Gaza drains me of hope'
Opinion: 20 years on, the struggle for Gaza peace drains me of hope
July 25, 2014 -- Updated 1758 GMT (0158 HKT)
Gazans carry on despite years of war
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Omar Shaban was born to a Palestinian refugee family and grew up in Gaza
- In 1987 he participated in the first intifada and went on to work for as a peace campaigner
- But he says as violence has increased, so has the gap between citizens on both sides
- He says it is disheartening to see that Gaza is further from peace than it was 20 years ago
Editor's note: Economist Omar Shaban is the founder and chairman of the Gaza-based Palestinian think-tank Pal-Think for Strategic Studies,
established in 2007 by Palestinian researchers and community activists.
He previously worked for Catholic Relief Services in Gaza and
established Palestinian branches of Amnesty International. The views
expressed in this commentary are solely the author's.
(CNN) -- At age of 52, it might be too late to re-visit your beliefs and principles in order to change them.
When you see the
regression from where we were, to the situation now and realize the
dream you have been working towards has moved almost entirely
out-of-reach, you feel tired, hopeless, and less motivated to recharge
yourself.
Omar Shaban
I was born in Gaza in
1962 to a refugee family who had been expelled from their village
"Sawafir" in the then British --mandate of Palestine.
Five years later, in June
1967, Gaza was occupied by Israel, which meant that I grew up under the
occupation. When you live under occupation, your national ambitions
become clearer and stronger.
I promised myself that I
would do my utmost to contribute to achieving peace and freedom for our
people and region through talks and debates.
I always say, it is easy to fight someone you don't know and/or
have no mutual interests with, but you cannot make peace with someone
unless you know them well and share interests.
Omar Shaban
Omar Shaban
In 1987, at the age of 27, I took part in the first intifada, which I viewed as largely peaceful, with boys and girls throwing stones at well-equipped Israeli soldiers.
Through that struggle, we
succeeding in winning the hearts and minds, not only of the
international community but also many Israelis themselves; who became
advocates for our right to have a free and independent Palestinian
state.
I learned, to some
extent, what freedom meant when I took my first plane trip, flying to
London via Tel Aviv in 1993. I had been invited by Amnesty International
in my capacity as the founder of the organization's Palestinian branch.
I wrote articles and
appeared on television and radio to promote human rights and non-violent
struggle; I was invited to address Israeli audiences and receive
Israeli citizens in Gaza itself. I also stood as a candidate in the first Palestinian parliamentary elections in 1996.
Then, my dream of being a free citizen in a free state grew and flourished, but over time it gradually became weaker and weaker.
Twenty years ago, how to
make peace with Israel was a daily topic for the Palestinian people. It
was very normal to see tens of Israelis citizens walking freely along
Gaza streets, shopping and making conversation.
On the other side of the border, an influential Israeli camp was advocating making peace with the Palestinians.
Nowadays, "peace" is
perhaps the least used word in Gaza's daily lexicon, replaced as it has
been by the terms; tanks, F16, killing, shelling, rockets and revenge.
And in Israel, politicians and groups compete to see who will be more aggressive towards the Palestinians. This is demonstrated by the success of the extreme right in politics.
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What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?
Twenty years ago, more
than 80,000 Palestinian workers went to Israel every day to work
alongside Israelis, acting as ambassadors for co-existance.
Twenty years ago, it was
common to see the slogan and fliers "PEACE NOW" on cars and at shops
and restaurants. Making peace with the Palestinians appeared to be a
priority for the Israeli public.
Recently, the Israeli
government built a huge wall separating Israel from the Palestinian
territories. Now that Israeli citizens cannot see us any more, it seems
they have lost sight of our reality.
And the reality has been
deteriorating. When the Israelis began building separation walls in the
late 1990s, many of its citizens were being killed by suicide bombers.
In September 2000, the second intifada erupted with a far more violent
face than its predecessor.
Hamas won the election
in 2006 and took control from Fatah forcibly in June 2007, prompting
Israel to blockade the Gaza Strip, which created humanitarians crises.
Since then Israel has declared three wars against Gaza, in 2008, 2012
and now 2014. Meantime, Hamas and other resistance movements continue to
launch homemade rockets into Israel's cities.
Within the new reality, the Israelis and Palestinians are unable to see/meet/talk/interact with each other.
I always say, it is easy
to fight someone you don't know and/or have no mutual interests with,
but you cannot make peace with someone unless you know them well and
share interests.
This is why it has been
easy for the new generations on both sides -- Israeli and Palestinians
-- to fight each other aggressively. They have never met and they don't
see the benefit of living peacefully. Nowadays, they communicate from a
distance through rockets, bullets, shelling, guns -- instead of
physically interacting.
The generations of both
sides have been taken hostages by the conflict, they consume and waste
their energy and resources to make the other's life more difficult. Both
generations have to work harder to find the lost opportunity, which is
hidden underneath scene of the conflict; they have to be educated to
look differently.
Regional cooperation
In today's globalized
world, the problems have become cross-border despite being perceived as
local. Regional cooperation is needed.
Both Israelis and
Palestinians suffer severe water shortages, pollution, population
growth, radicalism, unemployment. But while the cost of conflict to both
is huge, the profit of peace would be much higher.
In addition to the waste
of their own resources, the Palestinians have received billions of
dollars of aid in the past 20 years since the Oslo accord, while Israel
receives U.S. aid assistance of about US$3 billion every year.
Some of the
international aid and the local resources are spent in fueling the
conflict, though it would make a huge and positive difference to
people's lives if such huge amounts were instead used in developmental
projects.
Both the Israeli and
Palestinian governments might be able to reach a peace agreement, but
achieving culture of peace remains distant.
I have never thought to leave Gaza or to emigrate, though I have always easy access to such a possibility.
I believe that Gaza is in need of an "agent of change." I have been and I wanted to continue to be such an agent of change.
But I feel tired, hopeless and less motivated to recharge myself.
Israel says it has agreed to extend a 12-hour truce with Hamas by four
hours, so that its Cabinet can consider a United Nations request for a
24-hour extension. FULL STORY
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ISRAEL AND HAMAS BEGIN CEASE-FIRE
July 26, 2014 -- Updated 1852 GMT (0252 HKT)
Your video will begin momentarily.
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Mideast on tenterhooks, cease-fire extension questionable
July 26, 2014 -- Updated 1852 GMT (0252 HKT)Source: CNNSTORY HIGHLIGHTS- New: Hamas spokesman says there will be no 4-hour extension to the ceasefire
- More 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, at least 40 Israeli soldiers have died in the operation
- A 12-hour humanitarian truce started at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. ET)
- More than 100 bodies found in Gaza areas too dangerous to enter in recent days
Gaza (CNN) -- Israel agreed to extend a humanitarian cease-fire with Hamas for four hours Saturday as diplomats worked to create a longer truce in a conflict that has killed more than 1,000 people -- mostly civilians.
Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri, however, said there would be no truce extension.The cease-fire started at 8 a.m. Saturday (1 a.m. ET). The 12-hour cease-fire enabled Palestinians to move medical supplies into Gaza, families to emerge from shelters and people to dig the dead from piles of rubble.Israeli government officials told CNN that the United Nations has asked for a 24-hour humanitarian cease-fire extension. As a first stage, the Cabinet approved four additional hours until midnight, giving the Israeli Cabinet time to convene and discuss the request."We owe to the people of both Israel and Gaza our renewed effort to consolidate this pause in fighting into a more sustainable ceasefire," U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in statement, reiterating his call for seven-day humanitarian cease-fire.Still, moments after the cease-fire ended, three mortars were fired from Gaza and hit Israel in the Eshkol regional council. No casualties or damage were reported.Palestinians found more than 100 bodies in areas that have been too dangerous to enter in recent days because of Israeli bombardment, Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra from the Gaza Ministry of Health told CNN Saturday.More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,840 wounded since the start of an Israeli operation, al-Qedra said.School attack leaves Gazan kids wounded
West Bank erupts in deadly demonstrations
There are news reports of Israel agreeing to extend the truce by four hours. But the possibility of a longer truce seemed remote, according to comments from the Hamas camp."There won't been any talks about extending the cease-fire as long as there aren't talks about breaking the siege," said Israa Al-Mudalal of the Gaza Ministry of Foreign Affairs.She accused Israel of "escalating the situation" in the so-called buffer zone and of not letting medical workers remove bodies in certain areas."We can't stop the firing (of rockets) until we have a real solution to this problem," she said. "There will be no peace as long as the siege continues."Two senior Hamas officials, Izzat Risheq and Jamal Nazal, told CNN that the truce negotiations were tense and difficult.Cabinet minister Yaacov Peri told Israel's Channel 10, "I wasn't asked yet for my opinion, but if I am asked, I will say yes to extending the cease-fire by a few hours."In Paris on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other diplomats pushed for an extended truce. He met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu."We still have some more things to do over the course of ... 24 to 48 hours," Kerry said Friday.CNN Mideast analyst Michael Oren said Friday that Israel rejected a seven-day cease-fire proposal because it doesn't want to give Hamas time to rearm itself."There is no Eid"A CNN team visiting the hardest-hit areas in northern Gaza where many of the newly-discovered bodies were discovered saw entire blocks of buildings reduced to rubble."I wish this cease-fire had never happened," one man in Beit Hanoun told CNN, "And I would have never found out my home is destroyed."Another woman in Beit Hanoun meets a neighbor as she navigates her way through mounds of rubble and metal. "Did you see my home?""It's gone. Nothing is left," the neighbor responds.Families took advantage of the cease-fire to stock up on provisions."There are more people in the streets," said a mother of five in Khan Younis, who did not want to be named. "People who were afraid before, go out now out of necessity. People with sick kids go to the hospital today. Buy Pampers today. Buy food today. I went to get bread for my family today."She added, "When my husband goes to the mosque to pray, I pray that he comes back. ... If someone killed a cat in America, people make a bigger deal about it than children dying in Gaza."As the Muslim world prepared to celebrate the Eid holiday in two days, Gaza residents buried the dead."There is no Eid," the woman in Khan Younis said. "In the Gaza Strip, it would be absurd for anyone to bake cookies."Israel Defense Forces have accused militants of hiding weapons in shelters and schools and firing rockets at civilians. The IDF said it will keep working to "locate and neutralize tunnels" being used by militants during the cease-fire and will respond with force if militants target Israeli civilians or soldiers.The Israeli military said four soldiers were killed since Friday night in Gaza, bringing the total number of soldiers killed to 40 since Operation Protective Edge started.A previous cease-fire backed by Egypt fell apart earlier this month.Palestinian Parliament Member Mustafa Barghouti told CNN that Hamas will comply with the terms of the temporary cease-fire."Of course, they will," Barghouti said Friday on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. "Not only Hamas, but all Palestinians."Doctor: 'We are preparing ourselves for death'The bloodshed is pushing hospitals in Gaza to the limit. At South Gaza's European Hospital, the flood of bloodied children and adults has overwhelmed doctors."We sometimes work 20 hours continuous," Dr. Jamal Abu Hilal said.Doctors here say they're sick of stitching up bodies mutilated by shrapnel."We feel exhausted. We feel anxious. We feel depressed," Hilal's colleague Dr. Shadi said.In one room, surgeons worked on a child mangled by shrapnel. The rest of the boy's family was killed."Not even one square meter is safe in Gaza strip," Dr. Hassen al-Masri said.He, too, is afraid of dying in the conflict. The doctor carries his identification papers with him all the time, even while treating patients -- just in case."We are preparing ourselves for death."Casualties mount in West BankThe violence has also expanded to the West Bank. At least four Palestinians were killed in outbreaks of violence in several parts of the West Bank, according to medical sources.U.N.: There's no excuse for firing at shelters
Israeli Amb. blames Hamas for school hit
A 23-year-old man was shot near Huwara village outside Nablus by Jewish settlers, a doctor at the Rafidia Hospital said. The circumstances of his death are unclear, but it led to clashes between protesters and the Israeli military in which another man was killed, medical sources said.Two more men were killed during clashes with Israeli troops at a checkpoint north of Hebron in Beir Ummar in the West Bank, according to Palestinian medical sources.The violent protests came after the U.N. shelter in Gaza was hit, killing 16 people and wounding a couple hundred more -- most of them women and children.Video from the school showed chaos amid pools of blood. There were so many victims than many gurneys included two wounded children.The bloodshed left the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon exasperated."I am telling to the parties -- both Israelis and Hamas, Palestinians -- that it is morally wrong to kill your own people," Ban said. The "whole world has been watching, is watching with great concern. You must stop fighting and enter into dialogue."Middle East propaganda war
CNN crew turned back by gunfire in Gaza
CNN's Karl Penhaul reported from Gaza; Ralph Ellis and Chelsea J. Carter wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, Yousuf Basil, Ben Wedeman, Elise Labott, Richard Roth, Ian Lee,Tal Heinrich, Holly Yan and Tim Lister contributed to this report.COPY http://edition.cnn.com
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