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The Hideous Face of Hamas Rule in Gaza
By Ben Cohen / April 22, 2009
“You can only imagine what would happen if Israel dealt with its internal political enemies or dissenters in such a fashion,” writes Richard Cohen of a new Human Rights Watch report detailing the appalling abuses of human rights entailed by the continuing rule of Hamas in Gaza.
“Of particular concern is the widespread practice of maiming people by shooting them in the legs, which Hamas first used in June 2007, when it seized control inside Gaza from Fatah,” says the HRW report. And there’s this too: “Abductions and severe beatings are another major concern. According to ICHR, unidentified perpetrators physically abused 73 Gazan men from December 28 to January 31, causing broken legs and arms. Human Rights Watch documented three such cases of Fatah supporters assaulted during and after the Israeli offensive, as well as one case of what appeared to be a politically motivated house arrest.”
This particularly harrowing story does not, thusfar, appear to have inspired any demonstrations from the “We Are All Hamas” crowd who took to the streets to protest Israel’s invasion of Gaza earlier this year:
In the case resulting in death, at around 6 p.m. on January 4, 2009, members of the al-Najjar family were sitting outside their home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City when four men wearing masks and carrying AK-47 assault rifles approached the house. Two family members who were present told Human Rights Watch that the gunmen wore unmarked black uniforms and ammunition vests, but the family did not identify them as Hamas. When the gunmen ordered everyone to stand up and raise their hands, the head of the household, Hisham al-Najjar, age 55, protested, the two witnesses said. An argument ensued and one of the gunmen fired a shot, hitting no one. At least five women inside the house came rushing out, and in the chaos the gunmen opened fire, killing Hisham al-Najjar and wounding ten members of the family and a family friend. The victims ranged in age from a 12-year old girl, Ahlam Hisham al-Najjar, who was shot in the leg, to Zakkia al-Najjar, 70, Ahlam’s grandmother, who was shot in both legs. Human Rights Watch observed the bandages on both her legs.
“After the gunmen left, I saw a sea of blood,” said Amar Hisham al-Najjar, 25. He told Human Rights Watch that the gunmen shot his father Hisham in the chest, the abdomen, and the legs.”There was no electricity and no ambulances because of the war, so we tried to stop the bleeding and got our friends to drive the wounded to al-Shifa hospital, where my father died,” he said. “The Hamas police at the hospital questioned me about what happened, and they said they’d get back to me, but there’s been nothing. I’m not accusing anyone, but we demand a real investigation.”
Human Rights Watch is hardly regarded as a friend of Israel. Many Israel advocates view them as a foe, pure and simple. I’ve always thought that take is too crude. Of course, HRW’s reports should not, a priori, be regarded as beyond challenge or reproach. But to portray them as a mere cog in the Israel demonization machine is, as this new report demonstrates, deeply unfair. What’s really interesting here is whether HRW’s documentation of the hideous character of Hamas rule will compel at least some of those who regard the Islamists as a resistance movement to think again.
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the rival black Pan African Congress (PAC) and African National Congress (ANC) competed fiercely for dominance of the Soweto townships. Atrocities were common; a favoured way of killing someone was "ringnecking":- take an old tire, put it around someone’s head and fill it with gasoline fuel, then light the tire and let the person die while their head is slowly being immolated.
Of course, supporters of apartheid harped endlessly about these brutalities as evidence that the blacks could not be allowed to rule themselves. They accused anti-apartheid protestors of being indifferent to black-on-black violence, given that far more many blacks were killed in internecine conflict than compared to police incidents such as the Sharpeville massacre. They insisted that the ANC and PAC should clean up their act and renounce violence before any political reform should take place.
The rest of the world was not so convinced. They saw the thinly veiled racism of the apartheid supporters for what it was, and realised that at least in large part the street battles were symptomatic of black political disenfranchisement in South Africa. Further, most commentators were mature enough to realise that a national liberation movement is not a tea party and not like organising a sit-in strike in the streets of Stockholm, and that it was ridiculous to expect the black groups to act like good social democrats, given their history and the extent of their oppression.
By most comparisons, (the Mau Mau in Kenya, Northern Ireland, the PAC/ANC in South Africa, Algeria, Indochina, and Sri Lanka) the Palestinians have been reasonable in their positions, genuinely ready to reach a compromise and surprisingly reluctant to embrace extreme fringe movements. The question is not why the politics of the gun rule Palestine, since the gun rules in every place where there is not a functional state. The question is why, of all peoples on the earth, are the Palestinians so singularly criticised for it?
This is unfortunately the case. Things are moving very quickly though and this may take a backseat to other more unnerving events in Pakistan.
I guess when you "tickle" Elmo with the truth, he doesn’t laugh. Another "hit & Run" jerk.
You answered your own question Hx4G2..whatever, it is a pipe dream and a very dangerous one at that.
When Gaza became Jew free, many settlers left greenhouses and Israeli investers gave millions to refurbish them in order to create produce that could be consumed and sold at a handsome profit by Palestinians. Every one of those greenhouses were destroyed because they were touched by Jews…not to mention houses of worship that were burned to the ground.
Good luck with that pipe dream. I’ll get to work on my solid gold toilet as soon as the dream is realized.
Hell on Earth is Hell on Earth, the cause of which may be disputed but the reality of the which is non-contestable. Let’s stop name calling and finger pointing and try to gather minds together to alleviate the problem. Is the hatred of Jews/Israel more powerful than financial security? Possibly yes. But maybe it’s time to test the waters and attempt to prevent intifadas by promoting Palestinian export of manufactured items of clothing and foodstuffs, and by separating the area of Gaza from Israeli control. It could be managed not through just fencing Gaza off but in making the it a free market zone and promoting integration of non-Moslem groups to the area.
A pipe dream. Certainly. Yet with Arab funds of Sunni support groups there may be a chance.
I’ll make it easy for you.
good vs evil; decent vs. vile; civilized vs. barbaric
That’s the wonderfully expedient thing about the kind of flip moral equivalence and sophist reasoning that you engage in; it’s a short cut to thinking.
The idea that I should have to compare the negative aspects of Israel’s history to that of its neighbors is absurd. If you don’t understand why, consider reading this op-ed http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080711.html
Furthermore, I don’t have the time or patience to research and deliver a history/philosophy/sociology/anthropology lesson at the moment. There are plenty of people/places that can do that for you, but I don’t have time to be one of them.
Lehitraot, and I’ll see you on another talkback.
Please explain the "ugly elements" of Israel’s history in relation to the "ugly elements" of their neighbor’s history. It is my understanding of the current situation in the context of its history that makes me such a hawk. Israel’s worst day on human rights would be a great day for any Arab regime.
I love Israel, but I hate when people try to explain current events without historical background, thus painting the meaning of an event to fit their ends. All people who love Israel must learn to understand its current situation in the context of its history, both the glorious and the ugly elements. Those who try to attack Israel’s antagonists without understanding or acknowledging this history do a disservice to Israel by allowing those who love Israel to continue not to understand the conflict with the complexity they need to in order to be good advocates/partners for peace.
Your against overt Israeli self-defense and covert Israeli self-defense.
You against supporting the lesser of two very real evils and against fighting them directly the way any nation would do in a similar circumstance.
Admit it, you want Israel gone and yes you do support violence.
How quickly we forget that it was Israel who intentionally created a culture of inter-factional violence in Gaza and the West Bank after the elections by arming and encouraging Fatah to provoke and delegitamize Hamas. Obviously, I don’t support violence, but Israel’s complicity in this can’t be ignored.
This proves that the leftists and Islamofacists don’t care a wit about Palestians. If they did, these atrocities would cause mass protests around the world.
The leftist and Islamic motivation is clearly Jew hate only.
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