ISRAEL: Twin cities by fate

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Israel’s Army Radio broadcast an unusal exchange between Yossi Belisha, an Israeli, and Jamal Khudari, a Palestinian, during a call-in debate Monday about Israel’s cutoff of fuel and other essential supplies to the Gaza Strip. Israel imposed the blockade last Thursday in response to near-daily Kassam rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory. The broadcast came during a lull in the rocket fire, before Israel agreed late Monday to a temporary easing of the blockade.

Belisha lives in Sderot, the Israeli town hit hardest by the rockets. Khudari lives in Gaza City, which has suffered most from power blackouts caused by the fuel cutoff. Here are excerpts from their on-air debate hosted by Army Radio’s Razi Barkai.

Barkai: Describe life today where you are.

Belisha: ‘This morning was just like any other morning in Sderot. It doesn’t matter whether there are Kassams or whether there aren’t, because the feeling is the same and the worries are the same: How will we get the children off to school safely? How will the day go by? I understand the suffering in Gaza. However, no one is forcing this situation on the people, because the situation is preventable. Just as they have elected Hamas, they have the ability to bring Hamas down. It is not that much different from how things are done here. People have the power to change things, whether it is politics or even the university lecturers’ strike or even to protest experiments on animals. And so just as they have brought Hamas to power they can have Hamas removed from power and end the Kassams and end the suicide bombers and have their lives return to normal and be able to return to work.’

Khudari: ‘Last night was very unpleasant in Gaza. It was very dark without electricity and Gaza is also under complete closure. There is nothing going on in Gaza because it is not possible to bring in food or even medicine. Not even donations the U.N. wishes to deliver to Gaza are allowed in, and the reality in Gaza is that over one million people are unable to work and so they have no money. They depend on these donations.’

Barkai: Would things be different if Hamas were toppled as Belisha suggested?

Khudari: ‘Even at times of war there are international laws that enable people to live, to receive medication and receive donations. The political problems need to be solved politically. But what is happening is that Gazans are suffering from collective punishment.’

Belisha: ‘What do Gazans expect us to do? They fire at us day and night and keep us from breathing properly. Yet they cry out that Israel is blocking their food. How can Israel allow them to eat while they try to kill us? ... We just want our lives back. Businesses are falling apart. Parents and children practically live on pills. It is not possible to have an entire town receive treatment at the local mental health center.’

Barkai: What would you say to Hamas?

Khudari: ‘The responsibility over Gaza and the responsibility for keeping the border crossings open is ultimately Israel’s. I do not wish to enter the political arena, but at the end we all want peace. We all want to live a good life, and the Palestinians wish to live in a state of our own.’

Belisha: ‘Why only ‘at the end?’ Why not now? Why don’t you act now to prevent the killings, emotional problems and physical injuries? If you want peace, make the shootings stop, on both sides, and allow the sides to sit down for serious and concentrated talks to end this situation.’

— Richard Boudreaux in Jerusalem