FROM HAITHAM
French Journalist Regis le Sommier:
"I have covered many conflicts in the Middle East, I covered the battle of Mosul and I am used to scenes of horrific destruction. I have never seen in my life a scene of devastation like Gaza. It is as if it were Hiroshima, or Le Havre in 1945.. Nothing is left.. Nothing is left!
Note: We have not been receiving many photos from our Gaza friends lately. I suspect that they are too depressed and too busy trying to survive to be snapping photos. But, remembering back to photos of massive destruction four, five and six months ago, and noting that the shelling and aerial bombings and IDF ground assaults have never ceased since then, I think it’s reasonable to believe Monsieur Le Sommier, above, and UN SecGen Gutteres, below.
AP News: The UN chief calls the death and destruction in Gaza the worst he's seen
Disturbing scenes from Haitham
THE IMPACT OF A U.S.-MADE 2,000-POUND BOMB
“Civil defense crews in Rafah transport a number of children whose limbs were amputated, after the occupation aircraft targeted the tents of the displaced, in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, last night.
“22 martyrs did not reach the hospitals after the "Mawasi Khan Yunis" massacre, as their bodies melted and disappeared due to the giant bombs that the occupation used to bombard the place, and the search for missing persons is still ongoing.”
CNN: Al-Mawasi, Gaza: Dozens killed in Israeli airstrike on humanitarian zone targeting Hamas militants
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/09/middleeast/gaza-khan-younis-israel-strike-intl-latam/index.html
But what is Al Mawasi?
Today, Al Mawasi refers to an area along the Gaza Strip’s southwest coast, along the shore from about Deir Al Baleh southwestward toward and beyond Khan Younis.
The area, though, takes its name from the type of no-irrigation agriculture practiced there for centuries, until recent years. That entire area is sandy, dry, and poor for agriculture, but innovative Palestinians figured a way to survive and raise crops there. As I observed when visiting there in the early 1990s with our wonderful friend Salah Sakka, individual farmers would excavate their properties down to depths of five to seven feet, where they would reach a moist level. Picture a gravel quarry here in the states, perhaps 200 feet by 200 feet, a massive undertaking — with no mechanical equipment. An area, say, two-thirds the size of an American football field.
Since the land is relatively low and adjacent to the sea, the water table is both close to the surface, and brackish, but the moisture from even the brackish water is enough to provide critical moisture to the crops during the dry part of the growing season. In winter, they replace some part of the excavated ground cover to prevent the pit turning into a muddy morass. Over time, perhaps a few years, the soil becomes too salty, at which time the farmer excavates that layer of soil, and then replaces it with new soil.
Salah tells me that the Mawasi type of agriculture has been destroyed by overcrowding, excessive salt, and war, but it was a fascinating example of a people understanding their environment, figuring out a solution, and overcoming the impediments, and all completely environmentally sound.
U.S.. REACTION TO IDF KILLING OF AN AMERICAN
The Washington Post: U.S. demands IDF change West Bank operations after American’s killing
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s comments were the strongest yet from a U.S. official after the Israeli military said it was “highly likely” it “unintentionally” killed Aysenur Eygi.
https://wapo.st/4dWvYae
Unfortunately, Blinken’s declaration “was not accompanied by any plan to alter U.S. weapons support for Israel."
SOME HEADLINES ALONE THAT TELL THE TALE
Haaretz: Netanyahu Is Keeping a Hostage Deal as a 'Priceless Gift' for Trump's Return
Fanciful? Hardly.
Foreign affairs — and covert manipulations — really do turn U.S. elections. Those of us who were around at the time of the Iran hostage saga will remember the later revealed — and successful — Reagan campaign scheme (of which the Israelis were an important part due to their antipathy to President Carter) to prevent a release of the American hostages (and the associated illegal Iran-Contra machinations), until after a Reagan election win and inauguration.
And before that, the secret Kissinger-Nixon back channel to convince the North Vietnam government that it would get a better deal by stymying peace talks with the Johnson administration, and waiting for Nixon to win the 1968 election over Hubert Humphrey.
AND ON THAT TOPIC… SAVE THE DATE: October 10, 2024 at 5 p.m., via Zoom. Veteran foreign correspondent Alan Riding will be our guest for an Eagle Hill Forum on the situation in Mexico and how the situation there, both politically and via drug and immigration flows, will influence the American election. Full notice with registration link to follow. A sample headline out of Mexico today:
WashPost: Mexican lawmakers flee protesters before passing judicial overhaul
Reuters: Shots fired, (IDF) bulldozers rammed cars during UN standoff with Israeli military
Never any penalty for this type of IDF conduct.
Haaretz: The Destroyed Streets in Nur Shams and Tul Karm Leave No Room for Doubt. The West Bank Is a War Zone
Note: In a previous update, we referenced and showed a video of the use of U.S-made armored Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy Palestinian infrastructure.
'This was an attempt to uproot us,' one Palestinian resident said, 'they're trying to uproot the camp's residents from our homes, but we won't go.' As the Israeli military intensified its operations in the northern West Bank's refugee camps, residents fear that the area will become the new Gaza
NEW YORK TIMES: Israeli Forces Mount Fresh Raids in Two West Bank Cities: Live Updates
Note that the Times points out the level of destructiveness in these raids.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/09/11/world/israel-hamas-gaza-war
THE ATLANTIC: WHAT SETTLER VIOLENCE IS DOING TO ISRAEL
This writer, while rightly detailing the horrific surge in settler attacks, and despite his history of recounting such violence, fails to adequately acknowledge that deadly, destructive settler violence has been ongoing for at least my 33 years in the conflict. Only last week, I had to advise an American woman that joining a program to accompany Palestinians during their olive harvest was deadly hazardous.
As we’ve said, for all its vast intelligence capabilities and ability to locate and kill an alleged terrorist among thousands of people in, say, Al Mawasi (above), Israel seems never to be able to find the Israeli killers of innocent Palestinian and third-country civilians.
AT THE SIX-MONTH MARK OF THIS RELIEF EFFORT
We began this effort March 30, 2024, almost six months ago, with a simple note to friends saying that, in the absence of any other means of breaching the (still ongoing) Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid, we would try to send money through trusted Gaza friends who still had functioning bank accounts, and who would disseminate those funds using their own judgement. No bells and whistles, no formal organization, no 501(c)3 tax exemption. An operation based solely on need and trust. Among 2.3 million people, we would try to help a handful.
As someone (actually, me) initially remarked, it was a “welcome to the world’s most amateurish fundraising scheme,” a “just trust us,” Nigerian prince sort of deal.
Since then, your generosity — that of 86 donors, many of whom have repeatedly donated — has provided an extraordinary total of $50,054 to assist struggling families in Gaza. The notes of thanks from Haitham, Hamad and others that we’ve published reflect the degree to which your contributions have helped sustain them — both the money and the demonstration that they are not forgotten — through the grimmest of situations.
We now have 95 subscribers to this newsletter, a number that has been growing gradually as you all share it with other concerned friends. We hope that the Gaza Relief distribution and donor base will increase so that we are not placing a burden on any of you. So, share.
We have used three principal channels: via Haitham (most recently located in Zawayda after several flights ahead of fighting); Abu Saif and adult daughter Saja in Nuseirat, where they are helping sustain several hundred people with water and electricity on their property; and Hamad, who is located in Cairo, but who is able to get money into besieged northern Gaza, the hardest hit and most isolated portion of the Gaza Strip.
All four of these friends are struggling to survive with their families, and each has taken on a great responsibility in serving with us to distribute aid beyond their own families.
These contacts have provided, and we have included in our updates, regular tabulations of their distributions and their efforts to find channels that will charge the lowest transaction fees, ensuring that the maximum amount reaches the needy. Typically, those fees on the Gaza end are about $20 for a $3,000 transfer.
From our end, the cost is $35 to our bank for the international transfer. Pat now has an ongoing relationship with the kind lady at the international transfer section of the State Department Federal Credit Union.
If we had more funds, we would seek out new channels through which to distribute them as the need is, at this point, infinite. But, balancing the amounts and flow of contributions, the risk to our friends of being seen to receive and handle the money, the risk of the banking system being shut down at any moment, the cost of transaction fees, etc., our typical $3,000 transfers seem to be the right size. Trying to spread the funds further would mean reducing individual disbursements to inconsequential levels.
Of course, were the war to cease and the hundreds of truckloads of blockaded aid able to flow into Gaza, our assistance would be less critical.
Finally, some of you have noticed that we have no comment section in these Substack updates. That’s intentional. All of you are welcome to write us at any time, as some of you do to discuss thoughts and funding, but we do not feel like providing a platform for trolls to spread hate and vituperation. Anyone who reads the comments sections of Palestine-related articles in the WashPost or NYTimes will understand.
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