By Anna Lippman
Many are glued to the news and social media following the deadly Hamas attacks in Israel, and Israel’s non-stop bombing in the last week of the 2.3 million people living in the Gaza Strip.
Photos comparing today’s rubble and devastation to what Gaza looked like just two weeks ago illustrate the immense destruction occurring in one of the densest areas on Earth.
Civilian casualties are nearing catastrophic levels as Israel has cut off electricity, water, humanitarian aid and the internet to the people of Gaza. This restriction on vital utilities, services that most in the West take for granted, are tantamount to war crimes, according to Amnesty International.
But even on a “good day” for Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank or in Israel proper, the basic fundamentals of living are often restricted — even as Israelis living right next door enjoy a high quality of life.
Up close and personal
In the summer of 2010, I went to volunteer on Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza border, to both strengthen my relationship to Israel as a North American Jewish woman and learn about socialist communities.
At the program office in Tel Aviv, they asked how I would feel about volunteering at a kibbutz near Gaza. I naively shrugged my shoulders and said it was fine, so long as they didn’t think I would be murdered. The manager assured me I would be fine, but suggested I wait until I go home to tell my parents what region I was in.
This small, secular kibbutz is located within seven kilometres of the Gaza Strip in southern Israel near the Negev Desert.
With housing and jobs for all, as well as a supermarket and cafeteria that work on credit, life in the kibbutz wasn’t glamorous, but it certainly was very comfortable.
My favourite time of the day was after work when we would gather at the swimming pool amid the beautiful landscape and drink beer and smoke shisha while the radio blared in the background and kids took their mandatory swimming lessons. At night we would watch television in our air-conditioned home that also doubled as a highly fortified bomb shelter.
A month or so into my trip, my hosts took me to the Gaza border. From our air-conditioned car, we watched a crowded line of Palestinians at a standstill near the Israeli checkpoint. Since 2006, the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza are not allowed to leave, either into Israel, Egypt or into the sea that borders Gaza.
‘Open-air prison’
Considered the world’s largest open-air prison, much of Gaza’s population is under 18 and has the highest youth unemployment rate in the world.
Unlike kibbutz residents, who are given an allowance for a home expansion as they birth more children, Gazans often live in cramped quarters with more than 20 other family members.
While kibbutz members are often given their own housing when they become adults, Gazan youth remain in over-crowded homes with no other options.
As I sipped the water bottle I had filled from my sink, I was told that Gazans have little access to drinking water.
My host told me stories of his childhood that included visiting Gaza City’s beautiful beach and playing with the other children there. He told me he missed the beach, but that it had since become much more polluted.
While my host seemed to discount the irony of his longing for a place that his own government had made off limits and played a role in its pollution, it was certainly not lost on me. We loaded back in the car and freely drove away back to our little oasis built on top of a former Palestinian village.
In Israel, homes within a certain range of Gaza are required to be fortified as bomb shelters by the Israeli government. This, coupled with a comprehensive alert system, meant that despite the constant possibility of bombings, life in the kibbutz remained relatively safe.
Kibbutz Re’im
But on Oct. 7, the obscure kibbutz I briefly called home made global headlines. The music festival targeted by Hamas took place near Kibbutz Re’im.
My heart aches for my former neighbours who lost their lives or lost loved ones. My heart especially aches for those still unsure where their loved ones may be.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to this tragedy by declaring war on Hamas and following through on his promise with swift brutality.
As I watch the news from Canada, I can’t help but cry for the people of Gaza as well. Unlike Israelis on the other side of the fence, Gazans have no bomb shelters.
They protect themselves by staying away from windows, sheltering by the sturdiest walls and sleeping in shifts. Amid collapsing buildings and mounting deaths, Palestinians in Gaza have been sheltering in schools built by the United Nations that are unfortified — a sharp contrast from the Israeli-funded kibbutz schools, which are mere metres away from bomb shelters.
In the last few days, even schools, refugee camps and hospitals have become targets.
Separated by nothing more than a fence, life for Palestinians in Gaza and Israelis next door couldn’t be more different.
Anna Lippman is a Sociology Instructor at York University in Toronto.
ASF says
Seriously, did this person ever think why having a bomb shelter so close by her “luxurious Kibbutz digs” was necessary in the first place?
JOE D says
Wow….what a stark reality from the eyes of someone PERSONALLY observant of the situation in the Middle East. Unfortunately the international media is sometimes more focused on sensationalism, rather than accurate (neutral?) event coverage.
Nothing can justify the brutal and unprovoked Hamas attack on Israeli innocent citizens (many just women and children). But innocent Gaza Citizens are also caught in the cross fire between warring factions, with no where to go for safety ( again mostly innocent women and children, who are not involved in this political /humanitarian disaster on BOTH sides)
Apparently ( through media analysis I’ve seen) Hamas has felt they haven’t gotten the WORLD attention they deserved recently. Saudi Arabia and Egypt and other local Arab nations have gotten “too chummy” with Israel recently (with partially successful “normalization” talks). So Hamas chose NOW to stir up the centuries old HATED just under the surface in the region, and FORCE the world to CHOOSE SIDES.
As a retiring Catholic Nurse ( who has done several medical missionary trips to some of the poorest villages in the Western Hemisphere), I can’t bring myself to look at the video coverage of the absolute human CARNAGE occurring in this conflict. I am hopeful that world leaders can come together, keep the violence and absolute horror from spreading to other areas in the region ( it won’t take much at the moment for some new event which could strike the MATCH to an all out new Middle East WAR). Just look at the way the world media were so ready to IMMEDIATELY blame Israel for the hospital explosion ( without evidence), just because Hamas SAID it! It took Israel and the USA to produce satellite evidence, and GEOLOCATION information to show, because of the TYPE of explosion and the local destruction at the hospital, it was not caused by an Israeli rocket hit, but likely a failed exploding rocket launch from Gaza, by yet ANOTHER Palestinian terrorist group!
PEACE in the world is sadly a long way off….and currently it seems PEACE in the USA is equally a distant goal given the political extremism seen since 2016. I PRAY I’m wrong…only time will tell.
Skibum says
I wish the author of this article had offered more insight, if possible, about the Israeli government’s decades long push to encourage families to put down stakes and raise their children so close to the border with Gaza where Israel knows and has stated there are terrorists right on the other side who’s only mission is to kill every Israeli citizen in the Middle East. I’m certainly not a supporter of Hamas or any other terrorist organization, and firmly believe that Israel has every right to exist in peace. But I also believe that Israel’s Netanyahu, as well as his government’s policies, share a large portion of responsibility for the more than 1,400 Israeli deaths after Hamas terrorists stormed over the Gaza border apparently without any serious resistance and slaughtered or kidnapped the innocent civilians they encountered, including women and children. How could a competent government tell civilians they wanted people to move into all of these kibbutz communities so near known terrorists, tell the civilians to fortify their homes with bomb shelters and remain vigilant against attacks, and yet want these citizens to have babies and raise their children in an environment that I can only describe as putting your kids in harm’s way? To me, it defies logic. And as nonsensical as this situation sounds, here come the throngs of civilians seemingly unfazed by the inherent danger of everyday living within eyesight of those who may want to end your existence as living, breathing human beings. I think this will be a very hard lesson for many people in Israel, but considering the dogged reluctance to give up any land or even create sort of a no-man’s land like that which separates North and South Korea, I unfortunately think there will be many more deaths, Israeli and Palestine alike, because nobody seems able to even talk to each other, let alone work out a solution that doesn’t involve violence and killing on either side.
ASF says
Israelis living in Kibbutzes on the border (many of which have been there for decades) weren’t and aren’t forced to reside there agianst their will. They could–and can– leave and/or relocate at any time.
Alas, the same cannot be said for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who are routinely used as Human Shields and “Pallywood” props by their oiwn governments, whether against their will or because they choose to allow themselves to be used that way.
LIke many Americans–not all them Jewish–I am getting really sick and tired of “Anti-Zionist” critics who are regurgitating their “Hamas did something bad on October 7th BUUUUUUUTTTTT….(let me now use that war crime as another platform to go on an Israel-bashing rant)”.
The above poster might wish to consider whether The Far Left leaders in Israel weakened the country’s internal security by urging reservists and ither military personnel to refuse to show up at their posts or perform their duties, all in the interest of serving an insurrection whose aim was to overthrow the results of the last Israeli election. If anything, that, alone, should should how unfit the Far Left forces in Israel are to lead–sepcially Ehud Barak whose own politicla history is checkered, to day the least.
Just like in America, many Israelis yearn for some sane middle ground which, seemingly, is not to be found beneath the stomping feet of either of the political extremes whose viewpoints the media relentlessly push.
Skibum says
I’m not sure who the far left leaders are in Israel that you are referring to. Netanyahu is certainly not far left, but it was primarily Netanyahu who initiated the drastic changes to that country’s highest court, a political take over if you will, that prompted recent demonstrations and rioting of Israeli citizens in the streets. It also resulted in many Israeli armed force reservists to refuse to report for duty, and that was widely played on news channels not long before Hamas stormed over the border, so there could be a connection between those military personnel showing disagreement with the government and Hamas’ timing of the terrorist attack. But again, Netanyahu’s government is NOT far left. Maybe some of the other political parties who are against his policies could be considered by many to be described that way, but they are not the ones in power and in charge of the military forces.
ASF says
Try to do a little more research on Ehud Barak–the former Prime Minister of Israel who was a dismal failure when he was in power, has an extremely checkered history of his own but who is now leading the charge of the Far left “anti-Netanyahu insurrection–in part to his pursue his own ancient grudges but also to try to manuever himself back into power (so he and his forces can fail even more spectacularly and wreak even more damage to Israel’s internal security.)
Sherry says
Thank you Skibum for your reasonable analysis of this terrible and tragic situation. Those who continue to passionately try to convince us that “one side is absolutely wrong” and, the “other side is absolutely right” are bound by their black and white thinking.
Attempting to have a reasonable debate of credible facts with those on the extreme far right is sadly an exercise in futility as they see “Antifa” everywhere FOX says they are.
My extended family members who are actually living in Israel saw this coming the day Netanyahu regained office. Their prediction is that he will use this Hamas horrific attack as an excuse to drive all Palestinians out of Gaza, and then claim that valuable coastal land for Israel. . . for “security’s sake”. That is the long game, and unfortunately Hamas is playing right into his hands.
There is NO “Right” and “Wrong” here! War is beyond horrible, and innocent children are being insanely “murdered” by “BOTH” sides!
JOSEPH HEMPFLING says
When will we learn w a r only begets more w a r ! And there are no winners,
Only losers. And who benefits are the banksters that support it and the military
Industrialists who make the weapons for it to happen. Sad sad sad !
And both you and me get to pay for it one way or the other.
Endangered species says
right so who will be holding Israel accountable for their war crimes? Exactly no one just like putin. we are the worlds armory so were involved in every conflict mainly for profit.
I dont get why so many are pro israel they are doing terrorist things and inhumane acts but since they have more money than the other side we back them? Wait for china then we can loose 3 battles at once, just like the last three we fought. We sure freed up that oil though.
ASF says
I haven’t heard about Israeli troops decapitating babies, slaughtering whole families up close and personal while viedeotaping thesmelves doing it and posting it to social media, raping women after shooting them in the legs, taking hundreds of innocent civilians hostage to be used as bargaining chips (women and children included) and burning bodies after tying theior hands together with metal wire. NOPE–those “accomplishments are are on the Palestinian side of the fence although “Anti Zionists like to protray Israe; as the Big Bad Wolf and the Pakestinians as poor Little Red Riding Hood, skipping innocently through the woods to grandmother’s house.
I have heard recent reports of Palestinian militant forces shooting off thousands of rockets deliberately into Israeli civilian centers (which hit a childrens’ hospital in Israel, by the way)– one of which also pretty famously hit a hospital in Gaza at which point the “Gazan Health Ministry” falsely blamed the hit on an Israeli airstrike.
Please spare us weepy repetitions of how many thousands of Gazan civilian deaths are supposed to have taken place all at Israel’s calculated instigation–while we are suppoed to ignore that Hamas has not only has been using their people as Human Shields, they are also in the habit of lumping their militant death count in with their civilian death count. I guess it’s poiltically incorrect to notice any of that…or call out the Palestinian governments unduly for THEIR war crimes.
Here’s another little factoid for you consider–A young Hamas militant ,who participated in the October 7th massacres in Israel ,has already confessed that, not only did he gleefully take part in the bloody rampage, but that his militant Wing promised him and each of his comrades $10,000 and an apartment as part of a stipend for every hostage taken and delivered into Hamas’s hands in Gaza. Would you call that a “war crime”–or just “tit-for-tat heroic resistence”?
Funny how the Gazans have no electricty in their homes or hospitals but electricity still flows to their terror tunnels. Strange, how the Gazan’s elected terrorist government has funds for a seemingly unending supply of Iranian rockets but so little for fuel, food, medicines or other public necessities. Maybe that’s something you might wish to focus your “Pro-Palestinian” wrath on.