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Jewish
MP compares Gaza to Warsaw ghetto Press Association Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was today compared to the Nazis' creation of the Warsaw ghetto by MPs who recently returned from the region. The controversial comparison, drawn by Oona King and Jenny Tonge, will anger the pro-Israel lobby and the visiting Israeli finance minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, who met Tony Blair at Downing Street this morning. Labour MP Ms King, who is Jewish, said Gaza was "the same in nature" as the infamous Polish ghetto. "No government should be behaving like that - least of all a Jewish government," the Bethnal Green and Bow MP said. Ms King and Liberal Democrat MP Dr Tonge were holding a Westminster press conference today following their fact-finding trip. The pair were caught up in the aftermath of the Israeli gunship assassination attack on a leading Palestinian extremist. A building they were in just minutes earlier was hit in retaliation. The MPs were also confronted by an Israeli soldier armed with a grenade as they tried to leave the strip. Speaking ahead of the press conference, Ms King said the visit, organised by Christian Aid, had opened her eyes. The MP, a member of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, said: "I recognise the terror many Israelis live with as a matter of their daily lives. "I was more surprised perhaps by the everyday terror that Palestinians live, the detail and nature of which I had not understood. "We must support the moderate voices as opposed to strengthening extremists." Referring to Warsaw, scene of the historic uprising by its Jewish inhabitants, Ms King said: "It is the same in nature but not extent." She stressed the "very, very big difference" between Gaza and the infamous ghetto established by the Nazis in Poland's capital. "Palestinians are not being rounded up and put in gas chambers," she said. But the MP said: "What makes it similar is what happened to the Jewish people in that time which was the seizing of land, being forced from property, torture and bureaucracy - control used in a demeaning way over the smallest task. "On top of that building a wall around them - and that is precisely what the Israeli government is doing. In doing so it is building a political ghetto. I don't think it can escape that conclusion." Ms King also said: "As a Jewish person, I hoped I would never live to see the day I was ashamed of the actions of the Jewish state." The situation had worsened considerably since she last visited with pressure group Labour Friends of Israel in 1998, she added. Ms Tonge agreed: "You are almost getting a situation like the Warsaw ghetto - people can't get in or out. They can't work, they can't sell anything. There is this gradual squeeze." However, the Richmond Park MP also offered a comparison of her own. "I feel it was an apartheid system and it is certainly getting worse - the area where the Palestinians live is getting smaller." Ms Tonge wants to see economic sanctions against Israel unless the situation improves and says EU or UN troops should be sent in to keep the peace. "Israel says everything it does is for security but they are not addressing the cause of terrorism, only terrorism itself," she added. At their meeting this morning, Mr Blair and Mr Netanyahu discussed the Middle East peace process. Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister reiterated his commitment to see the road map implemented and his willingness to do everything that he and the British government can to help." Later, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy said: "It is a terrible shame that a British MP could make this comparison. We were shocked by the ignorance of comparing Gaza to the Warsaw ghetto. "Such views only encourage extremists elements to become involved in terror against Israel as we recently faced in the suicide bomb in Tel Aviv."
Israel
can halt this now Oona King in Gaza The no man's land separating Israel from the Gaza Strip gives way to what can only be described as desecrated land. Razor wire and crushed buildings line the route. Torn slabs of concrete look like tattered cardboard on a rubbish heap. In front of us two Israeli tanks block our path. Behind us, the border will shortly be sealed to prevent Palestinian reprisals for the helicopter attack launched hours earlier against the extremist Hamas leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Rantissi - who is still alive. A Palestinian woman and her young child, on their way to hospital, are dead, and 35 are injured.
Later that afternoon we hurriedly leave the building we are in when a missile lands nearby. As two British MPs travelling with Christian Aid, myself and Jenny Tonge are alarmed. For Gaza residents this is business as usual. More than 1 million Palestinians live on this tiny piece of land (smaller than the Isle of Wight) - more than three-quarters of on less than £1.30 a day. Life below the poverty line for these Palestinians contrasts with the 5,000 Israeli settlers who occupy one-third of the land and enjoy watered gardens, first world housing and protection by the Israeli army. This protection means Palestinians wait for hours - sometimes days - at Israeli checkpoints, trying to find work or get access to essential services such as medical care. The sun is setting on Gaza. From my hotel balcony I hear demonstrations in the street below. It occurs to me that I can put on a headscarf and slip into the crowd as a Palestinian. No one will guess I'm Jewish, still less that I'm a British MP. The sounds lead me to the hospital where Rantissi is being treated. Cars rush into the compound, horns blaring, people hanging out of windows. A man carries an injured girl into the hospital. But most of the Palestinians just stand waiting. They wait for Israelis to stamp their permits, and they wait for a Palestinian state. They are no different from us: deny them human rights and they will respond with unacceptable terrorist violence.
The original founders of the Jewish state could surely not imagine the irony facing Israel today: in escaping the ashes of the Holocaust, they have incarcerated another people in a hell similar in its nature - though not its extent - to the Warsaw ghetto. Any visitor to the Palestinian ghetto can see the signs: residents are sealed off and live under curfew; the authorities view torture as acceptable and use collective punishment as a means of control; soldiers drive families from their homes, confiscate property and demolish neighbourhoods; unemployment runs in places at 80%, and utilities such as water are withheld; the economy has "client" status, and is subservient to the occupiers in every way. As the more powerful side in the dispute, Israel must break the cycle of violence, comply with UN resolution 242 and withdraw from territories occupied in 1967. As the occupying power, Israel must uphold the fourth Geneva convention and end all collective punishments. Illegal settlements must be dismantled. Repair of water, sewage, and other essential infrastructure should take place immediately. Just under 80% of all water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are redirected from Palestinians to Israelis. The international community has to recognise the scale of the humanitarian disaster facing Palestinians and George Bush must put greater pressure on Sharon to give meaning to the road map. Yes, there are two sides to every story. But no story should hold within it the horrors I have witnessed here, so similar in detail to humiliations suffered by the Jews. I have sadly come to the conclusion that, given the scale of the atrocities and collective punishment waged by the Israelis against the Palestinians, I have no choice but to boycott Israeli products. On reflection, whether Jewish or not, you might decide to do the same. · Oona King is Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow |
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