Recently Phil Weiss described the Israeli siege as causing Warsaw Ghetto like conditions in the Gaza Strip. My reaction was that with such polemics coming from the author of the site (rather than just a commentator) there seems no sense to continue to participate. The three facts which differentiate the Gaza Strip from the Warsaw Ghetto are: starvation, crowding and a border with another country. A quarter of the residents of the ghetto 100,000 out of 400,000 died of starvation and disease before the ghetto was liquidated. (the fact that the ghetto was liquidated and sent to Treblinka is considered outside the comparison) Thus 25% of the ghetto died from its conditions. According to Mark LeVine in Al Jazeera Feb. 2, 2009 in an article "Gaza is no Warsaw Ghetto" 6,500 deaths can be attributed to the siege. Thus a death rate of .4%. The density of population in the ghetto was 400,000 in less than a square mile. The density of population in Gaza is less than 11,000 per square mile. Gaza shares a border with Egypt. These are the primary differences.
I don't like to compare and I feel the Zionist Nazi comparison is unuseful rhetoric designed to inflame rather than to elucidate. And i am reminded of LBJ's accusation against a political foe- accusing him of fucking pigs. Get him to deny he's a pig fucker.
But the Gaza siege is cruel. designed to unseat Hamas by putting pressure on its people. Statements about putting the people on a diet and keeping the population down are certainly inhuman and show a very evil attitude.
Yossi Alpher has given up on a negotiated peace and this puts me in a tough spot. Now I seemingly favor an imposed settlement. My inaction on the occupation places me in a culpable position, but I am assured by the fact that activism has not changed anything, so my nonparticipation has not worsened anything. not very reassuring.
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