What You Don’t Know About Gaza

By RASHID KHALIDI

Published: January 7, 2009

NEARLY everything you’ve been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

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I wrote a letter to Clair McCaskill tonight over Gaza and our foreign policy in the region. I would like to share it with my readers:

Dear Senator McCaskill,

The current situation in Gaza and our foreign policy in the region has me quite agitated these days. Why is it that Israel has 435 Representatives and 100 Senators that carry out their agenda? There are 1.7 million Palestinians crammed into a narrow strip of land whose existence is controlled by the nation that would most do them harm. Why is it that Gaza is so crowded? Could it be that those who are cornered there were once the owners of the land that is now habited by Israel? Furthermore, what strategic significance is Israel for the US now that the Cold War is long over? It is time that Senators that are strong like yourself stand up to the Jewish lobby in this country and make foreign policy that is in the best interest of America. Our continued unequivocal support of Israel is a significant reason why many in the Middle East work against us. Some would contend it was a significant reason why a handful of radicals acted as human missiles on 9/11. As a Missouri Democrat I implore you to stand up for justice and take back the reigns of our policies in the region. Doing what is right does not make you an Anti-Semite, it makes you a representative of your constituency.