Ammani Life: What's Really Going on in Gaza [2014 Edition]

Image by: Reuters

You can't just watch the news for a few days, read a couple headlines here and there, and think that you know what is really going on, why it's happening, and what should be done about it. You cannot take one incident and examine it completely out of context and then use that as an argument.

(Unless you're an idiot, but that's another story).

Most people think that this all started because of the three kidnapped Israelis in the West Bank, and that that is a legitimate justification for Israel's attacks on Gaza. Here are a few questions for them..

Did you know that prior to the three Israelis who were kidnapped, 2 Palestinian children in the West Bank were killed by Israeli military which was caught on camera?

Did you know that Israel has violated the 2012 cease-fire agreement 287 times?

Did you know that, until now, according to the Human Rights Watch and the US State Department, there is not one shred of evidence that Hamas kidnapped the three Israelis?

Did you know that the Israeli government knew almost as soon as they were kidnapped that the three were dead, but suppressed this info and placed gag orders on Israeli press?

Did you know that despite knowing that they were dead, the Israeli forces proceeded to conduct a series of illegal arrests across the entire West Bank under the pretext of a 'hostage situation' search for the missing three?

Did you know that during this illegal arrest-spree and military rampage detaining 566 Palestinians (which included underage children), the Israeli forces re-arrested the Palestinian prisoners who were released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011?

Did you know that the Israeli media stirred up so much hatred about the kidnapping that Israeli settlers ran over a 9-year old Palestinian girl and attacked 16-year old Mohammed Abukhdeir, a resident of Jerusalem, who was found burned to death with traces of gasoline in his stomach?

Did you know that just 10 days before these three Israelis were kidnapped, Hamas and Fateh had finally agreed to form a "Unity Government" (abiding by the terms of the US and the EU) which was comprised entirely of politically independent technocrats, not affiliated with neither Fateh nor Hamas?

Did you know that the formation of this new Palestinian Unity Government would (and already began to) place international pressure on Israel from the US and the EU to finally make concrete steps in the two-state solution?

Did you know that the Gaza Strip has been under a naval, air and land blockade "حصار" for the past 8 years, which restricts citizens' access to the sea (up until 6 nautical miles), restricts the type and amount of imports allowed in and exports allowed out, restricts amount of petrol/diesel/natural gas allowed to enter, and completely seals off the borders for all citizens' travel with only sporadic and irregular openings, usually only for humanitarian cases or foreign nationals?

Did you know that this blockade violates basic human rights as well as the 2012 cease-fire agreement?

Did you know that most people in Gaza would want to continue fighting rather than to agree to a cease-fire that does not guarantee that they will be granted their basic human rights?