Hamas orders Israeli journo out of Gaza

It has been more than two years since an Israeli reporter was officially allowed into Gaza.

The Israeli government barred Israeli reporters from going in after Hamas won control of the PA.

Last month, Israeli journalist Amira Hass defied the ban by catching a ride on a Free Gaza boat from Cypress to Gaza, where she has been reporting on life there for the past two weeks.

Today, Amira wrote to friends to say that she is being kicked out of Gaza - by Hamas.

Hamas, which apparently had minders escort Hass 24-hours-a-day, told her that there were threats to her life and that she had to get out immediately.

Hass scoffed at the Hamas warnings, but has apparently been unable to change their minds.

Hass lived in Gaza for four years, from 1993 to 1997, and wrote about her time there in "Drinking the Sea at Gaza," a pioneering Israeli book about life in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip.

Below is her e-mail to friends:

From: "amira hass"

To:

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008

dear all

i was ordered to leave gaza.

The Hamas security - the branch which insisted in "escorting" me 24 hours a day for almost 3 weeks, ordered me today, (sunday) at noon, to leave immediately. The great efforts of my friends yielded only one gesture: i was allowed to extend my stay by some 20 hours, at most, and leave tomorrow (monday).

 the reason, needless to say is "security". "The circumstances have changed, it is dangerous and we have recieved specific information that there is a danger to your life. specific my foot. just the same things i heard from Arafat's security back in 1995 and in 1999, only that that ancien regime had some kind of flexibility and disorder - that enabled my (other friends and acquaintances) to reverse the order.

 I see no chance for this to happen now.

i am professionally frustrated and personally sad, so sad: i took farewell of some of my friends today - and almost know for sure that we would not be able to see each other for many many years. I was planning to stay till end of January - so many more things to investigate: to learn. I even toyed with the idea of writing a book...

Never mind me. I was allowed a rare visit in prison. Met my friends and was reminded again, more closely, how people, all caged in, are accomodating their life to electricity cuts and threats of imminent israeli incursions, and to the ever-more-loud discourse of istishaad (martyrdom).

amira

UPDATE: I spoke to Amira on Monday as she was coming through Erez, becoming the first journalist allowed to cross through the terminal in nearly a month. A short time later, she was detained by Israeli authorities and questioned about her decision to defy the Israeli ban and enter Gaza. In August, Israeli authorities arrested Israeli activist Jeff Halper when he came through Erez after also taking a boat into Gaza.  

"Israel implements a policy of holding the rope at both ends," Halper said at the time. "Allegedly, the state isn't occupying Gaza but it is in charge of the entrances into Gaza, such that it is actually operating in Gaza."

Comments

[Laura]

Thank you for all you do, Dion, to keep this story in the public eye, and, particularly, in keeping the focus on humanity. Hoping that someday enough of us band together to help this problem to a humane solution!

[Terry Traub]

Honestly, this is pathetic--another liberal who feels sorry for the Gazans even as they lob rockets into Israel. What's next--a visit to Waziristan to hobnob with Osama Bin Laden and friends?

When the Israelis left Gaza, they left behind farms, greenhouses, useful facilities which were ruined by the Arabs. Great, the Arabs got some of their own land back. Look what it led to--a dysfunctional criminal state poised on Israel's border, doing nothing but shooting rockets at the Israelis as though taunting them to come back in and reoccupy the place.

Ms. Hass, please do the rest of us a favor and move to Gaza permanently, where you can enjoy the enlightened society that exists there. They had every opportunity to have peaceful coexistence with the Israelis but instead they insist on talking up war and terror while engaging in factional armed conflicts with the PA and anyone else who disagrees with Hamas's violent fundamentalism.

[Edie]

Terry,

Perhaps you aren't aware that although the illegal Israeli settlers and IDF withdrew from the settlements in 2005, Israel maintains complete control over the Gaza Strip. Israel controls the exit/entry of people and goods as well as all borders, airspace [Israel allows no airport] and sea boundaries [fisherman are not always allowed to fish or go farther from the shore where the fish are located].

Their complete control over the affairs in the GS is why they are still considered an 'occupying force' according to int'l standards and why it has been difficult if not impossible to gain any ground economically or in the GS infrastructure.

I'm not saying there haven't been mistakes made by the administration of GS by the Palestinians, but it should be acknowledged that even in a completely free country such as the U.S. there are issues and problems, let alone trying to survive or thrive when you are not in control of the situation.

We also need to acknowledge the fact that the GS was not turned over in pristine shape to the Palestinians: many settlements and orchards were trashed by the settlers on their way out - and some were trashed by angry Palestinians. Other agricultural endeavors were taken over and cultivated by the Palestinians although no produce is allowed to be exported by Israel although they thrive.

[Yohanon]

Seems to me Aza is not an island surrounded by Israel. It borders the Med (which is how Ms. Hass got in the last time) and it has a border with Egypt; Aza residents broke through it recently. Seems to me Hamas could have allowed Ms. Hass to leave as she arrived (via boat) or via the Rafah crossing into Egypt, but perhaps Hamas and Ms. Hass were looking for an "incident?" Aside from suggesting Aza turn to friendly Moslem Egypt rather than enemy Israel for its welfare, I would note that in Aza Ms. Hass - by her own account - had no independent movement; while Israel is hardly the US in "freedom of the press," it IS better than Aza. (I lived in Israel so I have first hand knowledge.)

[Edie]

Yohanon,

1) Post in earlier blog by Dion: "the rafah border has been controlled in conjunction with israel. the previous agreement on access via rafah was done with the EU and Israeli oversight and, as I recall, did not allow for foreigners to go through. since hamas took over, egypt has worked with israel to keep the border closed. unfortunately, the idea of traveling to sinai, through the egyptian checkpoints and to rafah to get into egypt is circuitous and impractical."

2) Just because Egypt is a Muslim majority country doesn't make it a 'friendly Moslem country'. Egypt has safe-guarded the Gaza border for Israel with diligence, even killing African refugees attempting to get in to find work. Just this summer Egyptian border guards shot a mother in front of her child there.

3) Israel is the country which has control of the Gaza Strip's borders, air and sea space. Therefore, Israel is the country obligated under international law to be the one responsible for the welfare of the inhabitants of Gaza, not Egypt.

[Edie]

Also,

re: 'Aside from suggesting Aza turn to friendly Moslem Egypt rather than enemy Israel for its welfare'

Perhaps you aren't aware that Israel doesn't supply or donate goods and services to the Gaza Strip altruistically. The goods that Israel allows to enter are paid for by Gazan traders - at very high prices. The rest is paid by the int'l community thru UN aid agencies. Fuel is paid for by the EU and electricity is paid for by the Palestinian Authority. Israel is in fact making a profit from exporting to Gaza.

[Dion Nissenbaum]

As someone who works regularly in Gaza, I can tell you that I have never had a Hamas minder accompany me while reporting. Even if there were other routes into Gaza via Egypt or from the sea, the issue of Israel barring reporters is more about Israel barring reporters than about covering Gaza. Yesterday, after a month of preventing reporters from getting into Gaza, Israel re-opened Erez to journalists. We will see how it goes from here...

[Edie]

Good luck. See if you can take Diaa anything. ; )