[pvaldes]

If we really want to help the people of Gaza we need first to put the people that killed children, women and innocent men of Gaza, in front of an international trial. And stop voting to them. Is as simple as that.

We need also to stop tolerating to be labelled as "anti-semitic behaviour" to bona fide criticizing Israel for breaking repeatedly a lot of international laws about human rights, each three years, and for treating palestinian people as human cockroaches.

In the last years USA and Europe were repeatedly urged to pay with trucks full of money the last "Gaza reconstruction". We paid for rebuilding exactly the same UN schools and hospitals that Israel bombed meticulously the last year, in some cases even with UN workers inside.

Is reasonable to asume that if we pay again, the new schools and hospitales will be bombed again in the next two or three years, with the silliest excuses.

There is also the problem that Israel controls the economy of Gaza, so there is not any guarantee that the money for palestinians will not be used instead in buying new bombs to replace that were dropped.

I'm aware that I'm being sour and harsh, but in my opinion, and is just an opinion, the sort of Warsaw Ghetto that became Gaza, need a little more that well-meant investors and little kisses at this moment.

[pliny]

I don't want to get into a political argument - but I will say that helping Gazans by directly improving their quality of life (like the OP proposed) is neither mutually exclusive with, nor dependent on, helping Gazans by promoting their cause politically.

It is a defeatist stance to take, in general, that you should abstain from treating a symptom just because it won't also cure the disease and in that sense I think you are working against the cause of Gaza and doing a disservice to Gazans by dissuading people from offering assistance.

>In the last years USA and Europe were repeatedly urged to pay with trucks full of money the last "Gaza reconstruction". We paid for rebuilding exactly the same UN schools and hospitals that Israel bombed meticulously the last year, in some cases even with UN workers inside. Is reasonable to asume that if we pay again, the new schools and hospitales will be bombed again in the next two or three years, with the silliest excuses.

You're unfortunately correct (about the bombing, not about the excuses), but the children of Gaza need to go to school and the infirm and injured of Gaza need hospitalisation, so not building those facilities is worse than building them and watching them be destroyed a few years later.

[jbooth]

Not to mention, empowering moderate and scientifically minded Gazans is probably one of the more productive things one could do to contribute to eventual resolution of the conflict.

[IvanDenisovich]

I feel that casting all Palestinians as eternal victims with no control over their fate until Israel decides otherwise is pretty patronizing. You're basically denying their agency and labeling them as hopeless children.

This is the opposite of what the initiative is about - it's about bringing normalcy to a troubled region, and if you'd read FAQ you'd see they stress the (relative) safety and economic stability of Gaza. It's a far cry for the "Warsaw Ghetto" and the "Palestinians as cockroaches" that you're throwing around here.

[XJOKOLAT]

It is possible to do both

[this2shallPass]

>If we really want to help the people of Gaza we need first to put the people that killed children, women and innocent men of Gaza, in front of an international trial. And stop voting to them. Is as simple as that.

Sounds good. When are we putting Hamas and other militant groups going to the ICC (because their local justice systems are so unable to promote justice)?

>We need also to stop tolerating to be labelled as "anti-semitic behaviour" to bona fide criticizing Israel for breaking repeatedly a lot of international laws about human rights, each three years, and for treating palestinian people as human cockroaches.

Seems fair to hold Israel to any standard every other country is held to. Do it!

>In the last years USA and Europe were repeatedly urged to pay with trucks full of money the last "Gaza reconstruction". We paid for rebuilding exactly the same UN schools and hospitals that Israel bombed meticulously the last year, in some cases even with UN workers inside.

If Israel meticulously bombed the schools and hospitals, would any be standing? They have a lot of bombs and the ability to target fairly precisely for a military- isn't it weird so many hospitals and schools are undamaged? The Israeli military are either incompetent or didn't meticulously target these places.

>with the silliest excuses. What would an unsilly reason look like? Indiscriminate attacks on civilians doesn't seem to fulfill your requirements.

>There is also the problem that Israel controls the economy of Gaza, so there is not any guarantee that the money for palestinians will not be used instead in buying new bombs to replace that were dropped.

I didn't know Israel controls all money going in to Gaza. I know they collect tax money on behalf of the PLO and monitor, along with Egypt, all good coming in (excluding those that are smuggled in of course). It's worth looking into how Israel's gets military aid- a coupon from the US government. They aren't stealing other people's money and spending it. Even the tax money they're withholding from the PLO is sitting in accounts, not being spent.