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| Gazans, Desiring Deep Change, Are Ambivalent on Egypt Cease-Fire Plan | |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| GAZA CITY — Maher al-Jarba, 2, one of the first casualties in the Gaza Strip when Israel resumed airstrikes after a six-hour pause on Tuesday, writhed in terror in an emergency-room bed as a nurse poked a needle into his hand. A blast had knocked the curly haired boy down 11 stone steps, fracturing his skull. | GAZA CITY — Maher al-Jarba, 2, one of the first casualties in the Gaza Strip when Israel resumed airstrikes after a six-hour pause on Tuesday, writhed in terror in an emergency-room bed as a nurse poked a needle into his hand. A blast had knocked the curly haired boy down 11 stone steps, fracturing his skull. |
| So his grandmother Wedad al-Jarba might have been angry that Hamas, the militant group that dominates the Gaza Strip, did not embrace the cease-fire proposed by Egypt, and kept firing rockets as Israel briefly held its fire. Instead, she shrugged. Like many Gazans interviewed, she said she longed for a deal — one that would change life in Gaza. But she doubted Egypt’s proposal would do that. | So his grandmother Wedad al-Jarba might have been angry that Hamas, the militant group that dominates the Gaza Strip, did not embrace the cease-fire proposed by Egypt, and kept firing rockets as Israel briefly held its fire. Instead, she shrugged. Like many Gazans interviewed, she said she longed for a deal — one that would change life in Gaza. But she doubted Egypt’s proposal would do that. |
| “Every time, they have a cease-fire, but then everything comes back: the siege, the closures,” she said. “Then they bomb again.” | “Every time, they have a cease-fire, but then everything comes back: the siege, the closures,” she said. “Then they bomb again.” |
| That ambivalence is widespread in the strip, a narrow, 25-mile-long Palestinian enclave sandwiched between Israel, Egypt and the sea. It may help explain why a beleaguered Hamas kept firing even after Israeli officials declared that such a decision would justify further escalation. | That ambivalence is widespread in the strip, a narrow, 25-mile-long Palestinian enclave sandwiched between Israel, Egypt and the sea. It may help explain why a beleaguered Hamas kept firing even after Israeli officials declared that such a decision would justify further escalation. |
| Israel occupied Gaza during the 1967 Six-Day War and controls its borders, airspace and seas even now, nearly nine years after pulling out its settlers and troops. Since then, tough restrictions have effectively amounted to a blockade, reducing imports and exports to a trickle and preventing all but a few Gazans from leaving. Short but devastating wars deepen the misery. | Israel occupied Gaza during the 1967 Six-Day War and controls its borders, airspace and seas even now, nearly nine years after pulling out its settlers and troops. Since then, tough restrictions have effectively amounted to a blockade, reducing imports and exports to a trickle and preventing all but a few Gazans from leaving. Short but devastating wars deepen the misery. |
| Many Gazans say they are torn between desperately wanting an end to the current round of bombings, which have killed nearly 200 Palestinians here, including almost 40 children, and a growing conviction that they cannot return to the way things once were. Even Hamas’s many opponents here generally support its demands that Israel release prisoners, and along with Egypt, lift border restrictions that have gutted a weak economy. | Many Gazans say they are torn between desperately wanting an end to the current round of bombings, which have killed nearly 200 Palestinians here, including almost 40 children, and a growing conviction that they cannot return to the way things once were. Even Hamas’s many opponents here generally support its demands that Israel release prisoners, and along with Egypt, lift border restrictions that have gutted a weak economy. |
| “Everyone wants it to stop,” said Dr. Ayman al-Sahbani, the emergency room chief at Al-Shifa Hospital here. “Who would want to be bombed?” | “Everyone wants it to stop,” said Dr. Ayman al-Sahbani, the emergency room chief at Al-Shifa Hospital here. “Who would want to be bombed?” |
| Seeking to explain the Gazan problem, he listed the hospital supplies lacking because of import restrictions, even at Shifa, which at least could provide the CT scan that Maher needed that he could not get at another hospital closer to home. But then the doctor interrupted himself. The issue was not material goods, he said — it was freedoms most people take for granted. | Seeking to explain the Gazan problem, he listed the hospital supplies lacking because of import restrictions, even at Shifa, which at least could provide the CT scan that Maher needed that he could not get at another hospital closer to home. But then the doctor interrupted himself. The issue was not material goods, he said — it was freedoms most people take for granted. |
| Sometimes, he said, he thinks that Israel and the world simply do not understand what it is like for Gazans, by and large, to be unable to leave what many call an open-air prison. | Sometimes, he said, he thinks that Israel and the world simply do not understand what it is like for Gazans, by and large, to be unable to leave what many call an open-air prison. |
| “Do they not know, or is it that their people are people and ours are not?” he said, adding that he cannot go to medical conferences and his wife, a Ukrainian, has not gone home for years for fear she would not be allowed to return. | “Do they not know, or is it that their people are people and ours are not?” he said, adding that he cannot go to medical conferences and his wife, a Ukrainian, has not gone home for years for fear she would not be allowed to return. |
| Under a date palm at the Batoon cafe Tuesday night, three old friends described how they spent their precious six hours without airstrikes — shopping and visiting adult children they had not seen during a week spent indoors huddling. | Under a date palm at the Batoon cafe Tuesday night, three old friends described how they spent their precious six hours without airstrikes — shopping and visiting adult children they had not seen during a week spent indoors huddling. |
| The friends concluded that Hamas could not commit to a cease-fire accord put forth without its participation and one that did not reflect Palestinian aspirations. “We have the right to defend ourselves against occupation,” said one, Radwan Abu Haseera, 36, a management professor. | The friends concluded that Hamas could not commit to a cease-fire accord put forth without its participation and one that did not reflect Palestinian aspirations. “We have the right to defend ourselves against occupation,” said one, Radwan Abu Haseera, 36, a management professor. |
| Another, giving only a nickname, Abu Anas, 45, said he was surprised Hamas did not pause its attacks. Many Gazans oppose Hamas but are powerless against its arms, he said, and while differences are forgotten under Israeli fire, people want change and peace, even if it means compromise. | Another, giving only a nickname, Abu Anas, 45, said he was surprised Hamas did not pause its attacks. Many Gazans oppose Hamas but are powerless against its arms, he said, and while differences are forgotten under Israeli fire, people want change and peace, even if it means compromise. |
| “The people here look steadfast,” he said, “but psychologically they are very tired.” His 2-year-old daughter, he said, “looks at the sky and thinks the clouds are smoke from rockets.” | “The people here look steadfast,” he said, “but psychologically they are very tired.” His 2-year-old daughter, he said, “looks at the sky and thinks the clouds are smoke from rockets.” |
| “She looks at the stars,” he said, “and she thinks they are airplanes.” | “She looks at the stars,” he said, “and she thinks they are airplanes.” |
| Yet Hamas supporters viewed the cease-fire proposal with deep suspicion. Earlier, when officials from the Palestinian Authority, which embraced the deal, visited the hospital, Hamas security officers and supporters threw shoes them. Then they cheered as a rocket ripped skyward. | Yet Hamas supporters viewed the cease-fire proposal with deep suspicion. Earlier, when officials from the Palestinian Authority, which embraced the deal, visited the hospital, Hamas security officers and supporters threw shoes them. Then they cheered as a rocket ripped skyward. |
| “Ya Qassam, ya habib,” they chanted, referring with a term of endearment to the Hamas militant brigades that fire the rockets. “Strike, strike Tel Aviv.” | “Ya Qassam, ya habib,” they chanted, referring with a term of endearment to the Hamas militant brigades that fire the rockets. “Strike, strike Tel Aviv.” |