Gaza’s Resources Not Comparable to Israel’s
Asymmetries give Jewish state huge advantage over Palestinians
In a recent op-ed piece, Ambassador Meir Schlomo, the consul general of Israel to the Southwest, demonstrates the asymmetries he claimed differentiate Israel from Gaza in the context of the latest Israeli Defense Force operation in Gaza, Operation Pillar of Defense. It is no accident at all that Schlomo has seized upon the concept of asymmetry in both justifying this IDF operation and demonizing Hamas and the people of Gaza. This is a case in which an argument tries to attack the strengths of an opponent’s case rather than attacking their weaknesses. The asymmetries between Israel and Gaza are so utterly stark that Schlomo reasons that he must directly confront the concept and turn it on its head in Israel’s favor.
What are the asymmetries that Schlomo seeks to obscure?
The first important set of asymmetries contrasts the economies of the country, Israel, and the territory, Gaza. According to the United Nations, Israel boasts an intensively modern industrial economy ranked 17th out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index; Israel’s GDP is the 39th largest in the world. It is difficult to obtain as complete an assessment of the economic conditions in Gaza, since most observers before 2007 at least looked at conditions in all of the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza and the West Bank. But it is clear that over one-third and perhaps as much as one-half of Gaza’s adults are unemployed and over 40 percent are considered “food insecure.”
Gaza is an extremely densely populated area, with over 1.6 million people in just 140 square miles, just about the size of metropolitan Albuquerque. The vast majority of Gaza’s people are refugees whose families were displaced by Israel in previous conflicts. Water and electricity shortages are daily crises for them. By any measure, the people of Gaza are extremely impoverished, while the people of Israel are among the world’s most fortunate.
The second set has to do with the political status of the two. Israel is an internationally recognized country with diplomatic relations with countries everywhere in the world. The influence of Israel is notable, particularly in the United States, where during our recent national election the prime minister of Israel weighed in on his candidate preferences in a fashion that might be deemed extremely inappropriate were another world leader to have behaved in this fashion.
By contrast Gaza is a territory with an anomalous status. While IDF forces vacated Gaza’s lands in 2005, the UN “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967” stated in 2007: “Israel remains an occupying Power in respect of Gaza. Arguments that Israel ceased its occupation of Gaza in 2005 following the evacuation of its settlements and the withdrawal of its troops take no account of the fact that Israel retains effective control over Gaza by means of its control over Gaza’s external borders, airspace, territorial waters, population registry, tax revenues and governmental functions. The effectiveness of this control is emphasized by regular military incursions and rocket attacks.”
Over one-third of Gaza’s farmland is inaccessible because of Israel’s self-declared “security zones” that lie within Gaza’s territory; the Israeli navy does not permit Gaza’s fishermen to fish beyond three miles from shore. Every other country in the world controls a belt of coastal waters that extends 12 miles.
Finally, the asymmetry between Gaza and Israel with respect to military power is perhaps the most exaggerated of all. While Israel produces and deploys one of the most sophisticated military technologies and one of the largest armies per capita in the world, Gaza’s people have limited means to defend themselves.
In this most recent operation, 156 Palestinians were killed, among them 19 children, whereas six Israelis died. Since the first homemade, highly inaccurate short-range Qassam missiles were fired from Gaza towards Israel in 2001, 59 Israelis have been killed and over 4,700 Palestinians. While the death of even one person is deplorable in such conflicts, it is this asymmetry — who and how many die in these conflicts — above all others perhaps that Schlomo wants to obscure.