I’m trying to understand what’s really happening in Gaza. The wall is breached, and thousands of suffering Palestinians flood into Egypt to buy supplies, medicine, food. We can understand.

But think about this. The Israelis consider the Palestinians nothing but a big problem. They stand in the way. Wouldn’t it be nice if this problem became someone else’s problem?

Mike Whitney puts it this way:

Forget everything you’ve read about the “Great Escape” from Gaza. It’s all rubbish. The whole farce was cooked up in an Israeli think tank as way to rid Palestine of its indigenous people. Here’s an excerpt from the Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva which explains the real motive behind the incident:

“MK (Israeli Knesset member) Aryeh Eldad is hailing the Arab exodus to Egypt as proof that voluntary transfer is indeed an option.”

“The Israeli left continues to claim that there is no such thing as voluntary transfer, and simply ignores reality,” Eldad said. (Arutz Sheva)

Voluntary transfer. Bingo.

So the fleeing Palestinians just fell into a trap. Now they’ve been banished to Egypt by their own volition. We’ll have to wait and see how many are allowed to return.

…Hamas poses no threat to Israel and it controls nothing; certainly not the border. They’ve even suspended all suicide attacks since they won democratic elections a year and a half ago. But that is not enough for Israel whose goal is to extinguish any trace of Arab solidarity or Palestinian nationalism. Nearly all of the 4,000 articles now appearing on Google News follow this same absurd narrative about ‘clever terrorists’ who’ve out-foxed Israel and liberated their people. It’s just another way of concealing the criminal brutality of the 60 year long occupation. In truth, Hamas probably had nothing to do with the destruction of the wall. It’s just part of Israel’s plans to exile more Palestinians.

… The Jerusalem Post’s Yaakov Katz clarifies how the destruction of the border wall serves Israel’s long-term policy objectives:

“Without even knowing it, Egypt helped Israel on Wednesday to complete the disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he opened the crossing for Gazans since they were “starving due to the Israeli siege,” what he did proved to the world that his country is perfectly capable of caring for the Palestinians when it comes to food and medical care.

Wednesday’s events and particularly Mubarak’s decision to open a floodgate into his country for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, demonstrated that there are alternatives to Israel when it comes to being Gaza’s provider. ” (Jerusalem Post)

That says it all, doesn’t it? The Palestinians are regarded as a mere nuisance and a drain on Israeli resources. Now that the wall has conveniently been knocked down, the problem appears to be solved.

Hamas had nothing to do with blowing up the wall. And if they did, they were just unwitting accomplices in Israel’s masterplan to drive more Palestinians off the land and to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the ones that remain.

Now, for more along this line of thought, look here:

Despite its prowess at repression, Egypt will not accept this role willingly. There is near universal sympathy for Palestinians in Egypt, and becoming their policeman will make Egypt’s internal politics even more volatile than it is now. Furthermore, it is bound to strain relations with Israel, whenever Egypt fails to restrain Palestinians to Israeli satisfaction. Egypt’s decision to allow thousands of stranded Palestinian pilgrims through the Rafah crossing without Israeli concurrence was a taste of the potential disputes that could arise.

However, Egypt may find itself with few choices, given the pressures to provide Gaza with basic humanitarian needs that Israel is withholding. In that case, Egypt will find itself as the executor of the principle that underlies all Israeli policy from immigration, land use, building permits and humanitarian measures:

Reduce Palestinian existence to the minimum possible in areas coveted by Israel.

There is no better definition of genocide.

This all makes sense in the big picture, doesn’t it. The Palestinians have been squeezed so hard for so long, that eventually they would burst through somewhere. Let Egypt deal with them. But there’s even more to the story, a piece I never heard before and which really makes things crystal clear.

Israel claims its recent moves are retaliation for continued rocket attacks originating in Gaza that despite their consistency cause scant damage and few actual casualties. But the reasons may include motivations with roots back in 2000, when the British firm British Gas Group (BG) discovered proven natural gas reserves of at least 1.3 trillion cubic meters beneath Gazan territorial waters worth nearly $4 billion.

Ahh. The Palestinians must not be allowed to have that.

The Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF), a financial holdings company owned primarily by independent Palestinian shareholders, is investing in the project and heads the negotiations in coordination with Mahmoud Abbas’ government in the West Bank. BG won a majority stake in the concession to develop the Gaza Marine Field and originally targeted Egypt for the sale of the natural gas. But pressure from then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair led the company to redirect its efforts toward Israel and develop plans for an underwater pipeline that would transport the gas to an Israeli refinery at Ashkelon. That deal could have eventually provided Israel with approximately 10 percent of its annual energy requirement, and would have generated approximately $1 billion for the PIF. The Hamas election victory in 2006 put all that in jeopardy.

The PIF is ostensibly overseen by the Palestinian Authority; revenue generated by the fund could potentially be available to a Hamas-led government. Through the deal structured with the PIF, BG owns 90 percent of the Gaza Marine license. Consolidated Contractors Company, a Palestinian owned construction firm, owns the remaining 10 percent. The Palestinian Authority retains an option to take a stake in the concession once production is sanctioned. After the 2006 Palestinian election results, Israel began stalling in its negotiations with BG. Any deal that could result in funds reaching Gaza would seriously undermine official Israeli policy toward Hamas. For its part, Hamas assured it would not interrupt development of the project, but reserved its right to restructure parts of the deal it deemed harmful to Palestinian interests. In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Minister of Economy Ziad al-Zaza reiterated Hamas opposition to any sale of fuel to Israel.

After the Hamas election victory, Israel embarked on an intense campaign to eliminate the movement as a viable political entity in Gaza while at the same time attempting to rehabilitate the defeated Fatah as the dominant political player in the West Bank. By leveraging political tensions between the two parties, arming forces loyal to Abbas and the selective resumption of financial aid, Israel and the United States effectively re-installed Fatah in the West Bank, projected the party back onto the international stage and revived the possibility of concluding the energy deal.

With Hamas isolated geographically in Gaza, Israeli policy focused on isolating it politically as well. Israel has made significant progress toward this goal. Fayyad was appointed Prime Minister of the new unelected West Bank government recognized by the West, and by April 2007 the Israeli Cabinet had reversed an earlier decision to prohibit the purchase of natural gas from the Palestinian Authority. But with 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip, Hamas retains significant influence in the Palestinian political arena. Israel will have to eliminate the party completely in order to create a political climate suited to accommodate the BG deal. Time is running out.

In January, BG announced it was pulling the plug on negotiations with Israel due to the long impasse, and was again considering Egypt as a buyer. The Egyptian option includes liquefying up to a third of the gas for export to the US and Europe. BG announced plans to close its office near Tel Aviv at the end of January and sell its share in Israel’s offshore Med Yavne natural gas field. Since the announcement, Israel has radically expanded its sanctions, cut fuel shipments entirely and stepped up its military campaign. Increased air strikes and use of internationally proscribed tank shell ammunition has led to a drastic increase in civilian deaths and injuries in hopes of eroding support for Hamas in Gaza. Combined with dangerous shortages of food, water and basic supplies, the coastal region has fallen into catastrophe. Israel and the United States refuse to acknowledge the growing chorus of international condemnation. Appeals from Ramallah lack the popular mobilization needed to effectively advocate an end to the Israeli siege. Regardless of the future of the Gaza Marine Field, Gazans can be sure they will be denied any relief it might once have afforded them.

Putting it all together, the Palestinians flooding into Egypt accomplishes at least two things:

1. It reduces the Palestinian population in Gaza, thereby reducing support for Hamas.

2. It transfers the burden of caring for destitute Palestinians, whose lives and economy have been shattered by years of Israeli abuse, onto Egypt, it’s rival in the BG deal.

What will happen over the next days? Let’s say some Palestinian family member had to leave his family behind and travel to Egypt to get supplies and medicine. Will he be allowed to return? Is that family now broken? Does another family who leaves together bother to return to Gaza? Do they try and make a new life in Egypt, where at least they have a chance of surviving? Of course people must be facing and making these decisions by the thousands, not knowing how the situation will play out. Egypt is now successfully embroiled in resolving the Palestinian “problem”. Egypt’s and Israel’s relationship will now be under more strain, furthering tensions in the Middle East.

Again, it comes back to oil. Who has it, and who controls it. We know that the United States has guaranteed Israel’s oil since 1975 via a Memorandum of Understanding. Click through that link to read some fascinating stuff.

But just to be safe, Israel is also going to test out the electric cars. Love the lede:

Israel, tiny and bereft of oil, has decided to embrace the electric car.

Poor Israel, tiny and bereft, and ready to embrace clean energy. That is classic. A Valentine from the NY Times. XOXO. Just don’t pay any attention to what all else they’re doing in the meanwhile.