Prostituting Iftar For Political Gain

By Ameer Ali –MAY 30, 2018

Dr. Ameer Ali

Iftar, the Muslim tradition of breaking the fast during Ramadhan comes from the Arabic word fatoor meaning breakfast. It is a solemn occasion for the devotees who fast as required by their creator and end the fast also as required by the same. The occasion is concluded by performing the evening obligatory or maghrib prayer. 

It was some time last year that I published a piece in the Colombo Telegraphtitled, “Ostentatious Iftars and Obscene Poverty”. I was critical of holding lavish iftar parties held in Five Star Hotels organised by publicity seeking individuals and institutions, and inviting politicians and diplomats, while constituencies of poverty remains the most obnoxious feature of the Muslim community. One only has to go to the mosques during the fasting month to witness the crowd of beggars gathering there for handouts. The month of Ramadhan is notable for charity and charitable activities.

Iftar is neither a religious ritual nor an elaborate custom but a normal daily feature of fasting. Simplicity is Islam’s requirement in all its religious observations. The Holy Quran warns the Muslims of “those who want to be seen” (chapter 107, verse 6) and Islam is against showiness. Muslims should remember that it was their showiness in practising their religion, which in the past had contributed mostly to Buddhist-Muslim tensions in the country. 

One of the most pleasing traditions of iftar practised for a long time in Sri Lanka is the distribution of kanchi or rice porridge at mosques, which for many poor Muslim families constituted part of their dinner. With a couple of dates, preferably and not compulsorily, that kanchi was almost a lifesaver to the poor. If the iftar party organisers would spend their money in distributing more kanchi even to non-Muslim poor families in this month they would be earning more reward from their creator.  The kanchi will bring communities together. I remember in the 1970s when there was food shortage in the country a number of estate worker families depended entirely on the Ramadhan kanchi for survival during those thirty days.           

Read More

Gota’s Viyathmaga and Government’s standstill

 

American economist and social theorist Thomas Sowell once said, “ The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or men and women, but between talkers and doers “   

2018-05-30

When a powerful minister of the government gets into a panic and issues a press statement criticizing a speech made by an ordinary citizen at a non political event there is some thing bizarre about it. That was exactly what minister Malik Samarawickrama did a few days ago. When we see his statement challenging the economic views expressed by the Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in his capacity as the chairman of Viyathmaga at the recently concluded Annual Convention 2018, invariably the above quote by Thomas Sowell comes to our mind. Minister Samarawickrama represents a government, which has only been talking for more than 3 years whilst miserably failing in delivery. On the other hand Gotabhaya comes with a proven track record of delivering results whenever he was entrusted with responsibility. So here is a clear divide between a ‘talker and a doer’. 

It is no secret that the economy of this country is sliding downhill. During the last three years of the previous government, the average growth rate of the economy was closer to 7%. In 2015 under the new government it dropped to 5%. In 2016 it was down to 4.5%. By 2017 it had further slipped to 3.1%. Though the current government came to power promising 1 million new jobs, the reality is that the 8.4 million jobs that were available in 2014 had come down to 8.2 million by end of 2017. The stock market has lost Rs. 215 billion in market capitalization over the last 3 years. Since January 2015, the rupee has devalued by about 19% and the foreign debts commitments have increased by Rs. 886 billion as result. The unsettled national debt has gone up from Rs. 7,391 billion to 10,400 billion by 2017, a 40% increase in just 3 years. Meanwhile the tax burden had gone up by 60% compared to 2014.

In 2017 the government collected rupees 620 billion more taxes than in 2014. In 2018 government is expected to collect Rs. 1 trillion more taxes than 2014, which will be a 100% increase. Despite these huge tax increases, the benefits to people have not increased. No new roads, no new hospitals, no new schools have come up. Though there was a promise to allocate 6% of GDP for education 3% for health during election times, the real allocations still remains at 1.9% and 1.5% respectively. 
Whilst the economy is struggling, the current government has presented nine different economic policy statements during its first 36 months in office and apparently the tenth is also on the way. Accordingly no one knows which policy document they intend to implement if and when they wake up from the deep slumber they seem to be in currently. 

What Gotabahya had proposed in his speech was that Sri Lanka should look for an economic model on the lines of “ social market economy’ whilst protecting our country’s sovereignty and social values

In a press statement where he has taken great pain to scrutinize the speech delivered by the chairman of Viyathmaga, the minister claims that Gotabhaya had borrowed the idea of a ‘social market economy’ from the UNP’s election manifestos. The minister should consult a doctor as early as possible because he could be suffering from serious hearing problem. On the other hand it could also be his genuine lack of understanding of modern economic theories. Gotabhaya never spoke of a ‘social market economy’ at the Viyathmaga convention. He was referring to an economic model called ‘ the socialist market economy’. This is an economic system and model of economic development employed in China since 1980s. It is a well-established and widely researched economic model that any economist would understand. The term “socialist market economy” was first used during the 14th national congress of the communist party of China in 1992 to describe the new economic reforms. It is not some thing that economic advisors of UNP have invented.

More significantly, the UNP manifesto of 2015 uses the term ‘social’ and not ‘socialist’. There is a big difference in the meanings of these two words.   Currently, China is the second largest economic power in the world, the first exporter and has the highest exchange reserves. For several years, China experienced an average GDP growth of close to 10% per year until 2014, raising per capita GDP almost 49-fold, from 155 current US $ (1978) to 7,590 US $ in 2014, lifting 800 million people out of poverty, an unparalleled achievement. In urban centres in China, poverty has been virtually eliminated. By 2030 China is expected to be the world’s largest economy. There is no harm drawing attention to the proven economic model of China at a forum, which was intended to provoke an intellectual discussion on the need for a clear economic vision and a policy framework for Sri Lanka. Incidentally, the theme of Viyathmaga convention 2018 was ‘An intellectually Inspired Sri Lanka’.
 
What Gotabahya Rajapaksa had proposed in his speech was that Sri Lanka should look for an economic model on the lines of “ social market economy’ whilst protecting our country’s sovereignty and social values. He proposed that one should look at other successful Asian models also and learn from them. Except those countries that got rich exploiting some other countries during colonial times, all other countries that achieved true development in the past have used their own economic models. Dr. Mahathir Mohammad in Malaysia, Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, General Park Chung-Hee of Korea and Deng Xiaoping of China found indigenous economic models to bring prosperity to their respective countries. 

There are some commonalities in the approaches adopted by these countries in developing strong economies. For example, strong emphasis on developing exports markets, investment into high quality infrastructure, foreign relations tide to commerce, emphasis on human capital development, skilled and motivated workforce, less red tape, driving innovation and entrepreneurship and heavy investment into technology transfer are some of these. Despite the adoption of open economic policies almost all these countries have a strong state sector involvement in the respective economies.

 They also provided necessary protections for their local industries while grooming them to be competitive in the global markets.    The economic pundits of the current government may have mentioned some of these concepts in their numerous economic policy write-ups. But none of them is from their original thoughts. The core issue here is the inability of the government to execute any of these plans. That’s why the people are waiting for the first opportunity to see the back of the most incompetent government to rule Sri Lanka since independence. 

As Gotabhaya pointed out in his speech, the objective of Viyathmaga is to mobilize the expertise and knowledge of its members to deliberate, innovate and develop strategies and policies which would influence the top level decision making for the greater good of the society. In that regard our foremost priority at this stage should be the economic development of Sri Lanka and its people. 

We live in a world, which is constantly evolving. Solutions that worked at a particular time may not be that appropriate at a different time. Gotabhaya’s message in his keynote speech was that we should be flexible in our thinking and develop our own people-centric economic model where the ultimate goal should be the sustained prosperity and the well-being of all people living in the country. 
His concluding remarks given below summarize his thinking on economy. 

“The economic growth of a country depends not only on the government policies but also on those who implement those policies. Growth of the economy depends not only on the inflow of capital but also on those who execute and manage those capital investments. An economy does not grow simply based on the theories put forward by economic pundits but is driven by the people who empower it, Finally, if you want to understand the real economy of the country look at the lives of ordinary men and women; the workers who travel daily by bus to work and the farmers who toil in the field” 
That is why Viyathmaga is deliberating a people-centric economic model for the country.    

Ex-Sri Lankan defence secretary calls for brutal big business regime

By Pani Wijesiriwardane -29 May 2018

Former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse’s recent “Economic Vision for 2020–2030” document is a policy blueprint for an authoritarian regime in Sri Lanka.

Addressing the annual conference of the extreme-right Viyath Maga (Professionals for Better Nation) this month, Rajapakse called for a complete overhaul of the economy in order to exploit “windows of opportunity” for international investment. The essence of his speech was that “economic development” requires vicious law and order measures.

The Viyath Maga conference was attended by 2,000 invitees at the ultra-expensive Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo on May 13. Participants included former president Mahinda Rajapakse, retired military leaders, business chiefs, highly-paid professionals, some Buddhist clergy and Sinhala extremists.
Gotabhaya Rajapakse is the president of Viyath Maga, established in 2016. The ex-army officer, notorious for his hatred for Tamils and working people, has declared he is prepared to run for president in the next election. He has expressed his admiration for figures such as Donald Trump, the fascistic billionaire US president, and other “non-traditional” political leaders.

Gotabhaya was appointed defence secretary in 2005 by his older brother, then President Mahinda Rajapakse, in preparation for a resumption of the Colombo regime’s war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He was a leading figure in the president’s cabal that ran the country autocratically, using police-state methods, until his ouster in the January 2015 presidential election.

Significantly, Gotabhaya Rajapakse’s “Economic Vision” and Viyath Maga’s right-wing campaign have intensified in line with the deepening political crisis of the current government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Last week, LMD, a business magazine, gave voice to the mounting concerns of the corporate elite. According to its survey, the business confidence index dropped to a 70-month low in April. “Political uncertainty and disappointing GDP growth numbers seem to be taking a toll on sentiment,” it wrote. The economic growth rate last year was 3.1 percent, the lowest in 16 years.

Seeking to exploit this frustration, Rajapakse told Viyath Maga’s big business audience that China’s economy would double and surpass the US by 2030 and India would become the world’s third largest economy, with Japan and Indonesia in fourth and fifth places respectively.

“Sri Lanka’s economic policies must be changed without delay” in order to focus on Asia and take advantage of Asian growth, Rajapakse said. Any delay would “increase country’s economic problems.”

Sri Lankan state-owned enterprises, he continued, must generate profits and not create “financial problems for the government.” The country’s economy had to be transformed into a skilled-labour intensive one in order to reduce the government’s wage bill. Free trade zones had to be established across the country, near ports and with proper management, and the “rule of law” strictly applied, with “national defence” a priority.

Rajapakse said nothing about the escalating social problems of workers and the poor. Instead, he ended his speech by calling for a “Sri Lanka first campaign.” In other words, he issued a patriotic appeal for more sacrifice by the working class and harsher austerity measures to boost profits.
Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama responded by declaring that Rajapakse’s “vision” was the same as the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government’s policies.

While Colombo is slashing expenditure on education, health and subsidies and privatising state-owned ventures, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the business elite are becoming increasingly impatient with the current government. Concerns are being raised about whether it is capable of dealing with the mounting opposition to the austerity agenda by workers, the rural poor and students.

Rajapakse’s “vision” and his speech constitute an appeal to finance capital and the corporate elite that he will do everything to intensify the cost-cutting measures and crush all resistance.

The prospective presidential candidate told the Daily Mirror last April: “First of all, political stability and investor confidence should be established under a powerful leadership.” He added: “When an investor comes here, he should see a stable government.” In a crude self-promotion, he told Ceylon Today in March, that the president should be “an individual who loves this country and who could protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unitary status of it.”

Sections of the ruling elite are seriously considering whether his ruthless reputation and involvement, along with senior military chiefs, in war crimes and other human rights violations, are necessary “qualities” for stable government—i.e., to crush working class opposition to Colombo’s social attacks.

Together with the commanders of security forces he directed the massive military onslaught in the north and east against the LTTE, expelling thousands of Tamils from their homes and into refugee camps when the civil war resumed in July 2006.

The bloody conflict ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the LTTE and the annihilation of its principal leaders, including those who had surrendered, and the killing of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Simultaneously in the south of the country, Rajapakse led military-police crackdowns against political opponents, workers and the poor.

Rajapakse was also permanent secretary of the urban development and land reclamation ministry. His main job was to eliminate 60,000 slum dwellings in Colombo and brutally evict thousands of poor families to transform the city into a financial and commercial hub and tourist hotspot.

In June 2011, protesting Katunayake Free Trade Zone workers were attacked by police, who killed one person and injured dozens of others. The following year, special task force police officers killed a fisherman and injured others demonstrating in Chilaw against fuel price hikes.

During a military operation in August 2013 to crush a massive protest of people against environmental pollution at Weliweriya, in the suburbs of Colombo, three young men were shot dead.
Rajapakse, who is promoted in the media as the “war-winning defence secretary,” also intervened to stop the exposure of military war crimes, illegal police activities and those responsible for communalist violence.

Among Rajapakse’s enthusiastic supporters are leading Buddhist monks, serving and retired military officers and Sinhala extremists. For years, Gotabhaya and Mahinda Rajapakse have encouraged and nurtured the fascistic Bodu Bala Sena and similar outfits.

Discussions are underway in the parliamentary opposition about its next presidential candidate.

Under Sri Lanka’s constitution, Mahinda Rajapakse cannot contest the presidency for a third time. A faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the newly-formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which he leads, have yet to decide their next candidate.

Although Gotabhaya Rajapakse is not a member of the SLPP, he is trumpeting his ambition to become president and has declared he would renounce his US citizenship to do so. In the meantime, he is attempting to build up his extreme-right base in preparation for the establishment of an even more brutal regime.

A look at Venezuela: Lessons to be learnt

Youngsters scavenge for food in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. It is not guns and missiles that has destroyed Venezuela but debt. If the country with the largest oil reserves can be brought

to this state, what about us?



 Tuesday, 29 May 2018

Venezuela, the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. Once a country looked up to by South Americans, Venezuela now stands a country devastated. It is not guns and missiles that has destroyed Venezuela but debt.

Over 600,000 Venezuelans have fled to Colombia as refugees due to food shortages in the same country where Hugo Chavez’s government is estimated to have built over one million homes for the poor. With debt levels soaring to unpayable levels accompanied with a dip in crude oil prices and failing oil production, Venezuela has become a nightmare country to live in with GDP contracting by double digits for three consecutive years and many people simply living life dependent on government provided food supplies.


Economic situation in Venezuela

Oil accounts for 95% of export revenue earnings and with high oil prices, the former popular leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez was able to give generous welfare programmes to the poor, which made him very popular and the country to be seen as an example to follow.

The drop in oil prices over the last few years led to a cut down on these programmes by Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, causing a drop in support for the PSUV (the United Socialist Party of Venezuela). Maduro does not have the charisma of Chavez adding to the problem of declining popularity for the PSUV.

Venezuela has been having hyperinflation since 2014. Inflation was at 50% in 2014 and reached 536% in 2017. The International Monetary Fund estimates inflation to go above 2000% in 2018 causing the Venezuelan currency to be worthless. Recently shopkeepers in Venezuela have started weighing money instead of counting currency notes. That is how worthless money has become. This has wiped out savings of people who saved money in the local currency.

Maduro has introduced a new digital currency which he claims is backed by oil, gas, gold and diamonds to overcome US sanctions but Donald Trump has signed an executive order preventing US financial institutions from using the new currency calling it a scam, thus further complicating Venezuela’s currency problem.

Maduro is also accused of hoarding money and diverting it to his supporters who have access to foreign currency at better rates which they use to buy and sell for much higher making a huge profit. Maduro’s government has allowed corruption among the leading government officials and military to keep them happy. Venezuela ranks 11th in the world for corruption.

Even though the government controls the prices of food, the black market has a massive influence on the prices and prices can change within a day. Maduro has accused anti-government businessmen of speculation which has reduced the value of the currency in the black market. The health sector has been hit hard with essential medicines in short supply and out of reach from the ordinary citizens.

Crime is at an all-time high. Even MNCs like Pepsi are having problems in their factories in Venezuela. The problem is so bad that neighbouring country, Brazil had to declare a state of emergency after a flood of desperate refugees from Venezuela.



Political divide in Venezuela

Venezuela is divided into Chavistas (followers of Hugo Chavez’s socialist party, PSUV) and the opposition which is pro business and supported by Washington. Chavistas backing President Maduro say the PSUV has reduced inequality and lifted many Venezuelans out of poverty and accuses the opposition of being elitist. The opposition meanwhile accuses the PSUV of mismanagement of the economy since the PSUV took power in 1999 while the Chavistas accuse the elitist opposition of trying to get back into power to exploit the poor.

Maduro has tight control of Venezuela with a very powerful intelligence service which monitors people carefully and which is overseen and guided by the Cuban intelligence service. With no media freedom, the state media has a free run in shaping opinion in the country. Maduro knows that he will be arrested if he loses power so this has led him to dig his heels and stay in for the long run.

As the refugees fleeing Venezuela are mostly anti-Maduro supporters, this has further weakened the opposition which has called for a boycott of the just concluded elections in Venezuela which Maduro has won. An election which Venezuelans have called so rigged that even Jesus would have lost to Maduro.



How did the tide turn in Venezuela?

What happened to Venezuela is what is happening to many third world countries. Regimes lose sight of the long term in return for the short term gains of reinforcing their power base. An example is Zimbabwe where large successful farms were run by white farmers.

Former President Mugabe forcefully took farms from white farmers and gave it to inexperienced people who were mostly cronies of the regime. These people had little knowledge on how to run a farm resulting in a collapse of the Zimbabwean farm output which led to the Zimbabwean currency crashing. Very similar to Venezuela.

About 18,000 workers, which is about 40% of the workers in the oil sector in Venezuela were removed by Hugo Chavez in 2003 after they held a strike against the government. These 18,000 experienced workers were replaced by supporters of Chavez. These supporters had little experience in the oil sector, therefore naturally the oil output of Venezuela fell.

Venezuela was fully dependent on oil and so was Chavez to fund his social programmes. Chavez was cutting the branch on which he was sitting. When production fell, it was not enough to sustain Venezuela’s needs, even when oil prices were high. So the government started to print money. But after 2015 when oil prices went down drastically, the Venezuelan government printed more and more resulting in hyperinflation and devastation.



China’s hunger for consumption

China may have good intentions to trade well with other countries but its rapidly expanding middle class is pushing China into a position where it has prioritised trade with commodity rich countries. Half of China’s population is middle class and is set to increase even more in the coming years meaning a higher demand for consumption. Therefore, China has a thirst for commodities.

China trades value added manufactured goods in return for commodities such as oil. China’s thirst for oil has led it to lend heavily to Venezuela and to prop up a dictator who is taking his country to destruction.



Foreign debt

Venezuela has been borrowing money from Russia and China heavily. China is Venezuela’s biggest creditor. Venezuela has been borrowing from China under a loan for oil scheme where China would lend money and Venezuela would pay back in oil.

Over the past decade, China has lent Venezuela around $62 billion. Venezuela has paid it back in oil which in 2017 was 330,000 barrels of oil a day. 330,000 barrels of oil a day were being shipped to China for almost no revenue, just to pay for the loans. China directly owns $23 billion of Venezuelan debt. $55 billion of Chinese money has gone into the oil sector, giving China total control over the only product on which Venezuela depends.

Venezuela has been defaulting on its debt payments since last September but a bond payment of $9 billion is due this year making the crisis worse. A default on the payment can be a disaster as the debt holders can target oil shipments. The situation is worse as Venezuela is under American sanctions making it harder for them to borrow money elsewhere. This makes Maduro even more reliant on Russia and China.

The United States and the European Union have put sanctions and tried to get Maduro to leave power but the financial pressure has been made ineffective without the support of China. Canada and other South American countries have formed a group called the Lima Group to pressurize the Maduro regime, but their efforts need China’s support.

With Venezuela heavily dependent on China due to Western sanctions, China is accused of signing one sided agreements with Venezuela capitalising on the desperate situation of the Venezuelan government. China has agreed to be lenient on its loans but has refused to lend any more money. This puts Venezuela desperate for money. With $55 billion of Chinese money in Venezuela’s oil sector, China could take over the Venezuelan oil sector as payments.



Results

The result of the mismanagement and short-sighted governance of both Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro has brought economic disaster. Today, Venezuela has a worthless currency. Shortage of food and medical supplies with many getting meals through government handouts. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing the country as economic refugees. A huge national debt which has to be repaid to China and their only revenue earning sector, the oil industry, possibly being taken over by a foreign country.

Venezuela put all its eggs in one basket. They depended heavily on oil which brought them 95% of export revenues. This made them rich when oil prices were good and they never thought of diversifying as life was good just like Saudi Arabia, although the Saudis have started to plan diversification. Also when a country is fully dependent on a commodity for its national survival, they tend to become totally dependent on their buyer. China, being a heavy buyer of Venezuelan oil, became the dominant partner.

The scale of submission to foreign creditors and the military is shown in the fact that even when millions are going through food and medical shortages, Venezuela is still the largest military spender in South America and the 21st largest spender in the world.

Venezuela continues to buy weapons from Russia and China as Maduro spends parts of the loans taken from those countries to buy weapons from those very countries. This is how strong their grip on Venezuela has become. Also to stay in power, Maduro needs to please his military as well so military expenditure is prioritized at the expense of the needs of his people.

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. A country that should be very wealthy but due to short sighted policies and excessive borrowing using the only industry on which it depended, has brought it economic collapse.

A lot of lessons can be learnt from Venezuela by many third world countries including Sri Lanka. If short-term interests are given importance at the expense of long-term benefits, this is the result. If the country with the largest oil reserves can be brought to this state, what about us?

Gazans Are Protesting Their Economy, Not Israel’s Existence

The most important motive for the “Great March of Return” has been anger at Gaza's terrible conditions for daily life.

A Palestinian boy holding his national flag looks at clashes with Israeli security forces near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel east of Gaza City on May 14, as Palestinians protest over the inauguration of the US embassy following its controversial move to Jerusalem. (Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)

BY OMAR SHABAN-

 MAY 29, 2018, 1:49 PM

In recent months, tens of thousands of Palestinians have marched toward the Gaza-Israel border in what has become known as the “Great March of Return.” On May 14 alone, more than 60 people were killed and over 2,700 were injured by Israeli bullets and tear gas. While the ongoing mass protest succeeded in bringing Gaza’s humanitarian crisis to the world’s attention, it also reminded the Arab nations, the European Union, the United States, and Israel that Gaza may have been perceived as a stable conflict, but is in fact far from stable. The call by some activists to march to the Gaza border with Israel was seen by Hamas and other Palestinian factions as a golden opportunity to exit from the numerous crises facing them and to shift the people’s anger toward the Israeli occupation.

The most important motive for the marches was anger at the terrible conditions in which Gazans live. Gaza has been besieged by Israel for more than 11 years, and its people are suffering from a shortage of electricity, lack of water, and the inability to travel. They are also victims of the political failures of both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas; the PA-led peace process and the armed resistance spearheaded by Hamas have done nothing to improve the lives of Gaza’s residents, 65 percent of whom are under 30 and have never been outside of Gaza. A United Nations report that was published in 2012 projected that Gaza will not be livable by 2020.

The tiny Gaza Strip continues to receive global media coverage far out of proportion to its size.
This isn’t due to its wealth or natural resources. It’s because of its location and complex governance. Gaza sits on Israel’s frontier, borders the Sinai Peninsula where jihadis have been battling the Egyptian Army, and is nominally part of the Palestinian Authority while being governed by Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the EU.

After Hamas’s election victory in 2006, bloody clashes erupted between Hamas forces and the PA, which ended in June 2007 with Hamas taking over Gaza by force, confining the PA to the West Bank. Despite its defeat, the PA has continued to pay its 50,000 Gaza-based employees to mostly sit at home so that they do not work under Hamas authority. The PA is also paying the bill for Gaza’s electricity supply (that is bought from Israel) as well as $100 monthly allowances to some 100,000 so-called hardship cases, primarily the very poor, the handicapped, and vulnerable women.

Not long after Hamas took over Gaza in June 2007, the Israeli government branded Gaza a “hostile entity.” Israel put heavy restrictions on the flow of goods into and out of Gaza. Hamas responded by digging dozens of tunnels underneath the border with Egypt. The tunnels trade has become the main lifeline for Gaza’s population; it also became the main source of revenue for the Hamas-led government. It is estimated that Hamas has collected more than $500 million in taxes from tunnel-based trade. From 2007 until today, Hamas has recruited some 40,000 employees who replaced the PA public servants who continued to receive their PA paychecks while sitting at home.

Gaza’s residents were then subjected to three major wars between Hamas and Israel in 2008, 2012, and 2014. In 2014, 11,000 houses were destroyed, and 6,800 were severely damaged in addition to other major infrastructure. The reconstruction of Gaza became another area of conflict and competition between the PA leaders in Ramallah — who insisted that all foreign donations must come through its channels — and Hamas, which wants to receive its share of reconstruction funding.

Economic crisis has also played a major role in worsening living conditions and public anger. Hamas encountered a severe financial crisis in 2013 when Egypt’s then-President Mohamed Morsi, who sympathized with Hamas, was ousted from power. The new president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, launched a demolition campaign against the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, which affected Hamas’s primary source of revenue. As a result, Hamas was unable to pay the salaries of its 40,000 personnel and other operational costs. Egypt now closes the Rafah border crossing for most of the year despite the fact that it is the only way to exit Gaza for the majority of Gaza’s population. The people are trapped.

Then, in March 2017, the PA in Ramallah started to take financial measures against Gaza with the goal of putting pressure on Hamas. These measures ranged from 30 to 50 percent salary reductions for the Gaza-based PA employees, ceasing to pay the salaries of others, reducing the bill it pays for the electricity supply to Gaza, and delaying monthly welfare payments for hardship cases in Gaza. These measures aimed to decrease the taxes that Hamas collects and increase the people’s anger toward Hamas’s leadership. In short, the PA wanted Gazans to believe that Hamas was the reason for their misery.

After several rounds of talks on reconciliation between Hamas and the PA between 2011 and 2017, the latest agreement, was mediated by Egypt and signed on Oct. 12, 2017. The agreement stipulated that Hamas would give up governance of Gaza completely to the PA and that the latter would pay the salaries of 40,000 Hamas employees. A few months after the agreement was signed, the PA government in Ramallah claimed that Hamas has not handed over the entire Gaza Strip to the PA security forces and that Hamas was continuing to collect taxes, which were agreed upon to be collected by the PA government. Subsequently, the PA government refused to integrate the 40,000 Hamas-hired employees onto its payroll or pay their salaries (which amounted to about $30 million per month.)

The Israeli siege, the Egyptian border closure, and the PA’s financial measures against Gaza have succeeded in isolating Hamas politically and have put the group under severe financial strain. Hamas leaders, meanwhile, contend that they have made remarkable concessions to all stakeholders: to the PA by giving up the governance of Gaza, to Israel by stopping the launching of rockets into southern Israel, and to Egypt by helping Cairo fight Islamist terrorist groups in Sinai, all for nothing in return. The other parties insist that Hamas must give up everything before it can get something in return.
As a result, Gaza’s residents have become hostages to the contradictory policies of various stakeholders.

Hamas seeks to transfer the economic responsibility for the Gaza Strip to the PA while it maintains a military capacity underground. Hamas possesses a significant arsenal within Gaza; it also controls some of the remaining tunnels underneath the border with Sinai. Hamas wants to retain this capacity to protect its position and to use it as a bargaining card with the PA and Israel. This is an imitation of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s approach, whereby the state pays for social services but doesn’t control many of the weapons on its territory. Hezbollah has effectively become a state within a state.

The PA rejects this model and wants Hamas to give up governance, weapons, and control of the border. The PA’s interest is to maintain its influence within the Gaza Strip and over its population, which enables the PA to preserve its claim that it is the legitimate representative of all Palestinian people.

Israel’s position toward Hamas has shifted from an insistence that it is a terrorist organization that must be violently dismantled to the perspective that it is a hostile entity that must be deterred in order to preserve the status quo, while keeping Palestinians politically divided and without bringing about the total collapse of the regime in Gaza.

Finally, Egypt doesn’t recognize Hamas as a legitimate party, but it desperately needs Hamas’s help to secure its border and to provide assistance in its campaigns against the Salafi terrorist groups in the Sinai Peninsula.

Gaza has become a place where none of the influential stakeholders want to invest too deeply, yet refuse to completely disconnect. Meanwhile, the 2 million people living in Gaza continue to suffer.

Shakira abandons plan to play in Tel Aviv

Shakira, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, performs during the opening of a United Nations development conference in 2015.

 Cia PakUN Photo

Ali Abunimah- 29 May 2018

Palestinians are welcoming the news that Shakira won’t be playing in Tel Aviv this summer.

PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, said that Shakira’s decision dashes Israel’s hopes “to use her name to art-wash its latest massacre in Gaza.”

“Artists, especially UN goodwill ambassadors, have a moral duty not to be complicit in covering up human rights violations and apartheid,” PACBI added.

Meanwhile, a number of international artists have announced that they are pulling out of the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival in solidarity with Palestinians.

PACBI

✔@PACBI

We welcome news that Shakira will not be performing in Tel Aviv, dashing Israel’s hopes to use her name to art-wash its latest massacre in Gaza. Artists, especially UN Goodwill Ambassadors, have a moral duty not to be complicit in covering up human rights violations & apartheid.

3:24 AM - May 29, 2018

• 7,714
• 4,656 people are talking about this

Shakira, the Grammy-winning Colombian superstar with Lebanese ancestry, serves as a goodwill ambassadorfor UNICEF, the UN children’s agency that has documented many of Israel’s abuses.

“Hundreds of Palestinian municipalities and cultural organizations, as well as thousands of fans and boycott activists, from Gaza and Lebanon to Colombia and the US, appealed to Shakira to cancel,” PACBI said.View image on Twitter

Quds News Network

✔@QudsNen

Colombian singer Shakira cancels her performance in Tel Aviv after appeals from fans and #BDS activists in the aftermath of the Israeli massacre against peaceful protesters in #Gaza.

5:12 AM - May 29, 2018

• 153
• 130 people are talking about this

Israel supporters had presented Shakira’s planned show as a blow to the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and as a sign of Shakira’s “support for Israel.”

Now, Israeli sources are attempting to downplay her cancellation.

“The media has incorrectly reported that Shakira will be performing in Tel Aviv this summer,” concert promoter Live Nation tweeted on Monday. “While no dates this summer will work, Shakira and Live Nation hope to bring a show to her fans in Israel in the future.”

Read More

Israel bombs Gaza militant sites amid heaviest rocket fire since 2014

Palestinian fighters launch salvos of rockets as Israeli warplanes pound Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets

Smoke rises over buildings in Gaza after an Israeli air strike on 29 May (Reuters)

Tuesday 29 May 2018

Palestinian fighters launched their heaviest barrages against Israel since the 2014 Gaza war on Tuesday and Israeli aircraft struck back, in a surge of fighting after weeks of border violence.

Three Israeli soldiers were wounded by shrapnel, the military said, after dozens of mortar bombs and rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, triggering warning sirens in southern Israel throughout the day. There were no immediate reports of Palestinian casualties.

Israeli jets hit more than 55 targets belonging to armed groups in Gaza, including a cross-border tunnel under construction, the military said. 

BREAKING VIDEO: Israeli forces bomb Hamas terror tunnel in Gaza today. pic.twitter.com/GmG8CsWBMR

— Israel News Feed (@IsraelHatzolah) 29 May 2018

Israel News Feed@IsraelHatzolah

BREAKING VIDEO: Israeli forces bomb Hamas terror tunnel in Gaza today.

9:56 AM - May 29, 2018

• 1,122
• 405 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

In a rare joint statement, Islamic Jihad and the Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said they took "joint responsibility for the striking of military positions and Zionist settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip".

The statement added their fire was a response to Israeli attacks targeting their positions in recent days.

The Israeli intelligence minister, Israel Katz, said the country was "at the closest point to the threshold of war" since the seven-week conflict with Palestinian militants four years ago.

"If the firing does not stop, we will have to escalate our responses and it could lead to a deterioration of the situation," Katz said on Army Radio.

Daoud Shehab, of Islamic Jihad, said Egyptian officials had been in contact with the group to try to restore calm. He said Islamic Jihad did not want the violence to escalate and blamed Israel for the flare-up.

"If Israel abides by calm and ceases all forms of aggression against our people in Gaza, we will also maintain calm," he said.

Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israeli army, said the most extensive strikes from Gaza since the 2014 war also drew "the largest retaliatory attack" from Israel since that conflict.

The Israeli military said more than 70 projectiles were fired on Tuesday. Several were shot down by its Iron Dome rocket interceptor system while others landed in empty lots and farmland.

One exploded in the yard of a kindergarten, damaging its walls and scattering the playground with debris and shrapnel, about an hour before it was scheduled to open for the day.

Violence has soared along the Gaza frontier in recent weeks, during which 116 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at mass demonstrations calling for Palestinians' right to return to ancestral lands now in Israel.

A Hamas spokesman defended Tuesday's attacks as a "natural response to Israeli crimes". An Islamic Jihad spokesman said "the blood of our people is not cheap".

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah faction that is dominant in the occupied West Bank and is a bitter rival of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said Israel had used "vigorous aggression" against Gaza that proved it did not want peace.

The UN Security Council will meet Wednesday to discuss Palestinian rocket strikes on Israel, at the request of the United States which wants the top UN body to strongly condemn the attacks.

"Mortars fired by Palestinian militants hit civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten," US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement.

"The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, and the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for what they're allowing to happen in Gaza."

Powerful explosions 

Plumes of smoke and dust rose from the sites hit in the Israeli air strikes. The powerful explosions shook buildings nearby, causing panic among rush-hour crowds on streets and in markets. The Gazan ministry of education said shrapnel from one missile flew into a school.

Nickolay Mladenov, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he was deeply concerned by "the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards communities in southern Israel".

Amid international condemnation of its use of lethal force at the mass demonstrations that began on 30 March, Israel said many of the dead were militants and that the army was repelling attacks on the border fence.

Palestinians and their supporters say most of the protesters were unarmed civilians and Israel was using excessive force against them.

Read more ►

'Give us safe passage': Palestinian boats try to break Gaza siege

Off Gaza's coast on Tuesday, the Israeli navy intercepted a boat that organisers of the Palestinian border protests launched from the enclave in a challenge to an Israeli maritime blockade.

The military said the vessel was stopped without much incident and would be towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod where the 17 people on board would be questioned and then returned to the Gaza Strip.

More than two million Palestinians are packed into the narrow coastal enclave. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but, citing security concerns, maintains tight control of its land and sea borders, which has reduced its economy to a state of collapse.

Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza on its border.