The real Occupation of Gaza

[Benyamin Solomon]

"Hamas is worse than Israel, worse than Sharon."
-Ziad Zaranda, a Gazan whose fiancee was killed by Hamas, on 2005

Even after Israel left all of Gaza four years ago, many people still claim that Gaza is under Israeli "occupation". To them, Hamas is still "resisting" the Israeli "occupation". It seems that Israel can't please these people, if they're going to claim that a territory Israel left is still under Israeli "occupation".
But it is true that Gaza right now is under occupation; Hamas occupation. Gaza is under Islamo-Fascist occupation. Hamas claims that they're fighting to defend their people from what they call Zionist "aggression" and to defend Gaza from "occupation". Yet Hamas is also in the forefront among the claim made by Palestinian terror groups that Israel left Gaza because the Palestinian "reistance" [that is themselves] drove them out. So the Gaza disengagement boosted the morale of Hamas and other rejectionist Palestinian terrorist groups and gave them encouragement to continue the terror war on Israel. Here's a contradiction made by Hamas. If Hamas is fighting to defend their people from "occupation" and from Israeli "aggression", then how did they "drive" Israel out of Gaza? Perhaps that contradiction is another area of discussion.
What really discredits the Hamas claim that they're fighting to defend their people from "Zionist aggression" is that they're far worse to their people than Israel ever was. While Israel allowed daily criticism among the people from Gaza and even allowed the indigenous Palestinians in Gaza to complain about Israeli policy in Israel's Supreme Court, Hamas brutally kills and tortures their political opponents. Under Hamas's Islamo-Fascist occupation, speaking out against the Hamas regime is a big gamble on safety. So at least many of the Gazan residents are too afraid to speak out against the Hamas regime. Yet the media does a lot of reporting on Palestinians who criticize Israeli "occupation".
A few days before Operation Cast Lead, the Al-Hayat reported that Hamas passed an Islamo-Fascist bill. According to the bill, "drinking to making wine will be subjected to 40 lashes… drinking and harassing the public will be punishable by 40 lashes and three months in jail." According to the bill, guess who else would be wipped? It would include those "engaging in games of chance, offending religious beliefs and defaming others' character". According to the bill, "any Palestinian found guilty of raising a weapon against Palestine in favor of the enemy; countering Palestine's interests in a negotiation with a foreign government; and placing Palestine's existence in danger by committing an act of aggression against a foreign country... will be sentenced to death." Yes, some "free" Palestinian state that would be.

Sexist policies of the Islamo-Fascist Hamas occupation
The Islamo-Fascist occupation of Gaza is sexist. It oppresses women. Like the Islamo-Fascist states of Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Islamo-Fascist occupying regime of Hamas also has its own modesty police. The Hamas modesty police is known as "Hamas Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice".
On July 2009, there was a case of a woman who became victimized by Hamas's Islamo-Fascist policies [though imposing an Islamo-Fascist society was what Hamas sought to do even before the 2007 coup]. It got some media coverage [that was so because of the internet]. The women was Asma al-Ghoul. She didn't wear a hijab and was an independent journalist. Her male friends were taken to a police station and were beaten.
She was arrested by Hamas for not wearing a hijab and for allegedly "laughing out loud". When she went home, the terrorist Islamo-Fascist Hamas occupation forces followed her to a nearby friend's home and looked for her laptop to take it away.
This is a case example of the Islamo-Fascist Hamas occupation policies, policies that are far worse than anything Israel ever did in Gaza. If an Israeli soldier was caught doing the same thing, Israel would arrest, prosecute and treat that soldier like a criminal.
Hamas won't even allow women to swim in the oceans in Gaza with bathing suits. So even when they're swimming on the oceans near Gaza's beaches, they have to wear their Islamic attire. The Lebanese New TV reported:
"After all this, it [Hamas] has transformed the [Gaza] Strip into a Muslim emirate. Women are prevented from wearing bathing suits in the beaches of Gaza. Women who want to swim in the Mediterranean sea are forced to wear their Islamic attire, which is imposed throughout the entire strip. Women who choose not to wear it appear to be unwanted exceptions. This Islamizaiton has even reached the manikins displayed in storefront windows. They’re even forced to cover their heads, not to mention the statues that are completely banned."

Human Rights Violations
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and even Palestinian "human rights" groups [none of which are friendly toward Israel and the third of which are basically bash Israel groups] have made reports that condemn Hamas's human rights violations. Yet, despite that, apologists and whitewashers of Hamas dismiss this with the claim that Hamas was democratically-elected. Well, so was Hitler. They totally ignore the illegal coup that gave Hamas full control of every aspect of life in Gaza. Since the illegal coup, Hamas used their power in order to impose more Islamo-Fascist laws, as well as continuing to use Gaza as a terrorist base to attack Israel. Hamas isn't fighting for any Palestinian "right". Hamas seeks the destruction of Israel and, like the rest of the Islamo-Fascist movement, seeks to impose an Islamic caliphate on the whole world.

Why Israel [and the West] Reacted the Way they did about the Hamas election victory
Since winning the parliamentary election in 2006, Hamas wined like little babies that they weren't given a chance to govern. They, their apologists and whitewashers, claimed that the Palestinian people were punished with a "blockade" [this article will discuss the "blockade" libel in more detail] simply for choosing an option that doesn't satisfy Israel and the west. But many times, what gets conveniently omitted is why: Why would Israel and the west [the latter of which is the US and EU] get upset that Hamas won? To those who would say the reason, they'd claim that it's because Hamas doesn't "give in" to Israel and the US. But what does that mean? Those who say it are basically saying that Hamas refuses to be a puppet of the US and Israel, which, according to that deluded analysis, is what Fatah is. But the reason why is because Hamas has a history of terrorism and because of Hamas's rejectionist stance via the Arab-Israeli conflict. So the EU, the US and Israel gave Hamas three preconditions in order for them to have negotiations, an end to sanctions and recognition, which are to recognize Israel's right to exist, denounce terrorism and honor the previous agreements, the last of which is the basic principle of the land for peace based on UN Resolution 242. Hamas said no to the three preconditions, continued with their rocket attacks and continued to promote hatred of Jews in their schools and media.

Rocket Attacks and Israel's humane response
Thanks to the rocket fire of Hamas and other terrorist groups, people in southern Israel [especially in Sderot] have to worry when the next rocket will come. When the siren rings, people have 5 seconds to find a bomb shelter to hide. Daily life is disrupted on a daily basis. Where does Hamas and these other rejectionist groups do it from? CIVILIAN AREAS! That's right. They launch these rockets from civilian areas, that is from schools, houses and hospitals. Even though it is a violation of international law, Hamas and other terror groups find it as a useful tactic because it is a win-win situation. Either Israel won't do defend itself, since it could kill innocent civilians. In that case, Hamas and other terrorist groups can fire rockets without any retaliation. Or if Israel does respond and innocent civilians are accidentally killed, then it could be used as PR against Israel. It certainly got rid of Israel's surprise element, for Israel warns civilians of incoming attacks. And it, in some cases, got Israel to send and risk the lives of its own soldiers instead of bombing the area in order to minimize the risks of Palestinian civilians getting killed. The media swallows up Hamas propaganda. And then the dopes and useful idiots in the west would say,"Oh my god! Israel kills defenseless women and children". And they'll say that Israel acted with "disproportionate force". For 8 years, Israel had to deal with rocket attacks, with an increase of them as a "reward" for Israel's disengagement from Gaza in 2005. Yet when Israel defends herself, we get told that Israel carried out "disproportionate force". It wasn't until 2008 when Israel decided that enough was enough and launched Operation Cast Lead. The goal of it was to stop the rocket attacks and to prevent future rocket attacks. Even then, Israel went out of her way to minimize the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians. Hamas and other terrorist groups hid themselves among civilians. And Israel sent countless telephone calls and flyers to Gaza residents in the areas where the terrorist infrastructure was to get out of the area because the Israelis would bomb it. Here's my question to those who say that Israel carried out disproportionate force: Does Israel have to deal with rocket attacks for seven or eight more years?

The truth about the "Blockade"
On the "blockade", Israel, the US and the EU actually go out of their way to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, while it is Hamas that wants one in order to blame Israel. Hamas withholds the humanitarian aid, shuts down the electricity and bakeries. In fact, the Palestine Press News Agency had a column on Hamas closing the bakeries. The bakers said that they had at least a months worth of supplies. Hamas and other terrorists attack the crossings, where Israel sends in the humanitarian aid. It became life threatening just to send it. And then when israel closes it for a couple of days, then Hamas would claim that it's Israel causing a humanitarian crisis. The media would swallow that claim up. And then we hear the dopes in the west say,"Oh my god, those evil Israelis are causing a humanitarian crisis by closing the crossings. How horrible!" On February 2009, Hamas raided a UN office that had the humanitarian aid for the residents in Gaza and actually stole it. The UN condemned it and responded by suspending the humanitarian aid. Unlike other times, at that moment the media took a break from being propagandists for Hamas and reported on it. And then it was quickly forgotten. And the media went back to being propagandists for Hamas. Hamas even stages a "humanitarian crisis" by turning the power out and sending some men with candles. In that picture, the street lights are on [see that picture in the Stand With US publication "Israel's Military Operations against Hamas"]. Oopsie!

The Islamo-Fascist Hamas Occupation's anti-Christian Policies
Christians in Arab and Muslims countries have been fleeing, thanks to the persecution they suffer and thanks to the growing influence of Islamo-Fascism. That includes the Palestinian Authority and Hamas-controlled Gaza. Christians have been fleeing the West Bank and Gaza since before Israel won them in the 1967 Six Day War. But the growing Islamization of Palestinian society and the Palestinian terror struggle has even encouraged Palestinian Christians to flee. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Islamo-Fascist terrorist groups are in the forefront in promoting this Islamization. Palestinian Christians had to hide their identity just to talk about the persecution they suffer from the fatah-dominated PA and from Islamo-Fascist groups including Hamas in order to not risk their safety.
For the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority [PA] also persecutes Christians. In 1996, Ahmed el-Achwal converted to Christianity. As a result, the Fatah-dominated PA set out to make his life miserable in order to force him back to Islam. The PA police repeatedly arrested and tortured him. And he was killed by Islamo-Fascist terrorists including those from Hamas just for leaving Islam.
The situation in the West Bank is a little better for Christians than in Gaza. But the West Bank is not much better for them. The West Bank is a little more secularized than Gaza. So the Islamo-Fascist influence is not as bad [but still quite bad]. Thanks to the persecution they suffer from the Fatah-dominated PA and thanks to Islamo-Fascist influence, there is still a mass exodus of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank.
Attacks on Palestinians Christians increased since the illegal Hamas coup in 2007. When there are occasional media reports on attacks on Christians, Hamas pretends to condemn them and gives cheap lipservice on behalf of the Christian victims. Arrests of the Islamo-Fascist perpetrators are rare. They only happen for media consumption. It's for show, in order to hide the fact that they do persecute Christians there. When the world forgets about that event, Hamas releases the perpetrators. Never was serious justice actually done against the Islamo-Fascist perpetrators in Hamas-controlled Gaza. In fact, Hamas and their Islamo-Fascist allies actually take part in attacks against Christians in Gaza.
When Gazan Christians complain to the Hamas regime about attacks, Hamas does nothing about it and just ignores it.
One case of an attack on a Palestinian Christian in Gaza that happened after the illegal 2007 Hamas coup was the case of Rami Ayyad, the owner of the only Christian bookstore in Gaza. He was murdered in cold-blood. It got some media reports. Hamas pretended to condemn that murder. But it turned out that a Hamas security official was the ring-leader of Ayyad's murder.
Thanks to Hamas's Islamo-Fascist policies in Gaza, it is even encouraging Christians in Gaza to flee. Attacks on Christians in Gaza are not by some isolated gangs. It is part of an effort by Hamas and other Islamo-Fascist terrorist groups in Gaza to subjugate and persecute them and/or to get them to leave. It is an effort to impose Islamo-Fascist policies down the throats of Gaza's Christian community.

Conclusion
Hamas-controlled Gaza is a perfect description of what we don't want a Palestinian state to be like. Whoever believes that Hamas-controlled Gaza is a "free" Palestinian state is seriously deluded or misinformed. I know that I don't want that kind of freedom. How was Israel's rule an "occupation" and Hamas's more brutal rule isn't? Israel didn't get Gaza from any illegal coup. Gaza was among the territories that Israel won from the 1967 Six Day war, which, like the other wars Israel fought, was a war where Israel was defending herself. The basis of UN Resolution 242 was that Israel would administer the territories until the fate of them would be decided with a peace partner. it should be stated that israel had much more legitimacy to Gaza than its Egyptian predecessor. Egypt won Gaza from its genocidal war of agression against Israel, a war which, according to then-Arab League Secretary General Azzam Pasha was to be "a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades." Egypt was among the invaidng Arab states that invaded Israel ONE DAY after its establishment. It was in that war when Egypt won Gaza. Israel won Gaza from defending itself.
For more than 3,000 years, there always continued to be a Jewish presence in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Since Israel had historical claims to those territories won them in a war of self-defense and got them from predesessors that held them illegally [getting them from the genocidal 1948 invasion of Israel], that meant that Israel had just as much legitimacy to those territories as the Palestinian inhabitants. It also meant that Israel had no choice but to retain those territories, since there were genocidal forces seeking Israel's destruction all over her borders [that is still the case today] and since Israel leaving them would be returning to indefensible borders and would result in them being bases for rejectionist terrorists. In 2005, Israel left all of Gaza in the hope of getting more peace. Israel expelled every Jew in the Strip and forced them back into Israel. It was painful to many settlers, IDF soldiers and to at least much of Israel.Did Israel get more peace? NO! What did Israel get instead? Instead, Gaza turned into a base for Islamo-Fascist and Palestinain rejectionist terrorists. As a result of the disengagement, rocket attacks on Israel increased. Two years later, Hamas won Gaza form an illegal coup. Since that coup, Hamas used their position in power to shove an Islamo-Fascist system down the throats of everyone. Yet despite that, the dopes and useful idiots still live in their own little world and choose to blame Israel. Reports of Hamas brutality and the fact that they took Gaza from an illegal coup is just dismissed by these dopes and useful idiots by the fact that Hamas was democratically-elected. So all you have to do is be democratically-elected, then you can be as brutal as you want and as oppressive as you want. You can fire rockets at innocent women, men, children, babies, fathers and mothers and even do it from civilian areas. You can start a humanitarian crisis in order to blacken the image of the nation that you provoke, just so long as you come in democratically. That might as well be the argument. But do you want to know who else was democratically-elected? Adolf Hitler. So should we have let him go on with his global ambitions and with his genocide on the Jewish people? The answer is obviously no. Yes, Hamas was democratically-elected. But Hamas doesn't behave democratically. Democracy contradicts the principals of Islamo-Fascism. Democracy means freedom for everyone including Homosexuals, those who leave Islam, as well as for non-Muslims and women. Islamo-Fascism opposes all of this. Since Islamo-Fascism is the ideology of Hamas, peace with any non-Muslim power [let alone Israel] contradicts the ideology of Hamas.
The real occupation of Gaza is by Hamas, not by Israel, which just seeks to live in peace and to end the ruthless terror war that was launched on her since before her existence.