Over half the population of the Gaza Strip has left for Egypt in the past three days, a stark illustration of the extent of the deprivation imposed on them by the Israeli government and the "international community". When Palestinians smashed through the wall separating Gaza from Egypt earlier this week, liberating themselves from Israel's brutal siege, the reactions around the world were quite interesting. Far from expressing joy and exhilaration at the sight of hundreds of thousands of starved Palestinians flooding out of the Gaza prison camp, enjoying what for many of them was the first taste of freedom in their lives, one could instead sense a tangible whiff of fear and even panic underlying much commentary on the breakout.

After being subjected to almost two years of relentless economic siege and vicious military assault, the 1.5 million residents of Gaza are on the brink of collapse. Israel is apparently determined to push them over the edge.

This being a brief round-up of several recent developments in the Middle East.

Firstly, a respected Israeli NGO published a report into the state's treatment of its Palestinian citizens during last year's Lebanon war. Readers will recall that, back in the summer of 2006, while Israel was busy destroying southern Lebanon killing close to 1,200 Lebanese civilians in the process, one of the main arguments used by its apologists to justify the atrocities was that the civilian deaths were the fault of Hizbullah, not the IDF, because the militia deliberately hid its fighters among the civilian population.

It's that time of year again: B'Tselem, the Israeli information centre for human rights in the Occupied Territories, has released its annual report summarising the developments of the past 12 months. As usual, it makes for grim reading.

Okay, so yesterday was Christmas and much merriment was had by all. Except, as the media were determined to remind us, by Palestinian Christians suffering persecution by Muslim extremists. While the persecution certainly exists, it is plainly a sideshow to the Israeli occupation, which not only persecutes but kills Palestinians of all religious persuasions. It's perfectly egalitarian in that sense: men, women, children, Muslims, Christians - no Palestinian is safe. But that story doesn't fit with the "evil Muslims taking away Christmas" or the "war on terra" memes, and has therefore been marginalised.

Suppose I were to argue that, given Israel's numerous and gross war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the international community should impose sanctions on Israel of such severity that 80% of the Israeli population would be reduced to reliance upon UN food aid for mere survival, and over 65% of Israeli households would be forced to live in 'deep poverty' (i.e. on less than $474 per month). The blockade would be so tight that only 41% of Israel's food import needs would be met, and supplies of 91 out of 416 essential drugs and about a third of essential medical supplies (including most children's antibiotics) would run out.

Hugo Chavez' defeat in the recent Venezuelan referendum on a package of 69 proposed reforms to the constitution was probably a healthy development for the revolution, although that will largely depend upon how the government deals with it.

The problem with the Annapolis 'peace conference' was that a) it had nothing to do with peace, and b) it was barely even a conference.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) last week published a report (.pdf) examining the humanitarian impact of Israel's "security fence" on 67 Palestinian communities in the northern West Bank, representing a combined population of nearly 220,000 Palestinians. 15 of the communities surveyed, with a total population of 10,000, are located west of the wall, confined in a "closed area" between the barrier and the Green Line.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yesterday published its latest report  (.pdf) into Iran's nuclear activities. Interestingly, the U.S. has claimed that the report confirms what it has been saying all along - that it "makes clear that Iran seems uninterested in working with the rest of the world" - and is using it to justify a renewed push for further sanctions. Meanwhile, Israel has denounced the same report for "fail[ing] to expose Ahmadinejad's intentions". It seems the warmongers can't get their story straight.

As discussed in a recent post, the key to understanding the current "peace push" is to ignore all the bullshit - which in this case refers to most if not all of the words spoken by Olmert, Rice and co. - and focus instead on the facts. Forget about the rhetoric - more important is what Israel is actually doing on the ground.

It seems the propaganda and fear-mongering is working. According to a Zogby poll published yesterday,

"A majority of likely voters - 52% - would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53% believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election, a new Zogby America telephone poll shows." [my emph.]

No, not like that! +shudder+ Those who have followed the lengthy and public battle between Norman Finkelstein and Alan Dershowitz will recall that a central allegation of Finkelstein's was that Dershowitz attempted to suppress publication of his book, Beyond Chutzpah, by sending threatening letters to its publisher. Dershowitz emphatically denied this ("I have no interest in censoring or suppressing Finkelstein’s freedom of expression"), but refused to release the letters in question to prove it.

Now we know why.

Life for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is now so miserable that it has become quite difficult not to be seduced by the theatre of the latest 'peace push', such is the desire to see an end to the conflict. When Condoleeza Rice expresses her sincere ambition to create an independent Palestinian state, and when Ehud Olmert hints about a willingness to divide Jerusalem, it is extremely tempting to simply forget about the facts on the ground and dare to hope that perhaps, this time, they're for real.

As Ehud Olmert busied himself shaking hands with Abbas and correcting uninformed journalists from calling the Annapolis summit a "peace conference", the IDF yesterday ordered the expropriation of over 1,100 dunams of land from four Palestinian villages (Abu Dis, Arab al-Sawahra, Nebi Musa and Talhin Alhamar) in the West Bank, between East Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim. The land will be used for a new Palestinian road connecting East Jerusalem with Jericho, thereby freeing up the so-called E-1 area for Israeli development.

Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco. He has written extensively on a range of foreign policy issues, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, non-violent struggle and nuclear proliferation. He is the author of 2003's acclaimed Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism, is a regular contributor to Tikkun magazine and the Common Dreams website, among other places.

I asked Dr. Zunes a few questions about the current 'Iran crisis', the situation in Iraq and the Israel/Palestine conflict. The second part of the interview, dealing with Iraq, is published below. The third and final part will be published shortly.

The reaction to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent visit to the United States revealed some uncomfortable truths about the servility of the "free press" to the interests of power.

I asked Dr. Stephen Zunes a few questions about the current 'Iran crisis', the situation in Iraq and the Israel/Palestine conflict. The first part of the interview, dealing with Iran, is published below. The remaining two parts will be published shortly.