The prison of Gaza

“NOT A SOUL went in or out.... “ That was how Grandpa Joe described Willy Wonka’s establishment to his grandson Charlie in one of my favorite childhood books, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Who would have thought those words would come to represent how I feel about my father’s homeland, Gaza.

It’s true that some people, such as Israeli soldiers, can go in and out whenever they want. But people like me -- I’m Palestinian American -- are denied entry on a regular basis.

Last year, for instance, on a trip from my home in California to visit family in Gaza and Amman, I waited seven hours at the Jordanian border to cross into the West Bank, only to have an Israeli border policeman shriek, “Go back to Jordan!” I called the U.S. embassies in Tel Aviv and in Amman for help. Embassy officials told me to get a lawyer and then told me they were not in a position to tell the Israelis who they should let in. But if I couldn’t get past Israeli border control, I couldn’t get into Gaza.

My Israeli attorney made inquiries that resulted in a terse response from the Israeli Interior Ministry: She’s involved with a charity that we have suspicions about. No detailed accusations, no charges, no opportunity to address the concerns, no recourse offered. At least I got an “explanation.” Many of my friends and relatives have been denied entry into Israel, the West Bank and Gaza without ever knowing why.

On the other side of the “great iron gates” sits my cousin Jamila, who lives in Gaza City.

For the last six months she has been unable to get to Jerusalem for medical care, for a job interview, for meetings related to her work at Gaza University. She sits at the checkpoint at Erez -- Israel controls all the borders of Gaza, even the one with Egypt -- and waits for hours, often with her young child, only to be refused permission to enter Israel. Is there ever an explanation? No. Does she have any opportunity for redress other than a prolonged appeal system that goes nowhere? No. Has she engaged in any criminal or other acts that threaten the security of Israel? No, and for that matter, neither have I.

She has been hoping to get a visa from the U.S. so she could attend her sister’s wedding in California. To get the visa, she has to go to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. But if she can’t get permission to enter Israel, she can’t get the visa.

Pessimistic about her chances, my cousin is resigned to the idea of watching videotaped highlights of the wedding on her computer.

After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, my cousin, as most Palestinians, expects her homeland to function as a huge open-air prison. Israel will still control all of Gaza’s borders and every Palestinian’s freedom of movement -- via permits, guards and perimeter fencing. That means Palestinian workers will not be able to seek jobs in Israel, military incursions and air strikes can continue at will, and Jamila still won’t make it to her sister’s wedding.

Israel justifies its continuing control of the borders as necessary to eliminate threats, but the severity of the restrictions punishes all Palestinians, most of whom are not a threat.

Rather than being a “first step” toward getting peace negotiations back on track, the Gaza withdrawal is simply the first phase of Israel’s unilateral implementation of its designs on the region. “Gaza first!” was the old rallying cry during the Oslo peace process -- but now the slogan is more like “Gaza first ... and Gaza last.”

After all, the wall Israel is finishing around Jerusalem cuts off Palestinian owners from their land and makes laughable the notion of that city as a “shared” capital of two states. Further, Israeli settlements are expanding with impunity in the West Bank. And no one even talks about the refugees and redress, either in terms of financial compensation (such as the $300,000 to be given to each family of Israeli settlers displaced from Gaza) or land restitution.

And in Gaza? Palestinians will remain cut off from the world and the West Bank; they will have to compete with each other for the limited land and the rancid water there, all under the Palestinian Authority, which too often only benefits a few. The future doesn’t look bright.

Gaza is not a substitute for a viable Palestine, and the story of the Gaza withdrawal -- so far -- has no happy ending.

Because the Israelis have decided to act unilaterally, it is incumbent upon them -- and their supporters in the U.S. -- to implement a just settlement. In the meantime, as Jamila wrote in a recent letter, Palestinians have “no choice but to be strong and try to hold on as hard as we can, to a hope that we do not know if it even exists.”