With the Spotlight on Lebanon, Gaza Feels Left in Dark

Mohammed Gaoud has the whole scenario figured out.

“If you have the same beggar coming to your door every day, one day you’ll get tired of him. But if a new guy comes, maybe you’ll have some mercy for him. Lebanon is the new beggar,” said Gaoud, 35, a tile-layer. “We’ve begged for mercy for so long that people got tired of it. But Lebanon is new. It’s a novelty.”

Residents of this impoverished strip of land on Israel’s southwestern border have watched in bemusement as the Israeli offensive in Lebanon has dominated world headlines and diplomatic attention.

In the process, many here feel they’ve been left behind.

Israeli tanks pulled out of the Gaza Strip on Friday morning after a two-day incursion into the Maghazi refugee camp that left at least 15 dead. But Israeli troops and Palestinian militiamen continue to trade cross-border rocket and artillery fire.

Conditions in Gaza remain harsh. At least 110 Palestinians, about half of them militants, have died in Israeli attacks since the June 25 raid by three Palestinian militant groups that killed two Israeli soldiers and captured a third.

The Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, has not been returned but, like the residents here, his plight seems to have been overshadowed by that of his two colleagues who were taken by Hezbollah in its raid across the Lebanese border into northern Israel.

Hamas’ military wing, the Izzidin al-Qassam, took part in the raid that led to Shalit’s capture.

Seven Hamas ministers and 24 members of parliament are still being detained in Israel.

The Gaza economy, never strong, is at a standstill because of a U.S.-backed embargo on financial aid designed to pressure Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist, into softening its stance.

Civil servants have been paid in dribs and drabs as some aid money has trickled in, but the garbage collectors stopped working two weeks ago.

There’s little talk of easing the economic sanctions -- with Lebanon holding the world’s attention, Palestinian politicians acknowledge their cause is on the international back burner.

“Others have tried to make us forget the Palestinian cause, but it’s like the embers under the ashes,” said Salem Salama, a Hamas representative in the Palestinian parliament.

Gaza residents say it’s hardly the first time.

“The world doesn’t speak about 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, but everyone stands on their heads over one Israeli soldier,” said Mohammed Aishee, a Gaza City grocery store owner. “Before Lebanon happened, we were the center of attention. But what did it get us? Nothing. And even if they were paying attention, what’s the point? It’s not saving the Lebanese.”

Some fear the lack of world attention presents a more dangerous scenario: the possibility that the Lebanon offensive is a distraction to give Israel a free hand in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

“I think they’ll exploit the situation as a cover for committing atrocities in Gaza,” said Ashraf Ajrami, head of the Israeli Affairs Department in the Palestinian Ministry of Information. He predicted a continuing pattern of two- or three-day incursions, such as the recent sweep through the Maghazi refugee camp.

“They don’t want to look like they’re reoccupying Gaza,” Ajrami said.

Others predict that the true danger to Gaza is down the line, that at some point Israel will be forced by global opinion and diplomatic pressure to end its Lebanese offensive and when that happens, the Israeli army will forcefully turn its attention southward again.

“When Israeli aggression is frustrated in one direction, they tend to vent in the other direction,” said Salama.