THE WAR OF WEAPONS VS PROPAGANDA

CARTOON OF THE DAY

Msafara wa Urusi waelekea Kusini Ukraine

 14 Agosti, 2014

Msafara wa Urusi waelekea Kusini mwa Ukraine

Msafara wa lori zaidi ya 1000 unaobeba msaada kutoka Urusi kuelekea Mashariki mwa Ukraine sasa umebeta na kuelekea kwenye mpaka na Ukraine.

Msafara huo unaonekana kuelekea mji wa wa Rostov mji ulioko upande wa Urusi karibu na maeneo yanayodhibitiwa na waasi Mashariki mwa Ukraine.
Urusi imepinga vikali dhana kuwa msafara huo wa misaada unatumika na taifa hilo kutuma shehena ya zana za kivita kwa waasi wanaounga mkono kujitenga na Ukraine na kujiunga na Urusi.
Ukraine inasisitiza kuwa inataka wachunguzi wa kimataifa wapekue shehena hiyo kabla haijaruhusiwa kuingia ndani ya nchi hiyo.
Wakati huohuo UN imesema kuwa idadi ya vifo imeongezeka katika mapigano ya hivi punde mashariki mwa Ukraine.

Msafara wa Urusi waelekea Kusini mwa Ukraine

Kufikia sasa takwimu za Umoja wa Mataifa zinasema kuwa zaidi ya watu 2,086 ameuawa tangu mapigano hayo yaanze mwezi April.
Asilimia 50% ya vifo hivyo vimetokea katika majuma mawili yaliyopita.
Mwanahabari wa BBC anayeandamana msafara huo wa Urusi Steve Rosenberg, amesema kuwa zaidi ya lori 100 zimeondoka kuelekea kusini mwa Ukraine kabla ya alfajiri.
Haijabainika kufikia sasa iwapo magari zaidi yangeelekea mjini Kharkiv.

READ THIS SLOWLY:THE GREEN BOOK by MUAMMAR GADAF

PART ONE - 
THE INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT.
The instrument of government is the prime political problem confronting human
communities (The problem of the instrument of government entails questions of the
following kind. What form should the exercise of authority assume? How ought societies
to organize themselves politically in the modern world?)
Even conflict within the family is often the result of the failure to resolve this problem of
authority. It has clearly become more serious with the emergence of modern societies.
People today face this persistent question in new and pressing ways. Communities are
exposed to the risks of uncertainty, and suffer the grave consequences of wrong answers.
Yet none has succeeded in answering it conclusively and democratically. THE GREEN
BOOK presents the ultimate solution to the problem of the proper instrument of
government.
All political systems in the world today are a product of the struggle for power between
alternative instruments of government. This struggle may be peaceful or armed, as is
evidenced among classes, sects, tribes, parties or individuals. The outcome is always the
victory of a particular governing structure - be it that of an individual, group, party or class
- and the defeat of the people; the defeat of genuine democracy.
Political struggle that results in the victory of a candidate with, for example, 51 per cent of
the votes leads to a dictatorial governing body in the guise of a false democracy, since 49
per cent of the electorate is ruled by an instrument of government they did not vote for,
but which has been imposed upon them. Such is dictatorship. Besides, this political
conflict may produce a governing body that represents only a minority. For when votes
are distributed among several candidates, though one polls more than any other, the sum
of the votes received by those who received fewer votes might well constitute an
overwhelming majority. However, the candidate with fewer votes wins and his success is
regarded as legitimate and democratic! In actual fact, dictatorship is established under the

cover of false democracy. This is the reality of the political systems prevailing in the world
today. They are dictatorial systems and it is evident that they falsify genuine democracy.

PARLIAMENTS
Parliaments are the backbone of that conventional democracy prevailing in the world
today. Parliament is a misrepresentation of the people, and parliamentary systems are a
false solution to the problem of democracy. A parliament is originally founded to represent
the people, but this in itself is undemocratic as democracy means the authority of the
people and not an authority acting on their behalf. The mere existence of a parliament
means the absence of the people. True democracy exists only through the direct
participation of the people, and not through the activity of their representatives.
Parliaments have been a legal barrier between the people and the exercise of authority,
excluding the masses from meaningful politics and monopolizing sovereignty in their
place. People are left with only a facade of democracy, manifested in long queues to cast
their election ballots.
To lay bare the character of parliaments, one has to examine their origin. They are either
elected from constituencies, a party, or a coalition of parties, or are appointed. But all of
these procedures are undemocratic, for dividing the population into constituencies means
that one member of parliament represents thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions
of people, depending on the size of the population. It also means that a member keeps few
popular organizational links with the electors since he, like other members, is considered
a representative of the whole people. This is what the prevailing traditional democracy
requires. The masses are completely isolated from the representative and he, in turn, is
totally removed from them. Immediately after winning the electors' votes the
representative takes over the people's sovereignty and acts on their behalf. The prevailing
traditional democracy endows the member of parliament with a sacredness and immunity
which are denied to the rest of the people. Parliaments, therefore, have become a means
of plundering and usurping the authority of the people. It has thus become the right of the
people to struggle, through popular revolution, to destroy such instruments - the so-called
parliamentary assemblies which usurp democracy and sovereignty, and which stifle the
will of the people. The masses have the right to proclaim reverberantly the new principle:
no representation in lieu of the people.
If parliament is formed from one party as a result of its winning an election, it becomes a
parliament of the winning party and not of the people. It represents the party and not the
people, and the executive power of the parliament becomes that of the victorious party
and not of the people. The same is true of the parliament of proportional representation in
which each party holds a number of seats proportional to their success in the popular
vote. The members of the parliament represent their respective parties and not the people,
and the power established by such a coalition is the power of the combined parties and
not that of the people. Under such systems, the people are the victims whose votes are
vied for by exploitative competing factions who dupe the people into political circuses that
are outwardly noisy and frantic, but inwardly powerless and irrelevant. Alternatively, the
people are seduced into standing in long, apathetic, silent queues to cast their ballots in
the same way that they throw waste paper into dustbins. This is the traditional democracy
prevalent in the whole world, whether it is represented by a one-party, two-party,
multiparty or non-party system. Thus it is clear that representation is a fraud.
Moreover, since the system of elected parliaments is based on propaganda to win votes, it
is a demagogic system in the real sense of the word. Votes can be bought and falsified.
Poor people are unable to compete in the election campaigns, and the result is that only
the rich get elected. Assemblies constituted by appointment or hereditary succession do
not fall under any form of democracy.

Philosophers, thinkers, and writers advocated the theory of representative parliaments at
a time when peoples were unconsciously herded like sheep by kings, sultans and
conquerors. The ultimate aspiration of the people of those times was to have someone to
represent them before such rulers. When even this aspiration was rejected, people waged
bitter and protracted struggle to attain this goal.
After the successful establishment of the age of the republics and the beginning of the era
of the masses, it is unthinkable that democracy should mean the electing of only a few
representatives to act on behalf of great masses. This is an obsolete structure. Authority
must be in the hands of all of the people.
The most tyrannical dictatorships the world has known have existed under the aegis of
parliaments.

REKODI YA WIZI YAVUNJWA HUKO CHILE

Rekodi ya wizi yavunjwa huko Chile

 13 Agosti, 2014 

wezi hao wakiwa kwenye harakati za kupakua pesa.

Wanaume wanane waliokua wamevalia mavazi maalumu meupe na vikaragosi usoni wakiwa na mitutu mkononi walilizuia gari iliyokua ikisafirisha kiasi kikubwa cha pesa mapema wiki hii kikadiriwa kua ni dola milioni kumi za kimarekani sawa na paundi sita nukta mbili za Uingereza. wizi huo umeelezwa kua ni wa kihistoria katika uhai wa taifa la Chile.

Baada ya kulizuia gari hilo, majambazi hao walianza kupakua pesa kutoka katika gari hiyo ambalo ni mali ya jeshi la Marekani na kuziingiza katika gari ya mizigo eneo la uwanja wa ndege wa kimataifa wa Santiago.

Taarifa zinazohusiana

• Ulaya

Mashuhuda wanasema kuwa pesa hizo zilikua njiani kupakiwa ndegeni na kupelekwa katika Bank za nchi hiyo na katika machimbo ya madini huko Copiapo,kaskazini mwa Chile.mkanda wa video uliopatikana na polisi dakika mbili baada ya tukio unaonesha genge hilo likiwasili ndani ya mavazi meupe na kujitia ni wamoja kati ya wafanyakazi katika gari hilo ingawa kamera za mahali hapo hazikunasa tukio hilo likitekelezwa.
Waziri wa mambo ya ndani wa Chile Mahmud Aleuy amesema kua polisi katika uwanja huo wa ndege walichanganyikiwa baada ya kuzidiwa maarifa na majambazi hao waliokuwa wamejipanga sawasawa kutekeleza tukio hilo na kusema kua polisi walipaswa kuchukua tahadhari ya hali ya juu wakati fedha hizo zikisafirishwa , na kwamba kazi ya usafirishaji wa vifurushi na mizigo zilikua ni za mamlaka ya anga na sio polisi.
Baada ya kufanikiwa kupora kiasi hicho cha pesa! Majambazi hayo yalijigawa katika makundi mawili tofauti na kuondoka kila moja na njia yake na kusambaza misumari nyuma yake na baadaye gari moja ilitelekezwa na kukutwa tupu jirani na eneo la tukio .
Tukio kama hilo liliwahi kutokea mnamo mwaka 2006,wakati majambazi walipopora dola milioni 1.6 zilizokua zikiingia kusafirishwa katika uwanja huo huo wa ndege, na majambazi wa tukio hilo walikamatwa na kuhukumiwa kifungo cha maisha gerezani ,
Waziri wa ulinzi wa Chile Rodrigo Penailillo ameahidi kua jeshi litaisaidia polisi kuwapata majambazi waliohusika katika tukio hilo.

THE WINNER IS......EBOLA 7 vs GOVT 1

Maonyesho ya miale ya kipekee Canada

  Agosti, 2014 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NINI KIFANYIKE KUZUIA EBOLA AFRIKA? EBOLA imetengenezwa ulaya au?

Hatua zaidi kuzuia kusambaa kwa Ebola

 14 Agosti, 2014....

Jitihada zaidi zafanywa kupambana na Ebola

Jitihada zinaendelea kuzuia kusambaa kwa maradhi ya Ebola, Afrika Magharibi.Tangu mwezi Machi kirusi hicho kimeua zaidi ya watu elfu moja, wengi wao kutoka Sierra Leone, Liberia na Guinea.

Nigeria nayo imetangaza kuwepo kwa mtu wa tatu aliyekuwa na ugonjwa huo. Wakati huohuo, Shirika la Afya Dunia limeielezea Kenya kuwa katika hatari kwani kuna uwezekano mkubwa wa kusambaa kwa virusi hivyo kutokana na kuwepo safari nyingi za ndege kutoka nchi hiyo kuelekea Afrika magharibi.

Huko nchini Nigeria ambako tayari Ebola imesababisha vifo vitatu, serikali imewataka watu wote kushirikiana na wataalamu wa afya hasa baada ya kuwapo kwa taarifa ya muuguzi aliyetoroka hosipitalini baada ya kuwekwa chini ya uangalizi wa wataalamu wa afya kufuatia kuhofiwa kuwa ameathirika na Ebola. Muuguzi huyo ameelekea nyumbani kwake huko mashariki mwa Nigeria hali inayowatia hatarini watu wengi.

Hivi sasa kiasi kidogo cha dawa za majaribio kimefika nchini Liberia kuwatibu madaktari wawili. Maabara iliyotoa dawa hiyo huko marekani inasema imeishiwa kabisa dawa hizo.
Siku moja tu baada ya shirika la afya duniani kutoa ruhusa ya kutumiwa dawa hizo Canada nayo imetangaza kuwa itatuma dozi 1000 za chanjo kwenda afrika magharibi ambako wahudumu wa afya ndio watakaopewa dawa hiyo ingawa haijawahi kufanyiwa majaribio.

Huko Sierra Leone daktari bingwa mwingine amefariki kwa ugonjwa wa ebola. Modupeh Cole amekuwa akifanya kazi mjini Freetown na kifo chake kinakuja baada ya mtaalamu pekee wa virusi nchini humo kufariki wiki mbili tu zilizopita.

Teh teh teh....UONGO UNA MWISHO?

UNAIKUMBUKA hiyo ?

Decades of war: ISRAEL AND ITS NEIGHBORS

Israel and its neighbors: Decades of war

updated 10:30 AM ET, Wed, August 13

By Ray Sanchez, CNN

The violence between Israel and Hamas is just the latest flare-up in a region of enduring and deadly conflicts. Wars have erupted several times since the founding of the modern state of Israel in the late 1940s. Here's a look at some of the most serious conflicts involving Israel and its neighbors since then -- conflicts that have spanned more than six decades and claimed countless lives.

Israel's War for Independence

Israeli infantry make a full assault on Egyptian forces during the Arab-Israeli War in 1948.

Keystone/Getty Images

When they fought: November 1947 to January 1949.

Who was fighting: Arab armies invaded what is now Israel.

What happened: In Israel's War for Independence, known as the Arab-Israeli War, Egypt gained control of Gaza.

What was the outcome: Israel fought with Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, which invaded territory in the former Palestinian mandate after the announcement of an independent Israeli state on May 14, 1948. Armistice talks gave Israel 75% of what was Palestine, adding nearly one-third more land to the new state of Israel before the invasion. More than 600,000 Arabs fled Israel to become refugees in neighboring countries.

The Six-Day War

During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israeli soldiers celebrate after taking control of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

AP

When they fought: June 1967

Who was fighting: The Six-Day War lasted from June 5 to June 10, 1967, as Israel struck first at Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

What happened: Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

What was the outcome: Israel tripled its land holdings and gained control of Gaza.

Fighting between Israel and Egypt

Israeli troops fire mortar shells toward Egyptian military positions on the Suez front in 1970.

AFP/Getty Images

When they fought: July 1967 to August 1970

Who was fighting: On July 1, 1967, hostilities escalated near the Suez Canal between Israel and Egypt in what Israel called the War of Attrition.

What happened: Egypt sought to wear down Israel and eventually get Israeli troops to leave the Suez Canal.

What was the outcome: Israel and Egypt agreed to a three-month ceasefire, and negotiations under a United Nations mediator. The fighting stopped in early August 1970.

The Yom Kippur War

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, left, meets with Gen. Ariel Sharon, second from left, during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Sharon, who later became Israeli Prime Minister, said his greatest military success came during that war. He surrounded Egypt's Third Army and, defying orders, led 200 tanks and 5,000 men over the Suez Canal, a turning point.

Ministry of Defense/Getty Images

When they fought: October 1973

Who was fighting: Egypt and Syria launched the Yom Kippur War, which lasted from October 6, 1973, to October 22, 1973, with air strikes against Israeli targets in the Suez Canal and Golan Heights.

What happened: Egypt and Syria were seeking to retake territory lost in 1967. Other Arab countries -- including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco and Jordan -- aided Egypt and Syria with troops, financial assistance and weapons. The Soviet Union airlifted supplies to the Arab combatants, while the United States provided aid to Israel.

What was the outcome: In 1973, the United Nations passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire and talks aimed at peace in the region.

Israel invades southern Lebanon

 

 

PLO terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway near Tel Aviv on March 11, 1978.

AP

When they fought: March 1978

Who was fighting: Israel invaded Lebanon.

What happened: A PLO attack on a bus in northern Israel prompted Israeli military forces to move into Lebanon to push the PLO militants back from the border. Israeli Defense Forces entered Lebanon and occupied part of the south.

What was the outcome: After protest from the United Nations, Israel withdrew but created a "security zone" in the south of the country, administered by the Army of South Lebanon. The U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 425 on March 19, 1978, days after Israel first invaded its northern neighbor in response to cross-border attacks by Palestinian militants.

Israel invades Lebanon

Rescue workers walk among corpses at the Sabra refugee camp in West Beirut, Lebanon, on September 20, 1982, days after Lebanese Christian militias massacred nearly 800 Palestinians.

Paola Crociani/AP

When they fought: 1981-1982

Who was fighting: Israel attacked Lebanon.

What happened: On July 17, 1981, Israel bombed PLO headquarter.

SABABU ZA KIJINGA ZA DOGO JANJA kuacha SHULE

Sababu Zilizomfanya Dogo Janja Aache Shule, Hili Atakuja Kulijutia Baadae

Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 | 7:22 PM

Rapper kutoka Arusha, Dogo Janja ameamua kuacha shule ili kusomea masomo ya muziki. Akiongea na 255 ya kipindi cha XXL cha Clouds FM, Janjaro amedai kuwa usumbufualiokuwa akiupata shuleni ndio sababu kubwa iliyomfanya aache shule.

“Shule ambayo mimi nimesoma nilikuwa napata matatizo kwasababu kitu kidogo ambacho mnaweza mkafanya wote lakini wewe ukaonekana chanzo. ‘Msanii mhuni, huyu hivi,” alisema rapper huyo.

“Sometimes unaweza ukawa unasoma watu wengi wako dirishani wanapita wanakuangalia. Au unaweza ukakosea.. yaani wanakuwa wewe ni mtu ambaye upo sahihi all the time. Kwa mfano labda unajua zile za kushtukizwa ‘fulani jibu swali’ kila saa unaulizwa wewe,” aliongeza.

“Kwahiyo unakuwa hakuna pale Uabdul, unakuwa unaweka Ujanjaro Udogojanja. Kwasababu unajua ile kushtukizwa kila saa unakuwa unahisi kama mwalimu anakuandama sana. Au kwenye mtihani, mnaweza mkawa mnafanya wote mtihani lakini mwalimu anakuja kukusimamia wewe, anakukazia kinoma.”

Nini mtazamo wako kuhusiana na sababu hiyo ya Dogo Janja iliyomfanya aache shule?

UKIONA INAFAA TUMIA na wewe NDO DAWA YA MCHEPUKO

Mwanaume Mmoja Ameua Watu Sita Baada ya Mkewe Kuchepuka na Wanaume Hao Kingono

  Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Mwanaume mmoja ameua watu 6 baada ya mkewe kujihusisha na wanaume hao kingono,kutokana na tukio hilo mwanamume huyo amehukumiwa adhabu ya kifo nchini China. 

Shao Zongqi, mwenye umri wa miaka 38 alikutwa na hatia baada ya kutekeleza mauaji hayo mwezi January mwaka huu. 

Kwa muujibu wa mahakama, Shao alipanga kulipiza kisasi baada ya kugundua kua mkewe alikua na mahusiano na wanaume wawili tofauti,shirika la habari la Xinhua limeeleza hayo. 

Wakati wa sherehe za mwaka mpya wa kichina,Shao alijeruhi wanaume tisa, na kumuua mmoja pamoja na familia yake na wanaume wengine wawili wa jirani,wakati mwanamume mmoja akiwa na mkewe na mtoto wao wa kiume walinusurika katika tukio hilo.

Wakati hukumu hiyo ikitolewa siku ya jumatatu, iliamuriwa Shao alipe kiasi cha yuani 604,000/- sawa na dola za kimarekani 98,000/- kwa familia walio hai ambao waliondokewa na jamaa zao kutokana na shambulio hilo.

Pamoja na kulipa faini hiyo Shao ameapa kukata rufaa kutokana na hukumu hiyo ya kifo inayomkabili.

KWANIN UNADHANI TUNDU LISSU anafaa kuwa RAIS 2015?

Tundu Lissu: Nitawania Urais Kupitia CHADEMA 2015

Written By Udaku Specially on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 | 12:41 P

MBUNGE wa Singida Mashariki, Tundu Lissu (Chadema), kwa mara ya kwanza amefunguka na kusema ana nia ya kuwania urais katika Uchaguzi Mkuu wa 2015 iwapo chama chake kitaridhia.

Ametoa kauli hiyo ikiwa ni miaka miwili tangu Mbunge wa Kigoma Kaskazini, Zitto Kabwe (Chadema), alipojitokeza hadharani akisema kwamba hatawania tena ubunge katika jimbo hilo katika Uchaguzi Mkuu ujao na badala yake atajitosa kwenye urais.

Hata hivyo, kauli hiyo ya Zitto ilisababisha mvutano mkubwa kati yake na viongozi wenzake ndani ya chama hicho, huku mmoja wa waasisi wake, Edwin Mtei, akipinga uamuzi wa mwanasiasa huyo na akidai hakuutoa wakati mwafaka.

Mtei alisema hatua ya Zitto kutangaza kutaka kuwania urais wa mwaka 2015 haikuwa na shida kwa sababu alionyesha hisia zake lakini alikuwa ikitengeneza mzozo ndani ya chama.

Mwanasiasa huyo alimshauri Zitto kuhakikisha anakiunganisha chama na si kukigawa na kukivuruga.

Akizungumza katika mahojiano maalumu na MTANZANIA mwishoni mwa wiki iliyopita, Lissu alisema ana uzoefu wa uongozi hivyo yuko tayari kuwania urais iwapo vikao vya chama chake vitaridhia.

NI KWELI DIAMOND PLATNUMZ anatoka na MENINAH?

Umeisikia hii kuhusu Diamond Platnumz na Meninah?

Posted by: Askofu TZA August 12, 2014 

Stori ambayo Soudy Brown amei amplify kupitia You heard ya leo Aug 12 ni kuhusu uhusiano wa Diamond Platnumz na Meninah ambye inasemekana wanatoka,Soudy Brown kaongea na Meninah.

CARTOON OF LOVE:It's true that....anaebisha,piga simu polisi.

THAT IS HOW FIRST DATE IT IS......hOW YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW?

KOMANDO JIDE vs KAPTEN G......Mambo ya NDOA hayo,SHIII!!!!!!

Tetesi: Ndoa ya Jay Dee na Gardner Habash Yavunjika

Written By Udaku Specially on Tuesday, August 12, 2014

 

Ndoa ya mwanuziki Jay dee na mtangazaji 

mashuhuri wa radio Gardner G. Habash inasemekana imevunjika huku Gardner akihama Kimara alikokua akiishi na mkewe na kuhamia kwa moja wa ndugu zake wa karibu sana.

chanzo cha kuvunjika ndoa hiyo bado hakijajulikana moja moja kwa moja ila wawili hao wamekuwa katika migogoro kwa muda.. na si mara ya kwanza kutengana ila this time hali si shwari. yazidi kusemekana kaka Gardner kazidi michepuko amekua haibi tena anafanya bayana mpaka mwenye mali anajua anavyoibiwa.

kudhihirisha hayo katika ukurasa wake wa IG dada jide ameandika "Walking Away From Troubles" ambapo umbepuzi yakinifu waonesha

mambo si sawa hata kidogo.

Gardner kabla ya kumuoa Jide alikua tayari na mke halali wa ndoa na mtoto mmoja.

BIASHARA INAYOLIPA TANZANIA NI SIASA...Hutaki kajinyonge na buibui.

Bunge kutumia zaidi ya Tsh milioni 142 kukodi vipaza sauti.

Wakati kukiwa na malalamiko kwamba Bunge la maalumu la Katiba linagharimu fedha nyingi za walipakodi, uongozi wa taasisi hiyo umetumia Sh142.56 milioni kukodi vipaza sauti kutoka kituo cha mikutano cha kimataifa Arusha (AICC).

Katibu wa Bunge maalumu Yahya Khamis Hamad alithibitisha kukodiwa kwa vipaza sauti hivyo kwa ajili kamati zote 12 na kwamba kila gharama ya chumba kimoja kwa siku ni Dola 450 za Marekani (Dola moja ni wastani wa Sh1,650).

Kwa maana hiyo Bunge hilo linatumia Dola 5,400 sawa na Sh8.91 milioni kwa siku kugharimia vipaza sauti katika vyumba 12 vinavyotumiwa na kamati hizo na kwa siku 16  ambazo kamati zitakutana, jumla gharama hizo zitafikia Sh142.56.
“Vifaa vya sauti tulivyokuwa navyo vinalalamikiwa vilikuwa siyo standard (viwango) hasa vya mazungumzo, tumekodi kutoka ukumbi wa mikutano wa AICC na tumekuwa nao usiku mzima kuvifunga,” alisema katibu wa bunge.
Source : Mwananchi

11 crucial facts to understand the Israel-Gaza crisis

Updated by Zack Beauchamp on 2014.

Israel and Hamas are at war in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is firing rockets into Israel, Israel has been launching airstrikes against Hamas, and, on Thursday, Israel announced it will launch a ground invasion. The violence is dominating headlines internationally. But there's a ton of backstory that's necessary to understand what's happening, both in the day-to-day conflict and the bigger picture. What is Hamas, really, and what does it want? What is Gaza, and does Israel control it?
In order to give you a better sense of what's actually happening in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, here are 11 basic but critical facts you need to know to understand what's going on in Gaza today.

1) The Gaza Strip used to be part of Egypt, and is totally separate from the West Bank

Orlovic/Wikimedia Commons

As you can see on the above map, Gaza is separate from the other major Palestinian population center — the big green blob to the east of Israel, the West Bank. So despite both territories being largely populated by Palestinians, they're basically separate geographic entities.
Before Israel occupied Gaza, it was controlled for some years by Egypt, which borders Gaza on the west. Israel took it from Egypt during the 1967 war between the two countries, and until 2005 it occupied the Gaza Strip in the same way that it has occupied the West Bank through today.

2) Gaza City is among the most densely populated places in the world

Thomas Imo/Photothek/Getty Images

The Gaza Strip is 146 square miles, and has a population of about 1.6 million. That's a lot of people in a very small area. For perspective, Philadelphia is about 142 square miles and has about 1.5 million citizens. In other words, the entire Gaza Strip is basically as dense as a major American city.
According to data complied by the Washington Post's Adam Taylor, Gaza City, the largest population center in the Strip, is the 40th most densely populated urban area in the world, putting it on par with some Asian mega-cities.
This matters for the current conflict, because it makes it very hard for Israel to bomb from the air without hitting civilians. Hamas also places rocket emplacements inside civilian population centers, so Israeli aerial offensives inside Gaza are basically guaranteed to kill lots of non-combatants no matter how much Israel attempts to avoid it.

3) Israel used to have troops and settlers inside Gaza

Israeli soldiers and settlers during withdrawal. Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

Until 2005, Israel occupied Gaza in the same way that it occupied the West Bank. That included Israeli military bases and settlements, communities of Jews living inside Palestinian territory.
In 2005, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to withdraw from Gaza. Sharon, a longtime hawk and skeptic of Palestinian independence, had concluded that the Israeli occupation was no longer in Israel's interest. Sharon withdrew Israeli outposts and uprooted about 10,000 settlers. It was a hugely controversial move inside Israel, particularly on the political right — the current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, quit the government in protest.
Sharon left control of Gaza to a united Palestinian Authority, governed by the moderate Fatah party from Ramallah, in the West Bank. But that's not actually how things worked out — Hamas quickly became the dominant power in Gaza. That means that Palestinians in Gaza aren't just physically separated form those in the West Bank, they're governed separately as well.

4) Hamas is part of an international Islamist movement and doesn't recognize Israel

Gazans celebrate the Muslim Brotherhood's victory in 2012 Egyptian election. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

Hamas is, according to its charter, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — an Islamist group that operates around the Muslim world, and one that nominally ran the Egyptian government for about a year recently. Hamas isn't controlled by the Egypt-based brotherhood leadership, but they have close ties. Unlike many Brotherhood branches, though, Hamas also has a militant wing: the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Since Hamas' 1987 founding, it has waged war on Israel, most notably through suicide bombings and rocket attacks. It seeks to replace Israel with a Palestinian state, and has repeatedly refused to recognize Israel (though it has a proposed a long-term truce if Israel agrees to withdraw from the West Bank). Some Hamas leaders have suggested that they would be satisfied with a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza, but it's not at all clear whether they'd be able or willing to hammer out a deal with Israel in practice — assuming Israel was even willing to sit down with them, which is doubtful.
Hamas and Israel's long history of antagonism — Hamas conducted a significant number of suicide bombings inside Israel during the early 2000s — is a major contributor to the current crisis. Hamas and Israel refuse to negotiate openly and directly, and neither trusts the other even a little bit. As such, even small provocations have the potential to escalate rapidly.

5) Hamas was democratically elected by Palestinians

Palestinians celebrate Hamas' victory in 2006. Abid Katib/Getty Images

Hamas sees itself as the representative of the Palestinian people — and, in a sense, they're not totally wrong. Prodded by the George W. Bush administration, the Palestinian Authority held popular elections across the West Bank and Gaza for the Palestinian legislature in 2006. Hamas won a slight majority.
However, Hamas refused to recognize Israel or respect past Palestinian agreements with Israel while in government. Hamas fought a pretty bloody civil war with the more moderate Fatah party over this and de facto seceded from the PA to govern Gaza independently from the West Bank-based leadership.
Today, Hamas and Fatah are closer to reconciling than they've ever been. They signed a agreement to both support an interim government in April, and have agreed to hold national elections in Gaza and the West Bank sometime in the next five months. However, Hamas and Fatah disagree deeply about the current conflict. Hamas has been firing rockets at Israel, while Fatah urges a halt to hostilities. It's not clear whether the joint government can survive the current round of fighting.

6) Hamas isn't the only militant group in the Gaza strip, and they've all shot rockets into Israel

Islamic Jihad parade. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

There are other militant groups in Gaza, most notably Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These groups are even more radical than Hamas and are wholly committed to violence rather than to politics as the main tactic in their struggle with Israel.
Since the Israeli withdrawal in 2005, Hamas and these other groups have launched thousands of rockets and mortars out of Gaza into Israel. This rocket fire rarely causes casualties, but it makes life miserable for Israelis who live within range. The drumbeat of rocket fire destroys Israeli homes and forces people to scramble and hide when sirens sound. It's lessened recently, but it's one of Israel's most significant grievances with the Hamas leadership.
Because Israel holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire from Gaza, including from other Palestinian groups, sometimes Hamas gets sucked into violent flare-ups that it's trying to avoid. So the non-Hamas groups in Gaza help push the already-militant Hamas toward conflict with Israel.

7) Israel blockades Gaza, which creates a humanitarian crisis

Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

Since 2007, Israel has maintained a blockade of Gaza. It severely restricts all border crossings in territory it controls and naval pathways into the Strip. The blockade restricts access to food, water, electricity, gas, construction materials, and other necessities. It's not that Israel doesn't let any of those things into Gaza; it's that it bans many products and regulates the flow of others pretty tightly.
The stated goal of the blockade, which Israel has loosened recently, is to prevent Hamas from getting what it needs to build rockets and mortars that could hit Israel, and rocket fire has diminished. However, it's clear that another key purpose of the blockade is to weaken Hamas politically. Limiting access to goods, the theory goes, should either cause Palestinians to shift their support to a more moderate faction or force Hamas itself to moderate.
This causes a lot of suffering among Gaza's civilians. According to Oxfam, the blockade "has devastated Gaza's economy, left most people unable to leave Gaza, restricted people from essential services such as healthcare and education, and cut Palestinians off from each other." Oxfam has numbers to back that up:

More than 40% of people in Gaza - nearly 50% of youth - are now unemployed and 80% of people receive international aid. Many key industries, such as the construction industry, have been decimated as essential materials are not allowed into Gaza. Exports are currently at less than 3% of their pre-blockade levels, with the transfer of agricultural produce and other goods to the West Bank and exports to Israel entirely banned.

8) Israel and Hamas have fought multiple wars over Gaza

Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Since Israel's 2005 disengagement, Israel and Hamas have fought three separate wars: in 2006, in 2008-9, and in 2012; Israel invaded Gaza in the first two but only bombed in the third. The 2006 war was triggered by Hamas kidnapping a young Israeli soldier, much as the current crisis was triggered by the kidnapping and murder in the West Bank of three Israeli students. They were killed by men who Israel believes were Hamas operatives.
Israel's stated goal in the 2008-2009 and 2012 war, which Israel respectively calls Operation Cast Lead and Operation Pillar of Defense, was to destroy Hamas' ability to launch rockets into Israel. The strategy was to destroy Hamas' rocket stock and supply lines as well as to deter future Hamas rocket attacks.
Since Hamas rocket attacks seriously declined after 2012, there's a case that Israel's strategy succeeded. However, it came at a serious cost in Palestinian lives. As the chart below shows, casualties in the conflict — almost entirely Palestinian — spiked during the 2008-9 and 2012 hostilities:

Israeli officials said the air strikes were designed in part to once again put a break on rocket fire. This strategy is called "mowing the grass" — occasionally bombing Palestinian targets to reduce current attacks and deter future ones. On Thursday, Israel announced it would launch its first ground incursion into Gaza since 2009, which led to hundreds of Palestinian casualties. A government statement said the aim was to damage Hamas-run tunnels connecting Gaza to Israel.

9) Hamas gets a lot of rockets from Iran

Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

Iran is arguably Hamas' most important international patron. For many years, Iran supplied Hamas with cash and advanced rockets. But, in 2012, Hamas and Iran went through something of a divorce over the war in Syria. Iran backs Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite Shia, against the popular Sunni rebellion, which the mostly-Sunni Palestinians largely support. Hamas refused to take Assad's side, so Iran cut off cash shipments in late 2012.
However, Hamas-Iranian relations appear to be on the mend. In March 2014, Israel intercepted a shipment of long-range M-320 rockets bound for Gaza. A UN investigation traced them back to an Iranian port. In May, Iran resumed cash shipments. Hamas home-makes its shorter range rockets, but appears to depend on Iranian support for more advanced stuff.
Iranian involvement complicates the current war significantly. It's possible a secondary Israeli objective is to send a message to Iran that it can't get at Israel through Hamas anymore. On the other hand, Iranian support makes it harder for Israel to starve and bomb Hamas into submission.

10) Tunnels into Gaza are really important — and hugely controversial

Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

Because Hamas can't get much through the Israeli blockade, they've developed an alternative means of resupplying Gaza: tunnels into Egypt. Gazans dig under the Egyptian border and pop out past border guards on the other sides. Smugglers supply them with goods that Israel can't or won't let through.
These tunnels serve both Hamas and Gaza civilians. Hamas and its fellow militants use them to bring in weapons, components for homemade rockets, and whatever else they need to fight and, in Hamas' case, govern. Civilians bring in medicine, food, and whatever else they want that doesn't get through the Israeli blockade.
Since the Egyptian military seized rule over Egypt from the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, they've weakened the tunnel system. Egyptian authorities shut down many of the major tunnels. Israel believes that, as a result, Hamas is uniquely vulnerable to an offensive right now, as it's having trouble resupplying. One of the major reasons Israel is considering a ground offensive, according to a senior IDF official, is to shut down the remaining tunnels.

11) Egypt controls the only above-ground crossing into Gaza that isn't Israeli

Rafah. Eyad Al Baba/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

There's only one major supply route to Gaza that isn't a tunnel or Israeli-controlled: the Rafah crossing into Egypt. Currently, Egypt heavily restricts the flow of people and goods in and out of the crossing. The Muslim Brotherhood is the leading Egyptian opposition group, and the Egyptian government has little desire to help out their Palestinian brethren in Hamas.
The Rafah crossing has become so important for Hamas that some experts believe Hamas is pushing in this current war to pressure Egypt to open up Rafah. The theory is that Hamas is trying to leverage public Egyptian anger at Israel into concessions from the Egypt government. The primary concession would be to open up Rafah so as to aid the Palestinian cause.
That may be why Hamas didn't accept the Egyptian-brokered cease fire agreement, proposed on July 15: it didn't specifically promise to open up Rafah. So the conflict is continuing, with all the air strikes and rockets and civilian casualties that entails.
Correction: An earlier version of this post suggested there was a bridge connecting Gaza and the West Bank. Various plans to do this have been floated, but the bridge was never actually built.