BETWEEN FOUR GOVERNMENTS*

NOVANEWS

Randomly, from Ma’an News: the Hamas government in Gaza banned displaying lingerie or pajamas in the windows of stores. It also banned fitting rooms inside those stores or using tinted glass for their windows. This comes shortly after the government banned smoking sheesha for women in public. The Fateh government in Ramallah meanwhile prevents the issuance of new passports for many of the people living in the Gaza Strip, sometimes because they are affiliated with Hamas, sometimes because someone says they are affiliated with Hamas when they are not, and sometimes just because of general administrative logjams. Some claim the shortfall is in the thousands. Egypt seized 10 tunnels today, part of a larger operation ostensibly meant to cut down on smuggling (right). And the Israeli-imposed buffer zone continues to encroach on Gazan land, now estimated to amount to 6.25 percent of Gaza, according to my friend Sabir Za’anin.
Between all these oppressions the Gazan people are smothered, which prompts talk in Gaza of the “two occupations.” These indignities and oppressions highlight the absurdity of having all the responsibilities of associated with governing a state but without sovereignty—usually the first requirement for a government, at least, roughly speaking. And that’s why Palestinian political analysts are now talking about dissolving the governments in Ramallah and Gaza. They’re useless: once a resistance movement becomes a government it can become directly responsible for oppression. That’s reasonable. What’s less reasonable is that it becomes responsible for welfare, and we see how that turns out with the ridiculous back-and-forth over Gaza’s electricity, which is Israel’s responsibility and no one else’s. If Israel wants to occupy, let it at least do the occupying itself. 
*Plus the Empire.
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