It is in rare outbursts, when his patience has been worn as thin and ragged as his clothes, that he takes action. Created by Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al Ali, Handala is a symbol of the Palestinian resistance. I remember back in the 90’s, I had a T-Shirt with his image on it. Handala was busy writing on a wall, words that meant, “My Palestine, every bit of its soil is my country.” I wonder, if Handala had been invited to Davos last week, what would he have said?
The Middle East Conflict Panel at the World Economic Forum was a misnomer, because it was announced emphatically by Israeli President Shimon Peres that there was no conflict and no siege in Gaza. This made the whole thing seem more like a midnight church revival than a political problem-solving meeting. The name of President Obama was invoked as everyone’s personal saviour but since he couldn’t make it, Peres decided that he could fill in his place as the self-anointed prince of peace. Although the other two panelists (Ban Ki moon and Amr Mousa) also, held Israel responsible for the damage in Gaza, Peres aimed his tirade at Erdogan, who had spoken before him.
Peres sounded more like the reader function on a computer blaring out a list of headlines. He talked about explosions on Israeli buses (most of which happened during the first Intifada). “Hamas’s election didn’t mean anything …Democracy is a civilisation… The ceasefire never existed (we weren’t fighting with them)…The Palestinians announced a ceasefire, we didn’t…
An election doesn’t make a democracy in a day.”
Peres talked about the Palestinians as if they were ungrateful immigrants, “We give them (the Palestinians) water, electricity… he boasted; “We invested our money to develop agriculture for strawberries and flowers. Israel had built greenhouses for the Palestinians and they destroyed them…Why did they fire rockets against us? …There was never a day of starvation in Gaza. There was never a siege on Gaza! Even Mubarak blames Hamas!.” Then, weary but undaunted, the victim Peres stated, “Israel doesn’t want to shoot anyone. We have no choice, we have no choice but peace…We call them and tell them we are going to bomb the area so that they can get out, what country does that? We made 200,000 phone calls!”
Huh??
I waited for someone in the audience to get up, to walk out, to shout, and to at least not clap when he finished. Ironically not only did they clap, they even giggled at his bizarre jokes.
This was Peres’ response to Erdogan’s description of how he had to wait at a checkpoint, the struggles with getting aid into Palestine, and the fact that to succeed, for democracy in Palestine to take hold, whoever gets in must be respected. What was clear was Erdogan’s sense of betrayal despite his close relations with Olmert and Israel. Four days prior to the siege of Gaza, he was negotiating for the release of a group of Hamas families held by Israel in exchange for a soldier held by Hamas. Olmert refused and four days later began the war against Gaza. These families were sitting ducks with no escape route, just like all of the inhabitants of Gaza.
“Tell me in what country does a diplomat have to spend half an hour at a checkpoint in the car with his wife?” he asked the audience? “Is it so difficult to get humanitarian aid into Palestine, the mind-boggling bureaucracy, the difficulty in getting just a box of tomatoes into Palestine? Are negotiations necessary just to get humanitarian aid in?”
Erdogan substantiated his argument citing diplomatic relations with Israel. Airing his frustration with the overt use of force by Israel, he told of a conversation that he had with Olmert where he confessed that Hamas’ rockets were annoying, but not dangerous. Throughout his speech, he outlined his points for solving the various problems snagging the peace process. “Civilians in Palestine are suffering…In Palestine, there are many parties, not just Hamas and Fatah, let these parties from Gaza and the West Bank hold elections and whoever wins, even if we don’t like them, we have to respect them and try to work with them.” Erdogan’s words were clear. He was offering possible solutions. Also, he said that while the offer made by the UN of $615 million was nice, it was not enough. “Even $2 billion would not be enough, because there is no infrastructure in Gaza at all.” The Davos forum wanted Peres to have the last word, but Erdogan had to respond. “One minute.” The moderator tried to stop him, but the audience cheered him on and the moderator relented. “I think that you, President Peres, are speaking so loud because you know that you are guilty. You have killed people… I remember the children who died on the beach, I find it very sad that people applaud you, because for what you have said many people have been killed… Two former Israeli prime ministers told me about the thrill they get, when they ride into Palestinian areas on tanks. This is not right.”
The moderator cut him off. “We really need to get people to dinner.” Erdogan deflects the moderator hand as he tries to grab at him. “One minute, I have only two things to say. I find it really interesting that even Jewish scholars are saying that Israeli barbarism is out of hand.” The moderator cut him off again. Erdogan stood up announcing, “I don’t think that I will come here again, since you insist on cutting me off.”
At that moment, Erdogan was Handala speaking truth to power, discrediting silence, and denouncing those who revel in this tragedy. Erdogan was the voice of every tattered, injured and murdered child: of every Handala, resisting the present, in order to make the future better.
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