"There Were No Guns in Palestine"
by Barbara Taft
[NOTE FROM THE EDITOR]
This article is intended to launch an honest and respectful conversation about a highly controversial topic. Whatever your political viewpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—and everyone has a viewpoint, even if you imagine yours to be in a neutral space outside and above history—we believe that the body of facts and analysis presented here is as good a place as any to begin this conversation.
The author has an in-depth knowledge of Israel/Palestine based on decades of research and firsthand engagement in the region. For some readers, her narrative will ring true and will provide a Palestinian-informed perspective that is greatly under-reported in the mainstream “Western” media. Others will find her viewpoint one-sided. We believe that both kinds of reader will find the article well worth reading and thinking about as you seek to develop your own positions on these complex issues. We welcome letters to the editor (normally less than 800 words); when you write, please put “Israel/Palestine article” in the subject line and mail to, The Editor, Disarmament Times: bdagostino2687@gmail.comThank you.] --Brian D’Agostino, PhD.
"There were no guns in Palestine." During the bombardment of Gaza by Israel in October/November of 2023, those words came back to me.
I was sitting in the dining room of a small Palestinian home in East Jerusalem. It was the summer of 1985. My host, a Palestinian attorney, who had just uttered these words, had invited me to a lunch of homemade malfoof (small cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef). He paused for a moment after speaking, to let the words sink in.
He went on to tell me that his home was typical of Palestinian homes. His statement about guns actually wasn't 100% true, he said. He thought there might be an old rifle somewhere in his house. He didn't even know where it was. In the 1940s, when he was a child, he recalled that his father had used it to shoot rabbits for the family's dinner. To his knowledge, he continued, most Palestinian families were like his: No guns.
From my own experience, having made four other visits to the Holy Land by then, what he said was largely true at that time. My! How things have changed!
I was in Jerusalem then researching a biography that I hoped to write and publish, of my late friend, Karim Khalaf, the former mayor of Ramallah, a largely Christian city in the West Bank, a few kilometers north of Jerusalem. Karim had been the victim of a car bombing on June 2, 1980, by members of the Israeli Terror Underground, which referred to itself as "Terror Against Terror" or TNT. They had targeted three West Bank mayors, planting bombs in the cars of Mayor Khalaf and Mayor Bassam Shaka of Nablus, and a third bomb on the garage door of Mayor Ibrahim Tawil of El Bireh.
At that time, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza had been under military occupation by Israel for about 13 years. The occupation was harsh, with many restrictions on movement, including checkpoints armed by soldiers preventing people from getting to doctor appointments, shopping, or homes of relatives for a visit. These checkpoints also prevented school children from easily reaching their schools. The
earliest responses to this occupation took the form of protests, including letters to the Israeli authorities, newspaper articles, and public speeches, often at impromptu rallies. The Israeli response was to make the restrictions tighter.
Finally, in an attempt to placate the Palestinians' desires for self-determination, Israel allowed municipal elections. They soon regretted having done so, as some of the mayors elected were Palestinian nationalists and were strong proponents of self-determination. Their election gave them a platform from which to advocate for the things their people wanted most.
The bombings of the three mayors were not meant to kill, but to maim, to cause sufficient physical damage to deter the Palestinian leadership from speaking out. The Jewish perpetrators of these crimes were never tried. Some of them bragged, when they were later captured and accused of other crimes, about what they had done to the mayors. Although this amounted to a confession, no trials ever occurred for the bombings.
Meanwhile, Israel's harsh crackdown continued to fall upon the Palestinian people. The mayors suffered, but not in silence. Mayor Bassam Shaka, whose legs had to be amputated below the knee, was placed under house arrest. He protested loudly, saying that he had every right to speak out. Additional harassment was the price he paid for speaking out. Karim Khalaf was exiled to the family's second home, in Jericho, where he was placed under town arrest. His injuries were less severe than those of Mayor Shaka, as his car was larger and afforded him some protection. He lost a portion of one foot and had severe burns on his legs. He spoke out, but not the same way that Bassam Shaka did. He often said, "When peace comes, believe me, it will be peace for everyone, not just peace for the Arabs or peace for the Jews. It will be peace for everyone." He died of a heart attack five years after the bombings.
It is ironic that this Israeli terrorist group viewed the outspokenness of the Palestinian mayors as "terror". It is significant to note that it wasn't until the mid-1990s that some Palestinians began to carry out true acts of terror, such as bus bombings, as well as suicide bombings in crowded areas. For the most part, Palestinians have used their voices to plead for their nationalism and their self-determination. Even when their leadership, in the form of the Palestine Liberation Organization (the PLO), was living in exile, not allowed to return to the land of Palestine, they sought to find diplomatic
means to achieve their goals. When those means proved unsuccessful, and the world seemed not to be listening to their pleas, they resorted to more dramatic means of making their voices heard, such as the bombings listed above, as well as hijackings of planes and other modes of transport.
Meanwhile, Israel, with the help of the Western powers, most notably the U.S., which has provided $3.8 billion in aid annually (Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 2018), has built up one of the strongest military forces in the world.
That includes several types of military hardware manufactured in the U.S., as well as weapons which are clearly stamped as "Made in America". Israel has its own domestic industry to manufacture additional weaponry.
Principle of Proportionality
One of the major arguments during what has been called the Israel-Hamas War of 2023 refers to the relative strength of the two combatants. While the military strength of Hamas has indeed been increasing, the overwhelming power of Israel (listed as the fourth or fifth strongest military in the world, depending on which reference one uses) makes the conflict highly one-sided. Even before the current conflict, which many say is not a war, but rather a genocide, Israel has had the power to crush the aspirations of the Palestinians in many ways.
To reinforce its military superiority, Israel has continued to find ways to make life miserable for the Palestinian population. This has taken the form of confiscations of land upon which settlements are built (often using the labor of the land's former occupants), frequent arbitrary arrests (including administrative detention, which is arrest without specific charges, and is renewable for periods that sometimes extend into years), a second set of laws applying exclusively to Palestinian Arabs, and many other indignities that have been suffered by the Palestinian people. Furthermore, it is illegal under the occupier's law to protest against such measures.
According to several sources, the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since 7 October accounts for 48% of the total Palestinian deaths (452) reported in the West bank for 2023 (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - OCHA - 24/11/2023). As of 21 November, four Israelis have also been killed in attacks by Palestinians in the West Bank (OCHA 24/11/2023; OCHA accessed 22/11/2023; Nov 24, 2023], indicating more than 250 Palestinians in the West Bank were killed in the recent weeks before Hamas broke through the fence and began its attacks on
October 7, 2023. Increasing numbers of settlers attacked homes of Palestinians, setting fire to some while their occupants were still inside, and shouting cruel slogans. Whole villages experienced the burning of both homes and autos. It was becoming more dangerous to be a Palestinian in the West Bank. Fear was rampant.
Gazans already were familiar with such fear, having experienced repeated aerial bombardments that leveled homes and offices. Whereas psychologists were not needed, according to Palestinian medical staff I met with in Gaza in the 1990s, as families were able to deal with problems as they arose, it had recently become necessary to employ psychological services. Even when Israel was not conducting bombing raids, children were afraid when they heard Israeli planes flying overhead (which was a frequent occurrence), many of these youngsters reverting to the behavior of younger children (nightmares, bed-wetting, and timidity, for example). They had seen the results of the bombings and were constantly fearful, according to numerous reports.
It should also be noted that, among the 2.3 million occupants of Gaza, the majority in that small enclave are under the age of 18. Approximately 50% are 16 or younger. It was from this youthful population that Hamas was able to recruit its members. A feeling of hopelessness prevailed. Israel was determined to annihilate the leadership of Hamas, even though they were elected to office in the last official election Palestinians were allowed to hold. However, a recent Zogby poll indicated that the popularity of Hamas was waning. According to Jim Zogby, director of the Arab-American Institute, who works with his brother John conducting surveys around the world (as Zogby Associates), "In our last poll in Gaza (2021) only 11% identified as Hamas supporters--as opposed to 32% who said they were with Fatah. Back in 2006, the Fatah margin over Hamas in Gaza was 32% to 29%." In other words, Hamas had been losing supporters before its foray into Israel and its terrorist attack. It is interesting to note that current (unofficial) surveys of Gazans indicate that Hamas now enjoys greater popularity as a result of Israel's disproportional use of force during the current campaign. It is being said that Benjamin Netanyahu is performing the role of recruiter for Hamas. With the current chaotic situation, it is impossible to conduct accurate polling, but it is estimated that perhaps 50% or more of Gazans currently support Hamas, and that it is largely due to the fact that Hamas is viewed as attempting to protect Gaza's population.
Even the question of whether Hamas is helping or harming the population of Gaza is an open one. Each time Hamas sends rockets into Israel, Netanyahu uses that as an excuse to attack Gaza with even greater force.
What is Hamas and What is Its History?
In 2015, the Middle East Committee (now known as the Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee) of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section, researched and put out a booklet entitled "Hamas at the Middle East Peace Table: Why?" It was co-authored by members Ellen Rosser and Barbara Taft (the author of this article). It argued that the exclusion of Hamas and various other groups or factions from peace negotiations would make a significant number of people who supported these factions feel that their voices were not being heard, and that any
resulting peace agreement would not constitute a real peace, because the exclusion of the groups would invalidate the contents of such an agreement. It was written because both the U.S. and Israel considered Hamas to be a "terrorist" organization and fully intended to prevent them from attending negotiations. [To read the full booklet, you can go to wilpfus.org and click on the "Our Work" section. There, you will need to access the Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee. Scrolling down, you will find the section entitled "Resources," where you will find the 2015 booklet and a 2021 update.]
The booklet includes historical data that will help the reader to understand both the birth and the evolution of Hamas. Here, though, is an excerpt from the booklet that will help the reader to understand the many dimensions of that organization.
"Hamas is a viable political party... that governed Gaza from 2007 until 2014 when a unity government was formed" (p.10). "Hamas has protected civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli, by preventing rockets from being fired from Gaza into Israel."
"Hamas was founded in June 1987 by paraplegic Sheik Ahmed Yassin and by a physician, Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi." It was Sheik Yassin's attempt to establish an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. The original name of the organization was Al Mujama, and "it was recognized by the Israeli Civil Administration as a registered voluntary social and cultural organization" (p. 11). Its popularity spread
to the West Bank and its name was changed to Hamas (meaning "zeal" in Arabic, which is also an acronym for Islamic Resistance Organization). The PLO was a secular group, but Hamas was religious in nature and also anti-colonialist. Israel considered the group to be a positive alterative to the PLO. The group became the most popular party in parts of the West Bank where Israeli suppression of Palestinian nationalist ideas had grown and the settler movement had become violent.
"Hamas at its inception called for an Islamic nation. However, Uri Avnery, former member of the Israeli Knesset and leading Israeli peace figure has described both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as 'pragmatic and non-fundamentalist'." (p. 11) The Hamas Charter of 1988 actually called for a return to the pre-1948 borders and a state where Muslims, Christians and Jews could live together in harmony. It did not call for the destruction of Israel because the leaders of Hamas had realized by then that Israel was a fact. After some peace negotiations had taken place, Hamas agreed, in 1997, to a two-state solution. That decision was reiterated in 2004 by Khalid Mashaal, who was
the leader of Hamas for those residing outside of Palestine, and then by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in 2006. These modifications to the Hamas Charter were not widely publicized in the West.
Unfortunately, following the conclusion of Israel's "Operation Pillar of Defense" which was an eight-day IDF operation carried out against Gaza, followed by Israel's announcement of its intention to annex the West Bank, Hamas returned to its original preference of a single state. Although Hamas later accepted the concept of a two-state solution, and ceased attacks on Israel except when first attacked within Gaza, there was no official recognition of Israel. Hamas went on to accept the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. It is interesting that Hamas stated that they would live in peace next to Israel, while at the same time not recognizing the Jewish state. (p. 11)
Another element that is important to understand is that Hamas, like most governing bodies throughout the world, has various departments, including finance, social service, and military. The de facto military wing of Hamas was the Izzadin Qassam Brigades, while there were other factions (Al Quds Brigades and Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades) that also carried out a variety of "actions" against Israel. The most frequent of these were rocket attacks, and the most common of them used crude, home-made rockets which caused little damage to their targets. The military actions were often
condemned by the other branches of Hamas, recognizing that they often brought about revenge from Israel. At the same time, the leaders of Hamas recognized that Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip had been built upon land that had formerly been in the possession of Palestinians, many of whom had fled to Gaza in either 1948 and 1949 (with the creation of Israel) or in 1967, with the occupation of the territories of the West Bank and Gaza.
It is also important to understand that the Gaza Strip is composed of a population that is largely below the age of 20, and that many of the young people living there have not experienced a day in their lives when they could enjoy freedom of movement by being able to exit the confines of what has been referred to as "the largest open-air prison in the world". It is these young people who are most highly motivated to join the more militant parts of Hamas, the factions like Izzadin al Qassam Brigades and the others mentioned above. Hamas, which is still predominantly Muslim in nature, has roundly condemned the actions of these young militants, still adhering to their mantra that the only military action should be in response to attacks on Gaza from Israel.
Another aspect of understanding Hamas is the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with that organization several times in recent years. As far as can be determined, this has related to his government's hopes that Hamas will act as a counterweight to the Palestine Authority in the West Bank. It is a dangerous game to try to pit two groups who both identify as being Palestinian against one another. In recent times, both factions have preferred to be supportive of one another and to reject the attempts of Israel to divide the Palestinian populace. In the current conflagration, it appears that Israel overstepped its limits by frequently attacking Gaza, and more recently allowing settlers to rampage against Palestinians in the West Bank as well. Many peace activists were surprised by the actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023, but others (in the U.S. and elsewhere) saw it as the logical outcome of the increased pressure on the youths of Gaza being restrained and feeling under attack by Israel. In many ways, the actions on that day can be compared to a prison break, although it may be difficult for many to understand the motivations and the actions.
It can be added that Israel assassinated Sheik Yassin and, subsequently, his second-in-command, Dr. Rantisi, in March of 2004 (p. 12). These two Hamas leaders had taken a pragmatic approach to their situation, and had worked hard to maintain a mostly
peaceful relationship with Israel, but even this approach was not enough for the Israelis, and it added fuel to the fire that was already smoldering among Gaza's youth. While Sheik Yassin was still alive, he was respected by both the political and the armed branches of Hamas. And since the Izzadin Qassam Brigades is not considered to be under the control of Hamas, but to be operating independently, it was able to "fly under the radar" as it was accumulating its arsenal. We may never know who was aware of the acquisition of so much military hardware.
Although Benjamin Netanyahu professes to only be angry about the recent attack, there are many open questions regarding his treatment of Palestinians in general, as well as his relationship with Hamas. And there are many who would tell you that Hamas was a creation of Israel, or that it was not opposed when it came into being, as the Israeli government believed it would be a good counter-weight to the Palestine Authority, and that in-fighting between Hamas and the PA would be a distraction from the animosity felt by Palestinians against the Jewish state. Prime Minister Netanyahu perhaps thought that keeping the level of conflict high would distract from his domestic troubles, which include several lawsuits and unrest between the right and the left wings of Israeli voters. And "Bibi" Netanyahu apparently still holds a grudge against the Palestinians over the death of his brother, Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, who was an Israeli officer during the Entebbe raid that rescued Israelis. Yoni commanded the Sayaret Matkal during the raid, but he was also the only one of the Israelis who died.
One recent article that can shed some light on Netanyahu's relationship with Hamas appeared in the Israeli journal Haaretz on December 7, 2023. It was headlined "A Brief History of the Netanyahu-Hamas Alliance" and was written by Adam Raz. It begins with a statement that might shock some people, but which refers to a suspicion held by many others. The writer says, "The pogrom of October 7, 2023 helps Netanyahu, and not for the first time, to preserve his rule, certainly in the short term." He goes on to tell
us that, since his return to the Prime Minister's office in 2009, his MO has been "on the one hand, bolstering the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and, on the other, weakening the Palestinian Authority". For the past 14 years, according to Raz, he has "resisted any attempt, military or diplomatic that might bring an end to the Hamas regime." [emphasis in the original]
We are also informed that, since 2009, Hamas "has not faced any genuine military threat". According to the writer, "The group has been supported by the Israeli prime minister, and funded with his assistance." It was Netanyahu, Raz writes, who has "turned Hamas from a terrorist organization with few resources into a semi-state body."
In order to do this, he contends, there were Palestinian prisoners released, cash transfers from Qatar, and the import of material that could be used for terrorism, along with the increase of work permits in Israel for workers from Gaza, which created a "symbiosis between the flowering of fundamentalist terrorism and preservation of Netanyahu's rule." Netanyahu "intended to hurt Abbas (head of the Palestinian Authority, or PA,) and prevent division of the land of Israel into two states."
Netanyahu supported and approved the injection of cash from Qatar, acts which have made the military arm of Hamas stronger, since 2012. At one point, Abbas stopped funding Hamas, but Netanyahu did not stop the support from Qatar.
The writer also states that Netanyahu leaked a military presentation "which noted that occupying Gaza would cost the lives of hundreds of soldiers, [and] would create an atmosphere of opposition to a widespread ground invasion." He leaked a "top secret" document, after which Avigdor Lieberman "told Yedioth Ahronoth ... that Netanyahu 'continuously thwarted all the targeted assassinations'."
Netanyahu was trying all of the time to prevent reconciliation between the PA (and Fatah particularly) and Hamas. Many within the Israeli government believe that Netanyahu strengthened Hamas by his actions. Right-wing MK (Member of Knesset) Bezalel Smotrich believed Hamas to be an asset and Abbas to be a burden. Some said that Netanyahu was willing to sacrifice many Israelis for the sake of keeping Hamas "on its feet". He said that it was important to support the delivery of funds to Hamas. He opposed the two-state solution and believed the unity of Hamas and the PA would lead to that outcome. The writer concludes that Hamas and Netanyahu had a political alliance against the PA. The Prime Minister did not want political change, as it could mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state.
The author concludes by saying that "...sustaining Hamas is more important to Netanyahu than a few dead kibbutzniks." [emphasis in the original]
There are others who have brought up similar accusations, and Netanyahu's motivations are bound to come into question as the drama plays out, but it would be dangerous to conclude that the Prime Minister had only a single motive for acting as he did. At some point, he will have a political price to pay, no matter what his reasons.
Israel's Arsenal
Perhaps the most comprehensive list of the arsenal that Israel has at its disposal can be found on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Israel_Defense_Forces. Israel maintains a wide array of arms, armored vehicles, artillery, missiles, planes, helicopters,
and warships. Many of these have been purchased overseas, while others are produced domestically. This is what best demonstrates the lack of proportionality in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Before the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel's primary supplier of military hardware was France. Since then, the U.S. government and defense industries in the U.S. have become the primary suppliers. In an ironic twist, Israeli companies began selling arms to the U.S. in the early 21st century, although the State of Israel still purchases about half of their armaments from the U.S. A number of times, those arms have been modified after reaching Israel.
Israel also uses and maintains large stockpiles of Soviet-made military equipment, which was captured from Arab armies over several years of Arab-Israeli conflict.
The majority of weapons in use in the Arab world up until the early 1990s had been supplied by the Soviet Union.
I was in East Jerusalem in December of 1991, with a peace delegation and study tour group, in a meeting with Saeb Erakat, then a member of the recent Palestinian delegation to the Madrid peace talks. We were in a meeting room off of our hotel lobby. One of the hotel's staff interrupted to say we should come into the lobby to see what was on the television. When we went in and looked, we saw the fall of the Soviet government taking place. Since we were all Americans, most of our group cheered.
After a minute or so, Saeb Erakat began to speak. He said he could understand that this would be good news to us as Americans, but it was tragic news for Palestinians. He explained that the Soviet Union had been supportive of the Palestinian cause, but that its fall meant there would be no counterbalance from a superpower on behalf of the Palestinians. The U.S. would continue to support Israel, but the Palestinians would be on their own, without a patron to protect them in what was then a proxy war between the two superpowers.
A little history of the weapons suppliers to Israel will be useful in analyzing how the State obtained its arsenal. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (which Israelis refer to as the War of Independence), the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had a variety of incomplete weapons systems. This was due to restrictions on war materiel as a result of both the British mandate and the Arab embargo. It wasn't until the 1950s that the equipment began to become standardized, relying mostly on French military equipment.
Amid a French weapons embargo in 1967, Israel began to rely on the U.S. for its weaponry, and also began its own local research and development. This was when the Israeli stockpile of arms, armor, and aircraft began in earnest. The goal was to reach technological superiority over the Arab armies. Today's armaments are technologically advanced and include aerospace and electronics.
The list found on the Wikipedia site listed above is several pages in length, indicating what weapons are in Israel's arsenal, as well as noting where they were obtained. Here is a summary of the information found in those pages: First, weapons manufactured locally --offensive and defensive-- include such small arms as three varieties of machine gun, six types of pistols, and at least four varieties of rifles. The IDF also employs nine different types of anti-tank rockets and missiles, as well as various other rockets and air-to-air missiles.
Also produced locally are five varieties of tank, 15 fighting vehicles, four types of mortar, three kinds of howitzers, and a rocket artillery launcher. Six additional kinds of missile can be deployed as well. The IDF also owns seven types of aircraft, five kinds of patrol boats, three missile boats, a corvette, and two types of submarine.
In the area of Spaceflight, Israel has produced its own spaceflight launch vehicle and three satellites. In addition, there are a variety of domestically-produced weapons and weapon stations, several protection systems, and as many as 25 different kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as UAVs or drones). Several unmanned surface vehicles, plus air defense systems, radar systems, optronics, and miscellaneous other military devices round out Israel's domestically-produced portion of its arsenal.
We haven't even begun to list the ground forces equipment that Israel produces for itself or buys from other nations. That list includes small arms, such as semi-automatic pistols and rifles, battle rifles, medium and heavy machine guns, general-purpose machine guns, shotguns, designated marksman rifles, sniper rifles, and hand grenades.
Such equipment often requires rocket or grenade launchers, of which there are several. There are also anti-tank missiles, most of which are manufactured in Israel. A variety of tanks and armored personnel carriers are also available for the IDF to use, as well as utility vehicles, including trucks.
The IDF also possesses many advanced artillery pieces and a broad range of air defenses. The air force equipment ranges from trainer aircraft through fighter aircraft, all using advanced technology. Included are unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and a
variety of other weaponry, one of the most lethal being the Hellfire air-to-surface anti-tank missile. This particular item, known as the Hellfire R9X bladed missile, is produced by Lockheed-Martin. It is known to have been used during the carpet bombing of North Gaza in November of 2023. Another supplier of a large amount of IDF military hardware is Elbit Systems, which also produces surveillance equipment which is used on Israel's "separation wall" and also on the fence that has been installed on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Another measure of the dominance of the State of Israel can be found in its use of the power of arrest to suppress the Palestinian people. As of August 2023, some 5200 Palestinian people, including 33 women and over 170 children ages 12-17 were being held in Israeli prisons, according to Adammeer, an Israeli organization monitoring such things. According to Defense for Children International - Palestine, between 500-700
children are detained by Israel annually. As a result, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) has for several years introduced a bill each year in the U. S. House of
Representatives, most recently named the Defending Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation bill. Thus far, it has not been adopted by the Congress.
This doesn't even take into account Israel's possession of nuclear weapons. When this was disclosed by a former worker at a nuclear site, Mordechai Vanunu, Israel denied it and then proceeded to kidnap Vanunu, arrest him and, once he was
released, to deny him the ability to leave the country. For many years, Israel denied having a nuclear stockpile, and refused to be held to inspection protocols, but more recently, and in the face of a ramped-up verbal argument over whether Iran has weapons-grade plutonium and the ability to create a nuclear weapon, Israel has given credibility to the accusation that they have nuclear warheads. The threat to use them has become a matter of record. Seehttps://time.com/6334812/israeli-minister-nuclear-bomb-gaza-condemnations/
Against the backdrop of the ongoing occupation and many protests against it, Israel "evacuated" the Gaza Strip, which was also described as "disengagement". This was completed by September 12, 2005. The Israelis left behind settlements, including farms and orchards. Once this was accomplished, Israel proceeded to entrap Gaza's remaining (Arab) residents behind a "Wall" (actually consisting mostly of fences), through which very few goods, services, or people could pass.
As a means to support the Israeli economy, some Gazans were granted work permits, allowing them to pass through the checkpoints on a daily basis to get to work inside Israel. This required awakening very early to get in line for a lengthy procedure by which they were finally allowed to pass through the gate and exit Gaza. At the end of the work day, they also had to pass through the gate and submit to being searched by Israeli soldiers, who were looking for contraband. The Israelis strictly enforced limits on what could go in or out of the Gaza Strip.
At the same time, since oil fields had been discovered by Standard Oil off the coast of Gaza as early as 1912, Israel put restrictions on how far out fishing boats could travel to ply their trade. A study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 2019, identified existing and potential Palestinian oil and natural gas
reserves in both the West Bank and Gaza. Gaza Marine is a natural gas field off the coast about 22 miles offshore at a depth of about 2,000 feet. It was discovered in 2000
and is estimated at about 1 trillion cubic feet.
Fishing has been a major source of nutrition for Gazans over the years. Recently, several fishermen have been shot at, even injured or killed, for going beyond Israel's arbitrary boundaries. Unfortunately, most of the fish remain outside those bounds, which means that not only their movements are restricted, but fisherman have found their income reduced, causing some to keep their boats in port. They can't afford to fish, perform regular upkeep on their vessels, and risk their lives for a meager catch.
Armaments Used by Hamas
That is the environment in which the military wing of Hamas began to acquire weapons. Although the U.S. claims thatHamas has gotten its military hardware from Iran, according to a CNN expose, that is not exactly correct. An "Inside CNN" report which can be accessed at https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/13/middleeast/hamas-weapons-invs/index.html, tells the details of photos and videos that CNN analyzed of the weapons Hamas militants utilized during their foray into Israel in early October. What they found is far from what the U.S. and Israel are claiming.
In addition to this information, there are numerous reports that 1) the tunnels under al -Shifa Hospital in Gaza City that Israel claims were dug by Hamas were actually dug many years ago by Israel, and 2) that many of the dead Israelis were actually the victims of "friendly fire". An October 15, 2023 report from the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot, entitled "New drone footage shows aerial view of hundreds of burned and destroyed cars taken from the site of the music festival" is documented in a video that can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_lvlV-E0PU. It shows how helicopters attacked about 300 Israeli targets and killed their own soldiers and civilians. Since Hamas has no helicopters, only the IDF could have done this.
CNN's report describes the Hamas arsenal as consisting primarily of "Homemade rockets. Modified AK-47s. Decades-old Soviet machine guns. Cheap, second-hand, and purloined weapons". They refer to this as a "makeshift" arsenal. It is noted that many of the weapons seem to be altered Russian or Chinese firearms, which may have been left behind on the battlefield in previous fighting.
The October 7 attack involved Hamas fighters infiltrating Israel via land, sea, and air. The fighters breached the separation fence and, although some of the weapons they used may have been supplied by Iran, others were manufactured by Hamas in their clandestine workshops, and still more (likely the majority) were scavenged including some that were captured in previous encounters with the IDF.
These weapons are far less sophisticated than those of Israel, but their impact made for a high level of devastation on that day. The element of surprise led to many missteps on the part of the IDF, caught off-guard and seemingly unable to determine who was friend and who was foe. There are reports that Israeli helicopters fired into the crowd at the music festival, probably leading to the deaths of some attendees; see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_lvlV-E0PU. Other reports, from IDF soldiers, indicate that commanders ordered the soldiers to open fire on Israeli homes, although they did not know if the Hamas militants were inside, or if the residents themselves were still occupying these structures. https://therealnews.com/did-israels-military-kill-its-own-civilians-on-oct-7.
One of the weapons that inflicted the most damage was portable surface-to-air missiles, which can be seen in one of the videos that CNN analyzed. The film footage that CNN viewed indicated that the Hamas fighters utilized a Soviet-built DShK, a .50-caliber machine gun which was mounted on a pickup truck. This piece of artillery is designed to penetrate military aircraft, as well as military vehicles.
AK-47s, which were liberally used by Hamas, are easy to acquire. They may have been modified to make them more lightweight. They likely used a variety of old Soviet weapons that had been left behind in Afghanistan in the fighting there in the 1980s, or old Chinese weapons available on the black market via various networks of fighters. Other sources could be from the fighting in Iraq, or even from Libya.
A claim was made that Hamas fired as many as 5,000 rockets in a single day, which is sufficient to overwhelm Israel's Iron Dome defense system. Some of these rockets landed in Israeli homes without exploding. Removing them was a tricky matter.
Hamas also claimed to have manufactured much of the equipment that they used in the attack, often using spare parts from other weapons. Another weapon that was easy to acquire was grenades. These could easily be bought on the black market, or they could have manufactured their own.
Hamas also made use of drones and paragliders in their attack, and it was noted that using these methods took a great deal of advanced planning and coordination. Israel found itself without their vaunted high level of intelligence in regard to these methods
of conducting warfare. Hamas also made use of bulldozers to tear down fences, and they were able to capture Israeli military vehicles as they progressed. This allowed them to advance further into Israel without being detected.
It should be noted that many of the casualty figures put forward by Israel were not civilians, but were Israeli troops who had responded in a somewhat helter-skelter way to the unexpected crisis. Despite the surprise attack, it is likely that the Hamas fighters knew that they might be on a "suicide mission," as their meager and unsophisticated arsenal was no match for the level of armaments available to the Jewish state. And it should also be noted that Israel had an advantage because it had been involved in the arms race between the Superpowers and had benefitted from Western advanced technology. Hamas, as a product of Gaza, where horse-drawn wagons are still a common sight, had no such advantage.
A Little More History
In order to understand how we got to this situation, it is important to go back and look at a little more history. Although there were numerous plans and ideas for Palestine prior to the creation of the modern State of Israel (the King-Crane Commission report in August of 1919 and the Peel Commission appointed in 1936, were among the most
prominent), all of these plans failed to be approved or carried out. The "rescue" of the
Jewish people following the Holocaust would need to be under the terms set by their leadership. The most significant of the many proposals was not really an official document. It was a letter, known as the Balfour Declaration. It was a message from Lord Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild. Although Lord Balfour consulted with some Jewish leaders, following discussions with the British Cabinet, it was not really an official document. But its importance can be noted, as it is cited by many as the "founding document" of the State of Israel. Its text was simple enough:
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's
Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist
aspirations, which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.
"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in
Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best
endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and
religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the
rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the
knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour
Noting the significance of the Balfour Declaration, it is important to see what some of its elements are, and to note that its intent has not been carried out. Considered by many Jewish/Israeli leaders as the most important document in Israel's history, let's take the time to parse some of the wording and see where the reality matches up, and where it does not.
First, it was a declaration of sympathy, and therefore not an official document. And then there is the fact that it calls for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. One of the contentions of many members of the right wing in Israel is that there was no place known as Palestine before the State of Israel came into
being. If not, then where is the modern State of Israel located? If we look at the
statement nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, it should be noted that much has been
done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of both Muslims and Christians within the new Jewish state. And the recent declaration that Israel is defined as the state of the Jewish people flies in the face of the British Cabinet that intended other religious groups to be protected.
The Balfour Declaration pre-dates the creation of the State of Israel. That occurred on November 29, 1947, when the United Nations declared that the state should come into being. The document making this official is known as the Partition Plan, more formally
known as United Nations Resolution 181. It calls for two states, one Arab and one Jewish, on the land of Palestine, with the city of Jerusalem to be treated as a corpus separatum which was to be shared by the various religious groups living within the new state.
The Jewish leadership agreed to the Partition Plan, but the Palestinian leadership, along with the leaders of other countries in the region, disagreed. One of the main reasons for this disagreement was that the coastal land, which was more fertile, was allocated to the Jewish state, while the rocky, mountainous area inland was to be the Arab state. Since the majority of Palestinians were farmers or orchardists, it was considered unfair to give their ancestral lands to the newcomers, without compensation to them, and to exile them to land that would be difficult to farm. They decided to fight for what was theirs.
In hindsight, this may not seem like it was a wise choice. But a look at population statistics from the time before the State of Israel was created might help the reader to understand the Arab viewpoint. And the changing demographics were difficult for the largely rural Palestinians to grasp.
There was a census of Palestine conducted by the Mandatory government on 23 October 1922. Population figures in the census featured a breakdown by district of residence, religion, language and age. The total population of Palestine was given as 757,182, of whom 590,890 (78%) were Muslims (“Mohammedans”), 83,794 (11%) Jews, 73,024 (9%) Christians and 9,474 others. The population of Jerusalem was given as 62,578, of whom 13,413 were Muslims, 33,971 Jews, 14,699 Christians and 495 others.
The percentage of Jews living in Palestine in the very early 1900s has been estimated to be approximately 5-6%, but the illegal immigration of European and other Jews increased that population dramatically so that it was roughly 30% of the
population of Palestine prior to the ending of the British Mandate. [Data taken from this writer's Master's thesis in Political Science, Nationalism, Legitimacy, and Sovereignty: The Case for Palestinian Statehood, 1993, San Jose State University, which was written under my previous married name, Barbara Oskoui, pp. 63-64]
So, you can see that the land was already owned by many individuals and families. One of the false premises upon which the State of Israel was created is the fallacy that
one body can give away the property of another. In actuality, the land of Palestine did not belong to the United Nations, but that body (without taking into consideration the
claims to land ownership of the residents of Palestine) chose to give away property that was already owned by others. By doing so, and by ignoring the massive in-migration of
Jews from Europe and elsewhere, and the chaos such a massive demographic change would cause, the stage was set for not only the creation of the new State of Israel, but for the War of Independence that the Jewish people initiated in May of 1948. This outcome was inevitable.
What the Jewish people claim as their War of Independence is known in Arabic as the
nakba, a word which means catastrophe. The most common estimate of the number of Palestinians who were displaced at that time is 750,000. Many of them fled to the Gaza Strip, while others were actually transported there by Israeli ships. Just as others who fled their homes in terror at that time, many believed that they would soon return home. Some of these people, now quite elderly, still retain the keys to their homes in what is now Israel. Many of the elderly Palestinians living in Gaza now (in 2023) have become uprooted a second time, as their homes have been bombed, or they fear that they will die as a result of Israel's air war on Gaza.
To get two perspectives on what took place in 1948 and the years since then, read Blood Brothers, a book by Father Elias Chakour (now the retired Archbishop of the Melkite Church), who was a boy when his village was told to evacuate; and The Lemon Tree by
Sandy Tolan. This second book tells the story of Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, who inherited some land in Israel and began a search for its original Palestinian owners. Each of these books includes an account of how people were urged to leave their homes, as well as the terror that these suggestions caused.
Although it is difficult to find these days, another book that deserves to be read is All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, (Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992), edited by Walid Khalidi, a distinguished Palestinian historian. It details not only the names of villages that came under occupation, but how that took place, and includes photographs and maps for reference. It can still be found in some libraries.
A list of several books and articles that provide excellent first-hand accounts of the history of the land variously called Israel, Judea and Samaria, Palestine, the Occupied Territories, or the West Bank and Gaza, is appended at the end of this article.
I am often asked to explain the Israeli/Palestinian conflict for people who insist that it's all too complicated. I often opt to simplify my explanation. One of my more successful simplifications is to say that it's like the injustice of me hitting the person on my left because the person on my right hit me. In other words, we can better understand this conflict by noting that it was the Nazis in Europe who inflicted pain on the Jewish people, but the Jews arriving in Palestine passed it on to the Palestinian Arabs, a largely rural and agrarian population.
Having just come from a war zone, the Jewish immigrants had a concept of fighting, and they had the will to survive. Palestine at the time was largely peaceful under Ottoman rule for about 400 years. As my attorney friend told me, "There were no guns in Palestine". The Palestinian people were unprepared for what was to befall them.
At the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the nations of the Middle East which had been ruled by the Ottoman Turks were given to Western nations under a "mandate" system. Great Britain held the mandate for the land of Palestine. Their decisions, embodied in
the Balfour Declaration, set the stage for the creation of both an Arab and a Jewish
entity on the land. Thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe and elsewhere were moving onto Palestinian soil. (See the demographic information above.) Some had acquired deeds to that land, although those Arabs or others who made those deeds were often not the owners of the land they were agreeing to sell. When war broke out, the civilians living in Palestine were largely unable to respond. Other Arab nations took part in the fighting to a greater extent.
Need to Feel Secure
The Holocaust left a lasting impression on its survivors. A visit to Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, which is there to remind visitors of the horrors of the Nazi era, has lessons of its own. It creates in the visitor a feeling of the need to feel safe
and secure that exists within each Israeli citizen and many Jews worldwide. However, there is no mention of the fact that there once was a Palestinian village with a history that creates the same feelings of horror nearby. That village is Deir Yassin, the scene of a horrible massacre committed by the Israelis.
In a group interview in January 1983 with Jacob Rosen, then a civil servant with the Israeli Foreign Ministry who was also affiliated with the Center for Political Research Foreign Office, we were informed that he would like to be more sympathetic to the Palestinians, "but my parents won't allow me to forget the Holocaust". Rosen went on to be an Israeli Ambassador stationed in several different countries. At that time, he admitted to his fears being somewhat irrational. Still, many Israelis, like Rosen, grew up in households with Holocaust survivors and their fear has been passed along.
Palestinians live with similar fears. There are still many living survivors of the nakba, and their position as "stateless" refugees creates a feeling of precariousness, rather than of security. In Gaza, where the majority population consists of refugees and their descendants, many of whom live in refugee camps, these feelings have been magnified. At the present time, following a lengthy campaign some 1.9 million of the 2.3 million population of the Gaza Strip have once again become refugees. Lacking the security that most people feel to be a necessary component of a happy life, it is hard to imagine that Gaza's residents will be able to resume a normal existence.
Mazin Qumsiyeh, Director of the Palestinian Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability and a professor at Bethlehem University wrote: "Revealing latest Israeli poll even as the Israeli army is bombing residential buildings & killing hundreds of civilians daily: 72% of them are women and children, now one of every 200 Gazan Palestinian is killed 1 of every 70 is injured/debilitated, 80% of the population rendered homeless. The Israeli POLL shows 57.5% of Israeli Jews actually think the military is not using enough firepower while 36.6% said the military is using the right amount of firepower. 1.8% only thought the army is using too much firepower, and the rest were unsure. In other words, the poll results show 94% of Israeli Jews support the genocide and ethnic cleansing and a majority (57.5%) want it ACCELERATED. But they need not worry, their government found the trick: Israel weaponizes disease in the Gaza genocide. On Monday, the World Health Organization issued a dire warning: Even after the relentless Israeli bombing that has left over 20,000 Gazans dead or missing, the death toll from infectious disease in the period ahead is likely to be even higher.
'We will see more people dying from disease than from bombardment if we are not able to put back together this health system,' Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the WHO, said at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. More on this genocide by disease and starvation and lack of medicine at:
https://www.defenddemocracy.press/slow-death-israel-weaponizes-disease-in-the-gaza-genocide/
"The public relations equation now supported by the US: Israel will continue its genocide both bombing of civilians and all their buildings and denial of basic necessities of life, unless Palestinian resistance forces release their captive Israeli soldiers (instead of listening to the families who asked Israel to go ahead and exchange all soldiers/people held for Palestinians in Israeli occupation gulags as the resistance has agreed to do weeks ago). This equation is for foreign audiences hoping to buy Israel more time to continue its onslaught on Palestinians towards liquidating the Palestinian legitimate quest for freedom. Negotiations (for surrender of resistance) supposedly can continue while the genocide continues according to Israeli and US sources. Occupation forces continue denial of food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity to 2.3 million people with a destroyed healthcare system: 22 hospitals attacked and rendered out of service and others can offer only basic first aid and no electricity for most/fuel running out of the few remaining healthcare facilities. The Western media tells us that IF resistance forces release prisoners on Israeli/American conditions, pauses and miniscule humanitarian aid can come in (as it did during the week of a pause) and the death will continue from the diseases and exposure. Then Israel can resume cleansing Gaza to get the lucrative gas fields and get rid of the pesky population (which will be much smaller by then). Then Israel/US will turn to the Palestinians in the West Bank, Galilee etc and do the same (already started). However, the US/Israel are losing the PR stunts and losing control over events and there will be a regional or even a global war in which it is not the Palestinians alone who suffer (as we did for 75 years).”
There are international humanitarian laws that have been violated by the military on each side, and there are also U.S. laws that should have been applied which could have minimized the suffering. Foremost among these are the Leahy Laws or Leahy amendments, which are U.S. human rights laws that prohibit the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign military entities which violate human rights with impunity. For many years, the U.S. has allocated a lump sum of 3.8 billion at the beginning of the fiscal year to the State of Israel, with no oversight on how that money is to be used. Israel is one of the few nations allowed to receive the money in this way, and never to report on how it is used. This might be because of the amount of lobbying that takes place on Capitol Hill on behalf of the major military contractors in this country. Israel regularly turns around and uses much of the money to purchase the products of these companies. But the fact that the money is virtually untraceable has created a huge loophole that needs to be remedied. There have been many calls to plug the loophole and to require accountability from Israel. In addition, there are calls not to increase the money allocated to Israel, as there is no sign that Israel intends to end its attacks on civilians in Gaza.
In the current conflict which began on October 7, 2023, each side has acted in what they refer to as a defensive move, while it is clear to much of the world's population that these actions are offensive in nature. There is a thin line separating defensive from offensive action. When the hostilities are over, there will be many trials and much discussion outside of courtrooms which will likely center on this conundrum.
It is important to keep in mind that when President Joe Biden declared that the Hamas attack was "unprovoked" he was ignoring years of provocations. He also ignored the clear evidence that Gaza was, in fact, what many referred to as "an open-air prison". It needs to be noted that there is, indeed, extremism on both sides. But the prolonging of hostilities is not helpful to either side. And, in fact, there are negative consequences that affect the entire global population. For example, the use of weapons is an environmentally unsound practice. And, along with the destruction of buildings, there has been destruction of trees and crops. As a result of the lack of fuel, many in Gaza have resorted to gathering wood so that they can cook over a fire. This is also not a healthy choice, but it is inevitable in such a situation.
Is There a Solution?
Before the current hostilities began, there was an ongoing debate about whether a one-state or a two-state solution would be preferable. For many years, the majority of the international community backed the idea of what is known as the "two-state solution," which is very similar to what was proposed by the United Nations at the time the State
of Israel was created. In that solution, there would be a Jewish State, an Arab State, and a corpus separatum of Jerusalem. That separate entity would be shared by the three major religions living in the region. The U.S. is one nation that still believes that this is the correct solution for the region.
However, since 1967, the State of Israel has devoured land in the West Bank, building settlements on nearly every hillside. If you look at older maps which are widely available, you see the changes in the demographics. Within the last ten years or so, what was once a contiguous territory that was anticipated to become the Arab State (of Palestine) has become at best a patchwork quilt, and at worst what has come to be known as "Swiss cheese". The absolute control of Israel over the movements of the Arab population has made life difficult for Palestinians. The land they once knew has all but disappeared, replaced by settlements where they are not allowed to go, unless they are there to do menial labor. The most recent talk has moved back to discussion of the creation of a secular democratic state, a proposal which has always had some adherents.
With the overwhelming power of the Israeli military, this proposal has been a difficult one to swallow. Even though the Israeli population and the Palestinian one are approximately equal, and Palestinians tend to have larger families and may have already overtaken the Jewish population in the land, the question is not one of sheer numbers. The Israelis have for a long time referred to this as the "demographic problem". The question is: How can there be a "Jewish state" where the majority of the population is not Jewish? This is one reason why Israel's successive governments have tried to make life miserable for the Arabs in their midst. If life is extremely bad, the Israelis believed they could entice the Palestinian Arabs to relocate.
The current fighting has created a situation where it is highly unlikely that the two peoples will be able to negotiate a settlement agreement which is agreeable to both parties. Many people in the peace and justice community worldwide have come to the conclusion that some sort of confederation will need to exist, at least for an interim period. It would likely need to include at least one of the so-called "confrontation states," those states which border Israel/Palestine. The Palestinians are impoverished people at the present time, so including Jordan, for instance, would help with the economic portion of such a confederation. By trading together, the parties could learn not to fear one another. Once the fear (and the anger) has diminished, the concept of how to live as neighbors and how (or whether) to divide the land could be discussed.
For now, a ceasefire, international protections for both parties, and international trials for those accused of war crimes will need to take place. Once justice is carried out, it may be possible for "peace talks" to begin anew. That will take a number of years.
Claims and Counterclaims
The media in the U.S. provides somewhat censored news. Many nations in Europe and in Africa have access to news which isn't reported here, except in the alternative press. You likely have seen many of the reports alluded to in a statement by George Galloway, former member of the British Parliament, and well-known writer, who is the current leader of the Workers Party of Britain. He wrote, "The foul allegations of rape have been dropped by the Israeli government. The forty beheaded babies has been downscaled to one dead baby, not beheaded, and killed by persons unknown. Two thirds of Israelis killed on October 7 were military personnel. The killers of the remaining one third are definitively revealed to have been in part the Israeli armed forces themselves. Those with influence who spread the propaganda to the contrary stand exposed as War Criminals and now much blood stains their character for ever. It is a spot which will not out." #Gaza_War #GazaCeasefire #GazaHolocaust #GazaHospital
News reports are still coming out that repeat many of the accusations that Galloway says have been retracted. Many people believe them to be true, while others note that the Israeli government has an office which proudly refers to itself as the hasbara (propaganda) office. And other "facts" put forward by Israel, including the insistence that a Hamas headquarters existed in tunnels under al-Shifa Hospital and that Hamas had dug those tunnels (which the Israeli government later admitted were dug by the Israelis themselves), have ended up costing many lives. The photos that purportedly "demonstrated" that this claim was true looked more like an above-ground storeroom, and the amount of weaponry shown in the photos was miniscule. Reporters were not allowed to inspect the alleged tunnel that housed the Hamas headquarters, which is one reason for the level of suspicion.
While suspicion and fear continue from both sides, there is little chance that a solution which will be acceptable to everyone can be achieved. Even once the fighting has ended (and as I write this, the total dead has reached more than 18,000 Palestinians and the injured over 54,000; while the Israelis admit to 99 soldiers killed--although there is credible evidence that the figure is more--and perhaps as many as 1400 Israeli civilians killed. It will take a long time to heal so many wounds. The first step is the achievement of a permanent ceasefire. Once that is in place, it will require many tentative steps toward healing and reconciliation before the road to peace can be begun.
Barbara Taft visited the Middle East ten times from 1967 to 2009, staying there about two years total. Most visits were with peace delegation/study tour groups, interviewing Arab, Jewish and international experts. She holds a Master's degree in Political Science, and Bachelor's in Journalism and Penology. She has taught adult international students, and university courses on English and the Middle East. She owns a private school specializing in Accent Improvement for foreign-born professionals. Barbara is also a poet. A Middle East peace activist since the 1960s, she serves on the Leadership Team of US Women's International League for Peace and Freedom's Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee. She has traveled to more than 60 countries. Barbara Taft can be contacted at beejayssite@yahoo.com