MB: The issue isn't that there isn't enough food. I was there on Valentine's day and there were all these huge teddy bears there for sale with balloons, the same as here. But no one can afford to buy them. There is food in the restaurants but no one can afford to eat there, apart from the fortunate few. But even the upper class is suffering. The middle class has been winnowed out. Every young person with an education wants to leave.
I was able to visit a few friends who were stuck there. I met a guy there when we were watching a soccer match and he told me that his family is all in Dubai and he came into the Gaza Strip to visit other family. The gates shut behind him and he has been stuck in Gaza for two years and doesn't know how to get out to reunite with his family. This is a situation which is really unique in the world. People are trapped inside and the walls are not lifting.
What impressed me very much was the stoicism of people there, the willingness to cope with the situation and not to cower before one of the world's most powerful militaries, backed by the world's lone superpower.
DB: Is the Trump administration noticeably worse, for example, with its movement of the embassy to Jerusalem? Or is it just business as usual?
MB: No, I am actually impressed with how much worse Trump has been able to make things on the ground. He has very clearly demonstrated a level of sadism toward Palestinians that no other president has. It has a lot to do with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The administration has substantially reduced funding for the UN Relief Works Agency, which is in charge of Palestinian refugees, about 70% of the population in Gaza. UNRWA runs first-class schools which give students a first-class secular education. People in Gaza rely substantially on food aid from UNRWA and that is not coming at the same level. So suffering has increased under Trump and Kushner, whose family is deeply connected to the pro-Israel lobby.
I spoke to an UNRWA source who has been in meetings with Trump and Kushner and he told me that the generals are even afraid of Jared Kushner. They understand that destabilizing the situation for Palestinian refugees will destabilize the Middle East as a whole and mean trouble for US national security. But there is nothing they can do because they can't get access to Trump without going through Kushner. You have this guy whose only qualification is marrying Ivanka, who doesn't even have a security clearance, and he is dictating policy on Israel/Palestine. It is a terrifying scenario.
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