What luck it is to be a tiger in Gaza
Israel allows animals to leave the Strip; people, not so much. Not so much at all.
Amira Hass Sep 27, 2016
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A tiger, turtles, an ostrich, monkeys and other animals were rescued safely from their double captivity in the Gaza Strip and moved last month to zoos in other countries and the West Bank city Tul Karm. This is the only good news from the most crowded prison in the world, and that is not meant cynically. Animals were born free. And if they have been captured for the enjoyment of children, at least let them have some space, and not die slowly from starvation and thirst.
The chief warden – the coordinator of government activities in the territories (COGAT) – excelled in purveying the good news in press releases, photographs and interviews. “This time the monkeys were also transferred because of the poor living conditions in the Strip, which do not allow optimum care suitable to their natural needs,” the coordinator’s press release noted at the beginning of the week. It summarized, in the name of two officials who coordinated the exit of the animals: “Concern for the animals and the understanding that outside the Strip they would receive much better medical care, which they deserve, leads us to work for this goal again and again.”
The monkeys are allowed out, but people are not, the Gazans concluded. Their sense of humor – like their creativity – has not been lost. But Gaza continues to drown. Over the past six months Israel has tightened the already draconic exit prohibitions, knowing that the mantra “Hamas takes advantage of those who leave,” will satisfy the Israeli public. The reports by Physicians for Human Rights and the human rights group Gisha of cancer patients who are not allowed out for treatment, and of businesspeople whose requests to leave are turned down, engender far less interest than the pride that COGAT takes in its humane treatment of animals.