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Today's Top News
Gaza: End of the Siege?
"This is the beginning of the total collapse of the siege."
So said Hanin Zuabi, an Israeli Arab member of the parliament who was aboard the flotilla that was attacked by Israel on May 31. That judgment may be a bit premature, however, and both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are being far more cautious in their assessments of the Israeli decision to weaken its blockade of Gaza.Skepticism abounds, and with good reason. But yesterday's decision by Israel is an important step that could unlock the frozen Middle East peace process. Israel deserves no applause for its action, since the blockade was wrong in the first place and since it remains unclear how far the Israelis will go in implementing the new rules. Simultaneously with the announcement by the Israeli cabinet, President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu set a meeting in Washington on July 6, at which the president will have to read the prime minister the riot act if there is to be any forward movement in talks.
Aluf Benn, writing in the liberal daily Haaretz, gives credit where credit is due: to Turkey and its prime minister, for their support of the flotilla:
"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan can claim a big check mark for himself, despite the Turkish flotilla not having reached Gaza and nine activists aboard the Mavi Marmara ship having been killed during the raid in May. Erdogan achieved his goal: He collapsed the Israeli siege on ‘Hamastan.' The cabinet announcement on Sunday put an end to the three-year-old civilian blockade on Gaza, initiated when Hamas took power."
Benn goes a little too far, of course. The siege hasn't ended yet, and it's unclear precisely what commodities will be allowed to flow in and out of Gaza. The naval blockade remains, but land crossings are to be reopened, while being carefully controlled by the Israeli armed forces. But Netanyahu himself said that while Israel will prevent "weapons and war-supporting material" from entering Gaza, "All other goods will be allowed into Gaza."
We'll see. There are major questions about how it will work out. Construction materials and equipment, for instance, will be allowed only when tied to projects approved by the Palestinian Authority and carried out under international supervision, i.e., not by Hamas.
A White House statement, issued Sunday, stressed the importance of the implementation of the new arrangements, saying:
"We will work with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the Quartet, and other international partners to ensure these arrangements are implemented as quickly and effectively as possible and to explore additional ways to improve the situation in Gaza, including greater freedom of movement and commerce between Gaza and the West Bank. There is more to be done, and the President looks forward to discussing this new policy, and additional steps, with Prime Minister Netanyahu during his visit to Washington on July 6."
Spokesmen for IHH, the Turkish organization that helped to assemble the flotilla, are taking credit, cautiously. Said Hossein Orush, an IHH board member:
"We will continue to struggle until the blockade is completely removed and Palestine achieves independence. Israel must pay the price for its illegal actions in the international court and be subjected to an international committee that will probe the outcome of the flotilla."
And the IHH spokesman Omar Faruk said:
"This is a victory for the people of Gaza and their joint struggle with the humanitarian organizations. ... We are still not entirely pleased and will continue to act toward the complete removal of the blockade on Gaza."
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23 Comments so far
Show AllFor a much more in-depth view of the "small step of easing the blockade" go to www.juancole.com and read his June 21 post. Very informative.
"[The] decision by Israel is an important step that could unlock the frozen Middle East peace process."
Hopefully true, but
"...the president will have to read the prime minister the riot act if there is to be any forward movement in talks."
I doubt it.
If Netanyahu swallowed a nail, he'd shit a corkscrew, as my mother would have put it. Apparently, the Israeli government announced the "easing" of the siege in the English-language transcript of their most recent cabinet meeting, but it didn't appear in the Hebrew version. So I'm not holding my breath waiting to see if it will actually happen.
Good Observation.
M$M repeats over and over about a "peace process" that doesn't exist. There is no process going on besides making the appearance that a process is going on. Each day that Israel can delay true negotiations adds another day for razing Palestinian homes, taking sniper shots at Gazan farmers, and expanding illegal settlements. As currently set up, the whole process is a farce to buy Israel time and M$M goes along with it.
Bottom line: M$M treats the settlement expansion and stealing of Palestinian land as though it isn't an obstacle to peace (follows Israel's talking points) and until international or US pressure is put on Israel, Israel will continue expanding illegal settlements and ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their land.
Sharon built his politics around saying one thing and doing the opposite. Bibi is a moron. He reacts as an animal... Does whatever he needs to do to get through the moment. And waits for the next crisis. The Apartheid state is heading for an ugly ending. There is no avoiding it at this point. The Jews have accepted the Nazi philosophy that might makes right... It apparantly hasn't occured to them that it didn't work out to well for the nazis.... Any more than it did for the jews they slaughtered.
Here is an important article to read - the ex- Prime Minister of Spain lays out many important truths http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/main/showNews/id/9401?print=true
Anybody on the opposite side of this argument will only care about truth after it has been forced upon them
Heer is an important statement.
'In an ideal world, the soldiers would have been peacefully welcomed on to the ship.'
My OPINION is that the article is written by a half-wit and José María Aznar is a simpleton.
God (their God)! Where do such people come from? What homes? What education?
Reminds me of the old fear mongering tactic of the second world war, "If we don't stop them, we will all end up speaking German." So if Israel is lost, what happens? Turkish tanks roll in and terrorize Rhumania? Horsemen overrun Vienna? The evil Musselman sweep across Europe with blood and steel? What do they do when they reach the Atlantic, keep swimming? What the hell is Israel, the little dutch boy with his finger in the dyke holding back the sea?
Be a real drag to lose Tel Aviv, lovely city, but probably middle eastern Jews and the ones from Algeria and other places around the Mediterraneand would stay and carry on the tradition.
Israel will never give an inch from it's Zionist manifest destiny. Slowly, they creep out to eradicate the aboriginal peoples from the ancient biblical lands. The people in the United States have no choice but to take war to the enemies of Israel.
Yet, in the current excursion of the U.S. into Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan not one Israeli goes to join in the dying done by the "allies" in those venues. Their military resources are used to keep Gaza as the largest prison in the world. Meanwhile, the brutal occupation steals more land every day from the West Bank.
Washington is owned by the multi-lateral corporations, and Jews have their way in any Middle East policy.
Even piracy on the high seas is no crime when Israel does it. They can even sink an American Navy ship and totally get away with it. So, an essay like this one is pure bullshit. Israel will never make an important step to get along with its neighbors. Israel is the most vile nation on the planet, ever.
Seconded.
Which is a compliment to the Jews who made this neo-Israeli abortion.
How clever!
What talent!
Netanyahu does not represent THE Jewish people. He speaks for theocrats in Israel and the Likud.
Jew is a collective.
The logic of numbers is simple.
The evidence is that throughout the world, Jewish people have increasingly supported the state of neo-Israel as it has become increasingly successful in its application of genocidal violence.
The truth is:
Jews
Now stand
Accused.
BS - he's the head of Israel, and Israel is the Jewish Homeland, ACCORDING TO JEWS. So indeed he does speak for them as a whole.
It is a start, but Gaza can't live on handouts forever, exports have to go out also and people have to be able to move around to create a self susaining economy. And meanwhile the settlements have to be stopped and communication between different Palestine areas restored.
Interesting reading here as Israeli soldiers describe attempting to "fragment" the Gaza strip by destroying enough buildings to give Israeli guns a clear field of fire throughout the entire strip, preparatory to seizing Gaza City.
http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/index_e.asp
It's not time to relax pressure.
It is not a start. Its a ploy.
Bingo!
Gaza And The Warsaw Ghetto
same place
different time
while the world stood by
genocide
live
Dreyfuss, you are naive. Conceptually, 'war supporting material' includes baby food.
Dreyfuss, you have written a piece that allows belief of the words of the Israeli Jew.
Dreyfuss, who are you?
alert! alert! alert! barnes and nobles has refused to shelve or sell norman finklestein's new book about the gazan atrocities committed by israel. the book is titled, "this time we went too far." barnes and noble will not even order it for you if you offer to prepay the cost of the book and its delivery.
This isn't really a "victory for the people of Gaza", because the "agreement" refuses to recognize the legitimacy of their _democratically_ elected government. I don't give a shit if the United States calls Hamas a "terrorist" organization, they were elected in a democratic election that was overseen by international monitoring organizations. We don't de-legitimize the government of Northern Ireland, which includes members of Sinn Fein, which is also known as the political arm of the IRA. The Hamas government in Gaza has _never_ been allowed to show that they are capable of controlling the terrorist arm of the party.
Much of the "terrorism" in that region is legitimate resistance to the military domination of the Palestinians by the Israelis. Until the Israelis are forced to meet the Palestinians as equals at the negotiating table, there will _always_ be terrorist attacks. The only way to force Israel to negotiate, is to cut off the billions of dollars in military superiority the United States sends to them every year.
It all boils down to the fact that the United States has been a country of military aggression for over 60 years. We aren't "policing" the world, we're terrorizing it into submission.
I don't believe the Israelis. It's just another ploy to prolong the agony of the people in Gaza. After international attention is appeased, they will go back to persecuting the people of Gaza for their own political agenda.