Gaza blockade isn't about security

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Na aanval op Turkse schepen, die wereldwijd veroordeeld werd, mogen meer
goederen en meer vrachtauto's Gaza in.
Nu mogen ook soda, juice, jam, spices, shaving cream, potato chips,
cookies and candy naar binnen, alles bij elkaar zo'n 40 van de
oorspronkelijke 4000 artikelen.
Vroeger mochten ruim 10.000 trucks per maand goederen afleveren, nu 2500
per maand.

Groet / Cees

Posted on Wed, Jun. 09, 2010
Israeli document: Gaza blockade isn't about security
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/09/95621/israeli-document-gaza-blockade.html
Sheera Frenkel | McClatchy Newspapers

JERUSALEM — As Israel ordered a slight easing of its blockade of the
Gaza Strip Wednesday, McClatchy obtained an Israeli government document
that describes the blockade not as a security measure but as "economic
warfare" against the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Palestinian
territory.

Israel imposed severe restrictions on Gaza in June 2007, after Hamas won
elections and took control of the coastal enclave after winning
elections there the previous year, and the government has long said that
the aim of the blockade is to stem the flow of weapons to militants in Gaza.

Last week, after Israeli commandos killed nine volunteers on a
Turkish-organized Gaza aid flotilla, Israel again said its aim was to
stop the flow of terrorist arms into Gaza.

However, in response to a lawsuit by Gisha, an Israeli human rights
group, the Israeli government explained the blockade as an exercise of
the right of economic warfare.

"A country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in
economic relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to
the conflict, or that it wishes to operate using 'economic warfare,'"
the government said.

McClatchy obtained the government's written statement from Gisha, the
Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, which sued the government for
information about the blockade. The Israeli high court upheld the suit,
and the government delivered its statement earlier this year.

Sari Bashi, the director of Gisha, said the documents prove that Israel
isn't imposing its blockade for its stated reasons, but rather as
collective punishment for the Palestinian population of Gaza. Gisha
focuses on Palestinian rights.

(A State Department spokesman, who wasn't authorized to speak for the
record, said he hadn't seen the documents in question.)

The Israeli government took an additional step Wednesday and said the
economic warfare is intended to achieve a political goal. A government
spokesman, who couldn't be named as a matter of policy, told McClatchy
that authorities will continue to ease the blockade but "could not lift
the embargo altogether as long as Hamas remains in control" of Gaza.

President Barack Obama, after receiving Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the
Palestinian Authority, said the situation in Gaza is "unsustainable." He
pledged an additional $400 million in aid for housing, school
construction and roads to improve daily life for Palestinians — of which
at least $30 million is earmarked for Gaza.

Israel's blockade of Gaza includes a complex and ever-changing list of
goods that are allowed in. Items such as cement or metal are barred
because they can be used for military purposes, Israeli officials say.

According to figures published by Gisha in coordination with the United
Nations, Israel allows in 25 percent of the goods it had permitted into
Gaza before the Hamas takeover. In the years prior to the closure,
Israel allowed an average of 10,400 trucks to enter Gaza with goods each
month. Israel now allows approximately 2,500 trucks a month.

The figures show that Israel also has limited the goods allowed to enter
Gaza to 40 types of items, while before June 2007 approximately 4,000
types of goods were listed as entering Gaza.

Israel expanded its list slightly Wednesday to include soda, juice, jam,
spices, shaving cream, potato chips, cookies and candy, said Palestinian
liaison official Raed Fattouh, who coordinates the flow of goods into
Gaza with Israel.

"I think Israel wants to defuse international pressure," said Fattouh.
"They want to show people that they are allowing things into Gaza."

It was the first tangible step taken by Israel in the wake of the
unprecedented international criticism it's faced over the blockade
following last week's Israeli raid on the high seas.

While there have been mounting calls for an investigation into the
manner in which Israel intercepted the flotilla, world leaders have also
called for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza.

At his meeting with Abbas, Obama said the Security Council had called
for a "credible, transparent investigation that met international
standards." He added: "And we meant what we said. That's what we expect."

He also called for an easing of Israel's blockade. "It seems to us that
there should be ways of focusing narrowly on arms shipments, rather than
focusing in a blanket way on stopping everything and then, in a
piecemeal way, allowing things into Gaza," he told reporters.

Egypt, which controls much of Gaza's southern border, reopened the Rafah
crossing this week in response to international pressure to lift the
blockade.

Egypt has long been considered Israel's partner in enforcing the
blockade, but Egyptian Foreign Minister Hossam Zaki said the Rafah
crossing will remain open indefinitely for Gazans with special permits.
In the past, the border has been opened sporadically.

Maxwell Gaylard, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian
territories, said the international community is seeking an "urgent and
fundamental change" in Israel's policy regarding Gaza rather than a
piecemeal approach.

"A modest expansion of the restrictive list of goods allowed into Gaza
falls well short of what is needed. We need a fundamental change and an
opening of crossings for commercial goods," he said.

Hamas officials said that they were "disappointed" by Israel's
announcement, and that the goods fell far short of what was actually needed.

"They will send the first course. We are waiting for the main course,"
Palestinian Economy Minister Hassan Abu Libdeh said in Ramallah,
specifying that construction materials were the item that Gazans need
most. Many Palestinians have been unable to build their homes in the
wake of Operation Cast Lead, Israel's punishing offensive in the Gaza
Strip in December 2008 and January 2009.

Israel said the cement and other construction goods could be used to
build bunkers and other military installations.

Some of those goods already come into Gaza via the smuggling tunnels
that connect it to Egypt.

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