Re: Palestine & Israel? What do you think about that situation?
Re the Gaza sanctions:
I hope you'll forgive some skepticism, but I remember how people lied about the Turkish flotilla some years ago. Can you give me a source for these items being denied entry? Are they generally forbidden or are you referring to some specific shipment?
A good dose of skepticism is always healthy; feel free to ask for any source you'd like - in fact, ideally, I would be providing them as I go, but that's not always how it turns out.
The following sources mention the restricted items, and provide some more background information about the blockade of Gaza:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/amira-hass-israel-bans-books-music-and-clothes-from-entering-gaza-1.276147, "Israel bans books, music and clothes from entering Gaza".
http://www.gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/Products060610_Eng%281%29.pdf, "Partial List of Items Prohibited/Permitted into the Gaza Strip".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8654337.stm, "Details of Gaza blockade revealed in court case".
As you can see in the linked material, the most restrictive sanctions lasted from 2007 up until 2010, at which point, international outcry pressured Israel to ease the blockade somewhat - as the occupying power, comparisons between Gaza and "open air prison" were doing wonders for Israel's image; to quote David Cameron: "The situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp".
...
I'm happy to let you have David Cameron on your side.
It looks like Gazan children have been able to import their crayons for a few years now. Good to know. I wonder what kind of pictures they're coloring?
People should keep in mind that 2007-2010 followed the dual conflicts in 2006, one of which was in Gaza following the kidnapping/capture of Gilad Shalit. Gilad Shalit was being held prisoner during all of that time. Hamas (who had been elected by Gazans in 2006) had a huge card they could've played to lessen the sanctions. They didn't play that card until 2011, and even then Shalit was released to secure the release of about 1000 Palestinian terrorists held by Israel.
As with everything else, one always has to ask what alternatives Israel had. It's clear that they would be condemned regardless.
Reading this positively, it says Israel wanted to avoid a humanitarian crisis. Obviously they could've responded by fire bombing Gaza. I'm not sure what good options Israel had after Hamas took control of Gaza.
The people of Gaza voted for Hamas, more decisively than Germans voted for the Nazis. I don't feel bad for the Germans who died as a result, and I don't feel bad for the Gazans who live under sanctions as a result.
As your sources say, the sanctions are far less restrictive and the blockade has been eased. Has Israel gotten more positive press as a result?
The only reasonable strategy I could imagine for dealing with Gaza is for the U.S./Israel to pay Egypt a few extra billion dollars (on top of the billions Egypt already gets from the U.S.) to annex Gaza. It was previously under Egypt's control already. In an effort to avoid a war with Israel Egypt might be willing to fight Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza. This would likely involve killing 100,000 or so people in Gaza, but if Egypt did it the world would likely look the other way. Egypt got rid of their Jews a long time ago. Even this wouldn't really work. Even if Egypt took care of Gaza, the world would spin it as the Jews being their usual puppetmasters and so on. Jordan killed several thousand Palestinians in 1971 and the Palestinians still blamed the Jews for it (Black September).
At one point, among the items denied entry into the occupied territory were crayons, paper, books, clothing, newspapers, baby formula and a variety of other food products, and so on ...
I hope you'll forgive some skepticism, but I remember how people lied about the Turkish flotilla some years ago. Can you give me a source for these items being denied entry? Are they generally forbidden or are you referring to some specific shipment?
A good dose of skepticism is always healthy; feel free to ask for any source you'd like - in fact, ideally, I would be providing them as I go, but that's not always how it turns out.
The following sources mention the restricted items, and provide some more background information about the blockade of Gaza:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/amira-hass-israel-bans-books-music-and-clothes-from-entering-gaza-1.276147, "Israel bans books, music and clothes from entering Gaza".
http://www.gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/Products060610_Eng%281%29.pdf, "Partial List of Items Prohibited/Permitted into the Gaza Strip".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8654337.stm, "Details of Gaza blockade revealed in court case".
As you can see in the linked material, the most restrictive sanctions lasted from 2007 up until 2010, at which point, international outcry pressured Israel to ease the blockade somewhat - as the occupying power, comparisons between Gaza and "open air prison" were doing wonders for Israel's image; to quote David Cameron: "The situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp".
...
I'm happy to let you have David Cameron on your side.
It looks like Gazan children have been able to import their crayons for a few years now. Good to know. I wonder what kind of pictures they're coloring?People should keep in mind that 2007-2010 followed the dual conflicts in 2006, one of which was in Gaza following the kidnapping/capture of Gilad Shalit. Gilad Shalit was being held prisoner during all of that time. Hamas (who had been elected by Gazans in 2006) had a huge card they could've played to lessen the sanctions. They didn't play that card until 2011, and even then Shalit was released to secure the release of about 1000 Palestinian terrorists held by Israel.
As with everything else, one always has to ask what alternatives Israel had. It's clear that they would be condemned regardless.
But, we already know what the "logic" behind such decisions was, as I posted before: 'As Israeli officials themselves put it at one point, they wanted Gaza's economy, and the over 1.5 million inhabitants "on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge", and "functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis"'.
Reading this positively, it says Israel wanted to avoid a humanitarian crisis. Obviously they could've responded by fire bombing Gaza. I'm not sure what good options Israel had after Hamas took control of Gaza.
The people of Gaza voted for Hamas, more decisively than Germans voted for the Nazis. I don't feel bad for the Germans who died as a result, and I don't feel bad for the Gazans who live under sanctions as a result.
Fortunately, following the latest war there and renewed international pressure to ease the blockade, it seems Israel has recently started allowing a few exports out of Gaza, which should go some way in helping to restart the economy there.
As your sources say, the sanctions are far less restrictive and the blockade has been eased. Has Israel gotten more positive press as a result?
The only reasonable strategy I could imagine for dealing with Gaza is for the U.S./Israel to pay Egypt a few extra billion dollars (on top of the billions Egypt already gets from the U.S.) to annex Gaza. It was previously under Egypt's control already. In an effort to avoid a war with Israel Egypt might be willing to fight Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza. This would likely involve killing 100,000 or so people in Gaza, but if Egypt did it the world would likely look the other way. Egypt got rid of their Jews a long time ago. Even this wouldn't really work. Even if Egypt took care of Gaza, the world would spin it as the Jews being their usual puppetmasters and so on. Jordan killed several thousand Palestinians in 1971 and the Palestinians still blamed the Jews for it (Black September).