Response to petition to Israeli high court: 48 hours for Rafah crisis ....

[Tom Joad]

Response to petition to Israeli high court: 48 hours for Rafah crisis solution

In a decision on a petition submitted by 4 human rights organizations: The Israeli High Court gives the State of Israel 48 hours to provide a solution to allow patients stuck on the Rafah border to return home

The Israeli High Court decided in a session held 10 July 2006 to give the State of Israel a deadline of 48 hours to come up with a mechanism to allow patients, in the least, who are stuck on the Egyptian side of the Rafah International Crossing Point, to return to their homes in the Gaza Strip.

The Court decision came in reply to a petition filed by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, Mezan Centre for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights on 7 July 2006. The petition was filed after Israel refused to allow nearly 400 Palestinians, including 70 patients, in the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing to return to their homes in the Strip since the closure imposed on 25 June 2006.
<snip>

It is noted that the Israeli government submitted an initial reply claiming that it will allow patients to return home through the Kerem Shalom crossing. However, investigations refuted this claim.
_______________________________________________________

Several have already died at the Rafah crossing, as a result of the siege on Gaza, and Israeli actions.

[AlamoDemoc]

1. These patients were returning to Gaza after undergoing medical treatment

Some of the patients have undergone heart surgery, ophthalmic surgery or orthopedic surgery....treatments that require special facilities that are not available at the border were they have been held for many days now.

[Tom Joad]

2. Four have died. including a 19 year old woman and a baby only

one and a half years old.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/736802.html

But since these are Palestinians, there is "no humanitarian crisis" in the eyes of the Israeli military.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. I guess Egypt is blameless?

[papau]

3. Kerem Shalom under a mile from Rafah - Hamas refuses to control

its border, and Egypt refuses to control its border, so Israel demands the crossing from Egypt be at Kerem Shalom so as to allow Israel to monitor/control who is crossing.

I agree Israel should have no say in control of the border - but then again there should not be free flow of terror weapons either. So Israel is breaking international law and controlling a border not its own because Hamas refuses to not be a terrorist state, and indeed refuses to control its borders to prevent the movement of terrorists and weapons.

The Israeli High Court has decided the lack of Palestinian agreement on where the border crossing should be should not stop the return of patients, in the least, who are stuck on the Egyptian side of the former Rafah International Crossing Point, to their homes in the Gaza Strip.

FYI: The Rafah crossing point WAS the only Palestinian access point into Egypt, with a limit of 700 Palestinians per day allowed to leave the Gaza Strip (to Egypt) and and with travel restrictions on Palestinian males aged 16 to 35). Israeli has closed that crossing and wants crossing at Kerem Shalom which is in Israel on the border of both Gaza and Eqypt.

I believe most Israelis believe “disengaging” from Gaza should include the Egyptian border crossing, but until Israel is clear that Hamas is a real non-terrorist government that has border controls, removing its presence from the Rafah crossing point and the Philadelphia belt is being done with the establishment of the new crossing less than a mile away at Kerem Shalom (again this is located inside Israel at the southeast corner of the Gaza Strip, bordering both Egypt and Israel).

Palestinians reject continued Israeli control of the southern Gaza border - and refuse to stop the movement of bombs and suicide bombers from Egypt to Gaza. Egypt also objects to any Israeli control.


Jul. 7, 2006 18:51 | Updated Jul. 8, 2006 9:32
Palestinians reject Kerem Shalom offer
By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST.COM STAFF

Israel offered on Friday to allow the opening of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, to let 500 Palestinians, waiting on the Egyptian side of the border, into the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians rejected the offer out of their refusal to allow Israel to monitor the people passing through the crossing, Israel Radio reported.

The offer was made out of humanitarian concerns, after the three-way crossing had been closed for nearly two weeks, since Cpl. Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Palestinian operatives.

On Thursday there were Palestinian reports that Israel was going to permit the opening of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The security establishment discussed the possibility, but it was eventually rejected.

The Karni crossing was opened briefly to allow the entry of trucks carrying food, medicine and humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, but was closed ahead of schedule following an alert of an impending attack at the site.

[AlamoDemoc]

4. Your telling us Israel occupation is relevant?

because if it weren't for the occupation, this would never have happened. Frankly, posting articles of what was agreed, or was not agreed is irrelevant and is deviation from the real point here. What is relevant is that Israel ends its occupation of Palestine and return its troops and settlers within Israeli borders. Period.

[papau]

7. Nope - the "within borders" only works if there is a PA government not

trying to destroy the Jewish state of Israel and willing to agree to borders similar to those on offer at Taba.

"If it weren't for the occupation" does not impress most folks including many on the left because either side can pick an event over the last 2000 years and use the line "if it weren't for".

When Hamas wants peace with the Jewish State of Israel - meaning it is no longer trying to destroy the "Jewish State" part of the above by "right of return" - a right all my ancestors did not have in their recorded history as various other folks took their lands in wars - there will be peace.

Indeed the PA had an excellent peace deal that they tossed at Taba because they really only wanted to destroy the idea of a non-muslim state in their part of the world and therefore demanded "right of return" - and for the PA "peace" was - as Arafat said - only a step along that road to the end of the Jewish State.

It will be interesting to see if Bush in his last 2 years can get another Taba deal offered to the PA - and if the PA will then accept it.

Until that point both sides will treat the other poorly because it is easier to be into hate (my own family's Mid-east history has a branch where tribal hate goes back at least 300 years) than it is to be into peace.

[Tom Joad]

6. The alternative has been investigated.

Evidently the court, for whatever reason, does not see what Israel is currently doing as adequate.

The free flow of weapons to the real terror operatives comes from the United States to the government of Israel. Time to stop the flow.

[papau]

10. Sorry - the court did not say the Israeli change of point of entry was

not adequate.

It did say that just because the PA had not agreed to the entry point change and just because Hamas was both the PA government and the sponsor of terror against Israel, Israel did not have a right to ignore the plight of the patients.

There is a billion going to the PA every year, and there is 2.4 billion going to Egypt every year from the US.

There is an obvious imbalance of power - making any Israeli response to terror attacks and kidnappings, if too overpowering, subject of condemnation by all - including myself.

But one sided "Israel is the real terror operative" gets us into an unproductive conversation IMHO - indeed a conversation where someone that is in general sympathetic to the PA may well find themselves pointing out the lack of balance/logic in that statement, and in effect find themselves sounding like an enemy of the PA.

Personalty I will leave the two minute daily hate drill - as in 1984 - to the GOP types.

[DELUSIONAL]

5. So not providing care -- is MURDER

It really is becoming more clear that Israel intends to remove Palestinians from Gaza -- I can find no other explanation for their over reaction -- and in fact pre-planning this collective punishment of the Palestinians.

Apparently they were merely waiting for an "incident" sort of like bush/cheney were waiting for something to trigger their authoritarian plans for the US.

These mad men seem to have the same controlling streaks -- and the suffering of the "little" persons is inconsequential to domination -- could be domination of a neighborhood or a country but it their behavior is very similar.

These character seem to be the villain archetypes found throughout history and in Sci-Fi -- Cheney is often called "Darth Vader" --

Anyway -- humanity and empathy and identification with the "other" as a human being always is the first human response that goes out the window.

Those of us who care about others -- even we we might disagree with their customs and culture are called Jew haters etc. -- remove the labels -- and we are concerned about other human beings who have a right to live in safety. Children have the right to grow up and BE children.

What is happening in Gaza is wrong -- period.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Perhaps charges will be leveled against Egypt.

[papau]

11. I agree -but as to "remove Palestinians" in the manner the Turks did

their "exchange of populations" to the eastern Greeks and the Armenians, and as the Sunni's did to the Jews of Iraq - changing Baghdad from 48% Jewish in the 48 census to today's near zero Jewish population -

is not likely to be the Israeli plan as the idea has only a very tiny group of folks in Israel pushing it.

You sum it up nicely -"a right to live in safety. Children have the right to grow up and BE children" - on both sides. Peace can not come too soon.

[Violet_Crumble]

12. Tom, you forgot the link to the article...

After having a quick squizz at some of the responses in this thread, I'm off to tap out a letter of protest to the Israeli High Court, complete with numerous eyeroll icons, expressing my outrage that they didn't blame Egypt coz like now everyone thinks that Egypt is blameless and that the Israeli High Court's hatred of Israel can not and will not be tolerated!!!! ;)