Want to weaken Hamas? Open Gaza's gates

[azurnoir]

Do you really want to weaken Hamas? Surprise it. Go back and open Gaza's gates - to ordinary human movement, not just to cherries, shavers and a handful of pious Muslims who manage to wend their way past the Egyptian bureaucracy. Open the Erez checkpoint. Then you'll see how Gazans yearn for life.

Let young people study outside the Gaza Strip. Despite the exasperating presence of Israel's foreign rule, in the Palestinian enclaves in the West Bank those young people will encounter a form of diversity that is becoming extinct in Gaza. They will discover that such diversity is better than the monolithic reality imposed by Israel's siege and messianic politics. Allow female pupils and female teachers to tour their land and see that the world is more complicated than brainwashing television programs and competitions to obtain relief packages. Consider this: Diplomats report that most Hamas summer camps in Gaza have been closed; most children preferred camps operated by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

Stop suffocating manufacturers who have become impoverished over the past five years. Challenge those who call for a boycott, and allow the forcibly unemployed to find work in Israel. Let's see if Hamas can stop them from doing that. The Kav La'oved worker's hotline will campaign devotedly against their exploitation, while Palestinian organizations will try to dissuade them, softly or not, from working in Israel.

Yet their self-esteem, buoyed by the fact that they are again providing for their families, will find its place among such internal contradictions. Let cement and iron enter Gaza so engineers, builders and painters can get back to work. They will rebuild the rubble, along with their attitudes on life.

When residents from Hebron, Nazareth and foreign countries travel to the Khan Yunis coast, or visit a cultural center north of the Al-Shatti refugee camp, their illusions about the wonders of the religious-totalitarian regime will evaporate. The earlier the quarantine in which Gazans were put some 20 years ago is broken, the harder it will be for Hamas to tighten the bridle.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/want-to-weaken-hamas-open-gaza-s-gates-1.321366

[aquart]

1. No question. Egypt should open those gates permanently.

[ProgressiveMajority]

2. No, how about Israel open their gates? nt

[LeftishBrit]

3. Even better - how about both of them doing so?!

[proteus_lives]

4. They can do this. Then a suicide bombing kills 20 in an Israeli city.

Then they'll stop doing this.

[azurnoir]

5. sure and then Israel sends in it's brand shiney new F-35's

and kills how many?

[shira]

6. You're right. So is it worth opening Gaza's gates, and if so, until how many Israelis are blown up?

Or until how many Palestinians are killed in an IDF response?

[hayu_lol]

7. I believe that HAMAS controls the gates to Gaza...

for people with faulty memories, when the aid from the 'humanitarian(koff koff)' aid flotilla was delivered to Gaza, HAMAS closed and barred the gates refusing delivery.

Want the gates open, ask HAMAS.

[azurnoir]

8. do tell sir I did not know Hamas controls Erez, Karni, Kerem Shalom?

Rafah and Sufa learns ya sumpin' new everyday here I tells ya

[hayu_lol]

15. Gates referred to were those closing the entrance to Gaza from...

Ashdod. That is where the truckloads of stuff were refused. I did not refer to any other gates. Perhaps, in your haste, you missed that description of exactly which gates.

[azurnoir]

18. You referred to no specific gates Ashdod was not mentioned in your post

you seemed to throw in the flotilla aid as in after though however the aid was delivered wasn't it seems those gates are open

Flotilla aid will enter Gaza

The deal

In the end they came up with a deal this week.

All the flotilla aid will be sent to Gaza and be co-ordinated by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) - to make sure the right people receive it.

So perhaps the Dardona family will be able to move from their tin shack into something more substantial.

Or maybe UNRWA will prioritise other areas for the aid.

At least if the lives of some people in Gaza improve after receiving the aid, the deaths of nine people onboard the Mavi Mamara will not have been in vain after all

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/06/18/flotilla-aid-will-enter-gaza

'UN to transfer flotilla aid to Gaza'

The United Nations will transfer to Gaza tons of aid supplies that were on board the flotilla of aid ships intercepted two weeks ago, the IDF said Tuesday.

Richard Miron, a spokesman for the UN Mideast envoy, confirmed the deal. The military said the aid, taken from a six-ship Gaza-bound flotilla after nine people died in clashes, would fill 70 trucks

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=178540

[azurnoir]

9. well at least you admit Israel has little compunction about killing Palestinians n/t

[shira]

11. well at least you're consistent in never condemning Hamas for hiding behind their civilians....

...and inviting Israel to attack and maximize Palestinian casualties.

[azurnoir]

14. Perhaps your confused neither I nor the post this rely was to mentioned Hamas

so there was nothing to condemn

[shira]

19. No confusion...you know very well how the game is played.

Amos Oz put it well...

"If Hamas insists on refusing the ceasefire and continues bombing Israeli citizens, we must take care lest the military action play into Hamas’ hands. Hamas’ calculation is simple, cynical and evil: If innocent Israelis are killed – good. If innocent Palestinians are killed – even better."

That's how Hamas plays the game.

You know it very well.

[azurnoir]

20. yes I know the "game" it's called redirect

however if what Amos Oz says is true then perhaps the saying "it takes two to play" would be appropriate

[proteus_lives]

10. Ok, It's always the fault of Israel. Got it.

:eyes:

[ProgressiveMajority]

12. Well said

Also the very fact they bought F-35s really makes you wonder if Israel is even benefiting from it's "alliance" with the US. Why they need F-35s to bomb Palestine is beyond me.

What it comes down to is this: If Israel were to allow economic development in Gaza and meet Palestinian demands (eg. end settlement constructions in Jerusalem), the terrorism would stop and the conflict would be over. So the onus is on Israel to take the needed actions for peace, not the Palestinians. The ball is in their court.

[proteus_lives]

13. They're for not Palestinian attacks.

They're for the Arab States that have tried to destroy Israel more then once.

[hayu_lol]

16. Proteus, didn't the Saudi's just buy F-35s in that huge order...

of armaments?

[proteus_lives]

17. F-15s.

And the Saudis are more worried about Iran then Israel.