Israel rebuffs Palestinian request to allow new goods into Gaza

[Violet_Crumble]

GAZA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israeli military rebuffed a Palestinian request to allow new goods into the Gaza Strip which has been under a tight blockade for more than two years, a Palestinian official said Saturday.

"The Israeli officials told us that no new items would enter Gaza," said Ra'ed Fatouh, Gaza commercial crossings coordinator, in a statement sent to media.

The new goods include cloths, shoes and sweets that Muslim people need to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival which starts Sunday marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

Fatouh added that the Israeli officials, who met with the Palestinians coordinators at Erez crossing on Thursday, stressed that no more facilities or cargo shipments to Gaza would be taken before Hamas releases the captured Israeli soldier held in Gaza.

In 2006, Hamas, which now controls the Gaza Strip, captured the Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid near Gaza. At the time, Israel increased economic restrictions on the crossings.

A year later, when Hamas routed security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and ousted his Fatah movement from Gaza, Israel upgraded the restrictions to a tight siege, allowing little more than basic food products and medicine into the impoverished strip where 1.5 million people live.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/19/content_12080790.htm

[BunkerHill24]

1. Israel left Gaza in order to choke off PALESTINE

but the "faithful" will make you believe that "look, HERE, we liberated Gaza and look what we received...Misilles falling ALL over us"!

CARRPPOLI!

[azurnoir]

2. Gaza gets one day worth of pre-siege goods in week

Crossings closed; Gaza gets one day worth of pre-siege goods in week

Israeli authorities decided to close all three crossing into the Gaza Strip Friday, Palestinian crossings official Raed Fattouh said.

Fattuh added that the Israeli side decided to close all crossings because of the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashana. Gaza crossings will be closed from Friday through Tuesday; the next goods delivery is set for Wednesday.

During the Ramadan season officials requested an increased number of goods be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip including some sweets for the end of Ramadan celebration and school supplies. Israel refused both requests.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=226654&MARK=gaza%20crossings

[proteus_lives]

3. I wonder if Hamas makes the connection between A and B.

Hamas doesn't want supplies. They're quite willingly to allow Gaza to suffer to advance their agenda.

[Violet_Crumble]

4. I wonder if you know that collective punishment's illegal? Israel doesn't seem to think it is n/t

[proteus_lives]

5. Sure if Israel is guilty of CP.

Which I don't believe it is.

[Violet_Crumble]

6. I'm not sure what you think collective punishment is then..

But punishing an entire population in order to try to secure the release of one Israeli soldier would be collective punishment. Why do you disagree with that?

[proteus_lives]

7. Hamas is to blame.

They want Gaza to live and thrive? (Which they don't but let's pretend that they do) All they have to do is release one man and stop their pointless attacks.

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Hamas are responsible for holding him captive, not for the collective punishment of Gaza...

That one falls into Israel's court when it comes to blame. And punishing an entire population to try to secure the release of one soldier IS collective punishment. What do you think collective punishment is?

[Vegasaurus]

9. A government is responsible for its people

Hamas supports terror which brings misery on its people.

Hamas is the government, so Hamas is responsible for the misery.

If they want the misery to stop, they can stop the terror.

So easy, almost anyone (except militant idiotic terrorists) seems to understand the connection.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. A govt is not responsible for attacks by another govt...

What the Israeli govt is doing is collective punishment of the population of Gaza. It's Israel that chooses to do this, no-one else. Using yr 'logic' you'd have to believe that seeing the Israeli govt is responsible for its people, and that it does support terrorists in the West Bank, that it's bringing misery on its own people. If Israel wants the misery to stop, they can stop the terror that goes on in the West Bank. See how easy it is to take the simplistic and ridiculous Blame The Palestinians For Everything nonsense and continue with that logic....

btw, I don't understand that connection that yr drawing, and I'm certainly not a terrorist, so there goes that theory...

[parkia00]

14. So based on your arguments here....

Israel is also responsible for the actions of it's people. Like the settler thugs for example who seem to take great pleasure at bringing misery to some people?

[oberliner]

11. This Chinese state-run news source leaves out some pertinent information here

Namely, that the temporary closing of the crossing is due to the Rosh Hashanah holiday, and that it will be re-opened on Wednesday when the holiday is over. And that before the holiday, all three commercial crossings were open and hundreds of truckloads of goods entered Gaza via Israel.

Even Ma'an News includes this information in their article on the same topic.

Just out of curiosity, why is the Chinese state-run media your source for info on the I/P conflict? Clearly they are propaganda driven when it comes to their own government - I would assume this extends to their coverage of other international news as well.

[Violet_Crumble]

12. I don't see that as being particularly pertinent...

From the article:

'Fatouh added that the Israeli officials, who met with the Palestinians coordinators at Erez crossing on Thursday, stressed that no more facilities or cargo shipments to Gaza would be taken before Hamas releases the captured Israeli soldier held in Gaza.'

Also, I just read what's on google news and wasn't aware there was any problem with using this source. If there is, I'm sure the mods will let me know, but I've seen it used here plenty in the past, and haven't found anything to be concerned about when I've read articles from it. Thanks for yr concern, though :)

[oberliner]

13. Is that a quote?

The paragraph you cited from the Chinese article does not actually contain a statement from either the Palestinian gentleman or the unnamed "Israeli officials" who supposedly made those comments.

In any case, the "news" that this article appears to be reporting on is that the Palestinian side made a special request for specific items related to the celebration of Eid (such as sweets) to be transferred into Gaza over the days that the crossings were going to be closed due to Rosh Hashana and Israel did not accede to that request.

[azurnoir]

15. The Ma'an article states

During the Ramadan season officials requested an increased number of goods be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip including some sweets for the end of Ramadan celebration and school supplies. Israel refused both requests.

the Ramadan season that began on August 21, it does not say the request was made that the supplies be delivered specifically this weekend although I understand how you could have confused this as Eid is today

[Violet_Crumble]

17. No, but if you believe he wasn't told that, please show some proof of that...

Sorry, but the news in this article included that paragraph I posted in my previous post....

Also, even if crossings are closed because of a holiday in Israel, I find that to be no real reason to withhold goods from the Palestinian people during that time...

[oberliner]

16. Gaza: Israel to partially open three crossings

Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli authorities decided to partially open all three crossings following four days of total closure, and will allow approximately 60 truckloads of goods for the agricultural sector into the Strip, along with some wheat and fuel.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=227126

[ConsAreLiars]

18. 80 trucks ??? It took 450 truck loads of supplies per day just to maintain the Gazans at a

subsistence level."

From: Gaza 2009-Hit by an Iron Wall by Lawrence Davidson: http://www.logosjournal.com/?q=node/80

You, and others, might want to read the whole article. I think it describes the dominant Israeli mindset and strategy perfectly:

An excerpt:

"The strategy of conquest Jabotinsky goes on to propose flows logically from this alleged aspect of human nature. Colonization, he insists, must be pursued in a manner that results in an "iron wall which the native population cannot break through. This is, in toto, our policy towards the Arabs." What does Jabotinsky mean by an "iron wall?" For him it is not just a defensive concept. It is primarily an offensive one. For Jabotinsky, the Zionist policy should be one that forces the Palestinians to concede that there is no hope for them to be able to displace the Zionists and establish their own country. Only at that point is agreement between Zionists and Palestinian Arabs possible-wholly on Zionist terms. "Only when not a single breach is visible in the iron wall, only when the extreme groups lose their sway, and influence transfers to moderate groups," only then will the Palestinians accept their fate. Israeli governments, admittedly under an ever adaptive propaganda cover, have been following the Iron Wall policy for the last 61 years."

[oberliner]

19. Lawrence Davidson is a Hamas apologist with a very warped view of the conflict

He has written many pieces for Counterpunch which are riddled with factual inaccuracies and a decidedly slanted perspective.

I would encourage you to consider other sources for a more balanced view.