Gaza border crossing will remain free of European observers, Hamas official says

[bemildred]

Hamas will not call on international observers to supervise its newly opened border crossing with Egypt, a senior official of the militant group said on Sunday, as some 600 people made use of the newly opened border.

Ghazi Hamad said Palestinians saw no need for the immediate return of European observers to the disputed crossing as provided for under a 2005 deal with Israel.

"The Palestinians have proved their ability to operate the Rafah crossing," said Hamad, the deputy foreign minister in the de-facto Hamas government and the head of Gaza's border authority.

"There is no need for them at this time," he told Hamas' al-Aqsa Radio. According to the internationally-brokered agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, European observers should monitor the Rafah crossing.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/gaza-border-crossing-will-remain-free-of-european-observers-hamas-official-says-1.364767

[bemildred]

1. Israel ministers slam Rafah reopening

JERUSALEM: Israeli ministers on Sunday slammed Egypt's decision to reopen its Rafah border crossing with Egypt, warning that terror groups would be able to move weapons and people freely through the crossing.

Israel has warned that reopening the crossing, which Egypt closed to almost all traffic in 2007, would boost Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip and is designated a terror group by Israel, the United States and Europe.

"The free movement of people and cargo that will take place is simply going to be used in a more intensive manner to bring in ammunition and military equipment and moreover the free movement of terrorists," Israel's Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told reporters.

Cairo first announced in April that it planned to reopen the border, after Hamas signed a deal with rival Palestinian movement Fatah, ending a four-year rift that led to Egypt's closure of the Rafah crossing.

http://thedailynewsegypt.com/egypt/israel-ministers-slam-rafah-reopening.html

[PDJane]

2. What opening the crossing will do

Is put a monkey wrench in the plans for Israel to starve out the Palestinians. Of course they don't like it; they don't like anything that means independence of any kind.

[oberliner]

5. Ridiculous statement

I wonder how you would respond to a post saying that all opening the crossing will do is make it easier for Palestinians to bring in weapons to shoot at the Israelis.

[PDJane]

12. Standard Zionist response.

The reason that there have been so many aid flotillas is to bring attention to the plight of the Palestinians, who have been "put on a diet" by the Israelis. That's a direct quote, by the way, from 2006. 'The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger,' he said.

Sourced here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/apr/16/israel

Even before that, in 2004, "Malnutrition rates in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank are as bad as those in sub-Saharan Africa, MPs said yesterday. They warned that the Israeli security fence around the occupied territories was "destroying the Palestinian economy and creating widespread poverty"."

Unicef has said that "In 2010, while there was some progress towards achieving children’s rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), 1.9 million Palestinian children continued to suffer from the impact of occupation, the failure of the peace process, and intra-Palestinian divisions. The number of child deaths dropped drastically in 2010, from over 300 children killed in 2009 (year of “Cast Lead”) down to 11 children killed in 2010. However Palestinian children continue to face threats of killing, injury, poverty, displacement, detention, psychological distress and low learning achievement." (http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/44d2704f089623978525788000527d2b?OpenDocument) Read the entire thing. It's damning.

You know, it's hard to be too worried for the Israelis. They have the backing of the U.S., are well-armed and funded, and kill Palestinians at the rate of 100 to 1. I don't think the weapons that the Gazans manage to get inside the strip are going to do all that terribly much to the big picture.

[oberliner]

14. Yes, that's why I posted it

You made the "standard anti-Zionist statement" so I figured I would see what you thought of the
"standard Zionist statement" - personally, I think they are both ridiculous.

You can post links like the ones you did quoting various oft-repeated remarks, I could post quotes from UN officials saying there is no starvation in Gaza and we can go on and on playing that game. Or we can have a reasonable conversation that accounts for all of the various factors playing into the current situation.

I would note that the UNICEF link you provided is much more balanced and reasonable than the one-sided black-and-white version you appear to be presenting.

In the very first sentence of the excerpt you provided, the report lists three causes for the suffering of Palestinian children in 2010:

1. The impact of the occupation

2. The failure of the peace process

3. Intra-Palestinian divisions

The report goes on to criticize grave violations committed by both Palestinian armed groups and Israeli security forces.

It's a shame that you aren't too worried about Israeli children.

I'm glad that groups like UNICEF do not share your sentiments.

[PDJane]

15. They're more likely to survive.

They're less likely to be shot in the head, be subjected to nighttime home inspections, be dusted with white phosphorus, stopped at security points on the way to school, or be shot at while in school. They are more likely to survive the birth process.

It's easy to feel sorry for all children, wherever they are subjected to danger. Israeli children are not, as a rule. They are fed and dressed and given an education, allowed to travel...they have it relatively easy.

And frankly, Israel has put so many pre-conditions on the Palestine peace process that it's inevitable failure was only a surprise to the U.S..

[King_David]

11. What Rubbish

Your post is so over the top that it is rendered meaningless.

Anyone who creates a post like that , is not to be taken seriously in discussions.

[PDJane]

13. Uh huh. Right.

I don't intend to take anyone who calls himself King David and is so obviously a member of the Zionists seriously either.

[King_David]

20. Yea King David and Herzl roomed together.

Seriously they did.



:eyes:

[Shaktimaan]

22. a member of the Zionists?

I take it you don't consider yourself a zionist then? Why not?

And why would you not take a zionist seriously merely because they are one? That is the equivalent of disregarding the opinions of anyone who supports Palestinian nationhood.

[leveymg]

3. The European observers were part of the 2005 follow-on Agreement abrogated by the 2007 incursion.

That's the Palestinian position, as I understand it, anyway.

[bemildred]

4. I think the Egyptian position is what matters.

And the Egyptian government has other, more important things on its mind.

[oberliner]

6. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds

One "incident" on the Egypt side of the border could have serious consequences for all concerned parties.

[pelsar]

7. its not the complicated...

egypt will open the border for people and some goods....the military stuff and gas, etc will keep going through the tunnels. Hamas gets its taxes, the tunnel operators and their investors sill stay in business, iran gets to keep its influence and Egypt has an unwritten agreement with the tunnelers not to disrupt their sinai tourism.

Egypt gets to pretend their doing their part to keep the military hardware out of gaza, while helping the Palestinians with an open border.

______

nothing to complicated and pretty obvious.

[oberliner]

8. No need to be patronizing

Just saying that if something happens on the Egyptian side, there could be trouble all around.

It seems like this change offers the opportunity for someone living in Gaza who wishes to wreck some havoc in Egypt the opportunity to do so.

Especially against some of the softer "Western" targets in that country.

[pelsar]

21. not patronizing

didnt mean to sound like that...but its just obvious, at least to me. The Sinai is very vulnerable to Egypt (the bedouins tend to "own it") and important to Egyptian tourism. Hamas and friends no doubt will take the opportunity to advance their cause and connections to the Egyptian brotherhood and friends as well.

On the good side, avg gazan will get a chance to get out and 'travel" study work abroad etc.....and the gazan "concentration camp/warsaw ghetto/starving gazans, is no longer in existance

[bemildred]

9. Indeed. "We live in interesting times" and all that, and more to come I think. nt

[bemildred]

10. Egypt accuses Iranian diplomat of spying

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- An Iranian diplomat will be deported within two days after his arrest on suspicion of espionage, Egyptian authorities said Sunday.

"The state security prosecutor detained and questioned Iranian citizen Qassem Hosseini after the Foreign Ministry confirmed he is an Iranian diplomat," said Aly Hassan, a judicial analyst affiliated with the justice ministry.

The prosecutor, Taher El Khouli, accused Hosseini of trying to organize spy rings in Egypt while working in the Iranian Embassy in Cairo as an undercover operative, Hassan said. Hosseini was arrested in his home, where officials found spying devices banned in Egypt, according to Hassan.

Hosseini asked a group of people to gather information for him about Egypt and the Persian Gulf states, including information about the economy, politics, and military, in return for money, Hassan said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/05/29/egypt.iran.espionage/

[bemildred]

16. Egypt released Iranian diplomat after spying investigation: MENA

CAIRO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Egypt released on Sunday an Iranian diplomat arrested over spying charges after the Foreign Ministry confirmed his diplomatic status, state news agency MENA reported. The Iranian diplomat, identified as Qassem al-Husseini, was released by the Higher State Security Prosecution where he was questioned earlier on Sunday.

Husseini was arrested by Egyptian security authorities a few days ago in Cairo on charges of spying. He worked at the Iranian diplomatic mission in Egypt.

Initial investigation showed that he has been gathering and sending to Tehran the economic, political and military intelligence information of Egypt after the political unrest, in addition to that of other Gulf countries and Yemen, according to MENA.

He was part of a spy network that was trying to recruit agents in Arab Gulf countries, the official Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/29/c_13900107.htm

[bemildred]

17. Rights groups not satisfied by Gaza border opening

Human rights groups have welcomed Egypt's decision to open its border crossing with Gaza permanently but say it still does not go far enough.

The decision, which marks a major shift of policy, is the first time in four years Palestinians will have virtual freedom to leave the Gaza Strip.

But human rights campaigners say Gazans now face the irony of being allowed virtually anywhere in the world excluding the other Palestinian territory, the West Bank.

They accuse Israel of breaching its own agreement to grant Gazan residents permission to travel to the West Bank, where many have family they have not seen in years.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/30/3230366.htm?section=world

[oberliner]

18. Only one group, Gisha, is mentioned in this article

Not sure why they say "rights groups" in the headline and in the article but only reference one group.

It's also not entirely clear from the one quote they've included from a member of this group what argument they are making.

The statement is: "If they (Israel) want to have a say in security measures over the Rafah crossing, then they must allow passage between Gaza and the West Bank"

I thought, however, that Israel was not actually getting that say. That in fact the European monitors that were part of the agreement referenced are not being invited back.

[bemildred]

19. Heh.

1.) Nothing new about bullshit headlines.
2.) Perhaps Mr Zoaroub counts as a trivial "group".
3.) We all knew this would not be the end of it, just opening up Rafah, eh?
4.) Mr Landau doesn't seem happy either, although he is not a "rights group".
5.) Australia is a long way away, it's hard to get everything 100% right.
6.) No good deed goes unpunished.