Hey, who am I to tell the Israelis what to do but in my most humble opinion, easing ANY blockade restrictions on Gaza due to the international clamor over the flotilla incident is madness and a horrible, horrible decision, but that is what Israeli Cabinet members will be voting on - to greatly reduce the number of items currently blocked from entering Gaza by land. The naval blockade is not being considered for change.
From the report at Breitbart:
I've said it so many times, I'm blue in the face - you simply cannot give an inch when it comes to dealing with islamists. I ask the Israeli Cabinet members this question: Do you really think there is ANYONE in the whacked out world of whiners and propagandists that will give a rat's ass if you let some more items into Gaza? Well, my answer is "Hell No!"
This is a game of chess. The opponents of Israel want their queen and king, they want checkmate - they don't want a pawn (more items going into Gaza) or even a rook (the end of the naval blockade). Nope. The enemies of Israel want it destroyed and they use this worn out propaganda tool of "international outrage" to work to that end.
Don't fall for the BS, Israel. Please. Stand firm and it will pass. I promise. You give this minions of Satan an inch, they'll take you're head off.
From the report at Breitbart:
Israel will significantly ease its bruising land blockade of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, officials said, in an effort to blunt the widespread international criticism that has followed a deadly Israeli commando raid on a blockade-busting flotilla.
Senior Cabinet ministers were meeting to limit restrictions on what gets into Gaza—materials Israel says militants could use in their battle against the Jewish state—to a short list of goods, some of them desperately needed by Gaza civilians.
But the Israeli naval blockade that was at the root of the deadly raid that prompted the international outcry will remain intact.
I've said it so many times, I'm blue in the face - you simply cannot give an inch when it comes to dealing with islamists. I ask the Israeli Cabinet members this question: Do you really think there is ANYONE in the whacked out world of whiners and propagandists that will give a rat's ass if you let some more items into Gaza? Well, my answer is "Hell No!"
This is a game of chess. The opponents of Israel want their queen and king, they want checkmate - they don't want a pawn (more items going into Gaza) or even a rook (the end of the naval blockade). Nope. The enemies of Israel want it destroyed and they use this worn out propaganda tool of "international outrage" to work to that end.
Don't fall for the BS, Israel. Please. Stand firm and it will pass. I promise. You give this minions of Satan an inch, they'll take you're head off.
Israeli ministers to vote on easing Gaza blockade
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel will significantly ease its bruising land blockade of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, officials said, in an effort to blunt the widespread international criticism that has followed a deadly Israeli commando raid on a blockade-busting flotilla.
Senior Cabinet ministers were meeting to limit restrictions on what gets into Gaza—materials Israel says militants could use in their battle against the Jewish state—to a short list of goods, some of them desperately needed by Gaza civilians.
But the Israeli naval blockade that was at the root of the deadly raid that prompted the international outcry will remain intact.
It also wasn't clear whether key raw materials for industry would be permitted to enter again and whether Israel would end its ban on Gazan exports.
The three-year-old embargo has shuttered hundreds of Gazan factories, put tens of thousands of people out of work and brought the territory's fragile economy to a standstill. Travel restrictions that confine most of Gaza's 1.5 million people to the territory are also likely to remain in effect.
Israel, with Egypt's cooperation, has blockaded the Palestinian territory by land and sea ever since Hamas militants, with a violent anti-Israel agenda, seized control of Gaza in 2007.
For the most part, only basic humanitarian goods have been allowed in.
Items such as cement and steel, badly needed to rebuild homes and businesses after Israel's war in the territory last year, have barely been allowed in. Israel says militants can use them to build weapons and military fortifications.
Under the new guidelines, those materials will be allowed in to an undetermined extent in coordination with the United Nations, but won't be freely available to private citizens, Israeli officials said. Restrictions on things like school supplies, books, computers and toys are expected to be lifted.
"It would be nice for Gaza residents to be able to receive previously banned items such as paper, toys and computers," said Sari Bashi, an Israeli activist whose Gisha rights group has been fighting to open Gaza's borders. "But Gaza residents need to be able to receive raw materials in order to engage in productive, dignified work."
The blockade was designed to keep out weapons, turn Gazans against their militant Hamas rulers and pressure the Iranian-backed Hamas to free a captive Israeli soldier. It did not achieve those aims, however, and both weapons and goods sold at black market prices continued to flow into the territory through a large network of smuggling tunnels built under the Gaza-Egypt border.
The blockade did not provoke an international outcry until Israeli commandos killed nine Turks two weeks ago in a raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that sought to draw attention to the blockade's effects.
With pro-Palestinian activists promising to keep blockade-busting boats coming, Israel has been scrambling to find ways to ease the embargo and its own growing international isolation.
Relaxing the restrictions on goods that go through Israeli-controlled land crossings is less complicated than easing the sea blockade. Israel is afraid that weapons ships will stream into Gaza if the naval blockade is lifted, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing that Israel would "not allow the establishment of an Iranian port in Gaza."
On Wednesday, a top Israeli security chief warned against lifting the sea blockade, saying that even international inspectors would not be able to keep Israel safe.
The Haaretz newspaper on Wednesday quoted international envoy Tony Blair as hailing the expected vote by the Israeli ministers.
"It will allow us to keep weapons and weapon materials out of Gaza, but on the other hand to help the Palestinian population there," Blair was quoted as saying. "The policy in Gaza should be to isolate the extremists but to help the people"
Blair represents the Quartet of Mideast negotiators—the U.S., European Union, U.N. and Russia.
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