Gunfire breaks out as Israel stops money transfer to starving Gaza
The lengths Israel will go to in order to starve the Palestinians reached a new peak yesterday when Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was delayed at the border for seven hours because he was carrying $35 million from Iran in an attempt to circumvent the Israeli/US/EU attempt to starve his people into submission.
Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres said the money must not be allowed in because it will be used to fund terror.Of course, Peres is implying that he wouldn't object to the money entering Gaza if it was going to feed the hungry - which is a lie. The official policy of the Israeli government is to starve the Palestinians.
"It won't go to the hungry Gaza residents," he said. "It will go to the tunnel diggers, to the weapons smugglers."
Israel's policy was summed up by Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, earlier this year. 'The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger,' he said. The hunger pangs are supposed to encourage the Palestinians to force Hamas to change its attitude towards Israel or force Hamas out of government.Whenever I hear people like Peres talk this self righteous bile, where they pretend that they have concern for people that they are actually starving, I feel slightly nauseous. Hypocrisy on this scale is seldom played out in front of your eyes.
The tensions caused by the Israeli intransigence set off a gun fight at the border which the Israelis are keen to portray as an attempt to assassinate Haniyeh. I have no idea whether an actual assassination attempt took place, but I am keenly aware that civil war within the Palestinian factions would suit Israel perfectly. She would much rather the Palestinians fought each other so that she could continue to concentrate on forcing the US to confront the Iranian attempt to acquire a nuclear weapon and remove her military superiority in the Middle East.
Haniyeh's attempt to feed his people has been noted and Israel plans to make sure further attempts will fail.
Israel has vowed to tighten enforcement of the international boycott of the Palestinian Authority following Haniyeh's attempt to enter Gaza with the suitcases of cash.Of course, when you read this story reported, it is reported in regard to an assassination attempt. As I say, that may or may not have been what transpired here, but what I find appalling is the lengths Israel is going to in order to ensure that the Palestinian plight remains severe.
Security sources in Israel said that Hamas officials who will attempt in the future to bypass the economic embargo on the Palestinian Authority will also not be allowed to cross back into the Gaza Strip.
Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for European monitors at the crossing, confirmed Haniyeh left the funds in Egypt. Hamas sources said the money had stayed in Egypt with two delegation officials, who would figure out what to do with it. Israel Radio said the money would be transferred Friday to the bank account of the Arab League in Cairo.The Palestinians will starve, Israel will see to that. Their crime? They democratically elected a government that the West and Israel disapprove of.
Israeli security sources said that the decision to close the border, which was made by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, was meant to stop the cash transfer, not to prevent Haniyeh's return.
This is the "democracy" that Bush seeks to export across the globe. Are we surprised that so few are embracing it?
Click title for source.
tag: Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Haniyeh
3 comments:
Beaman,
We either support the idea of democracy or we do not. We cannot say that we support democracy and then say we will only talk to the democratic representatives that we approve of. Nor can we say that we will starve people who vote for parties that we disapprove of.
You have a strange notion of democracy that is neither fair nor just.
Indeed, we must support democracies. Democracy is the ideal anywhere. Having said this, we (the West) cannot support a democracy (of which I find it hard to count the Palestinians as) that attacks another democracy (Israel in this case) or non-democracy.
Beaman,
At the time of their election Hamas had been operating a ceasefire towards Israel for sixteen months. A ceasefire that the Israelis did not reciprocate. So Hamas were not "attacking another democracy" when they were elected. They were seeking and delivering a ceasefire. It was Israel who were against the ceasefire.
And what do you mean, when you say you do not believe the Palestinians constitute a democracy?
The election was internationally monitered and no-one found any reason to doubt the result, not even Fatah or George Bush disagreed that this was the choice of the Palestinian people.
Why do you find it so hard to count the Palestinians as having made a democratic choice? Even if it is a choice that you disagree with. Why isn't their choice democratic?
Post a Comment