Amira Hass / Easing of siege may have negligible effect on Gaza
'During the past three years I lost all that my father managed to build in 50 years, this is the story of all Gazans.'
By Amira Hass Tags: Gaza Palestinians Israel news'Ketchup won't bring about the change we want'
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A Palestinian youth shopping at a supermarket in Gaza City. |
| Photo by: AP |
The decisions of the Israeli government regarding the easing of the siege on the Gaza Strip were not felt on the ground the day after the decision. The economist Muhammed Skaik, trade officer at the Gaza branch of the Palestinian trade center Paltrade, told Haaretz that improvement and change depend on a number of factors and cannot be measured only by the increase in the number of items permitted to be brought into the Strip.
"Since January this year," he said, "Israel has added every month or two about 10 items to the list of permitted items. But ketchup, snacks and mayonnaise, for example, which are now permitted, are not essential items that will genuinely change the situation."
Even if Israel announces tomorrow that it is adding 500 items to the list of what is allowed into the Strip, Skaik said, "we need time in order to assess the change - perhaps a month or two. The market is still full of items brought through the tunnels and it is possible that merchants will not immediately order 'permitted' items from Israel - because there are similar items from Egypt."
From the government's announcement it is still unclear what kinds and amounts of raw materials for production and construction will be allowed, Skaik says. "If construction materials are allowed in, change will be felt quickly. But if the change focuses only on secondary consumer goods, it will have no effect."
Attorney Sari Bashi, director of the NGO Gisha that closely follows the restrictions on the freedom of movement of persons and goods, says that as far as is known, the "easing" has not included construction materials or raw materials.
"Continuing the restrictions on the ability to produce will also limit the [Palestinians] buying power," she said.
Another unanswered question is whether Israel intends to allow the export of goods produced by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Skaik said. "Even if it allows into the Strip certain raw materials [for example for the textile industry that was always very developed in the Strip, until it was shut down three years ago], there is no point in ordering them if they will not be able to market their products like they did in the past [to Israel and the West Bank]."
In other words, it is possible that the producers will fear investing in the purchase of raw materials if selling outside the Strip is not guaranteed. This is true for the furniture industry and the food and agriculture industries.
Bashi says that if there is no promise of marketing outside the Strip, profitability will be low, which will affect the willingness and ability of producers to hire workers. Without employment the workers will not be able to acquire purchasing power. "Without an increase in buying power in the Strip there is no point in increasing the number of items on the list, because the merchants will not order more goods if they know that the people are unable to buy them."
There is also the question of whether it will be permitted to import spare parts for machines that broke down because they have been left derelict for so long.
A third unclear variable is the border crossings. "Without the opening of all the crossings, without expanding their hours of operation, there will be little impact on the decision to expand the list [of permissible items]," Skaik said.
"During the past three years I lost all that my father had managed to build in 50 years," said Fuad Juda, who owns a textile factory his father established in 1960. "This is the story of everyone, not only my story," he told Haaretz.
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Positive votes on comments against this article are not being counted. Try it for yourself. This minuscule issue shows a gigantic problem with journalistic honesty. I'm not surprised at all!
When will the Palestinians realize that they have far more benefits from peace with Israel than allowing the lunatic fringe to dictate their destiny. Allowing in goods to produce finished goods makes sense. Exporting them makes even more sense and Israel should not prevent this. IF Hamas is controlling all the funds by taking excessive profits from tunnel goods, when will the residents realize that they don't care about their people?? They would rather starve them and have them miserable and vulnerable to their terrorist ideals.
When will the Gazans realize... what?!?! It's ok for Israel to have a "democracy" and elect its own government but Gazans may only have democracy if they elect who "we" (Israelis) agree with? If they don't elect who "we" approve of, then we will punish them ALL!!! The Israeli government tries to absolve itself of guilt by displacing blame. It's the Israeli government that is forcing this blockade and inhumanely imprisoning 1.5million Gazans. Criticize Hamas all you want, but criticize them for only what they've done & not for what the Israeli government has done!
Siege, blockade, interdiction, lock-down, containment; there are a host of words describing the present Gaza position and none of them, it can be said, having much of a positive connotation. The same is also true of the overall situation; it's a tedious, expensive affair, unjust, not going anywhere, pointless, without rhyme or reason, just another instance of man's inability to get along with his fellowman. Maybe a better use of blockade tactics would be to use them against the entire conflict itself; cutting off the rationale that maintains it in being and enables it to trundle on regardless. It is only by carrying out a complete, root and branch reduction of the problem that any real progress can then be made. Reductio ad absurdum http://yorketowers.blogspot.com Or can you think of a better idea? After 60+ years, countless deaths and prohibitive expenditure, this now may be all that's left to us. And, if not this, what else is there but to continue ever onwards in the same old fashion?
Mr. Yorke. It is the Palestinians that refused to negotiate. The Arab world attacked, lost and refuses to pressure them to make peace. IT takes two to make peace. Thats the part the entire world including YOU don't realize.
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.. a time to mourn, and a time to dance.. a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace." (Ecc. 3:1-8) Amira, don't be a sourpuss. Better give us a little time to celebrate Israel coming to its senses at long last. And after a decent interval you may speak about the need of the ability to import raw materials and export products, which would rebuild the Gaza economy so that not all Gazans are paupers in need of international help to survive.
Gaza will only be helped progress by its own government denouncing terrorism and cease using all resources to terrorize Israel. Instead they must move to a path of development, building business and negotiating a better life for Gazans. Not everything depends on Israel and it is time for Hamas to either step up or step down.
Moral of the story: you get what you dish out.
"During the past three years I lost all that my father managed to build in 50 years, this is the story of all Gazans." I suspect that was one of the principal goals. Collective punishment for "not voting the right way". So much for believing in democracy and democratically elected governments as continuously espoused and lectured by Australia, Britain, Canada, Europe, USA and others. If you vote for someone we don't like, someone who will forbid actually "resist" us, we will repay you with prolonged punishment. We must be right, for the whole cowardly western world agrees with Israel.
You are free to elect whomever you want but you cannot terrorize outher populations with your rockets and suicide bombers.
Israel does not want to punish the Gazans for having put Hamas in power. only trying to defend itself from a regime and a people attempting to destroy Israel. Since this IOS what is at stake, I would say what was good for Churchill and Roosevelt is good for us too. Period.
So Israel is punishing Gaza for electing Hamas . There are alot of countries that do not recognise Israel- does Israel want to have a naval blockade on them too. Dont forget there are about 10000 palestinian prisoners in Isreal jails some of them minors. You are losing the moral high ground and support from friends very fast. I am one of them.
Those 10000 prisoners do not sit there for nothing. They have sentences for terrorism and Israeli jurisdiction is known to be independent from govt. Israel is not punishing just "for electing Hamas". In 2006 the EU commisioner Ferrero-Waldner gave Hamas 3 months to stop its aggressive escalation, but Hamas responded time and again that they do not bother. Remind you: (1) qassams and mortars, (2) annulation of the Oslo accords, (3) renouncing previous recognition of Israel, (4) refusing to alter their charter calling for destruction of their neighbour. More important than "moral high ground" is the ground safe from rockets. The bottom line is: Israel left Gaza already 4,5 years ago and from then every single rocket is one rocket too much.
Israel is not punishing Gaza for electing Hamas. Israel left Gaza unconditionally and what did she get back? Thousands of rockets and infiltrations for terror attacks. What do you expect Israel to do? Allow Hamas to bring into Gaza even more sophisticated and powerful weponry. Israel's mistake was that she bowed to international pressure to stop the war in Gaza instead of finishing her job and giving a deadly blow to Hamas - a recognised terror organization - nothing morer than that.
Israeli courts accept the prosecution definitions of 'terrorism' and 'security' without argument, and IDF witnesses are always believed. Also, many of these prisoners are suffering 'administrative detention', which means no trials at all for them, just internment. Finally, the Fourth Geneva Convention forbids an occupying power like Israel from imprisoning the people of an occupied territory anywhere except in their own lands. Israel is committing a crime by transferring Palestinians to Israeli prisons.
Of all the people in the world only Erdogan showed some emotions about their side of the story... but that one lasted just enough for him to run off the stage. If I had to judge what happened by Amira stories I would not even know Sderot exists.
just think about, from the beginig of the blockade, no single item, food, material, mechanical items, even cars were disappeared from the market, the only change is the price. so if israel claim that, they restrict some items because of it's bad usage, i think who want to do bad things will not think about money
In a democracy people get the government they deserve. They've no one to blame but themselves.
absolute agree
Then the Israelis deserve the the government that made Israel a pirate country.
To look in much details what future they choose in the next election.
announced last night that the easing of the blockade is a good start, but the situation for the population in Gaza is unacceptable. Israel will be expected to go a lot further in the coming days to assuage the International Community.
Why expect Israel to change when Hamas has not. Hamas is the cause of the problem. Without Hamas Gaza would be in good shape, Peace, Open borders, Jobs and all the good they need.
Don't do it next time. Simples!
if easing the blockade and allowing all civilian materials does not help, then the blockade was not causing famine like the terrorist supporters are claiming. False claims from the terrorist supporters ? Unheard of. If they want open boarders and freedom of movement just make the tiny step of giving up terrorism, missle attacks and return our kidnapped soldier. Give it a try.
All of you that always put all sorts of blame on Israel and denounce an incorrect siege on Gaza, please feel free to look at the West Bank. Why is there no siege there, maybe because they are no launching rockets and they accept Israels right to exist. Have a think of it and then decide if the Hamas way is the most appropriate for the people of Gaza.
Try losing a family member to terror and have to struggle on, everything changes. The Gazans choose Hamas, cheered their suicide bombers , cheered their rocket launchers. Israelis did not cheer anything, what we hoped Gaza would become did not materialism ( a peaceful prosperous place) we are not responsible for the Gazans choices and as in all life, you live with your own choices and the responsibility and consequences are yours too.
the families of the 9 dead (and 6 missing) aboard the Mavi Marmara feel the exact same way. And the polls seem to indicate that the majority of Israelis supported the flotilla raid, with marches and counter-protests, and the vast majority support the siege.
Palestinians in Gaza lost it all when they chose to back Hamas. As long as they back Hamas they will pay for their poor judgment. Even if they now choose freedom from Hamas they will pay a price from their captor. Either way they have placed themselves into a position in which they will not win on a personal basis. These Gazans are but pawns in a bigger game and their Arab brothers are willing to sacrifice them to get at Israel. They are an endangered species !
Israel is truly an amazing country. Hamas says everyday it won't recognize Israel, which it calls the Zionist entity, and yet the world is calling on Israel to open wide its doors to people and goods to and from Gaza. Weird.
Just imagine the Shalit's loss. If Gazans really want freedom, get rid of the rockets, give back Shalit, get rid of Hamas in an elections and the future will be theirs.
It is important to let the factories produce so they can hire workers to improve the situation in Gaza. Israel can open its market to this products as far as they compete with others similar products produced in Israel or elsewhere.From Fuad Juda words we could believe that before this last three years Gaza was a succesful society with a very developed economy .So why they perpetuated the refugee camps?
"During the past three years I lost all that my father had managed to build in 50 years," said Fuad Juda That is what happens when you vote in a terrorist organization who declared war in Israel to run your government. I still don't understand how they can whine about such things.
I'm not quite sure whether the '67 or '73 war's dire consequences and the 40 years which followed for the people in Gaza had anything to do with voting for anything. Anyhow, they were already in the mud, it just got a lot deeper in the last 3 years. In these elections, it was either Fatah, a party critiziced by everyone for being increadibly corrupte, unable to get anything done like providing basic services and largely seen as being the wilfull play ball between US (Bush back then who wasn't interested in a finding a solution at all) and Israeli interests, and Hamas, a organisation who is considered by the people as to not backing down or being bullied into agreements, uncorrupte, able to provide basic services and not having lost its crediblity in a peace process that made the situation for the Pal people a lot worse and was basically used by Israel to illegally annex half of the West Bank with no positive outcome for the Pals whatsoever. So yes, it can be confusing to have to vote in this situation, probably more confusing then when you have a look at the situation from a airconditioned office somewhere in a Western country. BTW, Hamas was a responsible part of the government until Israel put all their political representatives into prison (remember the number of missiles fired at Israel in the first half of 2006 by Hamas until Israel put them all in prison? no? go look it up, you will be surprised), tried to stage a coup d'etat (together with the US and Fatah) in the Gaza Strip and israel finally deliberatly broke the very stable ceasefire with Hamas in November 2008. So who exactly are you to ask them how they can whine about such things?
First half of 2006: June 25, 2006: Eliahu Asheri, 18, of Itamar, was kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists from the Popular Resistance Committees while hitchhiking from Betar Illit, southwest of Bethlehem, to Neveh Tzuf, where he was studying. His body was found on June 29 in Ramallah. Israeli Authorities believe Asheri was murdered by his captors shortly after his kidnapping. April 17, 2006: Nine people were killed and at least 40 wounded in a suicide bombing near the old central bus station in Tel Aviv. The blast ripped through Falafel Rosh Ha'ir, the same restaurant that was hit by an attack on January 19. The Islamic Jihad and Fatah’s Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades both claimed responsibility for the attack. The Hamas led PA government defended the suicide bombing, calling it an act of "self-defense." Hamas official spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the attack "a natural result of the continued Israeli crimes against our people". March 30, 2006: Four people were killed in a suicide bombing outside Kedumim in the northern West Bank. The Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades took responsibility for the attack. January 19, 2006: At least 30 people were injured in a suicide bombing near the old central bus station in southern Tel Aviv. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Amira, for you nothing is good enough. Even if we will hand over to Hamas the whole of Israel it will not be good enough for you. However, the Gazans can thank their overlords for the situation they find themselves. The Gazans get billilons of dollars. The whole word is only concerned with them. This terrorist entiry (and please include most Gaza and Gazans) want nothing else but the destruction of Israel. Monies which could go to other depressed minorities in Africa or anywhere else in the world the Gazans get it. Instead of building up Gaza they buy weapons, fabricate all sorts of stories about their plight and for all of it Israel is responsible. If there would not have been thousands of qassams against the Israel's civilian population, there would be no siege. But you Amira like to disregard this.
Both Israelis and Palestinians are responsible to the actions that their government take. I can't understand why Amira is feeling for people who elected Hmas to run their life, people who don't want peace. When you don't have peace you end up having war. There are no winners in any war. People who loose just goods, are lucyer than people who loose their life.
That if Hamas wouldn't have sent rockets into Israel the moment Israel pulled out of Gaxa, a siege would not have been necessary.
translation: The elected government of Palestine will "resist" Israel no matter what the borders. The picture tells it all. Well stocked shelves.
Well-stocked shelves in this picture yes. I would advise anyone wanting to see the true picture, to go onto any charity website for Gaza and see the puny amount whole families have to live on with food coupons for a month.
that shows the real situation contrary to the hamas-leftist propaganda. There is enough pictures on palestinian forums showing similar things. 1,5 years ago the BBC journalists who entered Gaza, reported the same. So what is in Gaza? An economic crisis, but no starvation whatsoever. Actually if you look at the map of Olmert's proposition of Palestinian state during the negotiations with Abbas in 2008, revealed by Haaretz, you can see that Gaza would get additional 100 km2 (extra 27% of their area now) of green land cultivated today by kibbutzniks. This is what could be if Hamas was a moderate movement aiming to achieve statehood by negotiations.....
I wonder if the Gazans thought through the consequences of their electing Hamas to lead them..Personally I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for them..
The Pals have shown what their made of... They refuse to fight like men so, they send their own kids to die, w/o a chance of survival. PLEASE PRINT.
Instead of judging them by your standards. When your economy is a disaster and the place is in chaos, you vote for whatever party that seems to put a hint of order and allows economic activity (even if it's trough illegal tunnels). You don't care about rockets, you care about being able to buy things for your family and rise out of poverty. Of course there are extremists but only considering them and ignoring the vast majority who only want peace and economic perspective is a major mistake. If your logic is pushed further, then we could say the Israels deserved the rockets because the country was created here, where other people were living (jews and arabs and more) before. So you see, you view is biased. More neutrality and common sense, please.
Now their underground tunnels are overstocked with unwanted products. And Hamas refuses to get the flotilla presents in. If Gazans want peace and prosperity let them overthrow Hamas ( if they can).