or is that a Misunderstanding? (see below this excerpt)
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
January 16, 2009
...
SECRETARY RICE: ...The current crisis in Gaza was instigated by Hamas, a terrorist group that has called for the destruction of Israel, and refused to extend the calm, and still holds Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier, who was captured.
The Israelis cannot be expected to live under daily threats, nor should Gazans be put at risk by Hamas’s reckless targeting of Israel or endure the brutality of life under Hamas. Hamas has presided over the degradation of safety and well-being of innocent Palestinians since it seized power in a violent coup against the legitimate Palestinian Authority 18 months ago.
We’ve said repeatedly that the continued supply of armaments to Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza, including by some in the region, is a direct cause of the current hostilities. It is, therefore, incumbent upon on us in the international community to prevent the rearmament of Hamas so that a ceasefire will be durable and fully respected. There must be an international consensus that Gaza can never again be used as a launching pad against Israeli cities.
This Memorandum of Understanding that we will sign today responds to that need...
FOREIGN MINISTER LIVNI: ...Israel is fighting today against the Hamas terrorist organization that has taken Gaza hostage and continues to target the citizens of Israel. We are fighting Hamas that continues to hold Gilad Shalit and even denies him ICRC access.
I’ve said from the outset that ending the fighting in Gaza will not be achieved by agreements with terror, but with effective arrangements against it...Israel left Gaza Strip years ago. When we left, Hamas claimed that terror made us leave. But the truth is that it was the hopeful peace that made us leave Gaza, and terror that forced us, and forced our soldiers, to come and fight in Gaza today.
After years of restraint, Israel has shown that it will no longer tolerate attacks on our citizens, and that there will be high price for terror from Gaza against our citizens...
...even after the fighting ends, we reserve our right to act to defend ourselves against those activities in Gaza, including weapons smuggling and buildup of military capabilities. But this can be prevented by actions of the international community, according to this MOU. In this MOU, we have agreed on a series of actions with regional and international players in order to complement Egyptian actions and end the flow of weapon to Gaza...
I don't really understand this.
Remember this?:-
Consider this almost two year-old news item:
America transfers $23 million worth of aid to Egyptians, agrees to send engineering teams to assist in locating smuggling tunnels; budget also for building sturdier fence on Gaza-Egypt border
...American officials have agreed to a $23 million aid package from which most will go towards purchasing technology to prevent the fence from being perforated and for locating underground smuggling conduits, according to information received in the Israeli political circuit...the US intends to send teams from the US Army Corps of Engineers to the Egyptian side of the Gaza-Egypt border in the near future. Theses teams will assist Egyptian forces deployed along the frontier pinpoint the locations of smuggling tunnels west of the border in the Rafah area.
and this
Angry at Hamas' ability to fire rockets at Israel, the United States last year allocated $23 million to help train Egyptian officials to stop the smuggling into Gaza through tunnels at a border plagued by crisis and corruption.
Months later, there is little noticeable effect: Smuggling has continued at a robust pace, allowing Hamas militants in Gaza to gain rockets to shoot at Israeli citizens. Israel's military says about 300 tunnels ran under the Gaza-Egypt border before its military offensive began Dec. 27. Since then, Israel has bombed dozens of them.
The story of the U.S.-funded program and its lack of impact on the problem is a cautionary tale of how hard it has been to control Gaza's border with Egypt _ at a time when patrolling that frontier and stopping the weapons flow are once again hot issues as mediators seek a cease-fire in Gaza.
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2 comments:
When you need to smuggle in medical supplies and food because the country that borders you put a lock on everything coming into the country. You can't give money to lock people into a country most would leave if they could and not expect weapons to come along with everything else. Israel and the US are running the most ignorant foreign policy plan ever if they expect this to work. Guns and medical supplies use the same pipeline make trade legit in Palestine and you might have better luck. Try to find ways to punish Hamas without punishing the Palestinian people and you'll have better luck with peace.
Jeff, please, don't be border-line silly. Even at this moment Israel is allowing others and even pouring in itself, humanitarian aid. The tunnels were for arms, ammunition and missiles and then they realized they could make money and it became an industry.
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