New Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza?

Egypt began work to seal off smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a security source said, two days after gunmen shot dead 16 Egyptian border guards in an attack blamed partly on Palestinian jihadi militants.

...The government in Cairo said gunmen behind Sunday's attack had reached Egypt via the Gaza smuggling tunnels.

A Reuters reporter in the border town of Rafah said heavy equipment was brought to the Egyptian side of the tunnels, which are used to smuggle people to and from Gaza but also food and fuel that are a lifeline for the small enclave's population.

"The campaign aims at closing all the openings between Egypt and the Gaza Strip that are used in smuggling operations," said the security source.

^

Hurray For Mr. Roberts...in London

Andrew Roberts asserts in the London Times that

The charities are guilty, not the BBC, The Corporation is right not to run the Gaza appeal. Oxfam and others are clearly anti-Israel

and he continues

The reason that his decision is brave and right, however, is that many of the 13 charities that make up the DEC are even more mired in anti-Israeli assumptions than the BBC itself.

...Who adjudicates on which victims to support via such charitable aid - and according to whose political morality? Why did the BBC not launch an appeal for the victims of collateral damage during Nato's bombing of Serbia in 1999 during the Kosovo campaign?...what about the Palestinian victims of Hamas's hideous human rights abuses, still so shamefully under-reported by the British media as a whole?

...In the months prior to the decision by Hamas to end the six-month ceasefire and resume rocket attacks, these charities issued a flood of one- sided denunciations aimed at Israel. Their campaign repeated tendentious and often highly inaccurate terms such as “collective punishment” and “violation of international law”...The fact that Hamas chose to pursue war with Israel rather than the welfare of its people, was not covered in these reports. There was no sense that any of these claims might be disputed by the other side or by genuinely neutral observers.

...Violence against Israelis, including deaths, are virtually ignored by Oxfam officials, who have referred to “collective punishment illegal under international humanitarian law yet tolerated by the international community”...

...On February 7 last year, for example, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that “at least ten trucks with humanitarian aid sent to the Gaza Strip by the Jordanian Red Crescent Society were confiscated by Hamas police shortly after the lorries entered the territory”. Journalists also reported that the aid was “unloaded in Hamas ministry warehouses” and that a similar seizure took place in January 2008...Do the 13 charities and their political allies that are so vocally attacking the “cowardly” BBC really have the guts and wherewithal to do a proper audit on how those monies might be spent in today's Gaza Strip? I, for one, do not believe it.

I Agree With Prof. Gerald Steinberg

I agree with Prof. Gerald Steinberg (although not on all issues) who wrote:-

The 2002 Israeli operation in Jenin that followed Palestinian mass terror attacks was accompanied by false claims of a “massacre,” and allegations of “war crimes” and “disproportionality.” This pattern was repeated in the 2006 war with Hizbollah. The rhetoric of international law was used as a weapon, and the United Nations human rights...­joined in the one-sided attacks against Israel. Ideological non-governmental organisations (NGOS) with huge budgets, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, joined dozens of Palestinian Solidarity groups in supporting the soft-power warfare, while violations of the human rights of Israeli civilians were ignored or justified.

The same strategy has been followed by Hamas...A ceasefire would then allow Hamas to rebuild its arsenal and extend the range of missile even further, to include Tel Aviv – the center of the Israeli economy.

The key to this scenario and a Hamas victory is international pressure on Israel based on the soft power. Here again, the publicity generated by NGO superpowers­Oxfam, Amnesty, and the numerous pro-Palestinian groups­play a central role. For months, these organizations have ignored the missile attacks from Gaza and use of human shields by Hamas in schools and mosques used to launch missiles. They campaigned against what they refer to as an Israeli policy of “collective punishment” and promoted allegations of a “humanitarian crisis.”

But the reality is quite different: the images of a power shortage and photos of Palestinians reading by candle light were staged, and the Israeli Defence Force stated last week that the World Food Program has halted food shipments to Gaza because storage facilities are overflowing. Under Hamas, Gaza’s main industry became the import and manufacture of rockets and mortars – over 6,000 have been used against Israel. Had these resources been devoted to peaceful endeavors, including the use of agricultural facilities built by Israel, life in Gaza could have been entirely different.

Thus, while many well-intentioned human rights campaigners blame Israel and call for an end to the fighting, the organisations to which they belong share the moral responsibility for this tragedy and loss of life. A ceasefire that only prepares the way for the next and more deadly round will accomplish nothing. To make a lasting and moral difference, the double standards and deep prejudices that have eroded the essential universality of human rights, and allowed leaders of groups like Hamas to expect “victories,” must also end.

Yesterday's Humanitarian Aid Permitted to Gaza

We're such suckers.

But, then again, we have this from Israeli academic Neve Gordon:

'There is something extremely cynical about how Israel explains its use of humanitarian assistance, and yet such unadulterated explanations actually help uncover an important facet of postmodern warfare. Not unlike raising animals for slaughter on a farm, the Israeli government maintains that it is providing Palestinians with assistance so that it can have a free hand in attacking them. And just as Israel provides basic foodstuff to Palestinians while it continues shooting them, it informs Palestinians--by phone, no less--that they must evacuate their homes before F-16 fighter jets begin bombing them.'

Gaza's Real Humanitarian Crisis

The Guardian has this op-ed by Victoria Brittain, a former associate foreign editor of the Guardian and author (Hidden Lives, Hidden Deaths; Death of Dignity), a research associate at the London School of Economics and a patron of Palestine Solidarity,



suggesting that the two foreign ministers of England and France, Mr Miliband and Mr Kouchner have an "invisible humanitarian crisis on their hands" [invisible? after Tony Blair's former sister-in-law's visit?]. And she suggests

...they should announce visits to Jerusalem to speak to Israel's leaders, and then arrive by helicopter (the airport is destroyed) in Gaza City, breaking the Israel military's 17-month siege of Gaza.

and there they would see, she claims,

...how Israel's collective punishment of 1.5 million people has crippled Gaza's economy, cut fuel and electricity, leaving its desperate people hungry, deprived of medicines, with hundreds barred from travelling for operations or healthcare, or for education.

She notes that

...the former US first lady, Rosalyn Carter. Mrs Carter deplored the fact that "the closure of Gaza is making it impossible for people to lead normal lives," and said she looked forward to the conference's recommendations.

And she complains

Do Miliband and Kouchner really not know what Mrs Carter knows about the devastating impact on people of Israel's continuing control over the Gaza Strip's borders, airspace and coastal water? Or about the effect of Israeli military occupation, checkpoints, and the wall, in crushing economic, social and intellectual life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank?

But not once, not even to condemn it or support it, does she mention the Arab terror, the Arab refusal to acknowledge Israel's existence or any of the foibles, mistakes or other irrresponsibilities of the rulers of Gaza for their own fate.

Shame on you Brittain.


P.S.

Arab terrorists bombarded Sderot and Gaza Belt communities and Ashkelon Wednesday morning with more than 40 Kassam rockets and mortar shells after the IDF killed six terrorists and destroyed a tunnel that was to be used to kidnap soldiers. The tunnel was located underneath the home of an Arab family, and the IDF stated that its construction, adjacent to the separation barrier was a "blatant violation of the ceasefire." The soldiers withdrew before dawn.

Ms. Brittain, the rockets were aimed at civilians, only civilians and purposefully at civilians.

This is the real humanitarian crisis.

Or is it that Ms. Brittain is not really a humanitarian?


P.P.S.

Two Kassam rockets were fired into Ashkelon Wednesday morning, Army Radio reported. The rocket fell in an open field.

Who Said Kibbutznikim Are Socialists?

They're making money off of "humanitarian" efforts:-

The IDF closed Sufa Crossing on Tuesday after a Channel 10 crew managed to bypass Israeli security, cross into the Gaza Strip and interview several Palestinians.

Angry truck drivers began to throw rocks at the television crew and soldiers had to break up the ensuing brawl. The crew was then taken for police questioning for their unauthorized entry into the Strip.

The closure of the crossing sparked angry reactions towards Channel 10, which responded that their crew had exposed a severe security flaw which allowed goods to cross into Gaza without being screened.

Channel 10 claimed that the crossing operated under the control of Kibbutz Sufa, which benefited financially because of the terminal's use. The crew also discovered that each truck driver paid NIS 400 to Kibbutz Sufa in order to cross.

Source.

Another Conclusion

Blogger buddy (is that a new term?) Jameel posted about the Arab from Gaza who exploited his humanitarian employee status with Doctors Without Morals, er, Borders, to infiltrate into Israel to try to assassinate our Prime Minister and other politicans and had this to say:-

If a humanitarian-medical organization would say that about Dr. Baruch Goldstein, don't you think they would immediatly lose their legitimacy in the eyes of the world (and media), yet they can say that about Mazab Bashir?

Also, this is just another reminder of how Palestinian terrorists use "medicine" as a cover, be it smuggling terrorists, bombs and weapons in ambualnces, or inflitrating Doctors without Borders...

While true, I think the better conclusion is that how come, after some six (6!) years with this peace/humanitarian/moral organization, Mr. Bashir didn't learn a durn thing about peace/non-violence/humanitarnism/morality/love of fellow man (oh, isn't that humanitarism?)

What, have they no influence? Are they no a useful group? Or do they help hate Israelis?

Why don't you ask this fellow:

Michael Goldfarb
Press Officer
Direct: (212) 763-5783
Mobile: (917) 353-5408
E-mail: michael_goldfarb@msf.org

or go here and ask them?

U.S. Headquarters

By Mail 333 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10001-5004
By Phone (212) 679-6800
By Fax (212) 679-7016

And amazingly, just after I e-mailed them for their reaction, up it went now, 16:30 Israel time:

May 18, 2007
MSF Reacts to Charges Issued Against Palestinian Staff Member

Jerusalem/Paris, May 18, 2007 — On May 17, Mr. Mossaab Bashir, a member of the staff of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the Gaza Strip, was charged by an Israeli court with "contact with a foreign agent" and "conspiracy to commit a crime." Mr. Bashir was arrested on April 19, 2007 in Jerusalem after attending an MSF work meeting. The charges handed down against Mr. Bashir are in no way related to either MSF or to its activities [as I write above, I thionk they certainly do relate].

The judicial proceedings against Mr. Bashir are just beginning, therefore he must be presumed innocent until a court of law declares otherwise. MSF will carefully monitor the developments of the case until a verdict is rendered.

MSF has been working in the Palestinian Territories (Gaza and the West Bank) since 1989 and has always scrupulously complied with the security rules and regulations of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) concerning movements of its staff. In this regard, Mr. Bashir had obtained all required authorizations by the IDF enabling him to travel to Jerusalem and pass through military checkpoints [ah, so it's our fault he got into to Israel? We should have used the GSS better or would DWB - pronounced dwab, rhymes with drab - have protested that?].

In a context of extreme politicization and radicalization of the violence, MSF pays meticulous attention to maintaining the neutrality and impartiality of its humanitarian intervention.

The Palestinian Territories are a particularly violent conflict zone [especially when Arabs start killing Arabs]. Needs are increasing. The suspension of the international assistance and the blockade on Gaza [what blockade? aren't arms, ammunition and explosives making their way in?] make humanitarian aid even more crucial. Following the charges against Mr. Bashir, MSF is concerned about confusion generated over the role of humanitarian action [you bet but the confusion is whether humanitarian organizations are humanitarian or political themselves and very anti-Israel]. This would contribute to further reducing access to the population, and correspondingly increase the insecurity for our teams in the Palestinian Territories and the whole Israeli territory [and what about the Kassams? they don't count?].