Israel announced today that it planned to “ease its blockade of Gaza“:
Israel plans to ease its blockade of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday following an Israeli Security Cabinet meeting, a step commended by major powers and brushed off by a Palestinian organization and government.”The government position is that Israel should open all the crossings of Gaza in accordance with 2005 AMA agreement, and end the closure regime,” Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib told CNN.
Tony Blair, envoy for the Middle East Quartet — the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — said in a statement Israel would publish a list of weapons and war items not permitted into Gaza rather than those permitted, and allow full access of civilian goods.
The Security Cabinet said last week it planned to revamp its policy, paving the way for a vote Sunday.”This comes as a partial manner due to international pressure but does not meet the minimal needs of the people in Gaza to live in dignity,” said Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee.
Ashraw said the steps were an improvement but the blockade should be completely lifted and the Israeli occupation ended.
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, told George Mitchell, Pres. Obama’s UN envoy to the Middle East, much the same thing:
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (Abu-Mazin) has stated that his meeting with US Peace Envoy George Mitchell in Ramallah yesterday focused on the issue of lifting the Gaza Strip blockade. He said in statements to Asharq al-Awsat that he stressed during the meeting that lifting the blockade off Gaza “must include all the crossings and all the needs of our people in Gaza and not somewhere in between.” He added that “I asked them to specify the commodities which they insist should not enter and not the ones that are allowed.”
BBC News reports that the Israeli Prime Minister said in his announcement that building and construction materials will be taken off the banned items list:
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a long list of previously banned items, which included some food, domestic equipment and building materials would be replaced by a shorter, specific list of “weapons and war materiel”.”From now on, there is a green light approval for all goods to enter Gaza except for military items and materials that can strengthen Hamas’s military machine,” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the AFP news agency.
According to the Israeli paper Haaretz, it was former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who came up with the plan and then pitched it to Netanyahu. The Haaretz piece also goes into more detail about the formerly forbidden items that will now be allowed into Gaza:
The highlight of the new policy is to be the creation and distribution of a detailed “black list” of goods that will not be permitted into the Gaza Strip. Only weapons or “dual-use” materials that could be used to manufacture weapons will be on the list. Any item not on the list will be permitted into Gaza.
At present, Israel allows into Gaza only 114 items appearing on a list that was updated every few months. As a result of the change, thousands of items will be permitted into the Strip.
Large quantities of building materials are to be brought in for projects with PA approval such as schools, clinics and water and sewage infrastructure. Building materials for homes in Khan Yunis and other Gazan towns will also be allowed in. All construction projects are to be under close UN supervision to ensure that Hamas does not use the building material for fortifications and bunkers.
“Israel seeks to keep out of Gaza weapons and material that Hamas uses to prepare and carry out terror and rocket attacks toward Israel and its civilians,” Netanyahu said. “All other goods will be allowed into Gaza.”
Al-Jazeera points out the elephant in the room:
Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin, in Jerusalem, said: “There is no doubt that a great deal of the attention that has focused on changing or adjusting Israel’s policy on Gaza has been in the wake of the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ incident back on May 31.”
He also said that in Israel there was “strong criticism” that the government has caved under international pressure with the decision and consequently jeopardised the country’s security.
However, he added that other people in Israel are saying that the move is simply an attempt to deflect or alleviate some of the pressure and Israel should end the blockade totally.
Mohyeldin added that the move had been facilitated by Tony Blair, the international Middle East envoy, who held talks with Netanyahu during the past few days.
The Jerusalem Post has a very well-written op-ed by Alon Ben-Meir who, according to the biographical note at the end of the op-ed, teaches international relations and Middle Eastern studies at New York University. The heart of Ben-Meir’s argument is that Israel should treat the flotilla incident as an opportunity to advance its security interests in more enlightened and forward-looking ways. The piece deserves to be read in full, but here is an excerpt:
Regardless of the intended purposes of the blockade of Gaza, the tragic incident surrounding the flotilla has brought it into international focus, and Israel will find itself under increasing pressure from foes and friends alike to lift the blockade in the coming weeks. Although Israel has legitimate security reasons to maintain the blockade – to prevent certain materials, including weapons, from entering Gaza – that should not preclude finding an alternative arrangement that can still satisfy its security concerns.
The tragic events on the flotilla should serve as a catalyst for Israel, Turkey and the US to change the regional political environment for the better before the conflict and rising tensions spin out of control.
Israel must do what best serves its national security interests, but at this point it is necessary to take a much wider view of those interests because the prospect of regional instability is forcing other players, such as the leading Sunni Arab states, to reassess their position, especially in the wake of the growing Iranian nuclear threat. Added to this is the uncertainty about Iraq’s future stability and how the brewing Israeli-Lebanese tension might play out.
SINCE THE Gaza incursion in 2008, Israel has had ample opportunities to demonstrate a gesture for peace, ease the blockade and show that it rewards nonviolence. Yet little progress has been made by the Netanyahu government, and unfortunately Israel now has less maneuvering room and faces mounting pressure to act. To prevent a continuation of this downward spiral, there is no better time than now to take the lead, demonstrate creativity and take a number of steps which could change the dynamics without being apologetic.
To start with, Israel must waste no time to expand its own inquiry into the tragic flotilla events. As it has been said time and again, the investigation must be credible, thorough, transparent and comprehensive. To do this, the US, Turkey and EU representatives should be invited to take part. Israel should have nothing to hide, but even if its military is found responsible of terrible negligence leading to the death of nine Turks, there is no better way to settle the matter than through such a multinational investigation, while leaving no doubt about the integrity of the inquiry.
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