It is time for Israel to completely end the Gaza strip embargo? In a post on RealClearWorld Meir Javedanfar, Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst and co-author of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran, argues that it is.
Here’s how he begins his piece:
Meir Javedanfar is an Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst and co-author of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran.
The Gaza siege has strengthened Hamas’ standing with Arab and Muslim organizations around the world. But the opposite has been the case for Israel. It is one of the reasons behind the massive deterioration in its relations with Turkey, which was, until recently, a key strategic ally and a friendly Muslim country. Strategically and politically, this has been a major setback. The siege has also nullified the political benefits which Israel stood to reap from its brave and just decision to remove settlements from the Gaza strip.
There is no doubt that Hamas is a terrorist organization which teaches hate to Palestinian children and indiscriminately fires rockets into Israel’s cities. The government of Israel must defend itself and its citizens from the activities and racist policies of this organization. However, the time has come for Israel’s leadership to reassess the economic, political and strategic viability of its policies with regards to the siege, because it is not working.
Any Israeli politician who believes that the Palestinians are going to pour onto the streets to get rid of Hamas due to the Gaza blockade is deluding himself. This is not going to happen. Only Hamas and its dismal economic policies and corrupt leaders could push the people into such actions.
It is time to make Hamas truly responsible for its actions; to transfer the burden and costs from Israel to its leadership.
His recommendation? Israel should lift the embargo.
Go to the link to read his reasoning why and what could happen if the embargo is lifted.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.