The Closing of Rafah - A Tale of Two Narratives

...Front page news? “Israel Turns Gaza Into Prison.” UN Security Council resolution? “Urgently demands that the Government of Israel open the passage and permit those needing medical attention to reach doctors and hospitals.” The U.S. State Department? Perhaps it says “We are deeply troubled by the humanitarian dimension and believe the passage should be opened immediately….” Marches and demonstrations in European capitals? “This is Genocide!” signs say. Nope. Because the crossing in question is Rafah crossing, between Gaza and Egypt not Israel, and the country keeping it closed is Egypt.

Elliott Abrams..
Pressure Points..
23 November '14..

Think about this: Israel closes the major crossing point into Gaza. Thousands of Gazans are stranded in other countries and cannot get home. In Gaza a thousand more people, in need of medical treatment outside, cannot get out. They are “suffering from medical problems including kidney failure, cancer and blood-related diseases [and] seek urgent treatment or further diagnosis….” A health ministry official says “If the closure continues, their health conditions will deteriorate and we may start to witness some deaths.”

Another report states that “Officials of the Palestinian Authority say they are growing increasingly resentful….for continuing the closure of the…border crossing…which has now been closed for over a month.” This report says the number of stranded Palestinians is now 3,500, in addition to the thousand inside Gaza who need medical care outside.

Front page news? “Israel Turns Gaza Into Prison.” UN Security Council resolution? “Urgently demands that the Government of Israel open the passage and permit those needing medical attention to reach doctors and hospitals.” The U.S. State Department? Perhaps it says “We are deeply troubled by the humanitarian dimension and believe the passage should be opened immediately….” Marches and demonstrations in European capitals? “This is Genocide!” signs say.

Nope. Because the crossing in question is Rafah crossing, between Gaza and Egypt not Israel, and the country keeping it closed is Egypt. The Palestinians are “resentful,” in that story, about the government of Egypt. The health conditions of the people who are “suffering from medical problems” are suffering because of Egypt.

In Gaza, puzzlement all over again

...So Hamas is meant to get none of the incoming materials. They are intended for the Gazan people. Comprehending this might take the Daily Sabah people and their readers some way towards understanding why (a) the thugs of Hamas have no problem firing more rockets into Israel, and (b) Israel wants Gazans to understand that Israel-bound rockets fired by Hamas rocket-men from the alleys where they live come at a price.

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
02 November '14..




In Gaza, they're evidently at a complete loss to explain some recent developments:

ISRAEL CLOSES TWO GAZA CROSSINGS WITHOUT MENTIONING ANY REASON | Israel will on Sunday close down Gaza's only functioning two crossings, namely Kerem Shalom and Erez. Israeli authorities had told the Palestinian side that they would close down Kerem Shalom, Gaza's only functioning commercial crossing, on Sunday, even without mentioning any reasons, Mounir al-Ghalban, the head of the Palestinian side of the crossing, told Anadolu Agency. He added that Israeli authorities did not mention a date for reopening the crossing, warning against the effect of the crossing closure on Gaza's foodstuff supplies. Israeli authorities will also close down Erez Crossing in northern Gaza, al-Ghalban said. He added that only Palestinians on emergency would be allowed to cross between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank through the crossing. [Daily Sabah (a Turkish publication), yesterday]

No reasons? We can help. Here's a little fresh background via Ynet:

(Continue)

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Fairy tales, fables and the Gaza siege

...The entire world, certainly Israel, lined up to make Gaza the jewel of the Middle East, a paradise on earth. But the Palestinians chose to turn it into a hell of terrorism, firing rockets at Israeli civilians and digging tunnels to use for acts of mass terrorism. The withdrawal from Gaza itself was conducted under fire, and afterward the entire Strip became the base for an ongoing war crime against Israeli civilians -- first under Abbas, and two years later under the Hamas regime.

Uri Heitner..
Israel Hayom..
14 August '14..

According to the reports out of Cairo, one of the main issues in the negotiations, maybe the biggest one, is Hamas' demand to remove the Israeli blockade on Gaza. The Palestinian narrative of the "siege" has taken roots in the public consciousness, to the point where we have also fallen into the trap. Is Gaza really under a siege?

The "siege" narrative was born after Israel's disengagement from Gaza in the summer of 2005 to replace the Palestinian narrative of "occupation," as an excuse for terrorism against Israel. After the withdrawal from Gaza, when the settlements were uprooted and every last trace of every last Jew eradicated, the Palestinians couldn't cling to their claim of "occupation." So ever since they have painted Gaza as an area under a "brutal siege."

This claim has to be examined starting from the disengagement. Israel withdrew and responsibility for Gaza was transferred to Palestinian Authority, under President Mahmoud Abbas. The entire world, certainly Israel, lined up to make Gaza the jewel of the Middle East, a paradise on earth. But the Palestinians chose to turn it into a hell of terrorism, firing rockets at Israeli civilians and digging tunnels to use for acts of mass terrorism. The withdrawal from Gaza itself was conducted under fire, and afterward the entire Strip became the base for an ongoing war crime against Israeli civilians -- first under Abbas, and two years later under the Hamas regime.

Only after 10 months of continual rocket fire following the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit did Israel declare the Gaza Strip a hostile entity and partly close the crossings and enforce a maritime closure on it. Open border crossings are standard between nations at peace. It's obvious that from the moment Gaza became a hostile entity all the crossings would be closed, exactly like the border crossings between Israel and Syria, for example, are closed. It's obvious that there can be no argument about this.

But Israel did not actually close the crossings at all. The opposite: even when the shooting on Israel was heaviest, including the Protective Edge War, 300 trucks laden with the best of goods crossed from Israel into Gaza daily. The terrorist tunnels intended to be used to murder Israelis were built with concrete and construction materials that Israel supplied. Even when the Palestinians shot at the crossings, Israel continued to let the trucks through. Israel kept on supplying electricity to Gaza, without pause, even after the Palestinians repeatedly shot at the Ashkelon power plant.

Any reason "Human rights organizations" are ignoring Rafah crossing?

...From reading the material on these sites, no one would have any idea that Egypt has turned Gaza into a prison - the wording routinely used to describe Israel. The situation is clearly familiar to these organizations and they are deliberately ignoring it, while writing dozens of reports condemning Israel. Its reveals that the human rights of Gazans takes a back seat to condemning Israel, in the eyes of these NGOs.

Elder of Ziyon..
05 December '13..

Maher Abu Sabha, Hamas' director of the Rafah crossing into Egypt, said that Egypt promised to open the crossing next week, although it was unclear exactly when or for how many days.

The crossing, the only direct connection between Gazans and the Arab world, has been closed for seven days in a row and has been open only sporadically for months. Even when it is open, only a fraction of the daily passenger traffic allowed under the previous Egyptian regime has been allowed to trickle through in both directions. The average number of travelers allowed to cross in June averaged over 1800 people daily, but in November during the days Rafah was open the number of people allowed across averaged closer to 100 a day - in either direction. This includes patients who need to go to Egypt for medical reasons. This is far less than the number allowed to cross the Erez crossing into Israel.

This is roughly a 95% reduction in the ability of Gazans to travel to Egypt.

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out! 
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Journalists Buy Falsehoods on Gaza Shipments

Tamar Sternthal
CAMERA Media Analysis
21 April '10

Raed Fattouh, a coordinator for the Palestinian Authority's Economy Ministry, is selling the falsehood that certain products -- wood, aluminum and commercial shipments of shoes and clothing -- are entering the Gaza Strip from Israel for the first time since the blockade began in 2007, and journalists are buying in bulk.

Wood and Aluminum

The New York Times' Fares Akram reported April 16, "Also Thursday, Israel allowed some wood and aluminum into Gaza for the first time since it blockaded the area in 2007, a Palestinian official said" (emphasis added). The International Herald Tribune, published by the New York Times, also ran a version of the Akram article including the error.

Similarly, the Agence France Presse reported April 15, in an article erroneously entitled "Israel allows first building shipment into Gaza in 3 years":

Israel allowed a shipment of construction material into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for the first time in three years, according to a Palestinian official.

The six truckloads of wood and aluminum entered the coastal territory via the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south, Palestinian customs official Raed Fattuh told AFP. . .

In actuality, Palestinian sources such as the Palestine Trade Center (PalTrade), the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper, and the Ma'an News Agency document that tens of thousands of tons of construction material including wood and construction metal entered the Gaza Strip during the "hudna" (truce) period from June 19, 2008 to Dec. 19, 2008. Thus, the Dec. 09-Jan. 10 Gaza Strip Crossings Bi-Monthly Monitoring Report states:

During the truce or "hudna" period, that started on June 19, 2008 and ended on December 19, 2008, commercial goods were allowed to enter Gaza Strip including aggregates, cement, construction metal, wood, car tires, clothes, shoes and fruit juice.

(Read full report)

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