Surprised That Palestinian Leaders Sabotage Palestinians' Interests? - by Abu Khaled Toameh

The next time anyone talks about the harsh conditions in the Gaza Strip, the world needs to realize that those who are trying to block aid to their people are the Palestinian leaders.

Abu Khaled Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
03 December '19..

As Israel continues to study ways of improving the living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) continue to sabotage the interests of their own people.

These leaders are opposed to the construction of a new hospital in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. They are also opposed to an Israeli initiative to construct an artificial port off the coast of the Gaza Strip. The PA, in other words, is opposed to any move aimed at alleviating the suffering of its people.

Why? Because the PA hates its rivals in Hamas to the point that it is prepared to punish the Palestinians by imposing economic sanctions on the Gaza Strip. These include cutting off payments to thousands of public employees and needy families.

Another reason: the PA is strongly opposed to any plan in which Israel and the US are involved to help the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. As far as the PA is concerned, anything good coming from Israel or the US is actually bad, simply part of a larger "conspiracy" against the Palestinians.

The new field hospital in the Gaza Strip is currently being built with the help of Friendship, a US NGO, as well as partial funding from Qatar. The hospital, which is being constructed near the Gaza-Israel border, will provide medical services to thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The construction of the hospital is believed to be in the result of ceasefire understandings reached between Israel and Hamas earlier this year under the auspices of Egypt and the United Nations.

The PA, however, has come out against the construction of the new hospital. Some of its leaders claim that it is part of an Israeli-US "conspiracy" to have the Palestinians pass President Donald J. Trump's yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East, also known as the Deal of the Century. Needless to say, the PA is not offering any alternative to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are desperate for decent medical care.

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Israel and the intensifying dilemma of Hamas controlled Gaza - by Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen

...Over the past year, in deciding on policy and actions regarding Gaza, Israel has had to grapple with the basic question of whether a war to defeat the Hamas regime in Gaza is in its own interest. Events of recent days have added another aspect to the deliberations. When he was defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman repeatedly explained that Israel should bide its time until the people of Gaza rose up against Hamas, which is responsible for their hardships. Now, as we see the first glimpses of mass popular protests, Israel's dilemma is thrown into sharp relief – should it continue the money transfers to the Hamas government, thus helping it secure its rule there, or do the opposite – block the transfer of funds, hoping that the popular distress will cause the situation to shift in Israel's favor?

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen..
Israel Hayom..
17 March '19..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/israels-increasingly-tough-dilemma

It is too soon to assess the potential of the demonstrations in the Gaza Strip over the past few days to take a sharp turn. Even without knowing how things might develop, it is clear to everyone that as of now the extent of the demonstrations and the civilians' daring indicate the cumulative distress of the population in Gaza.

Eight years after the initial shock of the Arab Spring, the Hamas government in Gaza understands the potential threat that could turn into an actual one as the rage among the public increases.

As of now, even if the fury of the Gazans isn't leading toward a direct threat to Hamas' rule in Gaza, it certainly demands that the Hamas leadership recognize that it must find a solution, even a symbolic one, for the mass distress.

From that perspective, recent events can shed new light on the various considerations that come to bear on the Israeli government's measured military responses to provocations from Gaza.

Over the past year, in deciding on policy and actions regarding Gaza, Israel has had to grapple with the basic question of whether a war to defeat the Hamas regime in Gaza is in its own interest.

Another false tale of malevolent Israelis oppressing helpless Gazans from the Guardian - by Adam Levick

...Indeed, once again, we see how the Guardian seems to be institutionally incapable of holding Palestinian leadership even partly responsible for the misery in Gaza. It’s a pattern of coverage informed by an ideologically driven propensity to deny Palestinians agency. This ‘liberal’ racism of low expectations results in contributors’ implicit assumption that Palestinians, as individuals, lack the capacity to act independently of Israel and make choices of their own free will.

Adam Levick..
UK Media Watch..
01 January '19..

Here are the first few paragraphs of a Dec. 31st Guardian article (“Palestinian superbug epidemic could spread, say doctors”) by Madlen Davies and Emma Graham-Harrison:

Doctors in Gaza and the West Bank have said they are battling an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, a growing problem in the world’s conflict zones, which could also spill over the Palestinian borders.

The rise and spread of such virulent infections adds to the devastation of war, increasing medical costs, blocking hospital beds because patients need care for longer, and often leaving people whose injuries might once have been healed with life-changing disabilities.

Gaza is a particularly fertile breeding ground for superbugs because its health system has been worn down by years of blockade, and antibiotics are in short supply, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found.

…

Even though doctors in Gaza knew protocols to prevent the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, persistent shortages of antibiotics meant they could not always follow them, they told reporters. Patients take incomplete courses of antibiotics or are prescribed a mix because the right medicine is not available.

The rest of the 1000 plus word piece follows this pattern of suggesting that Israel is largely to blame for the shortage of vital medicines in Gaza, a shortage that is putting the lives of countless Palestinians at risk.

But, this is a lie. The import of antibiotics, and almost all other important medicines, are not in any way impacted by Israel’s blockade. As a CAMERA prompted correction at the NY Times noted, “the import of medicine” to Gaza “is not restricted” by Israel.

It’s actually the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority – and not Israel – that’s responsible for the purchase of medicines for Gaza.

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Blaming Israel is so much easier - by Elder of Ziyon

...The fact that Abbas is so eager to put his people's lives at risk barely ranks as an issue in the West. If he is willing to have his own people die for the sake of his political goals, why does anyone seriously think he can be trusted when he claims he wants peace with Israel?

Elder of Ziyon..
31 October '18..

The Gaza Ministry of Health issued a statement about the critical shortage of immunosuppressant and other drugs in Gaza, jeopardizing the health and life of hundreds of patients who have had successful kidney transplants.

Without those drugs, the patients may have to return to going on dialysis, their new kidneys becoming useless.

There are 333 kidney transplant patients in Gaza, and hundreds more with renal failure who need medicines desperately.

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Surprise? Banal BBC News report from the Gaza Strip fails to inform - by Hadar Sela

...viewers of this report get an entirely context-free portrayal of water, power and medicines shortages in the Gaza Strip. They are not informed that all three of those issues are linked to the infighting between the terror organisation Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The BBC cannot possibly claim that this report meets its remit of providing audiences with “accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual programming of the highest editorial standards” in order to “help people understand” this particular issue.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
30 September '18..

A filmed report titled “Gaza family: ‘Our children suffer to get a bottle of water’” was posted on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page on September 27th.

“There are fresh warnings about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where there are severe water and power shortages.

A new World Bank report says the economy is in “free fall”.

Meanwhile, deadly protests have resumed along the Gaza-Israel border and the situation “could explode any minute”, according to Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

Talks brokered by Egypt and the UN have so far failed to agree a long-term truce between Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Israel.

BBC News visited one family in Gaza to see how they were coping with the lack of resources.”

That synopsis does not inform BBC audiences that the pre-planned violence it euphemistically describes as “protests” has increased (rather than “resumed”) because in early September Hamas decided to up the pace of rioting along the border fence with a “nighttime deployment unit“. Neither are BBC audiences informed of the tensions between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority which have to date thwarted a cease-fire agreement.

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The Latest From Dictator for Life Abbas: "Any aid for Gaza must go through me first" - by Elder of Ziyon

...The cynicism displayed by the PA would be breathtaking if it wasn't so routine. Abbas knows by now that the world media and governments will continue to give the PA a pass no matter what it does.

Elder of Ziyon..
20 August '18..

Mahmoud Abbas, the dictator of the Palestinian areas in the West Bank, gave a speech on Saturday where he warned that all aid that goes to Gaza must go through his corrupt government first.

Speaking at the closing session of the Palestinian Central Council meeting, Abbas once again criticized Hamas for not acceding to his rule and said "any money and aid coming to Gaza must come through the legitimate Palestinian government."

Abbas' government has reduced medical supplies, electricity and salaries to Gazans in the past 18 months. The world media has largely ignored the fact that Israel has been trying to help Gazans far more than their purported leader.

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Fadi is Marching in Gaza for His Kids - by Sheri Oz

...I think Abu Shammalah would be more honest were he to tell his son that a far more dangerous but far more justifiable demonstration would be one protesting Hamas because Hamas is the one that has a stranglehold on Gaza. But they do not even whisper this out of fear of Hamas.

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
29 April '18..

The New York Times gave space to Fadi Abu Shammalah. He wrote an opinion piece called, Why I March in Gaza. First of all, let us look at who Abu Shammalah is: executive director of the General Union of Cultural Centers in Gaza. I find it interesting that there is a General Union of Cultural Centers (GUUC) in Gaza. After all, Gaza is often called an open-air prison, and it is compared with Warsaw Ghetto. I doubt there were cultural centers in the Ghetto; you know, places where kids learn to dance and do art, for example. But in 1997, well before the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the GUUC was established, apparently with 52 cultural centers currently in Gaza and Judea & Samaria. Funny how the Gazans try to have it both ways – to claim they are under horrific Israeli occupation and blockade while at the same time showcasing cultural centers, five-star hotels and more.

Let us see what Abu Shammalah wrote for naive readers of the NYT:

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Hamas controlled Gaza has been an unhappy place for a long time - by Clifford D. May

...Less than a decade after Israel's founding, Golda Meir, who would go onto to become Israel's fourth prime minister, was famously quoted as saying: "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us." Hamas' parental affections have not evolved. As for the immiserated people of Gaza, perhaps they lack the courage to challenge Hamas. That would be the hopeful explanation.

Clifford D. May..
Israel Hayom..
22 May '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/hopeless-in-gaza/

The Gaza Strip has been an unhappy place for a long time, and the situation is now reportedly growing desperate. Jobs are scarce, electricity is intermittent, drinking water is unsafe, and raw sewage released into the Mediterranean Sea is washing up on Gaza's white beaches.

How did this happen? A brief history: Ruled by the Ottomans for centuries, then by the British for decades, the territory was taken over by Egypt in 1948. The Israelis seized it in 1967 in the defensive war in which Israel also took the West Bank from Jordan. In 2005, the Israelis withdrew from Gaza, thinking that might pave the way to a resolution of their conflict with the Palestinians. Instead, the two dominant Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, went to war with one another. After two years, Hamas emerged on top.

A front-page article in The New York Times this month gives voice to Gaza's suffering masses. Accompanying photos, artfully composed, show a woman begging, shopkeepers behind bars for not paying their debts, and patients in a hospital looking grim.

Jerusalem bureau chief David M. Halbfinger concludes that Hamas has "few options." He adds: "The one it has resorted to three times – going to war with Israel, in hopes of generating international sympathy and relief in the aftermath – suddenly seems least attractive."

Did you get that? The New York Times sees nothing alarming, certainly nothing to criticize, about Palestinians contemplating "going to war" against Israelis to improve their economic situation. Would the newspaper take the same attitude toward any other peoples anywhere else in the world?

Also notice what was not mentioned: that Hamas might contemplate giving up its goal of destroying Israel; that it might, as the saying goes, "give peace a chance!" Not only did that option not occur to Halbfinger, it also apparently didn't cross the minds of other "Gaza experts" to whom he turned. Nathan Thrall, an analyst for International Crisis Group, tells him simply: "Hamas itself has few ways to alleviate the crisis."

Just for grins, imagine this: Hamas stops spending hundreds of millions of dollars (mostly drawn from foreign aid) building missiles to fire at Israeli cities, and digging tunnels to infiltrate terrorists into Israeli villages where they are to spray bullets at men, women and children, and drag others, as hostages, into the holes leading back to Gaza.

But even weirder is that Fatah was proud of this protest - by Elder of Ziyon

...As best as I can tell, any protest that appears to be against Hamas is worth publicizing - even if the entire reason the protesters aren't getting paid is because the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority refuses to. At any rate, Fatah is supporting protesting those giving their own people millions. It is a special kind of sickness.

Elder of Ziyon..
19 February '18..

The Hamas/Fatah infighting reached a new bizarre level on Monday.

Qatari Prince Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani sent $9 million worth of medicines, medical supplies, foodstuffs and fuel for the operation of hospital generators in the Gaza Strip. Qatari ambassador Mohammed Al-Emadi held a press conference to announce the grant.

What could be wrong with that?

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But the Song Remains The Same: NYT Backs Off the Palestinian Authority - by Gilead Ini

...Old habits die hard. The New York Times, which has long insisted on framing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as one of Israeli wrongdoing and Palestinian victimhood, and which in recent months has refused to report on vile, hateful rhetoric by Mahmoud Abbas, seems to have quickly forgotten what it reported last Monday about the Palestinian leader's role in Gaza's situation.

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA Snapshots..
16 February '18..
Link: http://blog.camera.org/archives/2018/02/the_song_remains_the_same_nyt.html

Earlier this week, in a moment of candor, the New York Times acknowledged that the Palestinian Authority does, in fact, have agency in shaping the situation in the Israel and the territories.

A Feb. 12 article about the "unraveling" of the Gaza Strip explained that the PA, the West Bank-based government headed by Mahmoud Abbas, and Fatah, its conjoined political party, are most directly responsible for the financial crisis that has set back Gaza and its residents in recent weeks.

According to reporter David Halbfinger,

Across Gaza, the densely populated enclave of two million Palestinians sandwiched between Israel and Egypt, daily life, long a struggle, is unraveling before people's eyes.

At the heart of the crisis — and its most immediate cause — is a crushing financial squeeze, the result of a tense standoff between Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules Gaza, and Fatah, the secular party entrenched on the West Bank. Fatah controls the Palestinian Authority but was driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007.

That the strained relationship between Hamas and its Fatah rivals plays a key role in Gaza's troubles is beyond dispute. But as the week progressed, the New York Times seems to have forgotten its assessment about the central cause of Gaza's decline. An article in today's print edition again mentions Gaza's troubles — its "unraveling," reporters again said, borrowing from Monday's story — but altogether replaced Fatah with another culprit.

Question. How Israel Should Handle Gaza’s “Humanitarian Disaster” - by Prof. Hillel Frisch

In all the years of murderous conflict in Syria and Iraq, neither has experienced a humanitarian disaster in the form of a widespread crisis involving mass hunger and the spread of hunger-related diseases. Yet officials warn that such a crisis could unfold in Gaza. How likely is that prognosis? And if it does occur, what should Israel’s policy be?

Prof. Hillel Frisch..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 741..
14 February '18..

Senior Israeli military officials are warning of an impending humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and many more officials – Israeli, European, and Palestinian – say the Gaza population will “explode” due to epidemics.

Really?

How come in all the years of the Syrian civil war, amid prolonged and incessant violence over seven years, there has not been a widespread humanitarian crisis in the form of mass hunger and the spread of hunger-related epidemics like typhoid?

How come in the two years of incessant war between ISIS and the allied coalition, the Russian air force, Hezbollah, the Iraqi Shiite militias, and the Iraqi army, during which ISIS ruled over five million people, including Mosul’s one million-strong population, there was no evidence of massive hunger and contagious disease?

How likely, then, is such a crisis to befall Gaza?

The most important factor behind real humanitarian crises – the specter of mass hunger and contagious disease – is first and foremost the breakdown of law and order, and violence between warring militias and gangs. This is what occurred in Darfur, Somalia, and the Central African Republic. In such a situation, the first to leave are the relief agencies. Then local medical staffs evacuate, along with local government officials and anyone professional who can make it out of the bedlam. The destitute are left to fend for themselves. Hospitals, dispensaries, schools, and local government offices are soon abandoned or become scenes of grisly shootouts and reprisals.

Nothing could be farther from such a reality than Gaza. Hamas, which is the main source of this fake news of an imminent humanitarian crisis, rules Gaza with an iron fist. Few developed democracies in the world can boast the low homicide rates prevailing in Gaza. Nor have there been reports of any closings of hospitals, municipalities, schools, universities, colleges, or dispensaries.

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Question. Why can't Gazans (or Gaza NGOs) volunteer to clean their hospitals? - by Elder of Ziyon

...Palestinians constantly talk about how important dignity is to them. Is cleaning a hospital, allowing patients to be treated, too undignified for them? This story isn't only about a labor dispute, nor is it only about a political dispute that puts people's lives at risk. It is also a story about how an entire culture has sprouted up where people are taught only to complain about what they claim to deserve - but that they aren't willing to lift a finger to help themselves.

Elder of Ziyon..
14 February '18..

Today is the fourth day of the strike by hospital cleaning staff in Gaza who have not been paid their salaries by the Palestinian authority.

There is no solution on the horizon.

Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, warned this morning of major health setbacks in cancer patients and those with blood diseases because of the lack of hygiene in hospitals.

"The suspension of cleaning companies poses a direct threat to the health of patients and public health in 13 hospitals, 51 primary care centers and 22 other facilities in the Ministry of Health through 13 companies," he said.

Photos of the hospitals with overflowing trash are being published in the Palestinian media.

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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. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Surprise! Palestinians continue to prioritize paying terrorists over paying hospital staff. (So does the world, incidentally.) by Elder of Ziyon

...To put this in context, the PLO budgets over $28 million a month to pay both prisoner salaries and and families of "martyrs." They willingly pay 100 times the amount needed for keeping hospitals open - to terrorists.

Elder of Ziyon..
12 February '18..

From Times of Israel:

Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, announced on Sunday that it was suspending all surgeries, with the exception of emergency cases, due to a cleaners’ strike over unpaid salaries.

“It has been decided to postpone all scheduled surgeries, including those for patients with tumors,” the hospital said, noting that the decision excluded “life-saving cases.”

The strike, which began on Sunday, threatens patients’ and workers’ lives because of the dangerous accumulation of medical garbage in the hospital, the staff warned.

It was the second time in recent weeks that the hospital cleaners in the Gaza Strip went on strike.

Last month, the cleaners agreed to return to work after the Palestinian Authority government promised to pay them their salaries. However, the government has since paid salaries for only two months, prompting the cleaners to renew their strike.

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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. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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A baseless liberal myth trying to create a Gaza version of the Marshall Plan - by Prof. Efraim Inbar

...A Gaza version of the Marshall Plan is a bad and harmful idea. Israel needs to persist with its carrot-and-stick policy, which has been substantially successful over the years, even if finding the perfect balance in this fragile equation is complicated and fraught with uncertainty.

Prof. Efraim Inbar..
Israel Hayom..
21 November '17..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/a-baseless-liberal-myth/

Voices from inside the IDF and out are advising Israel to spearhead a broad international aid plan for the Gaza Strip. According to the plan's initiators, its purpose would be to prevent economic deterioration that could spark unrest and bring to power forces even more radical than Hamas. Improving the economy in Gaza, supporters of the plan hope, would also reduce motivation for terrorism against Israel.

The logic behind this aid plan is flawed for several reasons:

1. The assumption that poverty creates terrorism is a factually baseless liberal myth. There is no correlation between standard of living and political violence and terror. Poor countries do not suffer from terrorism any more than richer countries. Take India, for example. The Palestinians launched their campaign of terror in 2000, when their economy was at its peak.

2. Believing that economic prosperity among Gazans will temper the worldview of Hamas' military wing is unforgivably naive. Radical ideology and religious zealotry will not be affected by the wealth of unarmed Gazans. In dictatorial regimes such as the one in Gaza, whoever controls the weapons makes the decisions. Middle Eastern tyrants do not hesitate to shoot their political rivals.

3. Large-scale economic aid to Gaza means supporting a bitter enemy determined to destroy the Jewish state. Did the West ever consider economic help for the people living under Islamic State's so-called caliphate in an attempt to curb increasing radicalization? Israel does not need to concern itself with the viability of Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Radical Islam can be defeated only when enough Muslims realize the extremist version of their religion is the main source of their suffering, not their well-being.

Crossings still closed and medicines still not entering Gaza - by Elder of Ziyon

...Yet the only party that gets blamed remains Israel,which imposes no restrictions on medicines into Gaza. "Human rights" NGOs are notably silent, because for them to mention these problems after the supposed agreement between Hamas and the PA would show yet again that their single-minded focus on Israel and willingness to give the Palestinian leaderships a pass has in fact been part of the reason why Gazans suffer. Today.

Elder of Ziyon..
06 November '17..

While much has been made of the Hamas-PA agreements in Cairo, on the ground things are getting worse for Gazans.

On November 1, the PA formally took over responsibility for the Gaza crossings into Egypt. Days later, nothing has changed. Egypt has not yet opened its border and no one is talking about any practical moves the PA has made to help out. The PA is insisting on a full return to the 2005 crossings agreement, and apparently the de facto Gaza leaders of Hamas have not yet agreed to some of the provisions.

The EUBAM monitors of the Rafah crossing, who have been paid to do nothing for the past ten years, have not yet been asked to resume their mission by any of the parties.

Naturally, the Gisha NGO blames Israel above all:

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To be humanitarian means disarming Hamas, pure and simple - by Prof. Hillel Frisch

One of the most widespread myths about Gaza is that it is wallowing in poverty and forever on the verge of a humanitarian crisis as a result of the Israeli and Egyptian blockade. But indicators such as life expectancy, growth in imports, and electricity demand suggest that the Gazan standard of living is rising, not declining. If a genuine humanitarian crisis were to loom, the solution would be simple: disarm Hamas and divert its considerable expenditures on terrorism to the improvement of the welfare of Gaza’s inhabitants.

Prof. Hillel Frisch..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 503..
20 June '17..
Link: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/gazas-humanitarian-crisis-fake-news/

The internet and social media have made the creation, rapid dissemination, and perpetuation of myths a feature of political life. One of the most widespread is the myth that Gaza is wallowing in poverty and forever on the verge of a humanitarian crisis as a result of the Israeli and Egyptian blockade.

There is no shortage of compelling evidence to dispel this myth. Life expectancy, for example, is highly correlated with the good life. Japan, Singapore, and Norway lead the world in life expectancy. The bottom of the list contains countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, for example Bangladesh.

The myth-makers would like you to think Gaza is also towards the bottom of the list, but it isn’t. Quite the opposite, in fact. Gaza’s life expectancy of 74 is above both the world average (68 in 2010) and the average in the Arab states. This means that more than 3.8 billion people are living shorter, and probably harsher, lives than Gazans.

The difference in life expectancy between Gaza and those at the bottom of the list is in fact quite staggering. Life expectancy in Angola, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Cote D’Ivoire, and other countries ranges from 50.1 to 55 years, according to the World Health Organization.

Were Gaza on the list, it would rank 86th out of 189 countries. That would place it alongside Paraguay and Samoa, hardly states that conjure images of abject poverty. But why resort to facts?

Perhaps, one might argue, life expectancy in Gaza is a quirk of fate. Or perhaps it is declining because of the blockade imposed on Gaza. The blockade was put in place because Hamas, the murderous terrorist organization that took over Gaza ten years ago, specializes in bombing buses full of Israeli citizens, fires missiles from hospitals (as the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent Society accused Hamas of doing), and launches assaults against Israeli civilian neighborhoods.

Reality check: life expectancy in Gaza has not declined, and the blockade no longer exists. Before the brief curtailment of goods into Gaza from Israel in 2007, 10,400 trucks laden with goods entered Gaza monthly from Israel (these figures are from OCHA, the bitterly anti-Israeli UN agency). In 2016, 14,460 trucks of produce crossed from Israel into Gaza per month, a 34.6% increase from before the imposition of the so-called blockade. This means the purchasing power of Gazans has not declined (taking into account demographic growth).

What Gaza's Pal Arabs think about the electricity problems in Gaza - by Arnold Roth

...Leaving aside the clumsy English (they have higher priorities at B'Tselem), if you take a close look at the "battery-powered" lamp, you quickly notice - unless you're as obsessed with simplistic anti-Israel narratives as B'Tselem's lot are - that it's not. The lamp is plugged into a wall power socket. (And remember this earlier Gazan attempt from 2008 at pulling the shades over people's eyes? Reuters played a central role in that scam too.) Truth is often boring and shaded in grey. But that doesn't exonerate any of us from seeking it - even in the dark and the gloom.

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
05 March '17..

Buried deep inside an opinion poll report just published by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre is a real nugget.

JMCC's website says the Ramallah-based organization was

established in 1988 by a group of Palestinian journalists and researchers seeking to provide information on what was happening in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Every few months, it publishes public opinion polls. The one we are discussing in this post was released for publication four days ago, on March 1, 2017. The next most recent one came out on October 9, 2016 - five months earlier.

To understand the context of what we're about to say, consider these recent news reports:

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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. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Surprise? While real refugees starve, @UNRWA produces professional cooking shows - by Elder of Ziyon

...The UN clearly knows its priorities. People of Palestinian descent must learn how to correctly create avocado onion rings, because they are so horribly oppressed without that knowledge.

Elder of Ziyon..
15 February '17..

UNRWA has been trying to use the worldwide refugee crisis as a means to raise money as if most of the people under its program are real refugees. Refugees who don't know where their next meal is coming from.

But when people send money to UNRWA, not all of it goes to providing food and shelter.

Some of it goes towards producing professional cooking shows.

(Continue to Full Post)

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. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Shocking! We Israelis Can’t Even Get A Darned Blockade Right! - by Sheri Oz

...Anyway, here is what is boring about the siege Israel is mismanaging

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
27 August '16..

I’m going to show you in a moment why watching the Israeli blockage of Gaza is an irritating example of Jewish ineptitude. Jews pride themselves on their inventiveness and on being a start-up nation. I guess we are too busy thinking up new apps and medical miracles and the mundane business of running a blockade just gets overlooked. Either that, or our hearts just aren’t in it. The result is a boring litany of blockade incompetence.

But first I want to show you how the idea of a blockade and siege is used for propaganda.

(Continue to Full Post)

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. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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A Gaza port will be no panacea for poverty - Martin Sherman

The crippling unemployment in Gaza, reportedly above 40%, will not be alleviated by transferring Israeli supervision from Ashdod and the Gaza border crossings to an offshore islet. There is soaring unemployment because any creative energies that might exist in Gaza are not being channeled toward productive or constructive goals, but rather into fomenting violence against the despised "Zionist entity." A port will not change those realities. Indeed, it is likely to exacerbate them.

Martin Sherman..
Israel Hayom..
27 May '16..

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.- Attributed to Albert Einstein

Just when you thought that you could not possibly hear anything more preposterous on how to help resolve the conflict with the Palestinians, somehow someone always manages to prove you wrong by coming out with a policy proposal so glaringly absurd that it transcends what you mistakenly believed was the pinnacle of imbecility.

Harebrained and hazardous

Disturbingly, precisely such a hopelessly hare-brained scheme is now being repeatedly bandied about by Israelis in positions of influence.

The idea is to provide Gaza with what, in effect, will be a detachable civilian port, under Israeli supervision. It is to be built on an offshore artificial island, connected to the mainland by a bridge over 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) long, which, according to its proponents, can easily be disconnected should the Gazans "misbehave."

Actually, this nonsensical notion has been around for quite some time. Indeed, as early as 2011, British daily The Guardian reported that Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz was pursuing the idea, which he estimated would cost $10 billion and take about a decade to complete.

Lately, however, it has been raised with increasing frequency in the media, and publicly endorsed by both government ministers and senior IDF brass.

Thus, earlier this year, Construction Minister Yoav Gallant, formerly the head of the IDF Southern Command, expressed his support for the idea in an interview with Bloomberg.

Just prior to that, Haaretz reported that "senior Israel Defense Forces officers are in favor in principle of a port for the Gaza Strip," and just last week The Jerusalem Post wrote: "High up within the defense establishment, some believe that the time has come for Israel to set up a civilian seaport for the Gaza Strip."

Detachable port? Detached from reality!

Indeed, at a conference held this weekend in New York, Katz, who, in addition to the transportation portfolio holds the post of intelligence minister, reiterated his previous support for a Gaza port on an artificial offshore island: "The offshore project could provide Gaza with an economic and humanitarian gateway to the world without endangering Israeli security."

I confess that the first time I heard of this appallingly absurd idea was in a private conversation several months ago with someone (who shall remain nameless) considered a serious contender for the post of Mossad director. I remember at the time being taken aback by the idea, so clearly ill-conceived and illfated, being promoted by someone so high ranking. But I took (false) comfort in the belief that it was so wildly outlandish that it would never be given serious consideration by those in authority.

As it turns out, I was sadly mistaken -- as this perilous proposal continues to enjoy sustained attention in the discourse.