Goatse
27th January 2008, 12:21
January 19, 2008
Israel has sealed its borders with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after a surge in cross-border attacks this week. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, the move is raising fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory.
Israel has closed all border crossings into Gaza, in response to an escalation in Palestinian rocket attacks. The Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, has fired more than 100 rockets at Israel since Tuesday, when Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians, most of them Hamas gunmen.
The rocket attacks have terrorized the Israeli town of Sderot and farming communities on the Gaza border. Israeli spokesman Arieh Mekel says that under these circumstances, it cannot be business as usual with Gaza.
"We are determined to continue and do whatever it takes until these daily attacks against our citizens will stop," he said.
The closure is a further blow to besieged Gaza, which is already facing shortages of food, raw materials, fuel and electricity. Israel has tightened sanctions since June, when Hamas seized control of Gaza and defeated the Fatah forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Dr. Mona al-Farra of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza says the situation is going from bad to worse.
"I am warning of a large humanitarian crisis in Gaza for [the] Palestinian people, for women [and] children," she said.
Israel hopes that the sanctions, along with military pressure, will prompt Palestinians in Gaza to pressure Hamas to halt the rocket attacks. But Hamas and other militant groups are defiant. They say Israeli "collective punishment" will not stop the rockets.
The government of President Abbas in the West Bank also condemned the border closures. Palestinian officials warned that Israel is harming new peace talks, which resumed last month after a seven-year break.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Israel_closes_Gaza_crossings_in_response_to_rocket _attacks
As you'll all have heard, Israel recently blockaded Gaza in an response to rocket attacks. This was an unprecedented act of war - Gaza was rendered completely without power, food or medicine simply for the action of a handful of militants.
However, you can only push people so far before they retaliate, as the Palestinian people have demonstrated.
January 23, 2008
Thousands of Palestinians entered the Egyptian territory from the Gaza Strip, after the border wall at the Rafah passage was destroyed. Palestinians say that this was to allow them to get food and fuel.
The Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak announced that his government allowed residents of Gaza to enter Egypt, on the condition that it is peaceful and temporary.
Witnesses reported that a large amount of the wall was destroyed by masked activists with explosives in the early hours of Wednesday, allowing overcrowded trucks of thousands of Palestinians , in the presence of about 2,000 Egyptian soldiers, to cross the border.
On Tuesday during the UN Security Council meeting, a delegation of Palestinians accused Israel of promoting violence in the area, while Israelis responded by saying that the measures were designed to protect themselves from missile attacks being launched from Gaza.
Although Israel reduced the restrictions of the blockade, they warned that the restrictions could be reinstated if the missile attacks persist.
Representatives from both Europe and America demanded the lifting of the blockade and the commitment of both sides to work towards an end to the conflict.
Although the hole was then blocked by the Egyptian army under international pressure, other holes were created using a variety of methods, including a masked man at the helm of a bulldozer.
This just demonstrates the complete disregard of the Israeli government for the Palestinian people.
The thing is - these militants firing rockets are not anonymous guerillas, popping out of nowhere, attacking then disappearing. Many are known by the local population and some of them locate their targets using Google Earth! Some of them allow journalists to follow them and observe their rocket launches. Why does Israeli not simply send commandos to neutralise the militants, rather than a clumsy and ineffective blockade? It makes no sense. Surely it cannot be difficult to locate and destroy these men..?
Israel has sealed its borders with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after a surge in cross-border attacks this week. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, the move is raising fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory.
Israel has closed all border crossings into Gaza, in response to an escalation in Palestinian rocket attacks. The Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, has fired more than 100 rockets at Israel since Tuesday, when Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians, most of them Hamas gunmen.
The rocket attacks have terrorized the Israeli town of Sderot and farming communities on the Gaza border. Israeli spokesman Arieh Mekel says that under these circumstances, it cannot be business as usual with Gaza.
"We are determined to continue and do whatever it takes until these daily attacks against our citizens will stop," he said.
The closure is a further blow to besieged Gaza, which is already facing shortages of food, raw materials, fuel and electricity. Israel has tightened sanctions since June, when Hamas seized control of Gaza and defeated the Fatah forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Dr. Mona al-Farra of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza says the situation is going from bad to worse.
"I am warning of a large humanitarian crisis in Gaza for [the] Palestinian people, for women [and] children," she said.
Israel hopes that the sanctions, along with military pressure, will prompt Palestinians in Gaza to pressure Hamas to halt the rocket attacks. But Hamas and other militant groups are defiant. They say Israeli "collective punishment" will not stop the rockets.
The government of President Abbas in the West Bank also condemned the border closures. Palestinian officials warned that Israel is harming new peace talks, which resumed last month after a seven-year break.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Israel_closes_Gaza_crossings_in_response_to_rocket _attacks
As you'll all have heard, Israel recently blockaded Gaza in an response to rocket attacks. This was an unprecedented act of war - Gaza was rendered completely without power, food or medicine simply for the action of a handful of militants.
However, you can only push people so far before they retaliate, as the Palestinian people have demonstrated.
January 23, 2008
Thousands of Palestinians entered the Egyptian territory from the Gaza Strip, after the border wall at the Rafah passage was destroyed. Palestinians say that this was to allow them to get food and fuel.
The Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak announced that his government allowed residents of Gaza to enter Egypt, on the condition that it is peaceful and temporary.
Witnesses reported that a large amount of the wall was destroyed by masked activists with explosives in the early hours of Wednesday, allowing overcrowded trucks of thousands of Palestinians , in the presence of about 2,000 Egyptian soldiers, to cross the border.
On Tuesday during the UN Security Council meeting, a delegation of Palestinians accused Israel of promoting violence in the area, while Israelis responded by saying that the measures were designed to protect themselves from missile attacks being launched from Gaza.
Although Israel reduced the restrictions of the blockade, they warned that the restrictions could be reinstated if the missile attacks persist.
Representatives from both Europe and America demanded the lifting of the blockade and the commitment of both sides to work towards an end to the conflict.
Although the hole was then blocked by the Egyptian army under international pressure, other holes were created using a variety of methods, including a masked man at the helm of a bulldozer.
This just demonstrates the complete disregard of the Israeli government for the Palestinian people.
The thing is - these militants firing rockets are not anonymous guerillas, popping out of nowhere, attacking then disappearing. Many are known by the local population and some of them locate their targets using Google Earth! Some of them allow journalists to follow them and observe their rocket launches. Why does Israeli not simply send commandos to neutralise the militants, rather than a clumsy and ineffective blockade? It makes no sense. Surely it cannot be difficult to locate and destroy these men..?