Today in Palestine 22.04.08
IMEMC | 22.04.2008 19:41
Israel reopens Gaza crossings for food, Palestinians needing Israeli hospitals while Islamist morons continue their pointless and largely ineffectual attacks on the hand that feeds them.
April 22, 2008, 4:49 PM (GMT+02:00)
Eighty-six trucks carrying, fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, flour, sugar, diapers and medicines from Israel passed through reopened Sufa crossing to Gaza Tuesday; Palestinian patients in need of Israeli hospitals were admitted through the Erez crossing. The fuel crossing at Nahal Oz, which Hamas gunmen attacked earlier this month murdering two Israeli energy workers remained closed.
So did the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings, which Hamas tried to blow up Saturday, April 19, injuring 13 Israeli soldiers. It was the first attack by Hamas using two explosives-backed jeeps and two armored personnel carriers. Israeli forces thwarted its kill-and-kidnap objective and captured an APC. Monday, Hamas leaders in Damascus threatened to “crash” Israeli crossings. Yet Tuesday, Hamas actually complained that Gaza Strip power station was running out of fuel.
At the same time, the Palestinian jihadists kept up its missile barrage on Israeli towns and Jihad Islami terrorists attacked the Erez crossing where Palestinian patients were transferred to Israel for treatment. An Israeli air strike and fire from ground forces killed the three attackers.
IMEMC
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As Collective Punishment Continues, Food Aid Blocked Amid Power Shortages
22.04.2008 20:13
And the world watches and does nothing.
The only way Israel will understand that this siege is perceived by the rest of the world as a really, really, bad idea is for all foreign aid in money, and military assistance to stop, immediately, until there is a permanent status resolution for a functioning Palestinian state.
Israeli military refuses entry of food aid to Gaza
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News Report
Tuesday April 22, 2008
A shipment of food aid for the people of the Gaza Strip was denied entry by Israeli military forces on Monday. The shipment consisted of several trucks full of food aid from Egypt that were denied entry at the Israeli-controlled Karem Abu Salem crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
According to the Palestinian news Agency Wafa, the Israelis had apparently agreed Sunday night to allow the entry of several truckloads of food. But when the trucks arrived at the border crossing, they were not allowed to enter Gaza.
The World Health Organization has estimated malnutrition rates among children in Gaza may be as high as 45% due to the Israeli-imposed siege. Israeli politicians have openly declared that they plan to 'choke' and 'starve' Gaza into giving up resistance to the Israeli military occupation of their land.
www.imemc.org/article/54373
Gaza power plant to shut down by tomorrow due to lack of fuel
Rami Almeghari - IMEMC
Tuesday April 22, 2008
The sole power plant in Gaza declared on Tuesday it will stop generating electricity for Gaza's 1.5 million residents by tomorrow evening, due to sharp shortage of gasoline, needed to generate current.
In a statement , faxed to press today, the power plant said the Strip will suffer a deficit of 35 to 50 percent of current , because the plant only has some quantities needed for making power available for one day and few hours only.
" we have now some quantities of gasoline that only generate electricity for one day and few hours, this means we will be forced to shut down the plant by tomorrow evening", Dr, Derrar Abu Sisi, operation director of the plant, told IMEMC in an interview.
Abu Sisi confirmed that they have received no promises from the Israeli side, through European parties, that the electricity fuel will be re-channeled to the plant.
Asked by IMEMC whether the shut down of the plant will impact the residents, Abu Sisi said that half of the Gaza's population will suffer a blackout very soon, while the other essential services such as sanitation and health institutions will be impacted as well.
The Gaza power plant consumes an amount of 550 cubic meters of industrial gasoline to generate at least 65 megawatt on daily basis, Abu Sisi made clear.
The plant made contacts with the European Union for the resumption of Israeli fuel, for which the EU pay, yet the EU officials had nothing to say as the issue is related to the Israeli authorities mainly, the power official further explained.
Over the past 13 days, Israel has stopped shipping fuel to the Gaza Strip, in the wake of a Palestinian cross-border attack on the fuel terminal of Nahal Auz, to the east of Gaza city.
However, Israeli officials said this week that there are large quantities of fuel including industrial gasoline, gasoline and Benzene, in the Palestinian side of the terminal , but the Palestinians refuse to receive them.
The fuel crisis in Gaza broke out last October , when Israel began to allow reduced shipments of fuel and cooking gas to the coastal territory, within what Israel says a bid to stop homemade shells fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza onto nearby Israeli towns.
According to Palestinian concerned bodies in Gaza, Gaza's 1.5 million residents need at least 600,000 to 700,000 liters of Benzene and gasoline as well as 350 tons of cooking gas on daily basis.
Currently, all gas stations in the coastal enclave have shut down doors because of total lack of fuel and cooking gas
Hamas says it's willing to accept Gaza Strip cease-fire
DIAA HADID, AP
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas has softened its position and is willing to accept a cease-fire in just the Gaza Strip, dropping a demand that the truce immediately include the West Bank, the group's senior representatives said Tuesday.
The move marked a significant concession by Hamas as Egyptian mediators try to halt fighting between Palestinian militants and the Israeli army in Gaza. For weeks, Hamas insisted on a mutual cease-fire in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardawil said the group is now ready for a cease-fire that "will begin in Gaza, and then move to the West Bank" sometime in the future. Another senior Hamas official also confirmed the group's new position.
Israel regularly carries out airstrikes and military incursions against Palestinian rocket squads in Hamas-controlled Gaza, a strip of land bordering southern Israel. While Israel is conducting peace talks with the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank, the Israeli army continues to carry out arrest raids in that territory as well.
Bardawil said Hamas was willing to soften its stance to ensure the deal's success. He said Hamas' exiled political leader, Khaled Mashaal, agreed to the proposal, indicating that all Hamas members including its hard-line militant wing must abide by the decision.
Egyptian mediators initially suggested the proposal, Bardawil said. Negotiators planned to discuss the proposal with Egypt again on Thursday, and then the Egyptians will relay the deal to Israel, he said.
Israel has repeatedly said it isn't negotiating with Hamas, a group that has carried out numerous suicide bombings and remains committed to Israel's destruction. A government spokesman said Tuesday that Israel would keep up its military pressure on Hamas as long as the group threatens Israeli civilians.
"Israeli defense measures are necessary because of the ongoing terrorism launched by Hamas-controlled elements in Gaza. If there were no terror activities there would be no need for Israel's military activity," spokesman David Baker said.
As part of a cease-fire, Hamas will demand that Israel and Egypt open Gaza's border crossings, Bardawil said. The crossings have been closed since last year except for humanitarian aid in an attempt to weaken Hamas and end ongoing rocket fire at Israeli towns.
Even if Hamas reaches an understanding with Israel, there is no guarantee that smaller militant groups in Gaza will abide.
One of those groups, Islamic Jihad, said Tuesday it would not stand in the way of a deal that had popular support. Another hardline group aligned to Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees, also said it would abide by "any agreement by the resistance factions."
However, Bardawil said if Israel didn't abide to a truce in the West Bank as well, militants there could still legitimately carry out attacks.
The shift in Hamas' position came on the heels of statements by Mashaal, the group's Syrian-based leader, after a meeting with former President Jimmy Carter last week. It was unclear whether Carter's appeals to Hamas to halt its rocket attacks on Israel had factored into the group's decision.
Mashaal said Hamas would accept a peace deal with Israel, provided it is approved in a referendum of all Palestinians, and also offered a 10-year truce if Israel withdraws from the West Bank and Jerusalem. He offered no recognition of Israel and turned down a request from Carter for a halt to rocket fire.
Amos Gilad, a senior Israel Defense Ministry official involved in the negotiations with Egypt, said Tuesday that Mashaal had offered nothing of significance and that his comments were meant only to give Hamas time to rearm.
"He is unmoving in his stance," Gilad told Army Radio. "Thus every mission that is meant to change this fails."
Palestinians want both Gaza and the West Bank for a future state. The Islamic militants of Hamas rule Gaza, which they seized from the rival Fatah group last year. Fatah officials control the West Bank with a Western-backed government and are negotiating a peace deal with Israel.
Gaza militants have increasingly been carrying out attacks against the border crossings, leading Israel to briefly suspend aid several times. Hamas has said the attacks are meant to force Israel to lift the blockade.
One of the Palestinian border attacks brought about the dismissal of the commander of an Israeli armored battalion this week.
The military announced Tuesday that the officer's performance during an April 9 attack on the Nahal Oz fuel terminal was poor and that he would be removed immediately. Two Israeli civilian workers were killed in the attack.
Also Tuesday, Israel announced that it had reopened the key cargo crossing into Gaza after closing it Friday because of an attack.
While Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it still controls all the border crossings but one, which is in Egyptian hands.
The closure has caused shortages in Gaza. The territory's only power plant is dependent on Israeli fuel, and Kaanan Obeid, a Gaza energy official, said the sporadic supply of fuel had forced the plant to cut the electricity supply by about one-third. The plant urgently needs fuel, he said, or it would have to shut entirely by Wednesday evening.
Gaza officials have made similar warnings in the past, but Israel has sent in just enough fuel to keep the plant running.
The trouble is that Israel's ruling Extremists reject peace and coexistence outright.
Collective Punishment is a War Crime