Strangulation of Gaza
Rice's ``all-night negotiations'' back in November proving meaningless
Israel mercilessly is punishing Gaza farmers but the headline is ``Qaeda Is In Gaza'' (no mention of the farmers in the CBS News story except in the caption)
Hundreds of stories on ``indications about a presence of al-Qaeda in Gaza'', but only 26 about, ``Agriculture in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse as Israel's economic stranglehold starts to bite''
The punishment of the Palestinian people for their democratic choice of Hamas as parliamentary majority is in high gear, with the complicity of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is spreading what amounts to a rumor that ``al-Qaida has infiltrated the occupied territories''.
Now Israel is flexing its domination in order to ensure that Palestinian economic benefits from the settler pull-out during 2005 cannot be realized, especially under the new Hamas government. At a critical time for export of produce to Europe, Israel is keeping the Karni cargo crossing closed, citing terrorism concerns. The BBC reports,Israel has kept the crossing closed for nine straight days due to security concerns, officials say.
Our liberal media here in America has just about zero interest in looking at the Gaza story as about anything other than terrorism.
Palestinians describe the closure as collective punishment, while the UN says it has caused severe shortages.
"This is getting to precarious levels," said David Shearer, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in an interview with Reuters news agency.
Stocks of wheat, sugar and cooking oil could begin to run out within days, the UN said on Wednesday.
"We had already informed the merchants that Karni would open," said the Palestinian official in charge of the border, Salim Abu Safiyeh.
"The continued closure is causing humanitarian and economic harm," he said.
Palestinian farmers had been planning to dump hundreds of tonnes of spoiled produce that they would normally have exported through Karni crossing.
