Palestinian manifestations

by Jack Cohen

Last week the firing of a missile into Israel from Gaza prompted Israel to close the Kerem Shalom crossing where 800 trucks  cross into the Gaza strip daily to supply the Gazan population with food, medical and building supplies.  This broke a 3 months ceasefire arranged by Egypt.  The missile firing was justified as a response to the death of a West Bank Arab, Arafat Jaradat, who was being held in an Israeli jail for rioting.  Although the Palestinians first blamed Israel for his death, later they reported that he had been killed by a Palestinian while in custody for collaborating with the Israelis.  Whatever the truth, Israel decided to open the crossing again on Monday. 

However, the crossing was never opened because it was taken over by force by Hamas, which controls Gaza, from Fatah, that until then had controlled the crossing by agreement with Israel.  Firing was heard, but the casualties were not reported.  It seems that Hamas used this opportunity to take over the crossing.  The 800 trucks that arrived there that day were not allowed to cross.  Israel denied them entrance due to the Hamas take-over and Hamas will not pay for the goods because it does not recognize Israel.  The crossing is therefore at a standstill, with Hamas in effect denying entry of Israeli goods to their civilian population.  It was at this point that NPR reported that Israel was "starving" Gaza of resources!

Although the death of Arafat Jaradat in Israel received a lot of publicity, that of another prisoner did not.  Ayman Saramah being held for assault in a Palestinian prison cell in Jericho in the PA died while in custody, but the PA tried to keep it a secret by preventing Palestinian journalists from coverng the story.  Mustafa Khawaja, who works for the local Al-Aksa TV station, was detained by PA security officers for several hours when he tried to report on a sit-in strike by families of Palestinians held in Jericho Prison protesting torture there.  The story was reported by Khaled abu Toameh in TheJerusalem Post.

On Tuesday, the British Consul-General in Jerusalem Sir Vincent Fean (effectively the British representative to the PA) was scheduled to give a speech at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, but was prevented from doing so by violent student demonstrations.  His convoy of cars was attacked and had to leave.  The President of Bir Zeit, Dr. Khalil al-Hindi, and several other academics denounced this prevention of freedom of speech.  A similar attack happened against the French Ambassador last year.  No doubt the British and French people who support the Palestinians agree that their Ambassadors should not be allowed to talk to Palestinian students. 

Note that the budget of UNWRA that supports only Palestinian refugees was b$1.23 in 2011.  Surely they could afford to help the 1 million Syrian refugees who have fled Syria in the past 2 years and are living in camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey under the most dire conditions.  But, of course they won't.  Maybe those in the West who make a crusade of supporting the "poor" Palestinians, will make every effort to support the even poorer Syrians.  But, of course they won't.

Egypt's tunnel closures hit Gaza builders

 

Contrary to reports aired on NPR, Reuters says that Egypt not Israel is adversely impacting Gaza builders.

 

Egypt's tunnel closures hit Gaza builders

Wed Mar 6, 2013 2:41pm EST
 

* Cement prices soar after Egypt floods smuggling tunnels
* Contractors suspend projects, businessmen's group says
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, March 6 (Reuters) - Business was booming for Gaza brick-maker Yasser Qreqea, until neighbouring Egypt shut down smuggling tunnels across its border that were funnelling arms to militants in the territory and cement and other basic goods to everyone else.

Overnight the price of building materials soared in the Gaza Strip, hitting Qreqea's key customers and, industry sources said, slowing the construction of apartments, roads and houses across the enclave run by Hamas Islamists.

"Business is dead and we are the ones losing out," the businessman told Reuters in his factory in the densely-populated Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City.

A handful of workers stacked bricks in his already bulging store room, but Qreqea sat idle, waiting for customers.

Egypt said it started flooding and sealing the network of tunnels in February to cut a two-way flow of smuggled weapons that was destabilising its border area in the Sinai peninsula, where separate groups of Islamist militants operate.

Cairo's decision also cut a lifeline to around 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza, hit by a blockade on a wide range of goods imposed by Israel in 2007 after Hamas took power.

The tunnels had been used to bypass the blockade and smuggle in all kinds of merchandise, including cars, livestock and fuel - around 30 percent of all goods that reached the enclave, according to some estimates.

A month ago, a tonne of cement cost 350 shekels ($95) in the Gaza Strip. After the tunnel closures, the price rose to 650 shekels before Hamas pressured merchants to bring it down to its current 480 shekel mark.

"I have been speaking to contractors and I understood many of them have suspended building because of the unstable and higher prices of cement," said Ali al-Hayek, chairman of the Palestinian Businessmen's Association.

He forecast "disastrous results for the economy of Gaza and the building sector", unless Egypt reopened the routes.

Hayek said there was a lack of data on the exact size of the construction industry in the Gaza Strip, but estimated thousands of private and public projects were under way before the stoppage.
Gaza's tunnellers told Reuters nearly 60 percent of the estimated 1,000 smuggling routes under the border had been closed.

Tunnel owner Abu Jamal said the Hamas government's taxation of cement and the new price controls had made the smuggling of construction material through surviving routes unviable.

"The Egyptian campaign damaged our business gravely and conditions by Hamas here are forcing us to stop the work. Business is in sleep mode," he added.

Under international pressure, Israel began to ease the blockade in 2010 and allowed international aid agencies to import construction material. It further eased restrictions at the end of last year, but not enough to wean Gaza's businesses from their tunnel supply routes.

Majed Abu Shaaban, a developer building rental apartments, said mounting construction costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers, who would be charged higher rents.

"The solution is to reopen crossings either with Israel or with Egypt. My only concern is to get goods at market prices," Abu Shaaban said. (Reporting by Nidal Almughrabi, Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Andrew Heavens)

Dropping the Hagel Bomb by Ben Stein

Dropping the Hagel Bomb

By Ben Stein on 1.7.13

Obama, Israel, and Chuck Hagel’s nomination.

You really cannot, in fairness, blame President Obama for naming “Chuck” Hagel, one of the most clearly anti-Israel, anti-Semitic members of the Senate (or ex-members in his case) to be Secretary of Defense. President Obama has not changed his views on Israel since his first speech at the Democrat convention in 2004, when he made it clear that his sympathies in the Middle East lay with the Palestinians. In a way, you have to admire his consistency. Of course, he has to pay lip service to Israel when he visits Miami Beach, but how he must laugh at the audiences that applaud him.
He is a charter member of the Chicago angry black man entity, and they — including former pals Jeremiah Wright and MinisterFarrakhan — have little love for the Jews. So, again, his contempt for Israel and for Jews is not a surprise.

The parts that are so heart breaking are that:

1.) Most American Jews clearly supported Mr. Obama in his bid for President against a GOP that has been an incomparably stronger supporter of Israel than the modern-day Democrat party. If one is to judge from the stony faces at the DNC whenever Israel was mentioned, and the fervent support of Iran on those same faces, one can clearly see who was Israel’s friend and who was not. Never mind, Barack Obama got two thirds of the Jewish vote. That was decisive in Florida, Virginia, and Ohio. Barack Obama’s most productive fund-raisers, especially at the “millionaires and billionaires” level that Mr. Obama supposedly hates so much, were almost unanimously Jews. How they are going to square this with Senator Hagel’s nomination to a post that is of life or death importance to Israel is anyone’s guess.

But here is a clue: the really committed left-wing Jew does not care much about Israel. Jews in many cases have loyalties that trump their interest to Israel. Their support of Mr. Obama is a case in point. Obviously, it is the right of left-wing American Jews to have contempt for the Jewish state. That’s what freedom means.

On orders from Moscow, American Jewish Communists suspended criticism of Hitler during the August 1939-June 1941 period of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. Violation of that edict was called “premature antifascism” and men died for it. Not for a moment would I compare Mr. Obama to any of the evil names above in this paragraph. I merely point out that those who think all Jews in America consider Israel a high priority are mistaken. The left-wing group-think party line far outranks Zionism for many, many Jews.

You are going to see this in the immediate future, as Mr. Obama lines up his many Jewish friends and supporters to back Mr. Hagel.

2.) I hope the people who are supporting Chuck Hagel know that by confirming him, they are cementing at 100 percent that odds that Iran will get a nuclear capability without U.S. interference. Whether Israel can survive an Islamic bomb is questionable at best. This means a vote to confirm Mr. Hagel is a vote that expresses no interest in whether Israel survives.

As a student of anti-Semitism in Europe before, during, and after the Holocaust, no amount of hatred and loathing for Jews surprises me. Americans who do love Israel should be aware, though, that it is growing much more likely by the moment that there will be a second Holocaust. The only real friends that Israel has on this earth, evangelical Christians, will take note. Whether anyone else will is a big question.

3.) In a few days, we will mark that 100th birthday of RichardNixon, the best friend in the White House that Jews have ever had. Even now, if you mention Nixon to Israelis, they tear up with gratitude about how Mr. Nixon saved them in 1973. American Jews have a very different attitude. I suspect that Mr. Obama will get away with his contempt for Israel, and that the same Jews who have always put the party line ahead of Israel will still support him. If Iran kills two million Jews in an afternoon (God forbid!) they will find a way to blame George W. Bush.

Poor Israel, poor beleaguered Israel, abandoned by so many people who call themselves Jewish, so alone, so terribly alone.

About the Author

Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.