Israel Bulldozes Gaza Lands, Reinstates Blockade

Posted by Siun , Firedoglake at 4:09 AM on November 19, 2008.

On Monday, Israel allowed the UN to bring 33 trucks of food and medicine into Gaza, momentarily lifting the complete blockade which has been in force since November 6. With 750,000 people reliant on that aid, this was clearly a drop in the bucket.

On Tuesday, Israel reinstated the full blockade leaving the people of Gaza without essential humanitarian aid.

And then they upped the ante, as Israeli:

tanks, backed by a bulldozer and military jeep, rumbled about a quarter-mile deep into the tiny seaside strip…

Residents said they levelled lands along the border east of the city of Rafah. It was the first ground action in a week… The Israeli military described the activity as "a routine operation to uncover explosive devices near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip." (h/t Cernig)

When the U.N. human rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay called on Israel to "immediately to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip," saying:

"By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months ...This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now."

Israel responded – ignoring their own first breach of the cease fire – that they were shocked “to read the High Commissioner’s shortsighted press release.”

At the same time, the Israeli Navy detained three international human rights activists and 15 Palestinian fisherman who were on a fishing boat off the coast of Gaza.

The rightwing Israeli source Arutz Sheva called this “Israel Exercises Sovereignty” and scoffed at European media accounts which it noted include charges that the Israeli Navy sprays Palestinian fisherman with

water cannons that drenched them with "a chemical substance." IDF spokesmen laughed off the allegations as ridiculous and said that "routine and acceptable" measures are taken when boats stray beyond legal limits…

... allegations that machine gunfire has been used to ward off the boats. Radio Netherlands reported that the fishing boats bear bullet holes, and it quoted an unnamed Arab's claim that fishermen come under fire on a daily basis.

And:

Muncie, one of the activists who was arrested, accused the Navy of throwing explosives into the sea in order to destabilize the boats. Radio Netherlands also reported claims that two fishermen have been killed and at least four others wounded. The IDF denied the claims.

Getting news from Gaza on these events remains difficult. As The New York Times noted today, Israel continues to ban journalists from entering Gaza, a move explained by the Israeli Defense Ministry with the coments:

“The decision is not directed against journalists,” Mr. Dror said. “The situation in Gaza is clear — there is daily firing, we have information about possible attacks on the crossings, and we are limiting our activity there as much as possible.”

With that, Mr. Dror added that he was not “shedding tears” over the journalists’ frustration, saying that Israel in any case considered much of their previous coverage from Gaza unfair.

I suspect the people of Gaza are having trouble believing Olmert’s assurance yesterday to Abbas that “he would not permit a humanitarian crisis to develop” in Gaza.

Tagged as: israel, palestine, un, gaza

Siun is a regular blogger for FireDogLake.