After widespread criticism of its decision to cut off supplies of industrial diesel oil required to run a power station that serves Gaza City and its hospitals, Israel resumed fuel shipments on Tuesday on what it said would be a temporary basis.The European Union, which pays for the fuel, called the cutoff “collective punishment,†but Israeli officials said they were simply trying to convince Gazans of the need to stop militants from firing rockets into Israeli towns and farms.
11 paragraphs down:
Israeli officials have made it clear, as one senior official said, that as long as rockets are hitting Israel, “the people of Gaza will be uncomfortable and know that life is not normal.†Israel, however, will not allow a “humanitarian crisis,†Mr. Olmert has said. About 13 Qassam rockets landed in Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli Army said, but did no damage.
Additional demerit: Mentioning the EU reaction without dissent. The Jerusalem Post observes:
Perhaps more European officials should visit Sderot before opening their mouths. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen did just that, and had this to say: “Hamas is deliberately intensifying the crisis in the Gaza Strip in order to create pressure from the international community on Israel.” The international community need not play Hamas’s game. If Western officials uniformly blamed Hamas instead of amplifying its propaganda, it might be forced to stop its aggression, ending the “humanitarian crisis.” As necessary as Israeli military and non-military measures are, the greatest pressure of all would be if the international community let it be clearly known that it was fed up acting as Hamas’s dupes.
Israel eased its blockade of the Gaza Strip for at least a day Tuesday, allowing the European Union and United Nations to truck in the first food shipments in five days, along with fuel to restart the Palestinian territory’s idled power plant.Gaza, which has a population of 1.5 million, had been cut off since Friday, when Israel closed entry points in response to an increase in rocket barrages from the strip last week. About half a million Gaza residents were without power for most of Sunday and Monday after the territory’s power plant exhausted its fuel reserves.
6 paragraphs down:
Israel has said since it began the blockade that it would allow in shipments only after individual review. Palestinians launched at least 17 rockets at Israel from Gaza on Tuesday, causing no damage, the Israeli military said.
Additional demerit: Including a slideshow that emphasizes Gaza without power but no views of damage to Sderot.
What’s clear is that when Israel tightened restrictions on shipments to Gaza the rocket attacks decreased. When Israel resumed shipments, the rocket attacks increased again. Idiots like Amira Hess excluded, sensible people would conclude that the fuel is being used not only for hospitals and other matters of public welfare, but also to fuel rockets.
It wouldn’t be the first time that the Palestinians were sacrificing the welfare of their population for the opportunity to attack Israel. Last year they were digging up sewage pipes to make Qassams regardless of the sanitation nightmare that it would cause.
But Hamas learned. The world would lean on Israel to avoid a “humanitarian crisis” and the terror could continue.
The NY Times and Washington Post have chosen, in the words of the Jerusalem Post to join the “Dupes of Hamas” and emphasize Israel’s reactions, portraying them in the worst possible light and all but ignoring the actions that precipitated Israel’s response and the success that could be credited to that response.
Special demerits to Secretary of State Rice:
SECRETARY RICE: Yeah. We have talked to the Israelis, yes. And I think that they are — they’ve said that they do not want a humanitarian crisis and that they understand the need to permit fuel and electricity in Gaza. So we will see. But my understanding is that they’ve said that they will try and respond in a way that will not allow a humanitarian crisis to unfold there. Ultimately, Hamas is to blame for this circumstance because if they were more responsible toward the international community, then there would be — Gaza would be connected to the outside world rather than cut off. But with that said, nobody wants innocent Gazans to suffer. And so we have spoken to the Israelis about the importance of not allowing humanitarian crisis to unfold there.QUESTION: But don’t you think it’s (inaudible) every time there is tension and (inaudible).
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I think the Israelis are trying to deal with also an untenable situation from their point of view, which is the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the anxiety and the terror that that’s causing for the population. So I’m not surprised that this is a situation of tension. But I’m hopeful that perhaps people can look at different ways of dealing with Gaza. As you know, the Quartet has suggested that Salam Fayyad’s idea of allowing the PA to have more of a role on the — perhaps on the crossings might be something that could be examined. And I think people need to start to try to think creatively about how to deal with the situation in Gaza.
One wonders why the Old South comparisons fail her now? Would it be that impolitic to mention that armed extremists are keeping Israeli children from school as surely as armed guards once kept black children from school?
More from Boker Tov Boulder, Elder of Ziyon and Meryl Yourish.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
How has cutting off fuel to a Gazan power plant that supplies some 20% of Gazan power constitute a blackout on the whole of the Gaza strip? Israel still sends some 3/4 of Gazan electriity in by wire.
Not only malign, the Mainstream (Meanstreak) Media are also deliberately ignorant.