"AN ISRAELI VIEW: Gazans deserve a better future," Efraim Inbar. Bitterlemons.org June 28, 2010 Edition 14.
Inbar explains why those who claim to be defending the Palestinians' interests are wrong to pressure Israel to end its blockade of Gaza. On that point, I think he is right. However, I'm not convinced by his claim that the Netanyahu administration's recent adjustments to the blockade substantively diminish Israel's security. I get the sense that these movements they are symbolic more than anything--a sign between Israel, on the one hand, and the U.S. and Israel's few allies in Europe, on the other. Israel has been tinkering with the specifics of the blockade on a regular basis in order to strike a balance between limiting potentially harmful materials from entering Gaza and letting purely civilian goods through. If, in exchange, Israel can get them to resist the demagogic calls for a UN investigation, and/or to show some more spine with regard to Iran and Erdogan, then I am all for it. That Israel's friends and quasi-friends are willing and able to step up...well, I will believe that when I see it.
The entrenchment of Hamas rule in Gaza amplifies the schism in Palestinian society and strengthens Hamas' influence in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. It is also a slap in the face of President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the PA, who demanded the blockade's continuation. Hamas' achievement here further undermines whatever ability--albeit a very limited ability--the Palestinian national movement had to move toward compromise with the Jewish state."
The easing of the blockade reflects the success of a Hamas propaganda campaign to depict the situation in Gaza as a humanitarian disaster. While Gaza is not prospering, the standard of living there is generally higher than in Egypt--a little noticed fact. The ability of this Goebbels-type propaganda to entrench a tremendous lie in the consciousness of the international community testifies to the continued vulnerability of naive westerners to sophisticated psychological warfare and to the complicity of much of the western press in this enterprise.
The step taken by the Israeli government also significantly helps Hamas strengthen its grip on Gazans, as Hamas controls the distribution of any goods entering its territory. Moreover, even if Hamas allows for a general improvement in the daily lives of all Gazans, this reduces the incentive for regime change, which should be part of the western goal to give Gazans a better future. Strengthening this radical theological regime in the eastern Mediterranean, which is linked to revolutionary Iran, defies western rational thinking.
The entrenchment of Hamas rule in Gaza amplifies the schism in Palestinian society and strengthens Hamas' influence in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. It is also a slap in the face of President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the PA, who demanded the blockade's continuation. Hamas' achievement here further undermines whatever ability--albeit a very limited ability--the Palestinian national movement had to move toward compromise with the Jewish state.
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