News for today's 2018

<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWo1v_NMANTWqIG9EwTKsAplwtc1j_a3tJ23rBqSXiSV6X6JUx0LFklzynbtlqNQwpPYmfRZHZx7_Z_qMnDl-iNGiDa7BkqE271zOG3fvxLP6fLONuXjYJ9tQiDM0kuJ7aZx897HBtWBg0/s1600/RAFAHSMIGGLINGTUNNEL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWo1v_NMANTWqIG9EwTKsAplwtc1j_a3tJ23rBqSXiSV6X6JUx0LFklzynbtlqNQwpPYmfRZHZx7_Z_qMnDl-iNGiDa7BkqE271zOG3fvxLP6fLONuXjYJ9tQiDM0kuJ7aZx897HBtWBg0/s640/RAFAHSMIGGLINGTUNNEL.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WHO IS REALLY BESIEGING GAZA?</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 7.5pt 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Mudar Zahran </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 7.5pt 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;">HAMAS REAPS OVER HALF A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR FROM TARIFFS ON THE EGYPT-GAZA TUNNEL TRADE</span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 7.5pt 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 7.5pt 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Apart from the presumed public relations gains to be amassed by "sticking it to ISRAEL," according to a 2011 report Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Hamas reaps over half a billion dollars a year from tariffs on the EGYPT-Gaza tunnel trade. It is therefore in Hamas's best interest to keep the blockade idea alive, in order to secure larger revenues for its Gaza government, all the while demonizing ISRAEL and causing Gaza's residents to suffer, thereby making them even more dependent on Hamas.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 7.5pt 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEOU61CsQDI-yxJldOoA0S55SKShKbq_6Q4xc7KVVMVtSqyU3ejVFRARh952epabFm56x49rHQ-fP1EwHEzAXSxUCBgfHpHnAHjgcNkBm95Vx2QAvunzv5-h8Usil6dRoNERBE9VOQmJ79/s1600/Ismail-Haniyeh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEOU61CsQDI-yxJldOoA0S55SKShKbq_6Q4xc7KVVMVtSqyU3ejVFRARh952epabFm56x49rHQ-fP1EwHEzAXSxUCBgfHpHnAHjgcNkBm95Vx2QAvunzv5-h8Usil6dRoNERBE9VOQmJ79/s400/Ismail-Haniyeh.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Islmail Haniyeh enjoying Israeli products</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A photo of the "Prime Minister" of Hamas's government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, <a href="http://www.kulalhaqiqa.ps/arb/ar_page.php?id=5ui6eha909607ynos3jc44b"><span style="color: blue;">buying ISRAELI grapes</span></a> in Gaza, with a boy standing next to him enjoying a bag of ISRAELI chips has been circulating online among Palestinians.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The photo is an example of the hypocrisy of the senior Hamas leader, as his group and its sympathizers in the West and in Muslim countries have been advocating a universal boycott of ISRAELI products. The photo of Haniyeh buying ISRAELI grapes also ridicules those across the world claiming that people in Gaza are starving to death under a "terrifying" ISRAELI siege. An ISRAELI siege, in fact, might be exactly what Hamas's leaders want to bring about, both to try to hurt ISRAEL economically and at the same time to gain global political and financial support for themselves while Gazans are suffering under Hamas's rule.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">GENERAL PUBLIC IS HARDLY AWARE OF THE FACT THAT ISRAEL PROVIDES WATER AND ELECTRICITY FREE OF CHARGE TO GAZA AND THE WEST BANKS! </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Before Haniyeh's picture became an internet sensation -- distributed by Palestinians over social websites such as Facebook -- just this past August, former PA security chief Muhammad Dahlan said that Gaza was "<a href="http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=280722"><span style="color: blue;">not under siege</span></a>," and that its residents were "not lacking anything." Dahlan was expelled from Fatah in 2011 following a dispute with PA president Mahmoud Abbas, a circumstance which possibly gives him more freedom to speak his mind.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Dahlan is not alone in his assessment. In July 2010, EGYPTIAN journalist <a href="http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4482.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Ashraf Abu Al-Houl wrote</span></a> in Al-Ahram (EGYPT'S most prominent newspaper) that "in actual terms" Gaza is not under siege. He further noted that stores were "flowing with goods" at "low prices." Abu Al-Houl went as far as detailing the thriving entertainment and amusement parks industry in Gaza.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHIXBBa4GAM0sjLenTpZ2eZ6eVRLWzSQAGmz3TGwu5yY4m3Ewp2NfwfsSk_i8QyknA1hxKkD6k_CILgAOew0Gr_YiV-4zoObOkmGueir3By1_ahHYlhdqvCn3okNOPQCIRkxh1lEDVt2W/s1600/gazamall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHIXBBa4GAM0sjLenTpZ2eZ6eVRLWzSQAGmz3TGwu5yY4m3Ewp2NfwfsSk_i8QyknA1hxKkD6k_CILgAOew0Gr_YiV-4zoObOkmGueir3By1_ahHYlhdqvCn3okNOPQCIRkxh1lEDVt2W/s400/gazamall.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gaza shopping mall</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Still, in the global media, the notion of Gaza being under an "inhumane" ISRAELI siege is alive and well. Weeks after Dahlan's statement, the United Nations released a report stating that "the situation in the Palestinian enclave has reached a critical point. If no action is taken, by 2020, Gaza will become uninhabitable" -- noting that ISRAEL is to blame for the conditions in Gaza.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Ironically, throughout all of the alleged Israeli siege on Gaza, ISRAEL has consistently been providing Gazans water and power supplies, which <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8918983/Israel-threatens-to-cut-water-and-power-to-Gaza.html"><span style="color: blue;">Israel threatened to cut</span></a> in 2011 if Palestinian Authority pursued reunification with Hamas -- a threat which ISRAEL never carried out.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Moreover, <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/weeklygazaaid.html"><span style="color: blue;">numbers</span></a> speak for themselves: in March 2012, the same month when 300 Hamas rockets were fired from Gaza at ISRAELI towns, 3,653 truckloads of goods were delivered from ISRAEL to Gaza and 1,375 Gazan patients and companions entered or passed through ISRAEL for medical treatments, followed by another 1,364 in April, 2012.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In August 2012, the Hamas prime minister's brother in law was <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/08/231069.html"><span style="color: blue;">allowed to enter ISRAEL</span></a> for treatment in an ISRAELI hospital.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This is the same Haniyeh who visited TUNIS in 2011 by invitation from its Islamist-dominated parliament and told the welcoming crowd, "We shall not relinquish Palestine," to which the crowd chanted: "<a href="http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/01/hamas-prime-minister-ismail-haniya-tells-tunisians-we-shall-not-relinquish-palestine-crowd-chants-killing-the-jews-is-a-duty/"><span style="color: blue;">Killing Jews is A Duty</span></a>".</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ESTIMATED TUNNEL TRADE BETWEEN GAZA AND EGYPT <span style="font-size: large;">PEAKS</span> TO AROUND $600-850 MILLION PER YEAR, WITH HAMAS TAKING A HEFTY CUT FROM THE TRADE</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So, if ISRAEL has never stopped humanitarian supplies to Gaza and does not enforce the alleged blockade of humanitarian supplies on Gaza, why does Hamas insist on promoting the blockade's myth and even provoking ISRAEL whenever possible by rocket attacks such as the most recent ones?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">To understand Hamas's motives, apart from the presumed public relations gains to be amassed by "sticking it to ISRAEL," it might help to know that the Washington Institute for Near East Policy released a report in 2011 stating that the estimated tunnel trade between Gaza and EGYPT had "likely peaked at around $600-850 million per year," and noted that Hamas takes a hefty cut from the EGYPTIAN tunnel trade, "imposing high 'customs' duties and a daily fee on local tunnel contractors." </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to the report, the </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TUNNEL TRADE HAD BEEN DRAMATICALLY REDUCED SINCE JUNE 2010, WHEN ISRAEL QUADRUPLED THE NUMBER OF TRUCKS PERMITTED TO BRING GOODS TO GAZA</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"> </span>through legal terminals. It is therefore in Hamas's best interest to keep the blockade alive to secure larger revenues for its Gaza government, all the while demonizing ISRAEL and causing Gaza's residents to suffer, thereby making them even more dependent on Hamas.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">At the same time, Hamas manages to get the world's sympathy in the name of the blockade, as well as the world's cash: <b>Qatar, for example, recently allocated $400 million as aid money for Gaza. Of course, how decent Hamas will be at handling those funds is anyone's guess.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It is Hamas, not ISRAEL, which is besieging Gaza. Those who claim to be concerned about the Palestinians in Gaza would actually do more good for these fine people if they stopped attacking ISRAEL and instead switched their focus to addressing the true source of the Gazans' poverty, suffering and oppression: HAMAS.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

ISRAEL AND GAZA

WHO IS REALLY BESIEGING GAZA? By Mudar Zahran HAMAS REAPS OVER HALF A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR FROM TARIFFS ON THE EGYPT-GAZA TUNNEL TRADE Ap...

ISRAEL AND GAZA

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