Flooded in, with an Eye on Israel’s Persecution of the People of Gaza

A flooded gum, flooded
A flooded gum, flooded

While Nutanyahoo postures about Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons in an effort to clutch a flimsy veil of victimhood over Israel’s fascist expansionism, Israel is terrorising the defenceless people of Gaza vigorously, with continued bombings and executions. It is Israel who is the belligerent, expansionist invader and its latest aggression occurs while Hamas implores militants not to fire rockets at the zionist usurper.

Electronic Intifada highlights the fate of another casualty of Israel’s hideous siege on Gaza – the murder of sick 20 year old Anas Saleh by Israel’s official siege flunkeys.

Meanwhile, Palestine-based human rights organizations have called for a criminal investigation into the death of a 20-year-old Gaza resident, as Israeli officials prevented him from leaving Gaza in order to receive life-saving medical treatment for advanced liver disease.

Several human rights organizations — including the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel — have demanded prosecution against Israeli officials for their culpability in his death. In a public statement, the organizations report that Israeli authorities had known about Saleh’s critical medical needs, and had denied his permit to leave Gaza nevertheless (“Human rights organizations demand criminal investigations into the death…,” 6 January 2011).

“… [T]he denial of an exit permit in these circumstances is an act against the legal obligation to provide medical treatment to save the life of the patient, an act which brought about, or at least hastened, the death of the deceased,” the statement read. “The aforementioned act, or failure, raises the suspicion of manslaughter, and/or causing death by negligence …”

If Im Tirzu has its way, there will be no ‘leftwing’ human rights organisations to report on Israel’s crimes against humanity. As usual, this ziofascist organisation omits to mention the massive tax deductible donations received from the international community including Australia, for illegal apartheid Israeli settlements and other land theft by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Israel’s collective punishment of the people of Gaza is completely unacceptable and illegal.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) released a report on 10 December on Israel’s use of collective punishment against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip (“The Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip: Collective Punishment of the Civilian Population,” 10 December 2010 [PDF]).

In its report, PCHR states that by enforcing the blockade since June 2007, Israel is in grave violation of international law and reiterates that “nothing substantial has changed” since Israel’s alleged “easing” of the closure in June 2010.

“The closure is prohibited as a form of collective punishment and results in the infliction of great suffering on the civilian population, which is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions,” PCHR states in the introduction to the 102-page report. “It is a crime that entails individual criminal responsibility for those involved in this policy at various levels, especially at the level of planning, organization and active implementation of the closure. Ultimately, the closure may amount to persecution, which is a crime against humanity.”

PCHR stated that the international community is mandated to take action to “put an end to the illegal closure of Gaza, which is inherently illegal and criminal in its nature.”

“By failing to do so,” PCHR added, “the international community bears responsibility for the intentionally manufactured socio-economical crisis that is progressively destroying Gaza, and depriving its people of their most fundamental human rights and dignity.”

Now is the time to ramp up boycotts, divestments and sanctions of apartheid Israel. As governments have failed, and continue to fail to act to stop Israel’s iniquity, all people of conscience must do so.

And as for us? we’re still flooded in. If it doesn’t rain tonight, we’ll doubtless be able to escape our paradise to collect the mail tomorrow morning. Not so lucky are the people of Brisbane who are awaiting a flood peak at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning. Please stay safe, don’t take chances and use your brains!

Palestine / Israel Links

Striking Israeli diplomats refuse to provide assistance to citizens abroad – As part of its sanctions against the foreign ministry, employees announce that they will not help citizens who lose their passport, need medical attention or face legal troubles around the world.
Israel blacklists 163 foreign charities suspected of supporting terrorism (fails to blacklist its own land-thieving JNF associated Keren Hayesod and United Israel Appeal charities)
Meridor tells Haaretz: Knesset plan to probe left-wing NGOs is dangerous
Israel begrudges Palestine its fragile tourism
#Israeli blood diamonds, forever on your conscience. #BDS campaign for Valentines day #Palestine
MKs demand names of Israeli firms boycotting settlements
Al-Jazeera reporter asked to remove bra by Shin Bet
‘Gentile sperm leads to barbaric offspring’
Birthright Israel calls on its alumni to ‘take back Zionism’
Asa Winstanley appearance on Epilogue, Ken Livingstone’s book review show
Fayyad meets outgoing NZ ambassador
Israel’s public relations policy: never apologise, always confuse

Wikileaks Links

Drug companies tried to get rid of Helen Clark when she was health minister, leaked US Embassy cables claim
Wikileaks have WMDs say US, Evening Standrd poster, Brick Lane, Shoreditch, Hackney, London, UK
Assange fears of trial in US justified, says expert
Irony Plus : Remarks to the Washington Center’s “Politics and the Media” Seminar Students

Other Links

Australia floods threaten Queensland capital; 14 dead, dozens missing
Drift had been asked by engineers to open windows and doors to let the river through – they will either sink or be washed away. They won’t have flood insurance, because they’re right on the river.
Clinton to Yemen: Murder Those Anti-American Muslims!
Brisbane braces for massive floods
Queensland Flood: What You Can Do

No, Nutanyahoo, East Jerusalem is Palestinian

Clinton admonishes Israeli perfidious land thievery, but will the US or any of the Quartet actually do anything? Unless the US is willing to apply tangible pressure, pigs might fly sooner.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Jews have a right to live anywhere in Jerusalem, defended on Monday a settlement project that drew criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Israeli bulldozers cleared the way for 20 new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem, an area captured by Israel in a 1967 war and which Palestinian want as the capital of a future state, by demolishing a derelict hotel on Sunday.

Clinton, in Abu Dhabi on a tour of U.S. Gulf Arab allies, called the Israeli action a “disturbing development” and said it “undermines peace efforts to achieve the two-state solution.”

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office made no direct reference to Clinton’s criticism, but said “there should be no expectation that the State of Israel will impose a ban on Jews purchasing private property in Jerusalem.”

Here’s the EU report on East Jerusalem, which still clings to the illusion that two states are possible:

EU East Jerusalem 2010 by Angela Godfrey-Goldstein

In Haaretz, Carlo Strenger comments:

All they seem to care about is to establish their patriotism through ‘Judaizing’ Jerusalem and other areas; to grab another building from Palestinians; to show how “Jewish” they are by proposing anti-Arab legislation and by attacking NGOs that try to protect Israel the liberal democracy.

The frenzy of the ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem has now crossed the tipping point where the international community is no longer willing to just stand by. A while ago 26 former EU leaders, many of whom during their careers had been staunch friends of Israel, asked for sanctions against Israel. This has now been followed by a call of EU consuls to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital; to place observers at each venue where Israel wants to destroy Palestinian buildings.

The ominous signs that Israel will soon be under great international pressure are mounting, and proposals for specific steps of boycott and sanctions are taking shape. One is to deny Israelis who live in the West Bank entry to the EU, and to forbid the sale of any Israeli products from the West Bank.

Palestine / Israel Links

Daily Israeli Crimes Against Humanity
Farmer ‘killed by Israeli fire’ in Gaza – more like Israel fascists executed another innocent civilian
Angry Arab says that after Bill Clinton got in, Arabists were ‘eliminated’ from State Dep’t
Remnick takes another step– the occupation is ‘deeply wrong’

Wikileaks Links

Greenwald on the climate of fear created by the US in reaction to Wikileaks : “People who spout pieties are never targeted with censorship, since there’s nothing to censor. Only those whose views are threatening or marginalized are subjected to such measures.”

No Jobs for Gazans, Thanks to Israeli Fascism

Related Link

‘What is Imperialism?’ – Public Meeting; Report and Video

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

U.S. criticizes Israel over Jerusalem settlement – but as usual, does nothing
#BDS: BDS to question ‘Made in Israel’
Photos: lovely Gaza…
May the EU grow some balls and treat Israel as it deserves
Probe launched on ‘Travel Palestine’ ad omitting Israel
Giffords Among U.S. Gun Culture’s Latest Victims
Until now, I don’t believe anyone knew that the Mossad had actually made a prior failed attempt on al-Mabouh’s life also in Dubai.
Israel makes too many mistakes for them to be mistakes
New Yorkers protest Gaza blockade
Email Campaign to Release Abdallah Abu Rahmah!
Israel engulfs an entire West Bank village in tear gas
New rightist video urges murder of deputy AG over ‘persecution’ of Jews
Shin Bet backtracks on support for bill to revoke citizenship for terrorists
Health Ministry: Gaza Strip will soon run out of dialysis solution, insulin

Today’s Wikileaks Links

1986 Privacy Law Is Outrun by the Web
In WikiLeaks fight, U.S. journalists take a pass

Today’s Other Links

Video – Trashed in Iraq: ‘Look what they’ve done to us!’
Joint Strike Fighter latest puts our defence planning under siege
So sorry authoritarian state, America still loves you
Patriot Act, a Nazi law: Ex-CIA official
Nick Turse: Does the Pentagon Really Have 1,180 Foreign Bases?

Are we not human? not according to Israel and Amerikkka

Today’s post preserves two nauseating vignettes, of crimes against humanity by Zionist and Amerikkkan flunkeys, with hearts frozen against those whom they palpably regard as less than human, less deserving of consideration provided to their own elites.

The first is Anas Saleh, a “20-year old Gaza resident, who died on 1 January 2011 from a liver disease in Shifa Hospital in Gaza”.

Although the patient was in a critical medical condition, which was known to the Israeli authorities, Israel prevented his exit from Gaza for lifesaving medical treatment. Adalah Attorney Fatmeh El-Ajou filed the complaint on behalf of the victim whose case was followed and documented by PHR-I and Al Mezan.

The human rights organizations argue in the complaint that the denial of an exit permit in these circumstances is an act against the legal obligation to provide medical treatment to save the life of the patient, an act which brought about, or at least hastened, the death of the deceased.

The aforementioned act, or failure, raises the suspicion of manslaughter (section 298 of the penal law, 1977), and/or causing death by negligence (sections 304 and 309 (4) of the penal law, 1977) and responsibility for helpless person and violation of obligation of perant or of responsible person (sections 322 and 337 of the penal law).

In September 2010, Anas Saleh was diagnosed with a liver disease, Budd Chiari Syndrome (a clinical syndrome resulting from obstruction of the veins in the liver). Due to a lack of appropriate medical treatment in the Gaza Strip health system, his condition deteriorated into acute liver failure and hepatitis.

The patient was referred for lifesaving medical treatment to Muqassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, and a hospital referral and appointment were in his possession for 26 December 2010. On 13 December 2010 the family presented a request, via the Palestinian Liaison Office, to the Israeli authorities in order to obtain an exit permit from Gaza.

Thirteen days later, on 26 December 2010, the patient’s hospital appointment date, the army informed the Palestinian Liaison Office that the patient must appear for interrogation by the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shabak) on 30 December 2010 to further consider his request. However, on that date the patient was already unconscious, in a comatose state, and could not appear at the interrogation.

This information was forwarded, according to the Palestinian health coordinator, to the Israeli military on that same day, with a request to speed up the request procedure and to issue an exit permit from Gaza urgently.

Paradoxically, despite the ISA continued to insist that the patient appear for questioning. According to the father’s testimony, on 28 December 2010 he received a telephone call from a man who introduced himself as an ISA representative, and requested that his ill son present himself for questioning on the following day. The father informed him that his son was in a coma and asked that he be allowed to leave for medical treatment without delay.

Throughout this process, medical documents substantiating the patient’s medical condition were transmitted to the Israeli authorities. A final medical document confirming the patient’s critical condition was sent on 29 December 2010.

The patient died in Shifa Hospital in Gaza 1 January 2011 at 18:00 (6 pm). Until today, no response to the request has been issued by the Israeli authorities.

UPDATE

Border guards bar infant from Jerusalem for medical treatment

Israeli soldiers deployed at the Zaytoun checkpoint east of Jerusalem turned away a mother and child with a medical permit to enter the city, on the grounds that the 18-month-old child was not her legitimate son.

Soldiers told Umm Mohammed that her son Mohammad Kahlil Abu Dahuk was in fact a Gaza resident, and could not enter Jerusalem for treatment at the Makassed Hospital, where he was referred for blood work.

Umm Mohammed is a West Bank resident living in Jericho, where her infant son was being treated for a blood disorder at the Jericho Government Hospital.

The Abu Dahud family told Ma’an on Thursday, shortly after the mother and child were refused access to the hospital, that they were refused entry for no reason. Mohammed, his mother said, was registered on her own identity card, being to young to receive his own.

“He has been on the records since he was born,” his father said, condemning the border guards who turned his wife away.

Head of Jericho hospital Naser A’nani confirmed that he had referred the child to the hospital and filed the necessary paperwork for a medical permit to be issued. He said the child needed to see a specialist, and referred him to the larger hospital in Jerusalem.

A spokesman for the Israeli border guards, who operate the checkpoint, said he would look into the claim in the coming days.

Israel has prevented many Palestinians from receiving needed medical treatment. In 2010, Israel denied travel for medical purposes to 635 Gazan people, and delayed travel for a further 1,710 people. The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights report below is essential reading to understand the horrifying extent of the inhumanity of zionists toward Palestinians, whom they consider untermenschen.

Al Mezan: Gaza Patients Ac… by paola pisi

The other unfortunate person is Gulet Mohamed, an 18-year-old American citizen whose family is Somalian. Glenn Greenwald relates that whilst abroad for education and holidays, Gulet was snatched, imprisoned then tortured by Kuwaiti officials.

At all times, Mohamed traveled on an American passport and had valid visas for all the countries he visited. He has never been arrested nor — until two weeks ago — was he ever involved with law enforcement in any way, including the entire time he lived in the U.S.

Approximately two weeks ago (on December 20), Mohamed went to the airport in Kuwait to have his visa renewed, as he had done every three months without incident for the last year. This time, however, he was told by the visa officer that his name had been marked in the computer, and after waiting five hours, he was taken into a room and interrogated by officials who refused to identify themselves. They then handcuffed and blindfolded him and drove him to some other locale. That was the start of a two-week-long, still ongoing nightmare during which he was imprisoned for a week in an unknown location by unknown captors, relentlessly interrogated, and severely beaten and threatened with even worse forms of torture.


Mohamed says he was repeatedly beaten with a stick on the bottom of his feet and his palms, hit in the face, and hung from the ceiling. He also says his captors threatened him with both the arrest of his mother and electric shock, and told him that he should forget his family.

He still does not know why he was detained and beaten, nor does he know what is happening to him now. Indeed, although Mazzetti writes that he was detained and beaten by Kuwait captors, Mohamed actually has no idea who was responsible, and told me that at least some of the people interrogating him spoke English. He has been told that he will be deported back to the U.S., but is now on a no-fly list and has no idea when he will be released. American officials told Mazzetti that “Mr. Mohamed is on a no-fly list and, for now at least, cannot return to the United States.” He’s been charged with no crime and presented with no evidence of any wrongdoing.

Independent of all that, the U.S. Government has an obligation to protect its own citizens. Mohamed described to me how both embassy officials and the FBI expressed zero interest in the torture to which he had been subjected during his detention. The U.S. Government has said nothing about this matter, and refused to comment about Mohamed’s treatment to The New York Times.

All of this underscores the rapidly expanding powers the U.S. Government and law enforcement agents within the country are seizing without a shred of due process. For the government to put an American citizen on the no-fly list while he’s traveling outside the U.S. is tantamount to barring him from entering his own country — a draconian punishment, involuntary exile, meted out without any due process. In June, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of several citizens and legal residents who — like Gulet Mohammed — have been literally stranded abroad and barred from returning with no hearing, simply by being placed secretly on the no-fly list. Add to that the growing seizures of the laptops and other electronic equipment of American citizens re-entering the country without any warrants — or even yesterday’s ruling from the California Supreme Court that police officers can search and seize someone’s cell phone without a warrant when arresting them — and (even leaving aside the administration’s ongoing due-process-free prison camps and assassination programs) these are pure police state tactics.

Amerikkka and Israel are marching to hell together behind a familiar, sickening beat. Let’s decide not to follow their lead. Stand up and speak out for justice and freedom and reject totalitarianism in its new, frightening, morally depraved forms.

Bilin demo theme - Courtesy Joseph DanaPalestine / Israel Links

Outgoing Mossad chief, Dagan : Iran won’t have nuclear capability before 2015 “The Israeli intelligence community’s assessments of Iran’s nuclear capability have changed during Dagan’s tenure. In 2003, Israeli intelligence officials thought Iran would have its first bomb by 2007. In 2007, they thought it would be 2009, and a year later they put it at 2011. Now the date has moved to 2015. These adjustments were not the result of mistaken evaluations, but due to the difficulties Iran has encountered in advancing its program, largely because of the Mossad’s efforts.” Yeah, right – hence the plethora of assassinations in Iran of nuclear scientists by Mossad killers.

Amr Qawasme, 65, shot to death for unknown reason as soldiers raid house in Hebron area. ‘They put their hand to my mouth and a rifle to my head,’ man’s wife says. ‘I asked them, ‘What did you do?’ They asked me to shut up.’
The culture of the Israeli army and the murder of an elderly man in his sleep
Israelis admit killing innocent civilian in bed

End Georgia’s relationship with the Israeli police – stop human rights abuses now! get involved [.pdf]
In Ajami and Mas’ha, Evidence of the Continuing Nakba
Doing the work of the master, the last person who cares about equal rights : Mubarak asks Israel to build trust with Palestinians
Former Knesset speaker urges Israeli human rights groups to shun Knesset probe
Declaring Palestine: Revisiting Hope and Failure : Ramzy Baroud
Zionist settlers are blackshirts : Jericho teacher says settler car attempted to run down students
Palestinians look for early vote on UN resolution
After lobby effort PA releases 6 Hamas affiliates
More ziofascism : Israeli court releases J’lem official Adnan Ghaith on bail from secret charges
Amira Hass: Gaza on the edge of no return
Shas: Ahuva Tomer to blame for bus disaster
Video: Our Story By Dr. Mustafa Barghouti
Palestinians and another deadline… that is not sacred?
Forward: Israeli army doctors warned in ‘03 that CS gas in high concentrations could kill
Aiding Israel: Love thy neighbour
Get a clue, Baroness Ashton, “peace process” is code for more Israeli expansionism. Time for a justice process.
EU Rejects Israel’s Offer On Gaza Blockade
Israel slates 15 Jericho homes for demolition
When the Messiah comes, Israel will deport him
Israel’s killing zone in Gaza
Marching in bilin to the wall
Israeli ‘hasbara’ deployed versus former EU leaders
Fact-Checking Noah Pollak and the IDF’s Unofficial Spokespeople
Subhiya, mother of Jawaher Abu Rahmah who was killed last week, leading the memorial demo in Bil’in
On the wall now in bilin. Mass demonstration
Massive amount of people. Israeli mk getting coated with shit water in bilin
Massive gas in bilin. Injuries as well
Peer’s non-appearance a win for BDS campaign
#OperationPalestine: It’s Not Too Much To Act
‘Our politics are entangled’ – Today, at 80, Samuel Lewis, former U.S. envoy to Israel, says he worries about Israel’s current state of affairs but assures that ‘Israel is here to stay.’ What the hell is a ‘Jewish brain’?
Yossi Gurvitz’s photos from the Bil’in demo
Israel Soldier Beats Up Civilian & Shooting in Direct Formation

Wikileaks Links

WikiLeaks: Secret whaling deal plotted by US and Japan
Hollywood on aggressive Asia-Pacific IP law push
Bradley Manning: the forgotten man : Glenn Greenwald [Audio]
Douglas Feith, named by General Tommy Franks as “the stupidest fucking guy on the planet” is amongst the Bush Six, against whom criminal proceedings are being prepared by Spain for torture.
12 Angry Men – great poster of Bush’s legal thugs

Other Links

Erdogan renders military holding’s lobbying efforts ineffective
EU needs Turkey more than Turkey needs it, says Ba???
U.S. Employs Afghan War To Build Global NATO
Afghans consign another superpower to the dustbin of history
Getting things done
Opium Production in Afghanistan: Strong and Corrupt as Ever

Israel Delegitimises Itself

From Haaretz:

The Knesset plenum voted Wednesday to establish a parliamentary panel of inquiry to investigate left-wing Israeli organizations that allegedly participate in delegitimization campaigns against Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

The initiative, brought forth by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu faction, called primarily to investigate the sources of funding for these groups. The panel will essentially be charged with looking into where these groups have been attaining their funds, particularly whether this money is coming from foreign states or even organizations deemed to be involved in terrorist activities.

The knesset’s approval of the proposal comes after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein ruled in August that no investigation should be launched against such groups.

MK Fania Kirshenbaum (Yisrael Beiteinu ), who submitted the proposal, alleged during the debate that the groups targeted for investigation were to blame for foreign actions aimed at delegitimizing Israel and its officials.

“These groups provide material to the Goldstone commission [which investigated the Gaza war] and are behind the indictments lodged against Israeli officers and officials around the world,” Kirshenbaum said, referring to a series of arrest warrants issued over the last few years.

“They are trying to silence the very people who administrate the State of Israel’s foreign relations,” she declared. “These organizations are responsible for branding IDF soldiers as war criminals and encourage defamations.”

In her presentations, Kirshenbaum singled out one group which she claimed went into local Israeli schools to convince pupils that “joining the IDF is unethical” and to advise them how to dodge conscription. A panel of inquiry, said Kirshenbaum, would investigate just who was in charge of the bodies providing these Israeli groups with financial assistance.

While Yisrael Beiteinu had garnered a majority in favor of the proposal before it was brought to vote, the matter raised the ire of human rights groups and left-wing politicians alike.

Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz called the initiative “a shame on the Knesset”, declaring Tuesday that: “The persecution campaign against human rights and citizens rights groups has reached a new low.”

The purpose of such a committee was essentially to silence criticism, Horowitz said, a move that should be seen as, “a brutal act of political persecution using a coalition majority and Knesset funding, under the legal guise of an investigation committee.”

“Human rights and citizens rights group save the honor of Israel in the world and maintain its character as a democratic state,” Horowitz said. “It is moves like that being led by Yisrael Beiteinu that lead to Israel’s delegitimization in the world and present Israeli democracy as fake. All to whom Israeli democracy is dear must oppose this committee of persecution.”

Sixteen human rights groups signed an open letter protesting the initiative, including ACRI, B’Tselem, Yesh Din, Machsom Watch, Adalah, Mossawa Center, Ir Amim and Hotline for Migrant Workers.

“Investigate us all, we have nothing to hide. You are invited to read our reports and our publications. We will be happy if for a change you relate in a germane way to our questions instead of trying to besmirch us. It did not work in the past and it will not work this time,” the letter said.

This latest repressive law follows recent overt harassment by the Shin Bet of leftists, the persecution of activists and the murder of Jawaher Abu Rahma by Israeli Occupation Forces with CS gas in Bil’in and pursuant pathetic IDF hasbara coverup attempts.

With huge irony, Defence Minister Ehud Barak bleats that “The international community tends to adopt the Palestinian point of view, and we must fight the delegitimization of Israel” apparently oblivious to the fact that Israel delegitimises itself continuously with acts of oppression whilst passing ever more repressive laws.

The Zionist entity, Ourobouros-like, is eating itself. Soon it may implode.

Palestine / Israel Links

Three cables detailing Israeli and US complicity with strangulating Gaza’s economy aka collective punishment, have been published by Aftenposten.

26.7.2007: APHSCT TOWNSEND RECEIVES ACTION PLAN ON PALESTINIANS FROM ISRAELI NSC : S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 002281

“Arditi said that the objective was to damage the Hamas government in Gaza financially without creating a humanitarian crisis, and to buy time for Fatah to rebuild support.”

“Arditi and others are looking for a balance between humanitarian concern for the Palestinian population and effective tracking of possible terrorist activity. Arditi and the NSC are likely seeking U.S. support to strengthen their position in internal GOI discussions.”

The next cable is dated 2 days before Israel’s premeditated breach of the truce with Hamas.

3.11.2008 CASHLESS IN GAZA? S E C R E T TEL AVIV 002447

“Since the Hamas takeover, Israel has designated Gaza as a &hostile entity,” and maintained an economic embargo against the territory. Under this designation, decisions on shekels in circulation in Gaza and the territorys economy in general are treated by the GOI as security matters, and therefore are subject to the same high levesl of uncertainty that the GOI uses to keep potential sources of security threat off-balance. Israeli officials have confirmed to Embassy officials on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis.”

“The Palestinian Authoritys request for a guaranteed “floor” transfer rate of NIS 100 million per month will not be seriously considered by the GOI until after January 2009, when the Palestinian political situation becomes more clear. In any case, given the size of the population and economy in Gaza, GOI interlocutors find it implausible that the number of workers on the Palestinian Authority,s (PA) payroll there and the amount of money to be paid each month accurately reflect the current size of the territory,s civil service or its future government service requirements, nor do they agree with the PAs contention that these payments are buying loyalty.”

“A USG policy that encourages the GOI to review its present policies (as requested by the Office of the Quartet Representative and the PA) while pressing the Israelis to approve as much funding each month as possible under security constraints, assisting the PA to improve its regulatory regimes and due diligence procedures, and continuing to foster direct dialogue between officials of the GOI and PA on Gaza issues in the monthly Joint Economic Commission meetings is our best bet for minimizing economic/political gains to Hamas in Gaza. ”

“Embassy Tel Aviv has encouraged the GOI to review its policy on Gaza liquidity, as requested by the Office of the Quartet Representative and the PA. As noted above, we do not expect that review to result in any changes until the political situation between Hamas and Fatah becomes more clear, presumably after January 9, 2009. In the meantime, we believe the USG should continue to encourage the Israelis to approve as much funding as possible each month, consistent with our mutual political/security objectives in Gaza. We should continue to assist the PA to improve its regulatory regimes and due diligence. Finally, the USG should continue to promote use of the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Economic Committee as the appropriate venue for resolving Gaza liquidity issues. “

4.12.2008: GOI CALLS GAZA CASH CRISIS A HAMAS PLOY

“Comment: USG interlocutors at all levels have been urging the GOI to provide the needed December salary payments and greater certainty to Gaza,s banking sector going forward. Most recently, Charge raised the NIS 250 million request with COGAT/MOD PolMil Director Amos Gilad evening of December 3. Gilad,s response was, “Theyre not getting a dime”. However, we do not expect that to be the last word from the GOI on the subject. ”

“Therefore, we expect this issue to remain an agenda item in the Joint Economic Committee for the foreseeable future, and anticipate continued pressure for USG intervention in the monthly transfer process. Of greater concern is Levis claim to have new evidence that the PAs current Gaza salaries list is tainted by Hamas sympathizers. We will work with the GOI to verify that claim and to make sure the PA has sufficient information to re-vet the list, if necessary. “

Another cable from 2006 released by Aftenposten details the annoyance of US business at Israeli corruption at the Karni crossing with Gaza.

14. 6. 2006: ALLEGED ISRAELI CORRUPTION AT KARNI IMPEDES U.S.

Summary: U.S. businesses allege that corruption by Israeli officials at Karni crossing is impeding their access to the Gaza market. As of late May 34 shipments of American goods, amounting to nearly USD 1.9 million dollars, have been waiting three to four months to cross into Gaza. U.S. distributors assert they are being asked to pay “special fees” which amount to as much as 75 times the standard processing fee as quoted by GOI officials. According to one major American distributor, corruption extends to Karni management and involves logistics companies working as middlemen for military and civilian officials at the terminal. An open and transparent truck registration system and the development and publication of clear procedures, charges and service standards for Karni would go a long way to fight corruption and advance the Agreement on Movement and Access, goal of effective service standards for the border crossings.

Israel’s Knesset Targets Leftist Organizations
Ma’ariv Columnist: Investigate David Ben-Gurion & Natan Alterman :

“…We need a commission of inquiry to reevaluate the subversive political activity of David Ben-Gurion and Natan Alterman. Alterman wrote a poem during the War of Independence, the toughest war in Israel’s history, in which he accused the IDF soldiers of committing war crimes, and proposed executions of offenders (“For this”). Ben-Gurion, as a traitorous defense minister, instructed that this poem be sent to all IDF soldiers, thereby damaging Israel’s reputation and undermining their confidence in its morality. They served Israel’s enemies knowingly in time of war. The commission of inquiry can discuss the matter and recommend, let’s say, that the writings of the traitors be burned and the name of Ben-Gurion Boulevard be changed to Kirschenbaum Boulevard [LF: for Faina Kirschenbaum, the member of Knesset from the Yisrael Beiteinu party – and settler – who introduced legislation to establish a commission of inquiry into “left-wing” groups]….”