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January 28, 2008
Is the blowing up of the wall between Gaza and Egypt a circuit breaker to the circle of violence between Palestinians and Israel?
The UN considers Israel's blockade of Gaza to be an illegal act of "collective punishment". The Palestinian violence is interpreted as a reaction to the relentless brutality and provocation of Israeli forces.
Sharpe
The blowing up the wall busts open the Israeli attempt to try and turn Gaza into a gulag in the name of national security. An attempt based in large part on the illegal occupation, the airstrikes, the sniper fire and the overarching control over Palestinian lives through checkpoints and curfews.
Will Israel begin to seriously consider the argument that ending the occupation can end the conflict? Or will
Israel continue to illegally annexing further land in the name of security?
Israeli's unilateral 'withdrawal' in September 2005 from Gaza that left Israel still largely in charge of access to Gaza, its airspace and access to the sea. Israel provided two-thirds of Gaza's electricity, policed the land routes into which fuel, medicines and raw materials must pass, and controlled access of Palestinians to labour markets - Gaza's population was in effect imprisoned and Gaza is occupied territory because Israel has effective control over the Palestinians there. It controls the population register as well as Gaza's sea space and air space, prevents large-scale use of the harbour and any use of Gaza's one airport, conducts frequent military operations in Gaza and controls all crossings into Israel.
The rise in rocket attacks led Israel to impose a complete closure on the Gaza Strip - relenting later to allow in some fuel and humanitarian supplies amid international horror at what was being done to Gaza as a whole. The closure is a blockade.
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