The blockade strategy

When the other day the IDF uploaded in its twitter account this unusual tweet it surprised me. The entrance of more than a hundred trucks in a day PLUS fuel is not that common. Then, the office of Lieberman posted it again. In total, three similar posts in less than two days.

Taking into account the usual cheapness of the Israelis when letting trucks crossing Erez, sending 300 in less than two days -more than double the usual- awoke something in me. There had to be something going on. That led me into the BBC, who was informing about the permission from Israeli authorities to get 130,000 tones of cement into Gaza. That was even weirdest. Was the vegetative Ariel Sharon dictating the politics in Tel Aviv now? Was Israel going to lift the shoe off the Palestinians?

Not at all. Checkpoint Jerusalem blog had the answer. It’s not the product of an ethylic intoxication of some Israeli official but an operation that has the beneplacit of Israel: the reconstruction of Erez crossing.

Of course, Israel is in this adventure with Hamas only because it benefits them too. The blockade itself doesn’t seem to disappear anytime soon. Actually, quite the contrary. Israel is preparing the closing of the main fuel terminal that supplies Gaza. Million and a half Palestinians depend on that plant for everything, from gas for cooking to fuel for the only power plant in the strip.

The plans of Israel are to habilitate a new plant in Kerem Shalom, but the new installations won’t be finish any time soon and according to human rights groups, it lacks the capacity to supply all the Gazan population. Not exactly the same for Israel, where not only is thought the new plant is more than enough but also some are arguing that the blockade should be tightened because is not enough:

Recently, an Israeli government official was boasting that military surveillance showed that Gaza markets were full and teeming with goods. He pointed it out to suggest that Israeli restrictions were not harming Gaza.

Of course, he deftly neglected to mention that most of the goods found in Gaza markets these days don't come from Israel. They come through the dangerous network of illegal smuggling tunnels to Egypt...

The fact of the people in Gaza having a shortage of everything -and the few they have is thanks to the tunnels- is already worrying. People saying the blockade should be increased, is more than worrying. But what I definitely don’t understand is how the hell that insufficiency to “harm Gaza” fits into Israeli speeches about the blockade being aimed against Hamas and not the general Palestinian population.



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