Beirut (AsiaNews) - "Everything will be permitted into Gaza, excluding those materials and weapons that Hamas uses to prepare and spread terror and launch rockets against Israel and its people." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Neanyahu said so last night, easing the blockade on Gaza. Specifically the list of goods that can enter - by land - into Gaza and which so far included only 114 "objects" will be greatly expanded. Now, as claimed by Israeli ministerial sources, there should be a "black list" of things not included (weapons or "dual use" materials, that are convertible for terrorism or military purposes) and all the rest, thousands of goods, will be permitted. But, according to the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth the black list will be long and, for example, include fertilizers, used as components to make explosives.
The Israeli decision, adopted unanimously by the security cabinet, was taken under international pressure following the attack on vessels that have tried to force the blockade, and the government hops it will "bring international attention to the Qassam rockets that Hamas launches against Israel" and "help Israel's moral position, which asks for the release of Gilad Shalit, the soldier captured by Hamas in 2006, which also prevents visits by the Red Cross”.
The Israelis also want to remove legitimacy from other attempts to force the blockade to prevent further incidents. They are looking with particular concern in this regard, at the "Mariam" the ship that a group of Lebanese women say is "almost ready" to sail to Gaza. Minister Yitzhak Herzog said that "there is no need of 'arrival of other ships, because you can announce to the world that Israel has changed its policy."
Initial reaction from the U.S. has been positive. White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, has stated the new policy "should improve the lives of Gazans. "We - he added - want to support the progress of this effort."
Negative, however, that Hamas which "rejects the decision" and speaks of "an Israeli ploy" to escape international pressure. The Palestinian deputy Hanin Zoabi who was aboard the Turkish ship attacked by Israel, claimed that the decision to loosen the ban "demonstrates that the blockade is not the motivated by security concerns but by political ones”.
A Saudi Arab News editorial, is along the same lines. Entitled " Unacceptable siege," emphasizing that " The Israeli government has now and for the first time agreed to allow the passage of new items including toys, stationery, kitchen utensils, mattresses and towels, mayonnaise, ketchup, shoelaces, buttons, needles, safety pins and sewing thread. Why in the first place were all these banned from entering? Until Thursday morning, these goods were considered a threat to Israel’s security. " The real reason for sanctions, says the article, was "to force Gazans to turn against Hamas and be replaced with the Palestinian Authority, which Israel considers more willing to make concessions" in negotiations for peace. (PD)