[News] Israeli defense minister wants war to keep Gaza under siege

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-defense-minister-wants-war-keep-gaza-under-siege 



  Israeli defense minister wants war to keep Gaza under siege

Maureen Clare Murphy 
<https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy> - 17 
October 2018

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel must launch another war on Gaza to enforce its blockade on the 
territory, defense minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/signaling-war-liberman-urges-cabinet-to-okay-serious-blow-to-hamas-in-gaza/> 
on Tuesday.

Lieberman’s comments came the day before Israel launched a series of 
airstrikes in retaliation for a rocket fired from Gaza that badly 
damaged a house in the city of Beersheba.

Lieberman also ordered the closing of crossings between Gaza and Israel 
and reduced the permitted fishing zone off of Gaza’s coast to three 
nautical miles – decisions described 
<https://twitter.com/Gisha_Access/status/1052470305938124807> by the 
human rights group Gisha as “deliberate punishment of the residents of 
Gaza for no fault of their own.”

The health ministry in Gaza said that one Palestinian was killed as a 
result of an airstrike in the north of the territory. Three others were 
reported injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza’s southern and central 
districts.

The Israeli air force published a video 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=781492> showing the moment when 
Naji Muhammad al-Zaanin, 25, was killed in northern Gaza:

The military claimed that the video shows it striking at a squad 
attempting to launch rockets into Israel.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two Palestinian resistance factions, denied 
<https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Hamas-and-Islamic-Jihad-deny-responsibility-for-rocket-attack-569597> 
any involvement in the rocket fire, which they said aimed to torpedo 
ongoing international efforts to broker a long-term ceasefire with 
Israel in exchange for the lifting of the siege on Gaza.

But as factions in Gaza have continued to seek a negotiated way out, 
Israeli leaders continue to beat war drums.

“When Hamas says that it’s going to continue rioting on the border until 
there’s an end to the blockade, we need to accept that as it is, without 
interpretations,” Lieberman stated during a Tuesday press conference at 
Re’im military base, located to the east of the Gaza Strip.

Lieberman ordered a halt to fuel deliveries to Gaza on Friday after 
several Palestinians crossed into Israel from Gaza during protests.

On Saturday he stated 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-security-officials-oppose-defense-chief-s-decision-to-cut-gaza-fuel-transfer-1.6552576> 
that “As long as the violence doesn’t come to a complete stop in the 
Gaza Strip, including the dispatch of incendiary balloons and burning 
tires across from Israeli settlements, there will be no renewal of fuel 
and gas deliveries to the Gaza Strip.”

The United Nations has been mediating efforts to ensure the delivery of 
fuel to stave off a collapse of essential services in Gaza, with several 
trucks of Qatari-funded fuel delivered to the Strip last week 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-soldier-executed-gaza-teen-close-range-witness>.

“Since we’ve allowed the United Nations to bring fuel [into Gaza], we 
have only gotten high-profile violence,” Lieberman said on Tuesday, 
insisting that lifting the economic blockade, now in its 11th year, “has 
one meaning … allowing Hizballah members and Iranians into Gaza.”

He called on 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/defense-chief-israel-must-deal-hamas-a-blow-even-if-it-means-war-1.6567325> 
Israel’s security cabinet to “land a strong blow” against Hamas – even 
if it risks a “wide-scale confrontation” – to crush mass protests held 
along Gaza’s eastern boundary over the past six months.

The primary call of the Great March of Return protests has been to end 
to Israel’s siege and support Palestinian refugees’ right to return to 
the lands now inside Israel from which their families were expelled.

Every two in three Palestinians in Gaza, which has a population of 
around two million, is a registered refugee.

Israel’s blockade has thrust Gaza’s population into poverty and the 
United Nations has repeatedly warned 
<https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/07/561302-living-conditions-gaza-more-and-more-wretched-over-past-decade-un-finds> 
that the Strip will become an “unlivable place” by the year 2020 if 
underlying conditions aren’t reversed.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has affirmed 
<https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/palestine-update-140610.htm> 
that the siege “constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear 
violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.”

“To me, there’s only one formula: reconstruction in return for 
disarmament,” Lieberman stated 
<https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5372191,00.html> Tuesday.

If his view prevails – in which resistance groups in Gaza must in effect 
surrender in exchange for basic humanitarian needs to be met – then the 
chances of a durable truce would appear slim.


    Netanyahu’s threats

Lieberman’s comments on Tuesday echoed threats made 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/netanyahu-threatens-hamas-israel-is-close-to-a-very-painful-response-1.6553403> 
by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days earlier.

“If they don’t stop the attacks against us, they will be stopped in a 
different way and it will be painful – very painful,” Netanyahu said of 
Hamas during a security cabinet meeting on Sunday.

“We are very close to a different kind of activity, an activity that 
will include very powerful blows. If it has sense, Hamas will stop 
firing and stop these violent disturbances, now.”

Israeli media have reported that defense officials have told the 
security cabinet that a large-scale confrontation in Gaza is not 
necessary. But soldiers deployed along the Gaza perimeter are being 
commanded to “respond more forcefully” to protesters this coming Friday.

A senior military official told the Israeli daily /Haaretz/ that a major 
operation in Gaza, where health and water and sanitation infrastructure 
are on the verge of collapse, would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. 
This would make it impossible for Israel “to fight without being 
barraged by international criticism,” according to the newspaper.

Israel’s army wants to hold off 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/defense-chief-israel-must-deal-hamas-a-blow-even-if-it-means-war-1.6567325> 
on a major military confrontation until the end of next year, when the 
building of infrastructure intended to thwart tunnels underneath the 
Gaza boundary is due to be completed.

More than 160 Palestinians have been killed during the Great March of 
Return protests, including 33 children.

On Tuesday Gaza’s health ministry announced 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=781487> that Saddam Abu 
Shalash, 27, died from injuries sustained during protests north of Beit 
Lahia one day earlier.

More than 30 Palestinians were injured by live ammunition fired by 
Israeli forces during Monday’s protest.

Demonstrators cut through 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=781475> the boundary fence at 
Israel’s Zikim beach and raised a Palestinian flag over it on Monday.

Palestinian media also reported that protesters cut through the boundary 
fence east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday:

    شبان يقصون السلك الشائك مع الأراضي المحتلة شرق دير البلح اليوم رغم
    استهدافهم من قبل قوات الاحتلال.

    تصوير: فادي ثابت pic.twitter.com/RibguMF0Rc <https://t.co/RibguMF0Rc>

    — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 16, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1052253151963824128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Explosives were used to blow open a gate at the boundary fence at the 
same location:

    — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 16, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1052260124696473605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

    — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 16, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1052231026909569024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Prior to the strikes early Wednesday, Israeli warplanes repeatedly fired 
on Gaza this week <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=781460>, the 
army claiming 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/defense-chief-israel-must-deal-hamas-a-blow-even-if-it-means-war-1.6567325> 
it was responding to groups planting explosive devices along the 
boundary and launching flaming kites 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=781478> into Israel.

The Israeli military confirmed 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-security-officials-oppose-defense-chief-s-decision-to-cut-gaza-fuel-transfer-1.6552576> 
that snipers shot a Palestinian at point-blank range during protests 
last Friday 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-soldier-executed-gaza-teen-close-range-witness> 
after several demonstrators approached the boundary fence under the 
cover of smoke from burning tires and set off an explosion that made a 
hole in the fence.

Paratroopers fired shots toward the group of protesters, dispersing all 
but three who moved towards a snipers’ position.

“Two of them were shot immediately and the third Palestinian reached the 
sandy mound where the snipers were positioned,” /Haaretz/ reported. “The 
[military] investigation describes how one of them shot him from point 
blank range and that a knife was found on his body.”


    Palestinian killed in West Bank

Meanwhile Israeli soldiers shot and killed 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=781468> a Palestinian man in 
the occupied West Bank on Monday.

The military claimed that Elias Yassin, 22, was attempting a stabbing 
attack when soldiers opened fire on him in the Barkan industrial 
settlement, where two Israelis were killed earlier in the month 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-arrests-siblings-alleged-settlement-shooter> 
by a Palestinian coworker who remains at large.

No Israelis were injured in Monday’s incident.

Seven Israelis and eight Palestinian assailants and alleged assailants 
have been killed in the context of alleged attacks since the beginning 
of the year.

On Tuesday Israeli occupation forces raided 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=781479> the home of Yassin’s 
family in the village of Bidya in the northern West Bank.

Bidya is also the place of residence of Ayesha Muhammad al-Rabi, who 
died after suspected Israeli settlers stoned the car in which she and 
her family were traveling last Friday.

Israel’s domestic intelligence apparatus has reportedly launched an 
investigation into the woman’s slaying, though a gag order has been 
placed on the probe.

Al-Rabi’s death was condemned by US officials as well as Nickolay 
Mladenov, the UN’s Middle East envoy.

    My thoughts & prayers are with Mrs. Aysha al-Rabi’s 8 children &
    husband. Mrs. al-Rabi was killed when her car was struck by a stone
    thrown onto the roadway. An investigation into this reprehensible
    act is ongoing.

    — Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) October 15, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/jdgreenblatt45/status/1051851511993720833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

    I condemn this Friday’s attack in the #WestBank
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/WestBank?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    in which a #Palestinian
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Palestinian?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    woman was killed and her husband injured by stones allegedly thrown
    by #Israeli
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israeli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    assailants. Those responsible must be swiftly brought to justice. I
    urge all to stand up to violence and terror.

    — Nickolay E. MLADENOV (@nmladenov) October 14, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/nmladenov/status/1051387967443542016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

    UN Envoy @nmladenov
    <https://twitter.com/nmladenov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> condemns
    Friday's attack in #WestBank
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/WestBank?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    in which #Palestine
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Palestine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    woman, #AishaAlRabi
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/AishaAlRabi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>,
    was killed by stones allegedly thrown by Israeli assailants. Notes
    that an investigation was initiated & calls on #Israel
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> 2
    ensure that those responsible r swiftly brought 2 justice
    pic.twitter.com/czdiTVfFxB <https://t.co/czdiTVfFxB>

    — UNSCO (@UNSCO_MEPP) October 14, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/UNSCO_MEPP/status/1051390762682933248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Israeli tourism minister Yariv Levin, however, described 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-envoy-calls-rock-attack-that-killed-palestinian-woman-reprehensible/> 
the slaying of the mother of eight as a “scrap of an incident” and 
pointed to what he called the hypocrisy of those who condemned it.

“Terror incidents of stone throwing happen every day; not only don’t 
they condemn the matter, they give the feeling that it is okay because 
we are ‘occupiers,’” Levin stated.

“It is quite galling that it takes an incident like this in relation to 
a Palestinian vehicle for it [stone throwing] to be raised on the agenda.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently said 
<https://www.ochaopt.org/content/protection-civilians-report-11-24-september-2018> 
that settler violence was on the rise since the beginning of the year, 
“with a weekly average of five attacks resulting in injuries or property 
damage, compared with an average of three in 2017 and two in 2016.”

The day before al-Rabi was killed, the Israeli human rights group Yesh 
Din published video 
<https://www.facebook.com/yeshdin/videos/280001242633150/> of settlers 
from Yitzhar <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/yitzhar> stoning 
Palestinian cars on a road near the Palestinian village of Burin in the 
northern West Bank as soldiers looked on without intervening.

That incident took place about four miles north of the Zaatara 
checkpoint where al-Rabi’s car was stoned.


-- 
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