Jerusalem World News Weekly (2)
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From this page:
http://myjwn.com/?p=628
By CALEV BEN-DAVID
Source: Jerusalem Post
On Tuesday afternoon, CNN International broke into its regular programming to bring what anchor Jonathan Mann described
as dramatic breaking news from the Gaza Strip.
The situation there was desperate, he informed viewers, as just a couple of days earlier supplies of food, medicine and
electricity had run dry – all untrue, of course; it was helpfully corrected on-air just a moment later by correspondent
Ben Wedeman.
But Wedeman did begin reporting on a near-riot situation at the Rafah crossing, where hundreds of Gazan women had
marched to the border gate demanding to be let into Egypt. The Egyptian border guards fired at the crowd, there were
casualties, and the situation was tense.
What happened next? Fortunately for those concerned about how media coverage of Gaza is affecting international public
opinion of Israeli policies toward the Hamas terror regime, it was just at this moment that the
Motion Picture Academy
of Arts and Sciences decided to announce the nominees for next month’s Oscar awards.
Naturally, CNN cut right away from Wedeman’s report in Gaza, to bring live coverage of the announcement.
If one were an Arab conspiracy theorist, it might be tempting to view the timing as yet another sign that the Jews
control Hollywood – especially since it turned out that the Israeli war film Beaufort ended up among the best foreign
film nominees (maybe to make up for Paradise Now last year).
As for those viewers who waited until all the nominees were announced in the hope that CNN or BBC would then turn
back to Gaza, just at that moment their attention was drawn away by the news that the US Federal Reserve had decided
to make a major cut in the interest rates (and don’t ask who controls the Federal Reserve).
Fortunately for those who wanted all-Gaza, all-the-time, there was still Al-Jazeera, which had been on the scene with
live broadcasts and commentary from the very moment that Hamas had decided to cut the power in Gaza and send it into
darkness on Sunday night.
Indeed, so ready was Al-Jazeera with live coverage of candle-bearing Palestinian children and immediate reaction
from across the Arab world, that Israeli officials said Tuesday they strongly suspect the Arab news network had
coordinated its coverage in advance with the Hamas leadership.
“They were so prepared, it’s hard to believe they didn’t know this was going to happen,” said the official.
“Although it’s already dark in Gaza by 6 p.m., they waited two hours to shut their generator down so that the lights
going out in Gaza could be carried live on Al-Jazeeera during prime-time viewing.”
The charge of pre-coordination was strongly denied by Al-Jazeera bureau chief Walied al-Omary.
“Absolutely false,” he said. “We are on the scene in Gaza, and all we are doing is reporting the reality
as it happens. If politicians don’t like the reality they see on their television screens, be it here in Israel or in
the Arab states, then they blame Al-Jazeera.”
Whatever the “reality” in Gaza, there is no question that Hamas was prepared to create a media-ready scenario
of ordinary Palestinians suffering in darkness the moment Israel carried through on its long-stated warning that fuel
supplies would be cut if the Kassam rockets continued to be fired at Sderot and other Israeli communities across the border.
As several Israeli officials pointed out after the fact, though, Hamas still had both sufficient fuel and enough
electricity from Israel and Egypt to keep the Gaza lights burning.
Unfortunately, less prepared was the Israeli reaction, which was again hampered by a lack of government coordination.
As has happened too often in the past, the Defense Ministry failed to give advance warning to all the necessary
governmental public advocacy offices (such as the Foreign Ministry) that the fuel supplies would be cut on Sunday.
According to sources in the ministry, when they then decided on Sunday to try to bring the foreign press into the
Ashkelon (Rutenberg) Power Station so they could see with their own eyes that Israel was still supplying electricity to
Gaza, they could not get permission in time from the Israel Electric Corporation.
Despite these setbacks, and some sharp criticism directed from former government spokesmen Rana’an Gissin and Zvi
Mazel against current public advocacy efforts on the Gaza situation, much of the foreign media did not buy completely
into Hamas’s version of events.
The hardships of the people of Sderot, the medical care that many Gazan residents continue (even this week) to receive
in Israeli hospitals, and Hamas’s apparent manipulation of the Gaza power supply, were noted by major media outlets
such as the BBC and The New York Times that have been harshly critical of Israeli policy toward Gaza during the past year.
These were the results, said one Israeli official, of improved efforts in the past year to better get out Israel’s
side of the story.
Besides which, says one veteran foreign journalist about the coverage, “If you don’t see Israeli troops or tanks
in Gaza, or Palestinians being killed, the story just doesn’t have the same impact abroad.”
The last few days again illustrated just how much of the current conflict with Palestinian extremists is an
“information war” being fought on the battleground of the international media and other forums of global public
opinion.
The goal of Hamas in turning the lights off in Gaza is to whip up the “Arab street” against Arab regimes
prepared to recognize Israel, and to pressure other foreign governments to rescind their political and economic
boycotts of Hamas.
And even though this particular Hamas production won’t win any Academy Awards, rather than stumbling in
the darkness
Israel has to be better prepared next time the lights go out in Gaza.
By CALEV BEN-DAVID
Source: Jerusalem Post
Gazans Knock Down Border, Flee to Egypt
From this page:
http://myjwn.com/?p=625
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Source: Washington Post
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Tens of thousands of Palestinians on foot and on donkey carts poured into Egypt from Gaza Wednesday
after masked gunmen used land mines to blast down a seven-mile barrier dividing the border town of Rafah.
The border breach was a dramatic protest against the closure of the impoverished Palestinian territory imposed last
week by Israel.
Jubilant men and women crossed unhindered by border controls over the toppled corrugated metal along sections of the
barrier, carrying goats, chickens and crates of Coca-Cola. Some brought back televisions, car tires and cigarettes and
one man even bought a motorcycle. Vendors sold soft drinks and baked goods to the crowds.
They were stocking up on goods made scarce by the Israeli blockade and within hours, shops on the Egyptian side of
Rafah had run out of stock. The border fence had divided the Rafah into two halves, one on the Egyptian side and one in
southern Gazan.
Ibrahim Abu Taha, 45, a Palestinian father of seven, was in the Egyptian section of Rafah with his two brothers
and $185 in his pocket.
“We want to buy food, we want to buy rice and sugar, milk and wheat and some cheese,” Abu Taha said, adding
that he would also buy cheap Egyptian cigarettes.
Abu Taha said he could get the basic foods in Gaza, but at three times the cost.
Police from the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls Gaza, directed the traffic. Egyptian border guards took
no action, imposing no border controls for those who crossed.
“Freedom is good. We need no border after today,” said unemployed 29-year-old Mohammed Abu Ghazal.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters in Cairo his border guards originally had forced back the Gazans on Tuesday.
“But today a great number of them came back because the Palestinians in Gaza are starving due to the Israeli siege,”
he said.
No starvation has been reported in Gaza. But many of the 1.5 million residents have faced critical shortages of
electricity, fuel and other supplies over months because Gaza has been virtually sealed since Hamas seized control of the
territory by force in June.
“I told them to let them come in and eat and buy food and then return them later as long as they were not carrying
weapons,” Mubarak said.
Egypt has largely kept its border with Gaza closed since the Hamas takeover amid concerns of a spillover of Hamas-style
militancy into Egypt. But the government is under public pressure at home to help the impoverished Gazans.
The collapse of the border, although likely temporary, is a boon to Hamas. It briefly eases the international blockade
of Gaza and gives the Islamic militants possible leverage in demanding new border arrangements.
At the same time, it will likely raise tensions between Egypt and Israel, which fears militants and weapons will flood
Gaza in growing numbers.
Hamas supreme leader Khaled Mashaal said from Syria that Hamas was willing to work out a new border arrangement with
Egypt and the rival Fatah faction led by moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
In Gaza, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called for an urgent meeting with Egypt and Fatah to work out a new shared
arrangement for Gaza’s border crossings and suggested that Hamas would be prepared to cede some control to the rival
government of moderate Abbas in the West Bank.
“We don’t want to be the only ones in control of these matters,” Haniyeh said, speaking from his Gaza City
office live on Hamas TV.
But the call was swiftly denounced by Abbas’ government. Ashraf Ajrami, a Cabinet minister in Abbas’ government, said
Haniyeh’s call for participation was meant to sidestep Abbas’ demand that Hamas return all of Gaza to his control.
“Everything Haniyeh is saying is simply to exploit this situation to win political gains. … It is a part of the
problem, not the solution,” Ajrami said.
Hamas seized control of Gaza by force in June, routing pro-Fatah security forces. Israel and Egypt sealed their
border crossings with the coastal territory in response, and Abbas established another government in the West Bank. The
two bitter rivals have not had formal contact since.
Israel expressed concern that militants and weapons might be entering Gaza from Egypt amid the chaos, and said Egypt
is responsible for restoring order.
Israel also is in a difficult situation. It is concerned about the free flow of militants and weapons into Gaza, but
cannot be seen as criticizing Egypt too strongly, for fear of alienating one of the few Arab countries it has a peace
treaty with.
“Israel has no forces in Gaza or Egypt, and the Egyptians control the border, and therefore it is the responsibility
of Egypt to ensure that the border operates properly according to the signed agreements,” said Arye Mekel, a spokesman
for Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
“We expect the Egyptians to solve the problem,” he added. “Obviously we are worried about the situation. It
could potentially allow anybody to enter.”
Palestinians have broken through the Egypt border several times since Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and stopped
patrolling the border. But none of the previous breaches approached the scale of Wednesday’s destruction, which demolished
two-thirds of the seven-mile partition.
The border wall erected by Israel after the outbreak of a second Palestinian uprising in 2000.
Moussa Zuroub, a 28-year-old Palestinian, carried his young daughter Aseel on his shoulders, trudging through the muddy
streets of Egyptian Rafah.
“I’m coming just to break that ice _ that all my life, I’d never left Gaza before,” Zuroub said.
In Egyptian Rafah, a market stall selling pistols and ammunition clips for Kalashnikov assault rifles had no customers
Wednesday. Weapons are generally brought into Gaza through smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.
An off-duty Hamas policeman, who only gave his first name as Abdel Rahman, said there was no need to buy weapons from Egypt.
“You can buy weapons in Gaza, guns and RPGs,” he said, adding that they were easier to find than Coca-Cola.
The destruction of the wall began before dawn Wednesday, when Palestinian gunmen began using land mines to blow holes
in the border partition that divides Rafah, witnesses said.
There were 17 explosions in all, Hamas security officials said. At first, Hamas and Egyptian security officers
prevented people from getting through, witnesses said. But by morning thousands of Gazans had massed at the border and
overwhelmed police began letting people cross.
Most Egyptian security and police were later pulled out from the immediate vicinity of the border, Egyptian security
officials said.
International reaction was muted. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. wants to see stability in the
region, but that “most importantly both the security concerns of Israel and the humanitarian concerns of Gazans be met.”
Wednesday’s chaotic scenes came almost a week after Israel imposed a tight closure on Gaza, backed by Egypt, in response
to a spike in Gaza rocket attacks on Israeli border towns.
Pictures of children marching with candles and people lining up at closed bakeries in a blacked-out Gaza City evoked
urgent appeals from governments, aid agencies and the U.N. for an end to the closure.
Israel maintained that Hamas was creating an artificial crisis but nonetheless eased the closure slightly on Tuesday,
transferring fuel to restart Gaza’s only power plant, and also sent in some cooking gas, food and medicine.
Israel has pledged to continue limited shipments because of concerns about a possible humanitarian crisis, but Israeli
defense officials said Wednesday there would be no new shipments for the time being.
“We don’t want a humanitarian crisis, but the Hamas government who is responsible for the launching of rockets into
Israel had to be weakened by all means,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday on a visit to Paris.
The rocket fire by Gaza militants has sent residents in Israeli border communities scrambling for shelter several
times a day. The rockets have traumatized many area residents and killed 12 Israelis in six years. The attacks have
persisted despite the closure.
In a clash early Wednesday with Israeli forces near the closed Sufa crossing into Gaza, a Hamas militant was killed,
Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian militants in the area.
_____
Associated Press reporters Sarah El Deeb and Ashraf Sweilam contributed to this report from Gaza City and Rafah, Egypt.
