Tag Archives: Hamas

Gourmet Flotilla to Gaza

At a time when Israel’s security officials should probably be focused on this week’s extensive home front security drill, it seems that that most of their attention is being paid to the flotilla of ships on its way to the Gaza Strip, laden with humanitarian supplies. Frantic consultations between officials and the prime minister’s top military chiefs of staff have taken place, an urgent meeting of a forum of senior government… Continue reading

Posted in Articles | 5 Comments

More than 70 days of waiting

Amid rumors of tension between the Hamas government and Egypt, on Saturday, May 15, 2010, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was opened to the passage of people wishing to enter and exit the Gaza Strip. The border had been closed for 72 days prior to this latest opening… Continue reading

Posted in Articles | 1 Comment

Tax Revenues Are Being Counted in the Tunnels

Despite indications that the Hamas government is facing a cash flow problem and has even confiscated money, the public service sector in Gaza is now estimated to employ and provide a source of income for 30,000 workers and an estimated 180,000 family members who are sustained, among other things, by the taxes that the government collects in Gaza, including from the tunnel industry. And thus a new business class has emerged in… Continue reading

Posted in Articles | 2 Comments

Camped Out in Erez Crossing

The eleven-day protest of Ahmed Sabeh, released from an Israeli prison on Wednesday, April 21, 2010, and taken to the Gaza Strip – even though his home, wife and son are in Tulkarem – raises an interesting challenge to Israel’s control over the borders and population registry of the occupied Palestinian territory. Mr. Sabeh has camped out inside the Erez Crossing, refusing to enter Gaza, in protest of Israel’s refusal to allow him to return to his home in the West Bank. The Hamas government, in turn… Continue reading

Posted in Articles | 5 Comments

Transferring goods, fashionably late

When the closure was imposed on the Gaza Strip in June 2007, clothes and footwear importers in Gaza found themselves unable to bring goods into the Strip that they had ordered from abroad. For… Continue reading

Posted in Articles | 1 Comment

Militants Fire, Civilians Are Punished

The firing of rockets and mortar shells on towns in southern Israel from the Gaza Strip last week should be categorically condemned, since it targeted Israeli civilians or failed to distinguish between military and civilian targets. The perpetrators and the Hamas government which allows militant groups to fire from the territory under its control must be held accountable. The Israeli Defense Ministry’s hasty response, however, declaring that Kerem Shalom would be closed until further notice, raised concern among those trying to transfer humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Leave a comment

Has Israel forgotten the "reason" for Gaza's closure?

As news organizations report each detail of a possible prisoner release deal between Israel and Hamas, a related subject is receiving less attention: whether the release of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, would lead to an opening of Gaza’s crossings, closed to all but the bare minimum passage of people and goods. Continue reading

Posted in Articles | 1 Comment

A Non-Economy

Perhaps the Israeli business sector understands something that Israeli politicians simply don’t comprehend – that the Palestinian economy in Gaza, which has collapsed due the 27-month-long closure imposed by Israel, has changed beyond recognition: hundreds of tunnels are currently operational in the Strip (between 600 and 1,000) and thousands of people are risking their lives to work in them. These tunnels are supplying about two-thirds of the goods required by the residents of the Gaza Strip. Thousands of dollars in permit fees and millions of dollars in taxes are being collected by the Hamas government. Continue reading

Posted in Articles | 2 Comments

Historian Says Economic Embargo is the Wrong Strategy

In the JPost today Yagil Henkin – a military historian from the Shalem Center – argues that “it is very unlikely that sanctions will cause the Hamas government to fall,” as “comprehensive economic sanctions can backfire; they tend to consolidate … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Comments Off