… and once again it is the poorest of the Palestinians who bear the heaviest burden.
This from Reuters:
“The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said it stopped distributing rice, flour, cooking oil and other essential foods to some 600,000 refugees in the Gaza strip, where nearly two out of three families live below the poverty line and more than half the work force is unemployed.
The suspension does not affect deliveries in the West Bank, where about the same number of refugees depend on aid from the U.N. agency.
The suspension “will further distress communities already struggling to cope with unrelieved economic hardship and malnutrition,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen said in a statement released at U.N. headquarters in New York.
"If the new restrictions in Gaza continue, I fear we could see real hunger emerge for the first time in two generations.” *
full story: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4729198
Here’s the deal:
The UN sends food and aid into Gaza in rented shipping containers.
The emptied containers are supposed to go out of Gaza through a single commercial crossing.
Suicide bombers hid in the empty shipping containers to leave Gaza and carry out attacks which killed 10 people last month in the Israeli port Ashdod.
Israel imposes new restrictions on the movement of the empty aid containers.
The UN stops sending in full containers of aid because it would would cause “a bottleneck which would result in prohibitive costs.”
This is insane. But who do you blame? You’ve got suicide bombers who try to abuse the system of delivering humanitarian aid in such a way as to kill and murder Israelis. So they obviously view feeding the poor as less important than killing a few Israelis. You’ve got an inept UN who can’t come up with a way to check empty shipping containers to keep suicide bombers out of them You’ve got the Israelis who obviously could care less about whether food goes to the hungry and don’t think it’s their responsibility.
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*Originally posted by ZulfiOKC: *
One more reason for the world community to get back to the tables where the Palestinians and Israelis issue can resolved once and for all.
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You'll get no argument from me. I have long been a proponent of the world community dragging both the Israelis and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table and using the near agreement of the parties negotiated at Taba in January (2001???) between Barak and Arafat as the starting point. If the parties couldn't iron out their differences, then the UN ought to just compromise for the parties and internationally recognize the final forced deal.
IMO, the impact from the Israeli/Palestinian dispute is felt throughout the world which gives the world community standing to force a deal.
Prism, a great deal of time and effort has benn spent by White House administrations past and present looking for a solution, in the end you need two parties who want peace.
Well, since we have already concluded that... wait, let me paste it ... "A pox on all three", so obviously someone has to pox them all three and solve the problem. Who better than the good ol' United States?
Don't tell me the problem in Iraq was solved by a magic wand. You have to get down and dirty. And if it means kicking some serious arse in Tel Aviv and Gaza, then you should be prepared for it.
Let me put it another way. A very large part of resentment in the muslim world against US is because of Palestine issue. If US can solve it, that will take care of more terrorism problems than what you think Iraq presented.
What other country has had President after President sponsor peace talks, hold hand shaking ceremonies, year after year? Then the process get submarined when the parties get home....
Tell you what, name me one Arab/Muslim peace initiative. You do some of the heavy lifting if you are so concerned about the Palestinians....
Prism:
The reality is that regardless of how good an idea having the US kick Israeli and Palestinian butt to force a US deal on both parties, the mere fact that it is the US doing it will cause it not to be acceptable period to a large segment of the world's population. It doesn't matter how good or how fair the deal is. Therefore, it won't end the violence.
What is required is a near unanimous world community saying "if you two guys can't come up with a deal, this is the one you will live with." Then, the near unanimous world community must be prepared to slap silly any party that doesn't accept the deal.
I didn't see US "President after President sponsor peace talks, hold hand shaking ceremonies, year after year" to solve the problems of Iraq.
I don't see US waiting for the world community to take action against Saddam. Infact the opposite is true.
So, why are you waiting for the world community when it comes to Israel?
When there is resolve, you will find a way. If there is no resolve, you will keep on waiting.
I am telling you. The single biggest contributor to terrorism in the world against US is the issue of Palestine. Its used by every single terror organization in their mantra against US.
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*Originally posted by Prism Man: *
Well, since UN is so incompetent, why doesn't US father a deal there, instead?
After all, US is the uncle of the whole world, and worries about lawlessness in each corner of the world. Freedom, democracy.. and all the good stuff.
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the us is far more incompetent than the UN. they'd really screw things up there... the us want's only a place where they can get cheap labour for their stupid companies and a place where they can sell their crap to poor people who can hardly afford it but have been convinced by a broad in a bikini in a comercial that they need it.... and that's what the place would become.
I have a feeling this will cause ALOT more terrorist bombings... they attempt to weaken the palestinians so they'll succumb to israel more willingly, but it's only going to cause alot of israeli deaths.
Some of you guys with the knee-jerk blame Israel/US attitudes didn't read very carefully. Israel is not stopping the food and aid shipments from GOING INTO Gaza. They have restricted movement of the EMPTIED containers moving from Gaza through Israel. Because the terrorists are using them to sneak INTO Israel to kill Israelis. It's the UN stopping the shipments INTO Gaza.
Will starvation create more Palestinian terrorists? The answer is very likely. Which is exactly what the terrorists want. They have chosen a tactic that causes pain and hardship among the Palestinian people to serve their own political agenda. AGAIN.
And the UN, which should be the entity responsible for making sure that their food and aid shipments to Gaza don't provide tools for the terrorists to kill Israelis act like they are impotent to secure the outbound containers. Instead, of doing something to keep terrorists out of the boxes, the UN stops sending in full containers. LUNACY!!!
If the choice for the Israelis is let the UN starve Palestinians which will save Israeli lives VERSUS let terrorists kill Israelis so the UN can feed the Palestinians, the choice is pretty simple for them.
The insanity is that the three parties who have the power to create some acceptable third alternative haven't done so. Spread the blame where it belongs. All of them are responible for this debacle.
As to the US imposing a solution, forget about it. The solution we'd impose would not be the one that meets your liking which would not be a solution at all. Let the world community agree on the "fair and just" solution AND be willing to enforce it and I'm sure the US will be a willing partner.