LIFTING THE GAZA BLOCKADE
Spent most of the day at Kerem Shalom border crossing on the Israel-Gaza border.
The big Israeli announcement was that they were lifting the siege on Gaza as much as they could to accommodate their security concerns. From what I understand the real change will be that until now all goods were not allowed into Gaza - unless they appeared on an approved list. Now the process will be reversed - all goods are allowed into Gaza, unless they appear on a blacklist.
There was a lot of activity at the crossing - in the few hours we were there, dozens of trucks arrived, dropped off goods - which I was told by the soldiers on duty came from private donations or from the international community - and then left. Until now the procedure has been that the Palestinian government under Salam Fayyad requests certain goods, the list is then approved - or not - by the Israelis; and the items brought to Kerem Shalom. After the goods are checked and dropped off by the trucks - the area is vacated - and huge gates open at the far end to allow trucks from the Palestinian side to come in. They pick up the goods and then take them into Gaza. There is absolutely no interaction between people on either side. A huge fortress-like building accommodates all this activity!
The Israelis say they are doing their best to try and lift the Gaza siege as much as they can within reason. But Palestinians - and the UN for example - say there's no such thing as "lifting the siege" - the only way for the siege to be effectively "lifted" is for it to be done away with! One of the contentious issues is materials used for building - cement and steel in particular. Israelis say this can be used to manufacture weapons against them; Gazans say they need it rebuild homes and businesses destroyed a year-and-a-half ago during Operation Cast Lead.
In Gaza, youngsters sift through the rubble of what used to be Gaza's only airport to try and salvage what they can to be used for cement and other building materials. They get paid well for this - $30 a day to collect gravel! Many say they do it - not only to earn money but to resist the siege. The problem is that whether or not Israel is really 'lifting the siege' or not doesn't deal with the root cause of the problem - the standoff between Israel and Gaza remains firmly in place with Israel offering no real solution on how to deal with its concerns that Hamas and Palestinian militancy is rife in the coastal strip.