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Thursday, December 18, 2008

The truth about the "truce"

I just went back and noted on my November "cease fire" calendar the days during November and the end of October that Israel allowed goods to enter Gaza.

The world has a short memory and seems to think that Israel has been starving Gazans for months. Israel's Foreign Ministry, however, keeps track (usually on a weekly basis) of the goods that were sent into Gaza. For example:
The week of September 7-12, 2008

299 trucks unloaded goods at Sufa crossing.
390 trucks unloaded goods at Karni crossing.
Over 19,655 tons of goods were delivered to the Gaza Strip, including about 2442 tons of cement, and the rest humanitarian aid such as food, medicines, agricultural equipment, and school supplies.
Erez crossing: 97 patients and escorts crossed into Israel for medical treatment.

Fuel (Nahal Oz):
121,000 liters of gasoline
1,199,920 liters of diesel fuel for transportation
2,509,610 liters of heavy diesel fuel for the power station
1,228 tons of cooking gas

In the early days of the truce, when there was still sporadic rocket fire, Israel would routinely close the crossings for a day after every rocket and reopen the crossings the next day. During September and October, when rocket fire virtually ceased, Israel shipped goods almost every weekday except for Jewish holidays. The aid that was shipped was of a much greater variety and quantity than was shipped before the "truce." Looking at the numbers, one can see that each truck from Israel contains between 10 and 20 tons of aid. (Compare the one ton of aid that the Free Gaza freaks say they brought on their last ship to the 5000 tons of aid Israel sent through in December, even in the midst of the rocket barrages.)

In other words, Israel kept to its terms of the truce; increasing the amount of goods to Gaza and only stopping them when rocket fire resumed. Hamas and their useful idiot Western friends are pretending that the current limits on aid are something new, when in fact this has been Israeli policy throughout the six months of the so-called cease-fire.

The cause and effect is clear and consistent: when rockets aren't being shot, Gazans get aid. It is as simple as that, and these facts are documented. Those "peace activists" who pretend to care about Gazans and yet stay silent about the rockets care neither about Gazan lives nor about peace.

The tattered, fake "cease fire" officially ends on Friday.