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Israel blocks pasta shipment to Gaza

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posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 09:52 AM
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Israel blocks pasta shipment to Gaza


www.mcclatchydc.com

JERUSALEM — For more than seven weeks, the international aid group Mercy Corps has been trying to send 90 tons of macaroni to the isolated Gaza Strip as part of a global campaign to help the 1.4 million Palestinians there rebuild their lives after Israel's recent devastating 22-day military operation.

Israel, which controls most of what goes into and out of Gaza, has said no repeatedly.

At first, Israeli officials said that they wanted to make sure that the macaroni wasn't destined for a Hamas charity. Then they said macaroni was banned because they didn't consider it an essential food item.

On Wednesday, days after American lawmakers raised pointed questions about the macaroni ban, Israeli authorities said that they were preparing to give the pasta a green light.

For the international aid community, the dispute is emblematic of the red tape and political maneuvering that have stymied efforts to rebuild Gaza.

"We're at the end of our rope," said David Holdridge, the head of Middle East emergency relief efforts for Mercy Corps. "This is just ridiculous. It's absolutely absurd."
(visit the link for the full news article)



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 09:52 AM
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It is this type of daily humiliation and petty controlling that fuels so much of the Palestinian hatred towards the Israeli's. Things like splitting farm holdings in two with the wall and then making farmers wait hours to cross the border to work their land... then it being too late to actually do anything.

Grudging food supplies and behaving like they can attack with impunity any time they want... behavior they could never get away with another soveriegn power.

And it is this type of behavior that must change before there is any chance of peace there... it is all a matter of respect.

You cannot demand respect without giving it.

www.mcclatchydc.com
(visit the link for the full news article)



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:10 AM
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Oh this for sure contributes to it. It makes me sad to see how blinded most people are to whats really going on in Israel/Gaza. Who give Israel the right to determine what is and isn't an "essential" food item. Ridiculous.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:22 AM
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reply to post by Wethesheeple
 


Exactly.

Whether or not they like Hamas or not... if, when they were duly elected the United States and Israel had engaged them... they would have been by necessity forced to deal with us and Israel and perhaps, just perhaps a lot of bloodshed would have been prevented. BUT in refusing to deal with them we essentially gave them the green light to continue as a terrorist group.

There are unfortunately a lot who won't understand that little matter of real politik.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:30 AM
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reply to post by grover
 


Lets also remember that after the Palestine elections funded by the EU.The hamas leader in an interview asked to have talks with Israel,in the interview he was asked about the Hamas charter and what that would mean at the negotiations table with Israel and he publically stated hamas would basically forget the charter if they could have sovereignty of their country,Israel shock horror refused the deal.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:31 AM
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Originally posted by grover

Israel blocks pasta shipment to Gaza


www.mcclatchydc.com


Those sick sons of a so and so!

Pasta line.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:34 AM
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I'm upset that the US doesn't do anything to at least alleviate some of the humanitarian problems. Why on Earth can't we send a ship full of pasta, and maybe some sauce, to Gaza? Surely a US ship won't be confronted by the Israeli Navy.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but so it the situation in point.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:35 AM
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reply to post by OKCBtard
 


It's not just about them blocking pasta. If you think that's the only thing Israel has been controlling and withholding from the Palestinians you are severely ignorant.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:36 AM
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This is just despicable, who the hell are they to say what is an essential food item?

you know what's essential? FOOD.. PERIOD!!!!!

This is just soo.... sooo........
i dont know what to say



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:36 AM
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You could be right, or again the Israelis could have a reason...



Local sources: Hamas is selling flour donated by the people of Qatar for the sector for the amount of NIS 140 per bag.

Gaza, Palestine Press — Local sources in the Gaza Strip said that Hamas is selling flour and humanitarian aid to citizens that was donated by the State of Qatar and which the Egyptian authorities allowed to enter the sector.

The sources added that bags of flour sold by Hamas and made by Qatar as aid to the Palestinian people is valued at the amount of 140 to 150 NIS per bag, pointing out that the transaction is for the benefit of Hamas is evil and that [the Hamas movement is working against the public interest] .

It is noteworthy that the State of Qatar has donated large quantities of food and medical supplies to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to help them in the face of ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.


All I know is that Hamas are combatants; and as such Israel is within their rights to refuse aid transfers to them. Let them go overland via Egypt. You don't feed enemy soldiers, ever. You might feed enemy children out of humanitarian concern, but if those supplies are just going to be hijacked by soldiers, then you cannot afford to take that risk.

Consider both sides.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:36 AM
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reply to post by Solomons
 


This is what I mean... if they had been engaged like a duly elected government that would have meant they would have had to respond like one and serious talks could have begun then but the Israelis, because they had such a staunch friend in bush minor refused... and the rest as they say is history.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 10:38 AM
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I honestly wish they would just stop pretending to be the democratic government they are pretending to be.

It is pretty obvious that in the near future the countries around Israel are going to form up and blast it off the map.

They are pompous bunch of politicians and military leaders who think they can boss the rest of the middle east around!

And Pasta is a staple food. It has the fat and carbohydrates to keep the body going in a time of starvation.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 11:56 AM
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Well if I were the Israeli government I wouldn't let pasta into Gaza either... We all know how dangerous Hamas can be with those homemade pasta rockets flying into Israel!!!



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 12:08 PM
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reply to post by jheated7
 


Your ignorance is astonishing.

1. They sell the pasta to their own starving people, and use the money to buy rockets.

2. They grind down the pasta to use as the carbohydrate component of the propellant. Do you have ANY knowledge of the Grad or Kassam rockets? The propellant is mainly farm fertilizer, mixed with a carbohydrate oxidiser... normally flour (but ground up pasta could also be used).

Don't ever forget that London (7/7) was bombed using wheat flour.

Just because you are ignorant how to use food as a weapon, doesn't mean that the terrorists are ignorant. They know how to use anything to their advantage... thats the reason they are alive today.

Get rid of your sarcasm until you can justify it with real knowledge.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 12:12 PM
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reply to post by 44soulslayer
 


I understand what your saying but like you said the Palestinian people are starving. Please forgive my ignorance but I didn't think Israel was distributing food through Hamas.



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 12:22 PM
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Sorry my fault for being so stupid about them making kassam rockets and food product weapons.... As I understand though isn't sugar also a major ingredient in the propeller fuel please correct me if I'm wrong... Well screw it just starve the Hamas people to death because if we give them a banana they'll turn it into a rocket...



posted on Feb, 26 2009 @ 12:25 PM
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reply to post by Wethesheeple
 


Nope, youre right they arent distributing through Hamas. What is happening on the ground is that Hamas are seizing the shipments or airdrops and then selling them on to fund themselves.

Its a similar situation to the Burma cyclone. If you remember, the people were starving and the authorities wouldn't let aid through. Where the aid fell, they went and confiscated it only to sell it back to their own people.

The net effect is the same : the opposition side gets strengthened. Israel is attempting to prevent that. Clearly if you are pro-Palestianian then you will object to that, and thats fine. But to characterise it as a campaign to starve out the dying Palestinian children is propaganda and must be called out as such.

reply to post by jheated7
 


Yup, sugar or flour or any other carbohydrate.

Precisely why Israel will attempt to prevent anything from going in which can remotely be used in rocketry. Hell on a basic level, you could even say that allowing food of any form in allows Hamas fighters to eat, and thus it would be better to cut off all food into Gaza. Why isn't Israel doing that? Because they aren't waging full scale war... yet.


[edit on 26-2-2009 by 44soulslayer]




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