Who Wins, Who Loses If Israel Ends Its Gaza Siege?

TIME:

Israel's announcement that it will end its prohibition on a wide variety of civilian goods entering Gaza marks the collapse of the Israeli strategy to topple the territory's Hamas rulers through "economic warfare." The Islamists who rule the tiny coastal strip will count the announcement as a victory simply because they survived the siege. So will Turkey, which backed the activist flotilla whose challenge to the siege ended in bloodshed -- and set off the diplomatic firestorm that precipitated Israel's about-face. The move marks Israel conceding that its Gaza strategy has failed to achieve its goal, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disowned the blockade on Monday, stressing in his remarks to parliament that it was a policy he'd inherited from his predecessors.

Read the whole story: TIME

Comments

[lawrence of america]

06:31 PM on 06/23/2010

So there was an American, a german, and a Palestinian sitting around in Hell.
The devils comes up to them and offers to let them each call their home countries to check in and see whats new.
So the German calls home sees whats going on in germany, then hands the phone back to the Devil. The Devil says ‘ that’ll be 6000 euros. So he pays up and then the Devil hands the phone the American.
The American calls home gets the news and then hands the phone back to the Devil. The Devil says ‘ that’ll be 7000 dollars.
So he pays up and then the Devil hands the phone the Palestinian.
The Palestinian calls home gets the news and then hands the phone back to the Devil.
The Devil says ‘ that’ll be 1 dinar.
The Palestinian says “why only 1 dinar, when theirs were so expensive?”
The devil says “ their calls were long distance”

[Tree201]

02:19 PM on 06/23/2010

While I sincerely hope this brings some relief to the people of Gaze, this is still a small action on the part of Israel. There's still a lot more that needs to change before justice is served.

[CarmenCameron]

03:29 PM on 06/23/2010

One small step. One HUGE change of direction. Not so much on Israel's part but on the part of the USA finally drawing a line in the sand with Israel and Obama saying, "ENOUGH!"

That, my friend, is hope!

[martin2]

08:01 AM on 06/28/2010

If President Obama really said that his will be destroyed politically.

[TanMan]

12:17 PM on 06/23/2010

Biggest losers will be the Mullahs around the globe. Beating up Israel is what is keeping many governments in power. Take that excuse away and ......every one realizes that emperor has no clothes.

[CarmenCameron]

03:21 PM on 06/23/2010

Then that's a good thing.

[ItsAD]

10:58 AM on 06/23/2010

Who wins? Gaza's hungry, injured, and homeless.

[CarmenCameron]

03:27 PM on 06/23/2010

AND the US (for finally pressuring Israel into being a little bit more just in their treatment).

May this just be the beginning of a genuine move toward peace!

[Richard Pearce]

10:06 AM on 06/23/2010

If the seige is ended, the winners will be those who believe in such things as the Geneva conventions, and the losers will be those who blieve that might is right.

If the seige is only put on hold until the world looks away, then the opposite is true.

Unfortunately, if left in the hands of the governments and the media, the second seems the more likely outcome.

[CarmenCameron]

03:43 PM on 06/23/2010

Then it's up to people like you and me to make certain that it's NOT left in their hands, isn't it?

[sherifdxb]

09:35 AM on 06/23/2010

The people of Gaza and those who have taken the moral high ground by acting to end their sufferings are the winners. However, the easing of the blockade seems more of a PR to me and is not enough. The people there need opportunities to earn a dignified living through the reopening of factories and borders, educate their children by rebuilding the bombed out schools and allowing graduates to travel for further education.

Winners do not include Hamas which has shown that it is only vying for power and certainly not Israel and the United States, which has proven yet again that under Obama it was no different from Bush, who had supported the 2008 blitz against Gaza.

No sympathies for Egypt's ossified regime under aging Mubarak and PA's Abbas, who ended with something far worse than rotten eggs on their faces. The same goes to most Arab dictatorships, who have remained conspicuously silent on the unfolding tragedy in Gaza.

Some in Gaza have taken the wrong choice by voting for Hamas, many of them just to show their anger at Fatah, infested by corruption and mismanagement. But they have done so in a democratic election supervised by international observers. But to punish the whole population of 1.5 million, including children, women and the aged is immoral.

[martin2]

10:25 AM on 06/28/2010

Fanned You are for peace Well said all decent Israelis and American Jews agree with you.
Punishing 1.5 Million people is a atrocity.

[eileenflemingWAWA]

09:32 AM on 06/23/2010

American-Israeli Professor Jeff Halper, co-founder and coordinator of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions informed this reporter:

"This conflict impacts the global community and especially everyone in the USA.

"Tony Blair said 70% of all the conflicts in the world can be traced back to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. What gives us hope is that as this conflict worsens maybe Europe will figure out that American policies are against their interests and intervene.

"If we do fix this conflict it would be a tremendous step forward in global reconciliation...This whole issue is based on Human Rights and it is a global issue requiring global intervention.

"It has been said that the Israelis do not love this land, they just want to possess it. There have been three stages to make this occupation permanent. The first was to establish the facts on the ground; the settlements. There are ½ million Israeli’s and four million Palestinians here. They have been forced into Bantustan; truncated mini states; prison states. It is apartheid and Bush and Hillary are both willing collaborators.

"Israel is not a democracy, it is an ethnocracy: full rights to Jews, but not Palestinians..."

The rest and More @
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1566&Itemid=228

[jeanmcs]

09:02 AM on 06/23/2010

Hamas and Turkey win. The US looses.

The US was in a loose/loose position, but it did put itself there. The current US admin tacitly supported the blockade while meekly requesting it to ease. To the Arab community, it looked weak and duplicitous. The US waffled over the raid instead of firmly condemning it. Again, it looked weak and duplicitous. The ships will keep coming and the blockade will lift. The US will get no redit for this, as it should not. It will be seen as a clumsy impediment, as it was.

[Progressneeded]

12:15 PM on 06/23/2010

The US lost the day it decided to take sides in an unfair, unethical war on the people of Gaza.

[bbsnews]

12:33 PM on 06/23/2010

Your comment was so succinct, and right on I will be your first fan.

[CarmenCameron]

03:23 PM on 06/23/2010

Birds of a feather (deserve each other). lol

[max hp]

08:42 AM on 06/23/2010

An un-natural state of affair exists. It is unsustainable without an UNCONDITIONAL RIGHT OF RETURN.

Occupied territories are being settled on DESPITE UN Resolutions to the contrary.

The non--Jewish indigenous peoples are subjugated, denied the most basic human rights and treated, at best, like 2nd class citizens.

Is it any wonder that the world views this as unjust ?

[martin2]

10:35 AM on 06/28/2010

"The non--Jewish indigenous peoples are subjugated, denied the most basic human rights and treated, at best, like 2nd class citizens." well said

This is why the United States should not give any aid to any country that does not practice separation of religion and politics.

[1776 or 1984]

06:59 AM on 06/23/2010

Hamas was democratically elected. A point that the Empire's propaganda consistently omits, including from this piece. The goal is the advancement of a violent colonial agenda

Don't bother posting that Fatah started a brief civil war in Gaza by not ceding power to the duly elected Hamas. And please don't bother posting that Hitler was also democratically elected (which is misinformation and untrue, he was appointed Chancellor after their own 9-1-1 event – the Reichstag Fire) -- that's not the point.

The point is the propaganda that seeks to keep ‘good’ subjects, "good."

Don't believe the one sided stories.

==============
Be a rebel, not a subject

[tallen]

07:54 AM on 06/23/2010

>>And please don't bother posting that Hitler was also democratically elected (which is misinformation and untrue,

Why are hamas lovers so ignorant?

"On August 19, 1934, 95 percent of registered voters in Germany went to the polls and gave Hitler 38 million votes of approval "
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/becomes.htm
http://chss2.montclair.edu/klajmang/fuehrer.htm

[Richard Pearce]

10:15 AM on 06/23/2010

Though, of course, more voted for other candidates in every election.

[1776 or 1984]

08:30 PM on 06/23/2010

Ironic, vics so often become perps in time

[duxguts]

05:21 AM on 06/23/2010

In that photo the sign says "Border Crossing". Does that mean that the borders have already been decided?

[Albert Amato]

07:48 AM on 06/23/2010

Pretty sure Gaza's border with Israel and Egypt will remain stable.

[KIVPossum]

05:00 AM on 06/23/2010

If everyone plays it right, it can be seen as a win for them all. That's a best case scenerio. Probably Israel will lock the place down again as soon as the world looks away for a second.

[FalseConsciousness]

04:23 AM on 06/23/2010

Israel will never let the people live a dignified life under Hamas. Israel is determined to drag the region and possibly the US into another war so it can weaken its neighbors and restore its diminished prestige.

[martin2]

12:15 PM on 06/28/2010

After the disaster in Lebanon, the fact that in the attack against Gaza Israel did not have the ability to re occupy and eliminate their stated enemy Hamas but had to resort to the usual terrorizing the civilian population shows a fatal weakness.

[RubalKhali]

04:17 AM on 06/23/2010

the terrorist win, Israel loses...so Israel wins and loses at the same time.

[Pandaforum]

03:30 AM on 06/23/2010

the terrorist win, Israel loses, and it is far more likely that Israel will bomb Iran. If that happens, It could drag America into wwIII.

[ChrisDwane]

09:56 AM on 06/23/2010

I hope Israel bombs Iran's nuclear facilities and so do you... you just won't realize until it's too late.

[lawrence of america]

07:19 PM on 06/23/2010

why are you in favor of an israel vs iran war? particularly when our troops will be right in the middle...or will you not realize that until its too late?

[martin2]

08:09 AM on 06/28/2010

Said as one who does not give a dam about our American troops who will die because of this.