Reply #21: the long way around from Gaza to the West Bank is pretty damn long [View All]

[Douglas Carpenter]

for a distance that normally speaking should take I believe about one and a half or two hours. I believe "the long way around" would require one to cross a major portion of both Egypt and Jordan.

Then there is the issue of travel documents for a stateless people.

Now I do have to grant that you do have a valid point about the Egyptian border. Why doesn't Egypt ease travel restrictions for Gazan-Palestinians? I absolutely agree that they should. But the relationship between Arab governments and the Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian territories is a whole issue of its own. If you are suggesting that not all of the Palestinians problems are caused by Israel, I would have to agree.

Still for the vast majority of the Palestinian residents of Gaza they are effectively cut off from the rest of the world with the movement of goods and services heavily restricted.



from :


The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories


"For the past four and a half years, Israel has severely restricted freedom of movement to and from the Gaza Strip. These restrictions further strangled the Gaza Strip, so much so that the area resembles one gigantic prison. Israel’s policies have reduced many human rights – among them the right to freedom of movement, family life, health, education, and work – to “humanitarian gestures” that Israel sparingly provides."
link: http://www.btselem.org/English/Maps/Index.asp
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8 Aug. 2006: Almost half the fatalities in the Gaza Strip in July were civilians not taking part in the hostilities - link:

http://www.btselem.org/english/firearms/20060808_Civilians_killed_in_Gaza.asp

In July, the Israeli military killed 163 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 78 of whom (48 percent) were not taking part in the hostilities when they were killed. Thirty-six of the fatalities were minors, and 20 were women. In the West Bank , 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in July. The number of Palestinian fatalities in July was the highest in any month since April 2002.