Ban Ki-Moon calls for Israel to end Gaza blockade

[IScreamSundays]

Source: National Post

KAMPALA/JERUSALEM -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to lift its Gaza blockade, stressing if Israel had heeded international calls to end it the raid on a Gaza aid ship flotilla would not have happened.

“Had the Israeli government heeded to international calls and my own strong and urgent and persistent call to lift the blockade of Gaza, this would not have happened,” Mr. Ban told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday in Kampala.

He was in Kampala to attend a review conference of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Meanwhile, Israel detained or deported on Tuesday hundreds of activists who were on Turkish-backed aid ships seized en route to Gaza, and the U.N. called for impartial investigation into the deaths of nine people in the takeover.

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Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/Moon+calls+Israel+Gaza+blockade/3096665/story.html

[Catherina]

1. Mr Moon. No more meaningless statements. Action please n/t

[aquart]

2. What would you like to see him do?

The Palestinians are getting everything they want out of this, pristine saints that they are.

[Catherina]

15. I would like to see him stand up for human rights

and impose sanctions on bullies who victimize innocent people. How about you?

[ColesCountyDem]

3. You will note that he did not call the blockade 'illegal'. n/t

[EFerrari]

10. How would that have helped his message?

[ColesCountyDem]

16. I'm not saying it would have.

What I'm pointing out is that the SecGen is a very careful and precise man, and he chooses his words both deliberately and carefully; some posters here at DU who post on this subject ought to do the same, rather than slinging inflammatory ( and usually incorrect ) rhetoric around about the illegal nature of the blockade.

That was my point.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

17. Yes. And I guess mine is, if he is serious and careful about

trying to communicate with Israel, he would have no reason to insult them, even with the truth, at the outset. lol

[ColesCountyDem]

18. True, but it's a tricky situation, from a legal standpoint.

I guess my point is basically this: Israel and the Hamas regime are unquestionably in a state of 'armed conflict', so it's arguable under international law, at least, that Israel may in fact legally impose a blockade on Gaza. It's not a lead-pipe cinch, from a legal point of view, but they can certainly make a credible, if not legally conclusive, argument to that effect.

Lots of folks are going around throwing very specific legal terms like some kind of confetti, without having any truly educated understanding of what those terms mean, and that doesn't really seem all that productive, to me. That said, I think Israel blew this from a P.R. standpoint, regardless of the merit of their legal argument.

Wow, it's so nice to have a rational, reasoned discussion with someone without being accused of being all manner of horrible things! :P

:hi:

[EFerrari]

20. No, it's not tricky. You either violate the Geneva Conventions or you don't.

Israel is.

[SnakeEyes]

4. Israel is not going to end the blockade for the same reason

that Egypt isn't ending their blockade of Gaza. Hamas controlling Gaza.

[sabrina 1]

5. Egypt just opened their border in response to

the world's outrage and 'to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people'. Humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza through Egypt. Finally, something positive from this whole, awful, tragic event.

I feel so sad for the victims of this attack. We still do not know their names or their countries, except that several were from Turkey. But there was a report that one of the Irish citizens may have been wounded.

[SnakeEyes]

7. Temporarily.

And it's more PR than anything as humanitarian aid has always been allowed through. Israel allows it through as well. They want to be able to check it first to ensure there are no weapons getting to Hamas. That's why they said before the incident they would allow the aid through but they just wanted to check it first. The people behind the flotilla declined because it was about breaking the blockade not humanitarian relief.

[micraphone]

8. Rubbish. Do you know whats banned?

They have turned the place into a ghetto - and deliberately. Here is a partial list (PDF) from May 2010 of banned goods which does not, but should, include disposable nappies:

various fishing nets
buoys
ropes for fishing
nylon nets for greenhouses
hatcheries and spare parts for hatcheries
spare parts for tractors
dairies for cowsheds
irrigation pipe systems
ropes to tie greenhouses
planters for saplings
heaters for chicken farms
musical instruments
size A4 paper
writing implements
notebooks
newspapers
toys
razors
sewing machines and spare parts
heaters
horses
donkeys
goats
cattle
chicks
sage
cardamom
cumin
coriander
ginger
jam
halva
vinegar
nutmeg
chocolate
fruit preserves
seeds and nuts
biscuits and sweets
potato chips
gas for soft drinks
dried fruit
fresh meat
plaster
tar
wood for construction
cement
iron
glucose
industrial salt
plastic/glass/metal containers
industrial margarine
tarpaulin sheets for huts
fabric (for clothing)
flavor and smell enhancers
fishing rods

Loads of potential WMDs here! (Do I need the sarcasm thingy.) This whole thing is punitive - and STILL illegal.

[Heywood J]

19. There's likely a reason the list is so long.

Gazans are probably forced to buy those things from Israel alone... Isn't capitalism a grand system?

[sabrina 1]

9. News reports are saying Egypt has opened its

border 'indefinitely'. Yes, they did want to break the blockade. Everyone in the civilized world wanted that blockade lifted, so they had a lot of support for trying. That IS humanitarian relief. The blockade is inhumane, if you have read anything about the conditions those people are forced to live in, it is clear that they are being imprisoned and cut off from the rest of the world inhumanely.

[lumpy]

12. Gaza is a ghetto whose people have been imprisoned by

Israeli commandants.

[SnakeEyes]

13. And Egypt..

but let's ignore them since they are inconveniently another Muslim country.

[EFerrari]

21. We don't ignore them because they are Muslim.

We ignore them because they take our bribes.

[SnakeEyes]

23. So then Cypruss is on the payroll too?

Since they refused to let the ships dock.

[BlueMTexpat]

14. But Egypt has played right along.

Reprehensibly.

That's what all those US tax dollars going to BOTH countries (Israel and Egypt) for military aid do: help to create a Palestinian ghetto in Gaza.

Those actions certainly do us proud, don't they?

[SnakeEyes]

24. Egypt also offered to allow the aid through

Just as long as it could be inspected first. The flotilla organizers, obviously, declined that too. So you have aid that could have made it through other means and Hamas refused the aid when Israel tried to deliver it. This flotilla was not about humanitarian aid.

[BlueMTexpat]

26. The whole point is that the inspection guidelines are

arbitrary and capricious. Obviously one understands that there is a legitimate security concern about weapons or components thereof. But just looking at the lists of what is allowed and what is not is an exercise in semantic repression at the very least.
Make no mistake. Gaza is literally a ghetto.
I have, btw, been to Israel. I have also been to the West Bank and have seen the situation there for myself. It's nothing short of outrageous. I have not been to Gaza but understand from reliable sources that the conditions there are much worse. I have many Israeli friends who feel as I do. I am not Jewish although, in my travels, some have assumed that I am, for whatever reason.
I am also in the significant minority who believes that there should be a one-state solution with equal rights for all who live within its borders. That is apparently too full of common sense ever to be the situation, however. Everyone in the area has a stake in a successful outcome.
Just call me a hopeless dreamer - but I'm not the only one. (Apologies to Lennon!)

[midnight armadillo]

22. And the navy. Gaza fishermen are not allowed to fish.

From 2007, first link in Google, but these types of reports have been going on for a few years.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/report-israel-navy-harassing-and-humiliating-gaza-fishermen-1.213980

An Israeli human rights group has charged that the Israel Navy is harassing and humiliating Gaza fishermen, who said they cannot make a living because of restrictions.

According to a report published by B'Tselem, a group that examines Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank in Gaza, at least 10 Gaza fisherman have been stopped by Israeli navy vessels in recent months.

The fishermen said they were forced to undress, leaving only their underwear, and made to swim to the Israeli ships, and then they were taken to the nearby Israeli port of Ashdod for questioning. Some said Israeli forces fired at them.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EFerrari]

11. The malnutrition of Gazan children is well documented.

No, this has never only been about weapons and it will always be Israel's shame, no matter what they do going forward.

The twin goals of breaking the siege and delivering humanitarian relief do not conflict in any way. It's time to end this crime.

[Chulanowa]

6. What would a Korean dude know about the... situ... oh.

Nevermind!