Hamas in Gaza (merged thread)

[cobot]

How does Israel stop Hamas rocket attacks? A massive ground invasion into the strip to flatten Hamas? Target Hamas leadership? Economic strangulation of the strip? Would any of these work? Any creative ideas?

[Ron Humphrey]

How does Israel stop Hamas rocket attacks? A massive ground invasion into the strip to flatten Hamas? Target Hamas leadership? Economic strangulation of the strip? Would any of these work? Any creative ideas?

How about Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iran, heck just about any of the Middle East power broker countries actually lead and rather than obfuscating about everything instead Tell Hamas to stop or else. And mean it. Got news for those guys, If you don't want the Palestinians in your countries then put your money where your mouth is and get the circumstances right for some kind of real agreements. You won't get any major change whichever changes your looking for as long as folks are still shooting.

Almost everyone involved in that region wants Israel to be the bad guy so no matter what they do thats not changing.

[Kenyatta]

Best way?

Probably invade the whole place and occupy it. and destroy the Hamas, political military infrastructure in Gaza.

So far they're not going to stop by killing the leaders because they just get replaced faster than you can say hamas.

The other countries aound Israel will not stop it since its not to their best interest(they want to portray the Israelis as bad guys to distract their populations, the Gaza strip is an open sore wound in Israel, name your pick).

Unfortunately if you invade you will:

1. Be involved in one of the worse street to street fighting since Beirut 1982, heavy casualties for Israel(worse for the Palestenians)

2. Israel will get the usual round of condemnations(as usual from the UN etc.)

3. You will not completely crush Hamas(though it will be badly mauled) since they will probably continue to exist in other countries(namely Lebanon, Iran, Syria etc.).

[Jedburgh]

Physicians for Human Rights - Israel, 4 Aug 08:

Holding Health to Ransom: GSS Interrogation and Extortion of Palestinian Patients at Erez Crossing

The increasing restrictions imposed by the State of Israel on entry and exit of money, goods, services and persons via Gaza crossings and the closure of Rafah Crossing into Egypt since June 2007 have led to a sharp decline in the ability of Gaza’s healthcare system to provide services to patients.

The results have been a sharp increase in the number of patients referred to external medical centers (in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Jordan) via Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing, and a much sharper increase in the proportion of patients denied exit permits: from 10% in the first half of 2007 to 35% in the first half of 2008.

Whereas this process raises urgent questions regarding the responsibility of the State of Israel, as Occupying Power, to ensure the health and welfare of the civilian population of Gaza, the present report focuses rather on the mechanisms of denial of access to medical care, on the increasingly central role played by the Israeli General Security Service within this mechanism, and on the coercion of patients in the course of this process.

The report first provides a detailed description of the permits mechanism instituted by Israel at Erez Crossing and of the growing restrictions placed by this mechanism on the access of patients to medical care unavailable in Gaza. Statistical data is provided, based on Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel)’s casework with Gaza patients between January 2007 and April 2008.

The central part of the report describes the policy employed over the past year by the GSS, whereby patients are detained for interrogation at Erez Crossing, and requested either to provide information or to act as collaborators on a regular basis as a condition for permission to exit Gaza for medical treatment. Over the past year, more than 30 patients’ testimonies have been received by PHR-Israel, demonstrating this procedure. The methods of coercion employed by the GSS are examined in detail and a description of the growing formalization of the interrogation process is provided, including an attempt by the GSS to coerce PHR-Israel into cooperation with the mechanism described.....

Complete 85-page report at the link.