August 26, 2014 - by Diane V. McLoughlin
Mainstream media outlets are reporting that all parties to the current assault on Gaza have agreed today to ceasefire proposals brought forward by Egypt. The blockade will be eased at the crossings controlled by Egypt and Israel to allow humanitarian goods in to Gaza.
All issues are to be put off for one month at which time negotiations on peace proposals are to begin.
I will tell you that I had difficulty locating on the internet the actual terms and proposals from Egypt. At time of writing I have been unsuccessful in locating any copies of the text of the ceasefire agreement.*
*Update: Here is a summary of the proposals: 'What's in the Gaza peace deal?'; Al Quds English; August 27, 2014.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is on record stating that Israel will not participate in these planned negotiations unless there is a "total end to terror attacks". As Israel is notorious for provoking a response and then blaming the other side, anything can happen between now and then.
On August 24 2014, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs boasted that they permitted 118 truckloads of humanitarian goods into Gaza that day.
Minimum daily truck traffic of food and other necessities was pegged at 500 back in 2009. Obviously this number would have increased during the intervening years leading up to 2014's so-called Operation Protective Edge [some idea of potential logistical issues, here, although the statistics at link are outdated.]
Estimates are that it might take as long as 20 years for Gaza to rebuild what Israel destroyed.
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| East Al Shaaf, Gaza - Operation Protective Edge - via Palestinianism |
Israel and Egypt better calculate into their truce negotiations a month hence that they may need to multiply by a factor of 20 that 118 figure so helpfully supplied - 2,000 or more trucks per day. But who knows? Maybe it's 4,000 trucks per day. The numbers of trucks that will need to pass through the eyes of needles they control into Gaza, while some in Israel will no doubt continue to attempt fomenting discord means the situation will continue to be frought with issues.
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| Israeli Deputy Minister of Defense, Danny Alon's suggestion on maintaining 'quiet' in Gaza - prevent transfer of food and water; August 20, 2014 - Twitter |
Who will personally take ownership of the task of seeing to it that the people of Gaza will have food to eat, safe water to drink, medicine and medical supplies for the sick and injured along with vital building supplies to repair hospitals, roads, schools and homes?
Israel and Egypt have caused, through their seven year long siege, followed by so-called 'Operation 'Protective Edge', conditions in which the people of Gaza have no reserves left with which to survive.
This August 26, 2014, Facebook post, a picture of Gaza resident Mohammed Baroud's empty fridge, illustates the point, well enough:
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| Food in Gaza - the reality of slow starvation - by Mohammed Baroud; August 26, 2014 |
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