Rubble Rousing

Having created the neologism “Rubble rousing” I would like to highlight a post on the blog

Five Minutes for Israel

where there’s a very handy reference guide for anyone who finds him/herself face to face with Jon Snow or Yolande Knell, or anyone else who tells you the reason for Gaza’s continuing devastation and dereliction is The Siege. (which of course technically the blockade is not.) 

Written in CementWhy is Gaza reconstruction so slow?In her BBC dispatch, Why is Gaza reconstruction so slow?, BBC NEWS, 8 July 2015, on the pace of rebuilding in Gaza she totally ignores eight good reasons that don’t scapegoat Israel’s dual use policy.At what point does omitting crucial information become lies by omission? If you accept Knell’s dispatch Israel’s policy towards so-called dual use material is the sole reason why not a single destroyed home has been rebuilt. Not one?We accept that Israel doing what it needs to protect itself may be part of the problem but not all of it and quite possibly not the largest part. Consider the following because the BBC doesn’t.Eight reasons ignored by Knell

• Hamas commandeers a significant part of construction material for itself and has been reported to have begun to reconstruct fortifications

• The Gaza black market distributes most of the remainder to the highest bidder 

• Egypt also has a border but doesn’t allow import of building materials. The Rafah crossing is for people (when it is open) not goods 

• Disputes between Hamas and the P.A. have meant that finance for purchasing materials doesn’t always arrive; 

• Only a fraction of money pledged by the ‘international community’ (notably the Arab world) has materialised; 

• Hamas may be deliberately keeping parts of Gaza unreconstructed for propaganda purposes — exactly as Knell’s report; 

• Palestinian attacks on the transfer of material slows things down. Israel transferred the entrance point for trucks to Keren Shalom from the much larger and better equipped Karni crossing because of Palestinian attacks on Karni – which left several Israeli soldiers dead – several years ago; 

• This week Israel closed Keren Shalom crossing, until further notice, in response to attacks which killed dozens of Egyptian soldiers in Sinai. This isn’t the cause for anything that has happened previously but it’s odd Knell doesn’t mention it, even as a things will get worse throw-away ending.

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• Cement for rebuilding Gaza diverted to terror tunnels’, Times of Israel staff. TIMES OF ISRAEL, 19 December 2014

•  Cement Intended for Gaza Reconstruction Ends Up on Black Market, The                 Algemeiner, 3 December 2014

• Qatar donors admit most Gaza cement goes to black market (=Hamas), Elder of Ziyon, 17 March 2015

• Corruption hampers effort to rebuild Gaza after summer conflict, Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 25 December 2014

• Egypt extends opening of Rafah crossing into Gaza for two days, Ahmed Aboulenein, Reuters, 15 June 2015

• New Hamas-Fatah feud imperils joint Gaza plan, Fares Akram, TIMES OF ISRAEL, 15 March 2015

• Hamas: We didn’t approve UN’s Gaza reconstruction plan, MEMO Middle East Monitor, 3 November 2015

• Only five percent of pledged aid reaches Gaza, Annie Slemrod, Middle East Eye, 18 February 2015

• We don’t actually have an outside source for this but it seems a very reasonable assumption given that nothing is done in the most devastated areas. Some materials do reach civilians hands – those who pay. After all what would be the point of a black market without buyers?

• Terror attack at Karni Crossing, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 13 January 2005

• Israel closes crossings with Egypt, Gaza, following ISIS Sinai terror attacks, JPOST.com staff, REUTERS, Jerusalem Post. 1 July 2015

do read all David's post here