Tunnel vision in Gaza
A new mechanism is apparently now in place, agreed between Israel, America and Egypt, to stop Hamas smuggling weapons through the tunnels on the Egyptian border with Gaza. That is one of the reasons Israel gave for stopping the war. Now we read this:Hamas has seized control of all the smuggling tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza and has been moving additional arms into the Strip since Operation Cast Lead ended on Sunday morning...The tunnels in Rafah are usually run by local Palestinian clans, and Hamas's decision to take control is believed to be part of the group's attempts to re-establish its regime in Gaza. Hamas can now decide what is smuggled into the Strip and give priority to weapons and explosives. On Wednesday night, CBS News reported that the US Navy had intercepted an Iranian ship in the Red Sea carrying arms allegedly on their way to Gaza. Israel is concerned that Iran will try to transfer long-range Fajr missiles to Hamas capable of hitting Tel Aviv.Well, waddya know. I am shocked. Meanwhile, the actual number of Gazans killed during Operation Cast Lead remains opaque. The Hamas claim that 1300+ died of whom only 50 were Hamas and the rest were civilians, including 400+ children. These figures have been largely recycled by the UN and NGOs and disseminated by the western media as true. Israel however has vehemently denied them and says the vast majority of those killed in Gaza were Hamas operatives – and it has their records to prove it. The Jerusalem Post reports:
The IDF privately told Israeli reporters Thursday, by contrast, that only 150 of the 900 fatalities it has checked were civilians and that it was likely that the rest were Hamas combatants. But Israel has presented no formal alternative information.Well they’d better do so fast because the frenzied blood libels of ‘genocide’ and ‘war crimes’ are putting down deep roots, with human wrongs lawyers sharpening their lawsuits even now for the planned legal pogrom designed to deal a mortal blow to the legitimacy of the State of Israel – outlined in this analysis of the monstrous manipulation of international law to that end that is now under way. At the Corriere della Serra, reporter Lorenzo Cremonesi has been trying to establish the truth. His article (a somewhat idiosyncratic auto-translation from the Italian can be located on Israelly Cool yesterday) has made waves by claiming the true Gazan fatality figure was not 1300 but 500-600 people, of whom the vast majority were Hamas operatives. He appears to have based this figure on a claim by an anonymous doctor at Gaza’s Shifa hospital, who told him:
‘The deaths could not be more than 500 or 600. Mainly boys between 17 and 23 years recruited from the ranks of Hamas that has literally sent to the massacre... It was strange that the non-governmental organizations, including Western ones, repeated the number without checking, but the truth will come to light in the end. It's like what happened in Jenin in 2002. At the beginning they spoke of 500 dead; afterwards it was clear there were only 54 dead, at least 45 of them who were fighters’.Israel, as noted above, disputes this anecdotal estimate and says its records show 900 were killed. But the real importance of Cremonesi’s article lies in his revelation that some Gazans at least understand exactly what Hamas has done to them, that it was responsible for the disaster – and that it has manipulated information to produce utterly false claims about the situation.
‘Practically all the buildings highest in Gaza that have been hit by Israeli bombs, as Dogmoush, Andalous, Jawarah, Siussi and many others had on the roof ramps rocket launchers, or points of view of Hamas...’The hospitals had not been overwhelmed by casualties at all. Moreover, the men of Hamas
‘used ambulances and forced ambulanzieri and nurses to remove their uniforms with symbols of paramedics, so they could be confused and better escape Israeli snipers. This has reduced a lot of the number of beds available in health institutions in Gaza. ‘And as for Shifa hospital (underneath which, Israel has claimed, the Hamas high command hid out for the duration of the war):
‘Hamas had hidden there the cells and the emergency room for interrogation of prisoners of Fatah...’Now look here at who is bemoaning the fact that Israel stopped the war too soon:
Israel made a ‘big mistake’ by ending Operation Cast Lead without overthrowing the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah said on Thursday...‘It was a big mistake to end the war this way,’ the official said. "The fact that Hamas is still in power is bad for all.’ The PA leadership had decided to take draconian measures to thwart any attempt by Hamas to stir unrest in the West Bank, the official also said. ‘There's no room for these Hamas thugs in the West Bank,’ he said. ‘We won't allow Hamas to turn the West Bank into another Islamic republic.’Strange kind of ‘genocide’, eh, when the reputed victims complain that it didn’t go far enough?
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Melanie Phillips is a Daily Mail columnist. She also writes for the Jewish Chronicle and is a panellist on BBC Radio Four's Moral Maze. Her most recent book is 'The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power', published by Encounter.
For a complete set of Melanie's articles click here
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Augustus
January 23rd, 2009 12:57pmAttaboy Melanie! That's the way to hit a home run.
And one mustn't forget that that very same hospital was used as a torture chamber for Fatah prisoners. Also many of Hamas' casualty figures include Palestinians which they themselves murdered.
stanley Jerusalem
January 23rd, 2009 1:10pmSorry Augustus,as a Brit I need clarification.
What's a home run? Is it good or bad?
Augustus
January 23rd, 2009 1:35pmHi Stan - It's when you hit the ball well enough for you to run all the way home (full circle) instead of being stuck somewhere waiting for the next batsman to strike. It's good.
Raymond Joseph Douglas
January 23rd, 2009 1:41pmI watched Channel four's Jon Snow trot out that old canard about Hamas being democratically elected on their news Thursday night. As if that made hamas any more acceptable ! Jon Snow makes the BBC and Sky news, the model of impartiality when it comes to Israel !
Dixon
January 23rd, 2009 2:01pmStanley Jerusalem...you disapoint me, didn't you ever watch your sisaters play "Rounders" as a child!!!
;-)
Augustus, please realise I'm only teasing.
Dixon
January 23rd, 2009 2:06pm...But seriously, there is a VERY simple solution to this tunneling problem which Israel has looked at and rejected. Dig a channel from the sea accross the tunneling area. Any tunnelers would be drowned as soon as they hit it or got close underneath.
Why did Israel reject this scheme? Because it risked contaminating the fresh water resources available to the Gazaans!
Nonetheless the solution is still liable to be technical. William Saletan has gone over a range of options. Including a dry trench, ground sensors, sensor drones etc.
Apparently, the U.S. Army is already installing a sensor system on the Egyptian side. Supposedly very effective.
Derek Blades
January 23rd, 2009 2:24pmHamas has to smuggle in a few crummy rockets through tunnels. Israel gets top of line weaponry - including funnies like white phosphorous shells - à volonté from the Americans. Whatever happened to that old fashioned notion of fair play?
Maximilian
January 23rd, 2009 2:27pmOmar Suleiman, the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services, is the key figure on the Egyptian side in Israeli-Egyptian cooperation, as the Jerusalem Post confirms today:
[Quote] “Thursday night's meeting came after Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry's diplomatic-military bureau, returned from Cairo where he met Egyptian government officials, including intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, for talks about Gilad Schalit and the new anti-smuggling mechanism.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232643730281&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
But Suleiman’s commitment to the prevention of arms smuggling through the Philadelphi tunnels is less than wholehearted, as Haaretz pointed out a few days ago in a long and fascinating profile by Yossi Melman:
[Quote] “Both he [Suleiman] and President Mubarak did not enjoy seeing Hamas being empowered on Egypt's doorstep, but also did not really want to stop the smuggling via the tunnels. The tunnels served as a geo-strategic tool for them when they mediated between Israeli and the Palestinians and primarily as a valve for releasing the pressure applied by the Islamic opposition in Egypt, which accuses the regime of standing idly by while Israel attacks the Palestinian people.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056991.html
Dimitrijevic
January 23rd, 2009 2:35pmActually the U.S. Navy boarded an Iranian ship carrying artillery munitions. Hamas is not known to have artillery. The yanks sell quite a bit of artillery ammunition to Israel of course as well as other states and groups around the world. I wonder why the Americans object to Iran engaging in the same commerce they do. Ref:
Sources: U.S. searched Iranian ship
23 Jan 2009
....The U.S. military intercepted and searched an Iranian-owned ship that officials feared was carrying arms to the militant group Hamas, but two officials said it was unclear Thursday whether those suspicions were founded.
....One official said the two-day search turned up ammunition that included artillery shells, and because Hamas is not known to use artillery, officials are now uncertain who the intended recipient was.
....defense officials said the vessel was allowed to continue its voyage after the search. One official said Egypt has been asked to conduct a fuller search once the ship arrives in port.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_iran_weapons_ship_012209w/
Richard Buckley
January 23rd, 2009 2:46pmI was astonished to see the photograph at the top of this post on the front page today of the Jewish Chronicle. I have always assumed that these tunnels were a bit like those dug by British prisoners when trying to escape from German POW camps during WW2.
Apparently not. This is a serious tunnel, big enough to take a small car and apparently properly engineered with a concrete lining.
I simply don't understand it. Israel's Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, has announced that all of the 'objectives' for Operation Cast Lead had been met. But why withdraw from Gaza without destroying every single one of these tunnels? Am I missing something here?
Original Tony
January 23rd, 2009 2:50pmIsrael better UP the media war or throw in the towel! That's where her future is being decided right now.
Israel MUST film its units in action and then release the films to the world.
phil
January 23rd, 2009 3:13pmThe first point that must be made is that the supporters of Israel must regret any and all of the deaths and injuries that harmed the decent Palestinian people but with no crocodile tears for the damage caused to hamas ,they sowed the wind and they reaped the whirlwind ,they managed also to cause the deaths of so many innocent victims of their evil regime .They have and continue to delude the young Muslims into thinking that we are their enemy-We are not -Let them give us a chance to live side by side with them in peace and see the desert bloom -------------.
As for "war crimes" after every Arab /Israeli war the Israelis are accused ,does anyone accuse the hamas /hesbollah .other than Israel and a few western nations ?no answer is necessary !The allies bombed Dresden ,Berlin, Dusseldorf ,Hamburg ETC ETC AND Caen where an enormous number of innocent French civilians died ,did we consider them war crimes ?No we did not because they were necessary to prosecute the war and rid us of the nazis .We killed and maimed hundreds of thousands without a murmur from the NGO,s and the handwringing ,well paid "charity" workers .where were these people when the desperate survivors of the death camps tried to get a life in the mandate of Palestine and were turned away ,
---------------
Later Israel ,where were their complaints when 5 Arab armies attacked that hugely outnumbered .out weaponed ,ragbag of an army- NOWHERE,so does any sane person wonder why Israel defends itself as it sees fit -even then trying its best to not harm civilians ,and suffering the lies of the rabid mob .Well someone needs to tell these people that the Jews will never again walk into gas chambers whilst waiting for the handwringers to save them .The victims of AUSWICH waited in vain for the planes to come to bomb ,to put them out of their misery if not save them -THEY NEVER CAME and those poor souls never saw the land of Israel
-----------------------------
Mr Snow produced a programme talking about bias and the lack of journalists allowed to watch the battle in Gaza ,those battles are for soldiers not reporters some of whom are only there to sensationalized the deaths of the unfortunates -he certainly is not to be compared with the late lamented ROBERT CAPA-what we saw was the most biased account ,denigrating the Israelis at every opportunity and earlier disgraced the name of journalism whilst cutting off MARK REGEV in mid sentence when he saw he was making a fool of himself (snow)--Would any army let people like him work amongst them ?I think not .Let him go now to Gaza and watch hamas renew the tunnels and bring in the weapons from Iran ,ready to start a new period for destruction ,he will be able then to tell us the truth .
Original Tony
January 23rd, 2009 3:15pmDixon, yes I too thought of a trench from the Ocean inland. Flooded with water, it would be an awesome answer to tunneling.
However, in view of the fact that getting arms into Gaza will always occur, one way or another, wouldn't it be prudent to open all trade routes in and out of Gaza, thus removing the main excuse Hamas has for attacking Israel??
I am not saying this will stop attacks on Israel, but it WILL take away Hamas's excuse for doing so, thus giving more legitimacy to Israel's media war.
Maximilian
January 23rd, 2009 3:32pmRichard Buckley,today at 2:46 pm:
Not only a concrete lining but travelators too, in some cases, according to earlier press reports.
stanley Jerusalem
January 23rd, 2009 4:02pmDixon - Cheltenham?
stanley Jerusalem
January 23rd, 2009 4:04pm- or Cirencester?
Ronnie
January 23rd, 2009 4:13pmSorry! Is there any reason why control of these tunnels can't be seized back? Then they can be destroyed.
Paul
January 23rd, 2009 4:55pmThe job was left half finished so it will have to be done properly next time. Hamas leaders ran away like the cowardly curs they are pushing boys ahead of them to take the flak. It was obviously a back room deal with Obama trying to prove he is the new broom. So to keep in favour the Israelis had to back down. This conflict will flare up again.
Dixon
January 23rd, 2009 7:04pmDerek Blades
January 23rd, 2009 2:24pm
Hamas has to smuggle in a few crummy rockets through tunnels. Israel gets top of line weaponry - including funnies like white phosphorous shells - à volonté from the Americans. Whatever happened to that old fashioned notion of fair play?"
Here we go again...that tiresome old chestnut about Israel supposedly getting "state of the art" weapons from the US! The facts are that it doesn't! Theres nothing high-tech about phosphorous and flechettes. In fact, its the US that is buying anti-ballistic-missile technology from Israel. and Russia that is buying UAVs from Israel. Most Israeli equipment is at least three decades old, much of it dates back FIFTY YEARS, a lot of it is THIRD HAND, whilst their only "up to date" weapons they manufacture themselves.
The exceptions are only Patriot batteries, ammunition and underwing ordnance.
so "Derek Blades", you are talking twaddle.
Dixon
January 23rd, 2009 7:06pmOriginal Tony
January 23rd, 2009 2:50pm
Israel better UP the media war or throw in the towel! That's where her future is being decided right now.
Israel MUST film its units in action and then release the films to the world.2
They DO Tony, unfortunately, noone will show them. Even on U-Tube some IDF videos have been blocked!
This is the reality of the media: total unnacountable power!
Dixon
January 23rd, 2009 7:10pmStanley Jerusalem, Cheltenham & Gloucester what?
I've a perfect plan to ensure no more tunnels get finished: make them an extension of the London Underground on a PFI contract!
KateA
January 23rd, 2009 8:12pmDerek Blades: ..."old fashioned notions of fair play.." are you mad? Do you believe Islamists EVER engage in 'fair play'? NO!
What you require from Israel is a level of 'decency and morality' that you would not ask if England was under attack. Would you demand the enemy were given EQUAL weapon-power? If you would, you are an even bigger fool than you appear here.
david lynn
January 23rd, 2009 10:40pmDerek Blades, when you mentioned "that old fair play" were you thinking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Derek Blades
January 23rd, 2009 11:42pmI do not respond to letters from people who use capital letters for emphasis. I associate that with frothing at the mouth. So, my apologies to KateA and Dixon but you will have to froth away between yourselves. Give my comment a little quiet reflexion, think outside the box, and you might learn something.
Dave M
January 24th, 2009 12:05am"Israel MUST film its units in action and then release the films to the world."
The Beeb reported with glee that the Palestinians were fixing up these tunnels. Then the BBC reporter suggested the tunnels were really needed to acquire food. As if!! To make matters worse, the Beeb then descended into more emotional, theatrical sensationalism. The claim this time was IDF soldiers were supposed to have strolled into someone's house in Gaza and then opened fire on women and children. Funny, no Hamas gunmen were there either? Then there were the usual scenes of Palestinian women throwing dust into the air and weeping. It sounded to me another case of more sensationlist, manipulative reporting. The Beeb is making no serious, journalistic effort to really scrutinize these testimonies but is merely reporting such accounts as absolute gospel. If the IDF can prove these allegations to be false and therefore slanderous, couldn't the Beeb actually be held to account? They admitted they have been flooded by complaints from pro Israel viewers over their reporting of this situation. Seems like Melanie's blog readers are doing a good job and making a few waves.
Adam B.
January 24th, 2009 12:42amDerek Blades, what a remarkably stupid comment. You are complaining that the Islamonazis of Hamas, who advocate the extermination of every Jew in their charter, (and support the establishment of the world wide Caliphate - that includes you Derek) aren't armed equally with democratic Israel. I'm sure you have strong objections to the fact that after 1944 the Germans had no effective air force, giving the Allies complete air superiority over the skies of Europe. How unfair! What about fair play? How very silly.
phil
January 24th, 2009 11:32amDEREK BLADES IN CAPITALS .YOU HAVE JUST ADDRESSED TWO OF THE MOST PERCEPTIVE AND EDUCATED BLOGGERS HERE WITH SOME OF THE DAFTEST COMMENTS SEEN HERE FOR SOME TIME .SO AS I AM WRITING TO YOU IN CAPITALS PERHAPS I CAN SUGGEST THAT EVERYONE DOES AND THEN WE WILL NOT HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN UNTIL YOU LEARN SOME SENSE .IF YOU NEED A THESIS ON FAIR PLAY LET ME KNOW AND I WILL GIVE YOU ONE .MINE
jose garcia
January 25th, 2009 2:24amHEY DERECK
I HAVE AN IDEA!!!!!!!!!!
ISRAEL HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS
LET'S GIVE SOME TO HAMAS?,IT WILL BE A SUICIDE BUT IT WILL BE FAIR PLAY , EH!!!!!
SOME PEOPLE ARENT VERY BRIGHT ARE THEY?
anglicus
January 25th, 2009 2:49amWhile I agree with MP on this, one comment sticks out and says to me that the US is just looking an excuse to attack Iran.
On Wednesday night, CBS News reported that the US Navy had intercepted an Iranian ship in the Red Sea carrying arms allegedly on their way to Gaza. Israel is concerned that Iran will try to transfer long-range Fajr missiles to Hamas capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
"
Let's not get dragged into another conflict.
"The Beeb reported with glee that the Palestinians were fixing up these tunnels"
They have also refused to air a broadcast for a Gaza relief fund, you can't have it both ways.
aramkr
January 25th, 2009 3:03amDerek Blades:
Perhaps the Gazans should start pelting Israel with the dreaded uppercase in their future assaults if their current armaments are not having the desired effect.
Miranda Rose Smith
January 25th, 2009 10:09amDear Stanley Jerusalem: A home run is very good.
wrighty
January 26th, 2009 1:37pmJosé the screamer: "IT WILL BE A SUICIDE BUT IT WILL BE FAIR PLAY "
Israeli behaviour already IS suicidal, so no change there.
phil
January 26th, 2009 4:47pmwrighty how much do you want to replace Jonathan Ross?
phil
January 27th, 2009 12:39pmwrighty come on man you must have a price -10 quid a year do?I will throw in all the beer you can drink -second thoughts maybe not -there is a limit even to the beebs purse .