UN chief discourages a new Gaza aid flotilla

[oberliner]

UNITED NATIONS — UN chief Ban Ki-moon called Friday "on all governments" in the region to use to their influence to push against a new flotilla of ships expected to try to break the blockade on Gaza.

The secretary general was said to be "following with concern media reports of potential flotillas to Gaza," said his spokesman Martin Nesirky.

Some 1,500 activists are expected to take part in the convoy that will embark at the end of June, seeking to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip, a year after a deadly Israeli raid on a similar fleet.

Ban "called on all governments concerned to use their influence to discourage such flotilla, which carry the potential to escalate into violent conflict."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hIpRQ3fwmXc_N4vmy5b8MU5cPpUg?docId=CNG.af25df64d6e4a91b0a11167574389d85.9e1

[Exilednight]

1. Yes, because it upholds the UN mandate to leave people

living in poverty, with little to no clean drinking water, no materials to erect shelter and to influence hunger among a population over one million.

:sarcasm:

When is the world going to learn that the Palestinians have legitimate gripes?

[oberliner]

2. How does a flotilla address those problems more than doing what Ban suggests?

"That assistance and goods destined to Gaza should be channelled through legitimate crossings and established channels."

What's wrong with that?

[Exilednight]

3. No assistance is being deliveared. Israel has put ban on all

building materials like nails, concrete, etc, etc.....

Without basic building materials, Palestinians are left without the basic necessities.

[oberliner]

7. Israel allows 280 trucks into Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israel on Tuesday allowed 280 trucks of goods and aid into Gaza through the sole operating supplies terminal Kerem Shalom, Palestinian officials said.

Liaison officer Raed Fattouh said the delivery would include construction materials for UNRWA and USAID projects as well as 20 new cars.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392464

[Exilednight]

9. The end of the article you posted proves my point.

But the terminal does not have the infrastructure to transfer goods into the coastal enclave, home to over 1.6 million people.

Israel controls all other crossings into Gaza and maintains an illegal naval blockade on the Strip's coastline.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392464

[oberliner]

10. And the beginning of it proves mine

If you can accept that Ma'an is telling the truth at the end, I assume you can do the same for the beginning.

[Exilednight]

11. The first part proves nothing other than trucks were allowed to enter the Gaza Strip terminals. It

doesn't say what happens once they are inside the Gaza Strip, or how they will be transfered once inside the border lines.

Just because I can drive a truck into my driveway, it doesn't mean I can move the grand piano into the house.

[oberliner]

13. You wrote that no assistance was being delivered, but clearly some assistance is being delivered

That is my point. What happens once that assistance is delivered inside Gaza is up to those who are inside Gaza.

[Exilednight]

14. Then allow me to rephrase: Not enough assistance is being delivered, and that which is

being delivered is not getting to the people who need it.

I hope that clarifies things.

The ports need to be opened. Israel is pushing an illegal blocade.

[crikkett]

4. their effing shoreline should be a legitimate crossing and established channel that's why

otherwise you're holding an entire nation hostage, that's why.

If they had some freedom of their own maybe they wouldn't hate ours, that's why.

[oberliner]

5. Are they under occupation or aren't they?

If they are, then by definition, Israel is responsible.

[crikkett]

6. Not for much longer, my friend!!

Ha! The Arab Spring isn't quite over yet!

Rafah border open permanently
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/28/egypt-gaza-border-reopened_n_868390.html

[Never Stop Dancin]

8. It is unbelieveable to me

I can still remember cruising down Highway 4, drink in hand, feeling fly like a G6, so to speak.

And then I had to turn around when I reached the Gaza.

We gave these people a boatload of greenhouses and cash--what more do they want from Israel?

Do you know how many hot clubs are in the Gaza and the Bank? None, because those places are on lockdown under Sharia law!

[Never Stop Dancin]

12. We've given them so much already

What more do they want from Israel? They know they'll never have as good a standard of living on their own. Their destruction of those greenhouses was as morally bad as the Holocaust.