WahooEU observers flee in fear!
The Rafah crossing, between Gaza and Egypt has been effectively shut down. Not by Israeli forces, but by Palestinian police angered at unchecked lawlessness in the areas administered by the Palestine Authority. See, a couple of days ago some stuff went down between the Police and an angry family:

On Thursday, the Palestinian police officer and a civilian were killed in a shootout that erupted between two rival families. The violence began when a member of one of the families was detained by police. The man’s relatives came to a local police station to free him, and clashes broke out.

Yeah. Even families have militias that are stronger than the Police. Anyhow, about 100 Palestinian policemen stormed the Raffah crossing and shut it down, demanding the execution of the gunman who killed their colleague. They vow to keep the crossing closed until justice is served.

Except aren’t they the guys that are supposed to do that? Who exactly is in charge in Gaza? Oh, and for the record, the suicide bomber who killed Lieutenant Ori Binamo yesterday had another gig. When he wasn’t busy blowing himself up, he worked as… a Palestinian policeman. Yup.

These Policemen are fierce and resolute. Expect them out of the crossing by lunch time.

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

11 Comments

  • Where do you see that Thursday’s suicide bomber was a policeman? I can’t find that anywhere.

  • I need to be frank. I love jewish people to death (1/3 of my friends are jewish)! And I’m currently reading The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz, and I find it illuminating, to say the least. But I can’t help but feel angry when people dismiss the Palestinians and their plight. True, they are wrong to launch suicide bombings on innocent Israelis, but these attacks can’t be representative of all or even most Palestinians. And true, we need to press the current government to do more, but right now it doesn’t have the power or the authority. Because Yasser Arafat effectively fucked over his own Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people, the only “trustworthy” political faction is Hamas. Because the people no longer trust the corrupt old guard, they turn to the old guard, which will inevitably abuse them for their own pan-Islamic, anti-israeli agenda. In my opinion, Abbas is doing the best he can with the little power that he possesses. It’s time people stopped giving the Palestinians a hard time.

  • “Because the people no longer trust the corrupt old guard, they turn to the old guard, which will inevitably abuse them for their own pan-Islamic, anti-israeli agenda.”

    Correction: I meant to say the palestinians will turn to Hamas (as opposed to the Old Guard).

  • Would it be fair for us to determine how they should live their lives? If their leadership keeps fucking them over, then why do governments wait in line to hand these corrupt SOB’s more money? Prez Bush hands Abu Mazen $25 mil, and then Abu Mazen increases the ‘families of martyrs’ payments.

    Hamas released a video today warning any foreign observers that their blood is at risk if they come for the ‘elections’.

  • It’s disgusting how some people, like the article author, cassually dismiss the humanitarian crisis which are the border crossings from Gaza Palestine into Israel and Egypt. Imagine if you were a mother or father with a child who desperately needed medical treatment, and no such medicine is to be found within the walls of your divided nation. If you had to go into Egypt or Israel for treatment, you would be dogged by stubborn and intransigent soldiers operating under orders to stymie passage. Israel’s policies are increasingly counter-productive and only stimulate hatred and bloodshed.

  • Awww JD, what’s disgusting is when people come in here spewing propaganda.

    According to the Leftist paper, Ha’aretz, the Palestinian Authority paid 71 million shekels for medicines for Gaza. Of the 12 tons of medication this money purchased, Hamas reported receiving only a few kilograms of medicine. The PA accuses Hamas of stealing these medications and reselling them to sick Gazans. To remind you, Hamas is the elected government of Gaza.

    Israel reports that in 2009, the year before this PA report, it

    “…some 4,883 tons of medical equipment and medicine were brought in [to Gaza].

    In the first quarter of 2010, Israel shipped 152 trucks of medical supplies and equipment into Gaza. In a typical week (in May 2010), some 37 truckloads of hygiene products were shipped to Gaza through the land crossings. In addition, a new CAT scan machine was recently shipped to Gaza.

    In 2009, Israel coordinated the transfer of medical supplies for the disabled including wheelchairs, crutches and first aid kits. Other equipment shipped to Gaza include heart-monitors, baby feeding tubes, dental equipment, medical books, ambulance emergency equipment, artificial limbs and infant sleeping bags.

    The Israelis also report:

    No Palestinian is denied medical care in Israel. However, if the Hamas regime does not grant permits for medical care, the Israeli government can do nothing to help the patient. Israel will facilitate all cases of medical treatments from Gaza, unless the patient is a known perpetrator of terror.

    Israel maintains a corridor for the transfer of medical patients out of Gaza, and about 200 medical staff members go through the crossings every month. Israel also helps coordinate the transfer of Jordanian doctors into Gaza.

    In 2009 alone, 10,544 patients and their companions left the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Israel. Moreover, there were 382 emergency evacuations from Gaza for medical purposes.

    The Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem donates $3 million in aid annually to treat Palestinians in Israel. Following fears of a swine flu outbreak, three Israeli hospitals were assigned to treat cases in the Gaza Strip and 44,500 immunizations were transferred to the Strip.

    Now if you look at the 2010 WHO report and assume that it is creditable, which I would suppose that you would, you will find on Page 5 a table showing a month by month breakdown of all Gazan permit requests to travel through Israeli border crossings for treatment.

    What you will learn is that from January to November 2010, nearly 11,000 Palestinians from Gaza submitted such requests. Of those, 78.2% had them fulfilled immediately and another 15.9% had theirs fulfilled with a delay. In fact, only 5.9% had their request rejected entirely.

    Is that a perfect record? Far from it. Is it hard and unfair that Palestinians should experience such difficulties? Yes. Is it the fault of Israel? No. Blame it on Hamas, JD. Blame it on the democratically elected party that heads Gaza and chooses to deny Israel the right to exist and that has permitted or engaged in launching thousands of rockets at Israel, increasing the attacks after Israel left Gaza. Blame it on the 20 events since 2005 in which Gazan Palestinians attempted to use medical entry to attempt or commit terror attacks inside Israel.