05-01-2011, 07:30 PM
Peter Lemkin Wrote:[My Note] I think as someone calculated it would take at the current rate about 30 years for Wikileaks to get through all of the cables...but I'm guessing someone inside the organization didn't like that and re-leaked ALL the cables to this Norwegian paper - who have in turn shared them with other papers...so in short order all should be sorted for importance, gone through and out.....here come the 'missing' Israeli cables too.....for example this one...]
Wikileaks documents showing how Israel planned that 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza would be held "on the edge of the cliff" through economic sanctions.
OFPER ANDERS JOHANSEN
Read embassy documents relating to this matter to the right of the article. Read all embassy documents we have published on this site .
While the fear increases until a new armed conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, throwing Wikileaks documents new light on what happened behind the scenes in the weeks and months before the war two years ago.
Israeli officials, intelligence agencies and politicians give in secret stamped documents from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv an unbiased and almost cynical view of Israel's economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, which inflicted the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip suffering.
"As part of their overall embargoplan against Gaza, Israeli officials confirmed on many occasions that the goal is to keep Gaza's economy on the brink of collapse, without pushing it over the edge," the U.S. Embassy 3 November 2008 under the title "Pengeløs in Gaza?".
"The plan is to keep the Gaza economy in the function at the lowest possible level without getting a humanitarian crisis."
The day after the embassy summed up the situation - and while Barack Obama was elected president of the United States - was the 5-month-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas breached. Israeli forces attacked a Hamas targets in Gaza, supposedly to stop an attempt to kidnap an Israeli soldier. Hamas responded by sending rockets at several Israeli towns. A few weeks later started the war.
Pengeløs in Gaza
The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, states that it has not been possible to get Israel to turn back, despite pressure from the U.S. to allow larger money transfers.
At this time, the Palestinian Authority sent a desperate plea, with support from both the UN and the EU, to transfer 100 million shekels a month to pay salaries to public employees.
"This will not be considered seriously by Israel until after January 2009".
The justification by Israel was that a lot of money to the government employees in Gaza would still end with Hamas.
Unsuccessful strategy
In another Wikileaks-note of Israel's economic blockade of Gaza from July 2007 says Brigadier General Danny Arditi, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's closest counterterrorism advisers, that "the goal was to hurt the Hamas government in Gaza economically without creating a humanitarian crisis, and buy time for Fatah to rebuild support. "
Israel imposed sanctions on Gaza after Hamas gained control of the area in June 2007. The borders were closed, with the exception of some shipments of humanitarian supplies. Cash flow was also closed at times, even though Israel sometimes gave permission to transfer money to the Palestinian administration to be able to pay the salaries of 77,000 public sector employees. Both the EU and the United Nations reacted strongly to the blockade, which was described as "collective punishment" of Palestinians.
The United States had no
While the Gaza crisis escalated and the number of rocket attacks by Hamas increased, did U.S. diplomats a new offensive in the evening 3 December 2008 to Amos Gilad, the security commander in the Israeli Defense Ministry. At that time, Amos Gilad was described as "the man who governs Israel." The Americans believed that a transfer of NIS 250 million to the Palestinians to ease the crisis.
"Theyre not Getting a dime." They do not get ten cents, "said Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad cash, according to the embassy minutes of the meeting.
- Outwardly, Israel said that the argument for the blockade was concern for Israeli security. This shows that Israel's long-term goal was to keep Gaza under a strong pressure so that the situation was untenable. Israeli Government spokesmen said that Gaza was on a diet, so they got on better thoughts about Hamas, "Middle East expert and professor of history Hilde Henriksen Waage.
- Wikileaks documents show that the United States as late as 3 December tried to force Israel to release more money into. How could this have affected the situation in Gaza?
- Of course it would be helpful to the civilian population substantially. This was before the black economy was such a large scale that we see today. When we look at the situation now, we can say that Israel's plan has succeeded. Hamas keeps pretty good order, the black economy is flourishing in Gaza, Israel will not have to feed the 1.5 million Palestinians and political, no one cares about Gaza. Thus, this policy has been a success for Israel, even if the conflict is not resolved, "said Henriksen Waage.
Curious that the 5 major Wikileaks MSM outlets haven't carried this story hitherto, eh?
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14