to either Israel or Egypt and it will be delivered by truck. Sea access
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to either Israel or Egypt and it will be delivered by truck. Sea access
must remain blocked to prevent weapons smuggling.
The Israeli position defies a brutal truth: last year’s flotilla made a big
difference for the people of Gaza — at a terrible cost in lives — by
refocusing international attention on their plight and forcing a change
in Israeli policy. Today, twice as many goods enter from Israel as
before. Nonetheless, Gaza remains a deeply sad and deprived place.
“The focus on humanitarian aid by both flotilla organizers and the
Israeli government is infuriating and misleading,” Gisha, an Israeli
human rights group focused on Gaza, said in a statement. “There is
no shortage of food in Gaza, but economic recovery is blocked by
sweeping restrictions.”
The Exodus analogy supports a certain political and public relations
strategy. In July 1947, when Britain ruled Palestine and the number
of Jews allowed in was severely limited, the ship, with 4,500 Jewish
refugees from Europe, tried to get through. British forces boarded it,
killed three people, wounded dozens and essentially destroyed the
ship as it listed in Haifa harbor.
The British ultimately sent the passengers to Hamburg. The sight of
thousands of Jewish refugees shipped to Germany soon after the
Holocaust sparked international outrage and sympathy for the Zionist
cause, a key goal of the trip. “The Exodus showed that if the British
are callous enough to send Jews back to Germany, the only ones who
should be in charge of the fate of the Jews are the Jews themselves,”
observed M. M. Silver, an Israeli historian and the author of “Our
Exodus.” “Palestinian forces are trying to make the same point
through the flotilla, that Israel has no right to control the fate of
Palestinians.”
Several months after the Exodus, the United Nations General
Assembly voted for the establishment of two states in Palestine,
Jewish and Arab, the key diplomatic moment in Israel’s history. The
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029934
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