Trucks to Gaza.
It is the last day of 2008 and another day without school and kinder garden for the people living within the 40 kilometers limit to Gaza. We understood the positive consequences of that decision this morning as rockets were fired on Beer Sheva and one of them fell into a class room. The only reason why Israel has not suffered greater damage and loss of lives has to do with precautions of this kind.
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People all over the world are concerned about the sufferings caused by Israeli air raid and the desperate lack of food, medicine and medical supplies. We are concerned too and a great deal of the news reports actually is about this. Israel has Arab news reporters and Jewish reporters with Arabic as their mother tongue. We know that the situation is critical at every hospital in Gaza. There are too many wounded and basic lack of everything.
In the middle of such circumstances we were informed by one of the Arab reporters today that Hamas activists are hiding in the hospitals dressed like doctors and that this particular reporter was not allowed into the hospital to take photos of the wounded.

It is not true that there are no trucks entering into Gaza . The Israeli army has a concern for the sufferings of the civilians and do let some trucks pass . The problem is that the needs are enormous and every truck has to go through a security control. Israel reported that it will consider cease fire and to open the crossing points for trucks equipped with supplies from international health organizations to get into Gaza if Hamas will stop the rockets from being sent into Israeli territory. Hamas has refused and is doing exactly the opposite. From their safe bunkers the leaders are ordering more attacks on Israel.

In order for a Western mind to understand this it is important to know what Hamas is. The word in Arabic actually means “zeal” It is an “Islamic Resistance Movement” which does not recognize Israel and has as its goal to eliminate Israel and to replace it with an Islamic state. It is widely known as a terrorist organization supported by Iran.
Hamas won the election in 2006, but was not recognized neither by the States or other countries in the West for the above reasons.
So why did they win the election???? ---- I'll tell you why : Hamas ,just like other similar organizations in the Islamic world, go for the weak, poor, uneducated and miserable people in their society. (I hope you have paid attention to the fact that the majority of the people fall into this category in Moslem countries….) They help them get food on the table , and by doing that the battle is won.

Do you remember Mr. Arafat ? Did he care for these people or was it more important for him to make sure that his foreign bank accounts were “gaining weight”, for him to have nice cars and houses and to make sure that the needs of those few close to him enjoyed similar standards. The UN representative to the Middle East back in those days was Terje Roed Larsen . I remember him making some very interesting statements : “Arafat never did anything to prevent terror !” was one of them.(He said that one year before Arafat passed away) The other one was : “Yassir Arafat never stopped lying” (He said that in an interview after Arafats death.)
The reason for mentioning this has to do with the fact that Fatah ( Arafat`s organization ) has been the strongest Palestinian alternative to Hamas. After Hamas won the election, Fatah , led by Mahmud Abbas was still considered the “Palestinian Authority ”

Going back to June 2007 when Hamas went to war on their “brothers” in Fatah and actually took over the reign in Gaza their brutality went beyond imagination. 161 people were killed within 6 days of fighting( we are talking about Palestinians fighting Palestinians here…) including 7 children and 11 women. People were pushed from roofs of tall buildings. They shot dead at close range already wounded or wounded to ensure permanent disabilities. They attacked people in their homes ,in hospitals and attacked ambulances and medical crew. We saw Palestinians tearing the houses belonging to Fatah members apart and stealing whatever could be useful to themselves.
(You may be interested to know that the son of West Bank leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef has become a Christian . An interview with him can be found in the internet edition of HAARETS.com for Mon.September 15,2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1007462.html )

Do you get the picture ? I have till now never seen any Palestinian leader really caring for the Palestinian people. I have not seen any Arab country really showing interest in their fate. What I have seen is a people being used in the most cruel way in a political “ ping pong game” which is aiming at the destruction of Israel.

Elin Elkouby