Guardian: Blockade is blessing for Hamas

[Lars77]

By sealing Gaza off from import and export, the Israeli blockade has laid waste to the territory's legitimate employers.

When Usama Kuhail's construction business collapsed almost overnight following Israel's dramatic intensification of its siege of the Gaza Strip three years ago, he knew that the prospects for the 120 building workers he employed on a casual basis were grim.

Along with Kuhail's firm, 3,000 businesses were to go under in the ensuing months. For each job lost, another seven or eight people who relied on that income faced impoverishment.

So what did Kuhail's men do? About 40% now work in the tunnels under the border with Egypt that are used to smuggle huge amounts of goods into Gaza, a dangerous job only for the desperate. The rest, he said, probably either joined the Hamas security services or are paid piecemeal by militant factions to launch rockets into Israel.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/gaza-blockade-black-economy-hamas

[B Whale]

1. Exactly, The israeli government and the previous one are simply

not very intelligent or good at what they do.

they lost to hezbollah in lebanon, they strengthened hamas by the destruction of gaza and have strengthened them further with the siege, while simultaneously punishing innocent women and children.\


they are dangerous to themsleves as well as everyone around them

[Lars77]

2. Maybe that's what they want.

What better way to stay in power than to ensure that your country is in perpetual mobilization and fear of attack from the outside? Bush was able to force this impression on enough Americans to get re-elected. Achaminejad as well.

Israel is becoming a state run by the military, their military industry and right wingers who will not stop expanding the state until they have taken all the territory currently occupied by Palestinians. They are doing so one settlement at a time.

One can only hope that the progressive movement in Israel can gain some momentum from recent events.

[EFerrari]

3. Exactly. They couldn't have done more to entrench Hamas.n/t