The intentions were probably noble—the sending of concrete and other construction materials that entered the Gaza Strip in recent years. But nobility was turned to cruelty as Hamas built terror tunnels out of the materials, which Israel has spent recent days dismantling to prevent massive attacks on Israeli soil.
Will the world stand with Israel on disarming Gaza? US Secretary of State Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of US State Department.
Israel doesn’t want that happening again. The Ma’an News Agency interviewed Israeli spokesman Ofir Gendelman, who said Israel wants Gaza terror groups to be disarmed. Gendelman tied the disarmament to renewed construction in Gaza.
Israel had actually allowed more construction materials into Gaza in recent years as part of their blockade of the Strip, intended to curb the smuggling of weapons and terrorism. That openness was rewarded with violence.
It’s not the first time Israel has raised the alarm about construction goods being used by Hamas for nefarious means. “Instead of the international community allowing funds to enter the Gaza Strip, via Hamas, for concrete and cement to serve in the unlimited construction of tunnels, there must be monitoring and supervision,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press statement from earlier in the current war in Gaza.
“In the past, when we raised these demands and these concerns of ours, we were not taken seriously. This has to change. It cannot be that citizens of the State of Israel will live under the deadly threats of missiles and infiltration through tunnels—death from above and death from below.”
Netanyahu’s answer to the problem? “The process of preventing the arming of the terrorist organization and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip must be part of any solution. The international community needs to demand this explicitly.”
That demand is apparently on Israel’s agenda as ceasefire talks get underway. The question is whether that interest will build momentum for the international community towards finding a means to disarm Gaza terrorists, or whether terror building will be resume after the fighting ends.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 5, 2014)