Hamas Creates Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza, Blames Israel

Jerusalem, Israel ----- January 21, 2008 ....... As the world suddenly awakes to a problem in Gaza, much of the media again blames Israel. Newspapers around the world ink their headlines with "Gaza Dark Amid Israel Blockade" and "Gaza Plunged Into Darkness As Israel Fuel Blockade Takes Effect."

It appears that Israel has nothing better to do than just make the lives of innocent Palestinians in Gaza miserable.

What much of the global media misses or chooses to ignore is that Hamas cut off the electricity to Northern Gaza - not Israel. Hamas did so even after inviting the media to watch it happen. That most of Gaza has electricity. That humanitarian supplies of fuel and medicine continue to flow into Gaza from Israel even as the people in Gaza toss deadly rockets on Jewish children in the Negev town of Sderot.

Israel has threatened to cut off Gaza from the world. And why not? What democratic nation would tolerate a city controlled by Hamas terrorists who launch thousands of deadly rockets onto Israel civilian towns and cities? One only needs to ask the traumatized children of Sderot as they run crying into cold cement air raid shelters. Or ask the citizens of Ashkelon, if they feel safe.

HonestReporting.com in an article entitled: "Lights On, Nobody Home" illustrates how Hamas is using professional public relations to place a spin on Israel.

Quoting misleading headlines in LA Times and The Guardian, HonestReporting states that: "You could be forgiven for thinking that Israel has cut off the entire electricity supply to the Gaza Strip." HonestReporting.com states: "The mainstream media ultimately assisted Hamas in creating the impression of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The fact is Israel has restricted fuel supplies in response to the terrorism emanating from Gaza but continues to provide the Palestinians with electricity. The Times of London omits this vital fact altogether in a story headlined "Darkness falls on Gaza as Israel takes revenge for rocket attacks".

AFP, while quoting Israel officials, also omitted the facts leaving readers with the impression that Israel is simply denying responsibility."

In fact, Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak has announced that Israel will continue to allow fuel for Gaza Strip's power plant as well as medical supplies into the Hamas - controlled territory.

The power plant, which depends on fuel funded by the European Union, under the orders of Hamas shut down its two working turbines on Sunday, plunging Northern Gaza City into darkness, after Israel closed border crossings on Friday.

Captain Shadi Yasin, spokesman for the Israel Coordination Liaison Administration in Gaza, told the Israel News Agency: "Israel is doing all that it can to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, in contrast to Hamas which is doing all they can to create one."

Yasin states that Israel will allow heavy duty diesel fuel to enter the Gaza power plant and diesel for the generators. In addition, Israel will allow international humanitarian organizations to deliver medicine and medical equipment through the Keren Shalom terminal on the border of Egypt.

Yasin stated: "Over seventy percent of the electricity in Gaza is supplied by Israel but it is Hamas which is disconnecting this electricity from hospitals, schools and food stores in Gaza and actually thrives on the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza for their own public relations and propaganda efforts."

Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert briefed ministers at a Cabinet meeting yesterday on his visit to Sderot, Israel and the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip last week: “Last Thursday evening, I visited the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, including Sderot. My visit followed a day during which dozens of rockets were fired at the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip in response to the operational successes of the Israel Defense Forces and ISA and severe losses to both Islamic Jihad and Hamas."

Olmert stated: "Our activity as a Government, in response to the terror attacks from the Gaza Strip, rests on two foundations. The first is continuous and intensive operations against terrorists in the Gaza Strip and the second is concern for the population under relentless and intolerable, Gaza Strip-based terrorist attacks. Communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip are much better reinforced today than they were a year ago. We will continue to invest additional hundreds of millions in the area this year in order to strengthen the residents’ fortitude."

"I found people there who are suffering but who do not intend to give in. I found people who are courageously dealing with daily distress that is forced on them by the Kassams but who are determined to continue living in the region. The Israel Defense Ministry, via Israel Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, who is responsible for the matter, is doing outstanding work in assisting the conduct of daily life in the area. There is a sense that there is a guiding hand and there are activities that assure the continuation of daily life. The education system is operating normally and the achievements of area students on their matriculation exams - in wake of a program that we enacted in the schools - are among the highest in the country. Today, there is no unemployment at all in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip and I hope that we will be able to cause additional factories and investors to go there."

Olmert continued: "The second foundation of our activity is operational. There is no doubt that the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are trying to use indiscriminate terrorism in order to force a war of attrition on us and to create an equation of force in which they respond to with dozens of rockets for harsh strikes against their personnel. Israel cannot live with such an equation. The communities of the south will not be hostage to the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. Israel will continue to act with strength, sophistication, courage and determination. The objective is to bring about the cessation of Kassam rocket fire and not to agree to any balance of terror. The terrorist organizations are starting to understand that Israel is determined. Their leadership is perplexed over how to act in light of the strikes against them. There are those among them who have begun to understand that it would be better to refrain from further firing. In any case, we will not slacken from our operations until peace is assured for the residents of the south.”

HonestReporting states: "While Gazans are undoubtedly suffering, the dark picture painted by the mainstream media is different from the reality. As the Israel's Foreign Ministry notes, the supply of electricity to Gaza from the Israel and the Egyptian power grids (124 Megawatts and 17 Megawatts respectively) has continued uninterrupted. These 141 Megawatts of power represents about three quarters of Gaza's electricity needs."

"This is Palestinian spin. No one has stopped the supply of electricity to the Strip," Zarfati told Ynet News. He claimed that his employees worked day and night in a power plant in Ashkelon, Israel while putting themselves in danger of being hit by Hamas Qassam rockets falling in the area.

The Gaza power plant only produces thirty percent of the electricity consumed in the Strip while Israel supplies the rest.

"It is simply offensive and arrogant for them to claim that there is shortage," Zarfati said.

"The situation is totally absurd. We're continuing to supply Gaza with electricity despite the (demand) overload for electricity in Israel and despite the fact that Israel residents and Electric Company workers that are being sent to Gaza Vicinity communities are under terror threat from Qassam (Kassam) rockets," Zarfati said.

Israel and other objective global media outlets report that despite the blackout in Gaza City, southern and central Gaza, which receive electricity from Israel and Egypt directly, were not affected by the shutdown.

Hamas manipulation of the media is evident in an AP story that reported "Children marched through dark streets holding candles, an angry Hamas TV announcer shouted at the camera "We are being killed, we are starving!"

"Once again, the mainstream media has wittingly or unwittingly fallen into the Hamas trap," states HonestReporting.com "By plunging Gaza into darkness, the Hamas terrorist organization has managed to shift the story away from its own responsibility for the Qassams and terror on Sderot, Israel. Instead, Israel's image is taking a beating for a perceived humanitarian crisis of Hamas's own making."

The people of the Gaza Strip have suffered from skyrocketing unemployment, poverty, lack of medicine, fuel, electricity, food and other essential commodities since Hamas took power in June 2007.

"We think Hamas got the message. As we have seen in the past couple of days, when they want to stop the rockets attacks on our children, they can," said the Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman, Arye Mekel.

Arabs Blame Hamas For Gaza Crisis

Abdel Rahman Rashed, a Saudi national serving as general manager of the pan-Arab Arabiya news channel, said Hamas was responsible for the suffering of some 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas committed a stupid act when it gave the Israelis an excuse to launch attacks in retaliation for a few antique rockets," Rashed wrote in the London-based daily Asharq Al- Awsat.

"Prior to that, Hamas committed a big crime against the Palestinian people by overthrowing the Palestinian Authority [in the Gaza Strip]. The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have suffered a lot because of Hamas's actions. Hamas is bringing Israel back into the Gaza Strip after it was liberated by the Palestinian groups."

Rashed questioned the wisdom of firing rockets and mortars at Israel which, he said, was only increasing the suffering of the Palestinians, let alone that they were not causing much harm to Israel. He pointed out that "only" 10 Israelis were wounded in the recent attacks as opposed to the "huge disaster" that has befallen the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Rashed is regarded by many Arab journalists as an unofficial spokesman for the Saudi royal family. He previously served as editor-in-chief of the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper and his writings regularly reflect the views of the Saudi establishment.

PA officials in Ramallah have joined the bandwagon by blaming Hamas for the looming humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The charges came only hours after the PA openly held Israel responsible for the fuel shortage that has plunged large parts of the Gaza Strip into darkness since Sunday night.

PA Information Minister Riad al-Malki said the latest crisis was the result of Hamas's "insistence on creating an Islamic republic in the Gaza Strip." He also accused Hamas of seeking to evade responsibility for the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip by blaming the Ramallah-based government of PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.

Both Fayad and al-Malki left Ramallah Monday for a tour of a number of EU countries aimed at solving the crisis in the Gaza Strip. According to PA officials, the two are expected to visit Britain, Germany and Spain.

A top PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas was "holding more than 1.5 million Palestinians hostage" in an attempt to rally the Arab and Muslim masses against the PA and Israel.

"Of course, we strongly condemn the Israeli measures against the residents of the Gaza Strip, but Hamas is also responsible for what's happening there," he said. "Unfortunately, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are paying a heavy price for Hamas's irresponsible actions."

The official also accused Hamas of ordering owners of bakeries to keep their businesses closed for the second day running to create a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. "Hamas is preventing people from buying bread," he said. "They want to deepen the crisis so as to serve their own interests."

The official said that contrary to Hamas's claims, there is enough fuel and flour to keep the bakeries in the Gaza Strip operating for another two months. "Hamas members have stolen most of the fuel in the Gaza Strip to fill their vehicles," he said.

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