Monday, June 21, 2010

Israel Drops Blockade on Everything Except "Weapons"

Well, it looks like the flotilla worked:

Israel's government decided Sunday to draw up a list of items banned from Gaza limited to weapons and materials deemed to have military uses and said the easing of the three-year-old blockade of the Palestinian territory would be implemented immediately.

The list of banned goods replaces an old list of allowed items that permitted only basic humanitarian supplies for the 1.5 million Gazans. Under the new system, the government said practically all non-military items can enter Gaza freely.

"From now on, there is a green light of approval for all goods to enter Gaza except for military items and materials that can strengthen Hamas' military machine," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.
The CSM points out that there are still a lot of problems with this, but the fact remains that Israel's policy towards the Gazans was changed as a result of the flotilla. More than that, it was changed as a result of the international outcry that resulted.
So it would appear that the commando raid was an even more disastrous failure than originally anticipated. Not only did it lose Israel the goodwill of almost everybody outside of North America, it led to the Gazans being taken off their "diet".  One can only wonder what will happen next.

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