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Gaza Blockade: BIzarre and disgraceful

That Gaza is under a blockade by the Israelis and in the grips of a siege is beyond question. It is said that Gaza, with it's 1.5 million people, is now one of the poorest areas in the world. The UN and other NGOs have described the situation of the Gazans as dire.

Now, BBC News has revealed the disgraceful conduct of the Israelis toward Gaza. If it weren't so very serious it could be seen a laughable:

"BBC News has seen documents, submitted to an Israeli Court, which give more detail than ever before about how and why Israel maintains its Gaza blockade.

In one document, Israel describes the import curbs as "a central pillar in the armed conflict with Hamas".

It also confirms estimates were made of how many calories Gazans need, but says these were not used for policy-making."

And:

"In January, Gisha, took the Israeli authorities to court, to try to force them to provide the information.

Gisha's director, Sari Bashi, says she is no security expert, "but preventing children from receiving toys, preventing manufacturers from getting raw materials - I don't see how that's responsive to Israeli security needs."

And she says that some of the prohibitions appear to be absurdly arbitrary: "I certainly don't understand why cinnamon is permitted, but coriander is forbidden. Is there something more dangerous about coriander? Is coriander more critical to Gaza's economy than cinnamon? This is a policy that appears to make no sense."

Read the piece, in full, here.

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