The reason given for the starving and freezing of one and a half million human beings, crowded into a territory of 365 square kilometers, is the continued shooting at the town of Sderot and the adjoining villages.

That is a well-chosen reason.
It unites the primitive and poor parts of the Israeli public.
It blunts the criticism of the UN and the governments throughout the world, who might otherwise have spoken out against a collective punishment that is, undoubtedly, a war crime under international law.

A clear picture is presented to the world: the Hamas 'terror regime' in Gaza launches missiles at innocent Israeli civilians. No government in the world can tolerate the bombardment of its citizens from across the border.
The Israeli military has not found a military answer to the Qassam missiles.
Therefore there is no other way than to exert such strong pressure on the Gaza population as to make them rise up against Hamas and compel them to stop the missiles.

The Israeli government decided to cause massive suffering of the civilian population in order to get them to pressure Hamas but the population unites behind Hamas and accuses Mahmoud Abbas of cooperation with the enemy.
A mother who has no food for her children does not curse Ismail Haniyeh, she curses Olmert, Abbas and Mubarak.

SO WHAT to do? After all, it is impossible to tolerate the suffering of the inhabitants of Sderot, who are under constant fire.

What is being hidden from the embittered public is that the launching of the Qassams could be stopped tomorrow morning.

Almosy a year ago Hamas proposed a cease-fire. It repeated the offer in January this year.

In order to make such a deal, we must speak with Hamas, directly or indirectly. And this is precisely what the government refuses to do.

In simple and blunt words: the government sacrifices the fate of the Sderot population on the altar of a hopeless principle. It is more important for the government to boycott Hamas - because it is now the spearhead of Palestinian resistance - than to put an end to the suffering of Sderot. All the media cooperate with this pretence.


The brutal blockade was a war crime. And worse: it was a stupid blunder


From the writing of Uri Avnery
a German-born Israeli journalist, left-wing peace activist, and former Knesset member, who was originally a member of the right-wing Revisionist Zionist movement.