"Israel’s former national security advisor and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies, Yaakov Amidror, said that the people around the world condemning the violence need to understand this isn’t like a protest in Europe.
“They do not take into consideration that this is a cover for a terrorist organization that is attempting to stop Israel from building a system that would stop their underground terror tunnels,” he said.
Asked if Israel could use less lethal methods to contain the protesters, most of whom were unarmed, Amidror said that such a question was a good example of those who “can sit in an air-conditioned office, drinking coffee and give advice to the Israeli army that is facing off against many thousands of Palestinians.”
Tens of thousands of Palestinians had gathered on the edges of the fenced-off and blockaded territory from midmorning Monday. Many came to peacefully demonstrate, bringing their children and carrying flags. Food stalls sold snacks and music blared. " Washpost
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Well, pilgrims, what happened at Gaza yesterday was an attempted jail break, an effort to escape from the world's largest outdoor prison.
When I lived abroad for so long, people would occasionally say things to me that indicated they believed that American Indians were required to live on Reservations in the US. They are not, but Gaza is a reservation in which the inmates are ringed by walls of sand atop which are positioned Israeli teenagers armed with "military style rifles" who have permission to shoot anyone who looks like trouble or who might be a leader in the attempted escape.
To understand the desperation of the Gazans, it helps to have actually visited this overgrown slum town, a ramshackle jungle of pot-holed streets. The Israelis have tried hard to stunt the economic growth of the city through refusal to allow imports, and placing obstacles in the path of development projects like the port, the airport and a casino resort. Ironically, a retired IDF intelligence officer of my acquaintance had the security contracts for these projects but Israeli national policy kept them from being built.
The Israeli-Palestinian struggle is a tribal war, a struggle for the same narrow strip of land between two peoples who hate each other. In this struggle The Israelis have the US on their side and the Palestinians have the Islamic World.
There is no end in sight. pl
