Sorry it took me some time. I agree with your asessment. I did say Israel tried to do that, but it’s a hard problem. I didn’t want to elaborate on this point in the original comment since it felt off topic, so here goes:
TL;DR: Blockade is the baseline from which we try to improve, since Hamas are genocidal terrorists and use any aid to military needs. Under that constraint Israel has supplied water, food, electricity, and tried to build more generators and let palestinians work within its borders.
Some links will be in hebrew, sorry in advance. I’ll only use major newpapers, wikipedia or large think tanks.
First of all the background assumption is that Israel is trying to improve the situation in the stip within the constraint “a genocidal terror organization is in reign, and they’ll abuse any aid”. The original raional behind the Separation in 2005 was to let the Palestinian Authority control a relatively large piece of land with a port. All that went to hell after Hamas won the democratic elections in 2006, then killed all other political parties in 2007. Since then work visas from Gaza to Israel were stopped, and the blockade started.
Provide basic human needs such as electricity, even though the Palestinians don’t actually pay for it.
It is not much. However, keep in mind that everything that entered the strip was used for military needs first, and civilian second: cement for bunkers and offensive tunnels, iron for rockets (couldn’t find a good link, but they’re produced locally and the iron comes from somewhere), and sandbags for bunkers. And that’s the stuff we actually let through, not the military equipment they are constantly smuggling inside, some in civilian guise.
In conclusion: It’s hard. There are no good solutions. We are trying. It’s not optimal, or even the best we could concievably do, but nothing ever is. We are trying to manage our own potential genociders, backed by popular support. It’s an impossible situation, and everyone suffers, but we’re triying to make it better than baseline.
Sorry it took me some time.
I agree with your asessment. I did say Israel tried to do that, but it’s a hard problem. I didn’t want to elaborate on this point in the original comment since it felt off topic, so here goes:
TL;DR: Blockade is the baseline from which we try to improve, since Hamas are genocidal terrorists and use any aid to military needs. Under that constraint Israel has supplied water, food, electricity, and tried to build more generators and let palestinians work within its borders.
Some links will be in hebrew, sorry in advance. I’ll only use major newpapers, wikipedia or large think tanks.
First of all the background assumption is that Israel is trying to improve the situation in the stip within the constraint “a genocidal terror organization is in reign, and they’ll abuse any aid”. The original raional behind the Separation in 2005 was to let the Palestinian Authority control a relatively large piece of land with a port. All that went to hell after Hamas won the democratic elections in 2006, then killed all other political parties in 2007. Since then work visas from Gaza to Israel were stopped, and the blockade started.
Concrete steps are, for instance:
Letting money donations from Qatar into the strip, which was used to pay Hamas officials and pay for social needs
Providing work permits for 15,000 palestinians in the last years, with hopes of giving more in time. There are 150,000 palestinians workers in Israel from the west bank, 10% of its workforce. Gaza could (and have, before Hamas) have similar proportions.
Provide basic human needs such as electricity, even though the Palestinians don’t actually pay for it.
It is not much. However, keep in mind that everything that entered the strip was used for military needs first, and civilian second: cement for bunkers and offensive tunnels, iron for rockets (couldn’t find a good link, but they’re produced locally and the iron comes from somewhere), and sandbags for bunkers. And that’s the stuff we actually let through, not the military equipment they are constantly smuggling inside, some in civilian guise.
In conclusion: It’s hard. There are no good solutions. We are trying. It’s not optimal, or even the best we could concievably do, but nothing ever is. We are trying to manage our own potential genociders, backed by popular support. It’s an impossible situation, and everyone suffers, but we’re triying to make it better than baseline.