‘Apartheid’ Israel Continues to Help Gaza

Here is a story about the terrible things the “apartheid” state of Israel is doing to the people of Gaza.

According to the Jerusalem Post, a new machine supplied by Israel will allow the Gazans to shred scrap metal for export. A report on this machine is here: “New machine to double Palestinian export of scrap iron from Gaza,” by Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, February 22, 2022:

Palestinian exports of scrap iron from Gaza are slated to double now that a new iron-shredding machine, the second of its kind, has been placed at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

“Following work with many offices on both the Palestinian side and the Israeli side, the new iron-shredding machine has begun operating,” said the head of Israel’s Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration’s Economic Department Aviv Hindi.

“This addition will make possible a doubling of iron scrap exports from the Gaza Strip, will give employment to many Gazan residents, and will provide for the economic welfare of many families,” he said.

Could it be that the Israelis actually wish the people of Gaza to thrive?  Not according to Amnesty International. But the reality is very different from what Agnes Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty, and Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Senior Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East, want you to believe.  

By presenting the Palestinians in Gaza with this scrap metal shredder, the  product of Israeli ingenuity, Israel makes it possible for the Gazans to clean up their environment – those unsightly and dangerous  mountains of scrap metal, mainly consisting of rusting car hulks, that have been piling up for decades, and to turn that metal into money: close to ten million dollars a year from the sale of 72,000 tons of shredded iron. Furthermore, the use of this scrap metal machine will also give employment to thousands of Gazans who, with a 49% unemployment rate in the Strip, are desperate for jobs.  

“It is all part of a civilian policy that we have recently been advancing, on the understanding that civil stability leads to stable security.”

Each machine has a monthly output of some 6,000 tons of iron, allowing for a monthly profit of more than NIS 2.5 million –$775,000 USD– per machine.

This means that by supplying this machine, Israel  is bringing nearly 10 million dollars a year to the economy of Gaza, whose leaders still swear they will destroy Israel.

Israel has also raised the number of Gazans allowed into Israel to work or do business. Instead of 2,000 Gazan merchants allowed in, 7,000 will now be permitted. The number of workers allowed in has also been increased, from 7,000 to 10,000. Gazans are clamoring to work in Israel, where they can earn as much in a day as they do in a week at home; furthermore, workplace conditions are much better in Israel, where the state heavily regulates employers, while in Gaza, the employer has a free hand to mistreat his workers. There is now talk of tripling the quota of Gazans working in Israel to 30,000 to further benefit the Gazan economy. This would be a godsend to the 49% of Gazans who are now unemployed.

Israeli policy toward Gaza is to stabilize the economy, and keep it from disintegrating further. To this end, Israel will remove as many restrictions as it can, consonant with Israel’s security. It’s not only helping Gazans to shred scrap metal then made suitable for sale, but in recent months Israel has greatly expanded the fishing zone open to Gazan fisherman, and removed the blockade on some dual-use products, including steel, Portland cement, gravel, gypsum boards and granite, among other materials. And it has raised the quota considerably for Palestinian businessmen, from 2,000 to 7,000, and for workers, from 7,000 to 10,000, who can now work in Israel.

Before a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000, some 130,000 Gazans worked in Israel. The Gazans naturally are hoping that eventually, similar numbers might again be admitted to work in Israel. It will depend, of course, on how the newest workers behave in Israel; any terror attacks by those let in will naturally trigger a decrease in their number.  

Israeli liaison officer Colonel Moshe Tetro said the new jobs would improve Gaza’s economy and “would also serve calm and security stability”.

Eassam Daalis, a senior Hamas official, said Israel was eventually expected to offer 30,000 work permits, which economists say could allow workers to earn an average of 500 shekels ($156) a day, equivalent to what some can earn a week working in Gaza.

That day’s wages of $156 USD would be considered good earnings even in the U.S. In Gaza, it’s the equivalent of a week’s wages. Gazans working in Israel count themselves lucky.

It’s [the increase in Gazans working in Israel] part of a number of steps to ease Gaza restrictions taken by the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, headed by Maj.-Gen. Rassan Alian….

Major General Rassan Alian, by the way, is not Jewish. He is Druze.

Where is the Israeli malevolence in all this? Where is the apartheid?