Israel`s Contribution to Palestinian Healthcare in 2013.

(With thanks to Charles Abelson of TbT – Truth be Told)

Quick Overview:

Since 1967, when Israel captured the areas of Judea and Samaria, Palestinian infant mortality has been reduced from approximately 100/1,000 to 13.49/1,000. Gaza: 15.46. Life expectancy has risen by about 10 years.

1)  Life Expectancy

a)    Judea, Samaria 75.69 years

b)    Gaza 74.64

c)    Jordan 74.10 years

d)    Egypt 73.45 years.

e)    Turkey 73.29 years.

f)     Israel 82.1 years (higher than USA)

2) Mortality Rate

Palestinian Territory’s low rate of Infant mortality also belies any accusation of "genocide".

Infant mortality rate compares the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year, and is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country

Both the West Bank and Gaza have a lower rate of infant mortality (13.49 and 15.46) than Egypt. (22.41 deaths per thousand births), Syria (15.79), Jordan (15.73) and Turkey (21.43).

In spite of all evidence to the contrary, the enemies of Israel and the enemies of truth continue to bandy about spurious accusations of "genocide".

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

2013 Judea, Samaria:

Health Permits: Israel permits the transfer of Palestinian patients for treatment in Israel whenever required due to inadequacies in the Palestinian health system. The number of medical permits issued were (previous years also stated):

2011:   197,713

2012:   210,469

2013:   225,410

Due diligence: for each patient, one permit was issued for a family member accompanying the patient. Thus for 2013 there were about 110,000 patients (over 400 each weekday) and about 120,000 permits for family members.  

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

Emergency transfers:

In emergency situations the rapid transfer of patients in dire need of advanced medical treatment to be examined in Israeli hospitals is permitted.

In 2013 the number of emergency medical evacuations rose, with Israel providing 2,207 evacuations by ambulance (up from 600 in 2012) and 11 medical evacuations by helicopter (up from 10 in 2012).

Israel also arranged for the overseas treatment of five Palestinians whose medical needs were unable to be met in Israel.

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

Children:

The number of Palestinian children from the West Bank who received medical treatment in Israel in 2013 stood at 40,000, an increase from the previous year's 21,270.

Israel was responsible for the coordination and funding of 10 "fun days" for 250 Palestinian children, who were also joined by members of their families.

Israel spent more than a million NIS to provide various treatments for dozens of Palestinian children hailing from families unable to afford the necessary medical bills (probably unable to afford Palestinian health insurance payments).

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

He who saves a life saves the world. The story of one Palestinian child, Yakub Bachziat, 16, Bethlehem

Yakub was born at Sharei Tzedek Hospital (Jerusalem) in Israel and was immediately diagnosed with acute kidney failure. His condition led to several other medical problems, and he had to undergo several treatments in the hospital. None of his family members were compatible donors, so the family, completely despondent, turned to Dalia Basa, the Israeli Health Coordinator with the Palestinian Health Authority for help. Three days after Dalia met with the child, a donor was found: a deceased Israeli child whose parents had agreed to donate his kidneys. Immediately, Yakub was transferred to Schneider Medical Center (Petach Tikva) for the life-saving transplant. The operation and medical expenses at Schneider were covered by Israel, at the cost of 200,030 NIS. Since the surgery Yakub has maintained perfect health.

Training

Israel promotes the development of the Palestinian health system through several different programs and training.

 In 2013, 2,314 Palestinian doctors, nurses, and other medical health care professionals attended 159 courses, conventions and programs that Israel hosted.

Israel provides a special program for training physicians, nurses and technicians at Israeli hospitals, for  the sake of operating hospitals in Judea and Samaria, and to improve the Palestinian health system.

Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital (Jerusalem) trains 60 Palestinian interns who are replaced every year. Also, technicians and nurses from the Bet Jala Hospital (Palestinian Authority) are trained in cancer treatment, while a program operates out of Augusta Victoria Hospital regarding diagnostic medicine.

During May 2013, the Palestinian Minister of Health, Dr. Hanni Abadin, paid an unprecedented visit to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. Dr. Abadin thanked Hadassah for the opportunity to visit and for its services, visited Arab children hospitalized at Hadassah and gave them gifts.

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

2013 Gaza:

Health: Erez Crossing (People)

The Erez crossing is open between the hours of 08:00-16:00 Sunday through Thursday, and 08:00-14:00 on Fridays. However, it is staffed 24/7 in the event of emergency.

Medical Permits for Gaza Palestinians

In cases of dire need, Israel permits the entrance of patients in need of medical treatment in Israel. Medical Evacuations- High priority is given to the processing of medical requests. The services requested by those who received permits to enter Israel included hospitalizations, long-term treatment, and short-term emergency medical care. In 2012  there were 9946 cases

In 2013, 13,734 permits for healthcare in Israel were granted, of these - 4,519 were in need of specialized medical transport, which was provided for them.

Despite frequent claims that Israel turns away ambulances carrying people in desperate need of medical services, in 2013, out of the 1,189 ambulances which requested permits, 1,188 received them, and only one was refused.

Amongst the Gazan residents treated in Israel were the sister and granddaughter of Hamas`s leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

Health: Kerem Shalom (trucks)

In 2013, Israel coordinated the entrance of 2,311 truckloads of medical supplies, carrying thousands of tons of medical equipment into the Strip. Included in these shipments were large amounts of polio vaccines, as periodic tests turned up positive for poliovirus in the area. In order to ensure the health of residents in Gaza, Israel took special measures to ensure sufficient shipment of the needed vaccine.

Massacre? Genocide? “Do not care”? You decide.

How did Hamas make payment for these healthcare services? In 2013, a relatively quiet year, there were only 41 rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Hamas: Give Us West Bank So We Can Destroy Israel

 Khaled Abu Toameh  September 7, 2014

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4676/hamas-west-bank

What Hamas and Iran are saying is that if and when Israel pulls back to the pre-1967 lines, they, together with other Palestinians, would bring weapons into the West Bank to achieve their goal of eliminating the "Zionist entity."

Abbas's initiative also ignores that Hamas could easily seize control of the West Bank through force or through the promised free and democratic elections, which recent polls show Hamas is assured of winning. Abbas is demanding something that would bring about his own demise.

If the West Bank had one quarter of the weapons that the Gaza Strip has, Israel would be eliminated in one day. This is what Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told worshippers during a sermon he delivered on September 5.

Zahar, who delivered his first sermon since the Egypt-brokered cease-fire between Hamas and Israel was announced in late August: he chose to remind Palestinians and the rest of the world of his movement's dream to destroy Israel.

"If only the West Bank had one quarter of what Gaza has of resistance tools, the Israeli entity would end in one day," Zahar declared, reiterating the claim that Hamas had scored a "big victory" in the war.

The Hamas leader went on to criticize those who still have doubts as to whether Israel could be destroyed.

"Those who were skeptical as to whether Palestine could be liberated are no longer doubtful after the enemy was hit from the Gaza Strip," Zahar said. "Can you imagine what would happen if the enemy is targeted from the West Bank, which makes up 20% of the size of Palestine?"

Zahar's wish to see the West Bank flooded with rockets and mortars and other "tools of resistance" was echoed by other Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and spokesmen after the recent war in the Gaza Strip.

Zahar himself was quoted recently as saying that Hamas's goal now was to "move the Gaza example of resistance" to the West Bank.

Even the Iranians seem to think that the time has come to turn the West Bank into a launching pad for attacks on Israel.

During the war in the Gaza Strip, a senior Iranian commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohamed Reza Naqdi, announced that Tehran had plans to "arm Palestinians in the West Bank" in order to destroy Israel.

Naqdi boasted that the weapons used by Hamas and other Palestinian groups during the recent war had been manufactured and supplied by Iran.

The threats by Hamas and Iran regarding the West Bank show why it is critically important for Israel (and the Palestinian Authority) to insist on the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip as part of any long-term cease-fire agreement.

Even more significantly, these threats underline the need to keep the West Bank a demilitarized area in any future peace agreement, especially one that would see the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.

Moreover, these threats support Israel's insistence on maintaining permanent security control over the border with Jordan. Without such a presence, Iranian-made weapons would easily find their way into the West Bank.

What Hamas and Iran are saying is that if and when Israel pulls back to the pre-1967 lines, they, together with other Palestinians, would bring weapons into the West Bank to achieve their goal of eliminating the "Zionist entity."

Zahar does not even believe that there is a need for large amounts of weapons – just one fourth of what Hamas and Islamic Jihad already have in the Gaza Strip are sufficient, in his eyes, to destroy Israel in one day.

In the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge, it is not difficult to understand why flooding the West Bank with weapons poses an existential threat to Israel.

But this is also something that would wreak havoc on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Fortunately, Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority are fully aware of attempts by Iran and Hamas to turn the West Bank into a base for terrorism and jihadis.

Thanks to Israel, they are also aware of Hamas's effort to topple the Palestinian Authority and replace it with an Islamist government.

Last month, Israel announced the arrest of more than 90 West Bank Hamas members who planned to stage a coup against Abbas and renew terror attacks against Israelis. Were it not for Israel's effort, Abbas and his top officials would have been either killed or imprisoned by Hamas.

That episode explains why Abbas has now ordered a massive crackdown on Hamas members 

and supporters in the West Bank. During the Gaza war, Abbas refrained from such measures against his Hamas rivals out of fear of being accused of "collaboration" with Israel.

Since the cease-fire went into effect, Abbas's security forces in the West Bank have detained more than 80 Hamas men. They have also stopped Hamas-affiliated preachers from delivering sermons during Friday prayers.

Abbas will be able to rein in Hamas in the West Bank only if he pursues security coordination with Israel.

However, it would be unrealistic to expect Abbas or any Palestinian government to disarm Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas and the Palestinian Authority would not be able to survive for one day in the West Bank without the presence of the IDF, especially given Hamas's rising popularity among Palestinians in the aftermath of the war.

Last week, Abbas sent two senior officials, Saeb Erekat and Majed Faraj, to Washington to present his "new peace initiative" to Secretary of State John Kerry.

Abbas's initiative envisages the establishment of a Palestinian state within three years either through negotiations or by having the UN Security Council impose a solution on Israel.

Abbas's initiative, however, ignores the threat from Hamas and Iran to use the West Bank as a launching pad for destroying Israel. It also ignores that Hamas could easily seize control over a future Palestinian state by force or through the promised free and democratic elections, as assured by a recent public opinion poll published by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

Abbas is demanding a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines (including the border with Jordan). But he cannot offer any assurances that Hamas and Iran would not use this border to smuggle weapons into the West Bank.

In fact, Abbas is demanding from the Israelis and Americans something that would bring about his own demise. His only option for now is to hold onto power in the West Bank and continue to work with Israel against the common enemy – Hamas. The day Hamas agrees to lay down its weapons and abandon its dream of destroying Israel, he will then be able to go to the U.S. and Security Council and ask for an independent state next to Israel.

Update on the Condition of West Bank Christians

Howard Stern  December 2013

This report was compiled during a visit to Bethlehem in December 2013. Howard is co-founder of the Emmaus Group and an internationally accredited negotiator and mediator in conflict resolution.

Overview:

Since my last visit in 2012 there have been some notable changes. An overwhelming sense of fear and anticipation now pervades the Christian community, fuelled by their belief there is little they can do to change anything. They are now a minority representing just 4.8% of the population living among a Moslem majority of 95.2%, with a fragile constitution built on Sharia that affords them less rights or equality. It would be unfair to say they have given up hope, but there is a growing sense of hopelessness.

Palestinian society as a whole seems to be deteriorating with increasing levels of debt, violence, discrimination and lack of interest in even trying to explore ways forward with the Israel. Many are just too tired and weary.

Fear:

Fear was present in most conversations as was anger. There is deep frustration with the Palestinian Authority who, in their opinion, has failed them completely. Basic infrastructures are absent or of poor quality with no credible law and order, health service, social services or education.

This is despite the vast amounts of aid flowing in over twenty years.

While I was there, three days of shootings occurred with gunfights in the street at night, and a police officer killed. Hospitals and medical facilities are avoided for fear of catching disease and government schools are seen as incubators of radicalism.

It is unsafe for Christian women to walk in parts of some cities and although not a new

phenomenon, the areas in which women will now not walk has widened. Kidnapping is a

growing concern, exacerbated by the very recent attempt to take two young female Christian schoolteachers on their way to work. Christian schoolchildren will not travel in taxis unless the driver is a Christian and known personally to the family.

“Israel is holding us together, otherwise radical Islamists groups like Hamas would have taken us

Read complete report:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwqYts6ZHWS6aWhHYmQ5X09tRzQ4NXlWNS1PaXBOX0o0TTln/edit?pli=1

A weekend in the West Bank

I wonder if John Kerry has ever talked to the Palestinian man in the street??

Jerusalem Post  SETH CLARE 01/27/20

http://tinyurl.com/ndo457x

This past weekend I visited the West Bank (or if you prefer, Judea and Samaria) through my participation in the Israel Government Fellows program run by the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. For two days, the Israel Government Fellows enjoyed informative meetings with Palestinian Arabs and Jewish settlers. We visited Hebron, Efrat, Shilo and Eli. To add some perspective, few believe that Efrat wouldn’t be annexed to Israel in a two-state solution. Eli, in contrast, is a very controversial settlement. While I learned much, this sojourn reminded me how easy it can be to make assumptions when looking at the Arab-Israeli conflict as an outsider.

One Palestinian we met in the West Bank works as a field agent for B’Tselem-the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. He was born in a refugee camp and has spent time in Israeli prison. Nevertheless, he confided in us that he was terrified of what form a Palestinian state in the West Bank might take. He implored us to look around at the rest of the Arab World.

In terms of government, how would sovereignty impact the West Bank’s current reasonably transparent democratic elections? Is it so hard to believe that a truly autonomous government in the West Bank won’t quickly turn autocratic? Few in Gaza can safely and publicly decry Hamas and even under occupation, one could plausibly argue that West Bank Palestinians currently enjoy greater access to protest than say, Arabs living in the newly formed regimes of Egypt or Tunisia.

Compared to their counterparts in the rest of the Arab World, Palestinian women are among the best educated. Though women may not be able to drive in Saudi Arabia, Palestinian women are making a splash in headlines as the first Arab women in the world to race on the international motorsport circuit. While Palestinian women are leagues ahead of their counterparts from other Arab countries in terms of gender equality, it’s anybody’s guess what turn this trend would take in a future Palestinian state.

Economically, the picture is also uncertain. Consider that in recent years, despite the intense monitoring by the NGOs and governments which pump foreign aid into the West Bank, most Palestinians are very pessimistic about the corruption and nepotism which permeates the PLO, and its management of the economy. Interestingly, according to a 2011 World Bank report, Palestinians actually perceive greater levels of corruption than actually exist. The question is once a truly independent state emerges in the West Bank, will this acute perception of corruption become more or less justified? I am certainly not arguing that Israel does a better job governing Palestinians than the Palestinians could do themselves. All peoples have a right to self-determination.

I only wish to share my realization that not all Palestinians would be equally thrilled if Israel withdrew from the West Bank tomorrow, or even at the conclusion of a successful peace agreement.

I don’t doubt that Palestinians find Israel’s presence in the West Bank brutal or repressive, but they also have no illusions about the shortcomings of their own leadership.

I am not writing this to push a political agenda. In fact, I believe a two-state solution is in Israel’s best interest. My point is that before my foray into the West Bank, I had been under the assumption that all Palestinians were hoping to have a state of their own as soon as possible.

Most Western news outlets certainly make it seem that way.

When Jewish settlers in the West Bank told me that Palestinians don’t really want their own state, I balked. Who wouldn’t? But hearing the same story from a Palestinian claiming to speak for many of his Arab peers who (for the time being) are content with the status quo was powerful stuff.

I am still unsure of what to make of the whole experience but I am reminded that when it comes to the Middle East, assumptions, particularly from Westerners, have no constructive role in conflict resolution.

If a majority of both Palestinians and Israelis are more or less content with things as they are now, finding a solution to this conflict seems an unlikely prospect as ever. To make real progress, the world will need some of its most brilliant minds put to the task and I encourage anybody reading this to ask the difficult questions and get involved.

However, I would advise you to leave your assumptions at the door and be prepared to have your point of view shaped not by mainstream media, but the people who live and breathe the conflict daily.

Don’t hear. Listen. You, like me, might just be surprised by what you learn.

Even Palestinians Oppose EU Declaration

Now even the Palestinians are fighting back against the decision by the European Union to boycott any Israeli businesses with a presence in the so-called "occupied territories."

A senior Palestinian Authority official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Israeli media that the European decision was not all that popular in Ramallah, despite ostensibly being made in service to the Palestinian nationalist cause.

"We have a number of officials at the European Union who are trying to reverse the decision," the unnamed source said.

The new directive, which forbids nations in the euro zone from doing business with "Jewish settlers," will not only weaken those Israeli companies, but will have a major negative impact on the Palestinian economy, as many thousands of Palestinian Arabs work for those very same companies.

Expressing the concerns of many, Sammer Darawsha, a Palestinian employee of at a Jewish-owned greenhouse near the settlement of Halamish, said, "The decision affects everyone, whether Jew or Arab. If they (the EU) take away our livelihood, what kind of peace will then prevail here?"

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23997/Default.aspx?hp=article_title 

The Palestinians clearly realise that the 10’s of thousands of jobs are in jeopardy because of the EU action, jobs both in Israel within the armistice line and in Judea and Samaria, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo1pUjQHj_I.

The Massive Gap between Private Pragmatism and Public Rejectionism in Palestinian Society

From our friends at Beyond Images www.beyondimages.info comes an excellent analysis of the Palestinian society at large in relation to its preparedness for a peace agreement with Israel

According to the Palestine Papers, PA negotiators were privately willing to accept that Jewish suburbs of Jerusalem (apart from Maale Adumim) could stay in place as part of a two-state solution.

Yet, to the world at large, those self-same negotiators and their supporters worldwide ceaselessly condemn those suburbs as "illegal settlements in occupied Arab East Jerusalem".

According to the Palestine Papers, PA negotiators privately explored only very limited 'rights of return' for Palestinian refugees into Israel. Yet, to the world at large, those self-same Palestinian negotiators ceaselessly proclaim the 'right of return' of all Palestinian people into Israel under UN Resolution 194 and are not willing to consider any compromise on this "inalienable right".

The fact that Palestinian negotiators were privately willing to consider compromise solutions in these areas is not news. To people who have followed the negotiations closely, this has been known for 10 years. But the Palestine Papers reveal the massive gap between private pragmatism and public rejectionism in Palestinian society.

Palestinian negotiators who considered those compromises are frantically denying having made them. They are claiming that they have been falsely accused by al-Jazeera. And they are claiming that they strongly uphold Palestinian rights, and the papers have been tampered with, or taken completely out of context.

Many commentators argue that the Palestine Papers show that the Israelis have a partner for peace. This is too simplistic. All they show is that in private, some 'moderate' Palestinians have begun to realise they must be pragmatic, not ideological. But what they really show is that Palestinian society has not publicly begun to absorb or internalise the changes which will be needed for practical coexistence.

Herb Keinon, diplomatic editor of the Jerusalem Post, points out that the Palestinian reaction "on the street" in the West Bank has been muted (Jerusalem Post, Friday 28 January). He sees this as a glimmer of hope - maybe the people out of sheer weariness with conflict, realise that the behind-the-scenes compromises their negotiators explored are indeed the only way forward. But this is a glimmer of hope, at best.

Key message: Palestinians may be weary of conflict. But they are not ready for the changes in public attitude which will be needed to for a two-state solution to become a reality. Private pragmatism needs to become publicly mainstream for peace to have any chance at all.

No Room for Israelis in a Palestinian State

So finally Abu Mazen has come out clearly and said it "No room for Israelis in Palestinian state ", see http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=200935. He is giving his message loud and clear but do the world leaders even listen to what he says? Absolutely NOT!! And Abu Mazen is "supposed" to be our "peace" partner. Is anybody of any authority out there in the wide world really taking in what
a) the Palestinian leaders are saying in English and in Arabic
b) the Imams are preaching in their mosques week in, week out
c) is appearing on the Palestinian TV for children
d) is being taught in the schools, kindergartens and universities

A Christian supporter of Israel writes the following:-

How in the world can you be so foolish and self defeating, dear Mr. Abbas (Mr. Abu Mazen), to go on record stating that, once you succeed - as you are ceaselessly striving to do - to have the land you are after turned into a Muslim dominated Palestinian state, you will not permit one Israeli man, woman or child to remain living in what once was the very biblical heartland of the Jewish people?

Don't you realize that, by making such a stupid remark, you have let all Israelis know - if they didn't already -that you are not really interested in living in true peace with them; that you are only using the so-called peace process to arrive at your "Judenrein" State of Palestine - a state which, by its very anti-Zionist nature, will become a well-placed stepping stone for the entire fanaticized Muslim World from Iran to the Sudan to use to achieve the ultimate goal of most Muslims and Palestinians: the final eradication of the sovereign Jewish democratic state from your midst?

What if Israel's prime minister were to announce to the world that the price for a two state solution is that all Arabs now living under the sovereignty of the State of Israel need to leave and be made citizens of your to-be-formed Palestinian state? How would you react, and how would the world react to such an announcement, which would mirror completely the one you just dared make concerning the Jews who now live in their own historic land?

With your reprehensible declaration you have foolishly (for you) proclaimed the end of all peace negotiations, even with many among the Israelis who were duped into believing your intentions! Now we know. All you want to use the Europeans (and I am a European) and Americans for is to pressure little Israel into undoing what your Arab friends themselves brought about by their announced wish, as voiced by Abdul Nasser, to drive the Jewish people into the sea. Remember, it was in this war of Israeli self-defense that Jordan lost the so-called 'West Bank'.

For many Israelis this land - illegally occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 - was part of their ancestral land. By joining Egypt at the outbreak of the Six Day War (against the appeal of the Israeli government, "please do not do so") Jordan lost the territory to the people who, by divine decree, once owned it.

And now you, Mr. Abu Mazan, dare to say that, while the Arabs can live in Jaffa, in Haifa and all over Israel, Israelis who live in their Hebron, in their Shiloh, in their Beth El, in their Samaria cannot live among you - not even one - when it becomes a Palestinian state?

Borders? What Borders?

So the South American countries want to recognise "Palestine within the 1967 borders" - right. totally wrong. There have NEVER been defined borders separating Judea and Samaria from the State of Israel - no NEVER

The Palestinian leadership is fixated on attempting to press foreign governments and the UN to recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state within the "1967 borders."

Such borders do not exist and have no basis in history, law, or fact. The only line that ever existed was the 1949 armistice demarcation line, based on the ceasefire lines of the Israeli and Arab armies pending agreement on permanent peace. The 1949 armistice agreements specifically stated that such lines have no political or legal significance and do not prejudice future negotiations on boundaries.

For a fully researched document with all the sources, see
http://tinyurl.com/2e2ko54

180,000 Palestinians Treated in Israeli Hospitals This Year

Thanks to efficient cooperation between the Israeli and the Palestinian sides, tens of thousands of Palestinians patients benefit from treatments in Israeli hospitals each year Humanitarian dilemmas are a recurring issue in the Judea and Samaria region. A terrorist fires at IDF soldiers, is shot and gets wounded. Is an IDF medic to be called to treat him? A building is about to collapse in the heart of Ramallah. Does the IDF enter? Does it jeopardize its soldiers’ lives, or does it call the International Red Cross and risk losing precious time?

To Israel, the answer to these questions is clear. According to its Division Medical Officer “The treatment of the Palestinian population is first and foremost a moral and professional obligation for every one of us. Do we treat them? There is no question about it. But what happens in the long run and how? Where do international organizations fit in? How will an independent Palestinian medical body be established and how does coordination between bodies happen in life? These are the real questions.”

“Up until September 2000, a Ramallah resident could have taken his car and driven to a hospital in Israel, but from September 2000 there has been a state of terror. Hundreds were killed, Jews and Palestinians alike. The battles took place in the heart of the cities, in places where enemies stood side by side with civilians, with difficult conditions and limited ability to evacuate. It was not possible to practice medicine beyond the minimum. In those days, the situation was on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.”

But today, he says, the situation is different. Thanks to many efforts on both sides, stability has been restored. “The political leadership is able to make decisions not in the context of buses exploding. And now, along with direct military activity – patrolling, arrests, crossings – a new kind of routine has started. Medicine is an integral part of it. In today’s reality, it is an obligation to do a lot more than the minimum. The addressing of the situation should be as wide ranging as possible,”

“The Palestinian security system is composed of two centers: that of the Palestinian government and that of international organizations. It is unclear whether it could function if it was based on just one. In the sector, 25 hospitals from the Health Ministry and 30 hospitals from various organizations are operated. Along with patients treated in these hospitals, there are many people who can only be treated in hospitals outside the sector, starting with those located in East Jerusalem.”

The major challenge for medical service is accessibility.. As the Division Commander said, the days when one could drive freely to an Israeli hospital are over. “We face difficulties in transferring patients, personnel and medical equipment. In too many cases moving freely is not possible. But despite these difficulties, there are also many successes.” He cites as an example of patients coming from Gaza, treated in Jerusalem sometimes over a period of three to four months. They receive a special permit from the director allowing them to stay in Israel so they won’t have to go back and forth and are housed in a special hotel in the Mount of Olives. “All these things are ultimately coordinated by the Israeli Civil Administration.”

The medical coordinator of the Civil Adminstration. is the link to everyone who deals with medicine in the territories. In today’s lectures, her name has been mentioned repeatedly, always with respect. In an interview she says pleasantly, “A bond of mutual trust has been created between us. I always tell them the truth. When the Palestinians don’t do what they’re required, I don’t ignore their behavior; but with that, I will always listen. I hear them. I understand their problems.”

The work is twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There will always be medical incidents. Health is not something one can impose a curfew on or demand to freeze. “I am available around the clock. Even on Shabbat, even at 3 a.m. if needed. There is a constant contact between me and the doctors on both sides, the ambulance drivers and the patients themselves.”

And, unbelievable though it may sound, because of desire and will, it is working. Last year, 180,000 Palestinian citizens entered Israel to receive treatment. 3,000 emergency patients were transferred from Israeli to Palestinian ambulances using the “back to back” method, without warning. “Ultimately,” said the coordinator, “this is a rewarding experience. There is frustration, of course there is. But on the other hand, there are people who see me on the street or in hospitals, hear my name and say ‘You saved my son’s life’. When you get home in the end of the day and examine your life, you know that you saved lives. You know you did a lot of good.”

And the Terror Attacks Continue

Although the month of October showed a significant decline in the number of attacks: 44 attacks as opposed to 88 attacks in September, that is still more than 1 per day. Following are some of the statistics but let's realise that there is a steady consistancy of attacks. One can never know when or where attacks are likely to occur and thus it is amazing that trauma and stress levels do not seem to be increasing. Can you, dear reader, imagine living in this type of environment? It certainly does not seem to bother the international human rights network.

The decrease in the number of attacks is prominent in the area of Jerusalem (6 attacks as opposed to 31 in September) and the Gaza Strip (18 as opposed to 38 in September). The Judea and Samaria area maintains a similar number of attacks (20 compared to 19 in September).

With regard to casualties in terror attacks, there were no fatalities in October, much like in September, except for one Israeli (a security officer) who was injured (October 14) as a result of a firebomb in Jerusalem, contrary to September which resulted in 6 Israeli casualties.


The Judea and Samaria area and Jerusalem where most of the attacks (25 out of 26) were in the form of Molotov cocktail throwing (43 out of 50 in September).

Following is a profile distribution of attacks in October according to regions:

The Gaza Strip – 18 attacks (38 in September): 3 rocket launchings, 10 mortar shell launchings, 4 small arms shootings, and 1 AT launching.

Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 26 attacks (50 in September): 1 small arms shooting, 25 Molotov cocktail throwing (6 in Jerusalem).

High-trajectory launchings from the Gaza Strip
Throughout October 2010, 3 rockets and 20 mortar shells were launched towards Israel (in 13 attacks) - 1 every 2/3 days - compared to 16 rockets and 23 mortar shells in September (in 30 attacks).

Do Journalists Have A "Great Pub" in the Sky?

It has often been said the journalists today are not interested in investigative journalism since their stories have to meet deadlines. Many times the stories are written to a pre determined agenda which bears no relation to reality.

This is clearly evident when a person's actual experiences in Israel are written about and many self styled "experts" cannot accept the version as it conflicts with their agenda and thus, they resort to name bashing and hysterical outbursts.

A classic example of this can be seen at http://www.tribune.ie/article/2010/aug/08/people-see-me-as-a-terrorist/#c14296

Michael Totten is a reader-funded foreign correspondent and foreign policy analyst who has reported from the Middle East, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. He is now in Israel after a stint in Lebanon and reported on a meeting he had over coffee.

The whole interview can be read at http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/2010/08/04/the-greatest-collection-of-nightmares-on-earth/ but what is important is that when he asked his Israeli companion what’s it like to read about Israel in the foreign press? The reply was "Surreal".

When asked to expand on this comment, the respondent replied that "It rarely bears any resemblance to the country I live in, mainly because it either deals only with the conflict or because the news is produced by people who live in the English-speaking Jerusalem bubble."

"There’s a large population of English speakers in Jerusalem. The people who speak English tend to gather around each other, especially if they’re in the higher reaches of government or the media. They tend to hang out with other English-speaking people. They go to the places where such people congregate, they read English-language newspapers, and they watch English-language television. They have very little contact with the rest of Israel, which is predominantly Hebrew-speaking."

"Tel Aviv is quite cosmopolitan, but if you go to the development towns in the south or to the towns in the north and in the Galilee, there are Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking populations there. Journalists have almost no contact with this world. What they portray as Israeli is a corner of a corner of a corner of this country."

"It is clear that journalists hang out with each other and with other foreigners. This affects their opinions, it affects their view of the world, and it affects how they write about it."

Even today we in Israel are suffering the effects of the Mohammad Al Dura case (the young boy "apparently shot" by Israeli soldiers. Yet 7 years after the event we know with absolute certainty that the young boy in the film was not killed and the body buried under the name of Mohammad Al Dura was NOT Mohammad Al Dura.

Thus we continue to suffer from the poor quality of reporting. A reader found THE SAME PICTURE with two different captions from TWO DIFFERENT locations. One picture was defined as "A Lebanese father holding his child" dated Dec 25th 2009 (taken from google images) It accompanies a poem called ‘A Soldier’s Christmas Poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’

And the SAME photo (maybe his twin brother!!) in Iraq holding a "twin" child March 25th 2010 also taken from google images. Here the article with it is entitled ‘The Scent of weakness’ from True Journalism.

Sick, sick, sick. where are the true professionals? In the great pub in the sky?

Gaza to Get more Aid

So Gaza is to get even more aid to a level far beyond today's level which is already 10 times greater than any other people in the world. Greater than Africa than has so many genuinely starving people.

The new Israeli government policy is going to allow everything except those materials associated with re-arming the Hamas terrorists.

And having persuaded the do-gooders around the world that this is justified, what do we see hear the leaders saying?

In an interview with the Egyptian opposition newspaper Al-Wafd on June 23, 2010, co-founder and leader of Hamas Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said that Hamas advocates the liberation of all Palestine, from the Lebanon border to Rafah and from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. He said that Hamas' consent to a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders is part of a phased plan, the first phase of which is to liberate the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – and that Fatah believes, in contrast, that this is the final phase.

Read the following excerpts from another interview with Al-Zahhar, which aired on Future News TV on June 15, 2010:

Mahmoud Al-Zahhar: "We have liberated Gaza, but have we recognized Israel? Have we given up our lands occupied in 1948? We demand the liberation of the West Bank, and the establishment of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital – but without recognizing [Israel]. This is the key – without recognizing the Israeli enemy on a single inch of land.

"This is our plan for this stage – to liberate the West Bank and Gaza, without recognizing Israel’s right to a single inch of land, and without giving up the Right of Return for a single Palestinian refugee.

"Our plan for this stage is to liberate any inch of Palestinian land, and to establish a state on it. Our ultimate plan is [to have] Palestine in its entirety. I say this loud and clear so that nobody will accuse me of employing political tactics. We will not recognize the Israeli enemy."

"As for the issue of a referendum – [the Palestinian Authority] is ready to impose its position on people by force. Whoever wants to hold a referendum, and believes that he can get all of Palestine for the Palestinians, can hold a referendum, but will not give up the platform of resistance, and the plan to liberate Palestine in its entirety. This is unequivocal.

"If we could liberate the Negev now, we would continue [our military activity], but our capabilities dictate that after we got rid of the Israeli presence in Gaza, we must finish off the remnants of that occupation, and move on to the West Bank."

And the world is saying that Israel must do more and more. Yet it ignores the plain speaking of Hamas.

Israel to Sign Accession Agreement with OECD

Today, Israel will formally accept the invitation to join the OECD. In spite of all the attempts to deligitmise the State of Israel, we see this as a breath of fresh air and realism.

The invitation to join the OECD attests to the organization’s recognition of Israel’s achievements, economic strength and its ability to contribute to the organization and to the global economy. Israel’s accession to the OECD will boost Israeli society and the economy and contribute to upgrading areas such as the environment, education, employment and many others.

The accession process, which began three years ago, was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, with active assistance from many other government ministries, governmental authorities, the Knesset, the Bank of Israel, the public sector, economic and social organizations, the Manufacturers’ Association, the Histadruth, universities and NGOs.

Is it too much to hope that instead of the perpetuation of lies, distortions and innuendos, we may actually see some truths and realism?

The Lies the Media and NGO's Tell About Gaza

Below are notes from Gaza accumulated by Tom Gross – May 25th. I believe everyone should be aware of what the newspapers DON'T print.

In recent days, the international media, particularly in Europe and the Mid East, has been full of stories about “activist boats sailing to Gaza carrying desperately-needed humanitarian aid and building materials.”

The BBC World Service even led its world news broadcasts with this story at one point over the weekend. (The BBC yesterday boasted that its global news audience has now risen to 220 million persons a week, making it by far the biggest news broadcaster in the world.)

Yet the BBC and other media fail to report on the fancy new restaurants and swimming pools of Gaza, or about the wind surfing competitions on Gaza beaches, or the Strip’s crowded shops and markets.

No, this would spoil their agenda. Playing the manipulative game of the BBC is easy. If we had their vast taxpayer funded resources, we too could produce reports about parts of London, Manchester and Glasgow and make it look as though there is a humanitarian catastrophe throughout the UK. We could produce the same effect by selectively filming seedy parts of Paris and Rome and New York and Los Angeles too.
Of course there is poverty in Gaza. There is poverty in parts of Israel too. (When was the last time a foreign journalist based in Israel left the pampered lounge bars and restaurants of the King David and American Colony hotels in Jerusalem and went to check out the slum-like areas of southern Tel Aviv? Or the hard-hit Negev towns of Netivot or Rahat?)

But the way the BBC and other prominent Western news media are deliberately misleading global audiences and systematically creating the false impression that people are somehow starving in Gaza, and that it is all Israel’s fault, can only serve to increase hatred for the Jewish state – which one suspects was the goal of many of the editors and reporters involved in the first place.

STEAK AU POIVRE AND CHICKEN CORDON BLEU

If you drop by the Roots Club in Gaza, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook for Gaza and the West Bank, you can “dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu”.

The restaurant’s website in Arabic gives a window into middle class dining and the lifestyle of Hamas officials in Gaza.

And here it is in English, for all the journalists, UN types and NGO staff who regularly frequent this and other nice Gaza restaurants (but don’t tell their readers about them).

Please take a look at the pictures on the above website. They are not the kind of things you see in The New York Times or CNN or in Newsweek, whose international edition last week had one of the most disgracefully misleading stories about Gaza I have ever seen, portraying it in terms which were virtually reminiscent of Hiroshima after a nuclear blast.

In case anyone doubts the authenticity of this information (which is up on the club’s own website), I just called the club in Gaza City and had a nice chat with the manager who proudly confirmed business is booming and many Palestinians and international guests are dining there.

In a piece for The Wall Street Journal last year, I documented the “after effects” of a previous “emergency Gaza boat flotilla,” when the arrivals were seen afterwards purchasing souvenirs in well-stocked shops.

And please see here for more pictures of Gaza’s “impoverished” shops.
STARVED OF WATER AND BUILDING MATERIALS?

While Western media, misled by corrupt and biased NGOs, continue to report on a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reports on the Olympic-size swimming pool that opened in Gaza last week.

As reader Joy Wolfe of Manchester, England, a subscriber to this list, points out to me in an email: “How does an area that claims to be starved of water and building materials and depends on humanitarian aid build an Olympic size swimming pool and create a luxury lifestyle for some while others are forced to live in abject poverty as political pawn refugees?”

Another reader, Barry Shaw, writes from the Israeli town of Netanya:
“Gaza City recently opened an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Netanya does not have a municipal Olympic pool. Neither does Ashkelon, or Sderot. Gaza City is part of the Palestinian territory operated by the Islamic terror regime, Hamas. Netanya has been hit by repeated Palestinian suicide attacks, car bombings, and terrorist gunmen that have left over fifty of its citizens dead and more than three hundred injured. The Palestinians receive record amounts of international funding. The victims of Palestinian terror get nothing.”

Another subscriber, Michael Horesh, points out, “The Financial Times of London, a leading media beacon in international money matters and no friend of Israel, observes that ‘Branded products such as Coca-Cola, Nescafé, Snickers and Heinz ketchup are both cheap and widely available in Gaza… [as are] Korean refrigerators, German food mixers and Chinese air conditioning units.’”

AN INDUSTRY OF LIES

While middle class Palestinians plead poverty and receive excessive amounts of international funding, elsewhere in the world (in places like Congo and Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) millions of children really are dying of starvation and disease, all but ignored by those very same governments and aid agencies that pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the Palestinian coffers.

Of course, there is a whole industry of people (UN and EU staff, NGO workers, journalists) who make their living and have a vested interest in continuing to propagate lies about Gaza and West Bank.

As the boats of “humanitarian aid activists” (including a number of European politicians and journalists) left Turkey on Saturday I wonder if they understood what the crowd was chanting.

The crowd shouted: “Intifada, intifada, intifada!” “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews! The army of Mohammed will return!”

GAZA’S OLYMPIC-SIZED SWIMMING POOL
The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reports (May 18, 2010):

www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=285242

“Gaza – Ma’an – Gaza’s first Olympic-standard swimming pool was inaugurated at the As-Sadaka club during a ceremony on Tuesday held by the Islamic Society.
“Gaza government ministers, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, leaders of Islamic and national governing bodies, as well as club members and athletes were among those at the opening ceremony, where Secretary-General of the Islamic Society Nasim Yaseen thanked the donors who helped realize the project.

“Yaseen praised the As-Sadaka club for a number of wins in international and regional football, volleyball and table tennis matches.

“As-Sadaka athletes performed a number of swimming exercises in the new pool to mark its opening.”

WHO BURNED DOWN THE SUMMER CAMP?

A UN-run summer camp for Palestinian children was burned to the ground on Sunday and the UN staff threatened with murder. Tens of thousands of Gazan children were due to attend the camp this summer, as they have every summer in recent years.

This is a rare occasion when the international media did report on Palestinian-on-Palestinian violence, although most downplayed any criticism of Hamas or other Islamists in their reports.

***
“A SUMMER PROGRAM OF ARTS AND SPORT”

The BBC reported online:

Masked gunmen have attacked a UN summer camp being set up for children in the Gaza Strip, UN officials say.

The attackers burned tents and destroyed other equipment after tying up a guard. They also left a letter threatening the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), John Ging…

“The armed men torched the camp, which contained recreational equipment and swimming pools, and completely destroyed it,” UNRWA spokesman Abu Hasna told journalists.

The camp is one of dozens of beach facilities set up by the UN offering a summer programme of arts, sport and other activities for some quarter of a million children in the Gaza Strip…

***
“TEACHING SCHOOLGIRLS DANCING AND IMMORALITY”

CNN explained that the Islamists of Gaza object to the fact that boys and girls were due to participate in activities together at the camp:

CNN began its online report: “A U.N.-sponsored summer camp in Gaza was burned Sunday hours before it was due to open, witnesses said, blaming Muslim extremists who apparently object to boys and girls going to camp together.”
***
Reuters also reported:

“About 20 men, some carrying assault rifles, tore up large plastic tents and burned storage facilities at the site, where tens of thousands of children are due to attend camp sessions…

“Two days earlier, a previously unknown militant group, The Free of the Homeland, issued a statement criticizing the camp’s organizer, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), for, ‘teaching schoolgirls fitness, dancing and immorality.’”

***
The Al-Jazeera report online adds:

“Dozens of armed attackers also vandalized bathrooms… and assaulted a guard and tied him up… the men also left a letter with four bullets, threatening the agency’s Gaza director and sending a chilling message to the camp’s organizers.”
FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS AND NGOS IGNORE HAMAS’S WORSENING HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD

In an editorial, The Jerusalem Post reflects on the atrocious human rights situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and notes that “an iron curtain of a strict theocracy is slowly descending on Gaza, but many human rights proponents still prefer to depict it as the embattled bastion of freedom fighters…
“Both foreign governments and NGOs, in their inaction, are signaling to Hamas that domestic oppression by its tyrannical regime is tolerable so far as the international community is concerned,” said the paper.

DOZENS MORE WEST BANK ROADBLOCKS TO BE DISMANTLED

Following a meeting between IDF OC Central Command and Palestinian security officials yesterday, Israel has announced the further dismantling of 60 roadblocks and the easing of travel throughout the West Bank. Most West Bank roadblocks have been dismantled since the government of Benjamin Netanyahu assumed power in Israel last year.

The Israelis explained that the success of the Palestinian security forces in fighting terror led to the decision to ease restrictions.

The IDF pointed out, however, that it will “continue to operate firmly against terrorism while sustaining liaison and coordination with Palestinian officials, in order to maintain the life routine and security of all residents” of the West Bank and Israel.

SHIMON PERES ATTACKS THE GUARDIAN’S BLATANT LIES

Israeli President Shimon Peres yesterday accused the British paper The Guardian of telling blatant lies about Israel in a front page story that slandered Israel in general, and Peres in particular.

It is quite something when the president of a country sees the need to criticize a foreign newspaper for failing to maintain elementary journalistic standards – failing to ask for his response before publishing a massive defamation of him, for example. But such are the depths to which The Guardian sunk yesterday. (As I noted on this email list, The Guardian recently had to apologize for running a notorious organ trafficking libel about Israel.)

Additional Israeli government sources added that “documents that Guardian journalist Chris McGreal – who has a long track record of writing anti-Israel pieces – used to run his story are completely fabricated.” (The alleged documents come from a new book by a publicity-seeking anti-Zionist American researcher.)
The story concerned an alleged offer to sell arms, including nuclear warheads, by Israel to South Africa in 1975. Quite why The Guardian decided this is now lead front-page breaking news 35 years later, is beyond me, given how much real current news there is in the world.

Of course, The Guardian has nothing to say about the arms sales by Britain and many other Western countries to Apartheid South Africa in the 1970s. Could its continuous singling out of Israel perhaps be because Israel is a Jewish state?

Even Palestinian Journalist Can't Report What They See

Last week a delegation of journalists from the West Bank and Gaza met with Israeli journalists in order to try to build bridges. The atmosphere was very friendly but there were natural differences of opinion. The Palestinian journalists commented on their lack of freedom of movement particularly in Gaza and also significant censorship by Hamas.

Thus an initiative created some dialogue where there had been none in the past.

Within a few days of this meeting, the same Palestinian journalists have now been condemned as "collaborators". They now face expulsion from the Fatah controlled Palestinian Journalists Syndicate on charges of promoting normalisation with Israel. This syndicate is to meet in the coming days to discuss punitive measures against any journalist who defies the ban on normalisation. The incident has been defined as a "tragedy" .

And the Western media persists on quoting reports from such journalistic organisation in Gaza and the West Bank, perceiving them as the "truth".

A total lack of objectivity in reporting on the Middle East is propagating the Anti Israel feelings around the world and creating an even greater concensus within the country.

Palestinian Economy Thrives in West Bank

Israel has adopted a series of measures to ease and support economic activity in the West Bank, as well as the capacity-building process in such spheres as security, various aspects of governance, the establishment of a legal and judicial system, and the strengthening of the banking system.

Economic growth in the West Bank reached about 8% in 2009.

Trade between Israel and the West Bank dropped by 4.05% in 2009 as compared with 2008, and constituted 70% of all the trade of the West Bank. The volume of trade with Israel stood at 13,594 million NIS.

The total trade of the West Bank grew by 2.75% in 2009 as compared with 2008. The total trade (including Israel) stood at 19,310 million NIS in 2009.

Palestinian imports from the world (not including Israel) registered an increase of 25% in 2009 as compared with 2008.

Palestinian exports to the world (not including Israel) registered a drop of 2.3% in 2009 as compared with 2008.

The transfer of tax money from Israel to the Palestinian Authority is being conducted in an orderly fashion on a monthly basis. In 2009, Israel transferred to the Palestinian Authority (after deduction of payments owed by the Palestinians) 4,272 million NIS as compared with 3,918 million NIS in 2008. The increased amount constitutes another indicator of the growth in the Palestinian Authority's economic activity.

Other indicators point at the growth of economic activity: an increase of 41% in truck movement between Israel and the West Bank; an increase of 29% in fuel consumption and of 7.6% in diesel fuel consumption in mid-2009 in comparison with the parallel period in 2008. The significant rise in automobile imports into the West Bank is also continuing.

A survey undertaken by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics among business people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in December 2009 points to an increase in optimism among manufacturers and businesspeople.

Tourism: This past Christmas more than 60,000 tourists visited Bethlehem and there was systematic coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel to ensure and coordinate the movement of tourists to and from Bethlehem.

The Palestinian Campaign to Boycott Israeli Products Made in the Settlements

There is concern about the Palestinian Authority's campaign to boycott Israeli products made in the settlements. This campaign is being budgeted by the Palestinian Authority at the amount of 150,000 dollars from its budget – i.e., from funds provided by the donor countries. The campaign is generating a most negative atmosphere of boycotting Israeli goods in general and does not abide by the WTO rules of trade. Moreover, it is harming the livelihood of 30,000 Palestinian workers who are employed by Israeli employees in the West Bank, and could be interpreted by the local population as a permit for violence against Israel and Israeli targets.

Steps Taken by Israel to Support Palestinian Economic Activity

§ Increasing the hours when the Allenby Bridge Terminal is open to the passage of goods and pedestrians (a pilot effort that was recently extended and will continue through the summer).

§ Upgrading the Gilboa-Jalameh crossing point in the northern part of the West Bank for vehicular traffic (opened on 13 October 2009). About 1500 cars enter the West Bank through this crossing point every weekend. Since the crossing point was opened to vehicles, the economy of Jenin has grown by 30-35%. The income deriving from the entry of Israeli Arabs into the towns of Jenin, Tulkarm, Jericho, and Bethlehem is estimated to be around 8 million NIS every weekend. In November and December, over 30,000 vehicles entered through the Gilboa crossing point alone. The permit for Israeli Arabs to enter the West Bank with their vehicles through various crossing points constitutes a significant contribution to the local economic activity.

§ Removal of roadblocks and barriers: Since 2008, the number of major checkpoints was reduced from 41 to 14. From April 2008 until today 209 roadblocks were removed. Ten of the barriers that were removed this past January are on Route 60, the major north-south artery in the West Bank.

§ This past year considerable sums of money were invested in upgrading the crossing points for goods between Israel and the West Bank, so that they could manage the movement of trucks in short periods of time and with efficiency. During 2010, 8 million dollars have been invested (with USAID funding) in upgrading the Gilboa and Shaar Ephraim crossing points for goods.

§ Beginning in January 2010, the hours of operation at the Tarqumiya crossing point for goods were extended, a measure which enables Palestinian merchants to increase the number of shipments which are sent on a daily basis to Israeli ports.

§ The quadrilateral dialogue headed by Japan to establish an agro-industrial zone in Jericho is continuing. An additional meeting will be held on 17 March.

§ Israel is acting to assist the French initiative to establish an industrial zone in Bethlehem and is acting in full cooperation with the French President's envoy to move the project forward.

§ Israel maintains close working ties with the Quartet's Envoy, Tony Blair, and his team to handle and promote economic projects and measures that support economic activity, including the issue of the access road to the town of Rawabi.

§ The Israeli security network maintains close ties with General Dayton and is doing all that it can to assist the process of building the capabilities of the Palestinian security forces. Israel participates in a quadrilateral monitoring forum which convenes pursuant to the Berlin Conference and discusses subjects pertaining to the development of Palestinian capabilities in civilian security as well as in building capabilities pertaining to the law and to the judicial system.

The Gaza Strip

Israel is committed to enabling the supply of humanitarian needs to the Gaza Strip and is operating the crossing points to enable humanitarian movement. The basket of goods entering the Gaza Strip is large and responds to humanitarian needs. Israel enables the orderly departure of sick people and those who accompany them to receive medical treatment in Israel and outside the country.
There is no shortage in the Gaza Strip, due in part to the flow of goods and raw materials through the tunnels.

The abducted Israeli, Gilad Shalit, has been in Hamas hands for almost 4 years and is denied access required under international law. Hamas is a terrorist organization that refuses to meet the three conditions of the Quartet.

Israel enables the transfer of cash to international organizations operating in the Gaza Strip and the transfer of shekels to pay the wages of Palestinian Authority employees (about 70,000 in number). There is no shortage of cash in the Gaza Strip.

Israel enables the supply of diesel fuel to the power plant in the Gaza Strip and also enables the entry of teams for plant maintenance, the entry of spare parts, and the removal of parts for repairs and their return to the Gaza Strip.

Recently, the entry of glass into the Gaza Strip began, to enable the repair of homes that were damaged during Operation Cast Lead against Hamas. More than 100 trucks carrying glass have entered thus far into the Gaza Strip and this is continuing.

Israel has advanced contacts with the UN Secretary-General's envoy, Robert Serry, to approve the carrying out of humanitarian infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip, with emphasis on water and sewage.

Israel enables strawberries and carnations to leave the Gaza Strip for markets abroad.

Israel enabled in recent months the entry of cement and construction materials for the reconstruction of buildings and for various humanitarian projects. From May 2009 through January 2010, 1,352 tons of building materials entered the Gaza Strip. Israel approved the entry of an elevator for the maternity hospital al-Awad (15 February).

Recently, Israel arranged the matter of transferring social security payments to beneficiaries in the Gaza Strip.