Israel announces formal naval blockade of Gaza, surrounds Gaza City
Marian Houk
January 04, 2009
Just hours after the start of Israel's ground invasion of the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, the IDF spokesperson announced a formal naval blockade of Gaza.
This announcement says that "In accordance with the decision of the Defense Minister and current security assessments, as of Saturday January 3rd, 2009, the IDF has begun enforcing a naval blockade for 20 nautical miles from the Gaza Strip. The length of Gaza's shore is used by the Hamas terror organization, and the presence of its operatives on the shoreline and in the open sea constitutes a threat against the citizens of southern Israel".
This announcement will apparently have legal consequences -- but it basically encodes a situation that existed previously -- and for rather a long time. Only some five Free Gaza expeditions of international activists have actually managed to pass into and out of Gaza's maritime space. And Gaza's fishermen have been forced to operate, for years, in far less than their alloted, allocated and agreed, fishing territory.
The 20-mile designation is interesting also -- it is the limit of a "fishing" (and "economic") zone allocated to Gaza in the Oslo Accords.
One of the main aims may be to try to reinforce the Israeli claim that Gaza is not occupied -- because Israel is not "controlling" Gaza's maritime space (which would be one of the tests for a situation of occupation- Rather, the IDF announcement is saying, Israel has "begun enforcing a naval blockade" -- which is an act of war, and/or a sign of an actual state of war.
This move also puts pressure on BG negotiators, who have re-opened discussions at Israel's insistence after freezing them just over a year ago, on the development of the Gaza Gas wells located precisely within this Gaza maritime space ... And one of the reasons (though not the main one) why the discussions on this gas deal have not been concluded already is precisely the questions posed about its status with Hamas in power in Gaza...
On Sunday, reports of ongoing operations and casualties were being censored.
However, it was announced that IDF ground forces have divided the Gaza Strip into two or three cordoned-off sections. Gaza City, with one-third of the coastal strip's 1.5 million inhabitants, was said to be surrounded.
Meanwhile, at the United Nations in New York, the U.S. is being named, by other diplomatic delegations, as being responsible for the council's failure to issue a statement calling for a cease-fire in and from Gaza. AP reported that "U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States saw no prospect of Hamas abiding by last week's council call for an immediate end to the violence. Therefore, he said, a new statement 'would not be adhered to and would have no underpinning for success, (and) would not do credit to the council' ... Asked what kind of resolution would be acceptable to the United States, Wolff said: 'The important point to focus on here is establishing the understanding of what type of cease-fire we're talking about and to ensure that it's lasting, and to ensure that we don't return to a situation that led to the current situation' ... Though the Security Council took no action on Saturday night, an Arab draft resolution circulated by Libya on Wednesday night that would condemn Israel and halt its military attacks on Gaza remains on the table ... [though] the United States has already called it 'unacceptable' and "unbalanced" because it doesn't call for an end to the Hamas rocketing of Israel". The full AP report can be viewed here .
Ma'an News Agency reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who was in Amman on Saturday on his way to New York, has postponed his trip to the United Nations and will return to Ramallah today for a meeting with visiting French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, who was with Abbas in Amman, is being sent to New York to attend the UN Security Council deliberations...
Separately, the U.S. State Department issued a statement in Washington, through spokesperson Sean McCormack, saying: "We are working toward a cease-fire that would not allow a reestablishment of the status quo ante, where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza and to condemn the people of Gaza to a life of misery. It is obvious that that cease-fire should take place as soon as possible, but we need a cease-fire that is durable, sustainable, and not time limited. Hamas has held the people of Gaza hostage ever since their illegal coup against the forces of President Mahmoud Abbas, the legitimate President of the Palestinian people. They have used Gaza as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli cities, and have contributed deeply to a very bad daily life for the Palestinian people in Gaza and to a humanitarian situation that we have all been trying to address. Hamas has made it very difficult for the people of Gaza to have a reasonable life. The United States is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation and the protection of innocents. In this vein, we have expressed our concerns to the Israeli government that any military action needs to be mindful of the potential consequences to civilians".
Israeli media are prominently reporting that these delays are just maneuvers to allow Israel time to do what it wants to do in Gaza. Haaretz, for example, is reporting that "The international community, headed by the U.S. and Egypt, is giving Israel time to carry out the ground offensive in Gaza, so it will severely damage Hamas' regime. The rationale behind such a move is that a weakened Hamas would improve the chances of achieving a stable agreement in Gaza once the fighting subsides. And so there is a degree of foot-dragging in the diplomatic efforts to reach a cease-fire. The most visible sign of this was the decision to postpone the United Nations Security Council discussion on Gaza planned for Monday. France postponed the discussion to Wednesday, to ensure that it would be held after French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to the region ... During her visit to France on Thursday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had requested that the discussion be postponed".
The same Haaretz report adds that "In its efforts to formulate a draft for an agreement with Hamas in the wake of Operation Cast Lead, the designated team of Israeli officials is aiming to bring about the restoration of the cease-fire with Hamas, which expired on December 19, in addition to steps to curb Hamas' arms-smuggling through the border with Egypt. The officials, all of them from the Prime Minister's Office, the defense establishment and the Foreign Ministry, are not seeking to introduce international enforcement bodies, but rather the introduction of an upgraded border control system on the Egyptian side of the border. The U.S. administration supports such a move, and is expected to assist the Egyptians in stepping up their efforts to control the border. Currently, Israeli officials are trying to find a work program that would not infringe on Egyptian sovereignty, which is why Israeli diplomats are pessimistic about the prospect of stationing an international force in the Sinai Peninsula. According to sources in the U.S., President George W. Bush has intercepted an initiative by his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart, Secretary of State David Miliband, to formulate a cease-fire draft. One source said Bush instructed the State Department to refrain from action in the matter. To date, the U.S. has refrained from sending any envoys or delegates to the region. According to officials, the U.S. and Israel are cooperating diplomatically on the issue
Egypt's unexpected support for Israel in the conflict with Hamas has, according to Israeli diplomats, been a pleasant surprise for Jerusalem". This report can be read in full here .
But, the AP report cited above said that "Egypt's U.N. Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said it was regrettable that one permanent council member — a clear reference to the U.S. — refused to accept any statement at a time when 'the aggression is escalating and more people are dying and the military attack on the ground is at its full scale'."
This announcement says that "In accordance with the decision of the Defense Minister and current security assessments, as of Saturday January 3rd, 2009, the IDF has begun enforcing a naval blockade for 20 nautical miles from the Gaza Strip. The length of Gaza's shore is used by the Hamas terror organization, and the presence of its operatives on the shoreline and in the open sea constitutes a threat against the citizens of southern Israel".
This announcement will apparently have legal consequences -- but it basically encodes a situation that existed previously -- and for rather a long time. Only some five Free Gaza expeditions of international activists have actually managed to pass into and out of Gaza's maritime space. And Gaza's fishermen have been forced to operate, for years, in far less than their alloted, allocated and agreed, fishing territory.
The 20-mile designation is interesting also -- it is the limit of a "fishing" (and "economic") zone allocated to Gaza in the Oslo Accords.
One of the main aims may be to try to reinforce the Israeli claim that Gaza is not occupied -- because Israel is not "controlling" Gaza's maritime space (which would be one of the tests for a situation of occupation- Rather, the IDF announcement is saying, Israel has "begun enforcing a naval blockade" -- which is an act of war, and/or a sign of an actual state of war.
This move also puts pressure on BG negotiators, who have re-opened discussions at Israel's insistence after freezing them just over a year ago, on the development of the Gaza Gas wells located precisely within this Gaza maritime space ... And one of the reasons (though not the main one) why the discussions on this gas deal have not been concluded already is precisely the questions posed about its status with Hamas in power in Gaza...
On Sunday, reports of ongoing operations and casualties were being censored.
However, it was announced that IDF ground forces have divided the Gaza Strip into two or three cordoned-off sections. Gaza City, with one-third of the coastal strip's 1.5 million inhabitants, was said to be surrounded.
Meanwhile, at the United Nations in New York, the U.S. is being named, by other diplomatic delegations, as being responsible for the council's failure to issue a statement calling for a cease-fire in and from Gaza. AP reported that "U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States saw no prospect of Hamas abiding by last week's council call for an immediate end to the violence. Therefore, he said, a new statement 'would not be adhered to and would have no underpinning for success, (and) would not do credit to the council' ... Asked what kind of resolution would be acceptable to the United States, Wolff said: 'The important point to focus on here is establishing the understanding of what type of cease-fire we're talking about and to ensure that it's lasting, and to ensure that we don't return to a situation that led to the current situation' ... Though the Security Council took no action on Saturday night, an Arab draft resolution circulated by Libya on Wednesday night that would condemn Israel and halt its military attacks on Gaza remains on the table ... [though] the United States has already called it 'unacceptable' and "unbalanced" because it doesn't call for an end to the Hamas rocketing of Israel". The full AP report can be viewed here .
Ma'an News Agency reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who was in Amman on Saturday on his way to New York, has postponed his trip to the United Nations and will return to Ramallah today for a meeting with visiting French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, who was with Abbas in Amman, is being sent to New York to attend the UN Security Council deliberations...
Separately, the U.S. State Department issued a statement in Washington, through spokesperson Sean McCormack, saying: "We are working toward a cease-fire that would not allow a reestablishment of the status quo ante, where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza and to condemn the people of Gaza to a life of misery. It is obvious that that cease-fire should take place as soon as possible, but we need a cease-fire that is durable, sustainable, and not time limited. Hamas has held the people of Gaza hostage ever since their illegal coup against the forces of President Mahmoud Abbas, the legitimate President of the Palestinian people. They have used Gaza as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli cities, and have contributed deeply to a very bad daily life for the Palestinian people in Gaza and to a humanitarian situation that we have all been trying to address. Hamas has made it very difficult for the people of Gaza to have a reasonable life. The United States is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation and the protection of innocents. In this vein, we have expressed our concerns to the Israeli government that any military action needs to be mindful of the potential consequences to civilians".
Israeli media are prominently reporting that these delays are just maneuvers to allow Israel time to do what it wants to do in Gaza. Haaretz, for example, is reporting that "The international community, headed by the U.S. and Egypt, is giving Israel time to carry out the ground offensive in Gaza, so it will severely damage Hamas' regime. The rationale behind such a move is that a weakened Hamas would improve the chances of achieving a stable agreement in Gaza once the fighting subsides. And so there is a degree of foot-dragging in the diplomatic efforts to reach a cease-fire. The most visible sign of this was the decision to postpone the United Nations Security Council discussion on Gaza planned for Monday. France postponed the discussion to Wednesday, to ensure that it would be held after French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to the region ... During her visit to France on Thursday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had requested that the discussion be postponed".
The same Haaretz report adds that "In its efforts to formulate a draft for an agreement with Hamas in the wake of Operation Cast Lead, the designated team of Israeli officials is aiming to bring about the restoration of the cease-fire with Hamas, which expired on December 19, in addition to steps to curb Hamas' arms-smuggling through the border with Egypt. The officials, all of them from the Prime Minister's Office, the defense establishment and the Foreign Ministry, are not seeking to introduce international enforcement bodies, but rather the introduction of an upgraded border control system on the Egyptian side of the border. The U.S. administration supports such a move, and is expected to assist the Egyptians in stepping up their efforts to control the border. Currently, Israeli officials are trying to find a work program that would not infringe on Egyptian sovereignty, which is why Israeli diplomats are pessimistic about the prospect of stationing an international force in the Sinai Peninsula. According to sources in the U.S., President George W. Bush has intercepted an initiative by his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart, Secretary of State David Miliband, to formulate a cease-fire draft. One source said Bush instructed the State Department to refrain from action in the matter. To date, the U.S. has refrained from sending any envoys or delegates to the region. According to officials, the U.S. and Israel are cooperating diplomatically on the issue
Egypt's unexpected support for Israel in the conflict with Hamas has, according to Israeli diplomats, been a pleasant surprise for Jerusalem". This report can be read in full here .
But, the AP report cited above said that "Egypt's U.N. Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said it was regrettable that one permanent council member — a clear reference to the U.S. — refused to accept any statement at a time when 'the aggression is escalating and more people are dying and the military attack on the ground is at its full scale'."
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