Israel is cynically blamed for situation
ISRAEL captured Gaza from the Egyptians during the 1967 Six-Day War. For decades there were no border fences. Many Israelis shopped in Gaza and many Arabs worked in Israel proper.
Then in 2005, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, searching for an end to the conflict, unilaterally removed all Israelis from the territory and gave the Palestinians full control.
In 2006, Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, a terrorist organisation whose charter calls for the total destruction of the Jewish state. Soon, suicide bombers and thousands of missiles targeted Israel, leading to military confrontations.
To prevent incursions and attacks on its citizens, Israel established a fence along its border with Gaza. Hamas diverted building materials and other aid intended for civilians by building massive underground tunnels to circumvent the fence and launch attacks against Israel.
Israel, like any other nation in the world, resisted an attempted invasion of its land.
Rather than turning Gaza into an international tourist destination on the Mediterranean and improving the economy and the life of the people, Hamas’ only interest is its radical terrorist ideology. The international community continues to cynically blame Israel. But the simple fact is that none of those nations, faced with a similar crisis would act any differently than the Israelis.
Everyone has the right to protest, but what if such a march as we saw in the streets of Cape Town recently decided to violently storm Parliament? How much more critical is the situation at the Gaza border, which has a long history of terrorists blowing up restaurants, buses and schools.
Hamas Politburo member Salah Bardaweil admits that 50 out of the 60 deaths widely condemned by leaders and the media as an Israeli “massacre” or “slaughter” were, in fact, members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.