Netanyahu, Israeli PM, got his first openly friendly meeting with Obama on Tue, 6 July 2010. All the pundits who wrote about it simply spun a space filing article as nothing substantive happened nor was there the least indication of anything substantive occurring. They might as well have traded jokes before the photo op. It was a non-event. If you read Israeli newspapers you know there are no secrets in Israel. In comparison to Israel Washington keeps secrets like the Kremlin.

As to the blockade there has not been a single reported change despite the declaration of a change. Still no word on exports being permitted nor on the importation of raw materials despite the wording of the announcement.

A state sponsored Libyan ship is preparing to sail for Gaza -- from Greece for some reason. The Iranian ship talked about for the last two weeks has not materialized.

The police in occupied Jerusalem appear to be approaching a "Selma moment" in their treatment of the protestors against the criminal jewish takeover of a Palestinians neighborhood. The level of violence is accelerating. The protestors have finally figured out how to piss off cops just doing their job. It will play well in the international press. 

Would it be that difficult to make a hollow PR stunt involving a false claim, if the world is pressuring your country into action?

I would not be surprised if "lifting the blockade" was little more than a hedged bet.

Egypt has always refused to play Israel's game - that's why Israel doesn't have Sinai under it's control anymore.

Today 7/16 I read in Haaretz that the announced "easing" has not yet been implemented. So it will still be some time in the future -- maybe never -- before we have any information on how it will work in practice.

www.haaretz.com, Ha'Aretz, The Land. It is the oldest "hebrew" language newspaper in Palestine and is now in what is called Israel. This indicates the EU is not buying the lies. Of course, who gives a rat's ass about the EU.

The entire article is as follows.

Haaretz

  * Published 20:22 16.07.10
  * Latest update 20:22 16.07.10

Ashton: Gaza borders must open to revive local economy

EU's FM in Gaza to gauge whether partial lift of Gaza blockade has improved
the lives of Gaza residents; says after meeting with Fayyad goods must flow
in both directions.

By Haaretz Service and [48]The Associated Press Tags: [49]Israel news
[50]Gaza [51]EU

The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy Catherine Ashton said Saturday Gaza's borders must open to enable the
territory's battered economy to recover.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine
Ashton

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine
Ashton.
Photo by: Reuters

Ashton spoke at a news conference Saturday with Palestinian Prime Minister
Salam Fayyad.

Ashton is to tour Gaza on Sunday to gauge whether Israel's decision to ease
its 3-year-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory has improved the lives
of ordinary Gazans.

Earlier this month, Israel said it would allow the import of most consumer
goods to Gaza. However, Israel continues to ban exports and restricts the
import of badly needed construction materials.

Ashton said Israel needs to go further and that there needs to be an opening
of the crossings to allow the flow of people and goods in both directions.

During her second visit to the Strip this year Ashton is to pay a visit to a
summer camp and a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine, which is set to receive an additional 1 million Euros (1.29
million dollars) in EU funding.

However, meetings with Hamas leaders are excluded in the schedule.

Israel normally shuts off the Palestinian enclave from international contact
to avoid contact with the Islamist group Hamas, considered a terrorist
organization by the EU and the United States.

Ashton is also set to meet Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign
Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
late Sunday.

Israeli media reported this week that Lieberman would be ready to make a
proposal to Ashton in order to hand over security inspections of goods and
people entering Gaza by land and sea to the international community.

Ashton will visit again the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday to meet the
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The EU foreign policy representative arrives in the region when the US
special envoy George Mitchell tries to give support to Palestinian and
Israeli governments to move from the current indirect talks with Israel to
direct negotiations.

Mitchell announced Saturday in Ramallah that he would tour several countries
in the region in an effort to gain support for the US peace plan in the
Middle East.

Ahead of her arrival, Ashton urged  Israel to open all Gaza border
crossings.

"We stand ready to support the opening of the Gaza crossings for the traffic
of goods to and from Gaza," Ashton said before departing for Israel.

Referring to a recent cabinet decision to lift the ban on some of the
products which Isrtael previously prohibited from entering the Strip, Ashton
said the EU "welcomed the announcements made by Israel following the
flotilla incident and are now awaiting their implementation."

"The European Union has been calling for an urgent and fundamental change of
policy regarding the closure of Gaza," Ashton continued.

During her visit, Ashton will meet with Israeli and Palestinian leadership -
including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak,
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, as well as the Quartet's
special envoy to the Middle East, Tony Blair.
Ashton also reportedly plans to visit UNRWA projects sites in Gaza on
Sunday.

In its statement the PMO emphasized that the change would not counter
Israel's policy "to defend it citizens against terror, rocket fire or any
other hostile activities from Gaza."

Late last month, Israel approved a loosening in its blockade of the
Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, with the highlight of the new policy being the fact
that only weapons or "dual-use" materials that could be used to manufacture
weapons will be on the list. Any item not on the list will be permitted into
Gaza.

Large quantities of building materials are to be brought in for projects
with PA approval such as schools, clinics and water and sewage
infrastructure. Building materials for homes in Khan Yunis and other Gazan
towns will also be allowed in.

All construction projects are to be under close UN supervision to ensure
that Hamas does not use the building material for fortifications and
bunkers.

"Israel seeks to keep out of Gaza weapons and material that Hamas uses to
prepare and carry out terror and rocket attacks toward Israel and its
civilians," Netanyahu said. "All other goods will be allowed into Gaza."
 

Hamas, Israel AND EGYPT. Everyone forgets about Egypt in all this. Egypt has a border with Gaza. They enact a blockade also. They kill those they catch illegally crossing the blockade. But no one cares. The Muslims at my school have week long protests every year about the Israelis but conveniently forget about Egypt's actions.

Israel attacks one boat violating the blockade and it is an international shitstorm. Egypt shoots people violating their blockade for years and ... the crickets chirp. It is as though there are two standards here. A Muslim nation such as Egypt does something evil. No one cares. I never hear people mention it. I certainly never hear protests over the action. The Israelis do that same thing on a much smaller scale. There are protests and condemnations of Israel left and right.

If we are going to get bent out of shape over all this, let's apply our rage evenly to all the assholes over there. Let's not forget about Hamas and Egypt in all this.

It makes me think that protesters against Israel are insincere in their objections. I mean, they don't care when a Muslim nation does something, but they scream and cry when the Israelis do that same thing. It comes off as being anti-Israeli just for the sake of being anti-Israeli rather than having legitimate complaints against them. Or maybe I've just spent too much time witnessing the actions of the Muslim Student Union on my campus.

Stop inserting reason into this, you!

I already told you why it is a security threat for Egypt. They risk the loss of 1.5 billion dollars annually in military aid and possibly being attacked. For Israel though it is admittedly economic warfare, this was reported in mcclatchy last week because a human rights group sued their government for access to their written statements. So if you want to defend someone I'd suggest that you not leap to it haphazardly, and get your violin in tune with them first by reading a newspaper.

That's not to say that I believe Egypt has done nothing wrong of course they are corrupt and I don't agree with their participation in the siege, but only that what they've done is for cause other than taking punitive action against a bunch of civilians.
 

The fucking what is that it's not a security measure, as I already stated.   

I know you have said that the blockade is economic warfare.

However, calling an action economic warfare does not preclude it from also serving purposes of increasing security. The blockade prevents a terrorist organization from receiving weapons. How can this possibly not be considered a security measure?

Even if that was the case it wouldn't be a security measure to prevent people from receiving things that aren't weapons, like books, crayons and fruit juice which have all been turned away according to the BBC. 

Edit: I suppose the BBC could be lying though. I can't completely rule that out. Maybe everyone is lying because they hate Israel.

Before I address what you said about Egypt I have to ask if you believe that what you've written here makes any sense at all. It's their official policy to do one thing but they've done something else, yet to you the official policy that was deviated from excuses the activity that actually occurred. Am I understanding this correctly?   

This is a quote taken from an associated press article you don't need a link because it's AP.

Admittedly food items were banned, so it's not a mistake or a breach of law. It's highly doubtful that most food items that were reportedly turned away could be converted into weapons such as cookies or fruit juice. So the question remains. Even if denying someone a weapon is a security measure how is it a security measure to deny something that isn't a weapon?  

I do not think anyone but Israel is claiming Israel is better than Egypt. The problem Isael does claim to be better than Egypt yet has a list of war crimes against Gaza,

Let me get this straight. You consider it the same for Israel to stop foreigners from entering Egypt as it is for Israel to attack a ship in international waters and outside the military exclusion zone. Can you explain why they should be considered equivalent? I am not too sure what you mean by "smaller scale" but at least once I week I read of israeli storm troopers murdering people in Gaza. They shoot at anyone coming near the border even when clearly farmers. Sounds like murder to me. Add them to the list of war crimes.

As Israel claims to be an outpost of western civilization in the middle east it is more than reasonable to expect Israel to act like it. Instead it always claims to be no better than the worst of every middle eastern country.

It is amusing the only possible defense of Israel in regard to Gaza is that Egypt is no better when in fact the directly comparable examples are of people illegally crossing into Egypt with farmers attempting to farm their fields but get close to the fence when some bloodthirsty Jew decides he needs a bit of recreation.

In admitting Israel is lying one has to ask why you would expect anyone to believe anything Israel says. It also begs the question how you know what is true.

If Israel is in fact at war with Hamas then why does it kill so many people who do not belong to Hamas? If Israel is at war with Hamas does not Hamas have the right to fire rockets into Israel? take prisoners? the usual rights of a combatant?

But if Israel is not declaring a state of war then it has no rights of a combantant in a war and it is all no more than collective punishment of innocent civilians.

It is odd izziehuggers think they have everything their way.

I did a quick review of news I have collected and a search of Haaretz and you appear to be the only person making this claim about medicine and guns. Do you have a source or are you making it up?

We know that is an izzie lie. Why must izzies lie about what they are doing?

Israel bans most foods and all blankets. If it is not one of the 114 approved items it is prohibited. What does that have to do with weapons?

Where are you getting this crap? I get mine from jpost.com and haaretz.com just to be sure the matter can not fall prey to the old trick of declaring the source antisemitic. "It is an old trick. We always use it."

BTW: In some eight years firing rockets into Israel only ONE person was killed. In that same period Israel killed well over a thousand Palestinians. Poor izzies. The suffer so much more than mere animals.

Gaza Strip: the "bill" no one cares to pick up.

May I point out that fanatic, racist Jews wiped Palestine off the map and no one misses it. I cannot conceive of anyone missing Israel should it be wiped off the map. Should that happen the only problem will be Jews interminable whining about it.

It was a consequence of the Zionist movement which is based upon the premise that Jews could never assimilate into Christian Europe. Two years later a child was born who, after WWI, adopted that same idea and went on to become Chancellor and then dictator of Germany. That agreement in principle is a partial explanation of why the Zionists and the Nazis cooperated so closely.

I presume I do not have to remind you that feedback is open to anyone who can click on the word and can type. I do not see the reason to give the anonymous contributor credibility.

I do in fact read Israeli news sources every day. I have never heard of such a story or anything remotely like it on any aid ship. There was some ship supposedly destined for Gaza, a destination never established with evidence, which did contain weapons but it was never designated an aid ship. It was in fact a cargo ship with no pretention to being anything else.

I agree Hamas is not composed of Jeffersonian statesmen any more than is the government of Israel. Toying with lives is a non-specific allegation. I have specific allegations against Israel who limit the quantity of food based upon daily calory requirements multiplied by the number of people. As was said when it started "We will put them on a diet" which is exactly what is still being done.

So if there is a specific allegation against Hamas which would at this time require an allegation of totalitarian dictatorship to carry any weight please let me know what it is.

The soldier they captured was enforcing a border blockade. He is a member of a occupying military which to the present has murdered at least 2500 residents of Gaza. Such a situation reasonably categorizes the soldier as a POW. Negotiations for prisoner exchange were announced almost immediately by Hamas but it took Israel months to agree to start the negotiations. Israel has repeatedly refused to consider the release of some on the Hamas list while being willing to release hundreds who have a year or less to serve as well as nearly a hundred who have been held for years without charges.

Those held for violent resistance to the criminal occupation number about 40. Yes they are militants. So is the IDF soldier they captured. Israel has agreed to hundreds for one so that is not an issue. The only issue is which hundreds. Israel continues to refuse.

Israel has previously agreed to hundreds to one trades. It has agreed to hundreds for one trade this time. So it is a reasonable expectation for Hamas to expect the usually Israeli hundreds for one exchange. One may consider it ridiculous but it is the rate of exchange established by Israel. It was sort of dumb to ever agree to a many for one exchange but once they did the exchange rate is in place. The exchange rate of hundreds for one has been agreed to this time. The only disagreement is which hundreds.

As you appear to have missed it, the objection to releasing the fifty or so Hamas wants is that they have shed Aryan blood -- excuse me, Jewish blood.

Google Haavara or Ha Avara or in English The Transfer agreement. There was open and organized cooperation between the Zionists and Nazi Germany. Germany was aiding the Zionists in getting Jewish Germans to Palestine. There is also a strong indication the Zionists cooperated in passing the Nuremberg laws to make Germany a less attractive place to live thus encouraging movement to Palestine. I saw a piece on PBS back in the late 90s filmed in Israel interviewing some Germans who arrived because of the Transfer Agreement. They played Wagner, were proud of their German heritage and one even had a large picture of Hitler over their fireplace.

NB. The was not a Black in the US in the 1930s who would not have traded the Nuremberg Laws for the Jim Crow laws in a heartbeat. They are highly overrated. On top of that the Nuremberg Laws are largely rabbinical teachings on living apart from the Goyim, i.e. animals.

The following is the closest match I can find to the story someone added as feedback. You will note Hezbollah is in Lebanon. Lebanon has agreed to disband the militant wing of Heabollah after it establishes a military equally capable of defending Lebanon against Israeli attack.

Haaretz

Last update - 00:21 05/11/2009

Israel instructs its diplomats: Use seized arms ship to direct pressure to Iran

By Barak Ravid and Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondents


Israel's Foreign Ministry issued a document to Israeli embassies and
consulates around the world on Wednesday, instructing employees to utilize
Israel's seizure of a ship carrying some 300 tons of weapons, believed to
have been shipped by Iran and meant for Hezbollah, to direct international
pressure toward Iran.

Israeli diplomats were instructed to stress Iran's violation of United
Nations Security Council resolutions forbidding it from supplying weapons to
Syria or Hezbollah.

The Francop was captured in the Mediterranean Sea by Israel Navy missile
boats and naval commandos late Tuesday night in an operation dubbed
Operation Four Species.

The arms shipment began its journey about 10 days ago aboard an Iranian ship
that sailed from the port of Bandar Abbas to the Mediterranean port of
Damietta (Dumyat) in Egypt. The cargo - which, according to a ship manifest,
was destined for Syria - was unloaded in Egypt, and then loaded three days
later onto the Francop, a German-owned ship operated by a Cypriot company.

The ship's crew reportedly did not know what the containers really held.
The navy, which tracks suspicious activity at sea along known smuggling
routes in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, located the Francop shortly
after it left Damietta on Tuesday on its way to Limassol, Cyprus, and thence
to Syria. Toward evening, an Israeli navy missile boat made contact with the
Francop and asked to conduct a routine inspection of its cargo. Israeli
naval commandos boarded at around midnight on Tuesday, in rough seas, and
met with no resistance from the ship's crew of 11.

The Israeli naval personnel checked the ship's manifest, which showed that
the cargo was going to the Syrian port of Latakia, and began opening the
containers. They found sacks of polyethylene near the opening and along the
walls of the containers, but behind the sacks, they discovered numerous
crates of ammunition and artillery shells. At that point, they ordered the
crew to sail to Ashdod.

Upon the ship's arrival at the Israeli port, the lengthy process of
unloading the cargo began. It was expected to be completed on Thursday
morning.

The cargo included thousands of medium-range 107- and 122-millimeter
rockets, armor-piercing artillery, hand grenades and ammunition for
Kalashnikov rifles. Even with all the cargo not yet unloaded, the navy
estimated that the haul included more than 3,000 rockets and a total of 300
tons of weaponry. This compares to only 40 tons seized in 2002 on the Karine
A, whose weapons were destined for the Palestinians.

The rockets and artillery shells on the Francop were mostly manufactured
over the past two years, and though they had English-language markings,
intelligence officials believe that most were manufactured in Iran ¬ other
than the 122-millimeter rockets, which are apparently of Russian
manufacture.

Because of the manner in which the crates were hidden, the army is convinced
that the weapons were destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Such a shipment
would be a clear violation of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the Second
Lebanon War in 2006.

The cargo did not include rocket launchers or advanced weaponry that would
alter the balance of power with Israel. Nonetheless, the army said, the
rockets that were seized are the equivalent of about 10 percent of
Hezbollah's existing stock, and could have been used for weeks of intensive
shelling of northern Israel.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem instructed diplomats to emphasize in
interviews and conferences the fact that the ship that was seized en route
to Syria, with a planned stop in Beirut. The diplomats were further asked to
explain that the Israeli navy's actions, including diverting the ship to
Ashdod, were all executed with the crew's cooperation.

Israel will use this event to put Iran in the limelight. The Foreign
Ministry argues that this arms shipment is a blatant violation of UNSC
resolution 1747 which forbids Iran from exporting weapons and ammunition.
"Since these weapons are meant for the northern terror front, this is also a
blatant violation of UN resolution 1701," the memo read.

The Foreign Ministry also asked embassies and consulates to issue a
statement saying "Iran is continuing to smuggle weapons to terror
organizations under the guise of legitimate international trade, and thus
turns the Mediterranean Sea into a base for illegal activity."

It was further emphasized that "Iran is challenging the UN Security Council
and poses a strategic threat to the stability and peace of the world."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that anyone who was still
skeptical over Iran's continuous supply of weapons to terror organizations,
was given conclusive proof when the Francop's cargo was exposed.

"Iran is shipping weapons to terror organizations in order to attack Israeli
cities and kill its citizens. It is time that the international community
applied real pressure on Iran to stop these criminal actions, and support
Israel in its battle against terrorists and their patrons," Netanyahu said.
 

My "human-animals" remark refers to our entire species, and is borrowed from a number of sources, including "x", who seems to believe that in absence of economic socialization, humans behave like "feral animals". In modern biology, humans are considered merely to be much more highly intelligent, and cunning animals. I have my own reasons for referring to humans as human-animals.

To the best of my understanding, "Goyim" means "outsider" (more or less). I am one of the Goyim, despite my photobucket name "Iamjooish". I do have a Mediterranean French maternal grandfather who genuinely does appear of Hebrew descent; frizzy hair, pointed tip of the upper lip, and (I'll have to have one of his photos emailed to me by my mother to be sure) I'm almost positive he has the stereotypical "hook nose" of Hebrew individuals. Could be wrong...

He also has a lower palette, basically ruling out any recent Jewish heritage. I'm almost certain he is a long-separated cousin of an ancient Phoenician settlement on France's south coast. (Phoenician culture, much of which historically lies on Israel's northern coast and a few kilometers inwards)

You mean Hezbollah, correct?

I know of Hizbollah/Hezbollah. I also know that the Maronites of Lebanon are not too terribly fond of them. In 2006 they dragged Israel and their homeland into conflict after holding (I think it was) two Israeli pilots captive for reasons... I am ignorant of without using google.

I know this much: it is highly doubtful the world will stand behind Hammas in their crusade against Israel. Fatah and PLO, is more of what we Americans call a "grey area"; the western human-animals are more sympathetic with Fatah and PLO, as near as I can tell.  I have my own reasons to want to see the state of Israel abolished. (that have nothing to do with Judaism)

Mom doesn't want me posting pictures of family on the internet (despite him being dead since the 70s.) His nose does have an obvious dip over his upper lip; it's hard to say for certain.

Again, I'm almost certain that one of my ancestors were sailors of the Bronze-Age, Mediterranean galleys. I may never know for certain, but one of my ancestors may have, in fact, been one of the few involved in developing the first biremes in one of the many seaports of the Phoenicians. It's a pipe-dream of learning my (hypothesized) lineage, admittedly. (The Phoenicians apparently have also colonized Greece and Carthage, though in what periods I'm not certain.)

Back to the original thrust of your post:

Yes; I'm of the strictest opinion that Palestinians should be free and be allowed to work, develop and (hopefully) prosper without interference from foreign agencies (such as Moussad.)

Much like Americans have been free, allowed to work, develop and prosper quite abundantly over the past two centuries.

The question is, as always, "how?".

I have reviewed what references I have on the meaning of the word particularly in the Talmud. The meaning is cattle as an intentional reference to non-Jews who, as we all know, do not have jewish souls which are superior to the souls of the animals.

There is no credible way to interperate the word so mean simply non-Jews.

My sources come up negative in reference to cattle. Granted, I have no means to look up "gwy" in "Semitic roots"...

I think we all agree this is not an ideal world and that kind of diplomacy is not going to happen as long as the US has so many rednecks voting. However the place to start is to tell the world exactly what Israel is like and its own newspapers do that.

In fact sanctions need not be much at all. It only requires oil be sanctioned and the lights go out in a week.

They have such a flair for dramatic suffering. No one suffers like Jews. As Golda Mier said, We will never forgive them for making us kill them.