Turkish ship Mavi Marmara with Israeli troops on board approaches the southern port of Ashdod on May 31, 2010.
Photograph by: Menahem Kahan, AFP/Getty Images
Israeli officials said Sunday they are easing a land blockade on the Gaza Strip to allow in everything except for weapons.
The softening of a policy criticized as collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians to weaken their hard line Islamist leaders follows an Israeli raid on a flotilla in which nine activists died.
But Canadian activist Rifat Audeh, who was aboard that flotilla bound for Gaza when it was raided on May 31, said Sunday he doubts Israel has done anything to help people in the Palestinian territory.
He dismissed the announcement as “Israeli propaganda.”
“It’s another one of these publicity stunts Israel is conducting,” the former Toronto resident said from Jordan. “I don’t want people — especially in my hometown — to fall prey to this propaganda.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the plan Sunday, together with international Middle East envoy former British prime minister Tony Blair, who had been lobbying Israel to restrict its embargo to a list of specified items.
"Israel seeks to keep out of Gaza weapons and material that Hamas uses to prepare and carry out terror and rocket attacks towards Israel and its civilians," Netanyahu said. "All other goods will be allowed into Gaza."
Israel has been under intense international pressure to ease its blockade of Gaza since the deadly flotilla raid, which made headlines around the world.
“They came attacking us with guns, fully armed commandos in the dead of the night,” said Audeh. “They wanted to scare people and make them not come back. But I think they failed and made people more determined than before.”
Under the new policy, Israel will allow construction materials to be imported for housing projects that are approved by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and supervised by international organizations.
These include projects for schools, health facilities, water treatment and sanitation, officials said in a statement.
They also said they would keep the right to ban "dual-use" construction materials that could be used by Hamas to manufacture weapons and to rebuild its military facilities.
The coastal strip, where one million Palestinians depend on aid from the United Nations and other international relief agencies, suffered severe damage in a three-week Israeli offensive launched in December 2008.
The United Nations has complained that the ban on construction materials is hampering reconstruction.
The was no immediate reaction from Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel and seized control of Gaza in 2007 after routing forces loyal to the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas is opposed to the indirect, U.S.-mediated peace talks that Israel has begun with Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority and governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Audeh said he believes that his participation in the flotilla protest has done some good for Palestinians living in Gaza.
“The protest has brought the siege of Gaza to the attention of the world,” he said. “I look forward to being on another flotilla.”
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