Israel Matzav: Gaza airport not a new issue - concrete from runways was used to construct terror tunnels

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Gaza airport not a new issue - concrete from runways was used to construct terror tunnels

Supporting the claim that Israel, Egypt and the 'Palestinian Authority' are pressuring Hamas to accept the Egyptian cease fire proposal Haaretz reports on the pressure coming out of Ramallah.

A senior Palestinian official told Haaretz that Ramallah is pushing for acceptance of the Egyptian initiative even if it does not immediately answer Palestinian demands. The official said any international resolution would be weak and Israel would evade it, as has happened with UN resolutions.

“Only an agreement mediated by Egypt that has international support can achieve positive results in the short term,” the official said, adding that Israel’s proposals did not come close to the Palestinians’ minimum demands.

Under Egypt’s proposal, Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza commit not to take any action against the other by “sea, air or land,” while the Palestinians promise not to dig tunnels into Israel, Egyptian newspaper Al-Shorouk reported Friday.

Haaretz also reports that the 'Palestinians' don't think that Israel should be making such a big deal out of Gaza having an airport and seaport.

According to Palestinian officials, Israel is depicting the airport and safe-passage issues as if they were new. An airport operated in Gaza from 1998 to 2001.

Not exactly until 2001....

The airline was grounded in October 2000 following the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and was forced to move to El Arish International Airport in December 2001, after destruction by Israeli military forces. of the runway at its previous base, Yasser Arafat International Airport, where it operated limited services.

...

On December 12th 2001 GZA was bombed by the Israeli army, which warplanes hit the control tower. In January 10th 2002, the 60 million USD runway was competely destroyed by the Israeli army, shattering hopes for the resumption of flights to the airport in the forseeable future.

Umm.... Not exactly....

ONE ISRAELI KILLED, ONE INJURED BY PALESTINIAN GUNFIRE IN GAZA

Noa Dahan, 25, of Mivtachim, was killed and her Nephew, Oz Parishta, 18, was wounded, when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on their vehicle near the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip,

YEDIOT AHARONOT ON-LINE reported.

The two were driving from the Kerem Shalom checkpoint to the Rafiah border passage when they were ambushed by at least three Palestinian gunmen. Dahan, who was hit in the head, died
instantly. In response to the attack, the Israel Defense Forces closed the Rafiah crossing terminal to Egypt. The Palestinian airport in Dahaniya was also shut down. The airport was reopened on Tuesday under an agreement with the Palestinians, after having been closed last month as a result of a Palestinian ambush attack on an Israeli bus, wounding ten people.

I have a vague memory that Dahan actually worked at the airport, but I haven't been able to confirm that. Maybe what I'm remembering is that the bus in that story was carrying airport workers? (The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs site only lists incidents in which people were killed.

And then there's the little matter of how the 'Palestinians' used the airport. This is from the same link.

IDF Chief-of-Staff Maj.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz told the Knesset’s Committee on Security and Diplomatic Affairs on Tuesday that the Palestinians are using Arafat’s private plane to smuggle weapons into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

And of course that's exactly why the 'Palestinians' are pushing to have the airport reopened.

One of the main sticking points is the Hamas terrorist group’s demands to be allowed to build a seaport and airport, in their words, to offer “more freedom for the Palestinian people who are stuck in Gaza.”

But Israel and the west knows that any type of port of this nature, controlled by terrorists whose charter calls for the destruction of the state of Israel and its inhabitants, would be nothing more than a way to import weapons to use in its armed struggle against the Jewish State.

Oh - and one other thing the media is forgetting to tell you about the airport. Here's an al-Jazeera English video from August 2010.

Hey - you don't think they used all that concrete to construct terror tunnels - do you? That would be another reason not to rebuild the airport, wouldn't it? 'Scavengers,' eh?

Labels: Egypt, Gaza, Gaza Airport, Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, Palestinian Authority, Saeb Erekat, weapons acquisition