Israel, at last, will relax but not end its three-year-old blockade of Gaza. The decision, announced Thursday by the nation’s Security Cabinet, is clearly a response to the justifiable international outrage over the Jewish state’s deadly May 31 commando raid on a flotilla attempting to break the blockade. The easing of regulations is welcome — for humanitarian reasons, especially — but the remaining restrictions likely will continue to fuel regional and global debate.
Some of the changes are major. They should ameliorate at least some of the long-standing displeasure about the blockade. Under the new rules, Israel will no longer limit what types of food can enter Gaza. In addition, more construction materials will be allowed to cross the border. Relaxation of the rules, however, does not come without some strings attached.
The list of items that now can enter Gaza still must do so via land. And the increase in construction supplies for civilian projects — desperately needed to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by Israeli raids into the territory in late 2008 and early 2009 — will be allowed only for work that is carried out under international supervision. Israel obviously wants to maintain control, even as it eases pressures in an attempt to bolster its world standing.
To that end, it will maintain the naval blockade of Gaza. It says it must do so to prevent rockets, missiles and other weaponry that can be used against Israel from reaching Gaza. The new regulations are designed “to liberalize the system by which goods enter Gaza,” while maintaining “existing security procedures to prevent the inflow of weapons,” an Israeli spokesman said Thursday. Whether the rules will accomplish that goal is a matter of conjecture.
Increasing food supplies in Gaza should have an immediate and positive effect. Since its inception, the blockade has limited foodstuffs to the basics, though sometimes supply barely met demand. Smugglers using tunnels on the Egypt-Gaza border eventually thwarted the blockade and brought food into the territory, but the black market prices were so high that it was beyond the means of many ordinary Palestinians. Increasing the supply should bring down the cost, a boon to the majority of Gazans who live on extremely limited incomes.
There should be an increase in the number of jobs, too, if construction materials flow more freely into the territory. Building projects mean work and increased incomes. The completion of new roads, municipal buildings, updated infrastructure, factories and schools should provide a sound foundation for rebuilding a shattered economy. In turn, a more robust Gaza economy could reduce political militancy and increase chances for peaceful rather than military resolution of problems that divide Palestinians and Jews.
The effect of the new rules is uncertain. Additional information is needed. Does the new ruling affect the movement of people as well as goods across the border? Does it apply to exports and the importation of raw materials needed for industry, or is it limited to construction material only? Answers to those and similar questions ultimately will determine whether Israel’s announcement Thursday is meaningful in the long-term or simply an expedient, short-term effort to blunt criticism about the blockade from its powerful U.S. and other allies.
The plan to ease the blockade, whatever the reason that prompted it, is satisfying. The question, though, is why Israel took so long to take the action. It obviously feels it can relax restrictions without seriously threatening its security. If that’s the case, why impose the blockade in the first place, or take so long to revise it.