You don't say: Gaza is enemy territory

Headline:
Israel labels Gaza 'enemy entity'

Some text:

 

Israel's security cabinet has declared the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity", opening the way for cuts in fuel and other vital supplies to the territory.

....

 

The office of Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, said his security cabinet approved the "enemy entity" classification and there would be "limitations on imports to the Gaza Strip and a reduction in the supply of fuel and electricity".

Well I guess if you have a "government" across the street that has vowed repeatedly to destroy your state, declares that negotiations are a waste of time, insists on a holy war, and keeps lobbing rockets at you, you might be a bit sore too. Those do not seem to be very peaceful gestures.

 

The reaction of the Hamas is tragicomic:

 

 

Hamas issued a statement in response, saying that the security cabinet's announcement on Tuesday amounted to a "declaration of war".
...
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said: "It is a declaration of war and continues the criminal, terrorist Zionist actions against our people.

"They aim to starve our people and force them to accept humiliating formulas that could emerge from the so-called November peace conference," Barhoum said, referring to the US-sponsored meeting expected to be held in two months.
 

"Humiliating formulas" refers to recognition of the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, and abandonment of the genocidal program to wipe out the Jewish people.

 

Hamas and their friends reacted by lobbing more rockets at Israel. The formal declaration gives Israel the right to do things like curtailing imports to Gaza, and even stopping electricity. Among the "rights" claimed by the Hamas is the right to have Israeli electricity to operate the lathes that make the rockets.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

Cross posted: Israel News  Middle East Analysis