{"id":264955,"date":"2017-06-29T09:20:34","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T13:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/?p=264955"},"modified":"2020-08-19T09:26:48","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T13:26:48","slug":"israeli-minister-proposes-building-an-artificial-island-off-the-coast-of-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/israeli-minister-proposes-building-an-artificial-island-off-the-coast-of-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli minister proposes building an artificial island off the coast of Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
RAEL\u2019S COMMENT:<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Creating a kind of Alcatraz or concentration camp much easier to control, and afterward including guard towers and dog patrols. Not surprising it\u2019s a project from the Intelligence minister of Israel. Why not building this island to relocate the thousands of illegal Israeli settlers occupying Palestinian land?<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Israel is considering building an artificial island with sea and air ports off blockaded Gaza, as a long-term solution to shipping goods into the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, the transport minister said.<\/p>\n

Yisrael Katz told Army Radio on Wednesday he wants an international force to control the island for \u201cat least 100 years\u201d and for unloaded cargo to be brought into Gaza along a 4.5-km (3-mile)-long bridge with a security checkpoint to prevent arms smuggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israeli military would continue the naval blockade, but in a more localized way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Katz said he had pitched the project to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told him to put together a plan, which \u201chas been under examination for many months\u201d by experts.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority described the idea as \u201cpure fantasy\u201d and an attempt by Israel \u201cto divert attention from the real problems of Gaza resulting from the Israeli siege.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Hamas spokesman called it \u201ca Zionist effort to … internationalize\u201d the blockade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am at the stage where the prime minister has to give the green light,\u201d Katz said. \u201cThis has not happened yet … I am certain the Europeans and the Americans and many private elements will be willing to be part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel and neighboring Egypt tightened their blockade of Gaza after Hamas Islamists opposed to peace with the Jewish state seized control of the territory in 2007 from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.<\/p>\n

Israel eased restrictions on the overland passage of goods through its Gaza border in the wake of a world outcry over the killing of nine pro-Palestinian Turks in confrontations during a raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound flotilla last May.<\/p>\n

Citing security concerns, Israel does not allow a sea or air port to operate in the enclave.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn island would … give the Palestinians port services and even an airport down the line,\u201d Katz said, proposing the project include desalination and power plants, hotels \u2014 and Hamas\u2019s rival, the Palestinian Authority, as a partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have built models and there are many entrepreneurs who are interested and prepared to invest billions and make money,\u201d he said, without giving further details.<\/p>\n

The proposal was leaked on Tuesday to Israel\u2019s Channel Two TV, which speculated it could be included in a speech that Israeli officials have said Netanyahu might deliver in the coming weeks outlining ideas to revive peace talks.<\/p>\n

Palestinians have refused to return to U.S.-brokered negotiations, which froze soon after they began in September, until Netanyahu halts settlement building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.<\/p>\n

Asked when the island proposal would be presented to Netanyahu\u2019s cabinet, Katz was non-committal, saying: \u201cSoon, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-palestinians-israel-island\/israeli-minister-proposes-gaza-artificial-island-idUSTRE72T29Y20110330<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAEL\u2019S COMMENT: Creating a kind of Alcatraz or concentration camp much easier to control, and afterward including guard towers and dog patrols. Not surprising it\u2019s a project from the Intelligence minister of Israel. Why not building this island to relocate the thousands of illegal Israeli settlers occupying Palestinian land?  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":264957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/bg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}