A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman
January 21, 2008 Gradual Opening of Gaza
Israel agreed to open Gaza tomorrow on a limited basis to allow supplies enter the strip. The IDF will allow oil for the generators and medicine for the hospitals to cross the border. Israel's decision is a result of a sharp drop in attacks from Gaza and the fear of world pressure. Hamas did an excellent job in crying out for help, making the situation worse than it was.
While most Arab governments were not moved by the circumstances, Al Jazeera devoted allof its broadcast yesterday to the ìsufferingî of the Gazans. Israeli government officials have made it clear that they will not allow a human disaster to occur in Gaza, but they will not do anything to make the life of Gazans any more pleasant than it has to be.
Today Prime Minister Olmert stated that as long as the people in Sderot cannot walk their streets in safety, the people of Gaza can walk anywhere they need to go. While it is not clear if the closure is what caused the Hamas to stop firing its rockets or they had fired as many as they had wished to, clearly the closure is a powerful weapon that if used correctly can yield results.
The New York Times ran a great piece(Israel to Promote Electric Cars) in advance of todayís announcement by the Israeli government that it will back the experiment to promote electric cars in Israel. I wrote about this a few months ago, and it is a very interesting plan. Batteries equipped cars will be sold with tremendous tax breaks, so they end up costing half of what normal cars cost in the Israel, and a full infrastructure will be built for recharging. The Israeli government officially approved the plan today and signed the agreement with the companies involved.
