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Argument: Hamas is cause of strife in Gaza, not Israel

Issue Report: Israeli raid on Gaza flotilla

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Netanyahu: “Why is life flourishing in the West Bank? Because it’s not under the control of a terrorist organization!”

Joseph Biden. “So the problem is this would end tomorrow if Hamas agreed to form a government with the Palestinian Authority on the conditions the international community has set up.”[1]

“Hamas blocking entry of flotilla aid into Gaza.” Haaretz. November 19th, 2006: “Hamas will not allow goods from an aid flotilla raided by Israel to enter the blockaded Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Islamist organization said Thursday.

Ahmed al-Kurd, Social Welfare Minister in the Hamas government which rules Gaza, said Hamas would block the aid cargo until Israel met all of the group’s conditions.

Israel must release all of the activists detained after Israel’s interception of the Gaza-bound convoy and transfer all, not just part, of the seized cargo, Kurd said.

He added that since the convoy was organized in Turkey, it was up to Ankara to decide whether to allow the goods to enter the Strip.

Israel said on Wednesday that it had released activists who traveled aboard the six-ship flotilla seized by Israeli commandos before dawn on Monday. Several wounded in the raid, in which nine were killed, are still in hospital, however, while another three – an Irishman, an Australian woman and an Italian man – remain in Israeli custody.

An Israeli spokesman said eight trucks packed with goods taken from the flotilla are stuck at the Kerem Shalom crossing point, waiting to enter the Strip.

He denied Kurd’s claim that Israel has confiscated goods, saying Israel had not yet finished unloading containers from the flotilla.”