Monday 23 March 2009

Egypt nabs sheep headed for Gaza


Egypt nabs sheep headed for Gaza
Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:20:13 GMT


A Palestinian shepherd herds his sheep as he walks past a house destroyed in the last Israeli military offensive in the devastated area of east Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip, where people suffer from a lack of food.
Cairo, an accomplice in the imposition of a 20-month blockade on Gaza, has stopped a flock of sheep from entering the Palestinian ghetto.

Egyptian police said that on Sunday night they discovered and seized a flock of 560 sheep set to be transported into Gaza through underground tunnels -- the main artery for food entry into the strip.

A security official said the flock was discovered in the Salah al-Din district north of the Rafah border crossing.

Egypt plans to auction off the sheep to the highest bidders.

The police claim they also found five tons of cement and a half ton cache of TNT hidden near the border.

The claim of the TNT find comes just a day after Israel announced that it had defused a bomb planted outside a shopping mall in the northern city of Haifa and attempted to pin the blame for the alleged bombing attempt on Palestinian fighters.

Tel Aviv imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007 after the democratically-elected Palestinian government Hamas took control of the territory. The blockade has been in place ever since.

The siege prevents necessary humanitarian aid and assistance from reaching the 1.5 million people inside the strip -- only about twice the size of Washington DC.

To add to the humanitarian catastrophe in the territory, Israel unleashed a three-week war on the sliver on December 27. Three weeks of ensuing airstrikes and a ground incursion inflicted more than $1.6 billion in damages on the Gazan economy.

The carnage also killed around 1,350 Palestinians and injured nearly 5,450 people -- mostly civilians.

Since then many Gazan youngsters have been forced to sift through garbage piles to make ends meet. Local scrap merchants pay children $.25 for every 10 kg of plastic or metal.

The youngsters say finding old scrap metal, shoes, dirty clothing and plastic shelving has become harder as the residents had no money to buy new products and were reluctant to throw out anything of even modest value.

AA/AA

Gaza Bound Goats Busted In Rafah

By Hanitizer


Egyptian security forces reported Monday they busted 560 goats, half a ton of explosives, and five tons of cement. According to the Egyptian security forces those confiscated items were about to be smuggled into Gaza through the countless tunnels that links Egypt and Gaza. The Egyptian Security forces further commented that those items were going to be smuggled through six different tunnels, four of which is more than three meters wide. Needless to say Gaza remains under international community siege since June 2007.

OK, they can keep the explosive material, and the cement, but please let the goats go. I am seriously hoping they would allow the goat into Gaza since my sister in Gaza is shopping for one right now. I am sure the only group celebrating holding the goats hostages is PETA and their mascot Pam Anderson since the Palestinians now have to substitute the goat meat in their Maqlooba with tofu.

Neither the Palestinians nor the goats can be reached for comments.

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