(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The allies put 160,000 troops on the coast of Normandy. Why not aid across the coast of Gaza? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-12-27 Does the sea route really require a full ceasefire and iron-fisted control? Some say yes. But we didn’t storm the Normandy coast during a ceasefire. War-wise, this aid effort does need to consider “who” might be inclined and equipped to shell watercraft bringing aid, and what protections can EU, The Us, and other participants put into the Med that can interdict that fire. Re: other questions, read on, starting with the apparent original timeline. ■■■ Euractive AFP October 31 Cyprus seeking to open Gaza maritime aid corridor ■■■ APnews November 7 Cyprus has a plan for a humanitarian sea corridor to Gaza and will present it to EU leaders ■■■ IsraelHayom November 16 Exclusive: Israel, Cyprus devising plan for maritime humanitarian corridor to Gaza If established, the corridor will replace the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings so that civilian supplies will no longer be transferred through Israel, both during and after the war. ■■■ Apnews November 20 Cyprus’ president says his country is ready to ship aid to Gaza once a go-ahead is given ■■■ PoliticoEU November 26 Cyprus outlines plans for seaborne aid to Gaza ■■■ Reuters December 4 Cyprus pushes Gaza corridor idea; leader to visit Egypt, Jordan ■■■ AP December 20 Israel’s top diplomat wants to fast-track humanitarian aid to Gaza via maritime corridor from Cyprus ■■■ Reuters December 20 Israel, Cyprus discuss 'fast track' maritime lane for aid to Gaza ■■■ FAST-TRACK? It’s weeks already! Here’s a fairly thorough report exerpted from Al-Monitor December 20, 2023 In Cyprus, Israel's FM says Gaza maritime corridor deal is imminent. “A plan for a humanitarian maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza could take shape in a matter of weeks.” On a one-day visit to Nicosia, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met with his Cypriot counterpart, Constantinos Kombos, to discuss a maritime corridor that would enable the transfer of humanitarian aid from a port in Cyprus to the Gaza Strip…. ..."Cyprus and Israel, together with other partners in the region, are promoting ... a secure maritime corridor to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian assistance to Gaza in an organized and well-inspected manner," Cohen said in a joint press conference with Kombos... The initiative for a humanitarian maritime corridor first came to light in mid-November, when Kombos was in Israel on a solidarity visit. Both Greece and Cyprus maintain close strategic, security, energy and economic ties with Israel…. ...Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said the Cyprus government was in contact regarding the corridor not just with Israel, but also with UN organizations…. ...Cohen said the maritime corridor will help Israel accomplish its goal of completely severing itself from the Gaza Strip. ... ...The [aid goods would] arrive in Cyprus on boats or airplanes. Then ... go through a security check … [then] sent to Gaza aboard ships... ...There is no real port in the Gaza Strip, only a small one used by fishermen. Large ships cannot reach the shore. Experts are proposing two solutions. The first is for … small boats that can navigate in shallow water, similar to the boats used on D-Day, ... The second is for large ships to anchor at a distance [with] smaller landing vessels … to bring the material to shore. The experts are inclined toward the second solution... ...Nicosia initially proposed putting a maritime corridor in place for after the war, [for] building materials and equipment needed for [reconstruction]. Realizing the bottleneck created in Rafah, Nicosia proposed going ahead with the plan as soon as possible for transporting humanitarian aid... h/t elenacarlena The articles pose several questions that the men in charge —some of them, billionaire boys’ clubs — seem to have trouble answering. Who will receive the material once it arrives to the shore? EVERYONE . Inundate the entire coast of Gaza with aid and “they will come. ” These are people more than accustomed to hard effort, they’re not helpless, and they’ve demonstrated more concern for their families and communities — concern for each other — than anyone else except foreign aid workers coming in. Those workers already have their own jobs to do, and Hamas controls who comes in anyway. So, let Gazans be their own volunteer workforce, not “charity” recipients alone. Simply put, power to the people. . ” These are people more than accustomed to hard effort, they’re not helpless, and they’ve demonstrated more concern for their families and communities — concern for each other — than anyone else except foreign aid workers coming in. Those workers already have their own jobs to do, and Hamas controls who comes in anyway. So, let Gazans be their own volunteer workforce, not “charity” recipients alone. Simply put, power to the people. How will Hamas attackers be prevented from taking control of it? INUNDATE THE ENTIRE COAST so there’s more goods than Hamas has the personnel to grab, strewn across more miles than they can field personnel, and too irregularly distant from warehouses and tunnels they customarily use for stealing from the people to reward/buy loyalty of their adherents. so there’s more goods than Hamas has the personnel to grab, strewn across more miles than they can field personnel, and too irregularly distant from warehouses and tunnels they customarily use for stealing from the people to reward/buy loyalty of their adherents. How to prevent looting and assure fair distribution? INUNDATE THE COAST. The people of Gaza are ALL desperate. It’s not looting when everyone is in need. Heavy supply would make everyone who can carry aid be in-effect an aid worker. When each participant is supplied with more than they can carry, it flows into wide distribution from there by OSMOSIS. My questions (and answers): Will some of this flood of aid get damaged or wasted? Undoubtedly. It always has in emergency aid situations in the past and elsewhere, and it always will, rigorously controlled or not. Cut costs by eliminating OVER-CONTROL and move on. Undoubtedly. It always has in emergency aid situations in the past and elsewhere, and it always will, rigorously controlled or not. Cut costs by eliminating OVER-CONTROL and move on. Will some Hamas personnel get their hands on some of it? Undoubtedly, ibid. But these personnel will be frontline, low-level guys whose loyalty has been bought by privileged supply from Hamas for years, more than it’s bought by rage or ideology. Just as an inundation of outside aid makes Hamas economically IRRELEVANT to other Gazans, it makes Hamas economically irrelevant to low-level Hamas “employees” too. IOW, unbuy their loyalty. The multiple advantages of that should be obvious. Undoubtedly, ibid. But these personnel will be frontline, low-level guys whose loyalty has been bought by privileged supply from Hamas for years, more than it’s bought by rage or ideology. Just as an inundation of outside aid makes Hamas economically IRRELEVANT to other Gazans, it makes Hamas economically irrelevant to low-level Hamas “employees” too. IOW, unbuy their loyalty. The multiple advantages of that should be obvious. Will some Hamas operatives use weapons etc to gain what control they can? Undoubtedly, blah blah blah. LET THEM grab and hold whatever they want. Grabbing, holding, and transporting stuff monopolizes their activities, while civilians are free to go for goods away from where Hamas operatives are trying to exert control. The situation Just needs communication to SAY and SHOW Gazans there’s enough to go around so they don’t need to fight Hamas personnel to get their own and their families’ and communities’ needs met. Undoubtedly, blah blah blah. LET THEM grab and hold whatever they want. Grabbing, holding, and transporting stuff their activities, while civilians are free to go for goods away from where Hamas operatives are trying to exert control. The situation Just needs communication to SAY and SHOW Gazans there’s enough to go around so they don’t need to fight Hamas personnel to get their own and their families’ and communities’ needs met. Isn’t inundation going to be unaffordably expensive? Compared to how low-cost and “effective” the usual control-the-hell-out-of-everything approaches have been across history? Controlling is VERY expensive itself in personnel, equipment, etc., and people in the severest need stil l get left out because they can’t pass the bar of proof. Compared to how low-cost and “effective” the usual control-the-hell-out-of-everything approaches have been across history? Controlling is VERY expensive itself in personnel, equipment, etc., and people in the severest need l get left out because they can’t pass the bar of proof. Isn’t inundation unrealistically idealistic? Depends. If “unrealistic” and “idealistic” are being used as synonyms for “never did it this way before,” then no, this is just something different to try, because seriously, how well has the usual methodology worked out across 50 years of famines, weather disasters, wars…? The aid does have to arrive in several tightly scheduled waves at the start, in order for Gazans to literally see there’s enough to go around so they’ll feel safe to help their communities and even strangers shoulder to shoulder rather than fear for their own families not getting enough. That’s not idealism or unrealism, it’s human behavior. It happens everywhere you give people a chance to take care of one another. Just look at Ukraine. Look at the Cajun Navy! Depends. If the victims are really CARED ABOUT, shouldn’t the world trust them for a change? Given how past, heavily controlled efforts have so often cost so much and still come up so short, it’s kind of insane — as the popular saying goes — to go on doing it the same way anyway. And for the record, similar aid to the Palestinian communities of the WestBank. And for both, here’s a comparison: in various places in the world, and even a couple in The Us, jurisdictions have tried universal basic income and similar ways to just cut the red tape, the bureaucracy, and the costs of over-control in trying to decrease the causes of disease, poverty violence, crime… all of which are VERY damn expensive themselves. With Gaza and the WestBank, money aid won’t work because Hamas and the PA/Fatah/PLO take so much of it. Money is a very compact, lightweight, efficient representation of value easy to grab. But the point of money is to obtain the necessities of life anyway. Whatever else Hamas and the PA can do, they probably can’t open any international aid resale stores over at the Egypt ends of the smuggling tunnels or across the Jordanian Border. So, power to the people. Trust them to do what’s needed for one another and for their own country. So someday that country will be. And maybe some peace. For a change. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/27/2213977/-The-allies-put-160-000-troops-on-the-coast-of-Normandy-Why-not-aid-across-the-coast-of-Gaza?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/