Israel’s transportation minister Yisrael Katz said he is pushing for the construction of an “artificial island” off the coast of Hamas-ruled Gaza to alleviate hardship in the blockaded coastal strip.With Israel and Egypt maintaining a naval blockade of Gaza, the Palestinians have always been pleading for a port to connect them to the rest of the world.
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The tax increase “will benefit the citizens of Gaza – especially the civil servants and security forces that need money to feed their families”, he said. The creation of an artificial island off the coast of Gaza, where Palestinians could be relocated, would follow Israel’s logic of conquest.
The state official explained that the artificial island would be three square miles and linked to Gaza by a three-mile bridge. It would be built in global waters, and while Israel would retain security control, Palestinians and the worldwide community would run other aspects of the facilities there. And on Monday he told reporters: “I do not think it is right to lock up two million people without any connection to the world”.
“Opening a seaport and airport would help Gaza to end the siege, people could travel, goods could be exported and easily imported from overseas”, professor Mokhamir Abu Sa’da, from Al-Zahar University in Gaza, told the Washington Post.
Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip, which was imposed by the government after Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006, prevents the flow of foreign aid to Gaza and the entry of construction materials urgently needed to rebuild the territory, which has been routinely bombed by the Israeli military over the years.
Fishermen use a small seaport, but it is too small to handle container ships. There are about 1.8 million people in Gaza; most depend on food support from the United Nations.
On Saturday, a Hamas spokesman said the reconciliation talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah Party held in Qatar with Hamas on ending their internal division had failed.
Abu Zuhri said the two major outstanding files that the two sides disagreed upon were the file of paying the salaries of Hamas employees in Gaza and reoperating the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Legislative Council (PLC). Currently, about 800 truckloads of goods enter Gaza daily from Israel.
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Katz, the man behind the plan, said Israel is looking for financial partners to fund the project. After that, global bodies would have to get involved in the implementation and funding.
