Gaza is not an open-air prison

When people are in prison, including open prisons, they have all and any weapons confiscated from them. Despite certain materials being banned, Gaza is still extremely heavily armed. How do people in an open-air prison manage to get their hands on so many guns, missiles, bombs, and materials for tunnels? Where and how did they get the very expensive products used to attack Israel? How did they then get into Israel with all of it? Thousands of Hamas "militants", and civilians from Gaza, were able to access Israel, and no one was there to send them back to their prison. Somehow, they left the prison premises and were not apprehended.

Does the same not also apply to internment camps?

Billions of dollars are also allowed to get into this prison, every year.

Hamas, the government in this prison, refused to have the Egyptian and Israeli blockade lifted because it would have made their resistance useless, and redundant in the eyes of Gazans. Most prisoners are desperate for more freedom, but violently resisting Israel's existence is more important to Hamas.

If Gaza is an open-air prison, Israel must be a horrible prison officer. More prisons should be like Gaza.

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Gloomy · F

The saying that Gaza is an open air prison shouldn't be taken literally but is more of a comparison because movement is restricted and 2 million people are living under an oppressive regime in a very small space.

sascha · F

@Gloomy Israel has offered to lift the blockade multiple times, but it has been rejected by Hamas. Gaza is a territory, and Hamas rules it.

Did you know that prisons are controlled primarily from the inside? A prison officer, police officer, or judge, only allow for extremely restricted movement in prison, and they always oversee this movement. Israel, as all three of those, would have needed to be in Gaza all the time, controlling all movement, if there were to be a comparison between Gaza and prisons. In August this year, 58,606 people left Gaza to enter Israel, whether for work or medical treatment. In July, the number was 14% higher.

That is, unless, you believe Hamas has made Gaza an open-air prison?

All of our movement is restricted. Regardless of our country of origin, there are a number of criteria we have to fulfill to be able to gain entry into another area. In Russia, for example, you are not able to receive a visa for travel to the U.S and most European countries, due to the war in Ukraine. This means that since 2022, citizens in Russia have not had free movement. There are other countries, such as Turkmenistan, that have no commercial flights and currently only allow citizens entry into the country.

On the island of Nauru, people rarely leave, and it hosts only around 200 tourists a year. The island has been used as a detention center for refugees. In some instances, it has separated children from their parents, only to send the children to their new country, where their parents are, years later. Unlike Gaza, this island is very remote.

In 2016, the UK decided to leave the E.U. The result of this is no free movement among British citizens in E.U. countries, and E.U. citizens in the U.K.

During covid, people all across the world had their ability to move freely dispensed with. This is an outrage, yet it was encouraged. Another issue is that environmentalists, who are very vocal about their cause, advocate less travel. Less travel means less movement. Is less movement what free people want?

Other countries where travel is ill-advised, restricted, or not possible, include Iran, Libya, Afghanistan, North Korea, Venezuela, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Western Sahara, and many others. It is not uncommon for countries to restrict travel to, and from, areas with terrorism and internal conflict.

Gloomy · F

@sascha To make a quick reply. Israel built it and Hamas rules it.
Not saying its entirely Israels fault that a two state solution never worked out but Israels policy decisions and treatment of palestinians are abhorrent.

flipper1966 · M

@Gloomy Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. What happened? Instead of building Gaza's economy Hamas put all its energies into fighting Israel. Gazans were given their freedom by Israel in 2005. What did Gazans do with their freedom?

sascha · F

@Gloomy What about those policy decisions?

Israel is not responsible for many of the buildings in Gaza. All the Israeli communities were dismantled. Housing projects have been funded by Egypt, Dubai, and Qatar. Some charities have helped build it. Turkey built their newest hospital in 2017.

Gaza has a rich history, and there are some very interesting historical places, including the ruins of a Jewish synagogue, dated from very early 6th century. Even when Israeli settlements were there, the Palestinian areas were still Palestinian areas.

When Israelis were forced to leave, all of their synagogues were destroyed.

Israelis living in Gaza were responsible for much of the agricultural output, and this was a very successful enterprise. The state of Israel forced its own people out of their homes and their communities. Families were made to leave with their babies and young children. Before that, the British forcibly moved Jews from Gaza in the late 1920s, due to violence from nationalist Arabs.

How does Israel agree to two states with Hamas in power?