(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Pennsylvani Corridor [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-09-12 Netanyahu is stalling a ceasefire agreement because he wants to maintain troops on the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt. But what is the Philadelphi corridor and why is it an obstacle to an immediate ceasefire to stop the war in Gaza. The 14.5-km-long (9 mile) sandy corridor has long been criss-crossed by a network of tunnels which allowed Palestinians in the coastal enclave to smuggle in weapons and commercial goods, circumventing an Israeli-led blockade. The name Philadelphi was randomly chosen by the Israeli army as a code name for the border zone, which divides the town of Rafah into two, one Palestinian, one Egyptian www.reuters.com/… When I first heard of the Philadelphi Corridor, I thought it had some Hellenic origins because the Ancient Greeks exerted great influence in the region at one time, but I wonder if the corridor’s name had anything to do with Netanyahu’s connections to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, especially the suburbs around the city of Philadelphia. en.wikipedia.org/… Netanyahu was Israel’s Finance Minister at the time the name originated during the 2004 Israeli pull out of Gaza, including illegal settlements there. And Netanyahu was not happy about the Gaza withdrawal plans activated under Prime Minister Sharon. He threatened to resign but stayed on in his post and pursued his policy of funding Hamas to weaken the Palestinian Authority to prevent a viable partner to negotiate a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu’s support for Hamas goes back decades. In 1998, as Prime Minister, Netanyahu tried to get Turkey to fund Hamas. During a dinner at Netanyahu’s house, he had this conversation with Turkey’s then Prime Minister Yilmaz. During the dinner, Mesut Yılmaz conveyed the difficulties faced by Yasser Arafat and proposed Turkey’s assistance in addressing Gaza’s infrastructure and housing problems, pending permission. Netanyahu: I don’t know if there’s a problem with the disbursement of aid funds. I will look into it. However, Hamas also has bank accounts for aid in our banks, and we support them. You can contribute as well. Mesut Yılmaz: Our counterpart as Turkey, like the United States and European countries, is the State of Palestine and the administration of Yasser Arafat. We cannot provide assistance to organizations. Netanyahu: The previous Prime Minister before you (Necmettin Erbakan) and his party were in talks with Hamas, and there was no issue. en.wikipedia.org/… Since the massacre of Israelis by Hamas on October 7, much has been written about Netanyahu’s strategy of funding Hamas and how the policy has backfired and his inability to accept any responsibility for enabling Hamas for decades to weaken Fatah and divide the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "not only tolerated" years of monthly cash payments from Qatar to the Gaza Strip, up until Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, "he had encouraged them," The New York Times reported Sunday. The payments, which Israel knew "helped prop up the Hamas government" in Gaza, continued even as the Israeli military obtained detailed battle plans for a Hamas invasion and observed "significant terrorism exercises" in the Palestinian enclave, the Times reported. For years, "Israeli intelligence officers even escorted a Qatari official into Gaza, where he doled out money from suitcases filled with millions of dollars." theweek.com/... After the October 7 massacre, Netanyahu says he is determined to destroy Hamas. Over 41,000 people in Gaza have been killed during Israel’s siege of Gaza and its brutal war against Hamas. Netanyahu has also expanded this conflict to the West Bank, Lebanon and beyond in the region. The massive civilian death toll in Gaza and the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank have caused outrage around the globe and even the US, Israel’s most vital ally, have called for an immediate ceasefire. These calls for a ceasefire have fallen on deaf ears as Netanyahu placed occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor as a condition for one, knowing that the Palestinians and Egyptians do not want IDF troops in Gaza or on the Gaza side of that border area with Egypt. Egypt sees Israel’s presence there as a violation of the Philadelphi Protocol — and thus, the Camp David Accords — and it maintains that it is managing the border effectively. It has rejected Israel’s proposal of putting eight guard towers along the corridor. It’s perhaps no surprise that the broader Arab world has taken their side. But it seems the Biden administration has as well, by saying that any ceasefire agreement would involve a full withdrawal of Israel from Gaza. While Biden said Monday that Netanyahu is not doing enough to end the war, the president has not addressed Philadelphi directly. On Wednesday, an unnamed White House official did so, characterizing Netanyahu’s hardline stance on it as disruptive. “We have taken account of Israel’s security concerns in this negotiation,” the official said, “and if anything, not getting into this deal is more of a threat to Israel’s long-term security than actually concluding the deal and that includes the issue of the Philadelphi corridor.” forward.com/... After being exposed for supporting Hamas to divide Palestinians in the past, Netanyahu is now supporting Trump in the present by prolonging his war with Hamas hoping to divide Democratic voters, especially in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has a Democratic Governor but a Republican Secretary of State, who is responsible for certifying the close election in the battleground state. But Pennsylvania has its own special corridor. And it could be the Democratic Party’s key to victory in November. It’s called the Key Stone Corridor. President Biden, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz could all barnstorm the key cities and suburbs in the state with massive rallies along the corridor: Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Biden loves Amtrak, Harris has a town name after her and Walz could just waltz all over rural areas of Pennsylvania to get out the vote for a decisive win that would deny Trump any path to victory, and put him back on track to finally face American justice and put his fascist threat to our country to rest for good. And if Trump loses, Netanyahu will see the writing on the corridor after another one of his fascist schemes backfires, and one that may collapse his government soon after our election and put him back on track for his day in court too. 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