Oh, that's sweet

Headline: Israel declares Gaza "enemy entity" as Rice visits
Photo: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (L) receives an olive branch pin from Israel's Foreign Ministry Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Itzhak Eldan (R), upon her arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv

So I guess Israel doesn't want to go to war with us, eh? What a relief!

Seriously - isn't there just the tiniest disconnect between the headline and the picture?

Gaza is one of those unfortunate cascading democratic elections that we thought we wanted when we invaded Iraq. Reminds me of the old Tom Lehrer song (they've got to be protected, all their rights respected, till somebody we like can be elected!), more bitter than funny.

For some facts, check the Reuters article by Jeffery Heller that accompanied the picture. It says, in part:

By formally defining the Gaza Strip as an enemy entity, Israel could argue that it cannot be bound by international law governing the administration of occupied territory to supply utilities to the population of 1.5 million.

A senior U.N. official, however, cautioned Israel against cutting essential services to Gaza.

"Any action to cut off electricity and other essentials is against international humanitarian law, and Israel should consider this very carefully before any actions that it takes," the official said.

Israel withdrew troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Palestinians say it is still under occupation because Israel controls its borders, air space and coastal waters.

According to Israeli and Palestinian officials, Gaza's population uses approximately 200 megawatts of electricity, out of which 120 are provided directly from Israeli power lines, 17 are delivered from Egypt and 65 are produced at a plant in Gaza.

The territory and its power station are also dependent on Israeli fuel supplies, some funded by the European Union.

Of course, Israel complains (rightly) about the rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. On the other hand, while these rockets are no doubt terrifying, only 14 people have died as a result of such attacks in the last six years - 14 for over 6,000 rockets - so they're not very effective, compared to the artillery, tanks, and air strikes that answer them - those probably don't get the guys who shot the rockets, but they kill three or four hundred a year and injure twice that.

Speaking of disconnects...