The offshore area where Palestinians are allowed to fish has been slashed by Tel Aviv to six nautical miles, in retaliation weekly border protests, amid heightening tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
Tightening Israel’s economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the reduction of the Palestinian offshore fishing zone by 33%.
The drastic measure was taken in response to the ongoing Great March of Return uprise and to sea protests, in which Palestinian boats sail up to the maritime boundary between Israel and the coastal Palestinian enclave.
The defense minister’s decision was made following the violent rioting over the weekend near the [security] fence and attempts to harm IDF forces and launch confrontational flotillas at the maritime border.
Unarmed Palestinians have been demonstrating, in Gaza, against the Israeli Occupation and for their Right of Return, for more than six months (since the 30th of March). Since then, over 220 Palestinians have been killed and 22,000 more injured by Israeli Regime violence.
In violation of the Oslo Accords, which allowed Palestinian fishermen to operate up to 20 nautical miles off the coast, Israel had previously imposed restrictions on Palestinian fishing rights following the economic blockade on Gaza in 2007. A
round 50,000 Gazans earn their living from fishing for 2 million people.
While executing Palestinians with sniper fire and missiles fired from tanks and F-16’s, Tel Aviv considers both the ongoing Great March of Return protests and Palestinian flotillas as “provocations”.
Despite the growing death toll, Israel continues to use sniper fire, rubber bullets and chemical tear gas to suppress the Great March of Return protests, which began on March 30.
On Friday, three people, including a 12-year-old, were killed by Israeli troops as some 20,000 Palestinians rallied at the border fence.
RT/com / ABC Flash Point Holocaust News 2018.
