I made my way to the Erez crossing into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Here are a few pics of the crossing...

A few images of the Erez Crossing
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A few images of the Erez Crossing
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A few images of the Erez Crossing
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The strip is under near total lock down by the Israeli military which launched an "incursion" into Gaza on Tuesday evening. Several Palestinian fighters were killed when tanks and bulldozers went some two miles into the territory held by Hamas.

As someone pointed out, the Israeli military is the only military in the world that regularly brings bulldozers into combat because they want to fully destroy houses as part of the process. The agenda being to force Palestinians out of the area so Israelis can eventually move in.

The Israelis and Palestinian Authority (which does NOT have the support of many Palestinians by the way) began their so-called peace talks today despite the fact that Israel attacked Gaza on Tuesday.

Truthfully, when it comes to the Palestinian Authority and it's President Abu Mazin (better known in the west as Mahmood Abbas), the word I often heard was "collaborators."

Regarding Gaza, the strip is in lock down and has been for quite some time. This really intensified after Hamas and Fateh (The group that controls the Palestinian Authority) fought for control of the strip and Hamas won.

Hamas had already won an election to represent that Palestinian people, but because of their militant stance, the results of the election were not acceptable to the Israelis or the US. Thus, the fight that led to Hamas controlling Gaza and for now Fateh, controlling the West Bank.

I talked to a few people at the Erez Crossing, though many refused to talk with me. One man was returning to Gaza after being allowed to go to Israel for cataract surgery. He said he had waited for three months to get permission and was now going back.

Waiting to cross at the Erez Crossing
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A woman, her children and her disabled husband were also trying to get back into Gaza to attend an event there. She went to the checkpoint and was turned away, though it seemed that the decision was not final by the time I left.

A woman and her children at the Erez Crossing
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I met with a pair of women from Gaza at a coffee shop not far from the Erez crossing after they came from the strip into Israel. They worked for a humanitarian aid agency and that was why they were able to get in and out Gaza.

They said the situation was bad inside, that only some 13 essential food staples were being allowed in and that they had only recently, after several months, been able to get some psychiatric medications for people who needed them. Among other things, one of the women planned to buy some winter clothes for some of the strip's children since there is a shortage of those as well.

The consensus seemed to be that things were going to get a lot worse in Gaza and the political analysis of the situation is that both the Israelis and the "PA" want Hamas out of the way so the siege of Gaza will last until Hamas gives up.

One of the most popular Palestinian leaders, Marguan Bargouti, who is called the Palestinian Nelson Mandela, has called on Hamas to surrender control of Gaza to the "PA." Barqouti is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison.

Global Exchange group
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In closing this final blog as I get ready to head to the airport in Tel Aviv, I'm thinking about what I've learned here and mostly what that comes down to is that the situation is much more complex that is usually reported.

People like simple and easy answers, good and bad, right and wrong. This includes many of the people and media sources that we agree with most of the time.

Hopefully, upon my return, there will be a chance to talk more about all of this and hopefully there'll be a chance to come back and see what has changed and what hasn't.

The one thing I know for sure, is that this conflict is far from over and it will continue to effect this region and the world as a whole for a long, long time.

From East Jerusalem at 2:00 AM
I'm Mike Thornton