Tuesday 5 July 2011

the audacity of - hope?

the Hitchster has some questions for the "Gaza flotilla".  The conclusion he draws is this one:

The little boats cannot make much difference to the welfare of Gaza either way, since the materials being shipped are in such negligible quantity. The chief significance of the enterprise is therefore symbolic. And the symbolism, when examined even cursorily, doesn't seem too adorable. The intended beneficiary of the stunt is a ruling group with close ties to two of the most retrograde dictatorships in the Middle East, each of which has recently been up to its elbows in the blood of its own civilians. The same group also manages to maintain warm relations with, or at the very least to make cordial remarks about, both Hezbollah and al-Qaida. Meanwhile, a document that was once accurately described as a "warrant for genocide" forms part of the declared political platform of the aforesaid group. There is something about this that fails to pass a smell test.


Your starter for ten: the document referred to is an official part of the Hamas programme.  What is its name?

I watched an item on al-Jazeera English this morning featuring a bunch of Italian "activists" in Gaza who describe themselves as human shields protecting the civilian people of Gaza against Israeli weaponry.  What really struck me was the cemetery.  The man speaking to camera said the Palestinians looked after the cemetery with care, and it certainly appeared so - "even the Jewish graves", he said.

Anybody? (sound of tumbleweed)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I believe the Jewish cemetery is part of a Commonwealth War Cemetery.

The Gaza Strip is larger than people think, containing several towns and empty spaces / fields that were formerly used by Israeli settlements.

There has been symbolism in Gaza for more than 60 years - in 1967 I saw an attractive Mediterranean city, surrounded by ugly refugee camps.

It has been suggested that Gaza needs help with exports rather than imports.