'Pro-Palestinian activists have driven more than 130 donated vehicles into the Gaza Strip in an overland aid convoy aimed at breaking the Israeli blockade.'The headline for the article is 'Aid convoy reaches Gaza without George Galloway'Those evil Israelis blockading Gaza and stopping brave George Galloway from completing his journey...
However the BBC report continues:
'The convoy set off from London last month, driving across Europe before finally entering Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt.'Hold on it entered Gaza via Egypt. If Egypt has a land border with Gaza then the Israeli blockade could be ended in minutes by Egypt... unless the Egyptians are also blockading Gaza.
And what's this?
'Egypt banned him (George Galloway) from the trip due to previous clashes with security forces.'Egypt have a border with Gaza and it was Egypt that banned George Galloway; what is going on?
Let's read on:
'The Islamist group is subject to tough economic and diplomatic sanctions by neighbouring Egypt and Israel, as well as some Western allies.'So why is Egypt blockading Gaza? Are they anti-Muslim or do they know something that the BBC don't want to tell us?
'Activists'? The ones with weapons who attacked Israeli soldiers and left port declaring their disinterest between reaching Gaza or martyrdom? The ones who sang songs glorying in the deaths of Jews?
'Israel eased its blockade of Gaza after an outcry over its raid on a Turkish flotilla in May that left nine activists dead.'
How can Israel control imports into Gaza when Egypt has a land border with Gaza? How can Israel ban almost all exports from Gaza when Gaza has a land border with Egypt?
'But it (Israel) still controls imports, maintains a complete air and naval blockade, severely restricts the movement of Palestinians, and bans almost all exports from Gaza.'
The BBC proud to stand with Hamas and against the truth.
Maybe it is because Egypt is the second biggest recipient of US aid (Isreal being the largest recipient) and if they don't uphold the ban the the aid would be withheld. The Egyptian military and police vehicles have 'sponsered by the US Govt' printed on them and from 78 to 2000 Egypts military received over $38b, basically as a bribe for being the first arab state to recognise Israel and signing the 1979 peace treaty. Some might say it is the US that continues to ban imports and exports to and from Gaza, but ultimate responsibility must be Mbarak who, given his popularity, may need that army he has amassed over the years.
ReplyDeleteI am less concerned by why Egypt upholds the blockade, although those reasons are most revealing in part as to how the Arab world views Palestinians. I am more concerned with the way the BBC pretend that Israel controls all ingress and egress from Gaza when that is manifestly not true.
ReplyDeleteYour reasoning is interesting; do you think Egypt should have recognised Israel? And if not, why not?
No problem with the recognition of Israel, even the PLO done that with signing the 1993 Oslo Peace Accord, it's the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state thats a ludicrous idea. Would you have to be Jewish to live there? Basically it would ruin the right of return for thousands of Palestinians to land that is recognised by the UN as theirs. I think the idea of a single state should be explored. What would you call it?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever read anything other than from the point of view of the Palestinians? The PLO, let's examine the PLO and Israel: March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:
ReplyDelete"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
Do you want a quotation from someone that you have heard of? OK on the same day Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993, he explained his actions on Jordan TV thus
"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."
If you were Israeli would you trust Fatah/PLO? What's wrong with ONE Jewish state, there are plenty of Islamic states?