Monday, January 11, 2010

British legislator George Galloway, leading the Viva Palestina convoy, is welcomed in Gaza late Wednesday. Photo: AP

They make really cool videos about all sorts of subjects - such as smuggling laundry detergent through tunnels between Gaza and Sinai; resisting the "occupation" by singing hip hop music; there's also one about a girls' soccer team.

The videos have found their way onto Ynet, a popular Hebrew news Web site.

THERE'S A revealing comparison to be made between the "siege" of Gaza and what is happening in Somalia, where the World Food Program this week was forced to abandon one million tormented people because Islamist gunmen have made it impossible for its staff to operate.

Naturally, the WFP also operates in the "Occupied Palestinian Territories" - that is, the area where the Palestinians refuse to create a demilitarized state of their own.

The WFP - through no fault of its own - is part of a web of international bodies that is enabling, rather than trying to overcome, dependency among Palestinians. For 60-years-plus, UN agencies have gone along with the Arab world's insistence that their Palestinian brethren remain perpetual refugees.

UNLIKE THE Somalis, the Palestinians have been fortunate in having Zionists for their enemies. How else could they attract celebrity politicians, like MP George Galloway, and superstar campaigners, like the International Solidarity Movement's Hedy Epstein, a hunger-striking 85-year-old lady who "survived" the Holocaust in London where she arrived in 1939 on the kindertransport.

Galloway's "Viva Palestina" procession left London on December 6 and arrived in El-Arish this week. He quickly picked a fight with the Egyptians over how many vehicles could enter Gaza from Sinai. Cops and activists threw sand at each other and fought with sticks.

The "Viva Palestina" spectacle was coordinated with Hamas, which needed a pretext to orchestrate an "intifada" against the anti-smuggling barrier Cairo has belatedly begun installing under the Philadelphi Corridor.

On the Gaza side of the border, Palestinians shot dead an Egyptian guard, as other guards opened fire on Palestinian rioters, critically wounding five.

Late Wednesday, Egypt allowed Galloway and 55 fellow travelers into Gaza, "bandaged, bleeding and bruised… because they tried to bring medicine to … people under siege in Gaza," said the intrepid British parliamentarian.

Too bad that Galloway and Epstein, along with the play-by-play Al-Jazeera coverage they engender, didn't drive their convoy of 150 truck and 500 international activists - self-satisfied Europeans, mostly, but also 17 Turkish legislators - straight to Somalia to face down the al-Shabab.

THE DIFFERENCE between Somalia and Gaza is that the people of Somalia are not only forgotten in the rubble, their desperation is… simply not interesting.

They are people without options.

Those responsible for their plight are Islamists, not Zionists or Westerners - though, for the Euro-Left, it's all America's fault somehow.

In stark contrast, the people of Gaza do have options that would end their misery.

They could stop supporting Hamas, which has mobilized their polity against coexistence with Israel; they could make peace among themselves and allow the comparatively moderate West Bank Palestinian leadership - which is recognized by the international community - back into the Strip. They could free IDF soldier Gilad Schalit whom they kidnapped in 2006. They could stop launching mortars against Israel's civilian population, as they repeatedly did this week. They could choose a two-state solution and accept that Jews also have a right to a homeland. They could end the "siege."

They could build instead of reveling in the rubble and in their victimization.

baadiyow @ 1/17/2010 3:03 PM EST   War HOL adinkaan meesha idiin qurxinnaa na sii daaya, OK

baadiyow @ 1/17/2010 2:57 PM EST   Tjaabo....

fiqicigaal @ 1/17/2010 11:06 AM EST  Stickow lol Iam talking about fighting for the rights of our nation first and foremost before we advocate for Palestine and that makes sense to many sensible people. However, Iam not any way trying to stop those who want to help others who are less fortunate and that itself is a good reflection to Islam, help thee neighbors whether they are in Haiti or my next door Jack or Ahmed or Guuleed in London or those who are suffering in ceelasha biyaha. But the truth of the matter is, there is no country that needs support and help than Somalia, a country that has been without a government for twenty odd years, its population half dead and half displaced with no peace and stability in sight. Let us be realistic and let us not try to be philosophical because no one on their right minds of Somali blood will ignore the plight of his/her own people in dire situation and argue about fairness and humanity when his own folks are ignored and neglected by all most the rest of the world. Don't try to be the samaritan for the whole world because there is little you can do, so why not do it for your kind, they deserve it. And speaking of sending some dollars to Haiti, don't you think your own starving people to be first and then perhaps Haiti or Palestine? Think about it my good man.

Stickorcarrot @ 1/17/2010 2:55 AM EST   Gacaliye Oo ma dameer baad ku haysataa Yurub? ;-) Sawirka waa arkay. Haddee Wiilashaa oday Xassan hor taagan haddii sawirkaa la raaco ee ka war hay! Tan kale, qolyihiinan reer Puntland, Amin Amri markaad rabtaana ma soo xiganaysaan markaad rabtaan ma ceebaynaysaan? Look at this http://www.puntlandpost.com/newspage.php?articleid=10109

Stickorcarrot @ 1/17/2010 2:34 AM EST  Fiqi This argument of us being in need and therefore we cannot defend anyone else's cause does not make sense. Yes we are suffering, yes we are short sighted, yes clan and religious factions are fighting among themselves and in the process destroying our society. You can fight for your cause while not being blind of the world around you. You know what is happening in Haiti. Do you say,I can't contribute $10 because my country is in shambles? No, you pay what you can while you do the same that much and more. The problem is not Palestine issue is much bigger than that. I know that and many more know that too, i just don't want to prolong this but i knew it all along. Baadiyow Waa runtaa Falastiin rag bay leedahay oo u maqan. Ani ma oran waxbaan u qabanaayaa ee ogow, in xaqoodii maqan yahay uun baan sheegay oo dulmi lagu hayo, taas baa loo qiri laayahay. As for Somalia, the immediate enemies are men working for outsiders knowingly and unknowingly and others who support them blindly either because of the traditional Somali way or other sinister agenda. I do neither. I support Somalia not any particular group. I liked your 1st message. I agree with you on that one.