Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
| On May 14, 2010, the MV Rachel Corrie – “will join seven other vessels in the Mediterranean and sail to Gaza to deliver vitally needed construction, medical and school supplies to the imprisoned population of Gaza.” |  |
| On May 10, 2010, Gaza’s first Olympic-standard swimming pool – “was inaugurated at the As-Sadaka club during a ceremony on Tuesday held by the Islamic Society.” |
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More: What The Media Won’t Report About Gaza.
SDA Flashback – “This is what water theft looks like in this part of the world.”
To the imprisoned population of Gaza? When they dock, the only imprisoned population will be those aboard the ship; imprisoned by their own inability to see beyond the confines of their ideology.
So the MV Rachel Corrie is a trawler or some such? Somehow, I had visions of a vessel with a flat bottom. If you are naming your ship after the late St. Pancake, it seems fitting, you know.
Sorry, but I fail to see or understand the analogies of this thread.
It’s a fact that supplies – such as medicine, construction material, basic foods of grain etc, are imported into Gaza. It obviously doesn’t grow these supplies itself and Israel controls the borders.
It’s also a fact that their economy is minimal; the vegetable and fruit irrigation (greenhouse) agriculture is a key economy but dependent on Israeli border openings. A key problem is the lack of a private sector investor class; the area is dependent on external funds. (see the CIA data base).
And what’s so offensive about a swimming pool, and a focus on sports, competition in sports and such things? I’d think it is a strong response to youths who are vulnerable to Islamic radicalization.
Water? The amount for such a pool is minimal for the returns in youth health. Israel, for example, has at least 18 and more such pools; these don’t include the many hotels which all have their own pools, and the tens of thousands (yes, that’s right) of in-ground and particularly above-ground pools in Israel.
That doesn’t deny the reality that water is a key commodity and concern in the ecological reality of the Middle East – in every country of the ME. And as such, it becomes a political concern, as it has in the fight over the W. Bank. I’ve posted links before, of scholarly articles examining the water situation in the whole Middle East.
Surely, this thread isn’t going to declare that IF Gaza puts in a swimming pool, THEN this means that water is no longer a primary concern in Israel-Palestine. That can’t be the argument.
Equally, one cannot conclude that Israel’s many official swimming pools, hotel pools and private pools, denies the reality that water and its control is a vital political item in the ME.
So, what’s the point of this thread?
Nice swimming pool they have in that there refugee camp.
ET,
I humbly suggest that if they can build a brand new Olympic sized pool they arent as imprisoned as the press release on the Rachel Corrie suggests.
I am sure Gaza isnt Heaven on earth, for a host of reasons, but it clearly isnt an Israeli created and stoked Hell either.
And I am glad they are building pools, these are the things local governments usually spend their time and money on, not rockets etc. I would encourage them to continue on this path and maybe Gaza would be a place worth living in, rather than glancing over the fence at what the Israeli’s have built.
“The political will to combat corruption is still weak, as responsible parties continued to reflected reluctance in bringing senior officials suspected in being involved in corruption cases to justice. Moreover, political parties and factions continue to disregard the importance of combating corruption, let alone the PLC’s paralysis and the non-renewal of its legitimacy which led to weakening oversight on the government’s work and not subjecting the General Budget to any formal accountability in terms of the constitutional system…..
About 43.7% of respondents said there were people outside Palestine who receive a monthly salary from the PA budget and do not do any government work in Palestine or abroad while according to 59.5% of those surveyed, there are people inside Palestine receiving a monthly salary from the PA budget who are never in their workplace. ”
3w.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases_nc/2010/2010_05_08_palestine_report
Sucks to have blinders on.
Palistinian is portrayed as an enslaved oppressed people dying of thirst. I will not dispute they are oppressed but I do not have solid convictions of who the oppressors are. The media has no doubt. Isreal must protect it’s borders. I read recently of missile attacks. Isreal knows the eyes of the world are on it. Palestine can play the victiIt’s the PR. The scow taking building materials looks more like a stunt then real aid. The m card like a violin.
I don’t think it is the actual Palistinians that choose the life they have. Their leadership demands it.
Sorry, stephen, but I don’t see what a swimming pool, donated and built by, of course, external funds, has to do with an ‘imprisoned economy’.
The pool, its funding, its operation, has nothing to do with the day to day economy of Gaza and I think it is a cynical tactic to even suggest that it has a relation.
The fact is, that 70% of the Gaza population live below poverty; and that there is little development of an economic infrastructure. The basis, as noted by CIA and others, is the greenhouse fruits and vegetables and a textile industry. But the entire economy of Gaza is dependent on the movement of goods, supplies and services in and out of the country – and this movement is controlled by Israel. This therefore has nothing to do with a swimming pool or with the reality of water in the Middle East.
The M V Rachel Corrie ? Where is that North Korean sub when you really need it?
You have to give it to the dino-media for at least persistance. THey are still convinced they control public conciousness and they create reality.
They give us happy face communist hegemony
They gave us anti-gun, anti-self defense hysteria
They gave us AGW hysteria
They gave us president Barry Soetoro unvetted by the media
They give us no-borders Illegal alien invasion apologia
They give us happy face Jihadism and Gaza-gate
When you look at the record the MSM has been the prime source of the greatest frauds of the past 30 years. We would already have been led into a bankrupt dystopian hell by corrupt leaders following media driven protocols were it not for the public illuminating alternate media the internet and talk radio provides.
This is what happens when the 4th estate becomes the 5th column.
Maybe if they didn’t waste money on an Olympic size swimming pool in an arid land, they could free up resources to help lift some of those 70% out of poverty.
I would imagine it takes a wack load of dollars to build, run and maintain an Olympic size swimming pool.
Yeah, they’re f***ing SURROUNDED by Israel.
Try reading the links, before indulging in your reflexive apologia for another wannabe terrorist state.
ET- Get with the program. Israel = good. Palestinians = bad/evil. One deserves everything – the other just about deserves to live (though I suspect plenty here believe otherwise).
Apparently building swimmings pools is directly correlated with medical/essential supplies. Stephen probably believes that external funding should be put towards improving the day to day economy of Gaza. Which makes sense, except it can’t be used to improve the day to day economy. It can only be used to improve living conditions – hence the pool. What else can they do? Use the funding to build a factory that will make goods that have no consumers? Its not like they can export the stuff. And most of the people living there can’t afford it either. I’m not doing a very good job of explaining the economics, but I am sure you will be able to figure it out. The money can only be used to develop infrastructure – and that will yield only a very marginal benefit to a community that is not allowed to trade. They can’t improve efficiency etc because they have no trade. Efficiency is determined by demand and supply factors. Demand is low, because of rampant poverty. Supply is – well – dependent on boats. Perhaps they should build a pharmaceutical factory in there? The idea of chemicals being shipped into the Gaza strip will go down well with the Israelis.
I found the flashback to the water theft link very amusing. The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are geographically isolated. The article was about water supplies in the West Bank. How in the world does that relate to water supply in the Gaza strip. Has Israel allowed the Palestinians to build exclusive water tanks carrying water between the two regions through Israel? I somehow doubt it.
I was surprised by the footage of the young Rachel
Corrie: a singularly ugly mouth.
Gaza seems to get what it wants: AK 47s, RPG rounds,
swimming pools, coverage as a victim in the
international press, nice food in nice restaurants.
“I found the flashback to the water theft link very amusing.”
You’re going to have to think a little harder, I guess.
If you took the total amount of “aid” money that is sent to Gaza each year, which is in the billions, and divided that amount by the number of Gazans, each Gazan would be richer than most people on earth. Problem is, almost all of the money gets siphoned off by the corrupt Gazan gatekeepers. The enemy is not the US or Israel or Santa Clause or short skirts or cartoons as the “victims” and the BBC would have you believe. The reason Gaza is a shit hole is because of the way Gazans run Gaza.
Kate –
“Yeah, they’re f***ing SURROUNDED by Israel.”
One of the links you provide – the NRO one – states lumps the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank together. That is incorrect. They are separate entities governed by separate civic bodies. And they are geographically isolated. Crowded markets in the West Bank do not make Gaza prosperous.
For what its worth, Israel has already made it clear that it won’t be allowing the aid ships to get to Gaza.
““While they have wrapped themselves in a humanitarian cloak, they are engaging in political propaganda and not in pro-Palestinian aid,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said today in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.”
Also, Gaza is not surrounded by Israel. They have one fancy restaurant patronised by Hamas officials. So what? How is that reflective of the fact that the majority of the people of Gaza are impoverished. What next? New Yorks five star restuarants are indicative of a lack of poor people in their state? I found this particular anecdote particularly hilarious:
” I just called the club in Gaza City and had a nice chat with the manager who proudly confirmed business is booming and many Palestinians and international guests are dining there.”
I don’t think any manager anywhere in the world in his right mind would say anything else to a random person calling in. He’s getting free publicity and hes using it.
Well-stocked shops are apparently indicative that the Israelis are letting things get in. It obviously has nothing to do with the lucrative illegal trade along the Egyptian border. And of course, the well-stocked nature of these shops has nothing to do with the fact that most people can’t afford the goods in there.
We know now that Israel won’t be allowing the medical/essential/humanitarian stuff in. What does it mean in the grand context? It means that drugs will get in illegally. And they will go to the wealthy. But to the vast majority – who are impoverished – well they can go to hell. Its their fault they re poor right. It has nothing to do with the conspicuous absence of open trade.
And please dont confuse regular trade with illegal trade. Regular trade involves all goods. Illegal trade tends to focus on profitable goods. Most people in Gaza dont work in industries that produce the kind of goods illegal traders would consider profitable.
There are so many economic fallacies in this thread, I could go on for days.
Somewhere, some time me thinks ET got kicked out of a kibbutz. It has to be some reason a normally sane and logical regular commenter would have such a hate on for Israel.
Just a passing comment from someone who hasn’t been to anywhere in the Middle East. I hear the tourism in Yemen is doing great.
“It obviously has nothing to do with the lucrative illegal trade along the Egyptian border.”
Holy SH*T! Gaza has a border with Egypt???! Then let the goods flow baby! Arab to Arab trade! Yeehaw! Arab brothers helping out Arab brothers! Yeah!
Like when Jordan controlled the West Bank and Palestinians didn’t have to live in refugee camps and the other Arab states all chipped in to help, Egypt will obviously help the Gazans and free them from the Israeli oppression!
LOL… rat. Thanks for saving me the trouble. *sigh*
I don’t understand. Is this the same Gaza that destroyed donated greenhouses and fired rockets on Israel?
Almost all the original Palestinian “refugees” were actually Jordanian citizens that Jordon found a way to get rid of . . .
The Palestinians, for the most part are despised in the Middle East, despite being very useful political pawns used by the real Arabs to get at Israel.
It must really suck being born Palestinian.
But at least now they have a pool to cool down in.
the rat – I ask the following question with complete sincerity:
How much do you know about the Israel-Palestine situation?
“Arab to Arab trade! Yeehaw! Arab brothers helping out Arab brothers! Yeah!”
Logical on the face of it, but a little burying reveals a very ill-informed statement.
I will try and spell it out for you.
Hamas = radical Islamists.
Egypt = dictatorial regime that is fighting a major battle with radical Islamists. Think Aswan, assassination of Anwar Sadat etc.
Egypt = one of the largest recievers of US Aid (democracy be damned, as usual). Aid contingent on toeing Israeli line.
Now start putting two and two together. A dictator decides to take foreign aid and changes his country’s policy. To top it off, he and the Israelis have a common enemy – the radical Hamas. Even if we assume that there is Arabic solidarity and that Egyptians want to trade with Gaza, we have to factor in the fact that the dictator doesn’t give a damn. Is he representative of all Arab sentiment? That depends on whether Kim Jong-il is representative of ALL Korean sentiments.
Should the Egyptian people overthrow him? I don’t think they would be particularly successful against his well-funded and equipped military. Guess who funded them?
I will let you carry out the permutations yourself, but you would be well-advised to avoid commenting on issues you have no understanding of.
Also, you will note that Kate, not I, was under the impression that all of ‘Palestine’ is (bleep)ing surrounded by Israel. Rocket Science -this is not.
Crowded markets in the West Bank do not make Gaza prosperous.
The NRO-linked pictures of crowded markets are from Gaza. I’m sure you could go on for days with similar mistakes.
Also, you will note that Kate, not I, was under the impression that all of ‘Palestine’ is (bleep)ing surrounded by Israel.
You need new batteries in your sarcasm detector.
Waterhouse,
Yes I am aware that the picture was from Gaza. And the only person in there was a foreigner. It hardly looked crowded. In fact theres only two other people there – one of whom is probably her local guide.
But please, dont let the facts get in the way of your dogmatic antipathy.
By the way, I’ve seen some fascinating pictures of well-stocked stores in Pyongyang. I suspect that means that the vast majority of the people there are not, in fact, starving.
Oh my bad, I saw the pictures you were talking about. But apart from the bloggers insistence that Palestine Today is based in Gaza, I have seen nothing to suggest that those pictures were in fact taken in Gaza. Beyond, of course, the blogger’s word for it. And he obviously doesn’t have an agenda.
And a cursory glance at the Palestine Today Website reveals the following:
“Welcome to Palestinetoday.org
This site currently exhibits photographs from the occupied Palestinian Territories. The images are meant to show the daily life of people living in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza – Palestine.”
Given that this site shows pictures from BOTH the West Bank and Gaza, I am a bit suspicious about the claims that the NRO blogger makes and the sites he links to. Those may well have been pictures from the West Bank being passed off as pictures from Gaza.
And yes, I believe that bloggers are as capable of cheating as the MSM.
Those may well have been pictures from the West Bank being passed off as pictures from Gaza.
Don’t let the facts get in the way of dogmatic antipathy, you free-thinking superstar.
okay banyan, so you get that the palestinians have a border with egypt, and you get that egypt wants nothing to do with radical islam. then why are you insisting that its Israel’s responsibility to trade and look after them. why should they and not egypt?
Banyan, wow, I did not know any of that. Anwar who?
But you haven’t mentioned how the Israelis are also responsible for the West Bank. Until ’67 the Palestinians were well treated by Jordan, the milk and honey flowed from all that Arab brotherhood and love. It was the Israelis who invaded and forced all of them into refugee camps but only those that were left after Jordan threw open their borders and let the masses of Palestinians flee to the safety of Jordan, and Syria, Iraq and the UAE, and all the other welcoming Arab nations.
The Israelis are totally using the Egyptians as puppets, I mean after years of being a Soviet client state and waging several wars against Israel the Egyptians are now just poodles to the Israeli George Bush. Please tell me I’m right about how the Israelis are totally responsible for the West Bank, too. Please?
Will females be allowed to use the pool and learn to swim? Because every time I hear about some overloaded Malaysian ferry sinking, practically all the women drown because they are forbidden from learning to swim I bet if we all put on our thinking caps we can guess who/what forbids them!
Banyan must be one of those new fangled government webpost misimformation straightener-outers hired by our PC government to straighten out the trooth from us non-PC posters.
Russ Graham
“its Israel’s responsibility to trade and look after them. why should they and not egypt?”
Hope you’re not holding your breath waiting for an intelligent response to that question.
banyan
yup you gots it rite, those Islamists are the debil, and the Joos did NOT install them
facts it things were rolling along pretty good till about 1999, I’ll let you guess wot took place at that time, but I’ll inform you that Arafat was not a JOO
if you look north from the Gaza, you may see Lebanon, a country that used to be quite sucessfull, but so much any more, did the Joos destroy Lebanon also???
and one more thing, I have a friend who was born and raised in Ledanon, and she’d laugh at your ignorance. Fact is, she would also laugh at ET’s ignorance, as she has said several times, that it is the mental state of the inhabitants of the middle east (‘cept for most Jews), and that applies more so to the male population. They, the arabs, destroyed lebanon, the advances that were occuring until 1999 in the west bank and the gaza, and hamper any and all advances anywere in the middle east. So why don’t people like you and ET talk to those who have lived and left, and find the truth!!!
PS: and yes, Iv worked with several, well educated, individuals who were from the ME
“If you pop into the Roots Club in Gaza, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook, you can “dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu.”
Shurely shome mishtake! Chicken Cordon Bleu is made with the delicious and deliciously haram pig product known as ham, lightly smoked and quite delightful with the accompanying Swiss (no minarets!) cheese.
This one has ZOG written all over it.
ET is a fool on the Israel-Islamofascist file, but she’s consistently been so.
okay banyan, so you get that the palestinians have a border with egypt, and you get that egypt wants nothing to do with radical islam. then why are you insisting that its Israel’s responsibility to trade and look after them. why should they and not egypt?
– Russ Graham
Exactly right, Russ. Re-read Banyan’s post. It’s absolutely unintentionally, earnestly, sneeringly hilarious. It’s basically, Arab bad, Arab bad, Arab bad … but … wait for it .. it’s Israel’s responsibility to commit suicide to help the improverished Gazans, who voted in a party whose charter openly calls for the destruction of Israel and of course non-islamist Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan.
Sounds to me like the Palestinians are better off than the people living in downtown Vancouver’s East Side.
Yeah given the opportunity Hamas and those nice folk in Gaza would not do another holocaust like the nazis—-it would be more like Rwanda….
Yeah Jordan and Eygpt are not fans of the Palis….but it’s more than political…more like racism…..a bit like some US southerners discriminate against “white-trash”.
but then bear in mind the Jordanians and Eygptians are not encumbered by the “Palestinian” myth….they know it’s BS.
Prior to Gulf I, the Saudi’s and Gulf arabs were officially indifferent about the so-called ‘Palestinians” and employed them as civil servants and their armies employed them to maintain their vehicles. Saudi’s drive tanks, like to shoot but not to soil their hands by greasing and changing oil. Then the Pali’s openly sypathized with Saddam, Bedoin bigotry towards the Palis was popular and the Pali’s were sent packing to “Palestine”.
This swelled the population and ended remitances…many unemployed and these had enjoyed lucrative employment….
i certainly hope them little kids aswimming are properly segregated as to sex…and schismatic sect within the Islamic whirld….
it’s vital damnit…and the water in the pool…?…where does the goddamn water come from…?…the Jewish side of the Jordan or the Hamas side…?
goddamnit they wanted me to worry about shit like this and I AM…
Just so, sasquatch.
Same thing happened in Iraq after the success of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.
The Palis supported Saddam’s tyranny over the Shiite majority in Iraq, even though Palis are Shia, and after the liberation the Iraqis turfed them out of their country too.
A better name for these people would be Minions rather than Palestinians.
With the Middle East region contains the countries of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, etc and covers an area of about 250000 square miles (647500 square kilometers).
Ironically you’d think Muslim types would donate part of that land to their Gaza brothers in need to form a new country while they work out Gaza and Israel coexistence.
Oh sorry, update:
The Middle East region contains the countries of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
The total area of the listed countries, based upon data from the 2009 CIA World Factbook, is 2,385,315 square miles or 6,177,937 square kilometers.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/countrylisting.html
Dang, dead link, try this:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/region/region_mde.html
“Surely, this thread isn’t going to declare that IF Gaza puts in a swimming pool, THEN this means that water is no longer a primary concern in Israel-Palestine. That can’t be the argument.
Equally, one cannot conclude that Israel’s many official swimming pools, hotel pools and private pools, denies the reality that water and its control is a vital political item in the ME.”
I don’t think this is about water at all. I think the analogy is to the ghetto family who doesn’t have enough money to buy food or proper clothing but has enough to have a brand new 50 inch plasma tv. Its about priorities.
A swimming pool is probably a good thing for a community but Olympic sized pools cost CONSIDERABLY more than regular pools. Not as sexy though.
Its about priorities.
Yeah.
Now they have the facilities to do that serious large scale waterboarding of all the Israelis they dream about kidnapping day and night.
Whenever I’m entertained by such hyperbole I often think how satisfying it would be to actually be guilty of what I’m charged with.
Oppressed, starving, dehydrated and terrified Palestinians, all of a sudden, sounds like a rather appealing idea. Thanks for the suggestion! Why didn’t we think of that before?
It’s not that I resent being called a “Nazi” when in fact I’m not. I’m insulted they think that I, as a Nazi, am not more capable in my job.
I was sent this link. I seldom come here because the hate is overwhelming.The story is fake. It shows the length Israel will use clean their image as an apartheid regime. The blog about the restaurants and luxury shops etc.: bogus. Click on the links: ambiguous and without proof. These portrayals of life in Gaza are lies. Please collaborate the story with another source, such as a major Israeli newspaper. These lies are part of Israel’s propaganda program “Hasbara”. Ilan Shturman, the deputy director of the ministry’s Hasbara department said that “during the [the recent Gaza bombing] war the ministry had concentrated its activities on European websites where audiences were more hostile to Israeli policy. High on its list of target sites for the new project would be BBC Online and Arabic websites, he added.” (Haartz), a large Jewish newspaper.
Please prove me wrong. It would mean the suffering of the people of Gaza is non existent. I’d like that to be the case.
Thanks for braving the hate gerry Hawke.
Propaganda is a perfectly valid, necessary tool of war. All states use it.
Israel is a rank amateur. They could learn a great deal from the Arab-Muslim world. Check out all the Pallywood Productions most notably the Al Durah blood libel. And oh, and all the other blood libels running in the Arab world. You are aware, I presume, that Israel went to Haiti to harvest human organs?
Your use of the word “apartheid” is the result of a hugely successful propaganda operation by the western LEFT. Totally, unequivocally BOGUS.
Propaganda is like advertising. Not all propaganda is LIES. Some propaganda is TRUE. It’s really advocacy of your position — getting out your side of the story. An attempt to garner empathy for your position and also to boost morale on your side.
Israel needs to get a whole lot better at this to counter the massively anti-Israel propaganda in the Arab-Muslim world, the UN, the EU, western universities (from which the “apartheid” BS came) the media including the world’s biggest, the BBC.
Finally, I was a teenager in 1967. I vividly remember the world’s extremely positive view of Israel’s victory. It’s KBG-created propaganda including the invention the “Palestinian People” that turned world opinion massively anti-Israel. And you’re a useful idiot (which doesn’t mean you’re unintelligent, just a sucker).
And Hamas and Fatah and all their hard left western supporters don’t hate!!??
Please confirm the pool is true. That’s all I’m asking. Any story should be verified at least one other reputable source. Show me this pool exists and I’ll change my opinion on the Gaza siege and the oppression of the Palestinians. I can’t change your mind on Israel or Palestine and I won’t try. If the pool is real you can change my mind.