Gaza: Donate Now!
posted by Gert @ 5:39 PM
4 comments
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The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both - Vaclav Havel
Friday, January 02, 2009
About Me
- Name: Gert
- Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Born to Annoy: Liberals, Conservatives and RINOs alike!
Previous Posts
- Gaza - I/P conflict
- We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas
- Operation Lead Balloon: some likely consequences
- Israeli patrol boat rams US aid "ship"
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4 Comments:
I find it quite telling that Free Gaza's mission statement and Gaza info section don't mention Hamas and Qassams. Like most pro-Palestinian organizations it blames Israel entirely for the whole situation, both in Gaza and the West Bank. There's a total lack of context here.
It also calls the Palestinian right of return an individual right that cannot be negotiated by anyone but the individuals themselves. This stance makes them more extreme on this issue than many other pro-Palestinian groups. Their ideology fits Hamas perfectly.
This isn't about ideology, no matter how hard you might try and make it about that: it's about getting aid to a besieged people.
No human rights organisation I might suggest here would meet with your approval. If you have one to suggest, do it here and I might amend the post.
"There's a total lack of context here."
The context you want here is of course the Israeli-approved type of context.
By your logic, even independent human rights organisations, need the seal of approval by Israel.
"This stance makes them more extreme on this issue than many other pro-Palestinian groups. Their ideology fits Hamas perfectly."
Here you sound almost like Bill Cunningham, trying to connect Khalidi to Obama, in his "Gass the Jews clip". (Listen to it, it's seriously funny, if you haven't already)
"No human rights organisation I might suggest here would meet with your approval. If you have one to suggest, do it here and I might amend the post."
There are plenty of human rights organizations that I wouldn't object to, even if I don't entirely agree with all of what some of them do. UNRWA and B'Tselem are two examples.
My problem with Free Gaza is that I worry that donations will not only go to aid, but will also be used to promote their radical political agenda.
"The context you want here is of course the Israeli-approved type of context."
Of course I don't expect a pro-Palestinian group to put the situation in "Israeli-approved" or evenhanded journalistic-style context. I do expect an honest aid group to show some kind of context, but from their viewpoint.
For example, they can mention that Israel started the "siege" after "Hamas won free and fair elections" or that "Israel attacked Gaza with the excuse of stopping home-made, largely harmless, rocket fire on Israel". I don't agree with this kind of context, but at least it doesn't present Palestinians as totally passive.
I expect the same of pro-Israel organizations. They should mention the fact that the border crossings are closed, for example. If a pro-Israel group totally fails to mention any context, I'd be inclined to think it is a radical far right wing organization.
"Here you sound almost like Bill Cunningham, trying to connect Khalidi to Obama"
Okay, I should have written that their ideology specifically on the issue of the right of return fits Hamas perfectly.
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