Mr. Olmert, Tear Down this Wall!
The Egyptian government mounted a small demonstration of defiance of the Olmert government in Israel on Thursday. Palestinians destroyed the blast walls that artificially box them in to the tiny, slummy Gaza Strip and cut them off from their natural markets in Egypt. Perhaps a fourth of Gaza's population then flooded into the nearby Egyptian city of Rafah to buy food and supplies, breaking the Israeli blockade on these innocent civilians.
Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, appears to have ordered Egyptian troops not to interfere, though he did try to block Palestinians from traveling into Egypt from Rafah.
Helena Cobban has insight and analysis on this issue, blaming the fiasco in part on Bush's recent clumsy visit to the region.
See also Richard Silverstein.
And here is the video:
posted by Juan Cole @ 1/24/2008 12:15:00 AM
|
Facebook
5 Comments:
Thanks so much for the link, Juan. I've also written 2 new posts about the Gaza situation:
Israel: Hamas Turned Gaza’s Lights Out by Choice
Gaza Breaks Israeli Blockade
I feel a little like Mort Sahl who used to love it when a horrible president took office because it gave him so much material for his act. The Israelis have unfortunately given us bloggers terrific material to write about.
You don't have to be a Palestinian to feel a tremendous surge of pride at seeing that hateful wall come down!
No complaints as long as the security fence stays up (though it should follows the green line).
The Gazans were forced out. That's right - forced(Why? Please see here and here).
We have see this sort of thing before:
Lebanon: Fatah Al Islam is the Mossad
[Fatah Al Islam engaged Lebanese government forces in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp]
In his interview on assafir today [Jan 24, 2008], Lebanon Army Commander Michel Suleiman said the following:
Israel is seeking various ways to target the army to get through the Lebanese resistance, the organization (Fatah Al Islam) is an extension of the Israeli Mossad....
Historian Joel Beinin is now based in Cairo and sent a letter about Gaza today (via Jewish Voice for Peace). He provides background, context and analysis that illuminate. Since I don't see it on the JVP website yet, I have reproduced it in its entirety on my blog:
Joel Beinin on Gaza
Post a Comment
<< Home