Egypt has rejected a request to allow activists to march across the border into the Gaza Strip to mark the anniversary of last year's conflict.Mondoweiss have been on the story for a while, and Phil Weiss has apparently gone to Egypt, perhaps to convince the Egyptians it's bad PR for them to be on Israel's side, I don't know. Recently they posted a letter from the organizers of the march to President Mubarak, which contains a number of fine demonstrations of pure Orwellian Newspeak:
The Egyptian foreign ministry said the march could not be allowed because of the "sensitive situation" in Gaza.
Over 1,000 activists from 42 countries had signed-up to join "the Gaza freedom march" planned for next week.
Egypt warned that anyone attempting the crossing from Egypt would be "dealt with by the law".
As individuals who believe in justice and human rights, we have spent our hard-earned, and sometimes scarce, resources to buy plane tickets, book hotel rooms and secure transportation only to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza living under a crushing Israeli blockade...I don't know if the Egyptians will relent in the end or not (if so it must be this week). One way or the other, they have already disproved the central tenet of the demonstrators, namely that Israel and Israel alone is to blame for everything and anything. Not that you'd ever know this from listening to the putative demonstrators.
It is practically impossible, this late in the game, to stop all these people from travelling to Egypt, even if we wanted to. Moreover, most have no plans in Egypt other than to arrive at a predetermined meeting point to head together to the Gaza border. If these plans are cancelled there will be a lot of unjustified suffering for the Palestinians of Gaza and over a thousand internationals who had nothing in mind but noble intentions. (My italics)
8 comments:
MFA Report on aid going into Gaza:
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Hamas+war+against+Israel/Increased_humanitarian_aid_Gaza_after_IDF_operation_Jan_2009.htm
"We have spent our hard-earned, and sometimes scarce, resources to buy plane tickets, book hotel rooms and secure transportation only to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza..."
As if they were INVITED to Egypt.
Lisa
I would love to seem them dealt with by the Egyptians they way Egyptians usually deal with lawbreakers!!
I really hope they are stupid enough to try it on.
But that's why thy pick on Israel - they know it would never treat them the way Egypt will.
One way or the other, they have already disproved the central tenet of the demonstrators, namely that Israel and Israel alone is to blame for everything and anything.
Oh please.
It isn't all that difficult and doesn't take that much imagination to believe that Egypt is merely kowtowing to the Zionists and their American puppets.
(We're, of course, talking about conspiracy theorists and haters of the first order, who have been honing their skills for years.)
We already know that the Zionists control the world. Walt and Mearsheimer have already proven that the Zionists control America, and Peter Oborne has confirmed that the Zionists also control Britain.
The Arabs and their friends are gleeful because their most cherished beliefs are confirmed; and Obama's foreign policy is bent on showing that he is pushing back against those ubiquitous and wicked Zionists who have hijacked....well, everything.
(This is why the whole world is so enamored by the Obama regime's foreign policy---or at least by his effort!!.... Don't you know how difficult it is to counter the Zionists?? No wonder he's having trouble.... And we haven't seen nothin' yet....)
And so, it shouldn't be all that difficult to insist that Bibi and the Likudniks (and the power-hungry groupies) are running Egypt. (No wonder the Egyptians are so unhappy, eh?)
You're looking for rational responses? Well, good luck on that.
here are my personal candidates for world domination
http://www.slate.com/id/2238088/
but I wouldn't rule out the Orthodox or Islam, after all all three of them have a record of knowing how dominating the world for centuries at a time is done which the Zionists haven't manage yet.
And the knowledge of past grandeur seems to be a strong motivator for striving to re-establish the golden times.
So in my book blaming the Zionists is just the favourite smoke screen of the ones really aspiring to Elder-dom which due to their skills in combining sanctimoniousness with a very real will and great patience to revive lapsed powers makes them very dangerous INSTITUTIONS.
There is a German church history professor, Robert Lill, an obviously very devout catholic who by now sounds aghast at the way the church is presently shifting away from Vatican 2. And the news I manage to hear from the Russian Orthodox are not a bit better. To me it seems like the "revival" of Islam makes them all jumpy and strive for the old "glories".
Why am I so paranoid about them? Simple I was a teenager in the 50s in Germany when the churches were still able to instill very rational fear that any waywardness would send one into a correction home (I remember no such interference from the Zionists ...)
rgds,
Silke
"We have spent our hard-earned, and sometimes scarce, resources to buy plane tickets, book hotel rooms and secure transportation only to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza..."
Why are they wasting their money on these things when they should be buying real aid for "starving" Gazans and shipping it through existing, open and working channels?
Oh, yes. I forgot. Gaza isn't starving. It's all about anti-Israel publicity stunts.
They're hypocrites, plain and simple.
Guys I know you don't get to Egypt much but I expect you understand the arab mindset pretty well so can anyone answer this for me.....
Has this mob not just handed Egypt a huge insult? A small army has flown in uninvited and started making demands on the Egyptian authorities. I'm picturing the Egyptians being highly offended at what seems to be an attack on their sovereignty by outsiders. It really does seem the height of arrogance, will Egypt see it that way?
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I can't see the Egyptians being very co-operative after the way this mob have treated them so patronisingly.
Gavin,
I'm not enough of an expert on Egypt to know,but today's NYT article does have some interesting additions to the story. Apparently the Egyptians were quite clear in advance they weren't going to let these folks into Gaza, but they came anyway hoping they could twist Egyptian arms. The Egyptian foreign minster seems to be peeved.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/world/middleeast/30egypt.html
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