Under the headline ‘Gaza’s spiral into anarchy’, the BBC’s Alan Johnston helpfully explains that it’s all still the Israelis’ fault even though they’re not actually there any more:-
‘This society has been radicalised and traumatised by its confrontation with the Israelis, who occupied Gaza decades ago and only evacuated their settlers and troops last summer.
‘Thousands of Palestinians have been killed, injured or lost their homes during years of violence.
‘There are numerous armed factions that used to channel their violent energies into attacks on the Israelis - but they now have little on which to focus.’
Might disarmament be an option here? Sorry, silly me. In that case, here’s my suggestion for restoring that all-important focus: simply distribute several thousand life-size cardboard cutouts depicting Israeli soldiers and settlers around Gaza.
Any NGOs who can help with the funding and logistics are welcome to contact me. I think it would also be a most appropriate project for the European Union to support.
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2 comments:
Be fair, Cyrus. The last sentence of the article quotes a Palestinian editor making the point that the present situation is worse than the occupation.
Anne, good point, and I agree that I have been less than fair to the article taken as a whole. But in the passage I quote Alan Johnston is endorsing precisely the 'blame Israel' attitude which Hafiz Barghouti rejects.
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