Post by Teddy Bear on Jan 21, 2008 18:37:16 GMT
A common thread recently is minimising the fact of the Palestinians aggressively firing rockets into surrounding towns and cities in Israel, and focussing on the Israeli response.
It's bad enough that the Palestinians behave like the children that murder their parents and then claim pity because they are orphans, but what's far worse is the media and other supposed 'responsible' agencies pleading on their behalf.
To me it's a no brainer, if you want to avert a 'humanitarian' crisis, stop firing rockets at Israel or attacking Israelis. I'd go as far as to say if you don't want to be in need of aid to begin with, stop attacking your neighbour who holds the means to squeeze you in return.
But unfortunately we have journalists and media agencies like the BBC who have either 'no brains', or have long since departed from integrity to distort basic facts, and are willing to misrepresent the situation precisely with no accountability for terrorist actions.
If you believe that this only has repercussions for Israel then you should seriously reconsider. For our own national media to engage in this kind of tripe misrepresentation, and little or nothing to stop them, what do you think is our future?
Little wonder that our society has major problems with binge boozers, increasing violence, looming recession, general corruption from government down, what is there really to give the populace a sense of pride? No doubt it will be the next international football game, that's how sad it is.
In this most recent example, as a response to terrorists firing hundreds of rockets into Israel, it stopped allowing fuel shipments into Gaza. Bear in mind that Israel has continued to supply 70% of their electricity needs, with Egypt providing a further 4%. Even if the Gaza power plant can't generate, they receive enough power to certainly run essential services. This is NOT a humanitarian crisis, and all inconveniences would cease if Hamas would desist from firing rockets at Israel.
But as one BBC article puts it
Across the Gaza Strip, everyday goods are no longer everyday.
Hospitals are reporting a lack of drugs and parts for medical equipment. The price of chocolate, cigarettes and Coke has doubled, even trebled, because of the shortages.
Coke, cigarettes, and chocolate has gone up, that is indeed a crisis. I'm willing to bet that even so, Gazans still spend less for cigarettes now than we do here without a 'crisis'.
If you are in any doubt as to BBC anti-Israel bias, the following article will make it completely clear:
It's bad enough that the Palestinians behave like the children that murder their parents and then claim pity because they are orphans, but what's far worse is the media and other supposed 'responsible' agencies pleading on their behalf.
To me it's a no brainer, if you want to avert a 'humanitarian' crisis, stop firing rockets at Israel or attacking Israelis. I'd go as far as to say if you don't want to be in need of aid to begin with, stop attacking your neighbour who holds the means to squeeze you in return.
But unfortunately we have journalists and media agencies like the BBC who have either 'no brains', or have long since departed from integrity to distort basic facts, and are willing to misrepresent the situation precisely with no accountability for terrorist actions.
If you believe that this only has repercussions for Israel then you should seriously reconsider. For our own national media to engage in this kind of tripe misrepresentation, and little or nothing to stop them, what do you think is our future?
Little wonder that our society has major problems with binge boozers, increasing violence, looming recession, general corruption from government down, what is there really to give the populace a sense of pride? No doubt it will be the next international football game, that's how sad it is.
In this most recent example, as a response to terrorists firing hundreds of rockets into Israel, it stopped allowing fuel shipments into Gaza. Bear in mind that Israel has continued to supply 70% of their electricity needs, with Egypt providing a further 4%. Even if the Gaza power plant can't generate, they receive enough power to certainly run essential services. This is NOT a humanitarian crisis, and all inconveniences would cease if Hamas would desist from firing rockets at Israel.
But as one BBC article puts it
Across the Gaza Strip, everyday goods are no longer everyday.
Hospitals are reporting a lack of drugs and parts for medical equipment. The price of chocolate, cigarettes and Coke has doubled, even trebled, because of the shortages.
Coke, cigarettes, and chocolate has gone up, that is indeed a crisis. I'm willing to bet that even so, Gazans still spend less for cigarettes now than we do here without a 'crisis'.
If you are in any doubt as to BBC anti-Israel bias, the following article will make it completely clear:
UN says Gaza facing food shortage
Most of Gaza's 1.4m people depend on humanitarian aid
UN food aid to about 860,000 people in the Gaza Strip will have to be suspended within days if Israel's blockade continues, the UN has warned.
Spokesman Christopher Gunness said the UN relief agency UNWRA was running short of nylon for plastic bags and fuel for vehicles and generators.
Israel closed Gaza's borders last Thursday in response to rocket attacks by Gaza-based militants.
The EU says Israel is "collectively punishing" the Hamas-run territory.
Egypt has urged Israel to lift its border closure and the crisis is being discussed by the Arab League.
With fuel supplies hit by the blockade, Gaza's only power plant, which produces 27% of the territory's electricity needs according to a recent UN report, was shut down on Sunday night.
Israel says it is still providing power to Gaza, putting its current contribution at nearly 70%, while Egyptian power stations account for the remainder.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says that while Israel does not want to provoke a humanitarian crisis, it does want to make people's lives "uncomfortable".
In another development, overnight Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City area killed one Palestinian and injured several others. Israel said it had been targeting militants transporting rockets.
On Monday morning residents awoke to closed petrol stations and shuttered bakeries unable to bake bread - a staple food in Gaza.
Generators are being used to maintain critical power supplies to hospitals but there are fears that supplies of diesel could soon run out.
Mr Olmert insists the Israeli action is limited to cutting fuel supplies for vehicles.
"As far as I'm concerned, all the residents of Gaza can walk and have no fuel for their cars, because they have a murderous terrorist regime that doesn't allow people in the south of Israel to live in peace," he said.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Ary Mekell told the BBC on Monday that the energy crisis in Gaza was a "a fabrication and a stage production by Hamas".
"There is no shortage of electricity - we provide 70% of the electricity for Gaza through electric cables and this is nothing to do with the fuel supplies," he said.
GAZA'S ELECTRICITY SOURCES
Gaza uses 187 megawatts of electricity
Israel supplies 64% of this, and Egypt 9%
The remaining 27% is produced by Gaza's power station
Israel supplies the fuel oil for the Gaza power station
Source: UN report, May 2007
A report by the UN humanitarian affairs agency Ocha in May 2007 estimated that Israel supplied 64% of Gaza electricity, the local power station - 27%, and Egypt - 9%.
After decades of occupation, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but it still controls the territory's borders and supplies.
Hamas - branded a terrorist organisation by the Israel, the US and the EU - has been in charge of Gaza since June, when it drove out rivals Fatah.
More than 200 rockets and mortars have hit Israel from Gaza since an Israeli operation against militants on Tuesday that left 18 Palestinians dead, the Israeli military says.
Foreign concern
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak telephoned Mr Olmert to warn him of the humanitarian effects of the blockade, and urged him to "stop the Israeli aggression".
Israel says border closures will stop if the rocket attacks end
He also raised the possibility of reopening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Israel insists should remain closed.
Arab League officials gathered in Cairo for an emergency meeting but it is unclear what action it can take other than pushing for humanitarian relief.
The most significant action would be to reopen Gaza's crossing into Egypt but this would probably prove too controversial a step for the Egyptian government, the BBC's Ian Pannell reports.
In other reaction:
The UK said it did not support the Israeli blockade and called for all parties to work for the reopening of the crossings. Reports that electricity has been cut because of fuel shortages are particularly alarming, it said
International aid agency Oxfam said Gaza's water and sanitation system was "running on empty" with most pumps due to shut down by Tuesday
EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner spoke out against "this collective punishment of the people of Gaza" and called for an end to the blockade
Iran called on foreign ministers of Islamic states to convene on the crisis
Jordan said it was "deeply concerned" about Israeli "military violations" and Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora said Israel was escalating "racial discrimination... under the pretext of confronting Hamas"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most of Gaza's 1.4m people depend on humanitarian aid
UN food aid to about 860,000 people in the Gaza Strip will have to be suspended within days if Israel's blockade continues, the UN has warned.
Spokesman Christopher Gunness said the UN relief agency UNWRA was running short of nylon for plastic bags and fuel for vehicles and generators.
Israel closed Gaza's borders last Thursday in response to rocket attacks by Gaza-based militants.
The EU says Israel is "collectively punishing" the Hamas-run territory.
Egypt has urged Israel to lift its border closure and the crisis is being discussed by the Arab League.
With fuel supplies hit by the blockade, Gaza's only power plant, which produces 27% of the territory's electricity needs according to a recent UN report, was shut down on Sunday night.
Israel says it is still providing power to Gaza, putting its current contribution at nearly 70%, while Egyptian power stations account for the remainder.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says that while Israel does not want to provoke a humanitarian crisis, it does want to make people's lives "uncomfortable".
In another development, overnight Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City area killed one Palestinian and injured several others. Israel said it had been targeting militants transporting rockets.
On Monday morning residents awoke to closed petrol stations and shuttered bakeries unable to bake bread - a staple food in Gaza.
Generators are being used to maintain critical power supplies to hospitals but there are fears that supplies of diesel could soon run out.
Mr Olmert insists the Israeli action is limited to cutting fuel supplies for vehicles.
"As far as I'm concerned, all the residents of Gaza can walk and have no fuel for their cars, because they have a murderous terrorist regime that doesn't allow people in the south of Israel to live in peace," he said.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Ary Mekell told the BBC on Monday that the energy crisis in Gaza was a "a fabrication and a stage production by Hamas".
"There is no shortage of electricity - we provide 70% of the electricity for Gaza through electric cables and this is nothing to do with the fuel supplies," he said.
GAZA'S ELECTRICITY SOURCES
Gaza uses 187 megawatts of electricity
Israel supplies 64% of this, and Egypt 9%
The remaining 27% is produced by Gaza's power station
Israel supplies the fuel oil for the Gaza power station
Source: UN report, May 2007
A report by the UN humanitarian affairs agency Ocha in May 2007 estimated that Israel supplied 64% of Gaza electricity, the local power station - 27%, and Egypt - 9%.
After decades of occupation, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but it still controls the territory's borders and supplies.
Hamas - branded a terrorist organisation by the Israel, the US and the EU - has been in charge of Gaza since June, when it drove out rivals Fatah.
More than 200 rockets and mortars have hit Israel from Gaza since an Israeli operation against militants on Tuesday that left 18 Palestinians dead, the Israeli military says.
Foreign concern
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak telephoned Mr Olmert to warn him of the humanitarian effects of the blockade, and urged him to "stop the Israeli aggression".
Israel says border closures will stop if the rocket attacks end
He also raised the possibility of reopening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Israel insists should remain closed.
Arab League officials gathered in Cairo for an emergency meeting but it is unclear what action it can take other than pushing for humanitarian relief.
The most significant action would be to reopen Gaza's crossing into Egypt but this would probably prove too controversial a step for the Egyptian government, the BBC's Ian Pannell reports.
In other reaction:
The UK said it did not support the Israeli blockade and called for all parties to work for the reopening of the crossings. Reports that electricity has been cut because of fuel shortages are particularly alarming, it said
International aid agency Oxfam said Gaza's water and sanitation system was "running on empty" with most pumps due to shut down by Tuesday
EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner spoke out against "this collective punishment of the people of Gaza" and called for an end to the blockade
Iran called on foreign ministers of Islamic states to convene on the crisis
Jordan said it was "deeply concerned" about Israeli "military violations" and Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora said Israel was escalating "racial discrimination... under the pretext of confronting Hamas"
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