RUTHFULLY YOURS

The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable (or the other way round)

Which is more objectionable – George Galloway’s behaviour in Gaza, or the way the Guardian chose to report it?

It appears that clashes took place in Gaza today between Egyptian forces and a Viva Palestina ‘aid’ convoy, including George Galloway, which was bringing supplies to Gaza. In Hamas-inspired riots following the delay to the convoy, an Egyptian border guard was shot dead and several others injured, along with a number of Palestinians. It appears that Egypt has finally decide to put an end to the smuggling of weapons (along with food, electrical goods and just about everything under the sun) through the tunnels under its security wall with Gaza, and is trying to seal the border by constructing an underground steel wall to cut these tunnels off.

Note: Egypt’s security wall; Egypt’s attempt to seal it; because Egypt controls that border with Gaza; Egypt is ‘blockading’ Gaza.

But Galloway chose to blame not Egypt as the villain of the piece but… how did you guess?  It seems that Egypt had insisted that some of these supplies should enter Gaza via Israel – and it was that to which Galloway objected. He said:

‘We refused this,’ said Galloway. ‘It is completely unconscionable that 25% of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza. Because nothing that ever goes to Israel, ever arrives in Gaza.’

But of course this is totally untrue. According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since the end of Operation Cast Lead a year ago some 668,393 tons of aid and 100,645,680 litres of fuel have been delivered to Gaza:

Humanitarian aid to Gaza  has increased by close to 900 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year. Between 27-31 December 2009:

- 553 truckloads (10,900 tons) of humanitarian aid were transferred to the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom cargo terminal and the Karni conveyor belt. 
- 664,800 litres of heavy-duty diesel for the Gaza power station and 561 tons of cooking gas were delivered via the Kerem Shalom crossing and the Nahal Oz fuel depot.
- 353 Gaza residents entered Israel for medical reasons and 61 humanitarian cases crossed via the Erez Crossing.

Over the last nine days, Israel has permitted 704 trucks plus fuel and cooking gas to enter Gaza. The Viva Palestina convoy numbers about 150 trucks, about the same number that reaches Gaza every two days from Israel.

Yet the in its report on the Viva Palestina incident, the Guardian said this:

Israel’s strict blockade of Gaza, which has been in place for more than two years, prevents all exports and limits imports to a few humanitarian items. The policy has grown ever tighter since Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement, won parliamentary elections in early 2006 and then seized full security control of Gaza a year later.

But this is totally untrue The Viva Palestina convoy had nothing to do with the ‘humanitarian crisis’ (not) in Gaza. It was instead merely yet another propaganda stunt whose aim was to defame and vilify Israel – a project whose aim the Guardian appears to share. And now, as a result of the Galloway stunt, an Egyptian policeman lies dead. Elder of Zyon reports:

George Galloway’s ‘Viva Palestina’ convoy members started rioting in El Arish when the Egyptian government told them that some of the items that they planned to bring to Gaza must go through Israel. A security official said the vehicles in question are carrying pickup trucks, sedans, generators and other equipment, which are not allowed to pass through the Egyptian crossing at Rafah and had to go via Israel. Only medical aid and passengers are allowed through, the official said.

While the Galloway group insists that the rioting was started by plainclothes Egyptian policemen throwing rocks at the group, other reports have the group abducting four harbor police officers. As many as 15 police were injured. Palestine Press Agency reports that Egyptian TV showed injured Egyptian police, and said that police were injured by members of the convoy pelting them with rocks. It also adds that the agreement between the convoy and Egyptian authorities were that only buses would be allowed to enter, not private cars.

What wicked cynicism.