Gaza igen

Gaza verkar vara en av vår tids stora mediabluffar. Det kommer ständigt på nytt rapporter om den katastrofala situationen i Gaza men samtidigt finns det information som säger att situationen inte alls är så dålig. Jämfört med situationen på flera ställen i Afrika där människor svälter ihjäl och i bästa fall bor i ett tält verkar situationen i Gaza var rätt normal. Ett stort problem är naturligtvis att området styrs med järnhand av en terroristorganisation.
Här följer några artiklar som behandlar Gaza:

Fancy restaurants and Olympic-size pools: What the media won’t report about Gaza (Tom Gross National Post)
"In recent days, the international media, particularly in Europe and the Mideast, has been full of stories about “activist boats sailing to Gaza carrying desperately-needed humanitarian aid and building materials...
Indeed the BBC and other prominent Western media regularly lead their viewers and readers astray with accounts of a non-existent “mass humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
What they won’t tell you about are the fancy new restaurants and swimming pools of Gaza, or about the wind surfing competitions on Gaza beaches, or the Strip’s crowded shops and markets. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live a middle class (and in some cases an upper class) lifestyle that western journalists refuse to report on because it doesn’t fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write."Read more

Här finns websidan till en lyxrestaurang i Gaza som beskrivs i artikeln ovan. Artikelförfattaren hade ett samtal med direktören för resturangen som sade att affärerna går bra.

Fotografier från Gaza

UNRWA to Receive Dollars - but for What? (Hillel Fendel, Arutz Sheva)
"Once again, with the approval of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel has allowed UNRWA in Gaza to receive a transfer of $12.5 million, in dollars. Hamas apparently makes a percentage on these monies.
However, in view of the fact that all transactions in Gaza take place in NIS (New Israeli Shekels), the question has been raised: What does UNRWA do with these dollars?
Arutz Sheva’s Shimon Cohen found that the money is deposited in the Postal Bank of Gaza, which is run by Hamas. Hamas then apparently changes the dollars into new Israeli shekels – and then sells the dollars on the Egyptian black market, where the rate is much higher. Hamas makes money on every transfer of dollars to UNRWA.
Evidence of this is seen, Cohen quoted an economic researcher as saying, in the fact that Hamas pays its own salaries very shortly after the UNRWA dollars reach Gaza. “Hamas sometimes has cash-flow problems,” Cohen says, “and complains that it can’t pay its salaries – but then, when the UNRWA dollars come, all of a sudden it can pay!”

UNRWA and UNHCR are the UN’s two organizations that deal with refugees around the world. UNHCR deals with millions of refugees all over the world, while UNRWA deals exclusively with the Arab refugees caused by Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. One difference between these two types of refugees is that UNHCR counts as refugees only those who lived in a particular place “from time immemorial” and were forced to leave because of war, totalitarian regimes and the like. UNRWA’s definition, however, is: "Every Arab who left Israel in 1948, and who lived there for two years [emphasis added], will also be considered a refugee - he and his descendants.”
This means, although it is not known to most people, that an “Arab refugee" who lived in what became the State of Israel for only two years up until 1948, and since then acquired American or other citizenship, is still listed on UNRWA books as a “refugee” – and his children and grandchildren as well.
UNHCR employs 6,300 people, one for every 2,803 refugees, while UNRWA employs 28,000 people - one for every 164 refugees."


GPO advises foreign journalists on luxurious Gaza restaurant
In a bid to stir awareness of anti-Israeli slants in foreign media coverage of Gaza, the Government Press Office sent an e-mail on Wednesday to members of the Foreign Press Association in Israel containing a guide to a luxurious restaurant in the Strip and a recently opened Olympic-sized pool...
...Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, Seaman said he not surprised to receive several outraged responses from foreign journalists.“Those who act as spokespeople for Palestinian propaganda were furious with self-righteous indignation and were angry,” Seaman said. “This was to be expected.”“There is much hypocrisy in the coverage by international media of Gaza, and unfortunately, to some extent, the Israeli media plays a part in it. We are receiving political, slanted coverage. This message could help them wake up and do a better job,” he added.