There was a very interesting interview with Christopher Guinness on the news today. Interesting because he was really very angry about the lies being told by Israels government regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Mr. Guinness is with UNRWA and he categorically denies that the UN or any aid agency has told the Israeli government that there is no humanitarian crisis as the Israelis are claiming. He said in fact the situation is dire, they are without electricity, food, water and fuel. He said the hospitals are running out of everything and he said he was appalled at the lies being told regarding the situation on the ground in Gaza.
He said the lies the Israelis were saying about the only information coming out of Gaza is controlled by Hamas was a blatant lie. He went on to say that there is no reason for aid workers and the UN to lie regarding the situation as they are international civil servants who's job it is to make sure that the civilian population of Gaza is not treated inhumanely, but that there is most definitely a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The UN is also calling these actions a 'monstrosity' and has said the only one blocking peace negotiations and calls for a cease fire from the security council is the USA.
What are your opinions on that @Rachel. Yes we know, anyone who criticises Israel is either 1- anti-Israel
2- Anti-Semitic
or
3- A holocaust denier
The UN can't be against Israel, that is just rediculous sorry I agree with you, if there wasn't a humanitarian crisis all the aid workers wouldn't be there would they?
'Verify' though is the operative word that you have used, the sad thing is that people seem to be believing what they want to believe according to their political opinions and therefore the sources they trust, and dismissing anything else as propaganda and bias, if we keep doing this we are not going to get towards what is closest to the truth.
I imagine for instance the Israeli angle on the diary of the aid worker that is being sent to the BBC is that it is anti-Israeli propaganda:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_... Your statement is pure fiction and a denial of reality. The warehouses in Gaza a stocked with food, water and medical supplies. Israel has not stopped electrical service, Hamas is responsible for any brown outs. Hamas could have had peace simply by not firing rockets into Israel. Hamas has sown rocket attacks on Israel and now they will reap the harvest of the seeds they have sown. Anyone that is in need of critical care is beening taken to Israel for medical treatment. Let us assume that everything you are saying is true.
Has it ever occurred to you that, since Hamas had threatened Israel with suicide bombings, Israel simply cannot risk opening its border with Gaza?
Why don't you ask Egypt to open its border with Gaza and let in whomever they approve?
Doesn't it make more sense that the Egyptians would help their brothers and sisters in Gaza? What is my opinion on that?
My opinion is that one side has a motto "We welcome death" and thinks its brave.. the other side has a motto "We avoid death" because they aren't stupid.
I think the motto says it all. Because they are not all that smart as they'd like people to think they are. Cheers! Is the person you refer to as Christopher Guinness actually Christopher Gunness, Spokesman for UNWRA? If so, he can be heard, very clearly, in an interview on United Nations Radio, and still available to listen to on their website, saying on 17th November 2008 "This is not a humanitarian crisis, it's a political crisis and it's a political crisis of choice, so what we need are political decisions to stop what's happening on the ground happening".
The truth is, the border was closed to stop suicide bombers entering Israel from Gaza. 21 buses were blown up by Palestinian suicide bombers between 2001 and 2004 killing a total of 208 passengers. When the suicide bombers could no longer cross the border, the bombings stopped.
Could you please include a link or source for the interview that you say that you heard. You may want to keep looking for other data sources, because I'm seeing reports from UN workers over the last few days that contradict this. They were saying things were okay, but only very recently borderline but Israel was trying to get the aid in, & Hamas won't let the wounded leave for Eygpt.
Mr. Guinness is with UNRWA - I don't know his reputation, but the UNRWA was built to take care of Palestinians & is the only organization for refugees in the UN - and they are the only people called refugees after the first generation. Of course there's manipulation in that at the base level, since it's not equal treatment as any other group in the entire world (Darfur people don't have such an orginazation). The group's already been disbanded once & recreated because of just this type of problem!
I do think at this point there are limited supplies. Hum, there's a WAR going on! All of this running out is less than 24 hours old according to the news - that's when it first came up at all. So, if Israel was saying there isn't a crisis, well, there wasn't. Now it's time to step things up -- don't be so quick to assume they won't or someone's claim that Israel is the stopper. News is news, & the story may well be different in 3 more hours. It's hard to get data in the middle of something. This ONE interview may not be very accurate on what really was the interaction with Israel.
Hamas isnt' letting out wounded to go to Egypt. How does that fit into why the trucks aren't going in through Egypt?
Quote "The UN is also calling these actions a 'monstrosity' and has said the only one blocking peace negotiations "
That's baloney. It was only the security council that met & the Libyian (could it have a bias) request was to call it all those things. It DIDN'T pass. The report had zero responsiblity to Hamas for rockets! Hamas was refusing a ceasefire. They turned down the original & weren't accepting another. That this point a ceasefire has to include something more durable than Hamas's word for it since they threw 500+ missiiles during the last one. Hamas can put out anything it likes - if it doesn't have a way to be durable - it's just rhetoric to make Israel look bad. They claim israel broke it, but Hamas had missiles going very the get go. There wasn't any effort to let a crossing be opened or embargo lifted without missiles targeting Israelis civilians, from the beginning. They put the ordering backwards then claim it was Israel.
Give a suggestion on how to get those missiles to stop. Then we'll be talking. I've heard complaints but no answers on what else would work. Hamas doesn't agree to stop arming against Israel to annhilate her. That's the underlying point that's at the heart of this. How do you control that? It's not about this tat or that tat...but how do you deal wtih Hamas & their charter's goal? I don't agree with everything done in the past, but I have yet to think of an alternative that would WORK. The Palestinian people seem unwilling to talk back to Hamas (over the last two years), either they support them on this goal & are agreeing to be at war with all that entails, or they can't & this war with them is the only option since the people can't do it themselves. I did not see the interview that you're referring to. However, allow me to point a few facts. Firstly, the UN is notoriously anti-Israel, and the UN human rights commission is an utter joke. I am guessing that you know nothing of the true nature of the Durban conferences, although you may well be aware of the condemnations of Israel stemming from these conferences. These sessions were utter jokes, with the worst human rights abusers (mostly arab or muslim) in the world condemning Israel for all sorts of alleged "human rights violations" -- while making nary a mention of the muslim atrocities throughout the world. So it is throughout the UN.
The UN is utter nonsense (pun intended), long since having abandoned its stated purpose and instead becoming a useless body giving voice to extremists and anti-Semites around the globe.
Suggested reading for you: http://www.unwatch.org
You just might learn a few things about the UN.
So, to answer your "question", my opinion is that this interview is irrelevant, and, if your reporting is accurate, not at all unexpected. Because Israel has the support of America, and Bush's full co-operation, which means it can bomb every single last palestenian into extinction whilst still claiming they're the victims. Im glad someone else has noticed this propaganda, its been driving me insane. I read an article the other day, and it was showing a picture of an israeli guy 'in hysterics' bcoz of a rocket scare, and it said 1/8th of the israeli population is living in fear of rocket attacks. Yet around 400? palestenians have died, ALL of them are being attacked, they are eating mouldy bread, and no one is showing the pictures of the dying children.
I really dnt see how Israel can keep blaming Hammas, my heart goes out to all these children, and people are still believing every lie they're fed :(
Sorry, i needed a rant:P
xx Yeah I saw it. These people wouldn't be there if they weren't Pal supporters. How long did you have to search to find someone in agreement with you anyway?
I saw the West Bank PA Representative making a point that all shipments into Gaza don't come from the Jews but the world. So she thinks it's getting through and she is on the Pals side.
Obviously they are still supplying the the Abbass group. No one starving there.
It could have been so with Hamas but they never allowed it. All they have ever done is destroy and kill and there are no innocents.
It will take generations to undo what Hamas has done to the Muslim people with their theory of life isn't worth living and dying for Islam is the major point to living at all.
What Israel is doing is saving the people of Gaza from a leadership that sees them as someone to die in their place. |
