Condolezza brings condolences - maybe more

Would Condi be doing Condolences?

One can only begin to wonder what Condolezza Rice would be attempting to achieve when she gets to the Middle-East today.

There is no argument that Israel does have the right to defend itself and it should be done vigorously, however, the manner and strategy at play does leave one wondering what they intend on achieving.

I am still of the view that focus has shifted – if that was ever the focus - from dealing with Hamas and Hezbollah militarily to the point that it is looking like the economic obliteration of those societies and psychological propaganda with the hope that wanton destruction of all types of infrastructure would make people withdraw support from those organisations.

Whose terrorists are they anyway?

Until we move from the view of looking at those organisations through the blinkered view of terrorists, because only Israel, America and Europe labels elements of Hamas and Hizbollah as terrorist – we would fail to realise that these groups also represent the aspirations of people who have been deprived and wronged on the one hand, they are also the least corrupt of the leaderships emanating from their peoples.

There is no doubt that Europe and America are very well at variance on the matter in the Middle-East, it was evident in the eavesdrop between Bush and Blair – where Bush thought Syria held the keys to stopping the shit and Blair saw a bigger issue.

Arms away

To now hear that in the midst of the outrageous abuse of military might Israel is acquiring new precision weapons from America leaves one completely gob smacked – America is helping to add fire to an untenable situation which might now go on for another few weeks.

The Arabs would take good note of that and hopefully would give a Condi a stern view of this atrocious development.

I could be that it is American weaponry that is used to cause suffering, pain and loss in the Middle-East, the availability of which feeds Israeli bravado to the drunken swagger of believing there is a military solution to this conflict.

I think NOT.

Peace born of negotiation

Like it or not, Israel would have to negotiate with these “terrorists”, if they do succeed to eliminating military threat of Hezbollah by bombing television stations amongst other things, they had better be ready for guerrilla warfare.

Taking a foothold in Lebanon might bring in a less desirable grouping of terrorists – Al Qaeda in Lebanon on the border of Israel would be the least acceptable conclusion to this military escapade.

I have my doubts any of the proponents can achieve the objective of peace with this indiscriminate bombing and the possibility of new arms from a seemingly rotten cause.

Farfour free to burn - II - Poor translation?

An anonymous lengthy visit

An anonymous and hence invisible person albeit from Colorado, USA left a comment on my blog pertaining to Farfour free to burn where presumably a child had offered herself as a martyr to annihilate the Jews.

I am no Arabic scholar and I have no knowledge of the language apart from the numbers which I learnt in a thick Yoruba accent from Keu (Madrassa) students in Nigeria.

Apparently, it appears most of the conversation reported might have been lost in translation and thereby we have ended up with a story a lot worse than what was portrayed.

It however then begs the question why the Minister of Information in the Palestinian government asked for the show to be discontinued, extracted a promise to present a different format and roundly condemned the content of the parts that were broadcast.

Other respectable Palestinian broadcasters also expressed displeasure at the content.

In fact, the commentator portends that Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) an organisation based in Washington D.C. which is supposed to bridge the language gap between the West and the Middle-East had committed egregious atrocities in translation which could be deliberate with the view to excite negative review.

Being one who would always bring to the fore any comment that requires airing to bring balance to the topics I introduce, I publish here the full text of the comment left by Anonymous of Colorado – (I know where all comments come from).

If I have erred, I apologise, not meaning to cause offence to anyone, only to highlight issues of concern.

The comments

I would like to point out what can only be called an egregious mistranslation on the part of MEMRI with respect to the words of one of the children who were featured as a caller on the show this story reports on.

I call it that and not simply a mistake, because a MEMRI spokesperson appeared on CNN to confirm his organization standing by its translation "word for word" and "according to the syntax" even though it is easy for an organization that employs Arabic translators to actually see how wrong the translations that were produced at first are.

The transcript claims that "Sanabel", the little girl caller of the show, responds with "I will shoot" to the host's question "Sanabel, what will you do for the sake of the Al-Aqsa Mosque?"

As a matter of fact, and as can be seen in the video, it is the clown in the ridiculous Mickey Mouse like suit that says that and even makes the gesture of carrying a weapon.

The little girl Sanabel does however respond, but MEMRI omits her response. The little girl actually said in Arabic "bedi arsem soora", which means "I will draw a picture."

So this girl says she wants to draw a picture, and MEMRI transforms that to "I will shoot."

The second example is the most outrageous one, where MEMRI translates the little girl Sanabel's response to the question "we got that, what else?" as saying "We will annihilate the Jews." This is outrageously wrong and completely invented.

The girl can be clearly heard saying in Arabic "betokhoona el yahood", which means "the Jews shoot us."

The word "betokh-oo-na" can be broken down part by part and explained easily as follows:

betokh: the verb "shoots"

oo: the 3rd person plural subject pronoun meaning "they". It becomes "they shoot".

na: the 1st person plural object pronoun meaning "we". It becomes "they shoot us"

Having pointed that out, what the producers of this show are doing is morally outrageous. Instead of giving their children viewers the joy of watching child TV characters and enjoying that aspect of childhood, they are depriving them of that just as the Israeli occupation is depriving them from other aspects of normal childhood development. Both are equally wrong here.

Farfour free to burn

The future in unspeakable words

A children's television programme was banned yesterday by the Palestinian government when it appeared that a Mickey Mouse-like character called Farfour (butterfly) was indoctrinating kids with jihadist talk.

One child phoned in with these words, "I will shoot, we will annihilate the Jews ... I will commit martyrdom."

It is very much like having Tinky Winky the tellitubby prancing over the hill with handbag in one hand and Kalashnikov in the other shouting murderous obscenities.

It is a despicable misuse of the television medium and it should draw condemnation from any reasonable member of the human race as Hamas should and must cover their faces with shame.

The solution is a free Palestine

Now, we should not forget what gives rise to such venomous indoctrination of children in Palestine, it is the seething bitterness of the dispossessed, the disenfranchised, the disillusioned and the desperate who see no progress in general terms to self-determination where a land and country called Palestine would be theirs devoid of occupiers and oppression.

The condemnation of this programme should also go in hand with a redoubling of efforts to reach a settlement between Israel and Palestine which is the nucleus and between the Arabs and the Jews which constitutes the people of the Middle-East.

You cannot have a monster and then starve it in the midst of plenty of food to keep it going, just as you cannot completely nip this kind of stuff in the bud without dealing with the causative issues.

A large body count with no ease as war ceases

The seeds of war

Just over a month ago when hostilities started with some Hamas faction seizing an Israeli soldier killing two others and the Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers killing eight, we now have a body count for the number that have perish in this senseless war. Does anyone remember Gilad Shalit? No, he has become an irrelevance in the whole scheme of things.

Gilad Shalit - refreshing your memory.

First of all, ostracising a duly and popularly elected Hamas by denying them funding when we all know that Palestine has no other means of income generation, in order to either force Hamas to abdicate the platform on which they were elected or create unrest to topple that government was definitely not the smartest thing to come out of the West.

Occupation is the problem

There are reasons why Israel finds little legitimacy in the Middle East, much of which stems from the occupation of Arab lands and the lack of progress towards the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine – that would remain the sticking point till a kind of grand solution is proffered that is acceptable to all – it would not be far from the 1967 lines and anything different would continue to fuel the extremism that seeks the destruction of Israel.

As the Palestinians seemingly crumbled under the onslaught of Israeli belligerence, Hezbollah launched their own raid which resulted in a large scale destruction of Lebanese infrastructure as well as the loss of innocent life.

This situation could have been arrested, but there is not politician presently in the world of the stature that can really bring the kinds of ideas that would command the respect of all affected parties.

The sad thing is, this war turned into a proxy war where America supplied sophisticated weaponry to Israel and Iran offered some weaponry and even men to Hezbollah turning Lebanon into the grass trampled on as a result of two elephants fighting.

The solution is not military

If there is any lesson to be learnt about this reckless gamble with human life in the quest for a military solution to a political and diplomatic puzzle, it is that guns might kill people but they cannot kill the aspirations of a people.

Hezbollah has been called every unprintable terrorist-linked name under the sun, they are however, victors in the eyes of their people, and they now garner a lot more support amongst Arabs than they ever did – they might have been curtailed but definitely not subdued.

Lumping Hezbollah together with the elements of Al-Qaeda is disingenuous at best and really a scandalous propaganda which should heap derision on America because their involvement in this war has earned them no plaudits from either Arabia or a good deal of the non-religiously biased world view of Israel’s status.

New occupations is not the answer

We now have a ceasefire or sorts, but we are still with the selfsame problem that has bugged the Middle-East for close to two generations – Israeli occupation of land that is not theirs.

The guns have stopped but Israel is in Lebanon up to the Litani River, this peace just cannot hold, neither would it hold if the Israelis are replaced with a UN peacekeeping force. The way forward is the legitimate return of lands to their proper owners, this affects Palestine – Gaza and the West Bank in its entirety; Syria with the Golan Heights and Lebanon with the Shebaa Farms.

The occupations must stop, if Israel then wants to build walls, the walls must only be built within the confines of the legitimate state of Israel.

The Middle-East in a nutshell

The Economist of August the 5^th, sums up the Middle-East problem in these topics – The bomb in Iran; the future of Iraq; the isolation of Syria; the Hezbollah state within Lebanon and the unrequited cause of the Palestinians – the amazing thing about these situations is that all this is linked up with the resolution of the Israeli-Palestine question.

This does even begin to address the issue of authoritarian religious governments, absolute monarchies with democratic trimmings and dictatorships.

The Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 was a counter-reaction to American influence in the corrupt monarch of the Shah of Iran as well as the non resolution of the Palestinian cause. The Iran “bomb” which only really exists as an American suspicion rather than a North Korean reality takes up more diplomatic energy than more pressing issues of greater importance.

America backed Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war; however, Iraq went on to support Palestinian causes in supporting families of suicide bombers – hence, the ability for American government to link Iraq with terrorism.

Syria is isolated for its involvement in Lebanon, however, they were also instrumental in getting Israel out of Lebanon, and their support for Hezbollah is mutual, in the sense that Israel still occupies Syrian and Lebanese land whilst the unanimously adopted UN Resolution to return those lands languishes in the dormant basket.

Hezbollah has always justified its existence on the basis of the occupation of the Shebaa Farms, their legitimate purpose for bearing arms would be diffused if that land is returned as they are also already part of the political and democratic process in Lebanon.

No one dares take bold decisions

Land for peace would be the core requirement for peace in Israel, it would involve removing settlements in the West Bank regardless how they read their religious tomes, the world order should be a secular acceptance of the civilisation of man and the dispensing of justice for the good of all including that contentious division of the Mandate of Palestine into the state of Israel and the state of Palestine.

America must come in for sound criticism and condemnation for letting this war carry on for so long and for literally goading Israel into doing their dirty work of hopefully eliminating Hezbollah – we now know the better of this wishing thinking and drunken gamble.

The devaluation of human life

After the loss of about 4,000 lives in the World Trade Centre, America has become a blood-thirsty marauder that has have done much to foment war and done little to sue for peace. The value of human life has depreciated to basic collateral damage, we see much for damaged buildings than for loss of innocent life.

America has lost so many soldiers in Iraq we have literally stopped counting, this war on terror is prosecuted in a way that terrifies all and brings little in gains to preserve our freedoms and way of life, it would appear world leaders could not really care less for how humanity suffers in the quest for their radical and unconscionable goals.

We do need strong leadership but not of the kamikaze sort which is what we experienced in this Israeli-Lebanon pseudo-war.

Blood on many hands

And there was no man to bring us the grand solution to the Middle-East problems, the life blood of terrorism as we are taught to know it. Great is the tribulation we suffer because they would rule are soaked in blood and like King David of old, that blood, even if shed in legitimate caused prevented him from building a temple for the Lord.

If no one values human life, thankfully, God up there does count human blood for something, good guy and bad guy alike. The religious guys had better listen up; you cannot fully participate in honouring God if you are complicit in shedding blood.

The body count – Israel 163, UN 4, Canada 8, Lebanon 1,000 and Nigeria 2 for 3 living Israeli soldiers and 10 dead ones. ‘Nuff said.

References

Hamas Isolation on Israeli recognition

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701

Lebanon's middle class is disillusioned with America

Hezbollah leader a hero to many Arabs

To King David – You are not to build a house for me

Israeli-Lebanon Body Count

Attaching the burden of history to the Middle-East

The Middle-East conflicts

I have been fielding comments on some of my write-ups about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the current events in Gaza and Lebanon.

I am concerned that most commentary fails to gather the sense of history in this conflict that dates back at least 58 years at the creation of the state of Israel, but has it roots in quite a number of earlier events in Europe from the first Aliyah (migration) around 1881 after extensive persecution of Jews around Europe.

Israel and the Jews have a longer history than the events of the last 130 years with biblical and historical commentary about their living in the Promised Land but never exclusively.

The conflict could even date back to the times of Abraham between mother-child Ishmael and mother-child Isaac – that is a completely different story for now.

I have written a series of blogs on the Israeli-Palestinian issue - it would be difficult to read the context of my views from that one blog or my most recent blogs.

The quest to annihilate Israel is as a result of a long-running scenario where Israel was carved out of the then Palestine without due consideration the displaced people.

New organizations for old problems

Hamas (1987), Hezbollah (1982) and Islamic Jihad (Used by different organisations since the 1980s) are relatively new organisations, which have developed as a result of no movement or inadequate leadership required to resolve that issue of the displaced people and the occupied areas.

Up till when Pope John Paul II visited those lands, I did not know that the largest refugee camp of internally displaced people was really in Palestine.

People have been living in camps in their own land since 1948, it is no wonder that Israel can never be at peace till some justice and movement is seen on the part of Israel.

That agenda unfortunately is mostly hijacked by religious interests that are usually not indigenous and political interests that are neither pragmatic nor diplomatic.

It is important that reviewers and commentators get a general overview of the whole historical context on this matter, fork-lifting current events out of that context provides a poor balance of perspective.

I am not claiming to be an historical expert on the conflicts, but my views, I hope, do attempt to review the whole picture for a perspective on today.

Regardless of the strong religious persuasions on the bless-Israel/curse-Israel divide, having a good critique of that situation from all perspectives is essential and it should not preclude seeking a fair and just resolution even if it does not favour the Jews.

References

The Nation of Israel

Palestine

Israel related blogs

Palestine related blogs

Forked-tongues fuelling the Middle-Eastern fires

Where is the Genesis of the Middle-East conflict?

I have just had my fill of the fork-tongued diatribe masquerading as diplomacy coming from all quarters regarding the situation in the Middle-East.

When the Hamas militants blew a hole in the wall bordering Gaza and Egypt to allow in Palestinians who had been stranded at the border for weeks the hapless but relieved people thanked Hezbollah for giving them the kind of reprieve that has given them respite.

Let us look at the issues on the ground, indeed militants including Hamas supported personnel have been firing rockets into Israel over the last few months, but all as a result of the occupied situation that the Palestinians find themselves in.

I am not trying to condone or support the struggle which gets conveniently branded as terrorism; there is a serious problem of land conflict in the Middle-East with Israelis and Palestinians in the middle of that muddle.

The fear of 1967 sees no end to this problem

If only we had leaders with conviction who addressed the matter head on and the see the results – Israel completely pulling back to the 1967 lines and Palestine a state within the bounds of what is left – this includes the Jerusalem question – that is the resolution of this conflict.

However, this bizarre occupation where Israel has at will be able to maraud through Palestinian lands with impunity could only exact guerrilla and terrorism type activity where the opponent cannot match the aggressor bullet for bullet and man for man. It would be naïve to expect another situation.

So, the raid on Israel that left 2 soldiers dead and one captured was hardly the Genesis of this situation, the inability for the west to accept the democratic will of the Palestinians allowed Hamas to remain recalcitrant about the right for Israel to exist.

I would contend that if Israel existed within its legitimate pre-1967 borders, Hamas and all other opponents of Israel would have not foot to stand on with their rhetoric.

Recognition should precede calls for influence

Once the West refused to acknowledge democracy because it yielded as it were the “wrong” result, it meant that Hamas would be a weakened and ineffective governing machine unable to command the influence to contain rogue elements.

Then that beach bombing to which we cannot conclusive assign blame still leaves many thinking Israel was responsible – the impunity of Israel had reached a point that certain elements rose to show that Israel in all its might is vulnerable.

Israel’s response to the capture of its soldier-recruit has not only been overly disproportionate, it lacks purpose or the kind of objective that can guarantee the return of the soldier and the earlier someone laments that fact than acquiesce to the hope that reason would prevail on the part kidnappers the better for the poor soldier’s life.

Brothers joined up in arms

But Israel has been unrelenting, so who else would be touched by that intemperate overrun of Palestine but the brothers in arms of Hamas who could divert Israel’s attention – The Hezbollah.

Just as anyone would eventually act if in the presence of great an injustice none of those who can sue for justice actively play the part of arbiter.

So, Hezbollah which happens to be located in Lebanon entered Israel, killed a number of soldiers and captured two as hostage. Where a negotiated settlement might have yielded better results, Israel raced into Lebanon bombing every important structure they could find and killing many innocents.

So, Hezbollah with better weaponry – Katyusha rocket not matching Israel’s manpower however, better than the Qassam rockets has rained disruption but not yet carnage on Israel and the blockade on Lebanese waters has resulted in at least 4 Israeli Navy men being overboard.

A UN debacle and a hissing Bush

So, at the UN as calls for calm and restraint echoed from the chambers the Ambassador to the UN from Israel had the temerity, gall and effrontery to address his Lebanese counterpart in terms that suggested he should in honesty and truth support Israel in the attack on his country which would free Lebanon from the influence of Hezbollah. The is the most warped diplomatic logic I have ever heard from that esteemed chamber and it is amazing that Syria was refused the opportunity to comment on the floor.

So, when Mr Bush from St Petersburg insists that the escalation of violence is primarily due to Hezbollah’s activities; it shows that the warped logic is not only disingenuous; it is dishonest, disgraceful and disheartening. There can be not solution in sight.

Why should Syria care?

Then calls are being made to Syria to rein in Hezbollah – Fat Chance! – Why should Syria get involved no matter what influence they can peddle – Syria’s Golan Heights has been annexed by Israel since 1967 and nothing is being done to resolve that issue conclusive.

However, if Lebanon continues to suffer an onslaught from Israel with the increasing loss of life and the destruction of infrastructure, it would not be long before fraternal ties with Syria have them pitched against Israel.

That would create a domino effect of Iran moving up to support Syria and then the Arab World leading to the Muslim World – simply the makings of World War III.

With Iraq and Afghanistan being simmering cauldrons of violence, the ramifications of Israeli belligerence are far from fully appreciated by all concern and that is scary to say the least.

Israel will never be big in this matter

There are no simple solutions to this matter, but it would take the magnanimity of Israel to do something dovish and materially ground-breaking to bring an impasse this deteriorating situation, unfortunately, Israel does not have the maturity to bring about that quality of statesmanship.

If, those soldiers eventually get returned alive, what a hefty price would have been paid for that and if anything has been lost from all this is the perspective – a quality of far-sighted leadership.

References

The Summary of the Middle-East Conflicts

US and Russia differ on Middle-East

Israel hits Lebanese Ports

Terrorism was a part of the struggle

Desiring a Palestinian Passover

Hamas – the democratic will of the people

Recently, I have been involved in vigorous commentary, debate and dispute on the issue of Palestinian democracy.

More so, because the election of Hamas by the popular vote of the Palestinian people in response to urgings from the West to democratise has now given the West the opportunity to now bring the Palestinian people to their knees – in poverty, hunger and death.

I cannot stress enough, the fact that Hamas was elected on the complete platform of their “repugnant” views of the eradication of Israel, the continuation of their armed struggle against occupation (what the West calls terrorism), the creation of an Islamic state in the land of Palestine, their well known anti-corruption message and their commendable social services in Gaza.

Grace augmenting injustice

Israel, exists by the grace of all who have allowed it to thrive to the detriment of the occupied peoples as they bully the populace with tanks and gun ships against the primitive incursions and attacks composed of suicide bombers and home-made rockets.

The rhetoric about the elimination of Israel thrives on the fact that an injustice coming to 60 years still shows no prospect of resolution.

The Palestinians cannot go to war to claim what they believe to be their land and the 1967 line is continually breached with impunity most especially by foreign Jews who believe in a literal land of Israel to the exclusion of any other people - settlers - they are called.

An unjust world of hypocrites

Then I read that the UNRWA is under so much duress by the influence of Israel that they cannot freely distribute aid to the starving Palestinian refugees, the report is harrowing; even as essential other aid is withheld because of a democratic choice the Palestinians have made in voting for Hamas – ideology and all.

At the same time, I read that Nuclear North Korea is about to allow the UN access back in the country to distribute food aid to starving Koreans.

This is the same UN that is supporting the persecution of non-Nuclear Iran as we prepare for what might possibly another major skirmish in the Middle-East perpetrated by the United States.

I get fed up with the idea that the United States feels the International community is acquiescent to purveying their vituperation in the direction of Iran. Just as we had with the coalition of the coerced, more are being coerced into the uncomfortable situation of endorsing detrimental action against Iran.

A Palestinian Passover – I dream

Now that Israel has closed the crossing necessary to get food aid to people in Gaza in preparation for the Passover.

They in their festivities of celebrating the passing over of the angel of death breathe despair, destitution, deprivation, debt, desolation and death on a people who are already on their knees, almost scratching the ground for food.

It would be to the utter shame and disgrace of the West if the pictures that moved humanity on Ethiopia some 20 years ago, would now migrate as far north as the Middle-East.

Here is waiting for the day that the Palestinians would also celebrate their own Passover, when they rise to take their land and celebrate in the joy of deliverance from a world that is steeped in standards not worthy of the weight of human history but expressive of total human misery.

The unjust condemnation of Palestinian choice

A Democratic exasperation

You can imagine my exasperation with the whole concept of the exercise of democratic privilege when people are empowered to govern but emasculated by the lack of financial and moral support.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Palestinian situation. The world or the West in particular having clamoured for ages incessantly for the people of Palestine to be given a voice in the deciding who leads them finally got that wish fulfilled.

Unfortunately, as the new Knesset was being sworn in, the Islamic Jihad found another martyr to blow up a Tel Aviv restaurant and Hamas gets abraded for not doing anything about it.

Now, let us juxtapose this situation against the motion that was about to be slated at the Knesset yesterday for its dissolution of the 17^th Knesset before commencement.

MK (Member of Knesset) Zevulun Orlev of the National Union-National Religious Party is of the opinion that Kadima lacks an ideology having been the brainchild of Ariel Sharon who fell into a coma literally in the conception stages of that party.

His words, “Kadima is creating a patchwork government devoid of ideology that is already tottering and won't last long”

The choices were stark

With that said, one wonders if the Palestinians did study the political choices before them before voting. It would be insulting to their intelligence to suggest that all parties in the Palestinian elections did not have their ideologies, ideas, programmes, promises and faults.

To the Palestinian people the corrupt and ineffective Fatah movement of which Yasser Arafat was leader did little to assuage the sufferings and problems of their people.

Hamas demonstrates the conscience of its people

It is however, on record and visible to all concerned that the Hamas movement though labelled terrorist in the West has done more than many other organisation to address socio-economic issues; these being very much in line with what the Palestinian majority requires.

There also no doubt in anybody’s mind that the Hamas ideology did not recognise Israel as a nation and they use tools of dissent albeit suicide bombers at certain times to highlight their message.

Israel over the years tired to decimate the leadership of Hamas through targeted assassinations, which included a blind old man in a wheelchair, but we could not find it in our hearts to condemn such measures.

Hamas is now the political force in Palestine, who along with their ideologies has considered reneging or ignoring the agreements made by previous governments on behalf of the Palestinians – I think that is also their prerogative.

Subverting ideology through blackmail

Having now clearly seen and heard the will and voice of the Palestinians, I find it unconscionable that leading democracies in the world can ask Hamas to change the ideology on which they won elections.

This would be tantamount to asking the American Republican Party to change from conservative values to liberal, if not communist values having just won an election. We all know that that would never happen in the West, so why demand it of Hamas?

We are now left in a very sorry situation where the self-same leading democracies have withheld funding to the Hamas-led government in order to force a change in the principles and platform on which Hamas was elected. That is patently not fair and definitely anti-democratic.

It begs the question that Kadima a party with no clear ideology assumes power in that sense of obscurity and Hamas with a well-documented ideology assumes power and they are assessed from different perspectives.

The poorer democracies speaking up

I would hope that the Arab states would step up to the challenge and ensure that the fledgling democracy in Palestine survives despite the animosity of the West. This would do well to slow down the democratic crusade marching into the Middle East, as many would see this as typical double standards.

As for dealing with the suicide bombers; if you want Hamas to be effective, you will have to put your money where your mouth is – It is to the shame of Europe, American and Japan that it is Russia, Qatar and Iran that is stepping forward to honour the decisions of a long-oppressed people.

Related Blogs

The martyrdom of the cartoon

Living with the results of true democracy

Not at any cost

Swallow your dog food

Kenya had declared a national disaster by reason of the fact that the rains had failed and hence a poor harvest and the consequences of hunger and deprivation have ensued.

Down in some faraway land (New Zealand) a food company run by a motherly lady who sprinkles nutrients on her porridge every morning offers to send 42 tons of those nutrients to feed the probably starving children of Kenya.

The offer is rejected with derisive comments as perception overrides reality in the quest to maintain dignity and pride – we are only human.

Aid on Trotters

Then in Palestine, Hamas prepares to take on the mantle of leadership which we must agree is well deserved because they have to-date been benefactors of their people a lot better than the erstwhile Fatah movement.

The West threatens to withhold aid because there is another facet of Hamas which exercises an uneasy ceasefire in attacking Israel that it wants to obliterate in favour of a Greater Palestine.

The curse of democracy means they have a mandate to run and if the West who so willingly enjoys trotters and the other parts withhold aid, other trotter-haters of the Middle-East might just step in and completely undermine any little influence the West might have in Israel-Palestine crisis.

Babe and Scooby

This shrill singing from the West does not seem to faze Hamas who might eventually moderate their views about Israel for the sake of peace and progress as the two-state solution betweens to saunter down the crooked roadmap

However, there is concern that the powder mix which when mixed with water forms a paste that could well rival the gourmet quality of Pedigree Chum might be construed as dog food even though the recipe has been modified for humans.

Pride or Prejudice

As Kenya swallows their prejudice and Hamas moderates their pride in an exchange of sentiments; it is hopeful that the West consider the Hamas social record of prudence, efficiency and service to the needy Palestinians and our dear lady of Mighty Mix dog biscuits rephrase her offer without the mention of dog

Kenya might then not bark at such a tainted but useful if not essential gift and Hamas might grunt as they recognise Israel and elevate the standard of living of their people.

Without prejudice

No offence is intended with regards to analogies appearing in this piece. The import is to illustrate agreement and strong disagreement as donors’ intentions and misunderstanding contrasts with recipients’ requirements and the maintenance of their dignity.

Reference

BBC NEWS | Africa | Kenya rejects aid of 'dog food'

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Hamas rejects 'unfair' aid demand

Living with the results of true democracy

In search of Arabian Democracy

The clamour for reform on the basis of democratic change in the Middle East has been so deafening that one is surprised that unexpected news filters through loud and clear.

Part of the supposed goal of winning the war on terror is to help Arabians have more say in the way they are governed and loosen the grip of those potentates that have been in power since the world began.

We, the mortals in leadership

In the last 6 months death has separated four of the rulers from thrones of their fiefdoms; they being, Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Maktoum of Dubai and Sheikh Jaber al-Sabah of Kuwait.

More so, human frailties of health lead the successor to the Emir of Kuwait to give up the throne by the urging of parliament having ruled for just 8 days – Oh! That he be so honoured with a portrait in the chamber of kings – caption “He ruled with great wisdom for a week and a day”.

Apparently, these developments about human mortality and vulnerability might not have been read and understood those who have lead their countries into abject privation in Africa; having plundered resource and reserves leaving legacies of corruption and disaster.

Then there have been ripples of reform in Syria, waves of tumult in Israel with the forming of Ariel Sharon’s Kadima; the cantankerous but interesting pronouncements of the Doctor-Engineer Ahmadinejad in Iraq with the enduring prominence of the Pharaoh Mubarak of Egypt.

New home for the insurgency

One could nervously say that the war in Iraq has brought change on the wings of missiles and laser-guided bombs, as they are enlightened with white phosphorus and the people entertained by the insurgency of emigrants wielding terror who have settled in Iraq from Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Now that we are getting what we have wished for, there is a lot of back-tracking that one wonders what we really want for the people.

The White House usually promotes democracy as just the ability to go out and vote; so vote they have done in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Iran, in Egypt and in Palestine.

The people have spoken

The people have chosen their leaders; that is democracy. Democracy does not include the refinement; you are only democratically elected if you will be a stooge of the West or are liked by the West.

It explains why America cannot get on with the popularly elected Hugo “do not meddle in my backyard” Chavez of Venezuela as they definitely did not speak up loud enough about the coup that overthrew him for 4 days.

More so, with Evo Morales in Bolivia, it would be interesting to see how they deal with another popularly elected leader of the people who also happens to champion the growing of coca.

Somehow, the Americans have not noticed that the drug problem is at home in the United States and not the coca growing fields of Central America that are rendered useless for anything else because of pesticides.

Anyway, the West has tried to pre-empt the electioneering in Palestine by warning that an elected Hamas cannot be a partner for peace.

Doers are deserving of government

However, Hamas is a multi-faceted organ of Palestinian desire, they fight for the land through what is commonly known here as terrorism, but known there as freedom fighting – intafada. They are also the only organ apart from NGOs that have done well to provide social services to their people.

Even without having the kind of funds that Fatah and the Palestinian Authority have, hospitals, schools, jobs and daily essentials to alleviate suffering form another platform of their principles.

It is unfortunate that they still look to see the end of Israel and though that is contemporaneously wrong; there is a grievance of deprivation, oppression, exploitation and global diffidence if not indifference to be assessed as it fuels the clash of civilisations that now plague the West.

Indeed, the people have spoken

The fact is, the people have voted for those they think can best represent them and shunned those who the West has feted and befriended without engaging them properly about reforming themselves for electoral success.

This is the case especially for Palestine, though not as clear from Iran.

With Hamas having taken 58% of the seats of the parliament, better than George W. Bush in his second term victory of 51% percent, it can be said that the Hamas has a better mandate than the American president to speak for and govern their people. So, it can be said for the leaders of Venezuela, Bolivia, Iran and even Chile.

Democracy however, would not go scot-free, as work would commence to destabilise ‘so-called’ hostile regimes that are unfriendly to America just because they have refused to conform to that standard that allows the embodiment of their civilisation to be emasculated by markets and ideas that provide no local value.

Read the results out loud again

We hear that the current president of the Palestinian people who happens to have lead the blundering and corrupt Fatah movement is being urged to retain his seat; in the light of not having a legislative base to carry out reforms he could not pass through the erstwhile parliament that he supposedly should have had more influence over.

It makes one wonder whether we all know the many meanings of democracy.

Whilst the last time I looked, it appeared that it was purely the government of the people, by the people, for the people – somehow, the first is right and the last two have gone by way of the wind.

We end up being governed no doubt, but by some people for their pockets.

The Secretary of the Arab League clearly depicts the dilemma of democracy – “America cannot promote democracy and then reject the results of this democracy” [1] – even I cannot fail to see the insincerity of purpose in this one.

[1] BBC NEWS | Middle East | In quotes: Reaction to Palestinian poll