It’s interesting, although not surprising, how the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not even making a blip on the radar screens of international news outlets. But I suppose it’s not their fault really:
Leaders of the world’s biggest media organizations filed a protest with Israel’s prime minister Wednesday criticizing the government’s decision to ban journalists from entering the Gaza Strip for the last two weeks.
…Those signing the letter included Associated Press Chief Executive and President Tom Curley, Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, ABC News President David Westin, BBC News Director Helen Boaden and other top executives from CNN, the Canadian TV network CTV, the German broadcaster ZDF, and the French news service Agence France Presse. [source]
This Haaretz editorial on the subject is pretty interesting.
In the meantime, with half of Gaza’s bakeries closed, the other half is now using animal feed to produce bread. Can you imagine that kind of desperation?
To make political tensions worse, the Palestinian Authority’s central council has voted to appoint Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian state president.
Meanwhile, the King met with Olmert and Barak last week in Amman to tell them (reportedly) what he’s been saying for the past decade or so. The meeting was interestingly enough not reported by the Jordanian press immediately and was taken to be a “secret” meeting by the regional press. I am very cynical when it comes to these sorts of meetings simply because no one knows anything about what’s said behind closed doors and in a country this small, speculation is bound to run rampant. Hundreds of people protested in Amman last Friday and I’m guessing these coming weeks we’ll see similar voices increasing in numbers. These events tend to be handled with caution by the state, simply because whenever something happens in Gaza or the West Bank, the steam beings to rise in Amman and neither the government nor the security apparatus wants to puts its hand on that boiling pot. Licenses to protest are granted and marches are closely watched. A people this close and entwined with such a crisis need to vent if that’s the only thing they can do. Which takes me back to my point of why I’m not a fan of closed-door meetings. These are not times for a lack of transparency and a racetrack for speculations and rumors. If the point was to emphasize the urgency of such a meeting as an indication of how much Jordan cares about this particular crises, then an open-door policy would’ve worked better with social perceptions. If the messages relayed to the press of “we are concerned about the situation” and “please stop” are accurate, then a telephone call would’ve sufficed. I think Jordanians at this point, and Arabs in general, are more concerned with actions than speeches and meetings.
But that’s just my opinion.
In any case, the Israeli siege is one thing, but I’m wondering if these efforts to break Hamas will reach a tipping point come January when Abbas is supposed to leave office.
I will not scream yet … I have a saying in this before i do.
We must act in all means and try to increase the awareness through the codes of this age which is the media , I guess Blogging is one of them but we really need to understand the problem before trying to solve it . So let’s be focused , why not start something to end up in a marsh ta GAZA , everything we need to do or say , this is the time to say it or do it ; As per say , the movements that are getting organized are only the ones who are making any effect on the siege , I tried to open the subject with a few friends to find out that there life style does not allow them to proceed in such mattes seriously , All we need to do is start something , not a protest but a movement , awareness campaign , forcing the governments to act , Wallahi the Ministers are people they feel like we do , and they can be convinced to do things if they were right , we have to put pressure on our Foreign affairs instruments , HM King Abdullah sent to the world the message that the siege over Gaza in non-humanitarian and it should stop, we are still afraid to start anything let’s talk in the world’s language , let’s make a logo that will be spread eveywhere in Jordan why not use that ???
WE have more power than we think especially ones who are in the media and knows how communicate with the mass and the highly sophisticated Persons… Lets launch a slogan with a logo to increase the recognition rate in the world , if we can’t do something serious then there is no point of us learning all this , this is where it will count … Maybe one of us will find thy self in such actions , ,, ,
PRESS START
I just love the little detail of the fact that the israeli in the cartoon is actually the only person giving them anything, the world is giving them tears while the arabs are crying their tears and piling them up so they don’t reach the kids …. so practically they are the ones giving nothing to gaza.
seriously i think the fat lady had sung.
abu abdullah: while i share your frustration with the situation, some how, i don’t think a logo and a slogan is going to do the job.
bambam: hmm..interesting observation.
My point was any action is needed here ya Nas. Not only a logo or a slogan , but collectively we are a full community , if we share our actions and just do it no matter how small they are it will add up. Please let’s look at the full picture and not restrict our views on samples we know.
The point is to start somewhere no matter how small that place or thing is…
in the past the arab regimes would have scrambled to hold a summit where they would pretend to care about the disaster happening in gaza .. now they dont even bother .. its really shameful how low they are getting
the abbas thing is so pathetic … 2al president 2al … ta yseer 3inna dawle bil awwal
What I find most frustrating is the fact that the Arab leaders act completely helpless to solve this crisis affecting their brothers and sisters in Gaza, while they run to the help of the U.S. and europe to bail them out of their financial crisis. Its a well-known fact that the Gulf countries are expected to splash out the cash, why don’t they squeeze the west’s left nut and refrain from helping until the Gaza crisis is solved?..
let’s not mistake the media’s quest for ratings with any humanitarian concern for Arabs in Gaza. The same media watched over the slow murder of over 1.5 million Iraqi babies during the Anglo sanctions on Iraq.
What I don’t understand is why don’t the Egyptians do something about this? They actually share a border with Gaza, and if I remember correctly control one of the crossings!
I Say ,Close the Israeli Embassy in Amman and cut all diplomatic and military cooperation with racist Zionist entity ,this is the best thing the regime in Amman can redeem and exeronate itself….
I agree with Onzlo – the Arabs are not helpless, they have chosen to do nothing. If Egypt opens its borders with Gaza I am sure the 200million odd Arabs out there can each spare a cup of flour, oil or water to feed Gaza many times over.
Unfortunately, our leaders are puppets and the people are more interested in Nancy 3ajram’s cleavage.
By the way, as an aside, I think the “lets design a logo” approach is the best idea since the french nobility’s “let them eat cake” campaign of the 1700s.
I don’t want to be defensive here , Let’s Do something rather than just critisizing each other , it is a matter of action… I still think that starting somewhere even small is a good Idea…
It’s funny-sad how we are more likely to remember our people when conditions get faar beyond humanity and down in the dumps!
To be honest, I haven’t been watching much news lately.
People have been watching the Gaza situation for God knows how long now, our people are in no need for our sympathy, nor do they want us to cry over their misery and despair, they are calling for immediate action. Screw the media! People are hungry!
I wonder where humanitarian institutions are and what they do! I have looked up a list of Relief Organisations http://www.globalcorps.com/jobs/ngolist.doc ..don’t know where to go from there… anyone knows?