Thursday, August 5, 2010
The truth. If I were an activist that had been spending my time in campaigning to alleviate the suffering and humanitarian disaster of Gaza, I'd be pretty angry once the truth of the situation started breaking through my brain. At some point you have to admit the truth, that Gaza is not exactly hell on earth (other than being under the thumb of Hamas): Gaza's Latest Craze: The Water Park
Far from the stigma of Gazan rubble and poverty sits an oasis of water slides, hookahs, swimming pools and music.
The news from Gaza is often filled with suffering and stories of humanitarian aid unable to reach the impoverished coastal enclave. Tourist attractions, resorts and malls, which have recently been inaugurated in the besieged strip, are not what you would expect from Gaza.
The Crazy Water Park, one of the most talked about new attractions and a number of seaside tourist resorts, opened in May 2010.
Various media outlets have attempted to estimate the budget of the park, described locally as "the new sensation", with some reports estimating the price tag to be as high as seven million dollars.
Mohammed Al-Araj, the economics minister in the first government formed after Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, is believed to be one of the water park's directors. Other partners are believed to be members of Palestinian political factions as well as "independent businessmen," the British newspaper The Independent reported.
Sitting on 14 dunams of land, The Crazy Water Park features swimming pools, ponds with pedal boats, three waterslides, a 100-meter-long canal, a restaurant, a cafe, and a secluded area shaded by a tent where adults can sit on carpets and listen to music...
Hello Solomon, here me is once again. Your post is very interesting, because even though you use parts of the article's source on The Media Line, your tone of voice is different compared to the original article.
Your perspective is suggesting to think in a certain direction and what in some circles would be described as Hasbara, Israeli propaganda.
The original article however offers various facts as well as sentiments and experiences of those who visited the Crazy Water Park in Gaza.
And this reflects the thoughts of another article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/gaza-flotilla-humanitarian-crisis
"People think Gaza is like Darfur," says Shaban. "It's totally different. It's not about a lack of food, but the number of people who can't afford to buy the food is increasing. That is a humanitarian crisis."
If the problem in Gaza is unemployment and a moribund economy, then that is a different matter than what is implied by the expression "humanitarian crisis." It is not a crisis, or the world is so full of such crises that the word loses all meaning.
Economic problems there are little different from economic trouble in the entire rest of the Arab world, and only made worse by Gazans' decision to elect a genocidal and religio-fascist terrorist group to lead them.
The people peddling the "humanitarian crisis" myth (thankfully now breaking down) are mythologizing the situation to wield as a club for one purpose only -- to transfer blame from where it belongs (on Hamas) to where it does not (on Israelis). Let's tell the truth. Gaza faces economic difficulties, not a humanitarian crisis.
I read in a recent New York Times article that it's not the lack of food or goods that's the problem, it's the lack of employment, and the ennui of being penned in with nowhere to go.
The goods are in the stores, and some genuine medical aid is getting through the Israeli border (though I have no idea if it's enough), but if the Gazans have no salaries, how are they affording any of this.
I don't know, Solomon, but it seems to me that a difference in degree can be a difference in kind here. If these economic difficulties are caused by blockade (by Egypt as well as Israel), and if they are extreme, I think that would qualify as a humanitarian crisis. Admittedly, the nature of that crisis should be better reported.
Make a list in your head of all the crises on the planet. See where Gaza fits on that list.
The word "crisis" denotes intensity and time sensitivity. The situation is *acute*, and action must be taken *now* or a mass tragedy will result.
Is that the situation in Gaza? Don't make me laugh.
The people who put the term "humanitarian crisis" into circulation did so for one purpose: political propaganda against Israel on behalf of the Hamas government. Have no doubt.
Let's not insult the plethora of other locations and suffering people around the world where there are real "humanitarian crises" by elevating this particular group of people to an undeserved pedestal.