Pallywood re-opens for business
posted at 9:13 am on January 24, 2008 by Bryan
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Israel has been getting hammered in the press for creating a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza by cutting off the power in retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. That “humanitarian crisis” sparked yesterday’s run through the security wall into Egypt, facilitated by “gunmen” and ending in what a cynic might call looting.
Egyptian shopkeepers swiftly raised prices of milk, taxi rides and cigarettes, but that did not deter the Gazans, for many of whom it was their first trip out of the territory.
Some staggered back into Gaza carrying televisions, and others sported brand-new mobile phones. In Gaza City, prices of cigarettes - which had skyrocketed during the total blockade of the past week - fell by 70 per cent in a few hours.
If the power isn’t working because there’s a “humanitarian crisis,” why go to the trouble of snagging a TV? Anyway…
It turns out that there’s less to the humanitarian crisis than meets the eye.
In the first case, journalists who were invited to cover the Hamas government meeting were surprised to see Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his ministers sitting around a table with burning candles.
In the second case on Tuesday, journalists noticed that Hamas legislators who were meeting in Gaza City also sat in front of burning candles.
But some of the journalists noticed that there was actually no need for the candles because both meetings were being held in daylight.
“They had closed the curtains in the rooms to create the impression that Hamas leaders were also suffering as a result of the power stoppage,” one journalist told The Jerusalem Post. “It was obvious that the whole thing was staged.”
Palestinians staging crisis for the cameras? Say it ain’t so…
Update (AP): Glorious photo evidence.
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Ah, must have been a full moon outside….after it was hit with an enormous solar flare, I guess.
Asher on January 24, 2008 at 9:24 AM
IN that linked AP photo… what’s the deal with the guy in the picture with dark hair, and a day-glo orange beard?
Bob Owens on January 24, 2008 at 9:26 AM
Even worse is that Time doesn’t even call them on it in the caption.
Tim Burton on January 24, 2008 at 9:28 AM
Don’t you know, it is the sign of Mohammed. Mohammed had a red/orange beard (insert snarky pedophile/blood comment).
Tim Burton on January 24, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Bryan:
Pallywood reopens for business?
It never frickin’ closed!
Besides, that first photo shows that they’ve got their blinds closed and it’s daylight out because you can see the light streaming in. Ditto for the open door in the back. The photographer didn’t bother to note that, and neither did the Time photo editor.
lawhawk on January 24, 2008 at 9:33 AM
Nope. The caption specifically states that the cabinet is meeting on “Tuesday night”. Um, not to intrude into their glorious fantasy, but isn’t that the sunlight streaming through the cracks in the curtain? The caption could at least say “Tuesday” and omit the night part. Crazy.
TX Mom on January 24, 2008 at 9:54 AM
The price of cigarettes fell 70% in a few hours!?
I need to call my travel agent…
Enrique on January 24, 2008 at 9:56 AM
Bryan, please don’t confuse the palestinian leadership with the palestinian people. There are thousands of people who are suffering as a result of oppressive groups like Hammas and the PLO. Not everyone there is happy with them, but they have little choice for change. They are walled up and have no place to go for food, work or school
I dont know what the answer is with Palestine but I know the current approach isn’t working.
offroadaz on January 24, 2008 at 10:08 AM
the on thing that the palestonians ever did right was get great PR people I swear no one knows how to use the media like they do.
sko17 on January 24, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Did you ever consider that they may just enjoy the romantic ambiance of candlelight during the death to America/Israel hour?
ronsfi on January 24, 2008 at 10:17 AM
A report on NPR last night talked about one Israeli border town that had been hit by over 2,000 rockets in the last year. And they still give them food, fuel, water, and power?! I’d be giving them artillery barrages. Insane.
JohnW on January 24, 2008 at 10:18 AM
crazy idea… Why not let Egypt take over Palestinian territory?
offroadaz on January 24, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Is Gaza a New Orleans parish? All that looting sounds very Hurricane Katrina.
Anyway, it’s nice to see that they are well-prepared with plenty of candles on hand just in case those mean Israelis don’t greet them with open arms for launching rocket attacks.
Buy Danish on January 24, 2008 at 10:25 AM
They already did that and decided they didn’t want them.
Ciannaky on January 24, 2008 at 10:28 AM
That would be the town of Sderot. All told, more than 3,000 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel since 2005 when Israel vacated Gaza and left the Gazans to their own devices. Apparently, those devices consist solely of building rockets and mortars to attack Israelis with the intent of killing and maiming Israelis at every possible opportunity.
lawhawk on January 24, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Why can’t I load the “Glorious photo evidence”? I feel like I’m being paranoid thinking that Time is colluding again with our enemies. I suppose that just I’m paranoid doesn’t mean that the MSM won’t do anything it can to help our enemies.
thuja on January 24, 2008 at 10:40 AM
AP, that photo is classic. Unbelievable.
Vizzini on January 24, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Ignore last post! I just got the photograph to load. Should I be embarrassed by my suspicions in my last post?
thuja on January 24, 2008 at 10:42 AM
The caption on that photo is hilarious:
The evil Israelis taped the curtains closed!
12thman on January 24, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Wouldn’t “Jihallywood” be more accurate…?
Spanglemaker on January 24, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Not only is the photo showing just how stage managed this “crisis” was, but the layers of editors missed a couple of fact-challenged statements.
The Palestinian Legislature meets in Ramallah, not Gaza.
The Israelis didn’t cut the electricity. They never stopped supplying more than 2/3 of Gaza’s electrical needs throughout the incessant bombing and rocket attacks. They did, however stop supplying Gaza with gas and oil.
Nice to see the layers of fact checkers at both Reuters and Time miss all that.
lawhawk on January 24, 2008 at 11:08 AM
What moronic drivel. The Palestinian people overwhelmingly elected HAMAS, knowing full well the group’s genocidal and Islamist intentions. Yet we should avoid confusing the Palestinian people and their duly elected government?
What color is the sky in your world?
And the Palestininas have no intention of ever changing so long as they have useful idiots like you to pine for “humanitarian aid” and to absolve them of any responsibility for their self inflicted miseries.
Mike Honcho on January 24, 2008 at 11:36 AM
RIGHT?!?!??! It’s clearly day time in that photo! How exactly are the Jews keeping Hamas from opening the damn blinds?
What a bunch of victim-card-playing, phony, religious yahoos.
Enrique on January 24, 2008 at 12:29 PM
“AP, that photo is classic. Unbelievable.”
It looks as if one of the guys at the front is about to set fire to his paper - that would be tragic, if the whole place burned down because of the candles.
Did the editor at Time stop to wonder what was powering the microphones right at the front of the picture? If he assumed they were running off a battery, how was the battery charged? Did the journalists nip next door and plug their chargers in? But the whole area was supposed to be without power!
Apeking on January 24, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Wow! So in your view all palestinians are bad and deserve to suffer?
offroadaz on January 24, 2008 at 2:03 PM
People have to live with the government they select, be that selection through the electoral process or through choosing not to revolt, both of which are the case here. Yes, it is tragic that there are innocent Palestinians suffering because of their leaders’ choices, but the Israelis can’t forever babysit the people whose leadership has chosen to fight Israel (and would do so to Israel’s destruction if it could). I feel a lot more sorry for someone in Zimbabwe or Bangladesh or Sudan, who gets far, far less humanitarian aid per capita (although, to be fair, none of it winds up in Suha Arafat’s bank account), and who has far, far less effective power than even the lowliest Palestinian, whose mere existence influences world events to an astounding magnitude. If we were to solve the world’s humanitarian and violent conflict problems by order of magnitude - rather than by order of media play or global propaganda - the Palestinians would get way less than they do now, and would have to wait in line behind dozens of far more serious problems in the world. That doesn’t mean they deserve to suffer, but neither should the world expect Israel to tolerate its enemy’s artificial empowerment without appropriate response.
calbear on January 24, 2008 at 2:31 PM
You’re a very small man.
Like you have any sort of credentials to talk down on a forgein populace. Not every Palestinian action has to be looked through a partisan window. They’re people too you know.
Yoshi on January 24, 2008 at 2:42 PM
Israel and Gaza are in an odd economic partnership: Israel supplies Gaza with power, and Gazans repay Israel, not with money, but with daily rocket attacks on her citizens. Who are these journalists, diplomats, “peace” activists and world leaders to say that Israel must keep the juice flowing? And am I the only one to remember that human beings lived without electricity, heaters, AC, gas stoves, and television until the last hundred or so years, and that many people still live this way without considering themselves “in crisis?”
If the residents of Sderot have to live for years in constant fear of the Kassam alarm, never knowing when they will next have to run for a bomb shelter, then the residents of Gaza can make do with sunlight and moonlight until they decide to give up their murdering ways. I’m not holding my breath, but I’m also not wasting a drop of sympathy on them.
tikvah on January 24, 2008 at 3:17 PM
well, my view only holds about 2/3 of the Palestinian people as bad and deserving to suffer….The other 1/3 are Christians who have one of their memebers never suicide bombed anyone.
Tim Burton on January 24, 2008 at 7:41 PM