Bleak Ramadan for Palestine

Specop 007

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
9,454
0
0
Reap what you sow. Maybe these asshats should have thought about the fact The Great Satan (The West) pays their damned bills before putting Hamas in power and supporting terror attacks aginst The West and its allies.

They can save the melodramatic Tiny Tim for some other schmuck. Way I see it, their getting exactly what they asked for.

Article

Palestinians Brace for a Bleak Ramadan

Palestinians Brace for Bleakest Ramadan Yet, As Isolated Gaza Sinks Deeper Into Poverty
By DIAA HADID

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Sep 23, 2006 (AP)? Gaza's children used to light colorful lanterns to mark Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. But this year, many parents can't afford those small $1 toys as the coastal strip sinks deeper into poverty amid an aid cutoff to punish the Hamas-led government.

"These days, I just want to cry," said Umm Emad, a mother of six. The only lantern in her house is a paraffin lamp she keeps for Gaza's frequent power cuts.

Ramadan, which began Saturday in the West Bank and Gaza and other parts of the Muslim world, is a time of fasting from dawn to dusk, piety and giving to the poor. It's also a festive month, with large family meals after sundown, social get-togethers and new clothes for everyone.

But Gaza is poorer than ever, and many will not be able to observe all Ramadan traditions. The U.N. feeds some 1 million of Gaza's 1.4 million people. One of the U.N. agencies, the World Food Program, added some 60,000 needy people for a total of 220,000 to its roster in September alone.

Foreign aid, which helped prop up the Palestinian Authority for more than a decade, dried up in March after the Islamic militant group Hamas came to power. For long periods, Gaza also was cut off from the world, particularly after Hamas-allied militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier in June.

In the past three months, Israeli incursions to stop rocket fire and find smuggling tunnels have killed more than 200 Palestinians, most of them militants. Electricity is rationed, in six-hour blocks, after Israel's military bombed Gaza's main power plant following the kidnapping of the soldier.

On the political front, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has so far failed to set up a national unity government that would be acceptable to the West. His efforts are "back to zero," he said Saturday, after Hamas said it would not participate in a government that recognizes Israel.

Gaza's poor have tried to infuse some joy into Ramadan. In a holiday cleanup, Hamas youth swept a main city street, and burned garbage, including dozens of old shoes, leaving the smell of rubber in the air.

But many are feeling the strain.

Umm Emad, 45, said her husband beat their 10-year-old daughter after she pleaded for a Ramadan lantern. The mother of six, who would not give her real name because she said she is ashamed of being poor, works part time selling clothes in a relative's shop, for $3.50 a day.

Her husband sells clothes at a stand outside a U.N. office. On a good day, he makes a profit of $5. Before Hamas came to power, he earned about $22 dollars a day as the owner of a small clothing factory.

"In the good days, my husband used to buy lanterns for all the children, and the neighbor's children, because their father died, so they wouldn't feel left out," she said.

Like many Gazan families, Umm Emad has not yet bought any food for the household, although traditionally this is done a day before Ramadan begins.

In Gaza City's Shati refugee camp, grocer Adel Mudalal said he is not stocking ingredients for Ramadan desserts, like dried apricot paste. "I have no capital to buy and the neighborhood has no money to buy," he said.

Camp resident Deeb al-Ras' 11 children rarely buy from Mudalal's grocery. Al-Ras' restaurant went bust when the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000, and just one of his sons works, as a policeman, but hasn't been paid for months. The family will get by on rice and lentils donated by the U.N., al-Ras said, but with few vegetables or meat to supplement their diet.

Umm Saber, 58, a widow living with her son's family, said she was hungry most of the time. "I don't know what I'll be breaking my fast on," she said, "but I will eat something. Even if it's just a spoonful of yogurt. God always finds a way."

In a sweets shop in the upper-class Gaza City suburb of Saqallah, five or six people stop by every day, asking for leftovers, said salesman Osama Qandil, 24. "We don't turn them away, there's always a little extra for the poor," he said.

Gaza's shrinking middle class can still afford to spend $5 or the day's wage of an unskilled laborer at Qandil's shop for 2.2 pounds for kunafa, a popular holiday dish of vermicelli drenched in butter, wrapped around white cheese, then soaked in syrup.

But those who are still relatively well off try to keep a low profile.

Umm Ammar, 42, a mother of eight, said the family no longer eats out.

"Our situation is fine, but it's the general atmosphere that's depressing. We don't barbecue on the beach anymore, because that's insensitive and rude. Some people smelling the meat can't afford bread," she said.

She said years ago, colored lights were strung up in Gaza's main streets during Ramadan. Now, she said, "even if Gaza had the lights, there'd be no electricity for them to work."
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
35,214
9,396
136
This is a struggle, if we are strong enough to endure their pain or if we are to support Hamas?s war effort.
 

kylebisme

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2000
9,396
0
0
Originally posted by: Specop 007
Reap what you sow. Maybe these asshats should have thought about the fact The Great Satan (The West) pays their damned bills before putting Hamas in power and supporting terror attacks aginst The West and its allies.

They can save the melodramatic Tiny Tim for some other schmuck. Way I see it, their getting exactly what they asked for.
What about all the Palestinians who only voted for Hamas becuase they are far less corrupted than the PLO/Fatah, and what about the ones who didn't vote for Hamas at all?

 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,296
16
81
If the Palestinian government cannot stand on its own two feet without foreign assistance, what right does it have to exist?
 

Aimster

Lifer
Jan 5, 2003
16,129
2
0
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
If the Palestinian government cannot stand on its own two feet without foreign assistance, what right does it have to exist?


uhm..

LOL
 

IrateLeaf

Member
Jul 27, 2006
183
0
0
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Rather than genocide, I think it would be better if Israel would stop walling the Palestinians into their towns and stealing their land. If the Zionists could give up their land-grab even Hamas might eventually be persuaded to recognize Israel, but until then you can't rightly blame them for not wanting to do anything of the sort.

huh???

Israel has a right to secure there boarders and protect its population.
I understand as a nation the USA dosn`t have issus with hisapnic people entering illegally.
But I bet you would se a wall immediately if they started blowing up busses and malls and churches. You let a few random hyspanics start suicid bombings and you will se a wall go up quicker than you can say --huh????
 

judasmachine

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2002
8,515
3
81
Originally posted by: Specop 007
Reap what you sow. Maybe these asshats should have thought about the fact The Great Satan (The West) pays their damned bills before putting Hamas in power and supporting terror attacks aginst The West and its allies.

They can save the melodramatic Tiny Tim for some other schmuck. Way I see it, their getting exactly what they asked for.

So we are buying votes in Palestine. This policy will work, I tell ya, rock solid.
 

SamurAchzar

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2006
2,422
3
76
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Rather than genocide, I think it would be better if Israel would stop walling the Palestinians into their towns and stealing their land. If the Zionists could give up their land-grab even Hamas might eventually be persuaded to recognize Israel, but until then you can't rightly blame them for not wanting to do anything of the sort.

Is the recent detachment committed by Ariel Sharon, no less, included in the evil Zionist land grabbing scheme? FYI, Israel has completely withdrawn from the Gaza strip. That was before Hamas was elected.

 

Narmer

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2006
5,292
0
0
I guess democracy in the Middle East=Voting for the right candidate.

I will agree that after 13 years of the corrupt PLO organization, the Palestinians probably wanted somebody less corrupt. They paid dearly for it.

Originally posted by: SamurAchzar
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Rather than genocide, I think it would be better if Israel would stop walling the Palestinians into their towns and stealing their land. If the Zionists could give up their land-grab even Hamas might eventually be persuaded to recognize Israel, but until then you can't rightly blame them for not wanting to do anything of the sort.

Is the recent detachment committed by Ariel Sharon, no less, included in the evil Zionist land grabbing scheme? FYI, Israel has completely withdrawn from the Gaza strip. That was before Hamas was elected.

I don't think you're fooling anybody here with that statement. You can't withdraw unilaterally, without making peace, then get angry if the other side sees your withdrawal as a sign of weakness. So long as Israel continues to do things on their own term, without finding a willing partner then they are doomed to pay the price in isolation and insecurity.

We can argue over this or that, but it's clear that both sides are stuck in their own ways and have very little value for human life.
 

jrenz

Banned
Jan 11, 2006
1,788
0
0
ou can't withdraw unilaterally, without making peace, then get angry if the other side sees your withdrawal as a sign of weakness.

That's the most ass-backwards logic I have ever heard. They withdrew because that is the only way they might ever be able to make peace. They have every right to be angry.
 

Narmer

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2006
5,292
0
0
Originally posted by: jrenz
ou can't withdraw unilaterally, without making peace, then get angry if the other side sees your withdrawal as a sign of weakness.

That's the most ass-backwards logic I have ever heard. They withdrew because that is the only way they might ever be able to make peace. They have every right to be angry.

Ok, Imagine this. You and I have been fighting over a piece of land for 10 years. You occupy half and I occupy the other half. If, suddenly one day I withdraw from my half and you immediately seize it without a word being said between the two of us, what would you think? Would you THINK I wanted to make peace or would you see it as a way for me to cop-out of the conflict?

In the real world, the Israelis leave all of Gaza so they can feel that they have the moral authority to set the agenda for the West Bank. Nobody is fooled. They want to "sacrifice" Gaza to legitimize their theft (under international law) of areas of the west bank.
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,296
16
81
Originally posted by: Aimster
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
If the Palestinian government cannot stand on its own two feet without foreign assistance, what right does it have to exist?


uhm..

LOL

Yeah, it sounds silly the way I worded it, but I meant it in an abstract way. The Palestinian government has (IIRC) always relied on foreign aid, but if they can't even feed their people without aid, what use are they in the first place?
 

dexvx

Diamond Member
Feb 2, 2000
3,899
0
0
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Originally posted by: Aimster
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
If the Palestinian government cannot stand on its own two feet without foreign assistance, what right does it have to exist?


uhm..

LOL

Yeah, it sounds silly the way I worded it, but I meant it in an abstract way. The Palestinian government has (IIRC) always relied on foreign aid, but if they can't even feed their people without aid, what use are they in the first place?

Israel has always relied on US aid, economic and political for decades. Granted, I do think Israel can get along just fine without aid (they won't starve, and it wont be that bleak for them), but its not to say that US aid immensely helps the Israeli economy and has helped shaped it into the global powerhouse it is and will be for decades to come.
 

kylebisme

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2000
9,396
0
0
Originally posted by: SamurAchzar
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Rather than genocide, I think it would be better if Israel would stop walling the Palestinians into their towns and stealing their land. If the Zionists could give up their land-grab even Hamas might eventually be persuaded to recognize Israel, but until then you can't rightly blame them for not wanting to do anything of the sort.

Is the recent detachment committed by Ariel Sharon, no less, included in the evil Zionist land grabbing scheme? FYI, Israel has completely withdrawn from the Gaza strip. That was before Hamas was elected.
Israel has withdrawn to the boarders of Gaza, they still control those though, even the ones that don't boarder on Israel. Beyond that, While Sharon was clearing Israeli presence inside Gaza he continued to expropriate land in the West Bank, and while I wouldn't go so far as to call the move evil, it is most certainly part of the land gabbing scheme.

 

CanOWorms

Lifer
Jul 3, 2001
12,404
2
0
Oil-rich Arab/Muslim nations can pay Palestine's bills... unless the misery of Palestinians benefits them domestically.
 

Termagant

Senior member
Mar 10, 2006
765
0
0
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Oil-rich Arab/Muslim nations can pay Palestine's bills... unless the misery of Palestinians benefits them domestically.

:Q

You're not insinuating that Muslims intentionally withhold charity to fellow Muslims???

Because I think that would just be unfair to our oil rich terror lovin Wahhabi buddies in the Middle East.
 

yllus

Elite Member & Lifer
Aug 20, 2000
20,577
432
126
Originally posted by: Narmer
I guess democracy in the Middle East=Voting for the right candidate.

I will agree that after 13 years of the corrupt PLO organization, the Palestinians probably wanted somebody less corrupt. They paid dearly for it.
No, they can have their democracy - nobody has claimed that the process hasn't been democratic. Frankly, the process is irrelevant. So is the assertion that Hamas was the least corrupted party in the nation; completely irrelevant. The issue lies the new government's policy.

If the world doesn't agree with the policies of that new government, it can choose to change our relationship with it. And it has done so. You make your choice, you deal with the consequences of that choice. It's dead simple.
 

Rainsford

Lifer
Apr 25, 2001
17,515
0
0
You know, as much as I hate to say this, I think cutting off aid was the right decision. Funding a government that supports policies that go against what we stand for makes little sense, and this isn't like cutting off aid to Iraq, the Palestinian people had a CHOICE, and they picked Hamas.

But damn some of you guys are cold (in a sociopathic kind of way). There is a difference between thinking this was the right decision and actually being happy (or so it seems) that the Palestinians are suffering. Trust me on this, it doesn't make you look tough...
 

imported_dna

Golden Member
Aug 14, 2006
1,755
0
0
As time passes by, people in Gaza, and probably in the West Bank as well, are being dumbed down by hate-propaganda; soon enough, you won't be able to trust them with a democratic government. They'll just need someone to rule them with an iron fist, while the education level rises, and people are once again able to comprehend that there is more to life than hating Israel, and strapping on bombs.

Perhaps a UN force authorized to use force to crush militias would be able to pull this off, for a period of at least 10 years, during which more children could grow up without being brainwashed, and beome productive members of society.
 

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
18,161
7
0
Originally posted by: dna
As time passes by, people in Gaza, and probably in the West Bank as well, are being dumbed down by hate-propaganda; soon enough, you won't be able to trust them with a democratic government. They'll just need someone to rule them with an iron fist, while the education level rises, and people are once again able to comprehend that there is more to life than hating Israel, and strapping on bombs.

Perhaps a UN force authorized to use force to crush militias would be able to pull this off, for a period of at least 10 years, during which more children could grow up without being brainwashed, and beome productive members of society.

Did you use UN and crush in the same sentence? The UN wouldn't crush a bug without debating it for a few weeks.

Perhaps a NATO force with some Arab troops added in as well.
 
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