PA: 'Hamas is staging Gaza blackouts'

[shira]

PA: 'Hamas is staging Gaza blackouts'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah accused Hamas on Tuesday of staging the latest blackouts in the Gaza Strip in a bid to win sympathy and incite the Palestinian public against Israel and the PA.

Slideshow: Pictures of the week The officials said that contrary to Hamas's claim, there is no shortage of basic goods, medicine and fuel in the Gaza Strip, largely thanks to the many underground tunnels along the border with Egypt.

This is not the first time that Palestinians have accused Hamas of staging Gaza blackouts under the pretext that Israel had cut off fuel supplies to the district's power grid.

Earlier this year, Palestinian journalists in Gaza City told The Jerusalem Post that scenes of Palestinian children and women holding lit candles in the dark had been staged by Hamas and some Arab satellite TV stations.

<snip>

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1226404771503

[azurnoir]

1. Shouldn't the subtitle be

PA claims UNRWA to be liars, whatever thanks for the larf

[shira]

2. check on the web for yourself

google under gaza, blackout, hoax for some of the most egregious examples of Hamas manipulating the press. There's one pic of a baby in a dark incubator that's cut from a bigger picture showing the electricity is still on all around him. The one about Hamas parliament by candlelight with sunlight coming through the curtains is probably the most famous. pretty desperate stuff by hamas.

[azurnoir]

3. I did check and all I can say is THANK YOU

this is a series of links from my search, the last one being the google search it self the jpost article is #5, but note the dates all the other articles

http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2008/02/pallywood-and-the-gaza-blackout-a-hamasa/

http://www.think-israel.org/solomonia.gazafakery.html

http://infidelsarecool.com/2008/01/21/gaza-blackout-is-hamas-deception/

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?articleId=36740776&channelId=2951&buyerId=newsmeatcom

http://daledamos.blogspot.com/2008/01/times-magazine-alters-blackout-caption.html

http://charlesjacobs.org/index.php?Itemid=29&option=com_myblog&show=-News-hoax-exposed.html

http://www.google.com/search?q=gaza+blackout+hoax&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:offic

Does it occur that there are presumably Palestinian elections coming up?
By the reasoning used here it must also be believed that PE Obama is a Muslim socialist

[shira]

6. um...so what's your point?

and is english your first language, just curious. many posts of yours confuse me.

[azurnoir]

12. Are we back to that one ?

the point is that with exception of the jpost article all the other were dated for January or February of this year when the OMG this proves what the Gazans claim is nothing but "lies all lies" kerfuffle over Hamas using candles in a darkened room at high noon to illustrate what night was like in Gaza "broke"and all except the jpost article were about that incident

The last part of my post was about the fact that during election season anyone should take what one opposing party says about the other with a grain or two of salt especially when the claims are extreme, this applies almost anywhere on earth.

[shira]

14. wow.

so you cannot admit the staged photos are nothing but a propaganda stunt perpetuated by a willing media? who cares if those photos came from 8-9 months ago, are we to assume everything since then is legit or rather, as of yet unreported pallywood? why not show REAL, not imagined, effects of power outages? during THAT time 8-9 months ago, israel and egypt were supplying nearly 80% of gaza's electricity, directly, independent of fuel supplies.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1200572500679

so it wasn't as if there was real suffering then due to power outages. there was no power crisis.

also, i've linked in recent days several articles which show Israel's alleged siege of Gaza is not working out so well, as Hamas has their own way via the tunnels to stock up on fuel for electricity.

there is simply no fuel shortage in gaza right now and the fact that the media dances to hamas' tune doesn't seem to bother you in the very least. here's an article about Arafat's fake blood donation shortly after 911, which was pre-arranged with the help of the media to cover up the fact that Israel sent out images of dancing palestinians in celebration of 911 to the world:

http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3503755,00.html

arafat's fake donation remained a secret until just this year....and it was done with media compliance only 2 weeks before the al-dura hoax was perpetrated - you know al-dura, which served as the major catalyst for intifada 2. no biggie, right?

scroll down to "catastrophic blunder" and you'll read of this clear media collusion. are you the least bit concerned about media honesty? not truth, but honesty. I/P is big media business. Either get with the program and do the Palestinian leadership's bidding or other media will profit from doing just that. $$$

[azurnoir]

15. And yet more from January and February 2008

Which proves what? The proIsraeli propaganda machine tried 10 months ago to make a mountain out of a mole hill and having apparently nothing else is still trying to milk it?

Oh and I read all about that left wing media collusion in the right wing blogs from my post including a former favorite of someones Pajamas's Media

[shira]

24. yes, sigh.......i know, nothing fazes you

tell me, would it faze you if arabs and blacks were the victims of hoaxes like the fake blackouts, jenin, al-dura, constant and openly hysterical verbal bashing, etc..?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

4. We spoke with our family last weekend. Conditions are horrendous.

Can you imagine the hue and cry if Jews were subject to these conditions and Arabs minimized it as Shira tries to do?

[shira]

7. minimize suffering?

I don't deny or seek to minimize Palestinian suffering. The question is, what is the real source of that suffering? And is some of it just hyperbole (racist, apartheid, etc..) or Pallywood?

I do deny that most or all of it is due directly to Israel. Are you capable of admitting that Palestinian leadership leads to most suffering and poor conditions, not only within the Palsestinian territories, but around the arab/muslim world?

Israel could pack up and leave tomorrow, but that wouldn't end the suffering and abysmal conditions.

Lastly, what is the point of all the Pallywood hoaxes and spastic hyperbole normally utilized in this conflict that unfairly paints Israel in a more negative light than what reality dictates? If things are as bad as you claim, why make up ANY bullshit claims against Israel? If Israel is as evil as advertised, their actions should speak for themselves - no Pallywood or hyperbolic demonization (apartheid, racism, etc..) necessary.

[bemildred]

8. You deny that it is Israeli policy to keep Gaza closed? nt

[shira]

10. it's their policy

..to close off the borders and suspend aid (not risk being blown up at the border) when the rockets are flying. The question is, according to the OP, whether the fuel shortage resulting in power cuts is a Hamas fabrication. It's no secret Hamas is getting a steady flow of fuel already from Egypt and that the border closure doesn't affect the fuel/power problem.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

9. I suppose the UN report is a Pallywood creation?

http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/47d4e277b48d9d3685256ddc00612265/fe19208d6fb0cf4585257504007bf9a3!

Shame on those who starve children and double same on those who make excuses for it.

[shira]

11. the part about the fuel/electricity is without question bs

As for food/starvation, are you for or against UN food aid going through Egypt instead of Israel, especially when the rockets are flying?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

16. Did you happen to catch the report on Al-Jazeera, showing the throngs of people

having their decades-old kerosene lamps repaired?

[Scurrilous]

18. Gazans cook on wood fires because of power cuts

<snip>

"While an Israeli cutoff in fuel shipments has closed down a dozen of his competitors, baker Khalil Awad stays in business thanks to a little creativity and dirty black oil drained from car engines. The cutoff in fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip's sole power plant started a week ago in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

Israel has also banned journalists from entering Gaza, prompting top executives from some of the world's largest media organizations to file a rare protest.

Blackouts now last 16 to 20 hours each day, and shortages of kerosene and cooking gas are widespread. While wealthier Gazans have generators and diesel pumped in through contraband tunnels from Egypt, poorer residents have to be inventive.

Many households have run out of cooking gas to make their own bread, so women flocked to Awad's shop on a recent morning with trays of unbaked pita. He gave them numbers to keep the order. A worker shoveled three loaves at a time into the oven with a long wooden paddle.

"We have to eat bread," Awad shrugs. "Somebody has to bake it."

more

[Vegasaurus]

21. But if Hamas stopped their terrorism

stopped attempting to blow up their own aid trucks and crossings, they would have plenty of aid.

When they weren't shooting rockets, the gates were open.

They shoot rockets, the gates close.

It's called cause and effect.

Most children understand this chain of events.

It's surprising that the Palestinian leadership still acts so clueless about something so very basic.

[oberliner]

13. Nothing in that report indicates that any children are starving

You will note that since that report came out, UN aid trucks have entered Gaza via Israel.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

17. Report from PCHR on conditions.

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/107-2008.html

Would you be satisfied if Jewish Israeli children had this kind of nourishment?

[oberliner]

19. I am not satisfied with any children having this kind of nourishment

The situation is awful and I want nothing more than to see two prosperous states living side by side at peace with one another where no one needs to rely on UN aid and no children are malnourished.

That does not change the fact that no children in Gaza are starving to death as you seem to have suggested.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

23. There are plenty of malnourished children in Gaza; the siutation worsens daily. Do you deny that?

[pelsar]

25. its simply a matter of preferences ..econ 101

guns or butter...a society cant have both.

hamas can try to kill israelis...in which case they have "less butter"...or they can decide that having healthier kids is most important and not try to kill and terrorize israelis......i know its tough: consequence for ones actions......its an old ideology, that i believe in ......its a good basis for a society no matter if one is on the left, center or right.

I actually believe hamas also gets it...but they like playing/using people, both their own and those "useful idiotes' for their own ideological ends......

[bemildred]

5. Well, this certainly lets you know what the two sides are.

Just because Hamas takes advantage of Israeli actions, that does not mean Israel is not taking those actions. (And vice-versa of course.)

[LeftishBrit]

20. The situation in Gaza is pretty horrendous.

But it is difficult to know how much credence to put on anything that the PA say about Hamas - or of course vice versa.

[oberliner]

22. Staged blackouts and real blackouts are not mutual exclusive

Clearly, there have been both in Gaza.