Lattes, beach barbecues (and dodging missiles) in the world's biggest prison camp

[shira]

....

Don’t, please, accuse of me of complacency or denying the truth. I do not pretend to know everything about Gaza. I don’t think it is a paradise, or remotely normal. But I do know for certain what I saw and heard.

There are dispiriting slums that should have been cleared decades ago, people living on the edge of subsistence. There is danger. And most of the people cannot get out.

But it is a lot more complicated, and a lot more interesting, than that. In fact, the true state of the Gaza Strip, and of the West Bank of the Jordan, is so full of paradoxes and surprises that most news coverage of the Middle East finds it easier to concentrate on the obvious, and leave out the awkward bits.

Which is why, in my view, politicians and public alike have been herded down a dead end that serves only propagandists and cynics, and leaves the people of this beautiful, important part of the world suffering needlessly.

....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319157/Gaza-Strip-Lattes-beach-bbqs-dodging-missiles-worlds-biggest-prison-camp.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. Though this is not his worst article, you REALLY don't want to quote Peter Hitchens

Take it from a Brit who has experienced far too much of him!He is a far-right Daily Mail journalist who regularly attacks David Cameron and the Conservative Party for not being right-wing ENOUGH. In fact, while most Tories especially on the Right worship Maggie Thatcher, he criticizes even her for not being socially right-wing enough.

He is basically a Christian-Rightie; a far rarer breed in the UK than the USA, but not really an endangered species even here. (Interestingly, he is the brother of noted atheist Christopher Hitchens.) He is highly critical of gay rights, and opposes abortion at any stage of pregnancy. He regards the theory of evolution as just another religion. Although right-libertarian on some issues, he is a strong supporter of the drug war. He blames a lot of Britains problems on 'permissiveness' and reduction of the influence of the Church on society - and of course, like most British right-wingers, on the abolition of capital punishment.

He is an extreme xenophobic-isolationist, though pro-Israel which is unusual in this group. He is against the Iraq war, but also against any involvement with foreigners, and extremely anti-immigrant. In many ways, he is a British Pat Buchanan.

He blames poverty largely on the moral failings of poor people and has notoriously written, "The middle classes are not good because they are better off. They are better off because they are good." (Note: the British use of 'middle class' corresponds to 'upper middle class' in America.)

As regards this article, it seems to be a strange mixture of neutral description, true statements (yes, Hamas are bad, and harming their own people - though Hamas has more in common with Hitchens' ideal government than either would like to admit); and his suspicion of Muslims because they aren't Christians.

[whosinpower]

3. Don't hold back....

What do you really think of him? LOL!

[Tripmann]

2. More 'gourmet gaza' bs shira??