Who to blame for Gaza’s poisonous water?
THE BBC reports the grim news that water in Gaza is “too contaminated to drink“. DRinking waster has been contaminated by “fertiliser and human waste”. The BBC’s emphasis is on it being the fault of the Israelis:
The charities Save the Children and Medical Aid for Palestinians say the number of children being treated for diarrhoea has doubled in five years. They say Israel’s five-year blockade of the territory is preventing crucial sanitation equipment from getting in. The blockade must be lifted “in its entirety”, they say
Children are suffering. So. Stop the blockade? For many years, hollow metal pipes were crossing the aborder from Israel Gaza. In 2007, the Israeli secret service discovered that pipes earmarked for the sewage system in Gaza were being used to manufacture Kassam rockets and shoulder-launched missiles. Sewer piles have been used as weapons before.
The rockets are a problem.
In other news, The Economist reports (read it all):
In the meantime, Hamas leaders seem increasingly content to enjoy the fruits of splendid isolation. The parliamentary car park, full of rickety bangers when Hamas first took office, now gleams with flash new models hauled through the tunnels under the Egyptian border. Two Hummer H3s and a golden Porsche were recently spotted cruising the streets. Ministers and members of parliament seem unbothered by the lack of accountability as well as reports of money-laundering. “We’re hunted and targeted,” explains a self-pitying MP on Hamas’s parliamentary ethics committee, who recently spent $28,000 on a new car with the help of a $12,000 loan from the movement.
It’s not just about religion of nationhood. It’s about money and a class system…
Posted: 18th, June 2012 | In: Reviews Comments (8) | TrackBack | Permalink
