Tens of thousands Palestinians flooded across the breached border crossing from Gaza into Egypt parting the wall separating the besieged city from Egypt, thousands of years after the Jews fled oppression and persecution in Egypt crossing the sea to the wilderness, It is ironic to see the new exodus of the Palestinians crossing into the same wilderness of the Egyptians desert escaping the oppression of the descendants of the ancient Hebrews. Israel’s decades of subjugation of the Palestinians left them living on a life support system that is extended from Tell Aviv; water, border crossing, fuels, electricity, food and other basic necessities are squeezed in by the Israeli siege as they wish and based on the Palestinian behavior report card. “The destruction of the fence was an act of defiance by Hamas against Israel,” reported the New York Times with a strange read to the recent events; this is a different jail break where the criminals are the ones living outside, the modern exodus of Palestinians simply brings people who want to get out of Gaza to get some fresh air and fresh food. However, this time the exodus does not enjoy the leadership of Moses to ask the Egyptian Pharaoh to let his people to come and not to go. In a speech on Thursday, Mr. Mubarak said “peace efforts cannot endure any other failure, and Egypt will not allow the starving of Palestinians in Gaza or that the situation in the strip turns into a humanitarian crisis.” He added hiding his national embarrassment for his disgraced collaboration with the Israeli and the US to seal Gaza from the outside world. “ I don’t need anything, I just wanted to get out and see Egypt,” declared a Palestinian elder as he was walking aimlessly through the elated crowd. Palestinians simply went to buy fresh food, milk, feta cheese and gasoline, motor oil and cooking oil. “Some went to get cement to seal the graves of their loved ones, which they have had to try to protect with paving stones, metal and boards” reported the New York Times. As the US presidential race intensified centering on the race issue and who has more sympathy with black Americans, the Palestinian exodus did not terribly concern any of the candidates in their quest for the presidency. A Haaretz correspondent correctly reported that the peace in the Mideast is not on the Americans radar: “The week Bush toured the Mideast – a long trip with visits to many countries and important meetings on the peace process, oil, Iran – only 4 percent of this tour was covered by American news”. The Pew Research Center, which published the results of a study covering the main issues concerning the Americans, divided the national concern pie like this: 49 percent to campaign issues, 3 percent to the economy, 3 percent to Iraq, 3 percent to U.S. / Iranian ships, 2 percent to Pakistan and 4 percent to Bush’s peace talks. We are not talking about the right of return of millions of Palestinians refuge who were forced out of their homes in Palestine in the 48’s “Nakbah” and, we are talking about the right of millions of desperate Palestinians inside Palestine to leave and get basic needs. Palestinians are paying a terrible price not just for historical fate resulted from inept leaders and the belligerent arrogance of the Israeli power machine. As the modern exodus is unfolding before our eyes, American officials still blame Hamas for every terrible thing that happened in the world. When Condoleezza Rice asks for a creative solution, one thinks that she was confusing this human tragedy with the world financial crisis. The images of the desperate Palestinians crossing the Egyptian border, as the United Nation representative in Palestine admitted on BBC radio stated “ It is a reflection of the terrible condition inside Gaza.” Now it is for the world to see, especially in the Arab street, where they are fed these horrible images of the demise of their brothers flashing 24/7 on the Arab network TV…how did we get to this… Egypt, Israel, the US and even the Palestinian president are still steadfast in their Childress rhetoric “we won’t talk to Hamas…” But, somehow, Hamas now has the only card to stop this human disaster… another mission accomplished.
Ahmed/ 1/25/08
Host BelAhdan, Arab American TV show
Airs on Public TV every Sunday
www.belahdan.com
