Most of the article talks about the terrible conditions that people in Gaza are living under (funny, before the financial crisis the articles also talked about their terrible conditions.) But here and there is revealed the author's biases:
Karni is officially closed because the Israeli army has declared a security alert for the Jewish Passover holiday. Yet it has barely been open this year.Apparently, the army was correct, although you will never see the Guardian admit that.
To add further misery, in retaliation for militants firing home-made Qassam rockets at Israel, the Israel Defence Force has bombarded the north of Gaza with thousands of artillery shells.Notice that the author,Conal Urquhart,describes Qassams as "home-made"; as if they aren't deadly. And what about all those metal workshops that Israel always bombs - are they in homes? Notice also his implication that Israel's response is disproportionate to the threat - if only Israel would let its citizens be blown up more often, there would be more peace. And, finally, notice that Israel's actions only "add misery" and have no constructive purpose.
Confronted with the crisis facing Palestinian society, Russia broke ranks with fellow mediators the EU and Washington yesterday by promising emergency aid to save the authority from complete bankruptcy.Russia, according to the author, has nothing but humanitarian concerns at its heart, as opposed to the nasty EU and Americans. The author cannot for a minute think that Russia perhaps has an ulterior motive to be a player in future peace negotiations. Nope, those Russians are just in the forefront of worldwide aid. I wonder how much they gave Darfur.
At the root of Gaza's problems is Israel's determination to force Hamas to recognise the state of Israel and renounce violence. Israel has been joined in its efforts by Britain, the EU and the US. Hamas militants have been on a ceasefire for 16 months but they are determined to withhold recognition of Israel at least until it withdraws from occupied Palestinian territory.Here we have the root of the twisted mind of the author. The root of Gaza's problems is Israel's wanting not to be blown up? What kind of an idiot is this?
The root of Gaza's problems is the unbridled embracing of terror that its residents advocate. The root of Gaza's problems is the utter inability to build a decent society after decades. The root of Gaza's problems is that they are completely and totally dependent on third parties to exist.
Also, the Hamas "cease fire" is non-existent - there have been both successful and many unsuccessful Hamas attacks in the past year, including rocket attacks. (Not to mention that the "cease-fire" is 15 months old, not 16.)
Finally, we have the admiration that the author has for Hamas' "determination" to not recognize Israel, "at least" until Israel surrenders all territories. To this pro-terror Hamas sycophant, this is all very reasonable sounding. Israel is the root of Palestinian Arab problems, and no amount of facts will budge this moral midget from his preconceived "truths."
None of this is too surprising coming from the Guardian, but it still needs to be pointed out when it happens.