Gaza humor

Al Arabiya in Arabic has an article about the jokes that Gazans tell each other, to get an idea of how they think and what the political atmosphere is.

Thanks to Ali, I got them translated. (Auto-translslation rarely works for humor!)

The humor from the first set of jokes come from the fact that they are, in many ways, true.

1) Netanyahu has surgery in his foot in August. Various Palestinian factions declare responsibility. (This one reminds me of a very old Dry Bones, where a terrorist reads a newspaper about a gas explosion in Israel killing some kids, and asks his secretary to call the newspapers and claim responsibility, saying that terrorists must keep up on the news.)

2) Hamas forced students to repeat final exams in the Strip. The reason? 8 of the top 10 scores were from Fatah members and only 2 were from Hamas.

3) "Capture an Israeli soldier and receive a free Hummer! Offer valid until Israeli jails are emptied" (presumably from prisoner swaps.)

4) An Israeli soldier tried to search a woman. She told him, "Get out of my face or I'll make sure you are in the headlines."

The bulk of the recent jokes, however, are about the electricity shortages in Gaza:

5) Benefits of electric outages include:
* Helps students get to bed early.
* Allows for romantic time with your wife under candlelight.
* The frequent deaths because of fires and generators exploding increase the chance of men getting invited to funerals and houses of consolation, where they could receive free meals.

6) The Gaza electric company has been renamed. The new name is the "Sabotage of Electricity Company."

7) Advertisement from electric company: "We give you a good excuse for not accepting guests into your house: just say that 'We are saving our candles for birthday parties only.' "

8) Another ad from electric company: "Are you worried about your husband staying out too late? We insure he comes home early by cutting off the electricity on places where he could be hanging out with his friends!"

9) Another ad: "We cut off the electricity, so you can enjoy the great outdoors!"

10) Another ad: "We protect women's rights by ensuring that she receives her dowry, her ring, and her generator."