Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Hamas believes a stupid rumor about UNRWA

I mentioned last month that there were protests in Lebanese camps against UNRWA, partially because of a rumor that UNRWA was changing its name as a precursor to reducing its services in a new mandate that would encourage resettlement of Palestinian Arabs outside Israel.

I could not find any verification of any name change or change in UNRWA's mandate.

But that didn't stop Hamas from pouncing on that same rumor. On Tuesday, the Hamas Department of Refugees echoed the same rumor, accusing UNRWA of plotting to actually solve the problem of stateless Palestinian Arabs rather than prolonging it the way it has done so well, and the way that every Arab leader wants it to continue. At Hamas' urging, there were protests outside UNRWA headquarters in Gaza.

UNRWA finally released a statement today denying any change in its name or mandate.

Now millions of "refugees," many in camps with UNRWA services, can rest easy, knowing that they will never become normal citizens in the Arab countries that they were born in and will likely die in. They will remain second-class citizens, derided and discriminated against, subject to the whim of the leaders of the countries they live in.

Victory!

American Flotidiots admit defeat, declare victory

You can't make stuff like this up.

From the USTOGAZA website that was home to the "Audacity of Hope" boat:

The presence of the U.S. Boat to Gaza in Athens is winding down. For more than 2 weeks the 37 passengers (someone was added at the last moment), 4 crew members and about 12 people in the support team there worked hard to make sure our boat – The Audacity of Hope – could sail as part of the international Freedom Flotilla 2 to Gaza. The Greek government’s willingness to serve as the enforcer of Israeli’s naval blockade of Gaza made it impossible for this journey to happen.

But the creative and determined spirit of this team of committed activists could not be stopped or silenced. They worked tirelessly to make the point in countless ways: they attempted to set sail knowing it might lead to a confrontation with the Greek authorities, they stood by the boat’s captain when he was arrested and jailed for several days, several people held a hunger strike for a few days, everyone marched and rallied with other flotilla activists and with the people of Athens in their own struggle for economic justice, and incredible energy went into getting the word out to people throughout this country and around the world as the work with the media continued through it all.

Last night our group’s activities in Athens ended and here’s a description from one of our people there: “We all went to Syntagma Square... We unfurled to drum beats 22 flags sewn together representing the countries participating in the Flotilla. Our black and white signs were in Greek, Arabic and English. It was a beautiful sight. Then we marched to the Spanish Embassy where our Spanish partners were occupying its embassy demanding the release of their boat. We arrived at about 9 pm with drummers leading the way. They came out on balconies and we sang to each other. It was quite the sight.”

Now our folks are beginning the journey home – some will arrive today, some tomorrow and others in the days ahead. Everyone is tired, but their energy is strong! They will share their stories and talk about their experiences in communities everywhere. And they will use this incredible time they shared in Athens as a spring board for further activism and organizing.

I wonder if they'll refer to themselves as "survivors" the way that the 2010 Terror Flotilla moonbats did.

I'd love to see videos of their singing, as well as how they describe their wonderful trip to Greece to their sycophants back home. "We went to break the blockade, and didn't make it out of port. But we got some news outlets to get us a little attention and sang lots of songs. Give us more money!"

Mondoweiss is fundraising

From the rabidly anti-Israel site Mondoweiss:

The urgency of this fund-drive is that we need reader support to institutionalize our website or it will begin to stagger (and ultimately disappear).

We've always said that we would be happy to be put out of business in an eye-blink if the American mainstream media would cover our issues fairly. But they won't. They are afraid.

Donate to Mondoweiss.net now to keep open the free flow of information about the Middle East

For five years we've run this site as a labor of love, and Adam Horowitz and I were able to sustain that commitment. But we often put in seven days a week, and we're both burning out.

We've raised over $10,000 in the first week of the drive, and we can't tell you how much we appreciate it! Right now, we will be trying to find foundations to help us, and wealthy individuals, but it is readers' support has been vital, and we're very grateful. If you haven’t yet -- please donate to ensure the life of the site.

It's funny, because the American mainstream media also doesn't fairly cover the issues I cover. I also support the free flow of information about the Middle East - not the news media memes. I also run this site as a labor of love, 6 days a week, for nearly seven years. (I would argue that theirs is more a labor of seething hate.)

I write here largely by myself, part time, while Mondoweiss has about 14 different writers listed in just the past couple of days' worth of articles. And yet I manage to compete pretty well with the number of Mondoweiss readers, at times even surpassing it (according to Alexa.)

If the pro-Israel narrative is so dominant, then why is an anti-Israel blog getting over $12,000 in ten days of fundraising?

When it comes down to it, the Israel haters are the ones with the deep pockets. I bet that all the pro-Israel blogs combined didn't raise anything close to $12,000 over the past year. And there are certainly no foundations, no EU-funded NGOs, no Israeli government groups and no rich Zionist Jews who are throwing money towards grassroots hasbara blogs.

The problem is that the pro-Israel new media community is not nearly as well organized as the haters are. We need to do something about that.

(And I won't object to any rich Zionists who want to throw a few thousand dollars my way, using the donation button. I might even use it to revamp the site and get off of the very limited Blogger platform. Maybe if I make the site as attractive as Mondoweiss, I'll double their audience!)

Buy Max Brenner Chocolates

From The Australian, July 1:

POLICE officers were injured and protesters arrested during an anti-Israel rally outside a chocolate store in inner Melbourne.

Police say the rally turned violent when the group of more than 100 protesters refused to move from outside the Max Brenner store about 7pm (AEST) today.

Nineteen protesters from the Students for Palestine group were charged with offences including trespassing, besetting a premises and assaulting police.

Students for Palestine claims the company supplies chocolates for the ration packs of Israeli soldiers.

Here's a video of the obnoxious protesters in Melbourne.

Which means it is time to buy products from Max Brenner.

Here are their online shopping sites in Australia , Israel and the US.

Their chocolates have kosher supervision, but their stores (outside Israel) are not.

I cannot say I ever had any Max Brenner chocolates but the reviews are very good.

(h/t jzaik)

Israel preparing for the "flightilla"

Note: This post is from 2011.

From Israel Hayom:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich and Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino toured Ben Gurion International Airport Wednesday morning as part of preparations for the expected arrival of a pro-Palestinian aerial flotilla on Friday.

Following its intensive, and largely successful efforts to stop a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists from breaking the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, Israel is now actively working to thwart a provocative aerial flotilla - or "flightilla" - of hundreds of activists from across Europe who plan to land at Ben Gurion International airport on Friday.

"Every country has the right to prevent the entry of provocateurs and trouble-makers into its territory," Netanyahu said Wednesday, adding, "That is how all countries behave and that is how Israel will act. We must prevent the disruption of normal life for Israeli citizens."

Police believe the activists plan to disrupt the airport's operations. Army Radio reported Wednesday that ensuring normal functioning of the airport will be the primary objective of security forces deployed there on Friday.

"Any hooligans who attempt to break the law and disrupt public order will not be allowed to enter Israel, and will be returned to their countries of origin," Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said on Tuesday.

At a ceremony in Nazareth marking the division of the police's Northern District into two new districts, Aharonovich, who has been placed in charge of dealing with the "flightilla" said, "I have ordered the Chief of Police to prepare to foil any illegal activity. My message [to the activists] is sharp and clear: know that your plan will not succeed, and that you would do well to avoid coming to Israel. We would be happy to host you as tourists, so that you can get to know the wonderful landscapes and people of Israel, but not as hooligans and not as law-breakers."

The government is preparing to prevent pro-Palestinian activists from boarding planes headed to Israel as part of the "flightilla." According to information attained by Israel Hayom, Israeli authorities possess lists with the names of activists planning to fly into the country, and have requested foreign airlines not to allow these passengers to board, since they are not in possession of entry visas.

Those activists who manage to deceive the airlines and are identified upon their arrival in Israel will be arrested and taken to detention facilities at the airport and in Israeli jails, and expulsion procedures against them will be initiated. Activists suspected of harboring intentions to create provocations will be loaded back onto their flights and deported.

A senior police commander said Tuesday that activists are expected on flights from Germany, Belgium and France. "We have no intention of giving them the pleasure of arriving here and driving us crazy," he told Israel Hayom.

Hundreds of police, uniformed and undercover, will be deployed throughout Ben Gurion International Airport to foil the planned "flightilla." Minister Aharonovitch summed up by saying that Ben Gurion Airport would "continue to function normally, and anyone found disturbing the peace will be dealt with accordingly."

The flytidiots have already started. From Ha'aretz:

Israeli police have deported five pro-Palestinian activists in the past two days. The activists were sent back to their home countries, France and Belgium.

Between 600 and 1,200 activists are expected to arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport on Thursday night and Friday, on flights from Moscow and New York.

Israeli far-left group "Anarchists Against the Wall" has a Facebook page for their members to greet the anti-Israel activists at the airport.

An email correspondent called up EasyJet and asked them their policies if someone is not allowed into a country:

If you're denied entry to Israel (or any other country) you must either book a new single fare ticket home or if you're holding a return you can change the date subject to their normal re-booking fees and the payment of any fare difference between the flight you hold and the next flight that you are obliged to travel home on.

Short answer: get denied entry by a country and you have to pay a full fare flight home.

The anti-Israel activists who think that they are getting bargain fares from Europe better be packing extra cash for their immediate trips back!

Water Wars: a war we can all enjoy

Every year in Tel Aviv there is a massive water fight, called Water Wars, with lots of Israeli women in bikinis getting wet. Here is a great video of this year's event - with a nice soundtrack from Israeli band The Carsitters.

(h/t I Googled Israel)

Amnesty calls out Syrian "crimes against humanity"

From Amnesty:

The brutal methods used in a devastating Syrian security operation in the western town of Tell Kalakh may constitute crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

Crackdown in Syria: Terror in Tell Kalakh documents deaths in custody, torture and arbitrary detention that took place in May when Syrian army and security forces mounted a broad security sweep, lasting less than a week, against residents of the town near the Lebanese border.

“The accounts we have heard from witnesses to events in Tell Kalakh paint a deeply disturbing picture of systematic, targeted abuses to crush dissent,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.

...Twenty year-old “Mahmoud”, who was arrested on 16 May and released after nearly a month in detention, was held for around five days at the Military Security detention facility in Homs:
“Each day [was] the same story. They tied me up in the shabah position and applied electricity to my body and testicles. Sometimes I screamed very loudly and begged the interrogator to stop. He didn’t care.”

At least nine people died in custody after being arrested during the security operation in Tell Kalakh, according to witnesses. Eight of these men – some of whom had been active in demonstrations – were shot at and wounded as they were ordered out of a house, and were then taken away by soldiers.

It was only around two weeks later that relatives were told to go to a military hospital to identify the bodies of the eight men. Witnesses said the bodies had marks on them which suggested torture, including cuts to the chest, long vertical slashes on the thighs and what seemed to be gunshot wounds on the back of the legs.

A forensic pathologist analysed a photograph of one of the men, Abd al-Rahman Abu Libdeh, for Amnesty International and concluded that he seemed to have sustained violent injuries to the face, shoulders and neck while still alive.

Some of the family members who went to identify the bodies of their sons said they were forced to sign a document stating that their sons were killed by armed gangs.

This is just the story in just one town.

The report notes that "The security operation prompted thousands of people to flee to Lebanon, some of whom were shot at as they fled. "

(h/t Yoel)

Palestine Press Agency quotes Secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO Yasser Abed Rabbo as saying that the PA's current financial crisis is "unprecedented."

He said that never before have the Arab nations been so delinquent in paying their pledges to the PA, echoing what PA prime minister Salam Fayyad said earlier this week.

Rabbo said that the financial crisis is "unprecedented and never at any time has the failure of previous Arab brothers for their obligations [been as serious] as is happening at the moment, and this is a surprise to us."

Like Fayyad, though, he said that the fact that the PA can't even stay afloat is not a reason that it shouldn't put in a bid for statehood in the US this September.

Because, we all know, the world needs another failed state.

Flotilla follies update

One French yacht, the Dignite, did manage to go out to sea. The flotilla activists are crowing about how they evaded the Greek Coast Guard, but, as usual, they are lying.

Here are the exciting details of how they managed to get out:

The French vessel escaped Greece on a technicality, as a pleasure craft, the Dignity is not confined by the regulations being used to block the larger Flotilla participants.

One of the passengers is tweeting in French. The passengers include Olivier Besancenot, a far left French politician.

The other flotidiots are still stuck in Greece, and being uncharacteristically quiet. Perhaps they are placing their bets on the flytilla instead.

Meanwhile, a company that had sold cement to the Swedish floatards has returned their money saying they want nothing to do with this stunt.

In a letter it sent to the Gaza flotilla organizers, the Swedish [Swiss?] company said that it had to cancel the deal due to "force majeure", and attributed the move to the Greek government's ban on Gaza-bound ships as well as to a letter by UN chief Ban Ki-moon discouraging Mediterranean countries from supporting the departure of the Gaza flotilla from their ports.

When Jewish leaders fall for the Arab "all or nothing" fallacy

Robert K. Lifton, former president of the American Jewish Congress, wrote an article in the Huffington Post that shows that even committed Zionists can find themselves believing the "all or nothing" fallacy that the Palestinian Arabs try to push.

He describes the fallacy well, without realizing it:

The alliance of aggressive nationalists and religious expansionists is endangering the dream of Zionism as conceived of by Theodore Herzl and shared by millions of Jews. Through their overzealous efforts toward expansion, in which they seek to extend Israel's jurisdiction over the biblical "whole land of Israel" -- the Territories gained in the 1967 Six-Day War -- they are endangering the Zionist foundations of that land.

For many years, I have been concerned that Israel not put at risk its Zionist purpose in an effort to expand its reach into the Territories. During my tenure as President of the American Jewish Congress, starting in 1988, we argued that in view of the demographics of Palestinian and Israeli population growth, among other factors, Israel would not be able to continue as both a Jewish and a democratic state if it attempted to annex the Territories as part of the state of Israel.

And also without realizing it, he describes why it is a fallacy:

It is in the hands of Mr. Netanyahu and his government to take the actions that save Zionism. He has said that he supports a two-state solution. His nationalist and religious coalition will be difficult to carry along to a two-state solution that is within the range of acceptability to the Palestinians.

Here is the crux of the issue. Because of years of the world accepting Palestinian Arab intransigence as a given, the former head of an unabashedly Zionist organization has accepted that a Palestinian Arab state must be within the parameters that the Arabs insist - and Israeli Jews are the ones who must do all the compromising.

Lifton uses the straw man that Thomas Friedman, Jeffrey Goldberg and others use: that the only choice is between Israel annexing the entire West Bank and Israel giving up the entire West Bank (with minor land swaps.) Yet this is not even close to true.

The concept of a Palestinian Arab state is not identical to the demand that Israel withdraw from all the crucial lands needed for defensible borders and to to maintain a Jewish presense in historically and religiously significant areas.

When Palestinian Arabs insist that the two are congruent, the Western reaction should be that, in that case, the demand for an independent state must not be all that important to the Palestinian Arabs.

A people that cry for independence and the dignity that comes with it are not usually in a position to make demands on the parameters of that solution. A people who acquired land in a defensive war are not usually the ones who are desperate to get rid of that land. This fun-house mirror situation exists only because of the combination of Arabs who refuse to compromise - and Westerners (including clueless Jews) who are frightened of words like "apartheid."

Because of the misguided policies of previous Israeli governments and the US, the Palestinian Arabs now feel they have nothing to lose - and therefore, no incentive to negotiate. That is the reason they have refused to hold talks - because they already have a functioning government, land under their control, billions of dollars of aid coming in to prop it up, full support by the West of their negotiating position, plenty of Jews willing to do their arguing for them - and no threat of losing their gains. Only when they are frightened will they finally start to take negotiations seriously.

Netanyahu's idea of a Palestinian Arab state that takes up less than 100% of the equivalent of the West Bank and Gaza should not be considered outlandish. On the contrary, it would completely destroy the "demographic threat" that so frightens Jews like Lifton. Palestinian Arabs who pretend to want a state so much should realize that they have something to lose by not compromising. By telling the Palestinian Arabs that they are in the right and Israel must be the only party to compromise, Lifton and his cohorts in the "peace camp" are feeding the intransigence of the enemy - and making peace that much more remote.

Lifton is also claiming to represent a large swath of American Jews. While it is unclear why American Jewry's opinions are more important than that of Israeli Jews in making decisions that only affect the lives of the latter, Lifton may want to revisit the results of a recent poll of American Jews - one that was done by his former group, the American Jewish Congress, only last autumn.

In the framework of a permanent peace with the Palestinians, should Israel be willing to compromise on the status of Jerusalem as a united city under Israeli jurisdiction?
Yes 35
No 60
Not sure 5

As part of a permanent settlement with the Palestinians, should Israel be willing to dismantle all, some, or none of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank?
All 6
Some 56
None 37
Not sure 2

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? “The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel.”
Agree 76
Disagree 20
Not sure 4

Should the Palestinians be required or not be required to recognize Israel as a Jewish state in a final peace agreement?

Required 95
Not required 3
Not sure 2

It sounds like Lifton is not speaking for as many American Jews as he is pretending to.

Afternoon linkdump

Adam Holland exposes some hypocrisy courtesy of Mondoweiss and Jonathan Cook.

A moderate summer camp and moderate college class named by the moderate PA after a moderate terrorist.

Spanish moonbats protesting for the release of the Flotiloonbats by chaining themselves to some poles.

Jew-hatred in the book shop of the American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem.

What will the PA do after September? A sobering analysis.

(h/t Nick, T34)

A brief history of weapons smuggling to Gaza

From the IDF:

May 7th, 2001: Santorini
The Santorini was intercepted on its way from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip. It contained a large shipment of 40 tons of weapons including Strela anti-aircraft missiles—the same kind that terrorists fired at and narrowly missed an Arkia Israeli passenger jet taking off from Mombassa, Kenya in November 2002. The shipment also included mortars, rifles and guns, grenades, mines and explosive material, anti-tank RPG-7 missile-launchers, and artillery rockets.

Three crew members aboard the Santorini were convicted for trying to smuggle weapons from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip—the captain, a professional weapons smuggler and two of his relatives aboard the ships had been involved in three previous smuggling attempts backed by Hezbollah and the PFLP-GC.

The Santorini ship was acquired by the PFLP-GC in a small island off Syria, and registered as Syrian. During previous smuggling attempts by the crew, arms were packed in Syria and transferred to Lebanon by a Syrian bus. Part of the anti-tank weaponry originated from Iran.

January 3rd, 2002: Karin-A
The Karin-A was intercepted in the Red Sea, heading towards the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip. It carried 80 submersible containers containing 50 tons of weapons, including: RPG-7 rockets, RPG-18 anti-tank rocket launchers, Iranian-made anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, 2200 kilograms of high explosive demolition blocks, Sagger anti-tank launchers and missiles, as well as rifles, machine guns, AK-47s, 735 hand grenades, 700,000 rounds of small ammunition, and diving equipment. The submergible containers were to be dropped into the sea and then washed ashore to the Gaza Strip or picked up by a smaller vessel and delivered to the Strip.

The Palestinian Authority was heavily involved in the smuggling attempt, especially Yasser Arafat’s former Chief Financial Officer and confidante at the time, Fuad Shubaki. The crew of the Karin-A also included senior members of the P.A . , indicating Arafat’s direct involvement. The ship was purchased in Lebanon and sailed to Sudan and Yemen to pick up civilian goods (watermelon seeds, sesame seeds, rice, toys, and clothes) to disguise the weapons aboard.

June 8th, 2002
Two Palestinians were found swimming along the northern Gaza Strip shore armed with four grenades, an AK-47, and four ammunition magazines in an attempt to infiltrate an Israeli community.

August 4th, 2002
IDF naval forces identified an armed Palestinian wearing a oxygenated scuba diving suit and carrying an AK-47, 8 grenades, 4 ammunition magazines, who was on his way towards an Israeli community from the Gaza coast.

November 23rd, 2002
After many attempts to communicate with an unknown Palestinian fishing boat heading from the Gaza Strip towards the direction of Israel, the bomb-laden boat exploded near an Israeli security patrol boat, moderately injuring three and lightly injuring one.

January 7th, 2003
A suspicious life raft found floating along the northern Gaza Strip coast was found to be booby-trapped with explosives.

May 21st, 2003: Abu Hasan
The “Abu Hasan”, intercepted in waters west of Haifa, was sailing from Lebanon to Egypt carrying a Hezbollah operative specializing in explosives bound for the Gaza Strip. The boat itself was a fishing boat, used purposefully to disguise its intentions. Cargo contained: a radio-activation system to detonate bombs remotely, CDs of directives on how to carry out suicide bomb terror attacks, five boxes with rocket fuses, and 25 Katyusha rocket detonators. The masterminds of the arms smuggling attempt were connected to Arafat’s Palestinian Authority and Hezbollah.

May 9th, 2006
Early in the morning of Israel’s Independence Day, the Israeli Navy spotted a suspicious vessel crossing from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip. After ignoring repeated warnings issued by the Navy, the Navy opened fire towards the vessel, whose crew then steered the boat to hide behind a Palestinian civilian boat. The crew was then spotted to be tossing large sacks off the vessel into the water. The Navy ceased fire out of concern that the Palestinian civilian boat would be hit, and the suspicious vessel escaped. The large sacks tossed overboard were later found by an underwater robot to contain over 500 kilograms of explosives.

May 14th, 2006
The Israeli Navy spotted a suspicious Palestinian vessel off the coast of the southern Gaza Strip and issued warnings ordering the crew to stop the vessel. Upon receiving the warnings, the crew began to toss large bags off the ship into the water. The Navy apprehended the vessel and detained the crew for questioning. The bags were later found to contain several hundred kilograms of explosives.

There's lots more.

The ISM and Mahmoud Abbas agree: Stunts are meant to undermine Israel itself

Here is a video of Adam Shapiro, of the ISM and Free Gaza movement, speaking at Rutgers last year. In his speech he says explicitly that the flotilla is a tactic in a larger war there the goal is to undermine Israel altogether, where he wants to change the conflict from Israel versus the Palestinian Arabs into Israel versus the world -to internationalize the conflict:

Funny, because here was what Mahmoud Abbas said in the New York Times last month:

Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.

Shapiro puts the flotilla as just one tactic among many: protests within Israel, protests against the security fence, BDS and so forth. It is a stunt meant purely to pressure and delegitimize Israel.

Similarly, Abbas is saying that going to the UN is a stunt that is also meant to internationalize the conflict, to place the entire world against Israel. He says it a bit more cleverly but it is the same thing.

(h/t Akiva and CHA)

Hamas declares the siege of Gaza is over!

From Safa:

The head of the Palestinian government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said that the Gaza Strip isopen for those who want to invest, and said, "We will cooperate with him, including availability of our resources."

Haniyeh suggested during a [ceremony marking] the opening of a series of projects in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday night that the sector is now post-siege. He said: "We have turned around the five years of the siege, and what we are doing now is a challenge to the blockade."

He pointed out that there were thousands of tons of building materials filling the cities of Gaza, and those who want to invest will find the means.

Examples of building projects include a park and playground in Nusseirat, the Central Market, the Maghazi Youth Club, and the Palestinian Social Centre in Deir el-Balah.

He praised such projects, they reflect the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.

Haniyeh stressed that this human effort all over Gaza set up many projects of all levels, to demonstrate that Gaza had defeated the plots and triumphed over the blockade.

The flotilla drones can celebrate! Their job is done!

AP joins the "Gaza isn't so bad but it is really bad" meme

Last week I mentioned how the New York Times resurrected the meme that started last year, saying that while Gaza is not in such bad shape it is still a really horrible place.

And then, like an obedient son, Reuters followed suit.

Today, little brother AP joins the party:

Maher Khoudari boasts that his Gaza grocery has a wide assortment of chocolates for sale — even some you couldn't find in the cosmopolitan Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The problem is, there is no one to buy them.

So AP actually believes that Gaza shopkeepers are so ignorant of basic economics that they import rare and expensive chocolates that no one in their market could buy???

Israel eased its blockade of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory a year ago and now allows virtually all consumer goods in, meaning there are no longer acute shortages of foods or basic household items. Tiny construction projects have begun sprouting up, and Gaza is awash in big ticket items such as cars and refrigerators.

But deep troubles remain....

"Israel has made much of the fact that there is no starvation in Gaza," said Gaza economist Omar Shaban. "But the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not about food," he added. "The humanitarian crisis is about education, it's about development, about imprisonment."

Funny...everyone in Gaza gets a free education.

Amjad Shawwa, a development worker and anti-blockade activist, says the blockade has deprived nearly 7,000 Gaza fishermen of a living, and water, sanitation, electricity and road projects remain stalled.

"You probably won't find hungry people, but the feeling of injustice and frustration is pervasive in all homes," Shawwa said.

Of course, neither AP nor the other media have the imagination to go across the border to Rafah or El Arish and ask average Egyptians there what their lives are like - whether fancy chocolates and expensive cars are for sale there, whether they are getting free education and medical care, and whether they feel "frustrated." Because, apparently "frustration" is now the scourge that must be eradicated from people's lives.

Or is that only from some people's lives?