Osamah Khalil, The Electronic Intifada, 24 January 2008
"A staggering disparity in images has emanated from the Middle East over the past two weeks. While US President George W. Bush received a warm welcome during his tour of the Persian Gulf, Israel pounded Gaza killing over 40 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians. Bush participated in sword dancing ceremonies, watched the prowess of hunting falcons, and in the United Arab Emirates he was finally greeted with the flowers that he once believed American troops would receive in Iraq. The obscene displays of wealth and extravagant gifts by the Gulf states, whose coffers are flush with cash from near-record oil prices, contrasted sharply with the images of death and destruction unleashed on impoverished Gaza.....
Responding to the crisis, the Arab states again demonstrated their impotence and callous disregard for Palestinian suffering. In the diplomatic equivalent of a sword dance, an emergency meeting of the Arab League was held in Cairo on Monday. The result was a request by the League that the UN investigate Israel's actions.....
Not to be left out, the UN held its own diplomatic sword dance in New York on Tuesday. Ambassador Riyad Mansour of the Palestinian Observer Mission to the UN, who five months ago blocked an effort by Qatar and Indonesia for a Security Council Resolution on the pending humanitarian crisis in Gaza, finally found the "specific need" absent in August. [3] Mansour called the situation "absolutely untenable" and argued that Israel was "creating a humanitarian catastrophe." [4] However, the resolution faltered in the Security Council, like many before it due to American pressure......
Perhaps most disturbing of all has been the actions of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA). While Abbas has publicly uttered words of sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza and condemnation of Israeli actions, privately his officials have continued their ongoing whispering campaign against Hamas. An anonymous PA official explained to The Jerusalem Post that "'We hope the residents of the Gaza Strip will now realize that Hamas has only brought disaster upon them'" and added, "'the only way to resolve the crisis is by getting rid of Hamas.'" [9] More telling has been Abbas' unwillingness to suspend negotiations with Israel until the blockade is lifted. If Gaza's children ponder Arab inaction, the same can surely be said for the PA in Ramallah......"
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