Money to Burn?
Clifford D. May, Scripps Howard News Service, Spanish translation here.
03/12/2009
This month, there was an "International Conference in Support of the People and Economy of Darfur," and billions of dollars were raised not just from America and Europe but also from Arab and Muslim states concerned over the war crimes - including mass murders and mass rapes - being perpetrated against the people of Darfur, most of whom are black and Muslim.
You realize, of course, that I made that up? Not the part about the terrible things happening in Darfur, that's precisely true, but the part about international donors meeting on behalf of Darfurians. Scores of donors gathered instead at an "International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza," in Sharm El-Sheikh, a resort in Egypt where a total of $4.5 billion in pledges was collected. The people of Gaza have long been receiving more aid per capita than just about any other group in the world - a high multiple of what Darfurians receive - but Gaza is in an especially sorry state these days. The reason: Gazans elected Hamas to rule them, and Hamas' has vowed to exterminate Israel and, in pursuit of that goal, Hamas routinely fires missiles at Israeli towns.
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What's more, Richard Kemp, former commander of British Troops in Afghanistan, carefully examined the Israeli military action and came to this conclusion: "I don't think there has ever been a time in the history of warfare where any army has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties and deaths of civilians" than did the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza," he told the BBC. But the worsening crisis in Darfur has not gone entirely unnoticed. Hamas, as well as Hezbollah and their mutual sponsor, Iran, spoke out strongly - in defense of Sudan's militant Islamist president, Omar al-Bashir, the individual most responsible for the death and destruction in Dafur.
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It's worth noting: There is one nation in the Middle East that has opened its borders to refugees from Darfur. That nation is Israel. Perhaps Israelis see a parallel between Darfur - which has been undergoing genocide - and their nation, which was created after the genocide known as the Holocaust, and which is under genocidal threaten from Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. I don't mean to seem callous about the hardships being endured by Gazans. But I do mean to emphasize their responsibility - and the fact that unlike the Darfurians they could alleviate their suffering by tolerating Israel's existence, and pursuing peace.
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Why should it be so difficult for international donors to say to Gazans: "Look, you can have reconstruction, or you can have perpetual war, but you cannot have both. If you launch missiles at Israelis, kidnap Israelis and hold them captive (Gilad Shalit was kidnapped and has been held since 2006 without access even to the Red Cross), plot terrorist attacks and vow to ethnically cleanse every inch of land between the Mediterranean and the River Jordan, you have to expect that Israelis may lash out from time to time - and that means any buildings we construct now are likely to be rubble next year."
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http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11784885