Two different perspectives. The first is from the AP, in a caption showing Israeli security guards supervising a cash transfer.
It was the first time Israel has let money enter Gaza since October. It suspended the cash transfers after Gaza militants renewed their rocket and mortar attacks on Israel, in violation of a truce.
(emphasis mine)
That’s pretty straightforward.
On the other side, there’s Reuters:
Israel allowed trucks carrying 100 million shekels ($25 million) into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Thursday to ease a shortage of banknotes in the Israeli-blockaded territory, Palestinian bank officials said.
That’s nice and loaded. And incomplete.
Here’s another incomplete caption:
Palestinian youths wait for relatives as part of the destroyed industrial zone is seen at Israel’s Erez Crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008.
How was the industrial zone destroyed?
Scores of Palestinians remain caught at the Erez crossing, which has been almost entirely destroyed by looters since Hamas’s takeover.
The details lacking in both these cases are part of a pattern, that is prevalent in the media, to whitewash any evidence that the Palestinians are responsible for their own plight. I give credit to the AP (!) and the Washington Post for providing necessary information.
I ought to give the Post credit for acknowledging one other “inconvenient truth.” That is that many Palestinians would prefer to live in Israel.
Many of the 250,000 Palestinians who are residents of East Jerusalem, but who are not Israeli citizens, are equally concerned about losing access to Israeli services such as medical care and social security if their neighborhoods became part of a Palestinian state. A growing number are moving into predominantly Jewish neighborhoods such as French Hill or Pisgat Zeev — areas that Palestinian officials consider to be illegal Israeli settlements . . . .
Natshe said many of these families would prefer to move to predominantly Arab neighborhoods such as Beit Hanina, with 26,000 residents, or Shuafat, with 36,000, both of which are on the Israeli side of the barrier, except for a portion of Shuafat. But there is virtually no housing available in these areas. Prices have become so high that it is cheaper to rent or buy in neighboring Pisgat Zeev, where a three-bedroom apartment can be rented for about $1,000 a month. A similar apartment in Beit Hanina is at least $1,400.
(h/t Backspin)
This isn’t really a new story, but it is very under-reported. See Daniel Pipes for a roundup and especially this for more.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
