Monday, February 25, 2008
Up to 50,000 people were expected to march on the Gaza/Israel border. They sent out the call, bused in the kids to stand in the front lines as human shields (say, wasn't there a gas shortage?) and still and all, it only amounted to about 4-5000 people and the usual gang of kids throwing rocks at a checkpoint.
Nevertheless, the Pallywood propaganda machine was in full gear, and with more press per square meter than anywhere on earth, the bang for the buck for the staged event bore a good ratio. The press says the event, which causes a great deal of concern on the other side of the border, "ended peacefully". It was a bust, but they have to justify all the hype, rather than admit that they were played...as usual. It also looks as though Arab society in Gaza hasn't quite succeeded in making the entire population into a bunch of drooling suicide-seekers. The IDF was geared up. Hamas voters were willing to wait a bit for martyrdom.
The BBC story (where else?) does its propaganda duty on behalf of Hamas admirably: Gaza protesters form human chain
Thousands of Palestinians have formed a "human chain" in Gaza in protest at Israel's blockade of the territory.
Organisers had hoped up to 50,000 people would make a 40km (25-mile) chain from Rafah to Beit Hanoun, but turnout was below expectation...
There's some cognitive dissonance in this heading and the paragraph that follows:
Stones thrown
Thousands of women and children from all around the Gaza Strip travelled to the main north-south road for Monday's peaceful demonstration...
It's not until paragraph 10, after the BBC has finished telling the story it wanted to tell, that we find out what 50,000 and "thousands" actually meant:
The protest's organisers, the pro-Hamas Popular Anti-Siege Committee, had planned to place a person every metre along the 40km-long road from the Rafah crossing on the southern border to the Erez crossing near the northern town of Beit Hanoun, but reports say only around 5,000 took part.
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This was sent to me in email. Source unknown (possibly the MFA): On the same day in which the Hamas staged its "peaceful" propaganda march of women and children toward Israel's border crossings (26 Feb 2008), the Hamas' official website... Read More
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Thanks for a lovely update on what's going on. The analysis of the BBC story was especially uplifting.
thanx,
Dry Bones
Israel's Political Comic Strip since 1973