Surprise, Surprise!

To kick off the new format, here is an interesting article that I think should call into question some of the prevailing assumptions regarding Palestinians and Gaza. According to the AP story "Travel Brings Surprises to Gazans":

A little travel has gone a long way toward changing perceptions in Gaza.

After excursions to Egypt across a border breached by Hamas militants, some Palestinians pepper their local Arabic dialect with Egyptian expressions while others say they are shocked by the poverty there.

In fact, the economic situation in Gaza and the West Bank is not only better than in Egypt, it is better than in many Arab countries. From 1967 to 1993 (the period of Israeli occupation) the territories had the fourth fastest growing economy in the world.

Thanks to the Second Intifada and a Palestinian leadership bent on confrontation, the economy has deteriorated considerably since Oslo. Nonetheless, it is still better than in countries such as Egypt. Even with the Israeli economic blockade. Check out the UNDP HDI stats if you do not believe me (Palestinian Territories rank 106 and Egypt ranks 112).

Said Mohammed stood in a Gaza City market, next to his pickup truck with red Egyptian license plates. From the back of the truck, two men, who had paid Mohammed to deliver the cargo, sold Egyptian-imported smoked herring to curious residents. ...

"I've always wanted to see Palestine anyway," said a smiling Mohammed, a slight dark man with black eyes. Pointing to cars crowding a nearby street, he said: "I thought conditions here would be harder than this. I thought people would be starving."

The fact that Mr. Mohammed thought he would witness starvation in Gaza is a testament to how effective the Palestinian propaganda machine is and how well the Arab and Western media play along with it. Even worse, I would argue that this is a symptom of the disease called "Holocaust inversion" - an attempt by Israel's enemies to paint Israel as the Nazis and the Palestinians as no different than wartime Jews trapped in concentration camps and slowly dying of starvation.

A common quip is that Hamas should drop its "Save Gaza" slogan, coined in response to Israeli border closures, in favor of "Save El Arish" - in this case, from Palestinian shoppers.

Still others jest that Egyptians will storm Gaza if the breach is sealed because the Palestinians have picked them clean.

For seriously impoverished and starving people, it appears that Gazans seem to have had no problem coming up with the necessary funds to go on a shopping spree.