Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Published on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
US Press Ignores Egyptian Suppression of Gaza Freedom March
Cairo - The government of Egypt is taking a spectacularly hard line
against international solidarity efforts in support of civilians in
Gaza on the one-year anniversary of the Israeli invasion, blocking
peace marchers from the U.S., Canada, and Europe from even approaching
the Egyptian border with Gaza and blocking an aid convoy that has the
support of the Turkish government from entering Egypt at Nuweiba. Even
a peaceful protest at UN offices in Cairo was largely walled
off from public view by Egyptian police.
It seems that any pretense of Egyptian government concern for the suffering of Palestinian civilians has been dropped, along with the pretense that there is anything less than 100% cooperation from Egypt and its US and European patrons with Israel's program of punishing Gaza's population for the political crime of having provided majority support to the Hamas movement in a legislative election.
Meanwhile there is largely a U.S. press blackout of these striking developments. A search of the New York Times and the Washington Post only turns up a tiny AP story on the websites of the Times and the Post.
As has frequently been the case, Agence France-Presse [AFP] pays more attention to these developments. On Monday, AFP reports that Hedy Epstein and other members of the Gaza Freedom March have begun a hunger strike to press the Egyptian government to allow them to enter Gaza:
On Sunday, AFP reported on the efforts of the Viva Palestina aid convoy to enter Egypt, with the support of the Turkish government:
The British-initiated aid convoy has at least been mentioned by the BBC, but NPR has not reported on the U.S.-initiated Gaza Freedom March.
Wouldn't you be a little bit curious to know what explanations the New York Times and the Washington Post would provide for ignoring these developments? Why not send them a little note?
It seems that any pretense of Egyptian government concern for the suffering of Palestinian civilians has been dropped, along with the pretense that there is anything less than 100% cooperation from Egypt and its US and European patrons with Israel's program of punishing Gaza's population for the political crime of having provided majority support to the Hamas movement in a legislative election.
Meanwhile there is largely a U.S. press blackout of these striking developments. A search of the New York Times and the Washington Post only turns up a tiny AP story on the websites of the Times and the Post.
As has frequently been the case, Agence France-Presse [AFP] pays more attention to these developments. On Monday, AFP reports that Hedy Epstein and other members of the Gaza Freedom March have begun a hunger strike to press the Egyptian government to allow them to enter Gaza:
An 85-year-old Holocaust survivor was among a group of grandmothers who began a hunger strike in Cairo on Monday to protest against Egypt's refusal to allow a Gaza solidarity march to proceed.
American activist Hedy Epstein and other grandmothers participating in the Gaza Freedom March began a hunger strike at 1000 GMT.
"I've never done this before, I don't know how my body will react, but I'll do whatever it takes," Epstein told AFP, sitting on a chair surrounded by hundreds of protesters outside the United Nations building in Cairo.
On Sunday, AFP reported on the efforts of the Viva Palestina aid convoy to enter Egypt, with the support of the Turkish government:
An aid convoy trying to reach the blockaded Gaza Strip through Egypt was still stranded in Jordan on Sunday amid Cairo's refusal to let it cross through its territory.
Members of the convoy, which is led by British MP George Galloway, were however hoping for a solution thanks to mediation by Turkey to enter Gaza through the Red Sea port of Nuweiba, the most direct route.
The British-initiated aid convoy has at least been mentioned by the BBC, but NPR has not reported on the U.S.-initiated Gaza Freedom March.
Wouldn't you be a little bit curious to know what explanations the New York Times and the Washington Post would provide for ignoring these developments? Why not send them a little note?
- Posted in
Comments are closed
42 Comments so far
Show AllNoam Chomsky on Gaza: "We constantly talk, rightly, about Israeli crimes; but that's highly misleading, because they are U.S.-Israeli crimes. There is nothing that Israel does that goes beyond what the United States authorizes and in fact directly supports with economic, diplomatic, military, and also ideological support.-That is, by framing issues...
So these are U.S.-Israeli crimes. If we talk about israel we should remember,--- we are talking about ourselves!!!. Its not like talking about crimes of China..."
What state is being served by the Egyptian state? ? Who is the "Israeli" state serving? ...Not to forget...
from the current Al Jazeera post on cd...: "We met with a political rep. in the embassy, Greg Legrefo, and talked about the dire situation in Gaza and international complicity for more than hour .... but the bottom line is the US supports the siege of Gaza.
"The US Army Corps of Engineers is even providing technical assistance to build an underground wall [to stop the Gaza tunnel networks from operating]."
I agree with Chomsky on most points, but not all. Chomsky does not support a one-state solution nor BDS. He says BDS is not effective and just a "feel good" policy. He believes the most effective is focusing attention on and resisting US imperial policy. I agree about that, but why not support BDS at the same time?
I think Chomsky is a charlatan He is so clever that he lures his following but when one really studies what he says and recognizes what he could do and does not,it's suspect
I have read most of his writing.It's good,very sustantive,factual,accurate and analytical but he falls short.I believe intentionally.Charlie rose is a bilderberger who's to say if Chomsky is.BDS is very effective and it always seemed odd,his position on a two state.It's like promoting continued control.So I'm suspicious.I'll borrow from carmudgeon."I could be wrong'
if they heard it, they would care about it...
Honestly, I don't think they would care.
"they" is too big a generalization... Scientists have recently found the neuro-physiological base, (which includes mirror neurons) for human empathy...
true, but if real information had been available over time, this would not be the case...a key process in the anti-vietnam war movement was the teach-in....
"a key process in the anti-vietnam war movement was the teach-in...."
Fallacy, but commonly quoted.
What stopped the Vietnam war wasn't protests or education. Even at the height of the war no majority here cared what was happening to the vietnamese people there, they cared that their own sons were getting killed or wounded. That is not happening here. No significant percentage of Americans care what happens to Palestine or Palestinians and a MUCH larger percentage will know Palestinians as terrorists.
Education is not the answer here.
it is not "the answer' but it is part of the answer...
Your own screen name is a case in point. Everyone knows the Guernica painting and most people know it is named after a town and a bombing, but did enough people care at the time to do anything to stop Franco? Nope. (A few did try and I don't forget the Lincoln Brigade!)
More importantly, is Basque Country independent now 52 years later?
Suffering of others far away is not cause for most to get off their butts and never has been.
it was the overt and covert activity of the western governments and the catholic church distorting and suppressing the news and creating a false neutrality,.. interestingly, hundreds , perhaps thousands of irish joined the fascists at the behest of the church, while only ten or twenty joined the republicans....my uncle was in the abraham lincoln brigade, i know that story..
I agree with you, guernica.
The power of the press was a mighty thing when I was growing up. Then along came Ed Murrow and Walter Cronkite and others similar to them. And we trusted them because they spoke the truth and were not hog-tied the way journalists are now. And I don't even think we could call the current crop who appear on TV "journalists." First of all, they are so ignorant. Their lack of in-the-field background and knowledge of history burps much noxious gas every time they open their mouths.
Since I only get to watch TV here and there, time lapses create a measure, and NEWS now, I have concluded, is delivered by simpering idiots. It's painful to listen to them and painful to know that what they are passing off as news to the American public is like a piece of Swiss cheese with far more holes than cheese.
LBJ did not run for another term, in great part because of The Press and TV coverage, which aroused the young and the not-so-young. Nixon was always complaining about The Press. They were doing their job then.
Walter Cronkite's statement after a particularly telling series of TV clips was that Vietnam was a wrong war and we should not be there and we should end it. That got him an early retirement with promises of special coverage assignments. He got the early retirement and maybe covering a 4-H sheep-judging contest and that's about it.
The Draft, of course, had its effect too, but over-all I would have to say that watching TV news, the clips and the reporting and the editorializing by many fine journalists was what informed and moved the country in the right direction of NO MORE WAR! Of course, there were opposing viewpoints ... Wall Street Journal ... and the like. As my own father parroted, "We need the bauxite there for our industries, and it's important we control that area. ... Blah, blah, blah." I was old enough by then to set him straight, and to his credit, he thought about what I had said, and changed his mind.
The Powers That Be learned. The stations are owned, lock, stock, and barrel, by those who, for their own moneyed interests globally, totally control it. And you'll notice that those poor guys who joined the National Guard are now on their fifth tour of duty ... from Iraq to Afghanistan, and the word DRAFT is not even in the vocabulary of the higher ups.
I believe fully that there is an essential fairness in people. If you give them true information and they see and they hear and they are given a chance to evaluate and talk among themselves, they come up with the right conclusion. That's documented in several studies of ordinary people vs. professionals at round tables. The "common folk" invariably come up with comparable and often better solutions than the professionals. Very basic common sense and heartedness is evident in their solutions, and also creativity. Reading the results of those studies, I felt encouraged.
If the people don't know, they will just keep on doing what they are doing in their lives. They are not likely to hear about something and run to the library or the computer to do research.
But if they are given the truth and they start to sniff out unfairness and craziness and cruelties, they do respond.
Jean Piaget's studies of little children indicate the same thing. Little children obey up to a point, but cross that point ... in this case, being told to push another child off a chair he/she is standing on, that was the line they wouldn't cross. Being told to tease, jostle to be ahead in a line or do some harmless pranks, they obeyed. But further than that, something inside said NO. This is too much.
The corporate-owned "psychologists," ad- and motivational-people know these things.
"Give 'em pap." Half-truths, twisted truth, absent truth. It's easy to develop and deliver propaganda. It's always been with us, but nowhere near the extent it is now.
We're right in the league of Stalinist U.S.S.R.'s PRAVDA. The Russian people knew it was a joke what they were being told because they were living the truth in real life. And there was a lot of fear because of surveillance and imprisonment and the Gulag from whence one likely would never return.
The U.S. is getting there fast. When people who have lost jobs and homes and are out on the street and then here about the "economic recovery" from Bernanke and the Prez, et al., do you think they believe it. They are living the truth just as the citizens of the U.S.S.R. were.
So yes, guernica, "if they heard it, they would care about it ... " A FREE society is based on the TRUTH from the very top down. For the most part, we are heading toward a SLAVE society very much like The Lords of the Manor and the serfs and outright slaves in the Dark Ages and Medieval times. Actually all through human history, same scenarios, until a light was lit in the Western Hemisphere in terms of words. The Light was dimmed and shaded by the extermination of native people's and slavery, but the words galvanized the majority population and then the world. The Light is just about out now. It flickers.
What happens to it we'll know soon enough.
/cm
Sioux Rose
CM: Wonderful post. I think I hear the intimation of Ann Frank speaking from her grave, "Deep inside, I still believe people are good." So do I. Info counts for a lot, and that's why the deep money pockets have worked so hard to purchase enormous shares of media. They know it's the expedient route for directing a population from its pocketbook to its collectively lost soul.
The US press is virtually worthless, why bother with propaganda in the first place?
I believe that Israel's continuing blockade of Gaza hides intentions much more sinister than punishing a people for voting Hamas into office a few years ago. I believe that the atrocities perpetrated on the Palestinians, whether in Gaza,
the West Bank, or in East Jerusalem represent the carrying out of a policy of ethnic cleansing. Israel simply wants the Palestinians OUT, no matter the method; the end justifies any means.
How sickening that the "land of the free and the brave" supports such murderous policies 100%. How sickeing that our MSM are 100% complicit.
You are correct. Several exemplary scholars (Israeli,American)have been revealing pathological geopolitical strategy. See works of Ilan Pappe, Jeff Gates, et al.
Another in a long string of Palestinian stories not covered by MSM.
Palestinians getting killed by Israelis, thousands getting arrested and imprisoned indefinitely without charges, land getting confiscated by Israel, settlers attacking Palestinians, Gaza fishermen being shot at by Israelis while fishing, Gaza farmers being shot at by Israelis... are all not newsworthy. However, if a lone Palestinian goes psychotic and jumps on a tractor and tries to harm Israelis in Jerusalem, it draws MSM attention as though it were a Michael Jackson story.
Bottom line: Stories that are against US foreign policy goals are minimized and stories that support US foreign policy goals are maximized. The stooges in MSM may be mindless, but those that are in control are mindful.
It doesn't take a Sayyid Qutb to ascertain that the ruling class in Egypt has a much greater cultural affinity for kindred reactionary ruling classes in the US/Israel hegemony than it does for the Palestinian people.
The brotherhood of wealth and even the honor among thieves binds reactionary governments together in common cause against those without wealth, power, and privilege.
So it's no surprise that Egypt harshly represses rogue foreigners-- including Amerikans, no less!-- inexplicably turning up to make unseemly references to the rabble of Palestininan poor relations crammed into a man-made Hell by the winking, tacit cooperation of Egypt and Israel.
The guiding philosophy of the ruling hegemon may be found not in some esoteric holy text or the sayings of an imam or bishop. No, the philosophy was expressed with lapidary concision by convicted ABSCAM congressman Ozzie Myers, who famously remarked: "Money talks; bullshit walks!"
· Yr Obd't Servant
Yes, (and not to forget Qutb's student, Aiman al Zawahiri) and Egypt is such a shining beacon of democracy and human rights, worhty of billions in financial support and political praise from the US. That Hosni Mubarak, dictator since 1981, is such a great guy.
Annually, we give $5 Billion to Israel, $4 Billion to each Egypt and Jordan, much of which is used for defense and military purposes.
I hope the Palestinians don't think that either Egypt or Jordan is their friend.
We know the US and the US press isn't.
so $13 billion of US taxpayers money that I suspect has to be spent on US weapons. Someone is getting very rich from all the conflict in the middle east.
I have been thinking of the same thing since yesterday. Compared to the story on the Northwest Airlines incident, I couldn't find any mention of the planned march to Gaza. As if on cue, there's all this talk about airport and airline security and nothing on the march to Gaza - not even about the hunger-strike of 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein.
A few weeks ago, I had commented here on CD - that I hoped the Gaza story didn't get buried under the hype over the New Year celebrations and stuff. It turns out there's this airline incident is far more potent than any New Year-related hype.
The U.S. media is too busy giving lessons of proper conduct to Iran's government; it doesn't have any time for Egypt's repressive ways.
The more the United States ignores the plight of Palestine, the more pent-up anger is built against the Jews in the Middle East. Nothing short of full scale revolution against the repressive Middle East governments will alleviate the occupation. Most likely Iran will become the champion, as they develop a nuclear deterrent to Israel. Then, it is only time before Iran can lead a coalition against the US-Israeli axis. The Saudi and Egyptian, and certainly Jordanian, if the King tries to help the axis, governments will tumble to groups who will ally themselves with Iran, and, of course, Iraq, now that they are left to find out who will control the confederation.
It is easy, now, for Israel to quell the mob. But, it is no stretch of the imagination to ponder the possibility of a united region effectively destroying Israel, because it is a simple as using oil as a weapon. Is the hate of Israel enough to galvanize the Muslim world? Israel, at anytime in the past 60 years, could have acted to let the rising economic tide lift arab boats as well. But, they are such racists than even the humanitarians among them could not quell the greed deep within the heart of Israel.
As the American people face the political consequences of a truly united Muslim front and face a crippling shortage of oil, those who are strongly supporting Israel will face their own demise in the election booth. Do not believe for a minute that the vast majority of non-jews are wildly supportive of Jewish culture and history. And do not think someone spouting anti-jewish policies can not get a toe-hold on the American Electorate. If enough goes wrong with the economy; driven down by expensive foreign police actions, and if the draft is re-instituted to send into on-the-ground military action against essentially civilian populations, heavily armed and highly trained as insurgents, all hell will break loose.
The pious nonsense of the religious right seeing the rapture triggered by resurrection mythology will reverse their favored nation proclivities for the more traditional Christian regard for Judaism.
The Republicans are ripe for a savior. The idea of a anti-communist/socialist/liberal populist articulate maven that can propped up as a establishment anti-establishment figure will energize of lot of people longing for a country where the wars never come home.
In many ways the right/ left classification will become meaningless.
Would most of the Obama bashers who lurk herewith-in not find appeal in a libertarian/anti-Israeli/anti-monopoly, pro-technology, pro-green, slightly pro-isolation rabble rouser?
But maybe, the muslims will never become united by the mistreatment of them by the West. Maybe the ordinary folks over there are blind to the injustice of a few thousand years of occupation, in one form or another. The last bastion of foreign occupation is the State of Israel, comprised of mostly non-semitic Jews, more west than east. Having the United States as a client state has given them unparalleled instant power. And abuse it they have.
Maybe, Israel will regain its biblical status again. Maybe their myopic God who has re- created the promised land will have them prevail against a more recent monotheist prophet.
The last century has seen great demise in the colonial empires that reigned for centuries. Hold over regimes consisting of those natives empowered by centuries of occupation seemed to be doomed by any reasonable reading of the trends of social evolution. Tyranny is always the case when the social elite rule with an iron fist. And eventually the culture evolves to a system of greater freedoms.
Israel is digging is own grave as sure as Hitler dug his. I am surprised that a Prophet has not arisen among them. They have so many that spoke to an ethical life. Israel, like its empire minded lackeys here, want a financial global empire for the US. Israel wants a mythological empire.
So, to the extent, we can not separate ourselves from the Zionist game plan, we are destined to not be part of the solution only a great contributor to the Middle East problem. Too bad, the U.S. cannot become an honest broker. That would, ultimately, be a way Israel could survive.
Damnliberal, Israel is digging its own grave and so is the U.S. Both of them are like deformed peas in a pod with one much larger than the other.
How this scenario is going to play out is anyone's guess. But it won't be pretty to watch!
www.dangerouscreation.com
Thanks for your observation. I am only proposing one possible path. I think the hold on American politics by the Israelis is more fragile than it may appear, now. I have lived long enough to see significant changes in the racism in the country. Maybe the success of the Jewish minority is the best example. However, Jews have gained acceptance because of the contributions of stellar human beings. And the atrocities committed against them has humanized them. The greatest travesty is that they are so willing to throw so many centuries of fighting the good fight only to engage in this persecution of theological brethren and ethnic cousins. And all because of greed.
How we can extract the US from the perils of Israel remains to be seen. I am waiting for a sitting President to give some resistance to the wholesale appropriation of the Congress by the Israelis, but it doesn't seem to be happening in anytime in the near future. Only President Carter has a clue. And his voice will fade after he dies.
Shallow Carter the sychophant, has sat on the fence all of his life and now he has lost ALL credibility,in my view, with his latest groveling escapade.
Way back when,when his alcoholic brother started up the failed Billy beer company and his mom Lilian the old nurse blathered her nonsense,Carter had good looks and a modicum of charm and was in the spotlight so the jury was out and he got by.These days he continues to take a zero stance on anything of importance.He is just another washed up president,that stands for nothing.The only person right now,who is way worse,is Uriah OBOMBA.
The US Press is controlled by Zionists. End of story.
I think the film District 9 was really very relevent.
The mainstream media isn't reporting because mainstream Americans don't give a damn about Gazans. They view them as a bunch of welfare queens sitting around and cheering while their children launch rockets at Jews who are trying to make an honest living. (Yeah, I know, Jews can't make an honest living, right?)
The MSM goes where the mainstream readership cares, and the ultra-lefty sites like this one go where the ultra-lefties care. It's just business. If you don't believe that, take a look at the donation gauge up on the left. It's just business.
this middle road--nasty little bugger, isn't he,,,
the zionist rats crawl out of their holes, baring their broken and bloody teeth....
google up " kennedy warns israel" and you will find the actual letter that kennedy wrote to ben gurion on july 5, 1963. he tells ben gurion that israel had better prepare itself for inspection of its atomic facilities immediately. kennedy warns israel to permit the u.n. to look for anything from which nuclear bombs could be manufactured. kennedy knew it was ridiculous to give a nation of 5 million people carte blanche to blow up the world to vindicate some biblical myth, perpetuated by christians as well, that israel must seek its "manifest destiny" on the arabian peninsula.
*** Message deleted by administrators for using all capital letters ***
Amy Goodman says "the silent majority"They don't know about Gaza but more people are finding out the truth.The world is aware but yes the dumbed down do follow the manipulative magic of media propaganda/lies.It's so skilfully done.
the press is awful! remember, the mainstream media does not acknowledge as fact that israel has 200 nuclear bombs, some more devastating than hydrogen bombs. the media would never cover j.f.k.'s letter to ben gurion in 1963, when our president told israel to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction and open itself to atomic inspection by the u.n. to document more basic bias, one need look no farther than world renowned scholar and intellectual noam chomsky, who has a name recognition of less than 10% in the usa, because the media here are afraid of his ideas gaining ascendancy . yet, his name recognition in europe is almost 70%. and, if you haven't heard, chomsky teaches at the massachusettes institute of technology.
damnliberal December 30th, 2009 @ 12:52 am
Is that the same Jimmy Carter that apologised to Israel for his past utterances? And that was last week I believe..its all over the net.
I gather his grandson wants to run for office..go figure.
DaMiddleRoad December 30th, 2009 @ 5:22 am
Clearly I should be ignoring you, but how heartless are y'all.Am assuming you are a jew..nay..Askanazi Khazari.Everyday you rub it in.Are you all dead inside both spiritually and morally?
Have you ever lost a loved one or loved one killed in cold blood? Ever been hungry in your priviledged existence?
Trust me you under-estimate the anger that's simmering among the masses.It cannot hold forever.
Granted its not in Israeli's interests to seek peace with the palestinians.One day you may not have any choice in the matter.Others sympathized with the jews when they were down..the same are with the Palestinians now..we cannot take it anymore..you hear me? And know that the weakest among you jews might suffer the most..yet again.
You've about squandered all the goodwill, if ever you had any.You all need to change course and fast.but hey ...what do I know.