Friday 13 March 2009

Foggy Bottom Fights Soggy Bottoms in Gaza

Source

By Hanitizer

American officials at the State Department are inquiring about the Israeli government's inexplicable ban on toilet paper in Gaza. Reports confirm that Israel has not allowed trucks of toilet paper and soap into the Gaza Strip.

American officials are playing dumb. They are pretending that Israeli might have a reasonable explanation for their ban on toilet paper. Or they are buying time. There is simply no reason for this other than furthering collective punishment.

Giving Israel the benefit of the doubt is the name of the game in American politics.

According to the UN Food program, Israel has also denied entry to trucks of chick peas into besieged Gaza. Chick peas, or Hummus in Arabic, is an essential ingredient of Palestinian diet. It is used in hummus dip, falafel, maftool (otherwise known as couscous.) Notice any pattern -- they are all foods Israelis have claimed are Israeli foods. By denying the basic ingredient to Gaza, they are trying to actualize their pretend monopoly. Or, they know how chick peas make one gassy. Since they have made Gaza so densely populated with so many refugees, they are afraid a simultaneous fart by all Gazans will blow down Sderot and their precious new playground.

The list of banned martials continues to grow even as the world grows fed up with the Israeli siege. Israel already banned all construction materials and electronics, which Israel claims that Palestinians use to build rockets! Okay, but why toilet paper, soap and chick peas?

The United States is the only party standing between fair trade for Gaza and dependence on humanitarian trade. The State Department's slowness to pressure Israel only increases its guilt by association.

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