Opinion
The good life in Gaza
Jacob Shrybman
Published: 20.07.10, 23:56
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1. The word is Taqiyya
Johnny ,   Nazareth   (07.21.10)
Quraan 3:28 (just google it) gives muslims the authority to deceive and lie to promote Islam or to promote their agenda. Hamas supported by the hullucinated self hating left is using Taqiyya to (lies and deceptions) to promote his agenda. The world has fallen for this evil propaganda, but now I hope that the truth will prevail. Evil people are trying for thousands of years to destruct the people of Israel, they had failed, Hamas and their counterparts will also fail.
2. We are good to our negroes
Steve Benassi ,   Silver Bay, MN USA   (07.21.10)
You do treat your Palestinians well. And they love you for it.
3. Hey #1, I think you are talking about Talmud
Moise   (07.21.10)
Google Talmud unmasked, you will see what I am talking about, or are those sites anti semitic to you humble opinion!!!
4. Big Fancy ??!!! show us the pictuers
Justice ,   oPt   (07.21.10)
i wonder how can u talk about the "mall" and describe it as fancy based on pictures, and u fail to present the readers and documentation, basically show us the pictures ur talking about.. for Palestinians who have seen nothing in there life of urban development a seven eleven store is a gigantic mall, Shrybman stop taking the human civilization lightly, Hasbara(propaganda) failed within the globalization people see videos and pictures not only ur words
5. John Ging and other LIARS
Elizabethlynne ,   Dallas, TEXAS!   (07.21.10)
Hmmm I am from DALLAS, TEXAS, and I can tell you that investors do not build shopping centers unless people can shop in them. So, the lie that Mr. Ging tells that these people are so poor that they cannot afford a coke, is ludicrous. How sick, Mr. Ging! No one believes you. I do think that there are people in Gaza who are needy, but that is not the whole story. I am so sick of the UN and the rest of the weasels like Ging.
6. Ignorant and simplistic article.
Gazan ,   Canada   (07.21.10)
First of all, there are different classes of society in Gaza just like everywhere else. It's only the small upper class neighbourhoods that can afford the goods in the mall. Most families will just go to enjoy something they've never seen before, but not to shop. Second of all, having a mall does not mean thay everything is fine and that cement and other items are allowed into Gaza. It's normal for the rich to benefit in a humanitarian disaster situation while the poor continue to suffer. Finally, you seem to forget that Warsaw Ghetto had a rich section with hotels. You're not fooling anyone.
7. The Gaza massacre was a myth?
Edithann ,   USA   (07.21.10)
hahaha...and people stil living in tents is a myth too...they want to live like that...no schools, what do they need schools, heardi aren't educated either, health care..they have all they need... The Massacre of Gaza '09 was a Palestinians nightmare... Those shops will cater to West Bank Palestinians...if they can make it... tata
8. The good life in Gaza ,...
split ,   USA   (07.21.10)
Yeah, right,... Would you like to trade places with them??? That says something about their smugglers ingenuity not your generosity.
9. One mall
Tel Avivoid ,   Tel Aviv, Israel   (07.21.10)
One mall does not disprove suffering. Neither does one restaurant selling chicken cordon bleu. In any other country, this tiny indoor shopping area would not even merit the name "mall." But, obviously, a mall or swimming pool built out of cement smuggled into Gaza disproves all Israeli crimes and means it is totally okay for Israel to oppress the Palestinians as much as it wants. So lets go, steal more land, build more barriers. We can feel okay about it now, because Gaza has a mall that might, in the future, build ONE RESTAURANT! My god!
10. Johnny - the world can see for itself
OP   (07.21.10)
- Foreign representatives, charities, PACs, etc, etc can see for themselves whenever they visit. The story is always the same - appalling living conditions, collective punishment, inhumanity. So you see it is you and your kind who deny the ill-treatment who are deceitful.
11. to #10 really so how did they get olympic swimming pool
ghostq   (07.21.10)
none buy the poor me act, the majority of them voted Hamas, no matter how you tried to excuss they caused their own fate, Johny is right, people start to wake up to reality the palis get more funds than th epoor people in the Arab nations. just to let you know.
12. Grow Up
John ,   Jerusalem   (07.21.10)
Grow up and engage in a sensible debate. There isn't a humanitarian crisis of sub-saharan proportions or anything like it in Gaza. It's more like a poor part of Egypt than Darfur. But equally the existence of a high-end mall, at which the majority of Gazans cannot afford to shop (that's the 70% who rely at least in part on food aid) does not prove that everything there is fine. Take some time to look at the actual reality and argue from that rather than silly gesture journalism. No starvation. Most people in shelter. Increasing child mortality and incidence of certain types of diseases related to poor water supply. Broken education system. Very high unemployment and destruction of private sector. Per capita GDP around one thirtieth of Israeli levels (with most of the consumer goods in the mall being sold at higher prices than in Israel). I know it's tough to do the research and produce a balanced and informative op-ed but it's better than just pumping out this sort of drivel (which is no better or worse than the drivel you read about Gazans dieing in the streets from hunger).
13. And look, SKY, CNN, BBC nowhere to be found - not a squeek
Talula ,   Israel   (07.21.10)
They all clearly have selective news agendas - Gazans living it up in the strip in a new shopping mall won't sell – it will also make them look like a bunch of incompetent journalists for not picking up on this while they were (and still are) accusing us of starving the Palestinians – they’d rather report about Israel hermitically sealing off the strip and ‘starving’ the Palestinians – that sells and people side with the weak. Get this article out on the news wires.
14. the point is the situation in Gaza is intentionally
Norman ,   Philippines   (07.21.10)
exaggerated to put Israel in bad light (and justify Palestinian terror as legitimate "resistance".)
15. All this because Gaza mall !!! too quick to judge
Salma ,   Palestine   (07.21.10)
wonder if opened bar or nightclub in Gaza Strip, what will you say?! Maybe this is not Gaza, but Paris ! Superficial thinking !
16. huh .. i wish life in telaviv to be just like in gaza
Jalal ,   Gaza   (07.21.10)
17. #1
Palestinian   (07.21.10)
There is no word can describe how naive you comment is (this is regardless of what you think about Hamas). Taqiyya is something INVENTED by SOME shiatte (15% of Muslims) in some TIMES under SOME crucial circumstances. The idea was if your life is threatened then maybe you can hide your real believe (or you will be KILLED). If one of Mossad spies was caught in enemy states, would he/she reveal the true identity?
18. if
J.R   (07.21.10)
When Qassam's are flying, .. aren't happy. When a tiny mini mall opens, aren't happy. Bigger "kind" of Qassam's and bigger malls would make you happy?
19. To Salma
Alfredo Manoel ,   Araçatuba   (07.21.10)
Superficial thinking is try to be eternally the underdog in the story. Despite the occupation, Palestinians have a better standard of living than most peoples in developing world. They receive millions of donations and official help. At least the West Bank has managed recently to start working and abandon the idea of living on charity. Now it is Gaza time. In the end, everybody will give credit to Netanyahu when he talked about economic peace. Once Palestinians get prosperous and rich, they will prefer to live in peace with Israel than firing qassans.
20. Guys, you all seem to forget...
Mike ,   St. Louis, USA   (07.21.10)
...that what's happening in Gaza - stunted economic development, "sufferings" etc. - are self-inflicted. I'm by no means to deny that Gazans do not profit, en mass, from current situation. But what Israel does is not an action, it is a reaction to what Hamas does to Israel. Hamas' actions do not differ from those of any dictatorship, big or small - that is, ignoring the economic and social needs of own population, stifling the dissent and opposition (remember Fatah?), putting arms ahead of butter, aggressive political course smoke-screened with propaganda, shrill and mendacious. Look at N. Korea, Iran, Soviet Union, Maoist China and you'll see the same pattern, over and over again. All these regimes need an enemy to explain away the hardships that befall on the population's heads. For Hamas it is Israel. For N. Korea it is S. Korea, for the SU it was the USA, etc. Nothing, nothing new.
21. No. 2 Steve
NYC Girl   (07.21.10)
Big difference. "Our Negroes" didn't strap dynamite to their bodies and blow our kids up in pizza parlors and discos...or commit any of the other atrocities that are all too familiar to the Israelis who've suffered as a result.
22. The GOOD life in Gaza
Israeli 2   (07.21.10)
all THANKS TO ISRAEL.
23. Jews solve the world's problems of poverty and destitution!
Disgusted Jew ,   amsterdam   (07.21.10)
I had to pinch myself to make sure I was awake and was not having a nightmare. Could this be a real article? Sadly I discovered that it is. Is the heartless, hateful and cynical spirit of this author indicative of many Israelis? If so, then we have sunk even lower than what I had feared. Does the author and some of the readers really believe that the presence of a nice mall means there is no humanitarian problem? Have any of you been to other undeveloped 3rd world countries where you can also find a nice mall in capital cities. You want to tell me that means there is no screaming problem of poverty, hunger, destitution in any of those places either? Fantastic! You have the key to solving all of the world's humanitarian problems. Build one mall! Boy we Jews are smart!
24. re: #1
Gary ,   Australia   (07.21.10)
How Patronizing - And America treats its Mexicans well - even the ones living in Mexico !!! - Wow look how can they want to jump the fence when they have so much in Mexico ??
25. Article in Bad Taste
Yakov ,   Tel Aviv   (07.21.10)
Maybe things are improving for these people (yes, they are people). But, to declare and profess that life in Gaza is all Milk and Honey is in very bad taste. This article just makes us look bad as Israeli's. Nobody will believe that this mall disproves that life in Gaza needs improvement. Hopefully, things are improving, but the best way to lead to peace is stability, safety and prosperity for these people. Rather than presenting this article to disprove Gaza needing improvement, place a positive to it. A first step. The spirit of the article is in very bad taste.
26. #23 and everyone else
Dina   (07.21.10)
No nobody is stupid enough to believe that tents and poor Gazans are put on a set just for filming and pictures. At the same time this mall e.t.c does prove that just like everywhere else (emphasis on the just like every where else) there are rich and poor. Yes there are more poor here then in many other places. (including Palestine = West Bank). But that's only because they are too busy crying and hating to get off their back sides and start working!
27. #6, yes it is
Danny   (07.21.10)
28. #7, yes it was a myth
Danny   (07.21.10)
29. #25, who said it was milk and honey?
Danny   (07.21.10)
Just saying not exactly the humanitarian catastrophe that keeps the worlds single-minded attention on it. For instance, Turkey sends aid to Gaza when Gazans have a higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates.
30. #25 It's your standpoint that causes
Roi ,   Israel   (07.21.10)
You totally miss the point being made. Obv. Gaza is not Silicon Valley but their is a myth being promoted that Israel some sort of monster and there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Moreso, if there were it would be Hamas' fault not Israel's. Maybe you should get out of your Tel Aviv bubble to get a sense of reality.
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