I wrote the following article on Sunday, January 11th
To my Egyptian brothers and sisters:
I tried. I really did. But I can no longer sit here and defend the people of Egypt. For the past 16 days we've all had a front row seat to the slaughter of innocent Palestinian men, women, and children. It's right there in front of us on our television sets, in the newspapers, and in the numerous websites and blogs that show us every excruciating detail of what's going on in Gaza.
Day after day we see the images of dead children with bullets in their heads and their chests. Day after day we see the look of horror and fear in the eyes of these innocent children. And day after day Mubarak keeps the border with Gaza closed.
At first, I defended the people of Egypt and Egyptians everywhere because I don't believe it's fair to judge an entire group of people based on one man. I told my non-Egyptian friends that Egyptians are with us and have always been there for us over the years. Thousands of Egyptians lost their lives for the Palestinian struggle. Egypt has always been known as the mother of the world and has always played a big role in the Middle East. But where is Egypt now?
Egypt, led by its sell-out and traitorous leader, has decided to sit on the sidelines while Israel murders and terrorizes 1.5 million people. And what is Mubarak's argument for such a decision? In a televised address a few days after Israel began it's war on Gaza, Mr. President said, "We in Egypt are not going to contribute to perpetuating the rift [between Hamas and the PA] by opening the Rafah crossing in the absence of the Palestinian Authority and EU observers in violation of the 2005 deal." Really? This is the reason for not opening the Rafah crossing? So Mubarak doesn't want to open the crossing until his fellow traitorous friend, Mahmoud Abbas, takes control of Gaza. If this isn't a conspiracy against a democratically elected government in Gaza then I don't know what is. Regardless of what many of us think about Hamas, they were elected democratically and won the elections fair and square. Secondly, Hamas had no intention of taking Gaza until Fatah forced its hand. Refer to the Vanity Fair article on this. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804
But this isn't about Hamas or the rift between Hamas and Fatah. This is about innocent people who are being continuously bombarded day and night. This is about the cluster bombs and the white phosphorous bombs that Israel is using on densely populated Gaza. This is about children holding on to their dead mothers for days on end until the ICRC came to their rescue. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7819261.stm This is about the five sisters who were killed while they slept after one of the walls collapsed on them from an Israeli airstrike. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/five-sisters-killed-in-gaza-while-they-slept-1216224.html. This is about UN schools used for shelter being targeted and attacked. And this is about the systematic genocide of the Palestinian people. And this is all done with the blessings of Mubarak and the silence of his countrymen.
What Mubarak is doing now is the same thing that Ariel Sharon did in 1982 in Sabra and Shatila. Sharon and his thug army allowed the Lebanese Christian Phalangists to enter the two Palestinian refugee camps and massacre civilians. And this is what Mubarak is doing right now; he has allowed the fourth largest military in the world to kill and maim the innocent people of Gaza.
No one is asking Mubarak or the Egyptians to fight on behalf of the Palestinians. No one is asking them to join this bloody war. No one is asking them to support Hamas financially or militarily. No one is asking them to do ANYTHING for the Palestinian people. But why in God's name is Egypt refusing to open the Rafah crossing? Why??? Why are doctors being refused entry into Gaza to help the wounded? Why are medical supplies and food aid being stopped from entry into Gaza? Why is Mubarak trying to starve the Palestinian people in Gaza? And why are the Egyptians not in an uproar over this?
When will you people wake up? Where are you? What are you doing? Are you so hungry that you are too weak to fight? Is that it? I want to know. I want to understand why none of you go into the streets and even protest. Where are your protests? Have you seen the rest of the world? From Mexico City to Jakarta, the whole world is protesting while you sit idly by and watch the death and destruction of the Palestinian people. What a shame and what a disgrace. Eighty million people and how many protestors are out there? Are you so afraid of what will be done to you by Mubarak's dogs? Where is your dignity?
Then again, if you can't even fight for your own rights in your own country, what's the point? Go ahead and wallow in your pathetic existence.
I'm done defending you.
You're so asking it for it lina :)
Posted by: pfunkie | January 20, 2009 at 09:22 PM