What Hamas doesn't want the world to see.

Before you jump down my throat with your "Zionist this, Israel that, posts, understand that I do not think Israel is innocent in this.
Israel has created 75% of their problems, but they are now in a position of constant defense. They have to use a heavy hand to show the region, that they are not weak. It is cause and effect. I have stated in the past, that I thought Hamas was playing the media. Hamas wants the world to feel sorry for the palestinians. The more guilt the world feels, the faster the blockade comes down.
If Israel were to take down the blockade and open the borders, the attacks would start almost immediatly. Of course this is only my opinion. So in my opinion, Israel has no choice but to stay the course on this one. Here are some examples of how bad the palestinians really have it.


Bargain Prices for 'Zionist' Clothes in New Gaza Luxury Mall

by Maayana Miskin

While Hamas continues to complain that Gaza lacks building materials, a luxury mall in Gaza City held its grand opening over the weekend. Among the goods on sale are Israeli men's clothing, and items from Turkey, France, and the United States.

Pictures of the new mall were featured on the Palestinian Authority Safa website and by the Associated Press.

A variety of stores sell cosmetics, clothing, office supplies, toys, shoes, appliances and more. The mall boasts air conditioning and a delivery service.

Hamas has often accused Israel of creating a “siege” by keeping its border crossings to Gaza closed. According to Hamas, Gaza lacks electricity and building supplies.

Gross, who has previously posted pictures of fancy restaurants, shops filled with goods, and even an Olympic-size swimming pool during the “Israeli siege,” pointed out that Gaza enjoys a higher standard of living than Turkey, which recently sent citizens on a flotilla to Gaza in violation of an Israeli naval blockade of Hamas. Noting that life expectancy and literacy rates are higher in Gaza than in Turkey, while infant mortality rates are lower, he asked, “Have they considered that perhaps the humanitarian flotillas ought to be going in the other direction, towards Turkey?”

Pictures of the mall











These pictures paint a different version of Gaza.. Now I am not saying it is all fun and games... But it sure isn't what is being portrayed in the media.


below shot 06-2010







06/24/10






Israel is in a horrible position. They can not let down their guard for even a second.
Every single country around them, want them exterminated. Some of them want this for very good reason. But out of self preservation, Israel has to go to all extremes to defend themselves.





[edit on 20-7-2010 by Mobius1974]

So what, they have a mall and you think they are living the high life? North Korea has a mall too, as does Iraq. Look at this thread that I started a couple days ago, titled: "Israeli - Palestinian conflict through photos (pictures are worth a thousand words)". That will show you the real situation in that region.

--airspoon

[edit on 20-7-2010 by airspoon]

Since Israel was founded as a country in 1948 if I remember correctly they are at war ever since.
Wow what lovely people, sorry i don't have any compassion for them

[edit on 20-7-2010 by DutchBigBoy]

reply to post by airspoon


Your post is EXACTLY the propaganda I am sick to death of..

Really? the picture of the kids in the cave??? Really? Thats not propaganda??

In the US, I could go around the slums of every city and show nearly the same pictures, minus the cave.

You and other palestinian soft hearts show only one side of it....

Everyone ignores the cause and effect..If you punch a big guy, and then get your arse whooped... cause and effect.

The same people on this site will tell you if you believe in this Govt.... then you "get the Govt. you deserve"?

So then why, when the palestinians elect Hamas... Nobody says "they get the Govt. they deserve"...

A bunch of damn hypocrates if you ask me...



[edit on 20-7-2010 by Mobius1974]

reply to post by Mobius1974


I won't jump down your throat, but will insist that this is taken into perspective. This mall will be out of reach from most Palestinians and will mainly serve a small elite. This story will be hijacked by either side for propaganda reasons. Here is an interesting article covering the story.

Despite the widespread poverty in the Gaza Strip — it is one of the poorest territories in the world — there is also a large upper class in the territory. Gaza’s elite consists of the usual suspects (Hamas officials, local higher-ups in NGOs, workers at foreign consulates and better-off UN employees) along with a significant component of smugglers and local mafiosos who have grown rich over bucking the Israeli blockade.

Edit to say: Don't attack the people, but the governments ruling them.

[edit on 20-7-2010 by LarryLove]

both sides are at fault. for tis it is both of their land. for the rest of our civilization at this level, they will fight. Not until we grow as the human race will we settle differences over something so simple as soil and sand.

thanks for the thread it definitely helps keep things in perspective!

it's a nice little reminder that the media plays both sides of any "trouble".

what people seem to forget is that its not a problem with jewish people or israel as such its the people that funded the country and hide behind the jewish faith and play the sympathy card.

remember the rothschilds want to build a new temple on the mount.. where ever they go chaos is involved! the cia/mossad and other intelligence agencies playing the part of agent provocateurs!

remember, its all about divide and conquer.

we've got 2 sides to a war- christianity and islam with judaism in the middle playing the sympathy card. its not the people, its the elites that are the problem. the same elites that probably created the religions to serve their agenda, its all coming to ahead!

jews are waking upto things same as any other religion and peoples- www.abovetopsecret.com... check out the vid, hope is out there!

the only way we can move forward is by not allowing ourselves to be manipulated by religion. lets put some faith, belief and love in ourselves and others for a change.

[edit on 11:11 by WHOS READY]

reply to post by DutchBigBoy


Lovely people??
So Israel has been the aggressor in each of these? Wow...
Don't get me wrong, they are not innocent victims... But they are also in a position of constant defense... And sometimes the best defense is a good offense!!

reply to post by Mobius1974


Your thread is propaganda. You think just because there is a mall in Palestine, everything must be okay. You then "suggest" that Palestinians are to blame. In fact, I would say that Palestinians have zero blame in the current crisis.

Tell me, have you ever been to Gaza? You find a couple photos on the internet, spout some propaganda that you probably heard from the NYT and you think you know what your talking about. There are Palestinian women and children who are dying everyday, all because of Israel and what's even more crazy, is that Israel is doing it with American weapons and American tax-dollars. There are families who are getting put out on the streets as watch one or two fat and greedy Zionist settlers moving into their homes. They live in absolute fear of their very existence, every one of them. Israelis may be afraid of a harmless rocket if they travel to close to the border.

In fact, every single one of the cease fires was broken by Israel, yet the MSM never focuses on that, rather they will only show the harmless and ineffective rockets, in a false suggestion that it was Hamas who broke the cease fire. Newsflash for the ignorant and lazy: Every rocket fired into Israel is in response to a much greater event against Palestinians. In fact, Hamas was created to deal with Israeli terror. If it wasn't for Israeli terror, their would be no need for Hamas.

--airspoon

reply to post by Mobius1974


Most of the times the israelites were the aggressors

Originally posted by airspoon
reply to post by Mobius1974

 

Your thread is propaganda. You think just because there is a mall in Palestine, everything must be okay. You then "suggest" that Palestinians are to blame. In fact, I would say that Palestinians have zero blame in the current crisis.

Tell me, have you ever been to Gaza? You find a couple photos on the internet, spout some propaganda that you probably heard from the NYT and you think you know what your talking about. There are Palestinian women and children who are dying everyday, all because of Israel and what's even more crazy, is that Israel is doing it with American weapons and American tax-dollars. There are families who are getting put out on the streets as watch one or two fat and greedy Zionist settlers moving into their homes.

Did they have ID's that said ZIONIST accross the top?

They live in absolute fear of their very existence, every one of them.

Really? Everyone? Anyone smell drama? Maybe they should take cover instead of shopping at the mall...

Israelis may be afraid of a harmless rocket if they travel to close to the border.

Harmless? I have always looked at your posts as intelligent.. I have never read a post and had it change my view of a member so fast.

In fact, every single one of the cease fires was broken by Israel, yet the MSM never focuses on that, rather they will only show the harmless and ineffective rockets, in a false suggestion that it was Hamas who broke the cease fire. Newsflash for the ignorant and lazy: Every rocket fired into Israel is in response to a much greater event against Palestinians. In fact, Hamas was created to deal with Israeli terror. If it wasn't for Israeli terror, their would be no need for Hamas.

Every rocket is a response to a Israeli offenses?
Now which one of us was the one that was listening to the media propaganda?

I have stated SEVERAL times that Israel is not innocent in my mind...

But your view is hysterical... Hamas/Palestinians are tree hugging, peace loving people that want nothing more then to have the big bad israel stop picking on them...

I guess it is impossible to inject logic into a completely illogical thought process.




[edit on 20-7-2010 by Mobius1974]

reply to post by Mobius1974


With respect, Hamas had no intention of keeping this mall a secret from the world. According to this article, they see the mall as a means to help rebuild the tattered economy.

It is false to assert that Hamas doesn't want the world to know about it. A mall is just a mall and this doesn't mean life for the ordinary Palestinian is now comparable to Westerners.

Edit for typo

[edit on 20-7-2010 by LarryLove]

reply to post by DutchBigBoy


That is 100% NOT true.. Have you done any research on this? I am not going to regurgitate facts... Look up what you claim as fact.. You will see that you have been drinking "the koolade".

Again.. they are not a victim here.. But they are also not the big bad wolf!

And this is exactly why the Palestinian people voted for and support Hamas. Agreed they don't want to keep this "hidden." Interesting that you interpret it to be so though.

reply to post by LarryLove


Who says it has to be comparable to westerners?

1) They despise our lifestyle, and do not want to be like us.
2) They obviously want the world to view the palestinians as repressed and poverty stricken.
3)From one side of their mouth they say they can't rebuild houses.. Out of the other side they say "welcome to our new mall"



[edit on 20-7-2010 by Mobius1974]

Originally posted by Mobius1974
reply to post by LarryLove

 

Who says it has to be comparable to westerners?

1) They despise our lifestyle, and do not want to be like us.
2) They obviously want the world to view the palestinians as repressed and poverty stricken.
3)From one side of their mouth they say they can't rebuild houses.. Out of the other side they say "welcome to our new mall"



[edit on 20-7-2010 by Mobius1974]

Okay, but your headline leads us to assume that Hamas doesn't want us to know about this. With respect, you talk about propaganda, yet the headline couldn't be further from the truth.

Why would we assume they would want to be like us. They have their culture, we have ours. I agree that Hamas has problems, but it was democratically elected - the peoples choice. Just because they build a shopping mall, that will most likely serve a small elite, doesn't mean that the whole economic and political situation is different to what is portrayed in the media.

The ordinary Palestinian is living a sub-human life. Basic human rights are violated and documented by many independent sources.

To move the conversation back on topic, my personal take is that this story is being spun to project an incorrect view of life in Gaza.

[edit on 20-7-2010 by LarryLove]

Hamas has often accused Israel of creating a “siege” by keeping its border crossings to Gaza closed. According to Hamas, Gaza lacks electricity and building supplies.

You conveniently neglected to mention that literally every independent human rights group has also accused Israel of the same. This includes the three most prominent, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and International Red Cross.

You focus all your attention on Hamas propaganda, but don't realize that the UN itself has on several occasions condemned Israeli actions, especially the illegal settlements. Everyone in the region - who isn't Israel - speaks matter-of-factly about the constant human rights violations. Don't be a fool and try to deny the severity of it.

Instead of engaging in random speculation, why not go to the source article, using google translate?

Gaza - a description

افتتح في مدينة غزة مساء السبت أول مجمع تجاري مركزي من نوعه في قطاع غزة المحاصر منذ أربعة أعوام، بمشاركة حشود من المواطنين الذي قدموا لمشاهدة افتتاح المجمع الذي أطلق عليه اسم "غزة مول". Opened in Gaza City on Saturday evening, the first central mall of its kind in the besieged Gaza Strip for four years, with crowds of citizens who came to watch the opening of the complex which will be called "Strip Mall."



ويضم السوق الذي افتتح بمشاركة عدد من الوزراء والمسئولين في الحكومة في غزة على محلات تضم كافة المستلزمات التي تحتاجها الأسرة من مأكولات وملابس وعطور وأحذية وأدوات منزلية ومكتبية وغير ذلك. And includes the market, which opened with a number of ministers and government officials in Gaza shops include all supplies needed by the family of foods and clothing, perfumes, shoes, household appliances, office and so on.



ولفت وزير الشئون الاجتماعية في غزة أحمد الكرد إلى أن السوق سيساهم في تلبية الحاجات الأساسية في ظل ظروف الحصار من خلال توفيرها عبر التجار وجلبها عبر المعابر والأنفاق. He noted the Minister of Social Affairs in Gaza, Ahmad Kurd that the market will help meet the basic needs under conditions of siege by providing traders and brought across the border crossings and tunnels.



ونوه الكرد خلال حفل الافتتاح إلى أن هذا المشروع الكبير سيسهم بخلق فرص عمل للعشرات من الأسر الفلسطينية من خلال تشغيل أبنائها في أقسامه المختلفة، موضحًا أنه تم توفير 50 فرصة عمل في المرحلة الأولى للافتتاح. He noted the Kurds during the opening ceremony that this major project will contribute to creating job opportunities for dozens of Palestinian families through the operation of their children in different sections, explaining that he had been providing 50 jobs in the first phase of opening.



وأشار إلى أنه تم افتتاح السوق بمشاركة عدد من التجار والمستثمرين داخل قطاع غزة، مؤكدًا تشجيع الحكومة لإقامة مثل هذه المشاريع في ظل ظروف الحصار. He pointed out that the opening of the market with a number of traders and investors in the Gaza Strip, saying the government to encourage the establishment of such projects in light of the circumstances of the siege.



من جهته، قال مدير مركز التسوق صلاح أبو عبدو : إن "افتتاح (غزة مول) في ظل ظروف الحصار المستمر على القطاع وبأسعار منخفضة تشجع المواطن الغزي على الشراء يعد إنجازًا كبيرًا". For his part, the Director of the shopping center, Salah Abu Abdo: "The opening (Strip Mall) under the conditions of the continuing siege on the Gaza Strip and at low prices encourages Gazan citizens to buy is a great achievement."



وشدد أبو عبدو على أن المجمع يساهم في إنعاش الاقتصاد الفلسطيني في ظل كونه سوقًا تجاريًا منظمًا من قبل العديد من التجار داخل القطاع مما يجعله ذا طابع وطني يدفع المواطن للتسوق من خلاله. Abu Abdo stressed that the complex contributes to the recovery of the Palestinian economy under the market as a commercially organized by many of the traders within the sector, making it a national character citizen pay to shop through.



وبين أن السوق يحتوي على خاصية تساعد الأسرة على التسوق من داخل البيت عن طريق جهاز الكمبيوتر من خلال خدمة التسوق الإلكتروني، موضحًا أن الأسعار ستكون ذات طابع منخفض وجذاب. And that the market has the property to help the family to shop from within the home via the computer through e-shopping service, adding that prices will be low in nature and attractive.

Paints a bit of a different picture from the OP.

reply to post by vox2442


Thank you for posting this. I had read this on a blog and feel the story is going the same way as the one detailing luxury hotels/restaurants in Gaza. Heaven knows what will happen when Palestinians will be allowed to rebuild their property. I dread to think how those stories will be spun!

reply to post by vox2442


It does exactly the oposite.. It confirms my post..
They have made provisions for internet shopping......


Another poster said this was catering to only the "elites"
This read seems to imply this mall is for the "average" person.

You guys are getting me wrong here...Do you think it is in Hamas's best interest for life to start looking up under the blockade? NO.. period! They could care less if they increase the quality of life in Gaza.. They want the world to view this as a humanitarian crisis.

They are empowered by all of these human rights organizations condeming Israel and its actions.

They need things to look as bad as possible there.