Skip Jerusalem, George: Hang Loose in Gaza

Skip Jerusalem, George: Hang Loose in Gaza
Comment by Stu Littlewood, Norfolk, UK

The British press reports that Israelis are deploying more than 10,000 police and security staff to protect George W Bush when he arrives in Jerusalem this week. That”s not counting the army of bodyguards and armoured counter-assault teams he brings with him.
 
Perhaps they heard about the the plot to kidnap him and tattoo Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on his forehead. For the benefit of American and Israeli red-necks reading this, Article 13 says: (1) “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state” and (2) “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”.
 
Poor George…. did his daddy really name him after Palestine”s patron saint? Obviously he doesn”t feel safe as a guest of Olmert, and Hamas may have missed a trick here. Instead of telling The Champion of Democracy he”s unwelcome in the region, the Gazan authorities should have invited him to drop in for coffee with Mr Haniya – surely the greatest photo-opportunity of his entire US presidency – and offered to put him up at the best hotel in Gaza City so that he could experience first-hand the power cuts, water shortage, failing sanitation, meagre food rations and an air raid or two. Sure, his fleet of armoured limmos would be unable to refuel, but carrying jerry-cans of spare gasoline in the trunk is no sweat in the pursuit of justice and world peace.
 
Protected by Hamas”s finest, George”s only fear would be from an Israeli air strike. A bracing stroll along Gaza”s deserted beach under the guns of Israeli patrol boats, stopping for a friendly chat with the 3,000 fishermen whose boats are shelled if they put to sea, and, later, three or four hours of frustration and humilitation on his way back through the Erez crossing, would surely concentrate his addled brain wonderfully.
 
A tough choice, then, for America”s Commander-in-Chief: stay with Olmert at such personal risk that he needs the high-tech protection of thousands of armed security men, or “hang loose” in Gaza and hope the pissed-off siege victims forget about tattooing Article 13 on his forehead and rump. Being The Most Powerful Man in the World isn”t easy, no sir-ree!
 
And can we hope that this George will ever slay the dragon? No, sir-ree! Because, actually, our hero will be snuggling down in the King David Hotel in West Jerusalem, where Zionist terrorists murdered 91, including 41 Arabs, in an attack on the British mandate government in 1946. Sweet dreams, George….
 
While Bush, Olmert and Abbas act out their futile charade I watch in horror the mounting death toll resulting from Israel”s blockade of medical supplies and spare parts. I never thought I would see the day when my own country was party to such evil.
 
What a wicked start to 2008. Our leaders have the same cruel mentality as the Crusaders 800 years ago.