So over the last 15 days and many years the media describes the Palestenian people as starving and unemployed. Living in the dark under the evil forces of the occupation. In parallel, the Nasserist and the Egyptian left wing hippies in Egypt demanding from the Egyptian government to step in to support "our" poor stricken occupied brothers in the Arab nation. While the Islamist and the Muslim Brotherhood saying we need to support "our" wrongly vilified brothers in Islam. Of course the Islamists, Nasserists, left wing hippies were happy to hear "credible" organizations, like the good people at OXFAM and other independent human rights groups saying the Palestinians need aid and support.
Meanwhile, Egyptian nationalists are described as pro-Israel, pro-American Zionists traitors, for just wanting the focus of their government be the well being of the citizens of Egypt. Of course, you know all is fair game in the name of politics.
Bending over to domestic and regional pressure (I mean you Al Jazeera), the Egyptian government, "accepted" the breach on our borders; the purchase of goods with forged money, the attempt to raise the Hamas flag on Egyptian soil and government building, the attacks on our soldiers, and the infiltration of terrorists to our lands, among many other things that I would consider serious acts of war. This was all done in the name of supporting "our brothers".
Anyhow, all that sounded sweet and dandy to me. Until yesterday, when Sandmonkey brought up an interesting point yesterday about how really un-poor the Palestinians are. So I decided to do some research!!
My conclusion was simple. There is this thing called the HDI. It is produced by some organization called the UNDP. Now lets break those acronyms up, before someone thinks i am making up some shit. Well the UNDP is part of a larger left wing organization, that is more often than not incompetent. You know it by the name of United Nations. This is how the UNDP describes itself:
So what the #$*@ really? According to the United Nations the Palis are doing better than the Egyptians. Yet it is the Egyptians that are expected to help the Palestenian cause. It is the Egyptians that keep being distracted from their own well being. I just don't get it. Can any of the Islamists or Nasserists try and tell me, why should us Egyptians help the Palestinians?
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PS: I know i made quite a few serious "claims"; aka UNs incompetency (RWANDA, UNHRC), Islamist (Muslim Brotherhood) and Nasserist (Karama, Arabi Nasseri news papers), left wing hippie (Kefaya) support of the Pali's; Nationalist called traitors (Fahmi Howaidi calling us all traitors) and Regional pressure on Egypt (Syria, Meshaal, Al Jazeera). I was to lazy to post links to back up my "claims" but if you want to be anal, feel free to ask me.
Meanwhile, Egyptian nationalists are described as pro-Israel, pro-American Zionists traitors, for just wanting the focus of their government be the well being of the citizens of Egypt. Of course, you know all is fair game in the name of politics.
Bending over to domestic and regional pressure (I mean you Al Jazeera), the Egyptian government, "accepted" the breach on our borders; the purchase of goods with forged money, the attempt to raise the Hamas flag on Egyptian soil and government building, the attacks on our soldiers, and the infiltration of terrorists to our lands, among many other things that I would consider serious acts of war. This was all done in the name of supporting "our brothers".
Anyhow, all that sounded sweet and dandy to me. Until yesterday, when Sandmonkey brought up an interesting point yesterday about how really un-poor the Palestinians are. So I decided to do some research!!
My conclusion was simple. There is this thing called the HDI. It is produced by some organization called the UNDP. Now lets break those acronyms up, before someone thinks i am making up some shit. Well the UNDP is part of a larger left wing organization, that is more often than not incompetent. You know it by the name of United Nations. This is how the UNDP describes itself:
UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.Ok, that was easy. So what is HDI, you ask. The HDI stands for Human Development Index. So what does that mean? Well it
....provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income)With the definitions done, let us look at the data. Comparing the HDI of the Occupied Palestinian Territories to the HDI of Egypt was interesting:
"The HDI for Occupied Palestinian Territories is 0.731, which gives the country a rank of 106th out of 177 countries"
"The HDI for Egypt is 0.708, which gives the country a rank of 112th out of 177"This means that the People on the Occupied Territories, that is not a nation are doing better off than the people of Egypt. Actually better than people in 71 countries. Some of these 71 states include Indonesia, Syria, South Africa, Morocco, India
So what the #$*@ really? According to the United Nations the Palis are doing better than the Egyptians. Yet it is the Egyptians that are expected to help the Palestenian cause. It is the Egyptians that keep being distracted from their own well being. I just don't get it. Can any of the Islamists or Nasserists try and tell me, why should us Egyptians help the Palestinians?
--
PS: I know i made quite a few serious "claims"; aka UNs incompetency (RWANDA, UNHRC), Islamist (Muslim Brotherhood) and Nasserist (Karama, Arabi Nasseri news papers), left wing hippie (Kefaya) support of the Pali's; Nationalist called traitors (Fahmi Howaidi calling us all traitors) and Regional pressure on Egypt (Syria, Meshaal, Al Jazeera). I was to lazy to post links to back up my "claims" but if you want to be anal, feel free to ask me.
9 Thoughts:
I am not an Islamist or Nasserist but I'll give it a try: Eygpt must help the Palestinians because it is more important for Eygpt to destroy Israel than it is to better itself.
It is always easier to hate and destroy than it is to build and create.
After a century or two it really becomes a habit that is hard to kick, and Eygpt seems to have fallen into that habit.
Egypt is hampering cooperation with Israel, an economic powerhouse, thus depriving itself of an enormous advantage, "for the sake of Palestine", while the Palestinians have constantly benefited from working within the Israeli economy.
It's ironic, don't you think?
One can only imagine where Eygpt would be today if it had supported itself throughout the years instead of chasing the ghosts of history gone by.
Got here via Sandmonkey. Thanks for an interesting post.
Incidentally, about 10 years ago I had the pleasure of travelling through Egypt. To be honest, I would be afraid to do so now, but hope that someday it will be safer; it is a marvellous country!
Gila
I totally believe it! A friend of mine (incidently Canadian) was working with a relief organization in the Occupied Territories when she came to Cairo to visit me. She was shocked to see the situation in Cairo was worse for the Egyptians than the people she was helping.
I have since left Egypt physically but have remained emotionally attached. Bahibik Masr!
It's a shame Egypt had to get involved in all this - the Egyptian people need to concentrate on themselves, on their future - not always on issues in the region that just suck the life and energy out of them!
Thanks for your comments guys,
satircohen, I agree with you that Egypt should have focused on her own development rather than the Palestinian cause. At least if we were in better Economic strength and with a stronger relation with Israel we can have more impact on the situation in the occupied territories.
Gila; Egypt is much different than it was 10 years ago. I make a point to go back every year and every year I am am amazed at the amount of change and development that happens. I am not saying its haven; I am just saying it is in much better shape than a year ago let a lone 10. In terms of security, Egypt is again safer than it was 10 years ago. Back then they were plagued with terrorist attacks. Now the economy is growing and they are hitting new records for number of tourists every year.
native foreigner; ditto. I hope to see more Egyptian nationalists that are working towards the em betterment of Egypt rather than, or even along with, the Palestinian cause. We cant keep ignoring the well being of our country for the well being of our neighbors.
Hey so what can be done to spark economic collaborations that are profitable for all between Egypt and Israel? It is amazing to me that, while we've had a peace treaty with Egypt for like 30 years and one with Jordan for less than half that, our economic cooperation with Jordan far outstrips that with Egypt. Personally, I think that a "warm" and cooperative peace is far better for both our countries in every way from economics on down.
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
I just find the way you introduced the notion of the human development Index laughable. Especially since it is used by "some organization called the UNDP".
Memz, You just got to learn what an HDI is (so obvious from your writting technique), you might want to read more about international and economic development before "objectively" criticizing the situation. After all, you dont want to come off as another patriotic egyptian with just another whiney post. Oh and btw, there are other indexes that you may want to read about-of course that is if your mental capacity allows you to do so.
Its annon again. I just got to read the last part of your post. "if you want to be anal about it just ask me". SERIOUSLY?
You are in the consulting industry and you are too lazy to cite your sources? what kind of a loser firm do you work for? what a consultant I imagine you to be...
p.s I am very interrested in your firms name- I really want to avoid applying there:)
hey annon; thanks for your very kind words. but i will tell you what why dont you "educate" me. I have no problem admitting I am wrong if you can convince me
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