The UAE does it again
In less than a year of becoming president of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed has proven to carry on his late father's commitment to the Palestinian cause, unmatched by any other Gulf monarch.
The building of a new city in the Gaza Strip is a great move, but I suspect that it has something to do with Mohammed Al Abbar's recent foolishness in offering to reward Israel $56m for the illegal colonies it has built in the Strip since 1967. Given Al Abbar's closeness with the UAE ruling family, this move caused serious damage to the UAE's image and resulted in local and Arab condemnation.
What Sh. Khalifa is trying to prove now is that contrary to Al Abbar's implications, the UAE does not see Palestine as just another hot economic opportunity for greedy real estate tycoons. Palestine isn't for sale.
Even the US would be weary of rewarding Israeli colonies. Al Abbar needs to keep his adventurous ideas to himself. Was he trying to pass this off as a good gesture towards the Palestinians? Does he know anything about this conflict?
This view is obviously shared by others, since Al Abbar won't be playing Donald Trump on the Arab version of The Apprentice anymore. Don't try too hard, Mohammed. Not just yet.
The Arab world and the Palestinians await such contributions from the rest of the Gulf. Should we expect to see Qaboos, Hamad and Abdullah cities in Gaza?
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Link: Rewarding aggression in Palestine
posted by 3omani @ 12:48 PM
11 Comments:
I don't think Al-Abbar would venture such a move without a green light from his boss. He might be just a scapegoat.
I suspected that. Hence the $100m city might be a move to restore the UAE's reputation
ummmm or to portray that AbuDhabi is better than Dubai ; )
Looking back at ur post, I do think other Gulf states contribute to the Palestinian cause, though they don’t like to showoff that they do, unlike some other Gulf states.
I would strongly disagree. It depends on what you would consider enough contribution though.
Of course, there are exceptions. The UAE has built quite a few hospitals etc in Palestine over the years. States like Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman really havent done much for the Palestinians
http://www.ameinfo.com/45388.html
From the above link :
- In 2001, Al-Aqsa & Al-Quds Fund was established to support Palestine by shareholders who r; Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria, Oman, Sudan, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Yemen.
- Total contributions to the Al Aqsa and Al Quds Funds was US$800 million of which US$588 million has been committed or utilized to support health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, trade and investment and humanitarian aid.
- The two funds have utilized a total of US$747 million as at September 2004 while the investment revenues of the unactivated resources amounted to US$ 15.8 million. A total of 36 projects amounting to US$701 million have been allocated or committed of which cover rehabilitation and reconstruction, education, health, agriculture, trade and industry and humanitarian aid.
That is still nothing compared to the billions the EU has contributed to the Palestinians. Its a shame that 22 Arab nations haven't been able to contribute more than that, among which are those that have some of the highest GDP per capitas in the world.
The EU, by far, has contributed the most to the Palestinians.
I guess the Arab argument is 'why should we pay Israel's bills?' which does make sense in some ways. Why should we have to pay to rebuild every time Israel decides to demolish? I guess all bills should be redirected to the great United States, since it provides Israel with all the means of its destruction of Palestine.
ur argument, or more like ur original post concentrated on the GCC contribution, therefore my reply was to that. If, the EU do contribute to the Palestinians, then am not fully aware of that much. Although, they more like back stab them !!! What they support Israel with politically/militarily/socially since, n before its existence caused un-repairable damage to the Palestinians by the means of the last 100 years, if not more !!!
I agree that the EU is feeding the Palestinians while stabbing them. But then how much better have the Arabs done. Lack of Arab action against Israel is as bad as the EU's support for it. And now, Arab states are rushing to establish relations with Israel.
Besides, I think the EU's support is more out of guilt for the Nazi holocaust than anything else. You can often see anti-Israel statements slip through with European politicians.
Why r blaming the Arabs only !? Why don’t u blame the Palestinians themselves !? We Omanis got invaded by the Portuguese centuries ago, n we stood up for our country n kicked them out !!
The Portugese didn't have American-made weapons. All the Palestinians have to fight with are their bodies, which is widely condemned and makes them loose the PR battle. How else are they supposed to fight? Obviously, nonviolent means have never helped them. The only thing that gets them world attention are the bombings, which is sad.
Didn’t India adapt Gandhi's violent-less methods, n gained India's independence !? What am trying to say is, where there is a will, there is a way ! Many Palestinians left their land, n immigrated away !
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