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May 19, 2006
Must Read: Totten Reports From The West Bank
Lazy blogging by me, perhaps...but here's its antithesis: Michael Totten's post from the West Bank (hat tip Instapundit). The following is an excerpt in which he interviews a member of the Palestinian Parliament, Abu Laila of the Marxist-Leninist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine:
“Do you feel the Arab countries have betrayed the Palestinians?” I said. “They are treated like animals in Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria.”
“Yes, I know,” he said. “I wouldn’t say Arab governments are innocent. They are not doing what they should do. It is below the capacities that they have. Still, Israelis are the main enemy and the main source of suffering.”
“But Palestinians are treated worse by Lebanese than they are by Israelis,” I said. “Do you know about the conditions in refugee camps like Ein El Helwe?”
“They are not treated worse in Lebanon,” he said. “That is not possible.”
I blinked at him.
“I have seen these places myself,” I said. “The conditions there are vastly worse than they are here in Ramallah. It’s impossible to even compare them.”
“Here a pregnant woman cannot get to a hospital because of the checkpoints,” he said.
It’s possible the Palestinians in the West Bank have no idea how bad the refugee camps in other countries really are. Or they are so consumed with their own problems that they just don’t care. I do not know.
I’ll say this, though: Those refugee camps in Lebanon have been there for more than 50 years. The hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Lebanon are not allowed to live anywhere else unless they are Christian. (They aren’t really “camps,” by the way. They are urban, and they are sub-Dickensian slums.) And until last year, vehicles entering the camps were searched by the Lebanese army. Building materials were confiscated. The Lebanese didn’t want the Palestinians to get, you know, the wrong idea. If you want to know what those places are like, just imagine the worst slums you’ve ever seen. Then subtract all the modern building materials. Unspeakable doesn’t even begin to describe them.
Totten is combining impressive photo-blogging with some pretty fearless reporting. The whole post is well worth your time--it's the blogosphere at its best.
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