tuque /tūk/ n Canadian English, var. toque [19th c. Canadian French, from the French toque, from the Basque tauka] 1 A close-fitting knitted cap, often with a long tapering end or tassel or pompom. 2 fig Something quintessentially Canadian.
souq /sūk/ n from the Arabic سوق var. souk 1 An open-air marketplace. 2 fig A central meeting place for the circulation of news and ideas.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

"Who Blamed Who" tops the charts in the Middle East during Gaza War

Now that a cease-fire is in effect in Gaza (or, depending on when you wake up Sunday morning, it could already be over), we can pause and examine the status of the blame game for the war.

Obviously, Israel blamed Hamas, and Hamas blamed Israel.

Gamal Essam el-Din, writing in Al-Ahram weekly [ENGLISH], had an enviable perch inside the recent meeting of Arab delegations in Cairo, from which he observed the cacaphony of Who blamed Whom for What When in collaboration with Whom against Whom and How? Libya blamed Egypt, which blamed Hamas, and also Israel, and then Iran, while Syria got blamed for something, and Saudi Arabia, and Hezbollah, and then someone suggested kicking Egypt out of the Arab League.

In Israel, nationalist parties Yisrael Beitenu and National Union accused Israel's Arab parliamentarians of sympathizing with Hamas, blaming them for inflaming the conflict through anti-patriotic rhetoric. The result: Israel's Election Commission has banned Arab political parties from participation in next month's national election.

A group of British Jews blamed Israel, while the British Arabic press blamed Hamas. Syria was blamed for using Hamas as a pawn in its interminable chess match with Israel. The NY Times reported that Israelis blame everyone in the world but themselves.

People in Auckland blamed America and threw shoes at the U.S. consulate.

And in a couple of days (or hours), Israel will probably blame Hamas for violating the conditions of its unilateral ceasefire. And Hamas will again blame Israel for being Israel.

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