Saudi Arabia: Who is to blame for Gaza?

As in the rest of the Arab world, Saudi Arabia's blogs have been full of commentary on the events in Gaza. However, there is no consensus as to who is politically responsible.

Saudiwoman is pleased to see what her country is doing:

It makes my heart swell with pride to know that my country is trying to do something for the Palestinians in Gaza. A friend who works in the military hospital here in Riyadh told me that for the past two days the hospital has been discharging people left and right to accommodate the wounded from Gaza and today the first airlift arrived. Everyone here in Saudi feels helpless and frustrated when we see the photos of the Israeli air raids aftermath. The photos of bleeding children and leveled buildings are driving us crazy. We need to have something to do. It’s so bad that many people went to government hospitals wanting to donate blood to the Palestinians. So many that the Health minister had to issue a statement saying that the Palestinians need supplies not blood.

But Ahmed Ba-Aboud has a different perspective:

كل شخبطاتنا لن تغير من الواقع شيئا لكنني لا أملك إلا أن أضحك أمام محاولات الترقيع التي نراها، فهناك من يريد فتح الحدود لسيارات الإسعاف و هنا من يعلن علاج الجرحى، يعنى نحن لا علاقة لنا بالأصحاء من أهل غزه المحاصرين، بل ننتظرهم مصابين و قتلى لكي نقدم لهم يد المساعدة.
All our scribblings will not change any anything, but I can only laugh at the piecemeal efforts I see. There are those who want to open the borders to ambulances, and those who announce treatment of the injured. That means we have no connection to the healthy amongst the besieged people of Gaza, just wait for the injured and dead to offer them a helping hand.

Blogger and journalist Yaser Al-Ghaslan is also frustrated:

يا ناس هل يعقل أننا وصلنا لهذا المستوى من الشلل و العجز بكل المقاييس، فنجد مثلا رئيسا عربيا يصرح بأنه سيعمل على تسهيل إجراءات تمرير المعونات الإنسانية
و آخر يتكلم عن جهوده في صياغة مشروع قرار عربي لشجب ما يجري بينما مجموعه منهم يخططون لتناول الموضوع ضمن أجندة إجتماعهم المقرر أصلا سابقا، (كلام كلام كلام كلام(.
[…] أحبتي نحن امه لم يبقى منها شئ سوى إسمها، فالشعب لا يعدو من كونه (صوت) يهلل بجميع الإتجاهات حتى اصبح نشازاً و مثيراً للأعصاب لدرجة القرف
My people, is it possible that we have reached this level of paralysis and impotence, by any measure? We find, for example, an Arab president declaring that he will work to facilitate the procedures for the passage of humanitarian aid. And another speaks of his efforts in formulating a draft Arab resolution to condemn what is going on, while a group of them plans to address the issue in the agenda of their meeting originally scheduled earlier. Talk, talk, talk, talk. […] My friends, we [Arabs] are a nation of which nothing remains but its name, and the people are no more than a voice shouting in every direction, until it has become a cacophony and gets on one’s nerves to the point of disgust.

Abdul Rahman Allahem thinks Egypt has been unfairly blamed:

للأسف أن مثل هذه الأحداث الدامية فرصة ذهبية للمتاجرين بالدماء والأشلاء للاستفادة من هذه المجزرة لتحقيق مكتسبات سياسية على أشلاء جثث الشهداء في غزة وهذا يتضح بشكل جلي عندما نرى ونسمع هذا الضغط غير المبرر على (مصر ) ومحاولة تحميلها كل ما يحدث في غزة في محاولة من (البعض) للتهرب من المسئولية
Unfortunately, bloody events such as these are a golden opportunity for merchants of blood and body parts to take advantage of the massacre, to achieve political gains from the remains of the martyrs’ corpses in Gaza. This is very evident if we see and hear the unjustified pressure on Egypt and the attempt to charge it with everything that has happened in Gaza, in an attempt for others to abdicate responsibility.

Mohammed Abdullah Al-Shahri thinks there's no point blaming any Arab nation:

لا مزيد من اللوم للعالم العربي … أرجوكم .. صدقوني هو أيضاً يعاني … ومن المحرج أن تطلب من المريض علاج مريض !
No more blame for the Arab world…I beg you…Believe me it is also suffering…and it’s embarrassing to ask one sick person to treat another one!

Writing in another post, Yaser Al-Ghaslan has a very clear idea of who is to blame:

لست من المؤيدين لحركة حماس و في ذات الوقت أرى بأن عباس و حركته ارتكبوا إهمالا لا يغتفر تجاه أهل غزة. […] لا ألوم إسرائيل بما فعلت اليوم فهي في تركيبتها الإجتماعية و السياسية دولة وحشية و همجية و ساعية لقتل كل ما هو عربي و فلسطيني و هو أمر نعرفه جميعا، و لكني ألوم أشد اللوم هؤلاء السياسيين الفلسطينيين و الذين أود أن أصفهم هنا بأوصاف لا تليق بالمحترمين و لكني احتراما لمسامعكم و عيونكم لن أتجاوز حدود الأدب […]دماء أبناء غزة هي عار عليك أيها الفتحاوي و أيها الحمساوي و أيها السياسي النكرة الذي لا تملك دولة و قد نصّبت نفسك قائدا همام ( خسئ عبد السلطة،،، خسئ عبد الدولار،، خسئ إبن…………..).
I am not a supporter of Hamas, and at the same time, I believe that Abbas and his [Fatah] movement are guilty of unforgivable negligence towards the people of Gaza. […] Do not blame Israel for what it did today, for that is part of the social and political structure of a brutal and barbaric state that is seeking to kill all Arabs and Palestinians, we all know that. The strongest blame should be for those Palestinian politicians, and those whom I want to describe with words not worthy of respectable people, so out of respect for your ears and eyes I won't cross the limits of good manners. […] The blood of the children of Gaza is a shame on you, supporters of Fatah and Hamas and other nameless politicians, who do not even have a state and have appointed yourselves as heroic commanders. (Shame on the slaves of authority, shame on the slaves of the dollar, shame on the sons of ….)

Hala, who currently lives in the USA, asks:

Would wars and weapons be the only means – as ever – to reach resolutions and peace?

Sabria Jawhar says:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was on an Arabic news show last week in which he basically bragged that Israel is the biggest, baddest and most powerful country in the region and it won’t hesitate to use its might to protect itself. Well, my question is if Israel is indeed the biggest and most powerful country in the Middle East, why doesn’t it take the high road and expend a lot of that negative energy into something positive, like sparing the lives of innocents and demanding the resumption of peace talks with Hamas. The sad fact is the Gaza Strip’s civilians are simply pawns in a power struggle that should have ended long ago. And the price will be more blood.

And Ahmed Al-Omran reports on some demonstrations that have taken place:

On the 19th of December, a few hundred people demonstrated in Qatif, a predominantly Shiite area east of Saudi Arabia, to protest the Israeli siege on Gaza. The protesters lifted posters of Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasarallah and chanted anti-Israeli and anti-US slogans. According to the website Rasid, the demonstration ended peacefully under the eyes of security forces who watched closely. However, tens of young men who demonstrated were arrested in the following week. After Israel started their barbarian attack on Gaza last Saturday, thousands of angry demonstrators took to the streets in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and other countries. In Saudi Arabia, where the law does not give people the right to demonstrate publicly, more than 60 political and human rights activists signed a letter to the Ministry of Interior asking for permission to hold a peaceful demonstration in Riyadh. While activists in Riyadh were waiting for a reply from MOI, protesters in Qatif demonstrated again on Monday, but this time they were faced by the security forces and riot police who fired rubber bullets to break up the protest. Mansour al-Turki, spokesman of MOI, denied that such protest took place. “Street protests are banned in the Kingdom and that the security forces will intervene to enforce the ban,” he added. His denial is not surprising, but everyone knows that people of Qatif have a long history in street protests with major demonstrations held in 1979, 2002 and 2006. […] People should be allowed to protest, but it seems that the government is afraid that people will realize the power of public demonstration and later use it not just to protest against Israel but also to demand their rights. Giving permission to these demonstrations would set a precedent that the government clearly doesn’t want to deal with its results and consequences. 2009 will be interesting.

15 comments

  • Said Bajree

    Shame on Saudi. They indirectly finance Israel by investing much fund in USA. What can Suadi do to help Gaza, just wthdraw all their investment. Saudis always think that by giving money to Gaza, they can solve the problem. No way! the core problem is not money, it is Israel’s occupation. Instead of participating with other in Qatar, Saudi and Egypt (which helps Israel doring the massacres) will hold it’s own version of summit. Too late Saudi, there are alrady too many Gaza’s children and women died.
    Shame on Saudi! the indirect Israel ally. Go on laughing with your abundant of dollars and golds, and help your allies in killing Gaza people.

  • Mom

    God Bless the Saudis…but please cut off all oil to the West until they are willing to make Israel comply with international law. How can you Arabs not do anything to protect the innocents in Gaza? They are trapped like animals in a slaughter pen. Put pressure on Egypt to defy Israel so that Palestinians can escape and eat. Put pressure on our gas-guzzling Americans so that they sit up and take notice to what is happening in the world instead of sticking their noses in the sand. Put pressure on Europe to do anything at all except talk….they debate and they debate, but they never do anything. (I am sick of watching their continuous debates in Europe. It gives the semblance that they are willing to solve everything, but they are willing to solve nothing.)

  • reza rahim

    Shame on Saudis and Hosni Mubarak , the US puppet and corrupted dictators for their complicity to Israel’s aggression. We, the South Asian Muslims are tired and ashamed of saudi’s self declared Master role in islamic world.

  • NovemberTopaz24

    If The civillians of Gaza are bold enough to throw rocks at Israeli troops, then why don’t they have the backbone to kick Hamas out of their cities? Clearly Hamas is standing in the way of peace. It doesn’t matter who hit the other first. They’re adults, not children in kindergarten. Politics are never easy, and everyone is just being exhausted and provoked by this situation.

  • NovemberTopaz24

    Just forget about the conflict. In years to come that land might become uninhabitable anyhow because of global warming….and worse yet when all the oil runs out how are the people of the middle east going to make any money? Quit romanticizing a pointless conflict. All the people of the middle-east have much bigger concerns. Both Jewish and muslims of that region should be working together so that they all might prosper….instead of squabbling until the inevitable comes. Where do you think they’re going to run when the land dries up and the oil is gone?

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