Armed Egyptian Bedouins opened fire in the air to warn away Palestinians, highlighting growing anger over food shortages and price rises triggered by the breaching of the border wall with Gaza, witnesses said.
The confrontation in the town of al-Joura occurred as residents on the Egyptian side of the border said shops had run out of goods since hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt when Hamas blew up the wall last week.
"The stores are empty and what is available is so expensive," said Youssef Ali, a Bedouin in the divided border town of Rafah. "The Bedouins are poor. The income of many Bedouins is not more than $30 a month."
The emptying of shop shelves and a block by Cairo on new supplies has prompted thousands of Palestinians to go home since Sunday, with some saying it was now easier to shop in Gaza than in Egypt. "The places are closed or empty. I am going back empty handed," said Mahmoud Mansour, a 52-year-old from Gaza City. Rafah residents and shopkeepers said the price of tea and some other goods had tripled. A pack of cigarettes had increased to 5 Egyptian pounds (90 cents) from 1.5 pounds.
The border breach prompted Egyptian authorities to seal off the boundary crossing from the Sinai into the Egyptian mainland. Little is moving in or out – including supplies. If the Bedouin are firing their guns at Palestinians now - just watch and see what happens if the reports of Palestinians using “funny” money to shop in the Sinai turn out to be correct.
On the other hand, a delegation of Israeli high school students traveled to Qatar to take part in a mock UN convention. Ynet News:
The Israeli delegation – along with the Qatar one – was the largest delegation sent to the convention, representing four Israeli high schools, as opposed to one or two by the other delegations.
The diplomatic simulation also included delegations from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority, Ethiopia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, El-Salvador, Greece, Hungary, India, Thailand and Turkey.
The Israeli students found themselves debating with representatives from nine countries that have no diplomatic relations with Israel; two of the countries – Syria and Lebanon – prohibit any contact with Israelis by law.
The Israeli delegation reportedly made an exceptional impression, showing great proficiency in debates mimicking Arab League meets and US Security Council sessions, as well as excelling at describing the Israeli-Palestinian reality and issues involving the Iranian nuclear program, winning eight awards by the time the convention came to its end.
Undoubtedly, a large part of the convention took part on the sidelines of the official debates: The Israeli students soon befriended their Jordanian, Palestinian, Gulf and Lebanese peers, and eventually even the Syrian ones, as the heated debates soon turned from politics to soccer and electronic gadgets. The UN-model ended with a gala dinner, attended by all delegations, Arab and foreign ambassadors and the Israeli commerce attaché to Doha, Roi Rosenblit.
The Israeli student delegation even managed not to get condemned. Go figure. Some government type figures should be taking a serious look into hiring these students in the future.
And double kudos to the parents who can raise these rather remarkable young people. I am a parent myself, and one of the things I do quite well is worry. In fact, that seems to be the most common denominator which unites most parents regardless of borders, ethnicity, language or religion. We (parents) do worry well.
I cannot imagine the circumstances in which I would allow my Israeli teenagers to travel to Qatar, and yet, I have been the beneficiary of Arab hospitality first hand and know it is legendary for good reason. I know that if the government of Qatar accepted such a charge - no grain of sand would be left unturned to ensure their safety…but bad things happen to good people all the time. I have yet to meet any parents (whether they were parents of two or 15 children) who claimed they had any ‘spare’ children. And yet, these parents seemed to be able to contain their fears enough to raise adventuresome optimistic children. Absolutely Remarkable.
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