Palestinians trapped in Egypt start riot; world yawns

Palestinians that Hamas will not allow to re-enter Gaza because they refuse to allow Israel any control over the crossing are rioting in Egypt.

About 100 Palestinians smashed doors and windows inside an airport building in this Egypt-Gaza Strip border town early Tuesday after being trapped there for more than a month since the border’s closure, police and one of the rioters said.

Dozens of anti-riot police with batons and shields stormed el-Arish airport and clashed with rioters, injuring two of them, one of the rioters, Mohammed Ali, told the Associated Press.

A police official said that more troops have been deployed to the airport after Tuesday’s clashes, fearing more riots and violence. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

And the British National Union of Journalists, who are boycotting Israel, will presumably take great offense at this:

An Associated Press reporter was denied entry into the airport Tuesday but saw dozens of riot police deployed outside the building.

What’s that? They won’t care because it’s not Israeli soldiers denying entry to the press? No! I don’t believe you!

They had expected to then travel onward to the Gaza Strip, but they have been stuck in the el-Arish airport since Egypt sealed off its border with Gaza after the militant Palestinian Hamas took over Gaza last month.

The Palestinians, mostly students and government employees, trapped inside the airport have complained of increasingly desperate living conditions.

“We are living in a 100 square meters. There are no services. Water is salty and masses of mosquitoes attack us every night,” Ali told the AP on the telephone early Tuesday.

Along with the 100 Palestinian in el-Arish airport, there are about 4,000 other Palestinians stranded on Egypt’s side of the Gaza border.

Palestinians stuck in the eastern Sinai Peninsula say they are having trouble finding food and shelter – shortages they blame on local authorities and Palestinian factions indifferent to their plight. A large number lack enough money to pay for lodging and instead are sleeping in mosques and under trees.

Actually, it’s closer to 6,000, according to other reports. And oh yeah—the Palestinians keep shelling the crossings with mortars, but the world blames Israel for not opening them. Because after all, it must be Israel’s fault. They’re the oppressor. Right? Right?

Wrong.

Expect almost no mention of this in the mainstream media. Now imagine that this same thing was happening on the Israeli side of a border crossing, and take a guess how many news articles you would read about it. Thousands, for sure.