“Bow to God”
Telegraph’s Charles Levinson cruises around Gaza:
… We passed a particularly tough looking bearded militant-turned-traffic cop and I couldn’t help but reflect on how dreary governing must now seem to a lot of these guys. To go from masked, gun-toting, rebel militant to whistle blowing traffic cop doesn’t seem like a very thrilling step up to me.
… We double parked so my fixer could get cigarettes today and a Hamas traffic cop in a yellow vest came up to the window. He wanted us to move our car, but said simply: “Bow to God.” … our driver instantly understood and pulled ahead into a parking spot.
Uh oh. Bad news. Those Egyptian smugglers better get to work or there are going to be some real cranky mujahideen out looking for some of the old bow to God:
Cigarettes stocks seem to already be drying up. Cig vendors only have the worst brands left … Last year, during the height of the Israeli siege after Gilad Shalit, a pack of cigarettes went for as much as 35 shekels.
That must be what they mean by humanitarian crisis.
Whole thing and more good stuff at Conflict Blotter’s general link here.
Topics: Palestinians
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:11 am on Tuesday, June 19, 2007
2 Responses to ““Bow to God””
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June 19th, 2007 at 2:01 am
The real humanitarian crisis is that there is no humanity left.
June 19th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Cigarettes, the canary in the Gazan coal mine? If the Hamas adrenaline junkies think it’s dreary now, just wait.