What do you mean by 'engagement', Bahu?  Near as I can tell, the only thing Hamas wishes to 'engage' in is the annihilation of the state of Israel.  Perhaps it's more accurate to say they wish to engage in perpetuating the myth of Palestinian victimization.  Peace and a two-state solution would eliminate Hamas's reason for being.

That's one reason.

And there is two reasons for the one reason.

1.1. The laws of physics dictate that journalists can only report from places safe enough for journalists to escape alive.

While the horrible, horrible Gaza and Iraq are safe, some places in the world are not.

1.2. Journalists prefer living in luxury hotels and blaming Jews over living in wooden huts and blaming people who hit them when blamed.

This explains why journalists prefer to go after comparatively peaceful "evil" people who allow luxury hotels next to their "oppressed" victims.

But then there is another reason. You see, those who blame Israel for everything don't care about facts, reported or otherwise. And those who follow the media and care about what they hear tend to forget what they heard (although "Israel is evil" accumulates and creates more people of the first type).

Most people don't rely on media reports for their opinions about Israel. They rely on "common sense", which for liberals means that if there are serious accusations, the accused must be guilty.

I remember a case here on JU when someone told me that Israel use bulldozers to destroy homes of Arabs to replace them with Jewish settlements.

That's a typical accusation against Israe. I asked for a source.

I was told it was common knowledge. I asked for a source anyway.

The source I was finally given was a BBC article about how Israel used bulldozers to destroy a police station in Jenin during the "Intifada".

Turns out the media didn't even report this "common knowledge". The BBC actually did report only the facts (although the BBC didn't mention that the bulldozers were the alternative to bombing the building). But this report was enough. If Israelis use bulldozers to destroy a building during a war, it means they use bulldozers to destroy homes at any time. And if they destroy homes, it means they do it to replace the inhabitants with evil Jewish settlers, because that's what Jews do.

(And don't argue that this is not what Jews do because it's impossible for Israel to be innocent.)

So the second reason is all about what people want. The media report what people want to hear.

"300,000 dead in Darfur because we failed to act" is not as nice a message as "9 dead because of Israel and we can stop evil Israel if we intimidate local Jews enough and allow Hamas to launch rockets Israeli kindergardens".

2.1: The media report what people want to hear.

And then there is a third reason, something more sinister.

The third reason is about racism.

Ask anyone, liberal or conservative alike and you will find that most people have an expectation that _Africans_ and _poverty_ belong together just like _white people_ and _normal_ belong together.

This is why pictures of Darfur of black people walking miles through the desert to get water doesn't strike us as odd while (white) people in Gaza not having access to chocolate or advanced medical care appears to be a humanitarian disaster.

The truth is that the first is a real humanitarian disaster and it's OUR FAULT because we unleashed tha Arab imperialists on Sudan whereas the second is normal. Most people don't have access to medical care as good as Israel's.

We have all seen the pictures of starving Africans, so it's not like the media don't report it. It's not like the Kurdish question where the media simply won't report anything. (Most starving Africans live in very safe areas and could be helped if we gave less money to the "Palestinians" but that's perhaps beside the point.)

3.1: People have certain expectations about how non-Jewish white people ought to live.

3.2: People also have certain expectations about how Africans normally live.

That's why there is an outcry when Israel checks Gazans on their way to an Israeli hospital for bombs. And that's why most of us think it's normal for Africans to live in tents in the middle of the desert.

Did you ever think about this? Do you think human civilisations actually moved into the dry desert to live in broken tents? On a continent that has rivers and lakes all over the place? No, you see, and this is important, it is decidedly NOT normal for Africans to live in tents in dry deserts. It's something WE did to them. And that is a humanitarian crisis.

And I fecking don't do enough to change it.

While so many are eager to forget Africa and worry about the evil Jews instead, I worry about my own safety and allow people to die.

One thing I did was I decided to give the difference between my old and my new salary (I got a 8% raise) to a charity for Darfur in the first month. And I sometimes blog about Africa. But that's all.

It's not enough.

It makes me A LOT better than those "peace-activists" who are trying to destroy Israel in order to save the world, but I have no chance to get anywhere with this, not even an imagined chance.

I will say that Darfur is a very very hostile place for Westerns, especially. Its probably the most hostile place on the planet.  If you're lucky just the pirates will get you and you might live, but if the Islamic Jihad gets you, you're dead.  Notice I didn't say anything about the government forces because the government forces are having a time just keeping the Capital from falling.

The peace protesto....or I mean activities are not brave.  They're just "smart" as in they know that the number of people going to Darfur who will not live is most likely insanely high (even trying to get to Darfur) while going to Gaza and facing a country that TRIES to play by the rules. 

As for the media and Darfur, most Western outlets have agreed that it is too dangerous to go.  When George Clooney went, he had an army with him. 

Also, Doc and Leauki, don't you know that Clooney found a resolution to the Darfur conflict (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Clooney ) just scroll down to the third paragraph and you'll see.  That's why the media isn't there!  There's nothing going on in Darfur.  Its been resolved........

Yeah............ Hey Doc, do you think Leauki will buy ocean front property in Arizona?

There is a show here that is called the Deadliest Warriors, what they should do is found out which gurrellia fighters from Darfur/Sudan or Aftghan fighters are the best militants. 

I do not understand why Darfur and Gaza are considered test cases of Media freedom and political sensitivities. As far as Darfur is considered, the Western media has concentrated on the atrocities of the muslim arab militias and their rampages while ignoring or underplaying the atrocities of the christian black population. When atrocities are the flavour of the moment, there is little to choose between "muslim" atocities and "christian" atrocities. There is a race war going on in Darfur and there is little to be said in facvor of either side.

This is not the case with Gaza.

On that we can agree.  That you do not understand, that is.

There is no Christian black population in Darfur. The Fur and Massalith are Muslims. And I have never heard of any supposed atrocities committed by them or Sudanese Christians (from the south). Please go into some detail. What have you heard and where?

And I wouldn't say the media have exactly "concentrated" on anything in Darfur. Most people I meet don't know what Darfur is and whether there it is the location of a genocide, a party zone or chocolate-covered.

Another William Connolly addition no doubt (Wiki's policy of letting controversial topics be edited by one side exclusively).

Clooney is an idiot.

Nah, he is more an urban guy.  He wants big city lights and wild nights!

They are not test cases, they are overt manifestations of their practices.

The western media has done no such thing.  You yourself admitted there is gross ignorance on Darfur.  Which clearly shows the western media is doing NOTHING.

What Christian Atrocities?  The American tea Parties where they are getting beat up by peace loving liberals?  You make no sense.

There is a hell of a lot to be said.  And it is not being said.  There is a race war - and yet the media attempts to find an incident of a black congressman being called a nigger (they never could, but the effort they devoted to it was herculean).  That is the problem Bahu - you know so little on the issues of Darfur because of the incompetence and malfeasance of the media!

No it is not.  And how do we know it?  Not because of the incompetent and criminally corrupt media.  But because of the openness of the Israelis in allowing us to see what is happening DESPITE what is being reported by the media.

Let me add that another reason is because they are two sides of the same coin.

Gaza is allied with the Sudanese regime.

Darfurians flee to Israel and the Darfurian diaspora has asked Jewish communities for help.

Dafur is an excellent example for what Arab regimes do when nobody stops them. And this is why Israel cannot allow an Arab regime like Hamas to become more powerful.

"The Three Terrors"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK5mW8PqsaA

HA!  Leauki, I got to know Caroline Glick's son pretty well when I was living over there.  TShe helped make it.  They actually live across the pond near you.

Opps, different Glick.  This video was made by the American not the British.

They got good voices!

About 70 yachts from various countries arrived Friday at the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon as part of a peace sail organized by a Turkish national.

The 2010 Emir sail originated in Istanbul and passed through northern Cyprus, Syria, and Lebanon before heading to Israel.

The sail's objective is to promote peace and regional cooperation in the field of maritime tourism. Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaaknin welcomed the flotilla and said it constituted a response to previous terror sails.

...

The initiative is headed by Hasan Kacmaz, a Turkish national who refers to Ashkelon as his "second home," saying the city's municipal leaders are his "best friends."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3907219,00.html