Two boats that set out for Gaza from Cyprus in order to bring humanitarian provisions to Palestinians have arrived safely, notwithstanding fears of the Israeli blockade. Here is one of the passenger's accounts, in the Detroit Free Press. Huwaida Arraf of the International Solidarity Movement is a Michigan woman who is triumphant over the voyage. The Free Press should be congratulated for running the piece, but I wonder why it had to supply so much parenthetical context to Arraf's writing:
note: Corrie, also of the International Solidarity Movement, was run
over by a bulldozer operated by Israeli Defense Forces during a protest
against the destruction of Palestinian homes; an Israeli military
investigation ruled the death accidental) and Brit Tom Hurndall (an
ISM representative who died nine months after being was shot in the
head in Gaza by an IDF sniper; the sniper was convicted of manslaughter) as well as thousands of unarmed Palestinian civilians over the years.
The Free Press obviously felt embarrassed by Arraf's references, in the second paragraph, to the fate of these other international volunteers. The material the Free Press provides about Corrie is unfair, siding with the Israeli occupiers in a disgraceful and ugly case. I find Arraf's writing somewhat propagandistic myself. But after all, this is an Op-Ed. Would The Free Press do this with the dispatch of a human-rights advocate working in China? No. The interpolations surely reflect the pressure that editors get when they run such pieces…
Isn't she the broad with the bug eyes
No, she's the highly intelligent, attractive and articulate young woman with large soulful eyes.