Clueless in Gaza

Just a few observations from Robert Fisk's appearance on Radio National this morning.

Firstly, to his credit, Fisk was unambiguous in describing Palestinian gloating over the severe illness of Ariel Sharon as a sign of the "immaturity of the Palestinian people". Can't say fairer than that.

On the other hand, Fisk answered a question I was asking myself only last night: if the Palestinians are ready for their own state, why are they making such a hash of things in the clean slate of Gaza? Simple, according to Robert: Gaza is a "rubbish dump" that no-one could seriously be expected to build a working community on. That's funny, no-one seemed to think it was a rubbish dump when the Israelis lived there.

Secondly, am I just being cynical, or did Robert show a trace of bias when describing the Israeli Labor party and its prospects as a possible government of Israel?

"We non-Israeli Westerners have always placed our faith in the Labor Party..."

Thirdly, and I'll admit this is close to hair-splitting, but Robert was emphatic in describing the assassin of Yitzhak Rabin as an "Israeli terrorist". Is this kind of assassination terrorism? Maybe. Was Lee Harvey Oswald a "terrorist"? I'm only splitting these hairs because I have a hunch that Robert would not be so quick to describe suicide bombers as terrorists, and he seems to get a distinct buzz out of being able to use the words "Israeli" and "terrorist" together like that.

In signing off, Radio National host Stephen Crittenden was typically muted in his thanks:

"As always, BRILLIANT to talk to you..."