'Obama, don't bring your smartphone to Ramallah'

'Palestinian activists' are seething over posters that have gone up in Ramallah calling on President Obama not to bring his smartphone to the 'Palestinian capital.' The posters are protesting the fact that there is no 3G mobile access in Ramallah. The 'activists' argue that the 'Palestinians' have different priorities.

It was not clear on Sunday who was responsible for the posters. Some Palestinians said they did not rule out the possibility that the two local mobile phone companies, Jawwal and Wataniyeh, were behind the signs for purely commercial purposes.

Other Palestinians said the campaign to highlight the absence of 3G Internet had been initiated by local youth groups.

But what is clear so far is that the posters have managed to anger a large number of Palestinians.

“The Palestinian cause is much bigger than the issue of 3G,” said Ali Khader, a 30-yearold Fatah activist from Bir Zeit, near Ramallah. “This is a very silly idea that does not help the Palestinians.”

University student Maha al- Masri denounced the posters as an “insult to the Palestinian cause.”

The 22-year-old student said it would have been better had the Palestinians used the posters to depict the “suffering of our people and the plight of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.”

The 3G signs, she said, “create the false impression that everything is fine in the West Bank and that the only problem facing the Palestinians these days is the lack of 3G.

Actually, at least some 'Palestinians' believe that everything is fine in Judea and Samaria (the 'West Bank'). Take, for instance, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen, who told the Washington Post's Jackson Diehl:

"I will wait for Hamas to accept international commitments. I will wait for Israel to freeze settlements," he said. "Until then, in the West Bank we have a good reality . . . the people are living a normal life."

Maybe things aren't so bad for the 'Palestinians' after all.... Heh.