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Opinion

Bottom feeding with the Palestinians

Mt Wynne-Peters Hope.
Mt Wynne-Peters Hope.
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By C. ben-David

For those unaware of the meaning of the term “bottom feeding,” when applied to humans it is a metaphor for behaving like a fish or other animal at the bottom of the food chain that is forced to scavenge for scraps at the bed of a body of water. Metaphorically, a bottom feeder is a person or group surviving off whatever unsavory or leftover items are available.

This is part of my take on the visit to St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) during the week beginning Dec. 3, 2017 of a “Palestinian” delegation headed by the chairman of the JMI Group, Jihad Mohammed, who together with other investors and Palestinian authorities, is said to be “involved in an important Tourism project at Mt. Wynne.”
What this “important Tourism project at Mt. Wynne” involves is anyone’s guess. Is it partnership with the Pace Developments Inc. Black Sands Resort and Villas project or is some totally new enterprise? And is there any truth to the persistent rumour that members of the delegation were offered Vincentian passports in exchange for these announcements (and in exchange for worthless “Palestinian” documents) made on a visit solicited by the Prime Minister, the Honourable Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves?

Also, what is the current status of the Black Sands enterprise, apart from the regrowth of bush that was cleared in March?

The bottom feeder analogy refers not just to our habitual tendency to suck up the dregs when it comes to mainland development projects (for example, the failed Ottley Hall shipyard and marina, the bankrupt Buccament Bay Resort, and the Black Sands project which is in the hands of virtually unknown investors with no Caribbean experience), or that we have never have more than meet-and-greet promotion stunts with renowned hoteliers like the owners of Sandals and Karisma Resorts, but because this latest announcement ironically involves the increasingly isolated and chronically penniless non-state called Palestine.

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By ironical, I mean Palestine — a bottom-feeding place if there ever was one — now largely squatted on by people who only began calling themselves “Palestinians” in recent decades (https://www.iwnsvg.com/2014/08/18/palestine-and-the-palestinians-myths-and-realities/ ) — who Donald Trump just pushed under the bus happily ending their greedy attempt to gain statehood while their even more greedy Arab brethren refuse to share any of their 99 per cent of the Middle East and North Africa — is now our best friend.

Palestine, a name given to the region by the Ancient Greeks and Romans, whose Moslem Arab inhabitants only recently manufactured a non-tribal, non-clan national identity as “Palestinians,” is far poorer (with one-sixth of our per capita GDP) and far more corrupt than our little slice of paradise. These are our new benefactors.

No irony there but lots of hypocrisy: while we post-Columbian descendants of immigrants are the inheritors of the British ethnic cleansing of the founding Kalinago people, our official support of the “Palestinians” is a repudiation of the intrinsic rights of the founding people of the Promised Land who have a Biblical title dead (Genesis 15:18-21; Numbers 34:1-12), a wealth of archaeological support, and the reaffirmation of over 3,000 years of history by the United Nations in 1948, all sanctioning the right of the legitimate descendants of Abraham (i.e., through his legal wife, Sarah) to declare Jerusalem as the one and only capital of the Jewish homeland.

Hypocrisy joins fantasy in the promise of 10,000 new jobs over the next three to five years via JMI Group investments, a windfall surely rooted in the construction of an international airport at Argyle. Those who would argue that such investment is going to be made by JMI, not by the impoverished “Palestinian” Authority, should visit the company’s web site (http://www.jihadmohammad.com ) where they will discover that most of the projects listed, none of them outside the Middle East, are in the earliest stages of conception.

JMI golf course project
A drawing of a proposed JMI golf course project in the United Arab Emirates.

Equally preposterous is the claim of our “Palestinian” guests that its intended investments are because, “SVG supported the just cause of the Palestinian people over the years.” This would mean that a few symbolically meaningless votes of support at the United Nations, a body where 136 of 193 member states (71 per cent) currently support Statehood for Palestine, is sufficient to guarantee the investment of tens of millions of dollars in unknown projects in just one of these 136 states. How credible is that?

Still, there is a thinly veiled reality behind the JMI Group visit. It is called electoral vote fishing, a potentially risky and notably cynical endeavour which generally seems to fool enough bottom-feeding gullible voters, even in countries far more enlightened than ours, to assure political victory based on the improbable dream of a big catch. In our own case, add to this the hearing of the 2015 election petitions less than a week after the JMI announcements, and the true purpose and reality of the unexpected arrival of our “Palestinian” comrades become perfectly clear — a ballot box insurance policy in case the petitions (a fishing expedition in its own right, according to its detractors) are successful.

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This is the 67th in a series of essays on the AIA folly. My other AIA essays are listed below:

  1. Get ready for a November election!
  2. Lessons for Argyle Airport from Canada’s Montreal–Mirabel Int’l
  3. Lessons for Argyle Int’l Airport from the cruise industry
  4. Lessons from Target Canada for Argyle Int’l Airport
  5. Lessons from Trinidad & Tobago for Argyle Int’l Airport
  6. The Dark Side of Tourism: Lessons for Argyle Airport
  7. Why Argyle Won’t Fly: Lessons from Dominica
  8. Ken Boyea and the Phantom City at Arnos Vale
  9. Airport Envy Vincy-Style
  10. Fully realising our country’s tourism potential
  11. Airport without a cause
  12. The unnatural place for an international airport
  13. The Potemkin Folly at Argyle
  14. False patriotism and deceitful promises at Argyle
  15. Airport politics and betrayal Vincy-Style
  16. Phony airport completion election promises, Vincy-style
  17. Is Argyle Airport really a ‘huge game-changer for us?’
  18. Has the cat got your tongue, Prime Minister?
  19. More proof that Argyle won’t fly
  20. Our very own Vincentian cargo cult at Argyle
  21. The missing Argyle Airport feasibility studies
  22. The world’s four most amazing abandoned airports
  23. Farming, fishing, and foolish talk about Argyle International Airport
  24. Argyle Airport amateur hour
  25. Vincent’s place in the world of travel
  26. Investing in St. Vincent’s Tourism Industry
  27. The Argyle Airport prophecy: what the numbers say
  28. Why Qatar? Why St. Vincent and the Grenadines?
  29. Did the IMF drink the Comrade’s Kool-Aid?
  30. Foolish words about Argyle International Airport
  31. ‘If I come, you will build it’: Lessons from the Maldives for Argyle Airport
  32. Urban lessons for Argyle International Airport
  33. Who really lands at Arnos Vale?
  34. No ticky, No washy — Argyle-Style
  35. We have met the Vincentian tourism enemy and he is us
  36. Hotel Saint Vincent
  37. Why St. Vincent Island has so few tourists 
  38. Why Bequia is a gem of the Antilles
  39. Why seeing is believing in the Caribbean tourism industry
  40. St. Vincent’s cruise ship numbers are much lower than we think
  41. Lessons from Barbados for Argyle Airport
  42. Cuba’s tourism rollercoaster: Lessons for Argyle Airport
  43. What the world teaches Black Sands Resort and Villas
  44. Not all Argyle Airport critics are ‘internet crazies’
  45. The media’s take on the opening of Argyle Airport
  46. Why Roraima Airways? Lessons for Argyle Airport
  47. Our Argyle International Airport ‘veritable miracle’
  48. From ‘poppy show’ to campaign rally: The Argyle Airport opening
  49. St. Vincent’s 2016 tourism numbers are nothing to brag about
  50. Going forward or marching in place? Lessons for Argyle airport
  51. The Visible Hand of Adam Smith at Argyle International Airport
  52. St. Vincent Island doesn’t need any more hotel rooms
  53. Lessons from St Lucia and Grenada for AIA
  54. Is Air Canada also a ‘huge game-changer’ for AIA?
  55. St. Vincent’s mainland tourist attractions
  56. How St. Vincent’s tourist attractions stack up lessons for AIA
  57. Lessons from Guyana for AIA
  58. The world’s best tourist islands: Lessons for AIA
  59. Explaining Argyle airport on St. Vincent Island 
  60. Explaining Argyle airport: A clash of axioms
  61. Questions and answers about the Argyle airport puzzle
  62. More questions and answers about the Argyle airport puzzle
  63. Explaining Argyle Airport: Concluding remarks
  64. A ‘loaded question’ logical fallacy: Argyle Airport’s legacy
  65. Argyle airport’s opportunity cost
  66. What cruise companies are telling us about our tourist industry

The views expressed herein are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the opinions or editorial position of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected]

The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].

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17 replies on “Bottom feeding with the Palestinians”

  1. Lostpet says:

    Although I agree with much of what you write, you seem to know nothing about history. The truth is that there has never been a country IN THAT LOCATION called Israel. THERE USED TO BE A COUNTRY CALLED PALESTINE until the Zionist Jews made a deal with the Colonial British Government to begin the process of stealing the country, kicking out its’ people and creating the modern ILLEGAL NATION, today called Israel, which has nothing to do with the ancient biblical Israel. Even the early modern Israelis called it Palestine. You can even find coins and postage stamps with the word Palestine on them.
    You really need to cast-off the indoctrination you have accepted as fact and instead find the real truth and as Jesus said:
    “Beware of the teachings of the Pharisees.”
    But yes, you are right that SVG is unfortunately a “bottom-feeding nation”, based on our poor leadership.

    1. Lostpet says:

      I should also add that the Palestinians are willing to share Jeruselem but the Israelis are not, especially not with Christians. THEY WANT IT ALL! They especially want to kick-out the Christians. You say the Arabs are greedy but you do not mention the Jews, who, unfortunately have a reputation for greed. “ben-David”is a Jewish name but I hope that does not mean that you believe in all the fake facts that the modern Israel has been indoctrinating the world with. Have you ever heard of the Sioux Nation? They existed, were united but you will not find a central government, same with the Iroquois and many other former peoples. Germany did not exist until 1870, yet German History is older than white US History.
      The reason why the Palestinians are “behind” is because Israel, the US and other powerful nations want to keep them that way until a time when the Israeli Government can get rid of them with slow genocide and take everything.

      1. C. ben-David says:

        The Palestinians are only willing to drive the Jews in the sea. It it part and parcel of Islam not to share “their” lands with members of any other religion. You are really clueless.

  2. Reader says:

    C Ben you claim to have been a university lecturer but it must have been at Trump University. No institution worth its salt would hire such an uninformed, narrow minded, Bigot. You certainly couldn’t be an Engineering lecturer with such diminished reasoning capacity. If someone wrote their own title deed does that give them ownership of the land? The Jews wrote the book of Genesis so what do you expect them say? There are many other holy books that give a different angle on the issue; We in SVG are taking the side of the King James Bible because that is what the European settlers brought to us; if the Arabs had conquered St Vincent then we would be quoting the Koran and siding with the Palestinians. Donald Trump knew exactly what he was doing because he knew that you evangelical cult in St Vincent would side with him. Here are some statistics; 99% of Vincentians are Christian, 31% of the world are Christians and only 2% if Israel are Christians. Why such a small number? Because the Jews just like the Palestinians don’t believe in Jesus, they have their own messiah; so basically they are saying to your Christian belief is BS, yet you are supporting their claim as some select people with the title deed to the “holiest” place on earth. How these white European occupiers must be laughing at you guys. So one day when the Jews finally settle Israel as Trump is trying to ensure, the Messiahs are going to come to Jerusalem; Jesus for C Ben, Jim Jones, Jimmy Swaggart, Trump etc. and the Jewish messiah for Netanyahu, Ariel Sharon and the other war criminals. Then the fight starts all over again because there is only one messiah. Finally the Argyle airport will be useful to transport C Ben and his Christian brethren to the Jewish holy land to meet on of the messiahs; direct flight for free on El al. I would like to hear from one single soul who said the C Ben taught them in University; oh I know where to look; among the ranks of the unemployed or homeless.

    1. Lostpet says:

      Sorry but the Palestinians do believe in Jesus. over 20% of the Palestinians are Christian. In spite of that the Muslim Prophet, Muhammad is on record as saying that Jesus is the greatest person that ever lived. Do not allow yourself to be indoctrinated by our “Western” Education System.

      In Islam the second holiest human is Jesus!

      1. C. ben-David says:

        Your ignorance speaks volumes. Moslems don’t believe that Jesus was the som of God, they don’t believe that Jesus died on the cross, and they claim that both Christianity and Judaism will be destroyed when Mohammed returns.

  3. Kamal says:

    The racist nonsense that is in this article is incredible. I can only imagine if similar things were said about Vincentians or blacks by a Donal trump type figure and how people would react.

    Trumps statement has come as one of the most disruptive to the Middle East peace process. To be so ignorant that you cannot see that boggles the mind.

    What a waste of an article on IWN

    1. Reader says:

      This is an opinion piece written by another despot. Wonder why C Ben didn’t reply to my comment?
      Hit all the right notes eh? Still want to meet one of your Trump University students.

    2. Lostpet says:

      All that you write about Tourism and the airport are excellent! I see you as a very intelligent person, but your indoctrination into History and Religion is unfortunately very sad.

  5. Rafael Stefania says:

    educate and inform the people. Show them how the world works and show them their place in the world so that they might learn to build a decent society.

  6. Fed Up says:

    LMBVAO at educated Vincentians with bigger fish to fry arguing over Israel, Palestine and Europeans. Folks who can’t let go of the foolish religions that was used in the first place to enslave our ancestors, still arguing whose religion’s history is right in the year 2017. As you were….

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