Palestinian's Borderline Democracy

Friday brought business as usual for the Palestinian Democracy:

Here is the original spin on what happened at Rafah, courtesy of AP and Yahoo

Palestinian police angry over growing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip stormed the Gaza-Egypt border crossing Friday, shutting down the border and forcing European monitors to flee, Palestinian and European officials said.

About 100 policemen entered the Rafah compound and took up positions alongside border patrol officers at the customs section of the crossing, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said.

The European observers — responsible for monitoring the crossing and ensuring the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement are upheld — fled the area, fearing the situation was getting out of control, the officials said.

"Palestinian police angry over growing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip"?

Now the story has been updated, and corrected:

Palestinian policemen angry over the killing of a fellow officer stormed the Gaza-Egypt border crossing Friday, firing shots in the air and forcing European monitors to close the border and flee, Palestinian and European officials said.

About 100 policemen entered the Rafah compound and took up positions alongside border patrol officers at the customs section of the crossing, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said.

The European observers — responsible for monitoring the crossing and ensuring the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement are upheld — fled the area, officials said.

The 'policemen' were only interested in justice--Palestinian style:

The policemen were friends and family of an officer who was killed Thursday in a family feud in Gaza, Palestinian security officials said. They took over the border to prevent members of the two families from leaving Gaza and were demanding the execution of the gunman. They also said no Palestinian officials would be allowed to leave until their demands were met, officials said.

Meanwhile, not everyone has corrected the story. Predictably, BBC still has it wrong:

The police were protesting at what they see as a lack of government support for their policing efforts in Gaza.

...Julio de la Guardia, a spokesman for the EU monitors, said they temporarily withdrew to the Israeli-controlled border crossing at Kerem Shalom after Palestinian police advised them to leave.

Protesting? No mention they wanted the gunman who killed their fellow officer executed. The monitors were 'advised' to leave--Oh, so the Palestinian police were merely channeling Nasser.

To their credit, the latest AP/Yahoo version does have this:

The takeover is the latest in a rash of armed kidnappings and takeovers of government buildings that underscores the lawlessness in Gaza and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' inability to bring order to the coastal area following Israel's withdrawal in September.

Is the media getting tired of Abbas?
If they are, they'll only blame Israel anyway.

Crossposted at Israpundit

Technorati Tag: Palestinians and Rafah.