Believe it or not but NORWAC doctor Mads Gilbert has seized air superiority for Palestine. He is currently hovering over Oslo, the capital of Norway, in a hot air balloon embossed with the words: “Palestine embassy”. From what NIJ understands, prominent Norwegians politicians and culture-types and their Palestinian equivalents are to hold talks in the hot air balloon.
See pictures and read article in Dagbladet.
Now imagine that a Norwegian journalist goes to Washington DC. She checks into her hotel, goes to her room, pops her blond head out of the window and looking up, sees a hot air balloon hovering in the sky above her. The balloon, she notices, says “Israel embassy”. Now, chances are that this Norwegian journalist will see this hot air balloon as an indication of the power and influcence of the Israel lobby in the USA. More likely than not she would come home to Norway with a copy of Stephen Walt’s “Israel lobby” in her handbag. As it happens Stephen Walt is not only endorsed by Osama Bin Laden, but is scheduled to speak at NTNU’s Israel-seminars next month.
Yet when the Norwegian Palestine-lobby floats a hot air balloon saying “Palestine Embassy” over Oslo, this is an artistic project by Norwegian artists Camilla Martens and Toril Goksøyr. There is no talk of any Palestine-lobby. Nobody even seems to be willing to consider whether there might be one.
Look up. No, it’s not a plane or a bird or a Superman or the Palestine-lobby. It’s Mads Gilbert, bringing justice to mankind.
The first two polticians to hold airborne talks in the hot air balloon are Morten Høglund (Progress Party) and Palestinian poltician Mustafa Barghouti.
