“Yes, we are funding the occupation,” Swedish minister glibly tells Gaza youth - by Rana Baker, EI When your hosts arrive late to a meeting then leave you in the middle of the discussion, you might accept the reasons they provide and not get irritated. But when they fail to address the points you raise as though you never even raised them, one cannot but find this behavior very disrespectful, if not downright rude.On Monday, together with other young Palestinians, I was invited to attend a meeting with Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden’s Minister of International Development Cooperation and vice chairman of the Moderate Party, a center-right political.We met at a fancy restaurant-cafe overlooking the sea in Gaza City. Although Carlsson was there on time, we could not start before other Swedish officials and at least one journalist joined us about five to ten minutes later. It was difficult to distinguish journalists from officials because pictures were being taken all throughout the meeting.We were all there to discuss what “they,” the European Union, can do for “us,” the youth of Gaza living under Israeli occupation. Although I am convinced of the uselessness and eurocentrism of this kind of discussion, I did not hesitate to accept the invitation because it is always amusing to hear the hypocrisy firsthand.[ed notes:click link for whole article...