Shoes for Hamas.

Edmund Standing’s a thoughtful bloke, but in this particular instance I have to disagree with him.

I liked Muntadhar al-Zaidi improvised human art work, throwing his shoes at George W Bush.

Edmund argues that “Muntadhar al-Zaidi’s ‘protest’ was juvenile and irresponsible and did nothing to further the cause of democracy and stability in Iraq.”

Maybe so, but is that any worse than young students in Britain waving placards, to no effect, outside the Palace of Westminster.

I think shoe throwing is a real improvement on past attitudes, certainly better than suicide bombing and randomly shooting people.

All we have to do is convince the various parties in the Middle East that a bit of shoe throwing is the preferred method of political protest, instead of killing each other.

Imagine how much better things would be, if instead of firing rockets into Israel that Hamas and Islamic Jihad just threw some old shoes?

Hamas wouldn’t have to smuggle in armaments to the Gaza strip, shoes would be better as they could serve a dual role, worn by people and also as a fairly peaceful form of political expression.

Wouldn’t it be good if talking points for Hamas was whether or not to throw a cheap sandal or a Gucci shoe at Israelis, rather than trying to kill them wholesale?

Hamas’s Charter could be improved, less ranting about Jews and more about a bit of friendly show throwing.

There’s a thought?