 |
|
Add to My Group
|
December 30, 2008 at 23:49:25
Promoted to Headline (H2) on 12/31/08: by Justin Finney Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
|
 
|
Since Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip from the air with US supplied F-16s and Apache attack helicopters began this past Saturday, the narrative from mainstream media has been consistent: a six-month cease-fire brokered by Egypt over the summer ended when Hamas resumed rocket attacks on Israel’s southern border. Israel, in response, launched air strikes while preparing for a possible ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in order to protect its citizens and force Hamas to accept new terms for another cease-fire. Ostensibly, the logic proffered by pundits and officials is that anyone can understand the need of a government to protect its people from rocket attacks. “I would ask any decent human being to put himself in the position of those Israelis who with kids are wetting their beds and ask themselves, what would I do? What would I expect my government to do,” opined the Israel ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor on the PBS News Hour. But as is often the case, the mainstream pundits and supporters of the Israeli occupation have it wrong, for more than one reason. First, let’s get some facts straight. Hamas has indeed been launching increasing rocket attacks into southern Israeli towns along the border since early November of this year, after “Israeli forces entered Gaza to destroy a tunnel that could have been (my italics) used in a cross-border raid,” cites an AP article published in the Voice of San Diego. “Under the truce,” the article continues, “Gaza militants were to halt rocket fire on Israeli border communities. Israel was to end raids on Gaza and allow more goods and people through its border crossings, sealed after Hamas overran the territory in June 2007.” This clearly illustrates that Israel was the first side to break the cease-fire truce when it broke its promise of halting cross-border raids into Gaza. Furthermore, the Israeli raid also resulted in Palestinian casualties and abductions: “very interestingly enough, last week, as people here were celebrating the election victory of Barack Obama,” said Diana Buttu, a Canadian lawyer and former employee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, interviewed on Democracy Now, “Israel used that opportunity to go into the Gaza Strip and kill six Palestinians and kidnap another six Palestinians. And since that time, the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire has actually come to a halt.” So, there you have it. The first part of the mainstream narrative that Israel is only responding to rocket attacks that began when Hamas broke the cease-fire is false. But let’s address the rocket attacks themselves.
“Our next-door neighbors are attacking our children day in and day out,” said the Israeli ambassador in the same interview, “and we have to make every effort to damage their ability to attack us.” This effort to protect the children of Israel has meant a major bombing campaign over the entire airspace of the Gaza Strip, not just the locale from where the rockets were being fired from into Israel. Over 345 people have been killed and 1,600 wounded in Gaza at the time of this writing, December 30, 2008. Sixty-one of those killed include women and children. By comparison, 3 Isrealis have been killed by Hamas rocket fire over the last several days
As in the Israeli invasion into Lebanon in the summer of 2006, started when Hezbollah launched attacks on Israeli military targets and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in an attempt to offer a swap for four kidnapped Hezbollah fighters, the Israeli response then as now was overpowering and disproportionate. According to an Amnesty International report on the Israel-Lebanon War in 2006, the Lebanese government estimated that, “31 ‘vital points’ such as airports, ports, water and sewage treatment plants, and electrical facilities” had been destroyed, as had “around 80 bridges and 94 roads, more than 25 fuel stations and around 900 commercial enterprises.” The report also said that “the number of residential properties, offices and shops completely destroyed exceeds 30,000.Two government hospitals – in Bint Jbeil and in Meis al-Jebel – were completely destroyed.”
In Gaza, so far, a university has been hit as well as civilian homes. Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich summed up recently the issue of the Gaza crisis and “proportionality” like this in a letter to UN president Ban Ki-moon: “The attacks on civilians represent collective punishment, which is a violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The perpetrators of attacks against Israel must also be brought to justice, but Israel cannot create a war against an entire people in order to attempt to bring to justice the few who are responsible.” As Professor Noam Chomsky pointed out once in a lecture I’d attended, it’d be a bit like if Britain had dropped bombs on Boston, Massachusetts in response to IRA bombings in London (IRA funding support had come from Boston.) Simply put, Israel is hitting civilians to punish Hamas.
In truth, the Israeli invasion into Gaza has been precipitated by back-and-forth skirmishes between Hamas and Israel since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 from its rival Fatah, the US supported Palestinian government which controls the West Bank territory. It’s also pertinent to remember that this latest round of conflict in Israel/Palestine started when Hamas won regional elections back in 2006; elections the US had pushed for, and which the Bush administration immediately rejected.
The Palestinian people learned soon after that the only chance for Palestinian democracy was contingent on the approval of the US and Israel when both countries promptly refused to recognize the Hamas government. According to a recent report in the london Guardian, “As soon as the Hamas-dominated parliament was sworn in, Israel froze contacts with what it called the "terrorist" Palestinian Authority and blocked the transfer of tax and customs receipts, worth about $50m a month.”
Even with the economic blockade, Hamas' political leader Khaled Meshal had intimated Hamas was more or less willing to recognize Israel in exchange for Israel withdrawing all its settlements from the West Bank, viewed as illegal by the UN and European Union. “We have offered a truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders,” Meshal said, “a truce of 10 years as a proof of recognition."
In response, Israel waved off the gesture, and continued to refuse interaction with Hamas. Former President Jimmy Carter’s visit in April to Syria to meet with Hamas leaders also failed to soften the US or Israel’s position. “I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and disagree with his decision to meet with Hamas," then presidential candidate Barack Obama said. "We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel's destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by past agreements." Ironically, Obama never demanded the same standard for Israel. It could continue illegally occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Recognizing Palestine as a state is something Israel is never asked to do.
And in the end, that is the saddest part of this whole story. The incoming administration has all but endorsed Israel’s illegal invasion of Gaza. The claim by David Axelrod, top advisor to Barack Obama, that there is “only one president at a time” is sure convenient. When it’s come to discussing the US economy or Afghanistan, the “good war,” there hasn’t been any hesitation to comment by the Obama team.
By and large, the US position on Israel and its actions (however illegal) with its neighbors is universal: unyielding support. Promises of change on the horizon appear to not amount to much in US Mid-East policy. Innocent civilians on both sides, though primarily the Palestinian side, are ensured to more of the same—a fatal proposition for the Gazans who are now under siege from the border blockade and bombings. “I think that Israel crossed any line of humanity or morality or even legality. And I think what Israel is doing right now there is horrible and has no justification,” said Gideon Levy, reporter for the Isreali newspaper Ha’ aretz. Words of truth that will likely fall on deaf ears.
Justin Finney is an assistant teacher in a Montessori school and a journalism student. When not mulling over the serious political and ecological conumdrums of the day,he jogs and meditates-but not nearly (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
 Contact Author |
Contact Editor |
 View Authors' Articles |
|
|
|
|
| 10 comments |
|
Tell me lies, sweet little lies
Be rest assured that the insidious mechanisms that control what we as Americans are allowed to know, what perspective we are to adopt and what we are to believe are working overtime - yet again. Within the vast machinery of control, there is no more important element than the manufacture and control of public opinion. And we are being managed much like the ants in the ant farm. The stakes could not be higher. by Michael McCoy (7 articles, 1 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 487 comments [26 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 6:09:08 AM  (0+)
|
|
I don't care what the others say.........
but your analysis of the Palistinian/Israeli conflict is dead on target.........Your next post will be "What you need to know about taking Israeli Soldier Hostages".....that could happen within the next few days......... Personally, I am waiting for this to happen.........those Israeli soldier kidnappings seem to get heads-up attention from the Warmonger Leaders.......I would say about 10 or more kidnappings should get a cease fire deal whether Bushco/Bama liked it or not......... by Ernest (0 articles, 8 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 221 comments [40 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 6:15:38 AM (0+)
|
|
the law of karma
The once oppressed have become oppressors. ALL suffer from the insane cycle of violence. In 2005 I wrote in KEEP HOPE ALIVE: From Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi, September 6, 2005’s Palestinian National Initiative report regarding the aftermath of the “disengagement,” and the bottom line was more settlers, more walls, and more corruption in the PA. He stated that ‘Ninety percent of security violations in Palestine are committed by security forces and intelligence. These forces must be disciplined; the rule of law and an independent judiciary must be installed. [And] it is estimated that 30 percent of the 160,000 salaried government employees do not attend work of any kind. This kind of corruption and nepotism must be ended.’ This is no withdrawal, this is BS! Until Palestinians have control of Gaza’s borders and a guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank, it is not a withdrawal; it’s just BS propaganda! And Gaza is less than 6 percent of the occupied territories, and that leaves 94 percent of Palestinian territories under the boot of the IDF. The corruption in the PA government and hot tempers from those under occupation are a powder keg that’s getting ready to blow! What’s it going to take to wake the world up to the fact that most of our problems with radical Islamist fundamentalist militants leads us back to the conflict in Israel and Palestine? All roads do indeed lead to Jerusalem. What’s it going to take before the International community gets it together and insists, in unity, upon the upholding of international law as the rule we all live by? And that includes Israel and America, too, for both ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I wonder, what’s the point of signing on, but then not doing it? In 2006, Vanunu sent this minute message to Hillary Clinton and USA Christians regarding the real wailing wall; The Apartheid Wall: by Eileen Fleming (172 articles, 101 quicklinks, 274 diaries, 650 comments [16 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 9:52:58 AM (0+)
|
|
What you need is a true understanding of the Arabs
The majority of the Arabs are the people do like wars always. They are not looking for peace because of the Islamic teaching and the culture they are brought up. They are making the World unstable because of their terrorist ideologies. The Arabs used to have only Saudi Arabia and part of the Yemen’s land. They are in positions of the land from Morocco to Iraq what else they want. The Arab and Jewish people’s problem can be solved based on truth about the past. When the Arab Imperialists are going to acknowledge the truth? By admitting the crime they did commit against the humanity in the past. The Jewish people are in title of more land than what they have now because they are the original people from the region. The Arab took the land of western Persian Gulf, Iraq, and half of Syria from our Iranian people just like few years ago Saddam Hussein took part of Kirkuk, Mousel, Daylia from our Kurdish in this modern ages. Now Noori Maliki the Iraqi PM want the land because he is clamming that the land belongs to his father from Basra/Iraq. When they are going to think about peace and stop the war of land in the region. by Jaff Sassani (19 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 138 comments) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 12:39:59 PM (0+)
|
|
Reply: Racist motives?
Your depiction of the majority of Arabs is false. I hope that you, as a nationalist Persian, are not trying to score some historical grudge points against Arabs. I am not an Arab, neither I am found of them. But, your comment is overly exaggerated. Just look at the numbers people killed by those "peaceful Christians" and "poor Jews" in the last century. The numbers do not lie, but racists, religious fanatics, jingoists, and people with no sense of justice to lie. Peace, by Edip Yuksel (17 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 90 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 3:33:51 PM (0+)
|
|
Reply: What You Say Of Arabs,,,
...could be said of any territory steeped in judeo-christian ethics. If we countenance against muslims because they are breeding like rats in a cage, we need to look at how often the people of muslim faith have had their basic human rights denied by those of other JC faiths. The problem is religion, as John Lennon once wrote. Specifically, it is the religious bureaucracy that builds up around around the spiritual beliefs of a people of a particular faith. Bureaucracies are like any life form and will fight like hell to exist and to multiply. If a person wants to practice a particular faith as a spiritual practice, that should be okay. What is NEVER okay is when a number of like-minded ideologues who practice a particular faith come together to "materially organize" what should be kept outside of human form. Practice your faith in the privacy of your own home and among your like-minded friends in their homes. Don't turn spirituality and its pursuit into a business or it will become like a nuclear bomb that is just waiting to be triggered. by Richard Volaar (39 articles, 0 quicklinks, 150 diaries, 477 comments [63 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 4:24:06 PM (0+)
|
|
Reply: Dead Wrong
The Caananites were not Jews. by Sharon Roach (15 articles, 0 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 184 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 6:24:31 PM (0+)
|
|
What will it take?
Israeli attacks are illegal, but it’s legal to continually amass arms with the intent of invading and conquering Israel? Israel saw Hezbollah then Hamas do this and they are smart enough to know that if they don’t act before their enemies get too militarily powerful, Armageddon is coming. The US had long used this approach and is doing so now. Call it illegal war or whatever -- it’s preemptive self-preservation. It’s all incredibly sad, but that’s how humans act to preserve their lives. Israel will not allow another Holocaust. by Davaru (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 45 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 2:10:06 PM (0+)
|
|
Palestinian issue-polarizing and bad for all ordinary people
I once had a friend and co-worker who was a Palestinian. I asked him why it was that everyone seemed to be so radical over there. He explained that it was impossible for a Palestinian to be neutral. He himself did not want to be caught up in what was going on. His parents were still angry that they had their house taken from them and it was now occupied by an Israeli family, but he was going to university and would immigrate and he wasn't going to get caught up in the local politics. He was a rather secularized Muslim and didn't really like most of the Muslim clerics. However, he was continually being grabbed by Israeli soldiers and any time they caught a young man his age walking down the street they would hit them in the knees and on the shins with their batons and laugh at them.....just like that was the natural thing to do. After several such encounters, he decided it was impossible to be neutral. He didn't get involved in any type of militant activity but he supported organizations that did. He said it was very frustrating explaining things to people in the US because they never heard how things really are over there. I don't think most of us in this country have any idea of how dismal the lives of most Palistinians are. I recently read a novel called MARTYRS' CROSSING by Amy Wilentz. It was an interesting story that told how the situation over there has not only victimized the Palestinians but also in more subtle ways the Israeli's as well. I'd give it 4 stars for entertainment and for enlightment of the Palestianian question. I think it would be good reading for anyone who would like to get an idea of how ordinary citizens are affected by the Palestinian question. by vidiot (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 300 comments [10 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 3:12:41 PM (0+)
|
|
Reply: PS
To get a free newsletter that keeps readers informed of events occurring in Palestine and Gaza request a free subscription at: gloria_delaplain@yahoo.com by vidiot (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 300 comments [10 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 at 3:27:07 PM (0+)
|
Want to post your own comment on this Article? 
|
||||
|
||||||||||||||
Must Read (0) 
Well Said (0) 
News (0) 
Touching (0) 
Funny (0) 
Supported (0) 
Interesting (0) 
Inspiring (0) 
Valuable (0)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tell a Friend:
|
Copyright © 2002-2009, OpEdNews |
