Gaza, Israel and the US
Lately on this blog we have written about strange road signs, pavements/sidewalks, and ugly misplaced garbage bins etc. All these items are trivial when confronted with what is now going on in Gaza - a massively disproportionate response by Israel to a Palestinian ‘provocation’. Provocation! The Israeli soldier abducted by Palestinians was on active duty! One now begins to wonder why there has been such a deafening silence regarding Israel’s detention of hundreds of Palestinians, among them women and children.
May I also add that this ‘provocation’ comes after decades of injustice, brutality and occupation, which have been unhindered by international and humanitarian laws. The Palestinians too have committed despicable acts in the name of fighting for their freedom. But it is the US that angers me most. As the world’s only superpower they could and should do more to solve this conflict. Bush’s statement that the Palestinian government must ‘stop all acts of violence and terror’ while urging Israel to show restraint is pathetic. If America were an honest broker in helping to solve the Israeli/Palestinian problem they would not now be merely urging Israel to show restraint!
Previous talk by the US of peace between Israel and Palestine through implementation of the Road Map may sound encouraging. But the reality is that the ‘map’ the US is looking at bears no resemblance to the real map on the ground where borders are continually expanding and collective punishment by house demolitions, the building of the wall, arbitrary assassinations, the shelling and killing of civilians etc. continues on a daily basis. It is high time the US starts looking at the real maps of this part of the world and changes its direction before it is completely and hopelessly lost……….z
May I also add that this ‘provocation’ comes after decades of injustice, brutality and occupation, which have been unhindered by international and humanitarian laws. The Palestinians too have committed despicable acts in the name of fighting for their freedom. But it is the US that angers me most. As the world’s only superpower they could and should do more to solve this conflict. Bush’s statement that the Palestinian government must ‘stop all acts of violence and terror’ while urging Israel to show restraint is pathetic. If America were an honest broker in helping to solve the Israeli/Palestinian problem they would not now be merely urging Israel to show restraint!
Previous talk by the US of peace between Israel and Palestine through implementation of the Road Map may sound encouraging. But the reality is that the ‘map’ the US is looking at bears no resemblance to the real map on the ground where borders are continually expanding and collective punishment by house demolitions, the building of the wall, arbitrary assassinations, the shelling and killing of civilians etc. continues on a daily basis. It is high time the US starts looking at the real maps of this part of the world and changes its direction before it is completely and hopelessly lost……….z
posted by joladies at Thursday, June 29, 2006
5 Comments:
but what exactly is the US supposed to do? How do you facilitate meaningful negotiations when the Palistinian side refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist? It seems without accepting the basic premise that the other side can even exist as an end result, there really is no room to negotiate. This nuanced language you complain of seems somewhat trivial in light of Hamas' overarching position. And how do you negotiate the return of territories given examples like Gaza: the Israelis unilateraly withdraw, and then the Palestinians immediately use the territory to launch hundreds and hundreds of rockets into Israel designed to inflict indiscriminate casualties, all with the blessing of the elected government. How does the US then "honestly" broker the return of more land?
Mr. Joachim
The US can start with denying Israel the political immunity it insists of offering it. When Israel perpetrates massacres against the Palestinians and the International Community is about to issue UN resolutions condemning such an aggression, the US is always there to Veto.
The Israelis are still occupying the West Bank and are besieging – now partially occupying - the Gaza Strip, Israel never let go of its “remote-control” control of the borders, when ever it wished, it would order the European Observers out, thus resulting in the complete closure of the only point where Palestinians can exit or enter the Gaza Strip.
When ever Israel suspects someone is a “terrorist”, it assassinates him/her without providing any proof to support its accusations. Hundreds of Palestinians, both civilians and Israeli-labeled “terrorists” have been murdered by the Israeli army, so it seams to me that it’s the mighty Israelis who aren’t recognizing the humanity of the Palestinians.
Why then must the Palestinians recognize Israel?
Actually, if Israel occupied let’s say Rhode Island, and the Rhode Islanders resisted, they – the Israelis - would find a way to make the Rhode Islanders look like terrorists and a super power like China will issue ignorant statements like “Israel has the right to defend itself from Rhode Islandish Terrorism”.
What needs to happen is for the Israelis to withdraw from Palestinian cities, towns and villages, and to stop invading and maiming Palestinians whenever they felt like it.
Regarding the Palestinian “hundreds and hundreds of “rockets” fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip that are “designed to inflict indiscriminate casualties, all with the blessing of the elected government”, I’d like to point out to you something you seem to have either forgotten, overlooked or simply weren’t aware of, and that is the Hamas-announced cease fire that lasted for more than 12 months where they unilaterally chose to abstain from committing any act of aggression against the Israelis. What did Israel do in return to this peaceful offer from Hamas? They continued to target Palestinians left and right, the latest instance of that was the massacre of an entire Palestinian family that was simply having a lovely beach picnic. I’m sure you saw pictures of that poor girl running between the scattered limbs and other body parts of her baby sisters and brothers, not mention her complete collapse upon seeing her father’s corpse lying motionless on the white beach sand. This is a clear instance of Israeli anti-civilian terrorism. Why then must the Palestinians recognize Israel in the first place? Why recognize a country that hasn’t existed since the time of Moses (even then it was a tiny city-state kingdom) especially when it isn’t really the “peace-loving” type.
The main problem with the US is one word: Racism.
Black blood was cheap at the time of slavery (some argue it still is). Americans find the Israelis to be, you know - for Biblical reasons - quite special or in other words “chosen” by their god, and that they should be supported. It’s like how white people allied themselves with whites, and there was this announced and at times unannounced alliance to suppress all non-whites. Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims alike are looked upon by the Americans with a similar racist perception. The US supports Israel for the misconception that it is the US’ “only ally” in the Middle East, which is of course totally untrue, but who reads nowadays? There are actually more Arab friends of America than there are Israelis. The US can’t admit or recognize the rights of any party other than the Israelis, who base their claim to Palestine on a purely theological pretext, now can you tell me how that falls inline with US tradition and what America is all about? I wasn’t aware that the US supported theological states, isn’t Iran a theological state? Isn’t Israel too? Not only is Israel a “Jewish State” but it’s also a major nuclear power, more than 156 nuclear war heads declared in 1957. What about 2006? Isn’t Iran being scrutinized by a US-headed western campaign for attempting to make use of conventional nuclear power? i.e., a simple nuclear power plant.
The problem with the US is that it lost its credibility in the Arab and Muslim world. I personally think that this is irreversible, but for wishful thinking purposes I believe that the first thing it can do is begin to talk, rather than bark orders at the Iranians or the Palestinians. No one likes dogs to bark at them. Since when did people listen to barks in the first place?
The US has lost its ability to conduct diplomacy, don’t mistake Condi Rice’s work as diplomacy, very far away from it, it is pure hegemonic bullying, another sign of the US Administration’s growing arrogance.
One last point. The Palestinians over the past 15 years (since Madrid) were ruled by a peaceful solution promoting leadership, today, it is democratically ruled by a justice promoting leadership. The Palestinians have elected the politicians who have promised to bring them justice, freedom from occupation and dignity. Hamas has promised to deliver on that and the Palestinian people are backing it. Hamas is like Martin Luther King, or even better, Malcolm X, who at the time were both boycotted and harassed by the supremacists and in the case of Mr. X, was assassinated. But at the end of the day, African Americans got most of their rights. So did the Blacks in South Africa.
The Palestinians have made a decision, that there is no Israeli partner for peace, and that the US isn’t a fair peace broker.
Thus the lack of recognition of Israel, and I suspect, regarding the US, the Palestinians don’t even want it as a broker anymore.
The Palestinians have, like a good friend of mine put it, decided to find the solution from within, rather than rely on outsiders who have continuously failed them and lied to them.
The responsible question that one must ask now is: The Israelis have misbehaved for too long. How long can they continue to do so without a major backlash?
Anonymous,
I agree with many of your points. However, don't compare Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Hamas. His style was completely different w/Hamas. Never did he wave weapons into the air and shoot them into the sky on election day. He was against the use of force, which is what made him such a unique leader. I'm not saying that Hamas was wrong to do those things. It's just that you can't compare them to a pacifist like MLK.
True, Martin Luther King wasn't a good example, but I guess Malcolm X was :) The point is, it's not about waving machine guns in the air, I mean, all armies do that, I have videos of American Soldiers in Iraq waving their guns in the air and firing them as a show of force, trust me, Hamas doesn't do it off camera, bullets are expensive.
They're a resistance movement after all, resisting an "armed-to-the-teeth" Israeli occupation army.
To correctly understand what drives America today to such political stances and how this threatens the US itself. I’d like to recommend a book called "American Theocracy" it's by America's premier political analyst... An impressive examination of the axis of religion, politics, and borrowed money. It's available in Jordan from Vital Edition, they are currently selling @ 15% discount off (US Cover Prices) Free Delivery, Check out this link http://www.vital-edition.com/?p=c_upimage.php&idim=73
Post a Comment
<< Home