A lot of reading material here-- if you don't read but one, I'd recommend the Fisk article, "Leaders lie, ..."And before we all go the “it’s all Hamas’ fault" route, let us remember how Hamas came to be and how it became such a force to be reckoned with…Israel supported the radical Hamas over Fatah a few decades ago in order to counter Palestinian nationalism. Even if you can’t see the future in order to see that your reaction to the monster you created will produce a (worse) humanitarian crisis (than your occupation) and unbelievable death toll and rocket attacks on your soil, this seems in direct opposition to any peace agreement that could possibly ever be reached. Instead of supporting radicals in order to suppress nationalism which is totally absurd anyway, they should have gone ahead with a just one or two state solution. Then, we’d be hearing about Palestinian politicians telling lies and making promises they can’t keep along with the rest of the world’s politicians instead of such horrible bloodshed. They didn't want a Palestinian neighbor (i.e. a peace agreement), so I guess the current situation is the alternative. I wonder if they would want a do over. Sadly, probably not. They much prefer an "excuse" of sorts to kill Palestinians, apparently. Like I said before, this isn't about peace or Hamas or rockets even. This is about Israel wiping out as many Palestinians as possible so they can have the land they still think God gave to them and only them.http://www.amconmag.com/article/2007/feb/12/00017/Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need To Knowhttp://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn07212006.htmlIsrael’s Hamashttp://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=SZA20060127&articleId=1817Hamas, Son of Israelhttp://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8449Hamas history tied to Israelhttp://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10456.htmhttp://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-leaders-lie-civilians-die-and-lessons-of-history-are-ignored-1215045.htmlFrom “Robert Fisk: Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored” :We hear the usual Israeli line. General Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the Israeli army's "research and assessment division" announced that "no country in the world would allow its citizens to be made the target of rocket attacks without taking vigorous steps to defend them". Quite so. But when the IRA were firing mortars over the border into Northern Ireland, when their guerrillas were crossing from the Republic to attack police stations and Protestants, did Britain unleash the RAF on the Irish Republic? Did the RAF bomb churches and tankers and police stations and zap 300 civilians to teach the Irish a lesson? No, it did not. Because the world would have seen it as criminal behaviour. We didn't want to lower ourselves to the IRA's level.
On the situation in general:Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will askhttp://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html
Israelis 'shot at fleeing Gazans'http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7828536.stm"An initial inquiry into the allegation raised by B'tselem has concluded that the claims are without foundation.
"The IDF goes to great lengths to avoid harming Palestinians uninvolved in combat and reiterates that it is Hamas that chooses to launch its attacks against Israeli towns from within civilian areas."
Of course the initial “inquiry” concluded the claims are without foundation! “Inquiries” probably involve asking the soldiers involved what happened, if it is that in-depth at all!The IDF/IOF obviously DOES NOT go to any lengths to avoid harming Palestinians. One could probably make a much better case that it tries to harm them, but in a way that won’t raise too much suspicion. Well, even if Israel ordered all Palestinians to gas chambers, I’m sure our government and Israel’s supporters would find a way to justify that as well. The rockets... How would you like it if...Even if Hamas is firing from civilian areas, Israel still has a responsibility to respect innocent human life. It uses the “Hamas is using civilians as human shields” or "Hamas is 'hiding' in civilian areas” to justify its own targeting of civilians. And the fact that Hamas is in civilian areas isn’t odd- they are civilians, a militia, a product of Israel.
When people here talk about Israel's actions, it's always in (a) "context", always a response, always self-defense from an existential threat (??), the victims are named and sympathy expressed openly, their "struggle" is likened to the hypothetical (and unrelated) situation of Mexico or Canada lobbing rockets over our border (ridiculous in part because we aren't occupying them, bulldozing their homes, colonizing their land illegally through settlements, raiding, assassinating political leaders, arresting 100s of their people a day, bombing their apartments, schools, power stations). The disproportionate response is justified by the fact the Hamas "uses civilians as human shields" (an unsubstantiated claim in the Lebanon invasion a few years ago) and the argument that one rocket for one rocket won't end the attacks. When we talk proportion, one rocket for one rocket is not what we're talking about (aside from the fact that context is again abandoned, the occupation and its crimes ignored)- what I mean when I say that is force should be proportionate to the threat. Dropping a bomb from an F-16 on an apartment block to "target" one suspect you think is in there is disproportionate and shows a disregard for human life and international law. When casualties are as lopsided in this recent conflict as they are in the greater conflict, you have to conclude the threat was never as great as was stated and deaths could have been prevented and achieved the same goal. Unless of course the goal is to terrorize the civilians, cause further "land vacancies" by death and evacuation, rather than stop rocket attacks.When people talk about Palestinian rocket attacks, it is without any context whatsoever as though Israel generously "pulled out of Gaza and gets rockets in return". Palestinian resistance to occupation and struggle for independence and self-determination is never mentioned, though the denial of these things is a root cause of violence. Israel's infamous pull out was stated to be "political formaldehyde" by a top official, yet it has been often cited recently as a concession for peace they should be grateful for. The pull out is cited, yet Israel still controls airspace, borders, and sea which is essentially the definition of occupation. Really, they just wanted to dump the obligations involved in Occupation, which it never lived up to anyway.People ask all the time now, would we tolerate rockets being fired on us, but NEVER ask, would we tolerate even one element of the brutal, and at times illegal, occupation??? I mean, for example, what if someone set up a trailer in your backyard, burned your house down (with or without your family inside) and moved their family in? You and some friends retaliate, your neighborhood gets flattened, and the blame is on you because after all, you started it. Never mind that you threw a rock and tanks "responded". Proportionality doesn't matter. Context doesn't matter. Palestinians don't matter. The only thing that matters are Israeli demands. After all, if you voice concern over Israel's actions, you might lose an election-- and that would be the real tragedy.Why Do So Few Speak Up For Gaza?http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/why-do-so-few-speak-up-fo_b_155814.htmlSlouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust By Richard Falk
