(UN partition 1947 and today)
Palestine, a victim of world hypocrisy
Many people say that everybody is to blame, that no one is innocent or has the truth. That Israel has the right to defend itself. Maybe, but I believe that Israel is the one to blame for what’s happening in Gaza and in Palestine.
It is well known that it was Israel that triggered the present violence escalade, when last November 4, the Israeli army killed six members of Hamas, violating the truce, ("tahdiyeh"), that it had established with the Islamic movement (through Egyptian mediation) last June. Of course Hamas fell in the trap and started to launch rockets to Israel [it must be said that in the last 7 years some 20 israeli civilians were killed by these rockets].
Israel then intensified the economic blockade of Gaza, closing its borders, not allowing food, medications and fuel to get in, aggravating thus a situation that the World Bank and the UN have long described as catastrophic. In fact the whole economy of Gaza has been collapsing, enterprises being able to survive, there being no imports possible, no energy, a total humiliation, a huge prision.
Israel was happy. It had provoked Hamas’ reaction and could therefore fully justify its present military invasion of the territory. Of course you do not prepare such an operation overnight. According to israeli paper Ha’aretz, the preparation of the military operation had begun six months ago, while Egypt was mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas and when Hamas requested as condition for truce the end of the blockade.
So why, why did Israel want to invade Gaza and make war against the Hamas? For several reasons, probably. The first is that it pays politically when there will be elections in February. But certainly the most important one is to take advantage of the void of power and leadership in the US with Bush leaving (well he was always irrelevant in the matter actually). And send Obama a strong message saying “here, we are in control of the situation, we decide”. Their objective is to leave the situation even more complicated and chaotic than it was before, making it nearly impossible for Obama or anyone to try and do anything. And let’s not forget that the Israeli military and Olmert were eager to make up for their failure in Lebanon in 2006. And last but not least, by attacking Hamas, that contributes to radicalise the movement, and, with a bit of luck, even contribute to creating other even more radical groups, thus having a solid justification for Israel’s policy in the region and to justify their military control of Palestine. Of course this is the strategy of the Military for Israel, the Military having taken the lead and imposed their strategy to the government (if you consider there is one…). And they have won to the (weak) political view. Nowadays, the Military have been able to convince Israel’s population that this is the only way.
Israel’s objective was to stop the rockets which are becoming better and with increased capacity range (Iranian technology), to destroy tunnels from Egypt and all possibilities for the Hamas to replace material and arm themselves. But they also intended to weaken Hamas to make it negotiate according to Israel’s conditions. The objective was to turn the Palestinian population against Hamas for leading them to the present situation and blockade.
Instead, the population still supports Hamas, and the whole thing will only contribute to reinforcing the radicals, creating an army of potential terrorists and suicide bombers (think of all the parents of murdered children). The forces of Hamas in exile have already promised a third Intifada. The results will therefore be very far from what Israel has planned.
What Israel now fears is that the Hezbollah, supported by Syria, opens a second front of war in Lebanon. Or that a rebellion starts in the West Bank, where Mahmoud Abbas has been incapable of getting any improvement from Israel. The “settlements” continue to expand, military incursions continue, checkpoints multiply and more than 6,000 prisoners remain in prison.
Sure the Israeli want to negotiate and oblige Hamas to sit down and negotiate, but according to their conditions. Of course that will not happen easily. In 2006, Hamas requested that Israel recognises the borders established by the UN in 1967, to withdraw from the West Bank, including Jerusalem and allow refugees to comeback. He proposed peace in Exchange. Israel will never accept that and peace will remain a vain word.
The question is, how did the situation get to this point?
Since 1967 that Israel has occupied, little by little, Palestinian territories in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and in Gaza (and later in the Golan Mounts). Many Palestinian had to leave their lands and seek refuge in Lebanon and Jordan. In Lebanon they were even massacred by the local militias with Israeli support (remember Sabra and Shatila in 1982?). Israel has always controlled the borders and the access of Palestinians. In the meantime nearly 500,000 people live in settlements in the occupied territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. And they are still being built nowadays. Many also live in the Golan area. Israel has withdrawn from Gaza because the situation was too difficult. Israel usually says that they will not give back the Golan area to Syria because of military strategic reasons but the only reason is water – sea of Galilee and the Jordan river.
So what do you expect from a population under occupation, who see their land being occupied and stolen, day after day? Being humiliated, their rights hampered, their liberty controlled? They organised a “resistance”. Of course Palestinian did not have Israel’s money nor the same powerful friends. No tanks, no helicopters, no airplanes, no missiles, let alone the atomic bomb. In despair they had their own life. Of course nothing justifies terrorism and taking the life of innocent civilian as suicide bombers have done. But have they tried to understand the reasons behind? The total despair of a people let alone? But statistics are there, internationally recognised for all to see the disproportion of the results. Casualties in the Palestinian side are 10 times higher than those in Israel’s side. The number of children killed in Palestine since the first Intifada, alone, is higher than that of all Israelis killed.
And it is widely known how Israel has disrespected all UN resolutions and international laws. And even committed many war crimes. As very recently, during the current war, when Israel has disrespected the UN’s Security Council 1860 for a cease-fire. It has even attacked schools and places where it had indicated civilians to seek refuge, killing many children. Nothing like that is new, that has been a current practise in the past, notably in Lebanon. Israel dictates the rules and decides. In all impunity, without any retaliations.
Of course Israel has always had the strong support of the US and even more so under Bush, who saw in Israel a strong ally in his holy war against the axis of evil. Of course he has never understood (it would have been asking him too much) that Palestine and Israel was one of the reasons for the “axis of evil”…
In conclusion, it is easy to understand how it all started and the reasons for the present situation. Of course, not only the US is guilty and also responsible for letting Israel getting to the present situation. Also most of the world, and Europe in particular, have their share of responsibility. Britain as previous power in the region, and the EU today. When they requested free democratic elections in Palestine and they got it and Hamas won, they made a strong mistake, not to accept the result. And it is quite understandable why Hamas won the elections then. People got tired of political solutions that never worked and tired of seeing the situation always getting worse without any improvement.
Of course Europe could not ask Hamas to accept everything just like that. Even Israel only accepted the existence of Palestine in 1988, long after Arafat’s PLO had recognised the existence of the state of Israel. Europe lost there a unique chance of making things progress. And Europe must also move forward. It cannot continue to be hostage of what happened with the Holocaust, things are not to be mixed. Nowadays it is Israel who is occupying and imposing their dictatorship on Palestinian territories. And being against Israel’s policy or government has nothing to do with being anti Jew. That propaganda from Israel is not acceptable. The world has all the right to condemn Israel’s policy in the area.The problem is that even if Israel accepts to talk with Hamas and Hamas and all other Palestinian groups sit and agree to negotiate peace, it will be very difficult if not impossible to reach an agreement. How can Palestinian accept that a big part of their territory continues to be occupied with Israeli colonies? And Israel will never accept to withdraw back to the borders of 1967, and will never abandon East Jerusalem. Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in occupied Palestinian territory [at the end of 2006, the total Jewish population of the settlements in the West Bank, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, was of 417,723]. It must be said that international law is very clear as regards the illegality of Israeli occupation and settlements in the West Bank (*).
Many people say that everybody is to blame, that no one is innocent or has the truth. That Israel has the right to defend itself. Maybe, but I believe that Israel is the one to blame for what’s happening in Gaza and in Palestine.
It is well known that it was Israel that triggered the present violence escalade, when last November 4, the Israeli army killed six members of Hamas, violating the truce, ("tahdiyeh"), that it had established with the Islamic movement (through Egyptian mediation) last June. Of course Hamas fell in the trap and started to launch rockets to Israel [it must be said that in the last 7 years some 20 israeli civilians were killed by these rockets].
Israel then intensified the economic blockade of Gaza, closing its borders, not allowing food, medications and fuel to get in, aggravating thus a situation that the World Bank and the UN have long described as catastrophic. In fact the whole economy of Gaza has been collapsing, enterprises being able to survive, there being no imports possible, no energy, a total humiliation, a huge prision.
Israel was happy. It had provoked Hamas’ reaction and could therefore fully justify its present military invasion of the territory. Of course you do not prepare such an operation overnight. According to israeli paper Ha’aretz, the preparation of the military operation had begun six months ago, while Egypt was mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas and when Hamas requested as condition for truce the end of the blockade.
So why, why did Israel want to invade Gaza and make war against the Hamas? For several reasons, probably. The first is that it pays politically when there will be elections in February. But certainly the most important one is to take advantage of the void of power and leadership in the US with Bush leaving (well he was always irrelevant in the matter actually). And send Obama a strong message saying “here, we are in control of the situation, we decide”. Their objective is to leave the situation even more complicated and chaotic than it was before, making it nearly impossible for Obama or anyone to try and do anything. And let’s not forget that the Israeli military and Olmert were eager to make up for their failure in Lebanon in 2006. And last but not least, by attacking Hamas, that contributes to radicalise the movement, and, with a bit of luck, even contribute to creating other even more radical groups, thus having a solid justification for Israel’s policy in the region and to justify their military control of Palestine. Of course this is the strategy of the Military for Israel, the Military having taken the lead and imposed their strategy to the government (if you consider there is one…). And they have won to the (weak) political view. Nowadays, the Military have been able to convince Israel’s population that this is the only way.
Israel’s objective was to stop the rockets which are becoming better and with increased capacity range (Iranian technology), to destroy tunnels from Egypt and all possibilities for the Hamas to replace material and arm themselves. But they also intended to weaken Hamas to make it negotiate according to Israel’s conditions. The objective was to turn the Palestinian population against Hamas for leading them to the present situation and blockade.
Instead, the population still supports Hamas, and the whole thing will only contribute to reinforcing the radicals, creating an army of potential terrorists and suicide bombers (think of all the parents of murdered children). The forces of Hamas in exile have already promised a third Intifada. The results will therefore be very far from what Israel has planned.
What Israel now fears is that the Hezbollah, supported by Syria, opens a second front of war in Lebanon. Or that a rebellion starts in the West Bank, where Mahmoud Abbas has been incapable of getting any improvement from Israel. The “settlements” continue to expand, military incursions continue, checkpoints multiply and more than 6,000 prisoners remain in prison.
Sure the Israeli want to negotiate and oblige Hamas to sit down and negotiate, but according to their conditions. Of course that will not happen easily. In 2006, Hamas requested that Israel recognises the borders established by the UN in 1967, to withdraw from the West Bank, including Jerusalem and allow refugees to comeback. He proposed peace in Exchange. Israel will never accept that and peace will remain a vain word.
The question is, how did the situation get to this point?
Since 1967 that Israel has occupied, little by little, Palestinian territories in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and in Gaza (and later in the Golan Mounts). Many Palestinian had to leave their lands and seek refuge in Lebanon and Jordan. In Lebanon they were even massacred by the local militias with Israeli support (remember Sabra and Shatila in 1982?). Israel has always controlled the borders and the access of Palestinians. In the meantime nearly 500,000 people live in settlements in the occupied territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. And they are still being built nowadays. Many also live in the Golan area. Israel has withdrawn from Gaza because the situation was too difficult. Israel usually says that they will not give back the Golan area to Syria because of military strategic reasons but the only reason is water – sea of Galilee and the Jordan river.
So what do you expect from a population under occupation, who see their land being occupied and stolen, day after day? Being humiliated, their rights hampered, their liberty controlled? They organised a “resistance”. Of course Palestinian did not have Israel’s money nor the same powerful friends. No tanks, no helicopters, no airplanes, no missiles, let alone the atomic bomb. In despair they had their own life. Of course nothing justifies terrorism and taking the life of innocent civilian as suicide bombers have done. But have they tried to understand the reasons behind? The total despair of a people let alone? But statistics are there, internationally recognised for all to see the disproportion of the results. Casualties in the Palestinian side are 10 times higher than those in Israel’s side. The number of children killed in Palestine since the first Intifada, alone, is higher than that of all Israelis killed.
And it is widely known how Israel has disrespected all UN resolutions and international laws. And even committed many war crimes. As very recently, during the current war, when Israel has disrespected the UN’s Security Council 1860 for a cease-fire. It has even attacked schools and places where it had indicated civilians to seek refuge, killing many children. Nothing like that is new, that has been a current practise in the past, notably in Lebanon. Israel dictates the rules and decides. In all impunity, without any retaliations.
Of course Israel has always had the strong support of the US and even more so under Bush, who saw in Israel a strong ally in his holy war against the axis of evil. Of course he has never understood (it would have been asking him too much) that Palestine and Israel was one of the reasons for the “axis of evil”…
In conclusion, it is easy to understand how it all started and the reasons for the present situation. Of course, not only the US is guilty and also responsible for letting Israel getting to the present situation. Also most of the world, and Europe in particular, have their share of responsibility. Britain as previous power in the region, and the EU today. When they requested free democratic elections in Palestine and they got it and Hamas won, they made a strong mistake, not to accept the result. And it is quite understandable why Hamas won the elections then. People got tired of political solutions that never worked and tired of seeing the situation always getting worse without any improvement.
Of course Europe could not ask Hamas to accept everything just like that. Even Israel only accepted the existence of Palestine in 1988, long after Arafat’s PLO had recognised the existence of the state of Israel. Europe lost there a unique chance of making things progress. And Europe must also move forward. It cannot continue to be hostage of what happened with the Holocaust, things are not to be mixed. Nowadays it is Israel who is occupying and imposing their dictatorship on Palestinian territories. And being against Israel’s policy or government has nothing to do with being anti Jew. That propaganda from Israel is not acceptable. The world has all the right to condemn Israel’s policy in the area.The problem is that even if Israel accepts to talk with Hamas and Hamas and all other Palestinian groups sit and agree to negotiate peace, it will be very difficult if not impossible to reach an agreement. How can Palestinian accept that a big part of their territory continues to be occupied with Israeli colonies? And Israel will never accept to withdraw back to the borders of 1967, and will never abandon East Jerusalem. Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in occupied Palestinian territory [at the end of 2006, the total Jewish population of the settlements in the West Bank, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, was of 417,723]. It must be said that international law is very clear as regards the illegality of Israeli occupation and settlements in the West Bank (*).
It will be very difficult if not impossible to establish an international zone around Jerusalem either. And Israel will certainly not bring down its wall, most certainly.
Of course after the current war, when Hamas has been more or less neutralised, Israel will sit down and talk. So will some Palestinian, possibly. Many voices already demand today that there be a negotiation with Hamas, even voices like Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft, former advisers for national security of US presidents Jimmy Carter and Bush or Robert Malley, former adviser for Middle-east issues to president Clinton. But will Hamas still exist after the present war? Who will rule the chaos created in Gaza?
And it remains to be seen what Barack Obama will be willing to do, when he goes to Office next week. To my understanding, there will be little he can do. But let’s hope he has some will. At least it is crucial he understands that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is key to the whole Middle-East and world peace situation and that therefore it needs to be dealt with urgently. Unlike the Bush administration, that considered it peripheral. But that’s the past now.
Read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab-Israeli_conflict
http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/homepage.asp?pi=25
http://electronicintifada.net/
http://middleeast.about.com/
http://www.mideastweb.org/
http://electronicintifada.net/
http://middleeast.about.com/
http://www.mideastweb.org/
(*) Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states in the first paragraph: “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.” And in the sixth paragraph: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Also, UN Security Council Resolution 446, on March 22, 1979, determined that “the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.” Finally an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice in 2004, addressing the West Bank barrier in particular and the West Bank in general, concluded “that the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem) have been established in breach of international law.”
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