Israel had no other choice. We tried all other means to achieve peace, and Hamas rejected everything. Whatever’s happening in Gaza is not our fault. Blame Hamas. This was our only option.
There have been many myths and lies thrown around over the past three weeks, since Israel started its assault on Gaza. This one, though, is particularly dangerous because with the almost universal demonization of Hamas, it might be the most effective one in gaining public support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Given what’s reported about Hamas, it’s easy to believe that they don’t want peace and that they’ve rejected any of Israel’s attempts at peace.
But really, what has Israel done in Gaza to give any indication that it actually wants peace? Most people will immediately point to the so-called “disengagement” in 2005, when all of the illegal Israeli settlers in Gaza were withdrawn. The “disengagement,” though, was by no means a peace offer. After the settlers left, Israel proceeded to turn the Gaza Strip into the world’s largest open-air prison. It erected an 8 metre high concrete Wall around the entire territory, designed to seal the people of Gaza off from the rest of the world. Israel controls all of Gaza’s land and sea borders, meaning it dictates who and what can get in and out. It controls Gaza’s air as well, as there’s not a single plane in the Strip, not even a crop duster. Israel, meanwhile, would regularly fly its F-16s over Gazan neighbourhoods, producing sonic booms just for the sake of harassing and intimidating the people. Making sure the Gazans know who’s boss, I suppose.
The hermetic siege caused an absolute humanitarian catastrophe, with people lacking food, water, medicine, the most basic elements for everyday life. Only about 20% of the food aid that was needed was getting in. People were dying of preventable causes, simply because hospitals didn’t have the supplies that they needed to treat them. Businesses were shutting down left and right, causing unemployment to soar to more than 50%.
The people of Gaza were slowly dying as a result of the siege. And it’s not like Israel didn’t know about it. In fact, the siege was deliberately intended to cause harm and misery. In 2006 Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Ehud Olmert, explained that the idea of the siege was to “put the Palestinians on a diet.” That’s also known as collective punishment.
And then, in addition to the crippling siege, Israel continually fired artillery and rocket attacks into Gaza, and undertook several “military incursions” (read: invasions) as well.
So the “disengagement” argument is really a myth. Yes, Israel pulled its settlers out, but then it just intensified its occupation over every other facet of life in Gaza. As one article put it last week: “If you stick a knife in my chest and another one in my foot, then you pull out the one from my foot but drive the one in my chest even deeper, do not expect me not to kick you with my foot that is still bleeding from the wounds you have inflicted.”
Another shamefully under-reported fact that counters Israel’s argument that it had no other choice, is the fact that after Hamas was elected into power, it offered Israel a long-term truce in exchange for Israel’s return to the pre-1967 borders. It’s a pretty fair deal, when you consider the fact that all Hamas is asking Israel to do is to obey every single UN resolution on Israel-Palestine for the past 40 years, and adhere to its obligations under international law. The problem is that Israel considers it unreasonable for anyone to demand that it end of its brutal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and withdraw its oppressive military presence and its illegal settlers. So it rejected Hamas’ offer, just as it has rejected every similar idea in all of the rounds of “peace negotiations” that have ever taken place. Israel has never shown any interest in returning to its pre-‘67 borders and abiding by international law. That Hamas offer, by the way, still stands, if Israel ever decides to change its mind.
And then let’s look at the fact that, like I said in my last post, Israel is actually the one who broke the six-month truce that was in place before the attacks began. It broke the truce twice, in fact. So when they say that Hamas broke the truce by firing rockets at Israel, it’s a blatant lie. Israel’s violations of the truce have even been confirmed by a centre-right Israeli intelligence think tank, which asserted that "the escalation and erosion of the lull arrangement" occurred after Israel killed six Hamas members on November 4 without provocation and then placed the entire Strip under an even more intensive siege the next day.
So when we put all this together, it seems absurd for Israel to claim it had no other options. Option A would have been to lift the siege and the entire infrastructure of apartheid that goes along with it. If Israel is really interested in peace in the future, then this is the only way to achieve it. Option B would have been to accept the fact that Hamas is the democratically elected representative of the Palestinian people, and to listen to their offer of peace. Option C would have simply been not to break the truce. We could go on, too, all the way back to 1948, to look at all the options that Israel chose to ignore. Really, there are infinite courses of action that would have been better than to pummel Gaza into the earth for weeks, slaughter the people that had already been so thoroughly beaten down, and turn the mass prison into a mass grave.
And then today, we hear on the news that the Israeli cabinet has declared a unilateral ceasefire. I guess that means that the Israeli leaders think they’ve achieved their goals in Gaza. Let’s see. Their first stated aim was to destroy Hamas. Didn’t happen. Hamas is still there, and has as much support as ever. Their second stated aim was to stop the rockets from being fired from Gaza into Israel. Didn’t happen. Every day, more rockets are fired, not only by the armed wing of Hamas, but by other militant groups as well. But somehow, Israel is satisfied with its bombing campaign.
So let’s try to understand this, then. Before the assault started, Gaza was under a comprehensive siege. Israel provoked an end to the truce, and then proceeded to kill over 1,200 people (up until now), and injure 5,200, with medical sources on the ground saying that 95% of those casualties are civilians. And now, Israel is calling a unilateral ceasefire, meaning it might stop the bombing, but it’ll go back to putting Gaza under siege again. That means we have the exact same situation after the massacre as we did before. So why did all those people have to die? What was gained? What was the point of the slaughter? It’s sickening, and it absolutely cannot be justified.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Absence of Humanity
First off, let me just say that I've been planning on writing something for a while now, but I haven't been able to sit down and organize my thoughts. I'll try to make this as coherent as possible, but no promises.
As I'm writing this, on day 13 of the assault on Gaza, the death toll is at 763, with 3120 injured. Civilians make up a huge percentage of both of those numbers. It started off as heavy air bombardments, with 100,000 tons of bombs being dropped on Gaza at the beginning. And now, it's a full-scale military operation by air, land, and sea. Tens of thousands have been made homeless, and at least 70% of the population is without water or electricity. Hospitals are bursting at the seams, with doctors working around the clock and being forced to perform surgery on the floor. Thousands of patients are at risk of dying simply because the hospitals don't have the gas or electricity that they need to keep machines running to keep people alive.
Over half the population of Gaza is under 17 years old. That means some 50% of them are children. And they're being subjected to a degree of brutality and savagery that nobody should ever have to experience. Everywhere they turn, they see things that no human being should ever have to see. Do you cringe when you see the images of dead bodies or dying people? Well imagine seeing those bodies in your living room, in your bedroom, on your street. And imagine those are the bodies of your parents, brothers, and sisters. And then imagine trying to run away, but having nowhere to go. Everywhere you go, there's more death, more carnage.
So people are terrorized and traumatized, and understandably so. They haven't slept for almost two weeks now, because bombing continues throughout the night. Just last night, there were over 30 airstrikes. There's also no food, no water, no medicine, no fuel. It's an absolute catastrophe, that goes against the very essence of the human spirit.
But still, Israel denies that there is a humanitarian crisis. It says it's doing its very best to spare the civilian population. Really? Gaza is 360 square km, with over 1.5 million people living there. That's a population density of 4270 people per square km (just as a comparison, Canada's population density is something like 3.2 people per square km). So if Israel drops a 1000 pound bomb on a house, how many people will that affect? How many people are going to die or be injured from just that one bomb?
And then consider the fact that according to Amnesty International, Israel is using civilians as human shields. They do this by occupying the upper levels of Palestinian homes, forcing families to stay on the ground floor while they use the rest of the house as a military base and sniper position. So the house, with the family still inside, becomes a target in the fighting. But hey, if they say they're trying to protect civilians then I guess we should take their word for it.
Furthermore, according to Israel, virtually anything is a legitimate target. They've targeted houses, schools, mosques, hospitals, clinics, ambulances. Entire families of 13, 14, 15 people are being killed in one shot when their homes are bombed. The other day they bombed two - two! - UN schools where thousands of people had taken refuge. At least 45 people have died so far from those bombings, and surely more will die from their injuries. To target a UN school is absolutely unconscionable, no matter what the circumstances are.
But Israel does try to justify these acts, by saying that there were militants there, or an arms cache, so the bombing was legitimate. It's unfortunate that there were 10,000 people seeking protection at the UN school, but it had to be bombed. It was just a coincidence that the mosque was bombed during prayer time, meaning it was full of people.
History shows, though, that Israel has often used this justification of the "legitimate target," only to have independent investigations, reports, and enquiries determine that it was an outright lie. In 1996, there were 106 Lebanese civilian refugees who were killed at Qana, a UN compound. Israel claimed that there were Hizbollah fighters at the compound too. It was later revealed as a lie. In 1982 there was the Sabra and Shatila massacres at refugee camps in Lebanon, where over 1,700 Palestinian civilians were slaughtered. Same justification was given, same lie was revealed. The same lie is being given this time, and our wilfully blind world leaders are still are content to accept it. Even though UN officials have clearly stated that there were no fighters present when the school was bombed, our leaders are still content to to remain consciously ignorant about the real situation.
This ignorance is especially strong now that Israel has declared that it'll halt the bombings for three hours per day to allow humanitarian relief to be distributed. It seems kind of them, doesn't it? But wait. That means we have 21 hours of bombing and 3 hours of "halt"? And what exactly happens in those 3 hours? Well, yesterday during the "halt," a UN convoy was fired upon by Israeli soldiers, killing at least 1 person. And Israel has continually blocked ambulances from travelling from place to place. According to one Red Crescent administrator, ambulances are being prevented from reaching 80% of the calls from the north of the Gaza Strip. 80% of the people calling for help aren't getting it. In some intances, wounded people are being transported on donkey carts.
But still, Israel and many world leaders are claiming that Hamas brought this on themselves by not renewing the truce and firing rockets into Israel. Yes, the spin doctors have been working hard on this front too. In fact, before it expired, the truce had actually been violated twice by Israel. Once on Nov. 4, when an air raid killed six Palestinians, and then again on Nov. 17, when it killed four more. And this is in addition to the fact that for the 18 months leading up to the expiration of the truce - including the 6 months of the truce itself - Gaza was under complete siege. Borders were closed, preventing people from coming and going. Just enough basic humanitarian supplies were getting in to keep people alive without starving them to death. Hospitals were already running out of medicine, and the whole territory was suffering from a gas shortage. Every aspect of life in the Strip had been decimated during the so-called truce. Essentially, for the people of Gaza, there was no truce, it simply didn't exist.
And while I don't agree with firing rockets aimlessly into Israeli territory, it's important to keep some perspective. Since 2005, 13 Israelis were killed by these rockets. Since 2005, 1400 Palestinians were killed by Israeli operations in Gaza. Neither of those numbers include the people who have died in the current assault. Proportionality matters. This cannot be justified.
What's going on now is not a conflict or a war. Both of those terms presume that you have two relatively equal parties fighting one another. This is a massacre, a slaughter, a butchery, an attack on the entire population of Gaza. Right now, Israel is saying that it's an attack on Hamas, and that's it. But consider what Moshe Yaalon, the former Israeli Defence Force Chief of Staff, said in 2002: "The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people." He's talking about the Palestinian people as a whole. All of them must see themselves as being defeated. By any means necessary, it would seem.
This is the reality of the situation today. It's the entire population that is being attacked, and killed by Israeli war crimes. The people are being denied the right to enjoy their humanity, to live in dignity, to be treated as human beings. The people of the world have been incredible, with hundreds of thousands taking action in solidarity with Gaza. And this mobilization need to continue, it's absolutely crucial. But so is political leadership. Where is that leadership? Where is the humanity of the world leaders? How long to the people of Gaza have to live through hell before somebody does something?
I don't know the answers to those questions, but I know that nothing will change if people don't take action at the grassroots level. That's why the organizing, the demonstrating, the campaigns, the letter-writing, and the petition signing all have to continue. If the leaders can't find their own humanity, or their own sense of human decency, then we have to shove our humanity in their faces, to make them understand and to force them to act. There are 1.5 million Gazans counting on that action, so we have to make it happen.
As I'm writing this, on day 13 of the assault on Gaza, the death toll is at 763, with 3120 injured. Civilians make up a huge percentage of both of those numbers. It started off as heavy air bombardments, with 100,000 tons of bombs being dropped on Gaza at the beginning. And now, it's a full-scale military operation by air, land, and sea. Tens of thousands have been made homeless, and at least 70% of the population is without water or electricity. Hospitals are bursting at the seams, with doctors working around the clock and being forced to perform surgery on the floor. Thousands of patients are at risk of dying simply because the hospitals don't have the gas or electricity that they need to keep machines running to keep people alive.
Over half the population of Gaza is under 17 years old. That means some 50% of them are children. And they're being subjected to a degree of brutality and savagery that nobody should ever have to experience. Everywhere they turn, they see things that no human being should ever have to see. Do you cringe when you see the images of dead bodies or dying people? Well imagine seeing those bodies in your living room, in your bedroom, on your street. And imagine those are the bodies of your parents, brothers, and sisters. And then imagine trying to run away, but having nowhere to go. Everywhere you go, there's more death, more carnage.
So people are terrorized and traumatized, and understandably so. They haven't slept for almost two weeks now, because bombing continues throughout the night. Just last night, there were over 30 airstrikes. There's also no food, no water, no medicine, no fuel. It's an absolute catastrophe, that goes against the very essence of the human spirit.
But still, Israel denies that there is a humanitarian crisis. It says it's doing its very best to spare the civilian population. Really? Gaza is 360 square km, with over 1.5 million people living there. That's a population density of 4270 people per square km (just as a comparison, Canada's population density is something like 3.2 people per square km). So if Israel drops a 1000 pound bomb on a house, how many people will that affect? How many people are going to die or be injured from just that one bomb?
And then consider the fact that according to Amnesty International, Israel is using civilians as human shields. They do this by occupying the upper levels of Palestinian homes, forcing families to stay on the ground floor while they use the rest of the house as a military base and sniper position. So the house, with the family still inside, becomes a target in the fighting. But hey, if they say they're trying to protect civilians then I guess we should take their word for it.
Furthermore, according to Israel, virtually anything is a legitimate target. They've targeted houses, schools, mosques, hospitals, clinics, ambulances. Entire families of 13, 14, 15 people are being killed in one shot when their homes are bombed. The other day they bombed two - two! - UN schools where thousands of people had taken refuge. At least 45 people have died so far from those bombings, and surely more will die from their injuries. To target a UN school is absolutely unconscionable, no matter what the circumstances are.
But Israel does try to justify these acts, by saying that there were militants there, or an arms cache, so the bombing was legitimate. It's unfortunate that there were 10,000 people seeking protection at the UN school, but it had to be bombed. It was just a coincidence that the mosque was bombed during prayer time, meaning it was full of people.
History shows, though, that Israel has often used this justification of the "legitimate target," only to have independent investigations, reports, and enquiries determine that it was an outright lie. In 1996, there were 106 Lebanese civilian refugees who were killed at Qana, a UN compound. Israel claimed that there were Hizbollah fighters at the compound too. It was later revealed as a lie. In 1982 there was the Sabra and Shatila massacres at refugee camps in Lebanon, where over 1,700 Palestinian civilians were slaughtered. Same justification was given, same lie was revealed. The same lie is being given this time, and our wilfully blind world leaders are still are content to accept it. Even though UN officials have clearly stated that there were no fighters present when the school was bombed, our leaders are still content to to remain consciously ignorant about the real situation.
This ignorance is especially strong now that Israel has declared that it'll halt the bombings for three hours per day to allow humanitarian relief to be distributed. It seems kind of them, doesn't it? But wait. That means we have 21 hours of bombing and 3 hours of "halt"? And what exactly happens in those 3 hours? Well, yesterday during the "halt," a UN convoy was fired upon by Israeli soldiers, killing at least 1 person. And Israel has continually blocked ambulances from travelling from place to place. According to one Red Crescent administrator, ambulances are being prevented from reaching 80% of the calls from the north of the Gaza Strip. 80% of the people calling for help aren't getting it. In some intances, wounded people are being transported on donkey carts.
But still, Israel and many world leaders are claiming that Hamas brought this on themselves by not renewing the truce and firing rockets into Israel. Yes, the spin doctors have been working hard on this front too. In fact, before it expired, the truce had actually been violated twice by Israel. Once on Nov. 4, when an air raid killed six Palestinians, and then again on Nov. 17, when it killed four more. And this is in addition to the fact that for the 18 months leading up to the expiration of the truce - including the 6 months of the truce itself - Gaza was under complete siege. Borders were closed, preventing people from coming and going. Just enough basic humanitarian supplies were getting in to keep people alive without starving them to death. Hospitals were already running out of medicine, and the whole territory was suffering from a gas shortage. Every aspect of life in the Strip had been decimated during the so-called truce. Essentially, for the people of Gaza, there was no truce, it simply didn't exist.
And while I don't agree with firing rockets aimlessly into Israeli territory, it's important to keep some perspective. Since 2005, 13 Israelis were killed by these rockets. Since 2005, 1400 Palestinians were killed by Israeli operations in Gaza. Neither of those numbers include the people who have died in the current assault. Proportionality matters. This cannot be justified.
What's going on now is not a conflict or a war. Both of those terms presume that you have two relatively equal parties fighting one another. This is a massacre, a slaughter, a butchery, an attack on the entire population of Gaza. Right now, Israel is saying that it's an attack on Hamas, and that's it. But consider what Moshe Yaalon, the former Israeli Defence Force Chief of Staff, said in 2002: "The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people." He's talking about the Palestinian people as a whole. All of them must see themselves as being defeated. By any means necessary, it would seem.
This is the reality of the situation today. It's the entire population that is being attacked, and killed by Israeli war crimes. The people are being denied the right to enjoy their humanity, to live in dignity, to be treated as human beings. The people of the world have been incredible, with hundreds of thousands taking action in solidarity with Gaza. And this mobilization need to continue, it's absolutely crucial. But so is political leadership. Where is that leadership? Where is the humanity of the world leaders? How long to the people of Gaza have to live through hell before somebody does something?
I don't know the answers to those questions, but I know that nothing will change if people don't take action at the grassroots level. That's why the organizing, the demonstrating, the campaigns, the letter-writing, and the petition signing all have to continue. If the leaders can't find their own humanity, or their own sense of human decency, then we have to shove our humanity in their faces, to make them understand and to force them to act. There are 1.5 million Gazans counting on that action, so we have to make it happen.
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