"Every night we fuss and fight like Arabs and like Jews" -- Monkey See, Monkey Do, by Michael Franks, from the LP The Art of Tea, released in 1976.
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Israel maintained a military presence in Gaza from 1993 until 2005, when it finally withdrew completely. During that time, Israel constructed "security fencing" and a buffer zone to completely enclose the Gaza Strip along its eastern and northern borders, and built a wall along the Egyptian border to the south. Israel deployed its naval vessels to patrol Gaza's Mediterranean coastline. There were just a handful of border crossings
In a 2006 surprise, the militantly anti-Semitic, anti-Israel political party Hamas won Palestinian elections and took over the administration of Gaza. Calling Hamas a terrorist organization, Israel promptly locked down all the border crossings and instituted an economic embargo as well. The situation continues to this day.
So here we are. The Gaza Strip is 7 miles wide by 32 miles long. It is densely populated with 1.8 million Palestinian people, with a per capita annual income of $3100 U.S. It is blockaded on all sides. It currently has only three border crossings, which are rarely open. It is effectively a concentration camp with a beautiful ocean view.
In such conditions, it's hardly surprising that some Gazans dig tunnels and fire rockets into Israel. They're captives and they're pissed. It's no surprise that Israel fires back. Some folks are taking pot-shots at them and they're pissed. Like always, a cease-fire will be negotiated, but it won't last long. It never does. One side or the other will do something provocative, and the cycle will start up again soon enough.
In the current round of violence, it's bully vs. bully -- Israel's Bibi Netanyahu and Hamas's Khaled Meshaal. Two ultra-conservative, unyielding, belligerent "leaders" engaged in a hopeless, childish and brutal blame-game. Whose "fault" is it? Who "started it"? Who friggin cares?! This crap has gone on so long, no one can remember who started what, or when, or why.
Israel says it occupies the high moral ground, but it's a dubious claim. They've essentially imprisoned 2 million people and called it "self-defense." Whenever some of the inmates get uppity and shoot unguided mortars and RPG's over the barbed wire (and yes, that's bad business, inexcusable), the Israeli army squashes the gnat with a sledgehammer. Militarily, it's no contest -- Israel is shooting fish in a barrel. But for all their technology and precision targeting, the Israelis sure seem to miss their mark a lot. "Oh snap! Did we blow up your apartment building/school/mosque/power plant/U.N. shelter again? Oops! We're sorry." The casualties are almost all on the Palestinian side, and most are civilians, not Hamas fighters. Bibi's idea of self-defense looks a lot like indiscriminate large-scale destruction, and Israel looks like the bigger bully.
What has either side gained with all this slaughter? What has really changed? Nothing. The blockade will go on. Gaza will rebuild. Tunnels will be dug again, rockets will fly, tanks will roll. A genuine "two-state solution" is the only path to peace, everybody knows it, and yet it seems further away than ever. And as long as both of these stiff dicks insist on having the last word, the last strike, the last bomb, it will never end. It's not a war, it's back-and-forth revenge terrorism -- a pointless perpetual motion machine where each act of retaliation begets another.
The State of Israel has a right to exist. A Palestinian State has an equal right to exist. I'm not pro-Hamas. I'm not anti-Israel. I'm just pro-peace. Good luck to me, eh?
(Rec'd. from a regular reader. Posted by Buster. Thanks, regular reader!)
ReplyDeleteThere are a few salient points that you forgot to mention in your article about Gaza. The occupation has been going on since? A long fucking time! With a blockade of humanitarian needs: medical and rebuilding supplies for all the shit that has been bombed out since the last time, not to mention food etc.. Did you know that the Israelis figured out how many calories the Gazans could exist on and not totally succumb due to starvation? And they allow just that much and no more to enter?! The other pretty F*cking aggravating point is that our U.S. tax dollars support all of these bullying operations to the tune of billions of $$'s annually! I mentioned to a friend that if all of our support was withdrawn perhaps the Israelis would be more willing to negotiate and stick to a cease fire. There are probably many more points that I could expound on; only because I have been lately inundated with many very informed speakers here in Berkeley and through our "Free Speech" Radio KPFA 94.1 FM (CHECK IT OUT!). It is the antidote to the mainstream corporate news. Thank You for adding your sane viewpoint on this and other topics. I always enjoy checking in.