The world’s largest open-air prison is under attack. When i heard that the Israelis were starting to strike Gaza i immediately flashed back to the final scene in the film “Children of Men” when British aircraft are bombing a refugee compound where an uprising is underway.
What is going on in Gaza simply cannot be understood outside of the fact that the Israelis have been conducting a blockade against its inhabitants. It also cannot be understood outside of the fact that the USA and Israel, in the aftermath of Hamas having won democratic elections in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, conducted a destabilization campaign and a coup attempt. In that sense it does not really matter whether the Palestinians in Gaza fired missiles ‘first’. What matters is that Israel has been strangling the people of Gaza for years. They have blocked humanitarian aid and intercepted ships that were attempting to enter into Gaza’s waters.
Here is what is particularly interesting in this case. The attack that allegedly started this most recent round came, not from Hamas, but from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The attack was conducted on an Israeli military target. A truce was brokered by the Egyptians. What was the next step? The Israelis decided to assassinate the Hamas military commander: Ahmed al-Jabari. Does that sound like a bit of a disconnect? Hamas had been attempting to hold down the attacks and the Hamas military commander is murdered.
Sounds like someone over ‘there’ was not particularly interested in a peaceful resolution…
The USA, in this case the Obama administration, of course jumped to defend Israel. And they will continue to do so until those of us who are tired of this charade are prepared to speak up and demand a different set of actions by the US government. In 2009 Barack Obama was inaugurated while Gaza burned. Are we on the verge of a repetition of history?
Right. Our demand for a different set of actions by the US government would be a brilliant support for Obama in earning that Nobel Peace prize he was given.
Speaking of prisons: If you walked into a prison with no background information or knowledge about the function of prisons, you’d probably find that inhumane too. Gaza was not put under blockade for no reason, and your democratically elected Hamas which you claim is trying to quell the violence also has a charter that says the entire country of Israel will never be accepted (not just the occupied territories). So while you don’t care who fired first, you probably don’t care that the approach to violence adopted by Israel’s neighbors since its inception is what caused this situation to unfold in the first place.
With all due respect, this is an asymmetric situation. When i think about the terrorists who rose to power in Israel i find it unbelievable that the positions that Hamas has taken are even up for debate. The question is not so much what they are saying but are they willing to talk. In this case what is striking is that a truce was negotiated and Israel made the decision to assassinate the military leader of Hamas when it was not even Hamas that had carried out the attacks!
I guess the other point is that contrary to your opening sentence, i do know a bit about the background. For example, i remember a town called Deir Yassin.