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ISRAEL GETS A PASS

Gotham Chopra - January 04, 2009

Over the last few days, I have been doing my best to survey a variety of different news services and keep up on the unfolding events in Gaza and the Israeli invasion therein.

It is an invasion, right? I mean I realize I am not as close to it as I once was (travelled there several times years ago), but, as they say if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck, correct?

I am not really taking sides on this one just yet, but it does strike me as surprising that this is not a bigger issue than it seems to be. Check that - it is clearly the #1 news story pretty much everywhere and yet, it seems to me that it's being covered with a certain degree of detachment and indifference. That, of course, might be because Israel is not allowing foreign journalists into some of the conflict areas, in fact defying an Israeli supreme court order to do so.

Nevertheless here's the thing: Israel is currently in full scale war mode and the rest of the world appears pretty passive. And I am talking both sides. Israel's allies (like the US and various European nations) have been pretty idle, sure enough making statements and expressing concern but not really doing anything. Israel's many enemies have expressed rage, instigated protests etc, but have really not taken any meaningful action.

What gives?

Hamas, no doubt, made a serious miscalculation it would appear with their antagonistic moves that triggered Israel's onslaught. Now they clearly lack the firepower to respond to Israel and instead will do what they do best, exploit the murder and mayhem in the Occupied territories to insure another generation of radicalized Islamists that will terrorize Jews in Israel and elsewhere for years to come.

And make no mistake, Israel's aggression in Gaza is its own brand of terrorism. At latest count, a reported 500 casualties with no end in sight with many of them innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. Blame it on Hamas for intentionally putting their own people in harms way (and that is an absolute shameful fact), but also accept the fact that at any given moment, Israel can call of the dogs and spare additional lives. That, of course, is just not the way they roll as they have deemed it acceptable that slaughtered children is okay.

And again, there is the matter of the rest of the world who seems to be sitting on the sidelines on this one. What really are Israel's intentions this time around? An invasion followed by a full scale occupation? Or just leveling Gaza and then pulling out? Perhaps I am the one who has not dug deep enough to uncover what's being said but it strikes me as odd that this remains unclear and the rest of the world is okay with that.

Yes, the US invaded Iraq years ago and pretty much leveled the country and then occupied it. Argue whether or not it was a just war, but let's be clear, there was a certain transparency about it. The Bush administration bothered to go through various protocols with its own congress (and got the okay) and the UN (and then defied their resistance) but it was pretty clear to the rest of the world what was going on. I mean that's generally what you have to do. After all there is only one planet and even if we all disagree on certain things, there is a definite reality that we share it.

Here's my problem with the whole thing. I get the fact that Israel may want to once and for all obliterate Hamas. They are annoying and dangerous but this strategy seems shortsighted and doomed. The larger problem is the fact that it's entirely unclear to me where this goes from here. Without the backing or frankly knowledge of the rest of the world, this thing runs the risk of becoming a much much greater conflict that will consume many others. Anyone ready to sign up for that?

I've never been one to really care for the notion of homelands or chosen people and all that. The great irony of course in this case is that both sides claim to be persecuted, declare themselves as God's favorites, and justify their violence as part of a greater struggle. Even more ironic is that they are both descended from the same stock - after all Isaac and Ishmael were brothers, sons of Abraham, right? Sadly it seems if they were alive today, they'd be racing to slit the other one's neck and the rest of the world would simply shrug and watch. Apparently we haven't evolved that much.

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Posted by Gotham Chopra at January 4, 2009 08:58 PM

Comments

I for one have Palestinian/Israel War fatigue. Maybe that's what you are sensing in the world's seeming lackluster response.

I've commented on several blogs and followed numerous discussions and evaluated a lot of opinions, and....and - so what? All the posturing, explaining, excusing and blaming hasn't made a damn bit of difference.

The situation seems so hopeless and utterly unresolvable. The cries to stop the killing are simply ignored by both sides. Neither side is willing to do what they know is necessary to restore peace.

You have to declare an immediate ceasefire, get an international peacekeeping force in there, and start rebuilding the infrastructure in Gaza. That's no great revelation, everyone knows that is what will create space and give the peace process chance to work. Is Israel willing to do that? Is Hamas? No and no.

Yes, it's lopsided - Israel is the obvious superior military power. You'd think Hamas would see the failure of picking fights they can't win. Somehow, they've come to define losing as winning (as in thinking they'll get a lot of sympathy by getting the hell knocked out their people - again, and again...and again!). But the reality is, it's still losing.

If they don't want resolution, what can we do? Discuss it some more? I'm burned out on it. If they want to stay locked forever in their meaningless death-spiral, then that's their choice. If they just want to keep shouting their same tired rhetoric and justifications over and over again, let them have at it.

Frankly, I have better stuff to put my attention on.

Sorry, that's just how I feel about it.

1. Posted by yogi-one on January 5, 2009 12:09 AM

The I/P Conflict is Simpler than You Think

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/4/135223/2599/892/678482

2. Posted by Freyja on January 5, 2009 12:15 AM

Asked: "What gives?"
Answered: In your last 2 sentences.

As an American, with no ethnic or religious ties to either group, it's hard for me to wrap my brain around this neverending conflict.

With Bush exiting the building, and having high expectations of Obama getting us out of the Iraq debacle, I wasn't expecting yet another war to be initiated.
Figured the industrialized world was focused on environmental and financial problems, putting energy and resources into improving everyone's quality of life.
Silly me!

3. Posted by psy on January 5, 2009 12:21 AM

@Ken

Over a century ago, there was a deep factional divide among the early Zionists -- the secular faction favored a Jewish homeland on friendly
ground, while the religious faction insisted on Palestine because of "God's promise" to the ancient Hebrews in the "holy" scripture. The latter faction prevailed, and the stage was set for the establishment of a Jewish state on the edge of a sea of hostile rivals for control that "holy" land.

Where the Zionists sought refuge from persecution at the hands of their fellow Europeans, their neighbors saw another Crusade, albeit this time under the Magen David rather than the Cross.

4. Posted by Irvine Welsh on January 5, 2009 12:26 AM

Humans fight like monkeys, no need for a reason. Humans have better weapons that's all. Religious fundamentalism is the problem...and right now the Muslims have the field and their moderates are intimidated by terrorist groups like hamas, hezbollah and countries like Iran.

It there were no rocket attacks there would be no Israeli reaction (or so the argument goes.)

The solution is for Israel to withdraw from illegal settlements and end the occupation. Then two states side by side. Hamas cannot accept that as they are tools of Iran, so what's the point? May as well destroy them and move on...........Chris

5. Posted by Chris on January 5, 2009 12:33 AM

"The latter faction prevailed, and the stage was set for the establishment of a Jewish state on the edge of a sea of hostile rivals for control that "holy" land." --Irvine Welsh #5

The people who facilitated($$$$$$$) the foundation and settlement of Israel were mainly interested in a client state to protect the oil in Persia and Arabia, and the Suez Canal...simple as that. They usurped all the religious people's ideas as they were useful in motivation. Having said that----there are now facts on the ground
that have to be dealt with........Cheers Chris.

PS. Just as the crusades weren't not about religion but trade and money.

6. Posted by Chris on January 5, 2009 12:38 AM

"The solution is for Israel to withdraw from illegal settlements and end the occupation. Then two states side by side. Hamas cannot accept that as they are tools of Iran, so what's the point? May as well destroy them and move on...........Chris"

I would take that a step further and interdict Iran's borders completely. Stopping the flow of weapons and ied into Iraq and Afghanistan. It would be a good idea to destroy all Iran's nuclear facilities and guard bases. There will no respite whilst fundamentalist religious idiots rule. Whatever religion they have....Chris.

7. Posted by Chris on January 5, 2009 12:44 AM

Hi Gotham, I think Israel’s intentions are to try and eliminate the Hama's leadership which may do the rest of the Palestinians a favor.

The reality of the Israel Palestinian conflict is economic in several contexts. Conflict gives power to certain groups which use it to a profitable gain. Hamas has power because of the conflict.

The Palestinians are in conflict because of economic depravity. There would be none to participate in conflict is everyone had food, shelter, energy, transportation, education and a little money for travel and entertainment which means every one has a job which is the ability to create value for other economic system participants.

One the other hand we have Israel whose economic prosperity is threatened by those that do not have economic prosperity and so seek to preserve it.

And the whole time we have those profiting from the situation. I read some posts from bloggers in Gaza and they say merchants have tripled their prices because of the created scarcity of goods. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the merchants were actually members of Hamas and Hamas may be controlling the supplies into Gaza actually exhorting money from other Palestinians. That is what is happening in effect. Of course a few people are in control of “economic means” and have a monopoly on granting the license to access to it.

Then we have those dozen or so Jewish families that own and control most of industry in Israel and in the same way are exhorting wealth from the common Jewish people and they keep the attention of the Jewish people off that fact by using the Palestinian / Arab conflict as a distraction. Guess what we have the same deal in the Arab states we have the Sheikdoms and Fiefdoms like the Saudi Royal Family that controls the wealth and power creating economic disparity among the common Arab people. So here we have several leadership groups using the conflict to profit and keep the minds of those they subvert off of the fact they are getting reamed with a disparity creating system design through the use of external conflict as a distraction and justification for controls on the population.

Which means the leadership of the Jewish state, The Hamas, and The Arab Royalty are all really friends or mutual benefactors of the conflict who maintain their positions of power thanks to conflict the other leaders help to create, and these few are in reality are actually the common enemy of the people of all the nations.

Here again we have a few creating the worlds conflict for their benefit to the detriment of the many.

The solution is to implement collective control by the people and eliminate these families or groups and their use of centralized control to gain a disproportionate advantage in the local, regional, national and global economy.

These same groups and families can be found in every nation including the United States using division and conflict to weaken the people as a whole allowing them to take advantage of a weakened populace, who if unified would have power greater than those that at least in effect rule them, while creating the illusion of self rule or Democracy. We see the same thing in England and these groups and families are afraid the people will see through the Illusion and retaliate and therefore have put controls on the Internet and have begun to monitor the citizens so they can squash those that once realizing the game and seek to alert the others and organize them into unity to bring change to the imbalance of power that exists in both the public and private sector.

The Democracy in the world today is to a degree just an illusion. The election of Obama may have been the successful use of the small bit of Democratic Process available, only existing because it is required to create the Illusion of democracy, which may lead to the establishment of a genuine Democracy.

8. Posted by Richard Thomas ∞Φ on January 5, 2009 12:45 AM

"so what's the point? May as well destroy them and move on..."

It's not THAT simple, Chris... whatever our current take on Iran and Hamas... Hezbullah and Hamas both were their countries of origin's RED CROSS...and have morphed into the interplay of forces seen and unseen we witness now.

However, the destruction is going on...moving on.....even as we speak. Once again Israel has hijacked the thread of truth... a mighty Goliath... and in this strange twist of fate, David has no slingshot.

I once wondered how it is that a people who survived generations of Holocausts/victimizations... could/do not carry the seed of victimizer...

Unfortunately, I see how...it manifests in the ongoing saga of *victim*... and the world sees not the *victimizer*.

At the moment I have had *enough*.

Too bad there isn't a God to help us from ourselves.

9. Posted by Vanessa on January 5, 2009 12:56 AM

In summary all the conflict in the world is really an economic conflict and the "religious conflict" which is really an illusion in the minds of those participating in it, is used as a means to cover that up. When we all see it for what it is we will be able to eliminate it.

10. Posted by Richard Thomas ∞Φ on January 5, 2009 12:57 AM

"The people who facilitated($$$$$$$) the foundation and settlement of Israel were mainly interested in a client state to protect the oil in Persia and Arabia, and the Suez Canal...simple as that. They usurped all the religious people's ideas as they were useful in motivation. Having said that----there are now facts on the ground
that have to be dealt with........Cheers Chris.

PS. Just as the crusades weren't not about religion but trade and money."

Hence the war to remove all Palestinians is the only way for maximum profits from the natural gas in what still are (a few remnants of) "Palestinian territories". It won't be a surprise that Israel's politicians for a long time lusted for Arab oil, which came true thanks to the Iraq war, started with forged documents.

Heaven prevents an economic recovery in the US as that would rapidly cause a return to a barrel of oil for $150+ with the dread and bloodshed of more oil & gas wars: even when in about ten years Arctic oil comes online, that still couldn't compensate for the increasing decline in production due to depletion of old, once giant fields like Gawhar (Saudi Arabia) and Cantarell (Mexico). Hence the cooperation in South-America to thwart a second era of gringo colonialism as there still is enough recoverable gas and oil in for instance Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia to allow for an easy transformation to a sustainable society.

11. Posted by Tipper on January 5, 2009 01:07 AM

Hi Gotham and Everyone,

I am afraid I am with yogi-one on this...

how many times can you sit back and watch the Palestinian people be lead to their slaughter by their leadership, under the cry of the "great resistance."

Yes, Israel, could, do much more than it does, in every way, to help this situation along the road to some kind of liveable conclusion, and, yet, they too, march along on the same war weary path with their cry of the "great defense."

Both cleary have their head up their sasses, big time, for a long time, and it looks like it will be, till, the end of time...

in the mean time the rest of the world has work to do, kids to feed and educate, shelter to find and keep....and, bank statements to check, and re-check...

truly, I suspect a lot of folks were just like me this weekend and actually turned the news of the conflict OFF.

12. Posted by ruth on January 5, 2009 08:03 AM

Vanessa:

I suppose the Israelis should wait until hamas/hezbollah have high explosives, a dirty bomb or chemical/biologicals in the warheads of the thousands they can fire?.....What would you do?...Tony.

In this case it is not a violation of non-violence to defend....the collateral damage is horrendous, as hamas hide behind womens's skirts, and mosques....What to do? A full fledged ground invasion the only solution,,,or bomb Iran?....Chris

13. Posted by Chris on January 5, 2009 08:08 AM

I still think one of the reasons both Hamas and Israel chose this time to act out is because of the much bigger threat of confrontation between India and Pakistan, which has everyone, including Iran, reluctant to shake up anything at all. Both situations are confusing the focus on each other, on the world stage. The India-Pakistan potential for real danger is so great that it gives some perspective to Israel-Hamas, and Israel-Hamas bleeds some of the angry energy away from India-Pakistan.

14. Posted by heath on January 5, 2009 04:14 PM