Easy does it, everyone…
Where's Palestine?
Dear Tsiporah,
Let's be careful justifying or worse — celebrating — atrocities, as so many flag-waving crowds are doing on both sides in so many cities right now. Fact is, Hamas chose to commit — and broadcast — outrageous war crimes against civilians, whether "complicit" or not.
No matter how understandable or "justified", any deliberate act of terror is a no-go for me. If Hamas had limited their strikes to police and military targets, their feat of arms would be recognized worldwide as one of the boldest, most successful acts of resistance in modern military history. Unhappily, they indiscriminately vented their long pent-up rage against random civilians, thereby forfeiting support from additional sympathizers who had not yet rallied to the cause of Palestinian justice.
Sure, it feels good after being abused and terrorized for so long. But what then?
Not to be outdone in acts of terror, the ever-righteous Zionist fundamentalists are taking this relentlessly provoked reaction to possibly world-ending depths, mouthing the need for a "final solution" as they blockade and level Gaza.
Seems we've heard this slogan before.
And we all know what happened next.
Total madness. Isn't it curious how, over the past 70 years, so many Israelis have come to mirror the rhetoric, cruelty and genocidal impulses of their historic Nazi oppressors?
All this ex-military guy can add is that if Gaza's congested urban warren is reduced to rubble, Stalingrad and Berlin indelibly demonstrated what happens when tanks cannot pass and formidable formations of troops are reduced to small units proceeding on foot to clear each pile of concrete and rebar of fighters willing to die in order to kill them. Hear this: If Benny 'yahoo goes all in to "regain face" he's already permanently lost, he will achieve only ever-growing worldwide condemnation. And Israel's bewildered and poorly equipped reservists, plucked from their civilian routines with no time for training in urban combat, will be slaughtered on a scale their nation's recent defeat in Lebanon only hinted at.
Also never — ever — forget: those Israeli tanks and US-supplied “Warthog” ground attack jets are rapid-firing depleted uranium shells. Ask the pregnant mothers in Basra, Baghdad and Kosovo how that worked out for their babies. The use of DU and white phosphorous in heavily populated cities are horrific war crimes Hamas could never begin to emulate with Kalashnikovs. drones, bottle-rockets and grenades.
Is Hamas a stalking horse for Israel’s genocidal agenda? My concern grows when I recall that Hamas is an Israeli/Washington creation originally intended to dominate the more moderate PLO — while derailing every peace overture to insure endless conflict. If the Palestinian people freely choose Hamas as their protectors in an armed resistance I fully support against legitimate targets of direct oppression — I bow to their choice. As if my concurrence is either sought or needed.
Problem is, it has always been, when each side in an ongoing conflict insists on its right to defend iteself to death, the inevitable result is an incredibly shrinking Palestine, and a half-century's drain-circling spiral of vengeance and reprisals.
So, you ask, just what are Palestinians subjected almost daily to target practice by armed guards — who high-five each other when they blow out another kneecap of some kid in this open air concentration camp — supposed to do? Even as their remaining territories are further fragmented, until reduced to a few square-meters of arid sand.
In Egypt.
I have only two suggestions to offer:
1. Bar the United States from all Mideast negotiations. Let Russia, China and the rest of the BRICS mediate, instead.
2. Enforce all UN mandates and resolutions concerning the occupation of Palestine now. These include recognition of an independent Palestinian state, including all territories illegally seized by so-called "settlers".
Though warned against it, during our private peace mission to Jordan during a Desert Storm, Vancouver artist Carl Chaplin and I were surrounded by upset Palestinians in the streets of Amman during a Desert Storm. Before they could mistake us for another Western news team to physically assault, I directly informed this excited crowd: “There can be no peace in the Middle East until there is justice for the Palestinians.”
I can still see their shock on hearing these words from a Westerner willing to enter their agitated midst to address them, face-to-face.
And I will never forget their cries of "Welcome sir! Welcome sir!"
Freedom, respect, dignity and home rule for the Palestinian people now!
My heart is with you and the grieving families on both sides of an emotional and physical barrier that must come down now,
Will