The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Johann Hari:

Monday, 29 December 2008

(snip)

There will now be a war over the story of this war. The Israeli government says, "We withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and in return we got Hamas and Qassam rockets being rained on our cities. Sixteen civilians have been murdered. How many more are we supposed to sacrifice?" It is a plausible narrative, and there are shards of truth in it, but it is also filled with holes. If we want to understand the reality and really stop the rockets, we need to rewind a few years and view the run-up to this war dispassionately.

The Israeli government did indeed withdraw from the Gaza Strip in 2005 – in order to be able to intensify control of the West Bank. Ariel Sharon's senior adviser, Dov Weisglass, was unequivocal about this, explaining: "The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so that there will not be a political process with the Palestinians... this whole package that is called the Palestinian state has been removed from our agenda indefinitely."

Ordinary Palestinians were horrified by this, and by the fetid corruption of their own Fatah leaders, so they voted for Hamas. It certainly wouldn't have been my choice – an Islamist party is antithetical to all my convictions - but we have to be honest. It was a free and democratic election, and it was not a rejection of a two-state solution. The most detailed polling of Palestinians, by the University of Maryland, found that 72 per cent want a two-state solution on the 1967 borders, while fewer than 20 per cent want to reclaim the whole of historic Palestine. So, partly in response to this pressure, Hamas offered Israel a long, long ceasefire and a de facto acceptance of two states, if only Israel would return to its legal borders.

Rather than seize this opportunity and test Hamas's sincerity, the Israeli government reacted by punishing the entire civilian population. It announced that it was blockading the Gaza Strip in order to "pressure" its people to reverse the democratic process. The Israelis surrounded the Strip and refused to let anyone or anything out. They let in a small trickle of food, fuel and medicine – but not enough for survival. Weisglass quipped that the Gazans were being "put on a diet". According to Oxfam, only 137 trucks of food were allowed into Gaza last month to feed 1.5 million people. The United Nations says poverty has reached an "unprecedented level." When I was last in besieged Gaza, I saw hospitals turning away the sick because their machinery and medicine was running out. I met hungry children stumbling around the streets, scavenging for food.

It was in this context – under a collective punishment designed to topple a democracy – that some forces within Gaza did something immoral: they fired Qassam rockets indiscriminately at Israeli cities. These rockets have killed 16 Israeli citizens. This is abhorrent: targeting civilians is always murder. But it is hypocritical for the Israeli government to claim now to speak out for the safety of civilians when it has been terrorising civilians as a matter of state policy.

The American and European governments are responding with a lop-sidedness that ignores these realities. They say that Israel cannot be expected to negotiate while under rocket fire, but they demand that the Palestinians do so under siege in Gaza and violent military occupation in the West Bank.

Before it falls down the memory hole, we should remember that last week, Hamas offered a ceasefire in return for basic and achievable compromises. Don't take my word for it. According to the Israeli press, Yuval Diskin, the current head of the Israeli security service Shin Bet, "told the Israeli cabinet that Hamas is interested in continuing the truce, but wants to improve its terms." Diskin explained that Hamas was requesting two things: an end to the blockade, and an Israeli ceasefire on the West Bank. The cabinet – high with election fever and eager to appear tough – rejected these terms.

The core of the situation has been starkly laid out by Ephraim Halevy, the former head of Mossad. He says that while Hamas militants – like much of the Israeli right-wing – dream of driving their opponents away, "they have recognised this ideological goal is not attainable and will not be in the foreseeable future." Instead, "they are ready and willing to see the establishment of a Palestinian state in the temporary borders of 1967." They are aware that this means they "will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original goals" – and towards a long-term peace based on compromise.

read on...
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-true-story-behind-this-war-is-not-the-one-israel-is-telling-1214981.html

[scarletwoman]

1. Thank you for posting this. Nothing can be resolved until the full truth is told. (nt)

[tnlurker]

2. kick

Since I can't recommend.

[truedelphi]

3. KPFA out of Berkeley has told this story again and again

The seizure of funds that were traditionally used for the Palestinians to operate their economy.

The lack of food and medicine allowed into what is a modern day Mediterranean version of the Warsaw ghetto.

Traffic checkpoints that make a short distance drive an all day affair - designed to break the will of those who want to/need to commute out of the area.

Curfews that have killed people - The Palestinians tell each other to be sure and not have a coronary or go into labor during curfew.

[azurnoir]

4. IMO part of the mission or end game for the Israeli goverment

is to utterly break the spirit of the Palestinian people particularly those in Gaza but also those in the OPT to the point that they no longer have the will to do anything but "stay breathing" no 2 state solution, no Palestinian statehood, nothing left.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

5. Does this bloodbath actually have a goal?

I think the spirit of those in Gaza is a HELLUVA LONG WAY from being broken.

[azurnoir]

7. Tru enough Gaza is far from broken

But i still think that is part of the Israeli goal, I did not say it could be achieved and certainly did not say it was right or moral, simply that it is a one of the desired outcomes

[bemildred]

6. I thought Ms Gordon's piece nailed it.

Of course, occupiers always want to enforce obedience on the occupied, or "maintain order" as they will put it, but I don't think that's why we have a war on Gaza right now.

[azurnoir]

8. No it is not the sole reason

Israeli internal politics have much to do this , last week there was a thread about Meretz wanting war also I remember thinking it was a sad to it put it mildly state of affairs when you have every party trying to "out hawk" each other sort of like America in late 2001 and 2002.

[bemildred]

11. Well, I'm seeing a few stories about internal dissention at the top.

Over the proposed two day cease fire. Since they are rivals, is not too surprising. But it's not a good sign, things should not be decided by the egotism and political advantage of politicians, particularly in a time of crisis. This was one of the big Winograd criticisms.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

18. Can you re-link the piece?

[bemildred]

23. Sure, there are several copies around here.

This was the first OP I saw:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=231250

And I put it in the big thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=228696&mesg_id=231316

[ProgressiveMuslim]

24. Thanks Bemildred. So many links flying this week it's hard to keep track or carry on dialogue.

I responded to one of your links on the Analysis thread.

Fatah Cheers IAF -- NOT!

[leftchick]

9. Mark Steel: So what have the Palestinians got to complain about?

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-so-what-have-the-palestinians-got-to-complain-about-1218135.html

To portray this as a conflict between equals requires some imagination

Wednesday, 31 December 2008


When you read the statements from Israeli and US politicians, and try to match them with the pictures of devastation, there seems to be only one explanation. They must have one of those conditions, called something like "Visual Carnage Responsibility Back To Front Upside Down Massacre Disorder".

For example, Condoleezza Rice, having observed that more than 300 Gazans were dead, said: "We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence. We strongly condemn the attacks on Israel and hold Hamas responsible."

Someone should ask her to comment on teenage knife-crime, to see if she'd say: "I strongly condemn the people who've been stabbed, and until they abandon their practice of wandering around clutching their sides and bleeding, there is no hope for peace."

The Israeli government suffers terribly from this confusion. They probably have adverts on Israeli television in which a man falls off a ladder and screams, "Eeeeugh", then a voice says, "Have you caused an accident at work in the last 12 months?" and the bloke who pushed him gets £3,000.

The gap between the might of Israel's F-16 bombers and Apache helicopters, and the Palestinians' catapulty thing is so ridiculous that to try and portray the situation as between two equal sides requires the imagination of a children's story writer.

The reporter on News at Ten said the rockets "may be ineffective, but they ARE symbolic." So they might not have weapons but they have got symbolism, the canny brutes.

[cobalt1999]

10. The rockets are a disaster for the Palestinians.

Not only do they provide an excuse for the Israelis to respond with overwhelming force, but the rocket attacks causes the Palestinians lose their moral and sympathetic high ground.

This country is full of people that don't like injustices. The Palestinians have a great story, but they blow it by terrorism. Without the terrorists, the outrage against Israel would be 10 fold what it is now.

[Recursion]

12. No, without the resistance Israel would just let them starve

The attacks from Gaza force a war, which ends the "malevolent neglect" Israel uses to try to starve Gaza into non-existence. That would probably never get any public attention, at least not until it was far too late.

[Vegasaurus]

13. Baloney

without terrorism, the Palestinians would have had a thriving state now, and happy, well fed people.

Instead, they have chosen terrorism again and again, and their lives only become more miserable.

Israel has been wanting to make peace for 60 years but terrorism, rockets, suicide bombers, mortars and border kidnappings have brought walls, checkpoints and air raids.

Most people understand cause and effect, except Palestinan militants.

[Recursion]

14. Bwah!

Israel has been wanting to make peace for 60 years but terrorism, rockets, suicide bombers, mortars and border kidnappings have brought walls, checkpoints and air raids.

:spray:

Thanks. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. :)

[Vegasaurus]

15. But it is true

since Israel accepted the partition (the Arabs didn't, since they thought they could get back all the land) and every peace treaty since.

Every peace treaty has been rejected from the Arabs, who always choose terrorism.


Sorry if the truth hurts.

[High Plains]

21. You need to get back to your IDF unit.

[Sezu]

16. Palestinan militants and useful idiots who

equate terrorism with "resistance."

[Recursion]

17. "Terrorism" is a meaningless word

There is war and there is peace. Pretending there are "noble" ways to fight a war is ridiculous.

[Vegasaurus]

19. Well, if you don't care about Hamas targetting civilians, since it is war and all

then don;t cry foul at Palestinian civilians being killed.

It is a war, after all.

[Recursion]

20. I "cry foul" both times

I'm so utterly sick of this DU pretense that criticizing Israel means you're some how not criticizing anyone else. Can we agree to get over that please?

I don't see how the IDF's uniforms make what they do any better than what Hamas does.

[Vegasaurus]

22. There are rules of war

Hamas abides by none, and kills as many innocent people as possible.

If they want to have a real war, put on uniforms and come out and fight like men, using the rules of war.

[Recursion]

25. Sigh

Hamas uses suicide bombs and unguided rockets because that is the means available to them.

If they had guided missiles and cluster bombs, they would use those like Israel does. Both sides are equally guilty of using their population as human shields, except that Israel at least has enough terrain to remove their civilians from the war zone but refuses to, so in a way their doing it is worse.

[LeftishBrit]

27. I agree.

[eyl]

26. What, no mention of the

intensification of rocket fire starting immediately after Israel withdrew from Gaza? Or during that time last week when Hamas was supposedly asking for a renewed cease-fire? (to the point were even the Egyptian foreign minister was blaming Hamas for the renewed fighting last Saturday)