Israel, Occupation & Blind Hatred

I used to think that the Haaretz website was silly for allowing all and any views to be published on it’s website in response to its news reports. However over time I have begun to appreciate the fact that the opinions expressed at Haaretz reflects the opinions of much of Israeli society as well as American and other world opinions. What is more striking is the obvious state of denial Israeli society is in when it comes to the true nature of the occupation even when its brutality is caught on tape.

Let us analyze the recent footage of a young Palestinian blind folded and bound by the hands and feet at an Israeli checkpoint. An Israeli soldier points a gun towards the young Palestinians legs for a few minutes before shooting him in the foot. Now many news reporters cite Israeli rubber bullets without mentioning that they are steel bullets with a thin rubber coating, making them little different from normal steel bullets. What makes this incident even more repulsive is the fact that the Palestinian is being held by the Israeli officer in charge as well as at least three other Israeli soldiers, diminishing the argument that cases like these are isolated incidents as opposed to an institutional problem. So how do many Israelis view such incidents? You would think that any honest person watching the video would undoubtedly condemn the soldier’s actions for its sheer cruelty. Comments such as “this video is anti-Semitic” or “this video is a fake” or my favourite “he probably deserved it” really does make me lose any hope in a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israelis need to start accepting the reality of their existence and the occupation, which its Government continues to maintain over another people. The denial within Israeli society is what allows its Government to maintain and perpetuate its brutal policies. There is also another fundamental problem with the mindset of the pro-Israel I camp. One comment which best describes this was “...at least they [IDF soldiers] do not chop off his head…” referring to the evil actions of a tiny minority of so called “Muslims”. A problem with this argument is that the conflict in Palestine has nothing to do with George Bush’ so called “War on Terror”. For example I could not compare the actions of the American soldiers who torture and kill Iraqi prisoners in their military dungeons with the actions of a Police officer in the UK who was filmed beating a young boy. The only similarity between the two is that they both speak English and that they both tick ‘Christian’ when filling out their census forms. However many Israelis and pro-Israelis alike are quick to bring in Al-Qaeda when talking about Palestinian “terrorism” as if the two were somehow connected. Now anyone with a basic understanding of history would know that Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation began as a secular movement long before Al-Qaeda was a household name. Hamas has in the past condemned the actions of Al-Qaeda and has made clear their position in this regard, distancing themselves from the propaganda being circulated in western media in trying to connect the two. The truth always stands out from error in just the same way that George Bushes propaganda in the run up to the Iraq war claimed that Saddam Hussein has helped Al-Qaeda attack the two trade centres in New York on Sept 11^th. Did Bush really think that people would believe such an absurdity? How can a secular socialist Government and Al-Qaeda share similar ideologies? The Ba’ath party of Iraq represented everything contradictory to Al-Qaeda’s own ideology to such a degree that it made them enemies by default. Israeli society as well as many in the pro-Israel camp do not of course see these differences within the Arab and Muslim world, and will therefore always excuse the crimes committed against Arabs and Muslims on the grounds that the entire Arab & Muslim world are guilty for the crimes committed by others who are labelled “Muslim”.

There is also another difficulty the Palestinians face when seeking justice for their people. The IDF usually carry out their own “investigations” when it comes to incidents like the checkpoint shooting. In nearly every single case the IDF claim that the Palestinians have fabricated crimes and atrocities in order to win world sympathy. The reality is of course is that the Palestinians as a whole are no longer hoping that world opinion will help win their freedom. The massacre of an entire family on a Gaza beach in 2006 was the Israelis claimed caused by “unexploded ordinance” on the beach. In other words they were killed by their own people. The evidence gathered and the subsequent Human Rights Watch and Palestinian investigations as well as medical reports have proved that it was an Israeli gunship which fired the rocket which resulted in their deaths. Now it seems the IDF are already quick to question the legitimacy of this recent video evidence of Israeli brutality. An IDF “investigation” is currently under way with Ehud Barak claiming; “…The military will exact the full extent of the law in this case….” It should not be any surprise that the Palestinians and human rights organizations alike do not take such words seriously, especially when soldiers who are guilty of murdering Palestinian children are hardly ever convicted. In the rare cases when Israelis are convicted of crimes against Palestinians their punishment are never fitting to the crime. A few months in jail for shooting a Palestinian child in the head is usually the norm. In the case of the settlers who beat an old Palestinian couple, which was also caught on tape resulted in their release two days after they were initially arrested. Readers can verify this information by visiting the Israeli human rights organizations website B’Tselem (an Israeli organization).

In a nutshell Israeli society needs the lies and myths surrounding the existence of the state in order to justify and wipe their hands of any and all responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinians and the responsibility for that suffering. If Israel was an Arab state and the Palestinians were Jews or Christians the international community would not hesitate in branding it a terrorist state. They would not hesitate in comparing its policies to that of apartheid South Africa. The many massacres would have been condemned in the most caustic of terms and international pressure and sanctions would be enforced without question. If Israel was an Arab state, be sure that the US would be pushing for ‘regime change’ even if that meant a full scale war in order to achieve this end.

What makes this conflict hopeless is that Israelis will continue denying their responsibility for the crimes of the state yesterday and the crimes it will commit tomorrow. Israeli society and Government alike will continue to justify the murder of Palestinian children and the humiliation endured by Palestinians on a daily basis. Reports of pregnant women and terminally ill patients dying at checkpoints or ambulance personnel being harassed and even killed by so called soldiers will surface again and again. Israeli bombardments and incursions into occupied Palestinian territory will in no doubt lead to more civilian deaths many of whom will be children. Palestinians will continue to wonder why on earth they are being treated the way they are and why it is that the world is silent at what is so obviously a brutal and disgusting occupation, which will continue to deny Palestinian human rights and their right to resist the Israel’s occupation. Israel will continue being in a state of denial unable to comprehend the actual facts on the ground blaming Palestinian violence on inherent hatred as instead of recognising the truth, that Palestinian violence is bourn from a hatred engraved in the minds Palestinian children each time they see their friends or family killed or father, mother or brother humiliated at the hands of the Israeli military. If these realities do not change, then peace in Palestine will remain a distant dream in the minds of those who are living the misery of occupation.

Joy & Greif in Israel and Lebanon

The latest news from Israel-Lebanon of a prisoner exchange has dominated the headlines as far as news from the Middle East is concerned. I have recently read various reports from the BBC speaking of the “joy” & “grief” which has greeted this latest prisoner swap. According to the BBC the bodies of two dead Israeli soldiers merits grief, while the over 200 dead Lebanese in which Israel has exchanged remain nameless. Al Jazeera ran a report before the prisoner swap of the families of just a handful of the dead, many of them Palestinians. Just like the families of both Israeli soldiers, which Hezbollah held for many years these Palestinian and Lebanese mothers, brother, sisters and fathers also displayed the obvious signs of pain and grief. Yet the proportion of dead; 2 Israeli and 200 Arabs does not register in the BBC’s conscience. Apparently the families of the over 200 dead Lebanese and Palestinians will not grieve at their funerals.

Of course the release of Samir Quntar who was jailed in 1979 for the killing of a four year old Israeli girl and her father is bound to cause controversy, and I do not believe that the killing of innocents is a legitimate way to resist aggression and occupation. However the evidence, which was used to convict Quntar was provided by the IDF who have in countless cases fabricated events in order to clear their own men of wrongdoing. Such fabrications often occur when the IDF murder Palestinian children. Quntar claims that it was Israeli fire, which killed his hostages; the IDF claim is was Quntar. Whatever the truth may be the BBC have made it appear that while Israel is welcoming home it’s brave soldiers who died at the hands of “terrorists”, the Lebanese are welcoming home “murderers” further ‘proving’ the ‘inhumanity’ and ‘subhuman’ nature of the Arabs. It does not occur to people that these two soldiers are part of a wider more brutal military regime, which has over the years killed thousands upon thousands of Arab men, women and children. Only recently the IDF butchered over 1000 Lebanese civilians, while Hezbollah killed 43 Israeli civilians and up to 130 IDF soldiers. In addition to the destruction inflicted upon the Lebanese people 30% of those killed were children under the age of 13 and entire civilian districts were flattened. The US, UK, Germany Australia and Canada asserted “Israel’s right to self defence”, while the United States even provided Israel with more bombs in which to massacre entire families in their homes.

In order to understand world support for Israeli war crimes we must look at the context in which these casualties are seen. Human Rights Watch in their report on the war reported that because Hezbollah used unguided missiles against Israel it was by far more accountable for its war crimes. However the fact that Hezbollah killed mostly soldiers with their “crude” missiles while Israel butchered over 1000 civilians with their state of the art precision guided missiles again does not register with the so called International Community. I may also take time to mention that Israel’s use of cluster bombs (illegal under International law) is until today maiming and killing many Lebanese civilians.

I will not go into too much detail regarding the 2006 war against the Lebanese as I will cover this in great detail in a later article; however what I am pointing out is the way in which western Governments and media organisations value Israeli and Arab blood, how the latter are incapable of suffering on the level of the former. The 2006 war in Lebanon and all the wars fought prior to it tell us so much in the way of western sentiment and empathy toward the Israeli way of life in comparison to attitudes towards that of the Arabs. As a Palestinian and as an Arab I cannot help but feel anger and resentment at what I see as the utter neglect and indifference toward Arab suffering and concerns. And as this recent prisoner swap shows us, we Arabs are not capable of mourning our loved ones or feeling pain even though it is Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners who are held in their thousands in Israeli dungeons, often without charge or trial. And if these two Israeli soldiers who were “kidnapped” on the Lebanese borders deserve recognition by name as every media outlet publishes, what of the literally thousands of Palestinians including many children who are kidnapped by Israeli forces while they sleep in their homes in foreign Palestinian territory? And what of Palestinian leaders who are murdered in so called targeted assassinations? They will never gain the recognition and sympathy of the west because they are labelled as “militants” or “terrorists” while an Israeli soldier like the one who emptied his magazine into thirteen year old Iman al-Hams little body will still remain a “soldier” and the IDF will still remain an “army” in every single news reference to each of them respectively. And while Israeli society & Government alike condemns the Lebanese people for welcoming “terrorists” home as heroes, they do not even consider the fact that Imans murderer has never been charged with any wrongdoing like so many of the IDF’s terrorist soldiers.

The Killing of 8 Israelis in Context

The recent killing of 8 Israelis at a Jerusalem Yeshiva brought howls of condemnation the world over. Media organisations were in frenzy at the brutality of this latest terrorist attack committed by a Palestinian against Israelis, Muslim killing Jews. The BBC managed to eclipse the tragedies we saw and are continuing to see in Gaza with reports of Israeli protest to the attacks and video footage of the mass funeral which followed. What was also prevalent within world media reports were the supposed celebrations in Gaza in response to the news of these killings. Many in the pro-Israel camp cited the common idea that what we saw in Gaza in response to the killings proves the Palestinians in inherent to kill Jews. They must have forgotten that a common slogan among Israel’s settler movement is “death to Arabs” as was the case during the funeral processions which followed the Yeshiva killings.

However looking at these events in context unveils the mass hysteria, and propaganda, which helps maintain the very hypocrisy and double standards which support Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Israel’s Public Security Minister Avi Dichter is demanding the home of Alaa Abu Dhaim who was responsible for the killings be destroyed. It was up until 2005 standard practice for the homes of so called suicide bombers to be destroyed. Family members are given little or no time to gather their belongings before either a bulldozer or fighter jets destroys their home. As well as being a gross human rights violation, such actions do not of course apply to Jews who murder Palestinians. Burach Goldstein the Orthodox Jewish settler who was responsible for the 1994 massacre of 25 Palestinians and the wounding of 150 is regarded as a ‘saint’ and hero among the settlement movement. The massacre happened in a Mosque in Hebron Palestine on the 25th of February 1994. Goldstein opened fire as Muslims were worshipping on the same grounds where Abraham is believed to have been buried killing 25 and injuring well over 100. It was not until a few worshippers managed to get to Goldstein that his rampage was put to an end, and Goldstein was subsequently killed.
The Ministry Of Interior when processing Goldstein’s death certificate included ‘murder’ as the cause of his death. Alaa Abu Dhaim who murdered Jewish students at the Yeshiva was also killed by some of his intended victims. Unlike Goldstein Israel branded Abu Dhaim a “terrorist” his killers were hailed as heroes and his family home is due to be destroyed. It has now been discovered that Alaa Abu Dhaim carried out this attack alone. His family claims that Israel’s latest Gaza onslaught enraged Alaa and was most likely the catalyst for the school massacre.

Palestinian anger is real as is Israeli anger. Palestinian hate is also very much real and so is Israeli hate. However the cause of such anger and hate is very much different. While Palestinians suffer the brutality of the Israeli occupation, assassinations, road blocks, house demolitions, food and water restrictions, electricity cuts, land theft and the daily humiliation at the hands of the so called IDF, Israeli anger and hate spawns from their Governments inability to carry out these crimes without any response from the Palestinians. For your average Israeli, Palestinian Katusha rockets are simply a product bourn of inherent hate, as opposed to hate fuelled by over 50 years of an occupation, which has trampled on the Palestinians basic human rights from its very beginning. The Palestinians of Gaza are literally starving due to Israel’s continuing embargo. The celebrations we saw in Gaza as a result of the Yeshiva killings are a normal reaction from a people who cannot express their suffering in a way that we in the West consider “morally acceptable”. How do you express the fact that your family and neighbors are slowly dying at the hands of a state founded on the ruins of your ancestors?

Haaretz & Israeli Public Opinion

Today I was visiting the Haaretz’ website and reading an article titled: 'We thought you wanted peace,' the article was about a father’s response to the media when asked about the murder of his two daughters by the IDF. What struck me was not the capacity for Israeli leftist newspapers to report such tragedies in Gaza, but the comments posted by mainly American and Israeli readers. Some of those who posted on the site were condemning Haaretz for reporting the murders of these two Palestinian girls. However others were blaming the Palestinians in Gaza for the Israeli missile which stuck the home of Samah, 13, and Salwa, 18. One American even claimed “Arabs kill their women and children and then blame the IDF.” He then claimed that this was “well documented”. As a Palestinian I could not help but feel disgusted at the utter ignorance and contempt for a person with such attitudes. However it did not end there. An Israeli posted the following “A week later we find out terrorists used their house to launch missiles”. It has been well documented in low profile media sources who unlike many of the major media outlets such as CNN and ABC news that the accusation of Palestinian resistance fighters hiding among civilians is utterly distorted. It has also been well documented that Israel has in fact been found guilty of using Palestinians as human shields in both their assault on Lebanon as well as their assault on Palestinians territories. In northern Israel for example Palestinian witnesses told reporters that Israeli strikes against Lebanon were launched from Arab villages. These Arab villages of course were neither equipped with the bomb shelters nor the air raid sirens, which could be found in every Jewish village in the same area. So when Hezbollah rockets came showering down on Arab villages killing Arabs in the process pro-Jewish media sources could not help but report of Hezbollah’s utter disregard for their Arab and Muslim brothers lives.

Many in the pro-Israel camp believe that so called Palestinian “terrorism” is the only obstacle to peace. Such propaganda must be addressed in order to do justice for all who suffer in this conflict. While Olmert has welcomed Abbas as a ‘partner for peace’, Hamas have been sidelined because they do not recognize Israel. Similarly the late Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat was subjected to house arrest and military bombardment because he would not give up Palestinian rights such as the right of return. The greatest Irony is that the Israeli Government continued to demand Arafat crack down on the resistance, while under constant house arrest. The Israeli Government have mastered the art of asking for the impossible while still appearing to be peacemakers. Any form of resistance to Israel’s occupation can be expected to be met with assassinations, arrest and collective punishment. It should be worth noting that Israeli participation in these so called peace processes is in effect the Palestinian endorsement and legalization for continued settlement expansion, assassinations and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their historic homeland.

Because Palestinian group’s fire crudely made homemade rockets into Israeli towns, western media outlets term these actions as blatantly targeting civilians. More often than not it is never mentioned that Israel assassinates Palestinian leaders or murders innocent Palestinian civilians on a daily basis. Nor is it mentioned that Israeli settlement expansion continues and the oppression and humiliation of Palestinians continues on a daily basis, while the fallacy of Israeli efforts towards peace is meant to stir up emotions in the west when they see Palestinian rockets falling on Israeli towns for apparently no reason.

Throughout its history the IDF has massacred thousands upon thousands of Palestinians. For those who are not familiar with the history of Israel’s founding, the IDF was founded by the Hagannah a terrorist organization responsible for the bombing of British officials at the King David Hotel in 1948 among the countless other massacres they committed against Palestinian men, women and children. Statistical analysis of children killed by IDF ‘troops’ clearly shows that the IDF do in fact target innocents. YouTube is another source for proving this, although the Jewish owned website takes down pro-Palestinian videos whenever they can. The sheer number of Palestinians under the age of 18 killed by the IDF and the number of bullet wounds to the head proves definitively that Israel’s army has committed crimes against humanity from it’s very existence up until the present day. What really effects me as a Palestinian is that each and every crime committed against Palestinians is brushed of a either ‘accidental’ or because Palestinian ‘militants’ use Palestinian civilians as human shields. Another prevailing myth among Israeli apologists is that Palestinians murder their own children in order to gain international sympathy for their cause! Such fabrications are not only sickening they desecrate the very memory of those Palestinians murdered throughout Israel’s short, but bloody history.

A simple logical assumption can be made in order to determine if the actions we see in Gaza are legitimate force necessary to ensure Israel’s security. Israel has been carrying out similar attacks long before suicide bombings, long before Palestinians could even fire rockets at civilians and even long before the founding of Hamas. So this begs the question if Hamas ceased to exist, and the rockets and suicide bombings stopped, would Israel stop attacking Palestinian towns, villages and cities, would the continued settlement expansion and harassment end? All the historical evidence would indicate no.

Another myth used by Israel apologists in order to justify crimes against Palestinians, is that the Israelis unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, thus proving that the Israeli Government desired peace and the Palestinians wanted nothing less than Israel’s destruction. Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza serves three major advantages. Firstly such a move makes Israel appear to be a country which desires peace, while the Palestinians seek its destruction. The repopulation of Gaza’s Jewish settlers into what is now Israel helps to confront Israel’s own demographic threat.

Hamas’ apparent military coup of Gaza was used to further demonize Hamas making them appear the aggressors and murderers of fellow Palestinians, while the US supported Fatah were made to appear innocent of any wrong doing. However as we all now know it was the Bush administration that pushed Hamas and Fatah into war. In short the US administration wanted to stir up a civil war believing it could somehow reverse the outcome of democratic votes in Palestine which saw a Hamas victory. It was Hamas who first discovered that the US was arming much of Fatah preparing them for war against them. Hamas pre-empted the attempted coup a subsequently took over the Gaza strip by force. It should be noted that the Al-aqsa Martyrs Brigade who are also part of Fatah refused to confront Hamas, as the corruption of Fatah and in particular Muhammad Dahlan was leaked.

So while the Bush Administration claims it wants to find a peaceful resolution in Palestine, their anti-democratic attempts to fuel a Palestinian civil war has been exposed. What the United States want more than anything is to destroy Hamas and anyone else who confronts the Israeli occupation head on. Talking peace while Israel continues to expand its illegal settlements making any chance of a viable Palestinian state even more remote is nothing more than a weak attempt at leaving behind some sort of legacy behind a blood soaked and error ridden term in office. A Palestinian Government which allows Israel to dictate its terms for “peace” is a Palestinian Government both the US and Israel would like to deal with. Of course any form of objection to Israel policy is seen as a threat to Israel and therefore renders anyone involved in anti-occupation activities violent or non-violent an enemy of Israel, whether it be Hamas, Fatah or the general civilian population.