[lit-ideas] Re: Back in Gaza
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 05:23:36 -0700 (PDT)
Just curious: since the Americans elected George Bush
in 2004. (even if the 2000. elections were stolen)
would that mean that terrorist attacks on Americans
are justified ?
O.K.
--- Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Omar's article is from OHMY News:
>
<http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=306104&rel_no=1
> >
>
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=306104&rel_no=1
> -- It is apparently a response to an Israeli
> official who wrote, "'We have
> been attacked and bombarded for months and weeks"
>
>
>
> Two terrorist organizations, Hezbollah and Hamas are
> attacking Israel, so
> what can Ramzy Baroud say in defense of this?
>
>
>
> For one thing he wants credit for the Palestinians
> because they haven't
> managed to kill any Israelis with their rockets.
> The Israelis are much more
> accurate and so deserve blame.
>
>
>
> Good grief, what were the Palestinians thinking when
> they elected an
> Islamist Terrorist organization to run their
> country? That has got to be
> one of the dumbest things any population has ever
> done. Did they think that
> Hamas, who has sworn to drive Israel out of
> existence, who has never
> recognized Israel's right to exist was going to keep
> Palestine, located
> right next to Israel, out of trouble?
>
>
>
> Of course it's not the only time an Islamist group
> has taken over a country.
> It occurred in Afghanistan with well know results.
> It almost occurred in
> Algeria. It occurred in Iran and the final chapter
> on that debacle has yet
> to be written. It indicates to me that the interest
> in Islamism,
> Fundamentalist Islam, the ideology developed by
> Maududi, Al Banna, Qubt and
> Khomeini has a widespread attraction in the Middle
> East. It is further
> indication that Moderate Islam is not very
> influential. As I said in
> earlier discussions, I see no evidence of moderate
> Islamic scholars speaking
> out any place in the Middle East.
>
>
>
> A nation that elects an Islamist Terrorist
> organization to run its country
> is identifying with the goals of that organization,
> whether it knows it or
> not. Hamas subscribes to the goals of Sayyid Qutb.
> Read about them in
> Andrea Nusse's Muslim Palestine, the Ideology of
> Hamas. They want to
> destroy Israel and any other infidels (including
> Arab officials who don't
> agree with them) who get in their way. Violence is
> their means of promoting
> their ideology. Baroud's frequent reference to the
> poor innocent
> Palestinians seems especially ironic in light of
> whom the poor innocent
> Palestinians chose to run their country.
>
>
>
> Omar appended a paragraph with a short bio and an
> Amazon.com reference to a
> book Baroud wrote. Baroud has written several
> books. For example,
> Searching Jenin by Ramzy Baroud (preface by Noam
> Chomsky).
>
>
>
> I suppose if one reads every article Omar posts, one
> will eventually read
> every articulate Leftist, Anti-American,
> Anti-Israeli, pro-Militant-Islam
> writer who has ever written.
>
>
>
> Lawrence
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Omar Kusturica
> Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 8:24 AM
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Back in Gaza
>
>
>
>
>
> Why is Israel Back in Gaza?
>
> by Ramzy Baroud
>
> July 19, 2006
>
>
>
>
>
> The disparity between Israel's public narrative and
>
> its actual intents cannot possibly be any more
>
> palpable than in the current Gaza onslaught
> following
>
> the capture by Palestinians of an Israeli solider
> near
>
> Gaza in a daring June 25 raid on a military post.
>
>
>
> "Anybody who calls this operation disproportionate
> has
>
> no clue about the facts on the ground. We have been
>
> attacked and bombarded for months and weeks,"
> Yitzhak
>
> Herzog, the Israeli cabinet secretary, said,
>
> responding to what some media described as "an
>
> increasing international concern" over the Israeli
>
> reinvasion of parts of the Gaza Strip and the
>
> subsequent high death toll. Shortly after Herzog
> made
>
> his comments, the death toll among Palestinians as a
>
> result of the Israeli action rose to 52, mostly
>
> civilians. However, numbers can hardly communicate
> the
>
> humanitarian crisis underway as a result of the
>
> Israeli siege and bombardment.
>
>
>
> The Israeli official was reiterating a new mantra
>
> adopted by the Israeli government, aimed at
> silencing
>
> any serious criticism of the Israeli military and
> its
>
> deadly practices in Gaza. Such rebuttal however,
>
> seemed overly exaggerated, considering that no
>
> serious, or at least meaningful international
>
> criticism of the Israeli raids in Gaza, dubbed by
> the
>
> ever poetic Israeli army as "Summer Rain." The
> Israeli
>
> one-sided war was exasperated by the fact that
>
> Palestinians have been under a long economic siege
>
> which was tightened even further with the election
> of
>
> Hamas to power last January.
>
>
>
> The Gaza Strip, a stretch of land that hardly
> exceeds
>
> a few kilometers in length and is much smaller in
>
> width has always been the home of the poorest of
>
> Palestinians, with living conditions that speak of
>
> utter misery, and can only be compared to the
> poorest
>
> countries in the world, despite Gaza's highly
> educated
>
> population.
>
>
>
> Israel insists that its operation is not intended to
>
> harm the civilian population, but to root out and
> for
>
> good the so-called terrorist elements that use the
>
> civilian infrastructure to attack adjacent Israeli
>
> towns with rockets. It also says that it will not
>
> cease its 'military activities' in the area until
> its
>
> captured soldier is returned home safely and without
>
> conditions.
>
>
>
> Israel's demands, without proper context - sound
>
> reasonable, to say the least. Israeli and US media
>
> commentators agree; their overall assessment is:
>
> Israel doesn't want to set precedent by giving
>
> terrorists an incentive to carry on with their acts
> of
>
> terror, and Israel's favorite mantra, any democratic
>
> country would do precisely what Israel has done to
>
> secure its citizens.
>
>
>
> Again, the historic role of the media, that of
>
> completely acknowledging and sympathizing with
> Israeli
>
> concerns, while regularly disregarding Palestinian
>
> concerns as unworthy, continues to perpetuate with
>
> equal force and tenacity. Thus the only relevant
>
> context, as far as the Western media is concern, is
>
> that context instructed by Israel, who, in turn,
>
> wishes to convince everyone that the above demands
> are
>
> indeed the real reasons behind its bloody Gaza
>
> onslaught.
>
>
>
> If the military's intentions are indeed to "root out
>
> terrorists" as Israel tirelessly asserts, then why
>
> insist on pursuing the same detrimental policies -
>
> those of siege, isolation and overt militarism -
> that
>
> deprive Palestinians of any sense of hope that Gaza
>
> could finally become an economically viable, truly
>
> independent polity? Why push desperate Palestinians
> -
>
> through endless assassinations and targeting of
>
> civilians in broad daylight to embrace vengeful
>
> notions and counter- violence?
>
>
>
> I say, "notions" because the so-called Palestinians
>
> rockets, as ominous as they may appear on
> television,
>
> are yet to claim one Israeli casualty for over a
> year,
>
> while the Israeli military has killed over 150
>
> Palestinians in the last two months alone.
>
>
>
> But how about the captured soldier? Is that not a
>
> legitimate grievance? It would be if it was not
> Israel
>
> who insisted on creating utterly perilous
>
> circumstances under which it places not just its
>
> soldiers, but also its civilians. For example, Gilad
>
> Shalit - no matter how harmless the photos Israel
>
> deliberately provides of him to the media - was
> taking
>
> part in a murderous mission aimed at exactly that,
>
> murdering Palestinians. In the seven weeks prior to
>
> Shalit's capture, the number of Palestinians killed
> at
>
> the hands of the Israeli military - i.e. Shalit's
>
> equally innocent looking colleagues - approached the
>
> 100 mark.
>
>
>
> Shalit however, was a soldier, trained to physically
>
> and mentally endure difficult moments. But how can
> one
>
> explain the transfer of nearly half a million
> Israeli
>
> civilians to the Occupied West Bank and East
> Jerusalem
>
> - in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention? How
>
> could any responsible 'democracy' endanger its own
>
> population by placing them in a war zone, while
>
> providing Palestinians with every reason to seek
>
> revenge and retaliation for their heavy losses at
> the
>
> hands of the Israeli military?
>
>
>
> It's rather odd that the Israeli government is
>
> painting this rosy media image for Israel, as a
> nation
>
> that would go to great lengths to save the life of
> one
>
> man, while it puts the life of hundreds of thousands
>
> of its people in great danger, notwithstanding the
>
> total disregard for the life of all Palestinians. If
>
> Israel's actions send any message, it's one filled
>
> with hypocrisy and racism.
>
>
>
> But what does Israel exactly want? Is its bloody
> show
>
> in Gaza aimed exclusively at the toppling of the
>
> Hamas-led government? Or is it directed to at the
>
> international community to further demonstrate that
>
> Palestinians are no peace partner? Or perhaps it's a
>
> message to Israelis themselves, to those who were
>
> doubtful that a civilian government with little
>
> military history - particularly the records of the
>
> Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Defense Minister
>
> Amir Peretz - can prove equally ruthless?
>
>
>
> It's not clear where this Israeli experiment is
>
> heading. But what is hardly unmistakable is that by
>
> maintaining low intensity warfare in Gaza, Israel is
>
> creating the perfect cover up to its army bulldozers
>
> to partition the rest of the West Bank and Jerusalem
>
> in accordance with the second phase of Olmert's
>
> Disengagement Plan: which intends to slice up the
> West
>
> Bank into various enclaves with no physical
>
> continuity, and place its population under an
>
> effective, long term, collective incarceration in
>
> Bantustan-like areas, to be allowed or denied
> movement
>
> at the behest of an Israeli solider. The plan is
> being
>
> actualized in record time, yet few seem to notice, a
>
> reality that Israel will strive to maintain.
>
>
>
> Despite the tragic events unfolding in Gaza, the
> truth
>
> is Gaza never was and will unlikely to strategically
>
> relevant to Israel's expansionist objectives. Gaza
> at
>
> best - as has been the case for generations - is
>
> simply grounds for Israeli military
> experimentations,
>
> and at worst, a mindless killing field, where
>
> Palestinians are forced to 'learn' the same lesson,
>
> time and again. Indeed, the current Israeli military
>
> 'operation' in Gaza is keeping true to expectations.
>
>
>
>
> -Ramzy Baroud is a US author and journalist,
> currently
>
> based in London. His recent book, "The Second
>
> Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's
>
> Struggle" (Pluto Press, London), is now available at
>
> Amazon.com. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the
>
> Palestine Chronicle.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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