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Aid ship for Gaza
Martin Deane, 5.1.09
A few days ago an aid ship for Gaza was rammed and forced to
limp away to Lebanon harbour. It was bringing vitally needed
medical supplies to Gaza because of the longterm Israeli closure
of Gaza's border and the lack of basic medicines in the
hospitals for Gaza's 1.5 million people.
Among those on board
was Cynthia McKinney, who stood against Barack Obama for the
presidency for America's Green Party. Since then, despite
"one President at a time", Obama has renewed Bush's
promise of $3 billion in miltary aid every year to Israel -
for 10 years. A war economy on both sides.
The UK Green Party
has always voted a strong line against the 60-year Israeli
oppression of Palestinians. Greens remain firm in their
call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the
state of Israel for its continued assault on Palestinian
life.
http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/rops/ropsip.pdf
Today reports are of
5 Israelis dead - and 500 Palestinians dead. Such is the
arithmetic of this latest "just war".
The BBC (R4)
continues to follow the (Likud) party line. We get the
usual quotes from Israeli politicans, officials and commanders,
unmatched by officials from the other side - largely because
they are running for their lives. And with good reason. Israel
is a highly militarised culture in the best armed state
(per head) in the world. (Israel's population is a mere 7.3
million).
So to hear reporter Tim
Franklin comment, as he did this morning, "Israel is
not one to pick a fight!" the politest response has to be:-
Oh come on! Get a grip!
Anyone watching this
conflict knows that Israel has a general election in February.
But what we have not been told is that these attacks were
planned many months ago. And so was the diplomatic and press
offensive.
That is why we hear
so much and see so much of the Israeli side - with only a
fraction of the criticism there ought to be for this international
rogue state - that's if we judge by the number of all
but unanimous resloutions the UN has passed against Israel.
But why did Israel
plan the attacks for now? One way of ensuring you get a
hardline aggressive government is to promote a "just
war" right before elections. Among those standing is a now
familiar face: the pretty blond foreign minister Tzipi Livni who
tells us unrelentingly how justified and proportionate these
Israeli atrocities are.
Also standing is
veteran Benjamin Netanyahu who also regularly presents a
polished justification of what Israel is doing, clearly singing
from the same hymnsheet. Maybe from the same talking points
the PR machine came up with months ago.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ILdI9N_AY
Another of today's
R4 commentators - also clearly embedded talks about "Those
who really matter - those who are making the decisions".
Here he clearly means the Israelis, the politicians and
commanders.
Who, then, clearly
don't matter? Maybe the 10,000 Israelis who protested
against their own government in Tel Aviv the other day. Or
maybe the teenagers, called up in the massive mobilisation
going on in this highly militaristic state, many of whom
are refusing to serve. These Shministim (Year 12-ers) are then
taken to court and sentenced to spend 3 weeks a month in jail.
For conscientious objection to one of the most prolonged
oppressions in history. Or the 500 Palestinian dead , many of
whose names we will never hear, even if we hear their ages and
their gender.
One person we could
do with hearing more from is Richard Falk, Prof. of
International Law and UN special investigator on Israeli actions
in the Palestinian Territories:
http://imeu.net/news/article0015208.shtml
He says - " The
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and
massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined
in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of
an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war.
Those violations include:
* Collective punishment: The entire 1.5 million people who live
in the crowded Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of
a few militants.
* Targeting civilians: The airstrikes were aimed at civilian
areas in one of the most crowded stretches of land in the world,
certainly the most densely populated area of the Middle East.
* Disproportionate military response: The airstrikes have not
only destroyed every police and security office of Gaza's
elected government, but have killed and injured hundreds of
civilians; at least one strike reportedly hit groups of students
attempting to find transportation home from the
university."
AND also:-
"It is macabre," Falk said. "I don’t know of
anything that exactly fits this situation. People have been
referring to the Warsaw ghetto as the nearest analog in modern
times."
"There is no structure of an occupation that endured for
decades and involved this kind of oppressive
circumstances," the rapporteur added. "The magnitude,
the deliberateness, the violations of international humanitarian
law, the impact on the health, lives and survival and the
overall conditions warrant the characterization of a crime
against humanity. This occupation is the direct intention by the
Israeli military and civilian authorities. They are responsible
and should be held accountable."
The point of this Israeli siege, ostensibly, is to break Hamas,
the radical Islamic group that was elected to power in 2007. But
Hamas has repeatedly proposed long-term truces with Israel and
offered to negotiate a permanent truce. During the last
cease-fire, established through Egyptian intermediaries in July,
Hamas upheld the truce although Israel refused to ease the
blockade. It was Israel that, on Nov. 4, initiated an armed
attack that violated the truce and killed six Palestinians. It
was only then that Hamas resumed firing rockets at Israel.
Palestinians have launched more than 200 rockets on Israel since
the latest round of violence began. There have been no Israeli
casualties."
We are left to
wonder what exactly are Israel's war aims this time? Will
it be to divide and rule Gaza? Split it into bantustans? Make
life even more intolerable?
Is it to ensure as
hard a line government as possible?
One thing is
certain: it won't in any way lead to greater peace.
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Martin Deane
is Secretary for
Hull and area and
works with Hull Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Hull Stop the
War.
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