Left Chic
Timid calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine
mask the root cause of the conflict:
the problem is the occupation, not the resistance
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/nimer_sultany/...
Once again Israel defies an impotent international
community which offers nothing but timid calls for
ceasefire on "both sides". And once again Palestinian
suffering and death tolls continue to break records
in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967.
Perhaps it is easy to dismiss this suffering by blaming
the victims and resorting to ready cliches. Indeed,
Israeli propagandists go out of their way to repeat the
soundbite: we withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and since
then the Palestinians have been firing rockets on our
southern towns. This soundbite might fly in the western
media; after all it resonates with a simplistic world view
that ignites stereotypes which have been in the making
for centuries, producing demonic and degrading
representations of Muslims and Arabs. It becomes
easy to describe the Palestinians in this context as the carriers
of incomprehensible and irrational rage. This kind of
representation has intensified since September 2001
with the "rediscovery" of Israel, and its supreme court,
as a western lighthouse amid the darkness of the Middle East.
When examined closely, however, reality rules out crude
explanations of "violence without reason" and "terrorism
without context". It becomes apparent that one cannot
seriously discuss a legitimate resistance to a prolonged
and horrendous military occupation within the context
of the "war on terrorism". Moreover, even if one finds
a place to critique some practices of the oppressed
one should keep in mind the root of the problem:
it is the occupation, not the resistance. No rhetorical
device can conceal the reality of colonialism by
transforming it either to a mere "conflict" between
equally culpable sides or to portray the occupier
as the retaliating victim.
In his most recent report (pdf) of January 2008,
the UN rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
the occupied territories has recounted Israel's actions
in Gaza, calling them "war crimes" and demonstrating
how these have been relentlessly producing a
humanitarian crisis. Indeed, more than 80% of
Gaza's Palestinians are living below the poverty line
and depend on the food aid supplied by the UNRWA.
In recent years Israel has destroyed power plants and
other civilian facilities, reduced the fuel and electricity
supply, and closed the borders. Palestinians' basic
human needs, such as movement, food and medical
treatment, became totally dependent on the whims
of Israeli security technocrats and political demagogues.
It was unsurprising then to witness on January 23 the
overflow of tens of thousands of Palestinians to Egypt
following the destruction of a part of the Gaza-Egypt border.
By the so-called disengagement plan Israel has aimed to
escape its responsibility for Gaza's fate while effectively
remaining the occupier. It has also sought to impede
Palestinian self-determination by separating the West
Bank from Gaza and intensifying the colonisation of the
West Bank and East Jerusalem along with the vehement
denial of the right of the Palestinian refugees to return
to their homeland. One cannot expect the Palestinians
to sit quietly while Israel is creating facts on the ground
to transform and fragment the ever-shrinking Palestinian
homeland making their aspirations as remote as they
have ever been. One cannot expect the Palestinians to
submit to their reduction from humans to mere beings
concerned only with survival.
Israel should not be allowed to escape its responsibility.
The tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed,
wounded, imprisoned, or handicapped only in recent
years, and the thousands of houses that have been
demolished can testify to the cruelty of one of the
longest military occupations in recent modern history.
Unfortunately, parts of the international community
have tolerated Israel's atrocities and continue to turn a
blind eye on Israel's long list of war crimes and crimes
against humanity. It is hard to escape the irony and
hypocrisy when we compare the international strong
condemnation of the capture of Israeli soldiers by
resistance groups and the timid calls for Israel "to restrain"
herself in massacring the Palestinians or in destroying
Lebanon. These Israeli soldiers have names and families
that broadcasters around the world learn to spell,
while the Palestinians remain nameless and faceless
numbers. This hypocrisy conveys a dichotomy between
the powerful who by definition cannot commit terrorism
no matter how reprehensible the actions are, and the
underprivileged who by definition cannot commit but
terrorism no matter how marginal and pitiful the actions
are.
It is about time that Israel be held accountable. There is
a need for an international protection for the Palestinians.
Under the current conditions of gross power asymmetry
it is unlikely that Israel will comply with the demands of
international law and just peace without a pressure
from the international community. The sooner this
pressure comes and the sooner the international
community assumes its responsibility, the less suffering
we will witness in the region.
http://www.stopaipac.org/
http://www.iraqredcrescent.org/
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