The scene is familiar. Israel,
declare the mass media, is bombarding Gaza in "self defense". As President Barack Obama put it, "no
government can tolerate rocket attacks on its civilian population". He
forgets, perhaps, the many times when governments in Latin America, Asia,
Africa and the Middle East itself have "tolerated" this and more from
the U.S. government.
But
the question is valid if it comes from U.S. citizens, who are not directly
responsible for the crimes of their government. Moreover,
the people have a right to know the truth. But what is the truth?
So
on to the chronology of the current cycle of violence, from one of its many
possible beginnings. On November 5, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian young
man as he "approached the border fence." To note, the
"fence" was established by Israel within the borders of Gaza, as a
"surveillance zone". Some sources indicate that the young man was
mentally handicapped. But
the loss of Palestinian life was not enough news for the news media reporting the
conflict to the "international community", let alone in the eve of
presidential elections in the U.S. (sound familiar? Gaza 2008-2009!). Nor
was the murder of a 13 year old boy on November 8 by an Israeli bullet, while the
boy was playing football, news enough. During
the violence that erupted over the following days, eight Israelis were wounded,
including four soldiers. From then on, the "beginning of the hostilities" were
declared, as Israel launched its violent attacks, which were returned by a
burst of rockets.
On
November 12, Palestinian militant factions agreed to a truce in an attempt to
calm the situation, yet this truce was broken by Israel with the targeted assassination
of Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari. It
is to note that Jabari was working on a cease-fire, and had been responsible
for monitoring the militant groups in Gaza and for preventing them to fire rockets
into Israel. According
to the Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin, Jabari was the "key player
on the side of Hamas," responsible for maintaining the calm inside the
Strip. He was also the official who imposed a ceasefire on Hamas and various
Palestinian factions and a partner of Israel in the negotiations for the
release of Gilad Shalit. In fact, it was Jabari who took responsibility for the
welfare and safety of the captive soldier, and was responsible for Shalit's safe
return home last fall - that is, Jabari was a key figure in peace
negotiations, and he's now dead by the hands of Israelis.
Not
surprisingly, the rockets launched after the murder of Jabari have been
deceptively presented to the "international community" as the real
cause of the current hostilities - or rather, massacre, at least in the words
of the son of Holocaust survivors, author and political scientist
Norman Finkelstein. And
this chronology of the current conflict does not even take into account that
between the past (2008-9) and current attack on Gaza, there were 271 deaths in the
Strip, as a result of the incursions of "surveillance" of Israel, and
zero on the Israeli side. Once again, the Palestinian victims were not news
enough for the press of the "free world", who has referred to this
period as one of "relative calm".
However,
Israel's attacks on Gaza, past and present, have left thousands dead and
wounded, with a disturbingly high numbers among children. The
latest data indicate that Israel has so far (as of November 21) killed at least
140 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip - the third of them children and women. More than 1,000
Palestinians have been wounded. Meanwhile,
many international aid agencies have documented high levels of chronic
malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies in most Gaza residents, especially women
of childbearing age and children. Of this chronic, structural violence one
hears nary a peep from the mass media informing the "free world."
In
fact, over 60% of the population of Gaza consists of refugees, and more than
half are children under 16 years of age. The
UN has listed Gaza as the most densely populated area in the world, with a
population density higher than that of Manhattan in New York City. Israel,
as the occupying power, is responsible under international humanitarian law,
including the Geneva Conventions and the laws of war, to avoid harming
civilians in Gaza. In
2005, Israel's "withdrew" from Gaza, but continued and continues its
tight blockade on the 1.7 million people by water, land and air, preventing
them from exporting their products and importing materials critical to their
survival, including life-saving
medications, in violation of the most basic international law and the most
basic moral and humane principles. In
addition, Israel is attacking Gaza with U.S. weapons, paid with US taxpayer
money in violation of the Federal Arms Export Control Act.
What should
the American people do? For
starters, we must support the value of every human life, including the life of
the Palestinian people. We
must fight so that Gazans be able to move freely and have access to basic needs
such as drinking water, food, housing, electricity, and construction materials.
We
would not allow these conditions of life for the American people. We must not allow them for
any other people.
Achieving
a just and lasting peace in the Middle East requires that our leaders, and
ourselves, value human life, demanding not merely an immediate ceasefire, but
most importantly an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the full termination of the military, legal and political cover that the US government and its
allies provide to the occupant, and the fulfillment of the right of return of
the Palestinian people to their land.
Faced
with crimes against humanity, remaining silent is to be complicit in the crime.