Gaza Emergency

By Geoffrey Cook, MMNS

Washington–January 5th–Since my last article, two U.N. (United Nations) run schools were hit purposefully by IDF (Israel Defense Force) ground fire with a high loss of life, and a negotiated U.N. relief convey was led into a trap by the Israelis, and was destroyed killing one driver and several other staff even though the Israeli Defense Force agreed times for them to do so. This has led to the United Nations withdrawal from the theater leaving the population without any organized supply of stables.   Also, in New York, the Security Council has voted with only one abstention (the U.S.!) for a ceasefire, but Israel has merely rejected this leaving the only option for Hamas (the ruling Party in Gaza) to fight on.  Yet, As Israeli troops drive deeper into Gaza City, Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister of Britain and currently a designated negotiator for a settlement within the Fertile Crescent, declared that the elements for an Israeli-Gazan truce was in place.

Last week the United States Congress passed two uneven Resolutions – one in the House and Senate each although Representative Dennis Kucinch has put in another Resolution to be voted on to assert an appeal to an armistice and to reopen the borders for humanitarian requirements while the U.N. (United Nations’) Human Rights Committee strongly condemned Israel.  The Secretary-General in New York City declared, “The fighting must stop!”  Undeniably, George W. Bush and his Administration have already committed atrocious War and Human Rights crimes against Muslims within America itself and abroad as have the Israelis in this War.  President-elect Obama had been silent on this crisis, putting the U.S.A. in a bad light when the rest of the rest of the world is hoping that he will bring the American continent back into its former stature, but most recently he has come out against this most cruel of conflicts.  He has clearly stated that solving the Middle Eastern imbroglio will be one of the highest priorities of his tenure as Head of State.  This statement gives a glimmer of hopeful anticipation for the Islamic World as a whole!

On the positive side, there have been substantial demonstrations worldwide, in the United States of America and even in West Jerusalem itself.  Coverage in the mainline media has been less than satisfactory, though, but public opinion over the District of Columbia’s sway has been shifting towards the Palestinians for a change because of Israel’s vicious strategy towards the indigenous population of our mutual Abrahamic Holy Land, putting pressure on the United States’ Federal government. 

Surprisingly, one of the influential U.S.’ national news weekly magazines feels Hamas, who have retreated into the cities, is actually “winning” the War because of Israel’s uninterrupted pounding of a defenseless people.  The wildcards in this grizzly occurrence would be an attack by Hezbollah, an armed Islamist faction who gave Israel their first defeat in their 2006 confrontation from Lebanon’s mountains into the Galilee region in the State of Israel’s north.  Already three missiles have targeted the area, but it is doubtful that “the Party of God” was behind it.  Judah is probably more concerned over any possible covert involvement by Iran.  Also, there has been small guns fire from the Syrian side of the unrecognized frontier at the Golan Heights.

Your author has taken part in yet another telephone Conference by The Campaign to End the (Israeli) Occupation.  This one, alas, had to be on Tel Aviv outrageous attack on Gaza City.  It was a presentation by Omar Badder the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Arab Defamation Committee and Phyllis Bennis from a well respected liberal think tank.  Omar had trouble making phone contact at first; so, Phyllis began:

“We can’t put up with [this] ground offensive!”  She emphasized the importance of “…immediate access [to the Strip] and [the delivery of] humanitarian goods,” yet the Israelis’ propaganda there is that no humanitarian crisis exists. [Sic.!]  This ceasefire should not have conditions attached.  The borders should be opened immediately!  We need trucks as soon as possible.   Israel is in gross violation of International Law.  Police stations are not legitimate targets!  “Any time violence is employed by one side, it doesn’t give the other side a right to reply excessively.”  Although “Hamas’ [low tech] projectiles were illegal,” Israel has assailed disproportionately. 

The only remedy is “… [enforcing] the ceasefire is the only solution [that Hamas had to renounce],” but Washington is protecting Tel Aviv from the U.N.  The former ceasefire failed because Israel fringing Gaza on two sides negotiated in bad faith due to the fact that the IDF (the Israel Defense Force) was already planning this attack.  The occupying power (the Jews) has a duty to protect the subservient populace under the Geneva Conventions.  Tel Aviv is following in the mindset of Bush’s wars, and, thus, is linked to the other (greater) regional wars.  We have to demand the resumption of the ceasefire and [face to face] discussions between the two parties to this quarrel.

Omar pointed to the fact that one of the worst things for Washington is that the Palestine-Israel conflict as a whole — and now Gaza in particular — has become deeply ingrained inside American politics, for the “Moderate Arab States take their orders from D.C.,” and another defeat could only weaken the U.S. government’s prerogatives within the Arabic expanse.  This incident is only intensifying this byproduct. 

The contemporary Israelis are attempting to regain their military stature after their summer 06 defeat to Hezbollah, and, thereby, to re-establish their hegemony over the Middle East.  Unlike Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hamas’ Gaza is a weaker entity than its neighbor that surrounds it on three sides, (and Hezbollah mountainous terrain was a much better battleground for its defenders than the flat desert topography of Gaza).    Alexandria has been totally co-opted by Jerusalem over this calamity.  (It must be kept in mind, the nuclear blackmail over the zone – Cairo especially with its vulnerability by a dreaded bursting of the Aswan Dam with the casualties its bursting would cause.  That is why your writer does not object to Iran’s nuclear ambitions if the threat would scale back the IDF’S arsenal to a reasonable defense.) 

Politically, Hamas developed into the image of Egypt’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood which is the largest opposition party to the ruling faction; therefore, President Hosni Mubarak there is, also, hostile to the Hamas State because of the possibility of destabilization to his own repressive regime. 

At the moment, Badder intimated that there may be a small contingent of American troops to backup Egypt’s Army at the Rafah border-crossing.

As was pointed out above, U.S. public opinion is shifting.  The Director of the Massachusetts’ Arab Defamation Committee maintained, “Rockets should never be the starting point,” to this disaster.  Curiously, the escalation began at the time of Barrack Obama’s Presidential election in fear that he would not be as supportive of Tel Aviv’ project as he stated above.  “Speak out [about this catastrophe] to American Jews!”  (In fact, some of the leaders and most outspoken against the Israeli assault against the unprotected inhabitants in America have been Jews.  U.S. Muslims and liberal American Jews have much in common.) 

Finally, Josh Rubner, the Field Director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation spoke emphasizing that the domestic response of support for the Palestinians has been unprecedented.  The Campaign’s is proposing that our best prospect for justice and peace is to put pressure on the Obama Transition Team (to follow through on his declaration).

Our correspondent would like to add that the policies of the Israeli government in selecting the military alternative to the diplomatic at every such problem presented to it, is doing great damage to it, for it is unsustainable in the long run, and, could ultimately lead to the demise of Israel.  

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