On June 28, 2006 the Israel Defense Forces reentered the Gaza Strip ostensibly to win the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit. Corporal Shalit had been kidnapped by Palestinian militants 3 days earlier. The Israeli operation has been codenamed "Operation Summer Rain".
Since the attacks began Israel has destroyed roads, bridges, water plants, and electrical power stations. Israel has arrested Palestinian parliament members and targeted the Prime Minister after declaring their intention to assassinate him. The attack on Gaza has left the 1.4 million inhabitants in the densely populated Strip without electric power, running water, and with very little food. The United Nations has warned that the already dire conditions of the Palestinian people are now on the verge of a humanitarian disaster. Amidst the suffering, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered more intensified attacks on the Palestinians:
The strikes appeared to be a direct response to the instructions of the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who told subordinates at a cabinet meeting on Sunday that he intended to make the lives of Gazans ever more miserable until the captured soldier, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was released. But Israel also yielded somewhat to outside pressure on Sunday by allowing a limited supply of fuel and food into Gaza.
Mr. Olmert, whose air force has already bombed Gaza’s bridges, crippled its only power plant, shelled the Palestinian prime minister’s office here and subjected all 1.4 million Gaza residents to night after night of sleep-depriving sonic booms, said he had ordered the military and government "to do everything in order to bring Gilad back home."
The message from Israel is clear: surrender the soldier or all Palestinians will suffer. Asked on CNN’s Late Edition if the Israeli assault was harming the Palestinian people, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said that if the Palestinians hand over the soldier the attacks will stop. So the Palestinians should stop complaining and hand over the soldier:
ROBERTS: Vice Premier Peres, the question is, is this operation harming the Palestinian people as much or more than it’s harming the Hamas government?
PERES: Well, they can get rid of it in one moment. If they would release the soldier, the operation will be over in a moment’s time. It is up to them. But they cannot keep the soldier as a hostage and then complain.
By the way, when it comes to electricity, we checked beforehand. If the hospitals have generators to supply the necessary electricity to the people who are in hospital, we wouldn’t bomb otherwise. But if they want to change the situation, it’s in their hands. They don’t have to complain.
So, once again, the Palestinian people will have to endure more suffering at the hands of the Israelis until the latest "point of no return" is crossed and magically the status quo is again restored. The politicians will argue, people will be killed on both sides, blood will be on everyone’s hands, extremists on both sides will continue to drive the agenda, and through it all Palestinians who have been refugees on their own land since the Nakba will continue to bare the brunt of the insanity.
Nakba is the Arabic word for "catastrophe". The Palestinians refer to the exodus during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War from their homes in what is now the State of Israel as the Nakba. But as with all aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the cause of the Nakba is hotly disputed. It is so disputed that the fact that I, in this post, am calling it the Nakba will likely garner some criticism. The Israelis and Palestinians it appears operate from two sets of facts. The irony is that with two sets of fact they both want to occupy one piece of land.
Regardless of whether the Palestinians left willingly or were forced out, the result has been the creation of a refugee nation of Palestinians who have lived in miserable conditions ever since. Since 1948 the people of Palestine have been used as pawns between the Arabs on one side and the Israelis on the other. The Arabs have always used the Palestinians as a tool to achieve their own domestic agendas. The Arabs have always given the Palestinians just enough to survive, but never more. The Israelis on the other hand are suffering the results of an incomplete exodus of the Palestinians. Israel has a refugee problem within its self-declared borders. It has a population that it does not want and cannot seem to get rid off. Add to that the fact that every now and then the Palestinians rise up against the Israelis violently in self-determination and you have the makings of a perpetual Nakba.
Instead of Peace we are treated to a "Peace Process". The "Peace Process" is a euphemism for a level of violence with acceptable losses of civilian lives on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. This Nakba has its own check and balance and always reaches a macabre equilibrium. Whenever a possibility is raised for meaningful progress in the "Peace Process", extremists on either one side or the other will cause just enough damage to scuttle the progress. The "Peace Process" unfortunately is designed with a built-in veto by any insignificant extremist that chooses to scuttle progress. Thus, equilibrium is always reached and the Palestinian people’s status as a refugee nation is guaranteed.
In the latest incident, just when there was news that Hamas might accept Israel’s right to exist, the inevitable match was lit to burn the prospect to the ground. As with all assaults on the Palestinian people this assault will soon end. There will be horse trading between Israeli and Palestinian politicians and both sides will step back from the brink. Ultimately Israel will likely get its soldier back and Hamas militants will likely get the release of some Palestinian prisoners in exchange (though, likely not right away to avoid an appearance of quid pro quo). Everything will be back to "normal". The Palestinian people will be left to pick the dead amidst the rubble and try to move on.
The Nakba will continue.
Excellent article. I disagree with you on only one issue.
I think the fact that Hamas have been forced to recognise Israel means that this kidnap suits Israel very well.
The last thing the Israelis want to do is to negotiate – no matter how long they have been claiming to be looking for a “partner in peace” – and Hamas’ recognition of them poses Israel serious problems as the US might actually expect Israel to negotiate.
In this way the Palestinian militants have played right into the Israeli’s hands.
I’ve watched Israel’s behaviour since this young man was kidnapped with almost open mouthed incredulity. Do they seriously think what they are doing will facilitate his release? Indeed, do they even care whether or not he is released?
It appears to me that they would rather wipe out Hamas and/or the possibility of negotiations than ever secure this young man’s release.
The Palestinian militants should release this young man immediately. If only to force the Israelis to talk.
Although I feel too much damage has already been done. The Israelis will claim that they cannot negotiate with Hamas after this.
Israel have spent the best part of forty years saying they are searching for a peace partner whilst stealing Palestinian land. This charade is solely for American consumption. Here, in Europe we recognised this as crap a long time ago.
This is about Israel wanting to force a unilateral solution which, in itself, will do nothing to promote peace.
Peace can only be achieved through negotation. And the Israelis want to avoid negotiation at all costs, thinking they can bring about peace by deciding their own borders.
The only thing that gives me faith in all this is that Europe has finally stood up to the US on this issue and stated that we will not recognise any borders that Israel declares unilaterally.
It’s a small thing I know, but in the middle of this madness – all supported by the US’s constant adoption of the Israeli position – small things are the only hope we have to cling to.
Mash, I have to agree with Kel. Norman Finkelstein paid the price with his family (here in the US, he was a professor at NYU, don’t know if he still is) not speaking to him anymore after he decided that what was going on in Israel was not acceptable. Check out his book Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict. I saw him speak at Carleton U (Ottawa) early 90s and he’s quite passionate about the injustices. It’s sad to think that your own family will disown you because of a political opinion. He’s Jewish so he was/is considered a ‘traitor’ by some of his own faith.
That said, I also agree with Kel that Hamas better release the young guy so that they will have the upper hand and not will be expected to submit to far out Israeli demands. People tend to see the reaction of ‘terrorists’, but forget and don’t want to discuss the action that provoked it. What about the Palestinians who ought to be released? Who and what are they? That kind of thing.That said, Hamas needs to get the militants under control or els any move towards general and certain specific legitimacy (Israel) will be so much more difficult to (re)built. You often talk about nuances Mash, this one has many players, as always accompanied by the ordinary Palestinians bearing the brunt of it.
Ingrid
Kel and Ingrid, cause and effect in this conflict is convoluted because they keep arguing about chicken and eggs and they get nowhere. I intentionally avoided attributing reasons to who did what in reaction to whom because inevitably it leads to a neverending argument. Instead, I wanted to concentrate on the suffering of the Palestinian people. That to me is the real story. I am not sure people in the US realize what inhumane conditions under which the Palestinians live in the refugee camps. This nonsense about a "Peace Process" while these people continue to be subjected to daily humiliation is a crime against humanity. The UN Declaration of Human Rights rings hollow in Palestine as it does in other places like Darfur.
One thing I will say about the Israeli assault on Gaza is that it was not in response to the kidnapping. The sequence of events that led to the assault do not support the contention that this is about freeing the soldier. That’s why I used the word "ostensibly" in my post. I think the story is Ehud Olmert’s order to "make the life of Gazans even more miserable". I think that says all that needs to be said about this conflict.
I also crosspost at the Daily Kos and this post especially has received some interesting responses. Click here to read my post on dKos.
Mash, I clicked on the link to your post on the Dkos but it did not show anything, I’ll see if I can find it on the DK site itself. You do make a good point and I guess I have had many a ‘passionate’ argument with other students (back in college) and heard them at home growing up. My dad, whose first wife was Jewish and they both went through the WW2 without her being deported (he was Dutch and non Jewish, so they allowed the Jewish spouse to stay) and after she passed away in the 50s, my dad found more and more, during the 60s and 70s, that he disagreed with how Israel proceeded towards the Palestinians. He and some of my half brothers and sisters would have heated discussions. So I have been critical of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians for a while. But..you are right to focus on the Palestinian people because they are used as an excuse by everyone around. It is shameful. If memory serves me correctly (it has been at least 10yrs, Finkelstein’s book addresses the Palestinians awful living conditions.
Now off to the Daily Kos…
Ingrid
Ingrid, I had a typo in the link. I fixed it, it should work now.
(just in case: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/3/12039/25733)
Mash,
I did read the Kos come backs and it is very interesting that in the US many people seem to know that they should support the Palestinians but for some reason find themselves unable to do so properly.
Perhaps this is because in the US a lack of support for all things Israeli is somehow construed as a subtle form of anti-Semitism.
What was great though was how positively your article was received in as much as you were not simply routinely attacked.
And I’m gald you point out Olmert’s order to “make the lives of the Palestinians more miserable.”
People report this kind of action by the Israeli’s without then going on to remind us that collective punishment is a war crime and what Israel is indulging in here are war crimes.