Thursday, January 15th 2009
As someone with a keen interest in Middle East politics and a vast
knowledge of the current state of Israel, I feel that it is time for someone to educate readers on a few facts regarding the conflict in the Gaza strip. Let me first say what this war is not about. It is not about Israeli occupation in Gaza, as there has not been such a thing since 2005. This war is not about closed borders because Egypt’s border with Gaza is sealed tighter than Israel’s and no one is firing rockets at
Egyptian children. Hamas’ grievance against Israel is merely that the country exists. Israel is doing what any country would do; defending itself from an enemy that seeks its destruction. For those who are only aware of the conflict because of the pamphlets being thrust in your face when you get to campus, let me enlighten you with a few facts.
Over the last eight years, terrorists have been firing rockets from Gaza
-about 7000 – into civilian populated towns in southern Israel. Civilians have 15 seconds from when the ‘red alert’ siren goes off to
find shelter. Even hospitals treating wounded Palestinians are in the line of fire. At Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital in Israel, Medical staff and patients must often stop treatment and run for cover.
When Israel tries to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries to the
strip, Hamas attacks the crossings, attempts to take the opportunity to
smuggle in weapons or sends civilians into Israel with bombs attached
to their chests.
Canada, the United States, the European Union and many others identify Hamas as a terrorist group. Hamas is not interested in a two state solution where everyone lives in peace. The problem is not occupation, it is Israel’s very existence. This agenda is even legitimized by protestors on campus who shout, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. While those on campus may not endorse Hamas’ actions, the implications of these slogans are nonetheless clear.
Hamas hides smuggled weapons in schools, hospitals and Mosques. This is not only immoral but a violation of international law. They will send women and children to play on the roofs of
these sites to act as human shields. They know that Israeli forces will not fire, and that should Israel make a mistake and kill women and children, Israel will be accused of targeting civilians and internationally vilified.
This information is readily available to anyone interested because
Hamas sees no need to hide their agenda. Just tune in to Hamas TV and
check out the adorable children’s show about a Mickey Mouse-like
character that teaches children to martyr themselves.
Hamas is so
deeply perverse that the only thing more prized than dead Israelis is
dead Palestinians. Any Palestinian who attempts to speak out against
this hijacking of their society is persecuted, even killed. Even other Arab nations are speaking out against Hamas.
Farid Ghadry, Reform Party leader of Syria, quoted, “We Arabs must be the ones to stop Hamas, rather than support their demonic and twists logic of resisting
development, enlightenment, and progress of the region.”
Hamas is so
consumed with the ideology that Israel has no right to exist, that instead of building up infrastructure for its civilians with the millions of dollars of aid that it receives, they import weapons. This conflict is real, it is scary and it is only going to end when the Palestinian leadership values peace more than blood.
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Wow Miss Paradis, for someone claiming to be “very knowledgeable” about the conflict this is one of the most preposterous and shamelessly one sided article I have seen in quite a while!
I might not be an expert in this field but even then I can rebut almost all of the unsubstantiated claims you made here (No doubt stemming from nothing but personal bias and opinion and not from any quotable and reliable sources despite your usage of the word “fact”). And I will also do so using entirely western/Israeli/Jewish sources so that you cannot accuse me of using biased Muslim sources.
For starters:
1) “Let me first say what this war is not about. It is not about Israeli occupation in Gaza, as there has not been such a thing since 2005.”
While Israel doesn’t have a physical and literal presence in the Gaza Strip itself, It has constantly barricaded and embargoed the Border (Egypt has had to do the same due to American and Israeli pressure, Due to “claims” that IF the border was open Hamas would smuggle weapons etc in) It has maintained a complete discretionary control over what goes in and out of Gaza strip to the effect that Humanitarian Aid has trickled down to 20% of what was promised in the ceasefire. They don’t have food, water (Since Israel Sucks away the water from the aquifers using their superior technology) or electricity (which they entirely buy from Israel at exorbitant rates after it destroyed by missiles the only power station in Gaza in 2006) or any other basic necessities of life for example. Israeli security forces at the various checkpoints decide whether you are allowed to travel to get the basic necessities of life or not, and demeaning strip searches are common. Kidnappings, illegal occupation, indiscriminate firing and harassment constitute the way of life for the Palestinian people. They’re losing lands and limbs, parents and children, property and faith in the prospect of certain peace. IF Israel was providing the people with complete liberty and freedom as they claim to why is it then that Israeli economy is equivalent to a middle level European economy while Palestine is worse than a third world country?
2) “Over the last eight years, terrorists have been firing rockets from Gaza
-about 7000 – into civilian populated towns in southern Israel.”
The “number of rockets fired” is something you can never actually quantify, their number varies from source to source, But I’m not denying their existence. True Hamas Has been firing rockets, but their death toll over 8 years has hardly been over 10-15 people. Israel managed to kill 30 times more people in the first 5 minutes of the bombing campaign. I am not justifying that it is alright to launch rockets at Israel, but bear with me in this little analogy:
Imagine there were gangsters surrounding your house who didn’t allow you and your
children to freely leave or enter your house and as a result your children and family
suffered in every way causing death and illness. In other words you are literally being
held hostage in your own house living a life of misery and slow death. You see you
elderly parents and relatives die as a result of lack of necessary medication. As a result
1 person from your house attacks the gangsters out of sheer frustration by throwing
twigs at them hardly causing any harm. Now in retaliation to that twig throwing those
gangsters come into your house with guns and bulldozers to find and kill that person but
along with that person kill 10 innocent women and children and injure many others i.e to
find one person they killed 10 innocent people.
When the gangsters are interviewed by the BBC and Sky News and asked why they went
in and did what they did, they say “because they throw twigs at us which hurt us”,
without telling the people the real reason why they throw the twigs in the first place,
which is they are being held hostage in Gaza with no freedom.
Israel = Gangster
Rockets = Twigs. Compared to Israeli rockets the Qassam’s are made with stone age
technology and the firers have absolutely no way to target them even though they do
often try and target military installations so as to cause Israel maximum monetary
damage, hence they are fired randomly with a very low probability of hitting anything.
My point here Is the rockets are a retaliation to Israel’s constant embargo of their land and the lack of freedom/rights available to the people, In the same 8 years prior to this current conflict Israel has still managed to KILL OVER 1200 people. How does that compare with 10-15 killed by the rockets, most of them soldiers?
3)” When Israel tries to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries to the
strip”
Really? Israel was accused of filtering humanitarian aid down to 20% of what was required/agreed upon. Furthermore it has also been accused of holding back the taxes/messing around with the accounts when the citizens of Palestine are in urgent need of them. Similarly CNN, BBC and Channel 5 news, Red cross have accused Israel of attacking U.N compounds and trying to stop neutral organizations from delivering aid/assistance to people in Gaza(Sources at the end).
4) “They will send women and children to play on the roofs of
these sites to act as human shields. They know that Israeli forces will not fire, and that should Israel make a mistake and kill women and children”
Another wrong statement, How exactly can you prove/show that they “send” them to the rooftops? Define “send” for me please!? You seem to be ignorant of the fact that Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of land on earth. Try spending a few minutes on Google Earth and you’ll find out; The Palestinians don’t choose to be amongst the Hamas, It is the Hamas who LIVE and operate in that desolate dense little piece of land. Also when the Israeli air force attacks Gaza with bombs they have NO forewarning or bomb shelters, sitting ducks is the correct term for this. And as shown by the BBC/U.N report it was Israel who told women and children to go into a certain U.N school and then proceeded to Bomb it “By mistake”, Killing 55 which is 4-5 times more then the total Israeli death total.
5)”Hamas is so
consumed with the ideology that Israel has no right to exist, that instead of building up infrastructure for its civilians with the millions of dollars of aid that it receives, they import weapons.”
The reason Hamas was elected was the fact that they had a history(disputed one I’ll admit in this case) of working for the common/poor people, a tactic which is used by political parties all over the world to gain votes, Palestinians were disillusioned by the corruption and lack of long term objective the opposition Fatah had fallen into after Yasir Arafat’s Death in 2004. In fact it is Israel that has been deliberately destroying Infrastructure, As shown by 2006 missile attack on the Only power station in Gaza, as well as those on hospitals/schools
6)”it is only going to end when the Palestinian leadership values peace more than blood.”
For this I will quote Mr Avi Shlaim a Jewish (Former Israeli Army soldier) who is also a professor at Oxford(In other words as unbiased a source as you can expect): “As so often in the tragic history of Palestine, the victims were blamed for their own misfortunes. Israel’s propaganda machine persistently purveyed the notion that the Palestinians are terrorists, that they reject coexistence with the Jewish State, that their nationalism is little more than anti-Semitism, that Hamas is just a bunch of Religious fanatics and that Islam is incompatible with democracy. But the simple truth is
That the Palestinian people are normal people with normal aspirations. They are no better but they are no worse than any other national group. What they aspire to, above all, is a piece of land to call their own on which to live in freedom and dignity.”
In other words, People like Hamas only come to the forefront when injustice appears to be done.Imagine where Hamas would be if Israel said we “guarantee” the Palestinians free movement around the whole of Palestine (that includes present day Israel), free health care regardless of faith, impartiality on legal matters, the right to keep your land, to harvest your crops without fear of being beaten or shot.
I think if justice was applied there would be no need to militancy. Hamas would have been redundant If Israel had offered more concessions to Palestine At Camp David, and not make Fatah and Yasir Arafat look like fools who had persevered/negotiated and promised the people of Palestine justice and peace for decades only to have all that go in vain by the farcical Israeli offer.
Sources:
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/un.html (Official Stats that go against Israeli oppression, as well as a List of U.n Resolutions(Over 90 to date) Against Israel, none against Palestine
1) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine (Mr Avi Shlaim’s Article) The best and most legible article regarding this issue imo. You can’t doubt the source given his background at all!
2) : http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wB689pXh-Bw (Channel 4 news, Israel Blocking redcross aid)
3) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rZeFJpHtyKU (BBC, Israel Bombing a U.N School AFTER telling civilians to go in there, then calling it a mistake)
4) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6075408.stm (Israel admits phosphorus usage)
5) http://www.truthnews.us/?p=2624 (depleted Uranium usage)
6) Dr Mads Gilbert a voulunteer doctor here: http://www.infowars.com/?p=7005 (DIME tungsten which causes cancer in the long run)
7) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z6vMAoFwf4 (Us Senator Ron Paul stating “Israel Created Hamas”)
9) Similarly George Galloway a Member of Parliament from Uk :http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=249JaIaubVw
10) -Cnn News anchor Rosemary Church: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=w6fn5NZ6LBk&feature=related
11) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7828536.stm (bbc: Israel shoots at fleeing
civilians carrying white flags) A new low even by their standards!)
12) http://www.charlierose.com/view/clip/9986 (New York times award winning Journalist)
There are many more sources as well, But I apologize that I don’t have them saved at the moment
One possible question you may be asking me is WHY is it that “normal” people don’t know anything about all I am saying If i’m so justified? The answer is simple, just watch this: 1)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565&hl=en
a VERY interesting watch, made COMPLETELY by Western Journalists and experts as well
as Israeli Soldiers/Professors. Hence leaving no room for Bias by Muslim sources
2)http://uk.youtube.com/watch?
v=Kiyyp9cZdY0&NR=1 (A video with similar implications)
My point here is that there is no point in involving ourselves in Juvenile mudslinging, Trying to Implicate Hamas wouldn’t achieve anything, the fact of the matter is innocent people are dying on both sides(Disproportionately on the Palestinians side though I must add), While there is one side of me that points out towards the obvious sources that point towards the war crimes and the usage of Geneva Convention weapons in densely populated Civilian areas(fully knowing the collateral damage) as something that should be condemned. I also realize that this conflict will solve nothing, They might keep fighting and temporarily disable Hamas at the ratio cost of one Hamas fighter per 30-50 civilians and kill tens of thousands; but what next?
What is necessary here is for an intermediary(Usa seems like the only one since U.N is redundant due to United states influence/veto power over any resolution it tries to pass) to step in an force Israel into a ceasefire, there also is a serious need for concessions from their side as far as land allocation is concerned as well as liberty and freedom over resources and its sovereignty . As I mentioned In my previous posts Hamas would be redundant IF conditions in Palestine were better, they tried for decades under Yasir Arafat and Fatah to negotiate and concede Israel into peace talks. Yet it produced no outcome culminating in the Camp David peace talks, If you think of this from the pov of an average rundown Palestinian I can empathize why exactly they chose Hamas(Who promised a more proactive resolution of the conflict). The mentality sadly in that region is that they would happily die fighting for their rights rather then spend the rest of their lives(Like they have been for over 60 years) in misery and humiliation without liberty and freedom.
Hence It is shocking for me that the Silhouette has failed to represent the other side of the conflict nor approach it from an academic(Peace studies) point of view. Instead they chose to rant unsubstantiated and rather immature articles that mask out the other side of the conflict and in doing so break CEP ethics laws. The Sil is payed for by Students of ALL backgrounds hence they deserve a more neutral and less bigoted experience as well as a chance to see both sides of the conflict fairly and then DECIDE for themselves.
The writer of the above article Stephanie R. Paradis has no clue of the palestinian/ israely ongoing conflict.
In order to educate other people a personal oppinion is not sufficient. I suggest to go back into history and study.
Dear Stephanie think b4 you ink.
Miss Paradis, for someone claiming to be “very knowledgeable” about the conflict this is one of the more misleading, badly researched as well as one sided article I have seen in quite a while!
I might not be an expert in this field but even then I can rebut almost all of the unsubstantiated claims you made here (No doubt stemming from nothing but personal bias and opinion and not from any quotable and reliable sources despite your usage of the word “fact”). And I will also do so using entirely western/Israeli/Jewish sources so that you cannot accuse me of using biased Muslim(In other words Pro-Palestine) sources.
For starters:
1) “Let me first say what this war is not about. It is not about Israeli occupation in Gaza, as there has not been such a thing since 2005.”
While Israel doesn’t have a physical and literal presence in the Gaza Strip itself, It has constantly barricaded and embargoed the Border (Egypt has had to do the same due to American and Israeli pressure, Due to “claims” that IF the border was open Hamas would smuggle weapons etc in) It has maintained a complete discretionary control over what goes in and out of Gaza strip to the effect that Humanitarian Aid has trickled down to 20% of what was promised in the ceasefire. They don’t have food, water (Since Israel Sucks away the water from the aquifers using their superior technology) or electricity (which they entirely buy from Israel at exorbitant rates after it destroyed by missiles the only power station in Gaza in 2006) or any other basic necessities of life for example. Israeli security forces at the various checkpoints decide whether you are allowed to travel to get the basic necessities of life or not, and demeaning strip searches are common. Kidnappings, illegal occupation, indiscriminate firing and harassment constitute the way of life for the Palestinian people. They’re losing lands and limbs, parents and children, property and faith in the prospect of certain peace. IF Israel was providing the people with complete liberty and freedom as they claim to why is it then that Israeli economy is equivalent to a middle level European economy while Palestine is worse than a third world country?
2) “Over the last eight years, terrorists have been firing rockets from Gaza
-about 7000 – into civilian populated towns in southern Israel.”
The “number of rockets fired” is something you can never actually quantify, their number varies from source to source, But I’m not denying their existence. True Hamas Has been firing rockets, but their death toll over 8 years has hardly been over 10-15 people. Israel managed to kill 30 times more people in the first 5 minutes of the bombing campaign. I am not justifying that it is alright to launch rockets at Israel, but bear with me in this little analogy:
Imagine there were gangsters surrounding your house who didn’t allow you and your
children to freely leave or enter your house and as a result your children and family
suffered in every way causing death and illness. In other words you are literally being
held hostage in your own house living a life of misery and slow death. You see you
elderly parents and relatives die as a result of lack of necessary medication. As a result
1 person from your house attacks the gangsters out of sheer frustration by throwing
twigs at them hardly causing any harm. Now in retaliation to that twig throwing those
gangsters come into your house with guns and bulldozers to find and kill that person but
along with that person kill 10 innocent women and children and injure many others i.e to
find one person they killed 10 innocent people.
When the gangsters are interviewed by the BBC and Sky News and asked why they went
in and did what they did, they say “because they throw twigs at us which hurt us”,
without telling the people the real reason why they throw the twigs in the first place,
which is they are being held hostage in Gaza with no freedom.
Israel = Gangster
Rockets = Twigs. Compared to Israeli rockets the Qassam’s are made with stone age
technology and the firers have absolutely no way to target them even though they do
often try and target military installations so as to cause Israel maximum monetary
damage, hence they are fired randomly with a very low probability of hitting anything.
My point here Is the rockets are a retaliation to Israel’s constant embargo of their land and the lack of freedom/rights available to the people, In the same 8 years prior to this current conflict Israel has still managed to KILL OVER 1200 people. How does that compare with 10-15 killed by the rockets, most of them soldiers?
3)” When Israel tries to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries to the
strip”
Really? Israel was accused of filtering humanitarian aid down to 20% of what was required/agreed upon. Furthermore it has also been accused of holding back the taxes/messing around with the accounts when the citizens of Palestine are in urgent need of them. Similarly CNN, BBC and Channel 5 news, Red cross have accused Israel of attacking U.N compounds and trying to stop neutral organizations from delivering aid/assistance to people in Gaza(Sources at the end).
4) “They will send women and children to play on the roofs of
these sites to act as human shields. They know that Israeli forces will not fire, and that should Israel make a mistake and kill women and children”
Another wrong statement, How exactly can you prove/show that they “send” them to the rooftops? Define “send” for me please!? You seem to be ignorant of the fact that Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of land on earth. Try spending a few minutes on Google Earth and you’ll find out; The Palestinians don’t choose to be amongst the Hamas, It is the Hamas who LIVE and operate in that desolate dense little piece of land. Also when the Israeli air force attacks Gaza with bombs they have NO forewarning or bomb shelters, sitting ducks is the correct term for this. And as shown by the BBC/U.N report it was Israel who told women and children to go into a certain U.N school and then proceeded to Bomb it “By mistake”, Killing 55 which is 4-5 times more then the total Israeli death total.
5)”Hamas is so
consumed with the ideology that Israel has no right to exist, that instead of building up infrastructure for its civilians with the millions of dollars of aid that it receives, they import weapons.”
The reason Hamas was elected was the fact that they had a history(disputed one I’ll admit in this case) of working for the common/poor people, a tactic which is used by political parties all over the world to gain votes, Palestinians were disillusioned by the corruption and lack of long term objective the opposition Fatah had fallen into after Yasir Arafat’s Death in 2004. In fact it is Israel that has been deliberately destroying Infrastructure, As shown by 2006 missile attack on the Only power station in Gaza, as well as those on hospitals/schools
6)”it is only going to end when the Palestinian leadership values peace more than blood.”
For this I will quote Mr Avi Shlaim a Jewish (Former Israeli Army soldier) who is also a professor at Oxford(In other words as unbiased a source as you can expect): “As so often in the tragic history of Palestine, the victims were blamed for their own misfortunes. Israel’s propaganda machine persistently purveyed the notion that the Palestinians are terrorists, that they reject coexistence with the Jewish
State, that their nationalism is little more than anti-Semitism, that Hamas is just a bunch of
Religious fanatics and that Islam is incompatible with democracy. But the simple truth is
That the Palestinian people are normal people with normal aspirations. They are no
better but they are no worse than any other national group. What they aspire to, above
all, is a piece of land to call their own on which to live in freedom and dignity.”
In other words, People like Hamas only come to the forefront when injustice appears to be done.
Imagine where Hamas would be if Israel said we “guarantee” the Palestinians free movement around the whole of Palestine (that includes present day Israel), free health care regardless of faith, impartiality on legal matters, the right to keep your land, to harvest your crops without fear of being beaten or shot.
I think if justice was applied there would be no need to militancy. Hamas would have been redundant If Israel had offered more concessions to Palestine At Camp David, and not make Fatah and Yasir Arafat look like fools who had persevered/negotiated and promised the people of Palestine justice and peace for decades only to have all that go in vain by the farcical Israeli offer.
Sources:
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/un.html (Official Stats that go against Israeli oppression, as well as a List of U.n Resolutions(Over 90 to date) Against Israel, none against Palestine
1) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine (Mr Avi Shlaim’s Article) The best and most legible article regarding this issue in my opinion. You can’t doubt the source given his background at all!
2) : http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wB689pXh-Bw (Channel 4 news, Israel Blocking red cross aid)
3) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rZeFJpHtyKU (BBC, Israel Bombing a U.N School AFTER telling civilians to go in there, then calling it a mistake)
4) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6075408.stm (Israel admits phosphorus usage)
5) http://www.truthnews.us/?p=2624 (depleted Uranium usage)
6) Dr Mads Gilbert a volunteer doctor here: http://www.infowars.com/?p=7005 (DIME tungsten which causes cancer in the long run)
7) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z6vMAoFwf4 (Us Senator Ron Paul stating “Israel Created Hamas”)
9) Similarly George Galloway a Member of Parliament from Uk :http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=249JaIaubVw
10) -Cnn News anchor Rosemary Church: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=w6fn5NZ6LBk&feature=related
11) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7828536.stm (bbc: Israel shoots at fleeing
civilians carrying white flags) A new low even by their standards!)
12) http://www.charlierose.com/view/clip/9986 (New York times award winning Journalist)
There are many more sources as well, But I apologize that I don’t have them saved at the moment
One possible question you may be asking me is WHY is it that “normal” people don’t know anything about all I am saying If i’m so justified? The answer is simple, just watch this: 1)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565&hl=en
a VERY interesting watch, made COMPLETELY by Western Journalists and experts as well
as Israeli Soldiers/Professors. Hence leaving no room for Bias by Muslim sources
2)http://uk.youtube.com/watch?
v=Kiyyp9cZdY0&NR=1 (A video with similar implications)