Friday, January 9, 2009

Collateral Damage

Images of wounded old men, dead women and children on my screen reveal how perverse and pornographic the words "Collateral Damage" truly are. As the Israeli forces and Hamas continue their bloodletting in the most heinous manner, it is hard to stay silent. How can you support either? There is enough blame to go around on both sides. But the ones who have the bigger guns always cause the most damage and are given the most support. This is not the time to play politics. How long can we digest images of dead babies on our screens. It has to stop.

Any war zone is hell in the truest sense. Madness and evil hides behind the barrel of a gun. When the trigger is squeezed, humanity ceases to exist and insanity takes over. No nation knows this better than Israel, having been born out of an evil perpetrated on a people. As their past haunts them their present does not let them heal. How can a nation live in a constant state of war? How can one sip soda on a cool calm Tel Aviv beach while twenty minutes away a baby lies waling next to her dead mother.

The mistrust and hatred between the two sides is deep and dark. Everyone talks about a two state solution. But it is evident that there is an immense lack of political will on all sides. While the US leans heavily on Israel's side they are seen as untrustworthy peacemakers. While there is always political will to go to war there is never enough to find a viable honest fair solution. While most Israelis and Palestinians in principal would happily live side by side devoid of violence, it is clear that they have been hijacked by their governments and its hard line, much like the US, when we went to war in Iraq and lost our moral standing becoming perpetrators of torture.

Israel and Palestine are like a divorced couple who refuse to patch up. In the process making the lives of their children a living hell. Israel is going no where and Palestine has been there before Israel arrived. While both have dealt with amputation, they just cant get over the fact that they are amputees and have to learn to live that way for the rest of their body to heal and survive. In the process they keep cutting themselves even more.

Peace disrupts status-quo and status-quo benefits the powers involved. It makes way for the commerce of weaponry and everything else that goes with it. The US has to support Israel no matter what as they are premium pentagon clients and share historical ties that are constantly bolstered. The argument that they live in a part of the world where they are surrounded by hostile Arab nations eager to eliminate them, therefore they need to have nuclear weapons and a strong defense force has been debated often. The old "deterrent theory" the arms business thrives by is the basis for the status-quo. The theory of true peace has become a mirage and is entertained only for the media it seems. It has become an idea powers play with to gain legitimacy but do not truly believe in.

During the so called six month "cease fire" Hamas launched rockets unabated into Israel while Israeli armed forces killed their share of Palestinians and pretty much reduced Gaza into a walled prison camp choking all its civilians. While this did decrease suicide bombings in Israel the consequences were devastating to the Gazans. Feeling the pain, the hope was that the civilians would boycott Hamas. That clearly did not happen. While it is known that civilians suffered terribly, it is also a fact that their support for Hamas grew stronger. Not because they held Hamas in high esteem, because they had no choice. Hamas facilitated relief that was desperately needed and used it as a tool to gain support. A very effective strategy used by many militant groups around the world.

The tunnels that run between Gaza and Egypt which Israel is using as one of the pretexts for this offensive, have been used to smuggle arms for the Hamas but have also been used to bring essential supplies like food and medicine which Israel has denied the Gazans. It does not matter if the west and its allies see Hamas as a terrorist organization. The fact is that the people of Palestine elected Hamas, in a free and fair election. They were elected as a reaction to the west and Israel and they could not stand to support a weak and corrupt Fatah party. When Hamas' legitimacy was undermined they violently hijacked Gaza and have since operated like a militant mafia government using their usual hard line rhetoric of denying Israel its legitimacy. Now the attempt is being made to eliminate them, at a cost that is unacceptable. Much like the cost of eliminating Saddam has been and continues to be unacceptable. At the end of 14 days, 800 Palestinians have died in this current Israeli offensive. 40% of them women and children. 13 Israelis have perished, 10 of them soldiers. Another grim tally, revealing an appalling dis proportionality. A life is a life and terrorism is terrorism whether it is committed by a suicide bomber, tank shell or a missile, if the dead are innocent civilians.

When Israel attacked Lebanon, they made Hezbollah more powerful and the same is going to be the end result of this incursion. When the ceasefire is declared, Hamas will provide the social relief and proclaim itself the benevolent patriot and regain its grip even more forcefully. Mahmoud Abbas has already been rendered impotent by being silent and soon will become irrelevant as a result. Any peace in the middle east has become more elusive then ever. Another monumental challenge for the Obama administration.

American politicians as expected have been largely mute or have predictably shown their unwavering support for Israel's actions by providing some reprehensible analogies. Rhetoric like "What if rockets were being launched from Tijuana into San Diego would we respond with restraint", "If Vancouver launched rockets into Seattle would we sit back and watch", "Israel has a right to defend itself". These absurd ideas unfortunately drive policy decisions. There is no regard for the human toll wars take. The UN has yet again proven to be defunct. When the US can ignore the UN and do what it pleases why can't we, is the sentiment. We have the right to a preemptive strike. What better time to do it, but before the guys who pioneered it leave the White House. This way they can be sure of their firm backing.

Hamas and Israel have both refused to respond to the Security Council's call for a truce. They will face no consequences as a result and people will continue to die.

This is not the first time we have seen disturbing images of bloody innocence on our screens. It always happens in far off places, in foreign lands to people who do not look like us. We have bigger fish to fry. The economy is in a tail spin and people are loosing their jobs. Those Israelis and Palestinians, they are at it again. It is what it is.

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