Towards a global perspective . . .

I really feel uncomfortable sometimes, that I have to keep coming back with another Israel story that invites ridicule.   Friend or Enemy, I keep trying to take them seriously, but they make it really difficult.   They are keeping the world in turmoil through childish temper tantrums, elaborate (and illegal) acts of murder and sabotage, repeated violations of the sovereignty of other countries, friend and foe, and wild (can I say paranoid) stories of sabotage being played out against them, that make so little sense and have such obviously contrived evidence that it is difficult to imagine anyone telling the story with a straight face.   Do they believe their own stories?  Some of the people do, I imagine.  But the people who make the decisions, what are they thinking?  And the excuses after the fact.  This time it’s come down to a ‘Policy of Ambiguity’.

This time, they have actually been caught by the Dubai police, who are not only diligent and conscientious, but possessed of the best, the most pervasive surveillance equipment money can buy.   Read the rest of this entry »

From a conceptual point of view, the Zionist state is an anomalous state that does not meet the traditional definitions of state and nation, and is not bounded in such a manner as to secure it’s own territorial integrity or to respect the boundaries and integrity of other nation states. There is a real inconsistency in the self definition of the state of Israel, as it compares to the definition of nationhood. Not only is it at odds with the self-identification of every other nation on the planet, it is inconsistent with most dictionary definitions of nation and state. It is worth considering the difference between the definition of Israel as a ‘nation’ as it compares to the definitions of most other nations.  A handful of definitions are listed at the bottom of this post, taken from Internet listings from the best known dictionaries. The gist is, and this is particularly true of the more modern definitions, is that the population of a nation or state is defined as the people who occupy the territory associated with the state. Membership is defined, at least in part, through current association with the land. We can assume that the political organization would secure the territory and provide a mechanism for cooperation among the members or citizens of the state.

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INN showed Tzipi Livni at the National Press Club today.  She said that the Peace Process should go on while the IDF massacres the citizens of Gaza.  This is because Palestine is now divided, and Hamas is irrelevant.  The conflict, she tells us, is helping the Moderates.  No one will ever talk to Hamas, she said, so why concern ourselves with their elimination.  Now they can really move forward with the Moderates.  Has anyone seen the most recent maps of the West Bank?

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Reported on IBA today. They have Israeli PM Ehud Olmert saying that Israel has achieved a greater victory against terrorism in the last 12 days than any country has achieved in the last 16 years. What planet do they live on and what do they mean by ‘achieve’? They say that 400 of the victims of their onslaught were ‘positively identified’ as Hamas gunmen. UN observers say that 1/3 of victims are children. They show footage of Ishmael Haniya, the Hamas PM of Palestine, looking thin and pale. They assert that he is ready to quit, but they don’t let you hear what he is saying.

IBA showed footage of Hamas rigging bombs in a school, and distributed it internationally. The said that the Hamas activists claimed they weren’t aiming to harm the building, or the children, but just to attack IDF soldiers who had been known to rest there. Read the rest of this entry »

Terrorists martyred in Gaza this week, dressed in white for heaven, are resting while their brothers stand by.  Hamas angels.

Bush says Gaza ceasefire must stop Hamas.

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Israel tells us that 4 of the 6 casualties (fatalities) in Gaza were the victims of friendly fire.  There is a reaction of disbelief.  The consensus in opposition circles is that this is Israeli propaganda to show that Hamas was not powerful enough to kill their soldiers or unwilling to come out and fight them.  They had to do it themselves, so to speak.   It is presented as an insult.  The insult has been receive and rejected.

On the other hand, if the statement, and the implications are true, then we have a human rights situation that is clearly unacceptable.   Israel is bragging about fighting an enemy not capable of retaliating.   This is impunity.   Furthermore, if I remember correctly, a couple more Israeli soldiers were killed, and a couple of hundred injured, which I would say is not too bad for an adversary without tanks, air support and  missiles, and surrounded by their friends and relatives.

In the first days of the Israeli bombing campaign, there was an article in one of the newspapers stating that a Palestinian Rocket had misfired and struck a local home, killing two children.  This tragedy was presented as a reflection of Palestinian incompetence and inappropriate behavior on their behalf.  When Israel has a friendly fire incident that kills some and injures more, it is presented as a reflection of Palestinian incompetence.   At least Israel can kill somebody.   In their defense, the Palestinians are trapped in an area with their friends and loved ones, under bombardment.  Israel could chose to leave.   War is hell.   Why go there?

The concept of ‘proportionality’ in the international laws of warfare is similar to restraints against torture of detainees and direct attacks on civilians.   It had to do with mitigation of excess.  If a country with more resources and a larger army overruns smaller, less endowed adversary, then they enjoined not to use force more than one step beyond the level of militancy and threat.  Otherwise, civilian populations are bound to become the target.

Today I awoke and put on NPR to find out the latest atrocities.  No problem there.  Today, the concept of ‘proportionality in war’ was ‘explained’.   Read the rest of this entry »

As Israel rains fire and brimstone on Gaza Hell,  people across the Middle East, and a few of us in the Western Heaven as well, sit impotent before our television and computer screens watching the nightmare of death and destruction unfold.   We are all wondering why nothing is done, has been done, to end the massacre.   Or maybe we aren’t.  This is not the first time Israel has seen fit to visit Hell on a neighbor, and it isn’t the first time that the world, with the US taking the lead, has stood idly by as it happened.

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After a week of bombing the trapped and starved population of Gaza with F16s (made in the USA) and Apache helicopters (ditto), Israel has sent in their ground forces of 10s of thousands of soldiers with armored tanks and M16s.   The General Assembly of the UN condemned the assault and called for a cease fire, but the Security Council didn’t even try to come up with a resolution.  George Bush cheered them on, and a smug Nancy Pelosi gave her blessing to the necessary action by our good friend Israel.   The Arab League met, but couldn’t agree on statement, so they didn’t make one.  Various EU countries have expressed displeasure, but the current EU President, from Czech Republic, said that they understood Israel’s need to take action.  Egypt has sealed the Rafah crossing to make sure no victims escape.

Meanwhile, as Arabs watch daily tv images from Gaza of the death and destruction in horror, American News is purged of the grotesque images of dead babies and their collapsed homes, of hospitals full of wounded, but lacking medicine and tools, of the blood running in the streets.  We are blindered like a skittish racehorse, that might bolt if startled.   Even so, some of us find ways to be informed, and take to the streets in protest.  All over the world, people are in the streets demonstrating their rage and frustration.  But nothing changes.

I wrote the following letter to the editor of the New York Times a couple of days after the bombing began.  I haven’t heard from them, so it is safe to assume that they are not interested in printing my opinion.  So, here it is:

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A few days ago, Amy Goodman had a segment about negative and hostile framing of Arabs in the media, by the candidates (both of them). Worse, they discussed a highly prejudicial film targeting Arabs called “Obsession”, millions of copies of which have been distributed though out ‘swing states’ by an Israeli based not-for-profit organization, apparently interested in swinging the voters in these states toward voting for McCain. The clip they showed from the film was extremely prejudicial. It was the “Arab< =>Terrorist” logic on steroids. It was ugly and frightening.

The evening before that, James Zogby, who has a talk show, “Viewpoint’, which addresses Middle East Issues, and who is a tireless advocate for better communication and understanding between East and West, took a moment to talk about his response to a much played comment made by John McCain on the campaign trail. McCain told a follower that Obama is “not an Arab”, he is a “good family man”. Zogby said that he responded with an op-ed piece stating that he is an Arab, and a good family man as well, and he did not feel that one identity should exclude the other. He went on to express gratitude for the numerous positive responses he had received from readers. I was struck by his sincerity, and by the empathy his honesty elicited. One response he shared was from an individual who said “We are all Arabs” today. It struck me because, immediately following the attacks of 9/11, there were vigils in Iran, and people there said “We are all Americans today”.
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