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Hamas Fights on Uneven Battlefield
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 22 (IPS) - In the 1967 movie classic the "Battle of Algiers", which recreated Algeria's war of independence against France, a handcuffed and shackled insurgent leader, Ben M'Hidi, is brought before a group of highly-partisan French journalists for intense interrogation.
One of the journalists asks M'Hidi: "Don't you think it is a bit cowardly to use women's handbags and baskets to carry explosive devices that kill so many innocent people [in cafes and night clubs]?"
A Palestinian woman stands in front of the rubble of her family building in the east of Jebaliya, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009. The last Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip before dawn Wednesday, the military said, as Israel dispatched its foreign minister to Europe in a bid to rally international support to end arms smuggling into the Hamas-ruled territory. (AP Photo/Ashraf Amra) Responding with equal bluntness, the Algerian insurgent retorts: "And doesn't it seem to you even more cowardly to drop napalm bombs on unarmed villages on a thousand times more innocent victims?"
"Of course, if we had your fighter planes, it would be a lot easier for us," he adds. "Give us your bombers, and you can have our handbags and baskets."
Like the Algerian insurgents, Hamas militants were not fighting on a level battle field - as the Israeli military unleashed its massive firepower on a virtually defenceless population in Gaza, killing over 1,300 Palestinians in the 22-day conflict.
"Perhaps it would be interesting to see the roles reversed: the Palestinians with American fighter planes and battle tanks and the Israelis with homemade rockets," says one Arab diplomat, striking a parallel with the Algerian insurgency.
Besides F-16 fighter planes, the Israelis also used a wide array of U.S. weaponry, including Apache helicopters, M60 battle tanks, armoured personnel carriers and heavy artillery.
Frida Berrigan, a senior research associate with the Arms Trade Resource Centre at the World Policy Institute, points out that the bulk of Israel's current arsenal is composed of military equipment supplied under U.S. assistance programmes.
Israel, she said, has been supplied with 226 F-16 fighter planes and attack jets, more than 700 M60 battle tanks, 6,000 armoured personnel carriers and scores of transport planes, attack helicopters and utility and training aircraft, bombs and tactical missiles of all kinds.
In contrast, the hundreds of erratic rockets used by Hamas were so crude that most of them missed their targets.
"Israel has enormous military resources," says Dr. Natalie Goldring, a senior research fellow with the Centre for Peace and Security Studies in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
And recent events have demonstrated that Israel can destroy large areas of the Gaza Strip.
"But it cannot effectively defend its people against even relatively unsophisticated rockets launched from there," Goldring told IPS.
Despite their size and sophistication, Israel's military forces have not produced peace. And they are not likely to do so.
"There is no sign that either side will be successful in using force to convince the other to surrender," she added.
Meanwhile, human rights organisations have accused Israel of using munitions and artillery that should never have been deployed in heavily populated civilian neighbourhoods.
Amnesty International Thursday urged the Israeli authorities to disclose the weapons and munitions their forces used against Palestinians in Gaza.
Donatella Rovera, who is leading an AI investigation team in Gaza, said: "We now know that white phosphorous munitions were used in built-up civilian areas, although the Israeli authorities previously denied this."
She said: "Now we have irrefutable evidence of the use of this weapon, but the doctors who treated the first casualties did not know what had caused their injuries."
In a statement issued Thursday, AI said that other victims of the conflict have wounds which doctors say they are finding hard to treat because of uncertainty about the nature of the munitions which caused them.
"Doctors tell us they are encountering new and unexplained patterns of injury among some of the Palestinians injured in Israeli military attacks," said Rovera. "Some victims of Israeli air strikes were brought in with charred and sharply severed limbs and doctors treating them need to know what weapons were used."
AI also said that white phosphorous particles embedded in the flesh can continue to burn, causing intense pain as the burns grow wider and deeper, and can result in irreparable damage to internal organs. It can contaminate other parts of the patient's body or even those treating the injuries.
Dr. Subhi Skeik, head of the Surgical Department at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, was quoted as saying: "We have many cases of amputations and vascular reconstructions where patients would be expected to recover in the normal way. But to our surprise many of them died an hour or two after operation. It is dramatic."
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said that Israel's use of heavy artillery in residential areas of Gaza City violated the prohibition under the laws of war against indiscriminate attacks.
In a statement issued last week, HRW said one of its researchers on the Israel-Gaza border observed Israel's repeated use of 155mm artillery shells, which inflict blast and fragmentation damage up to 300 metres away.
"Firing 155mm shells into the center of Gaza City, whatever the target, will likely cause horrific civilian casualties," said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at HRW.
By using this weapon in such circumstances, Israel is committing indiscriminate attacks in violation of the laws of war, he added.
Asked about a possible change in policy under the new U.S. administration, Goldring told IPS: "The Obama administration, and its chosen Middle East envoy George Mitchell, face a daunting task."
But diplomacy has helped to produce a more peaceful situation between Israel and its neighbours Jordan and Egypt - progress that was once thought to be impossible.
"It will take both skill and luck to produce a similar result with Hamas. But the military option is clearly not working for either side," she added.
34 Comments so far
Show AllIt is mot only hope that simple demograpics ends the zionist experiment. The higher birth rates of Arabs will result in a Arab majority inside Isreal itself. Then Isreal will be faced with a whole different set of facts on the ground than the ones they are building in the occupied territories.
They will be either accept a de-facto one state solution - or totally discredit the Jewish religion/ethnicity (which is it?) by engaging in an even more brutal campaign or ethnc cleansing.
---USAn---
Gazans and Hamas will survive and they are stronger now and Israel has joined the ranks of war criminal psychopathic and ultra paranoid regimes... and in their souls the Israelis who have this on their Karma know it is true...
They will not go down In Gaza ever.... they will survive!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHzAoe5TO-g
bligh4
Clearly, a military solution is not in the cards. Israel cannot win with it, and Hamas sucks at it.
A two state solution, with protection for minorities in both countries (yes, I'm talking about Israeli Arabs and Palestinian Christians and Jews). Either that or open the airspace and coasts of Gaza and the West Bank, and let the Egyptians and Jordanians sort it out.
Hmmm, sounds reasonable and I take it that you mean the people not the elites of those countries, yes?
Number of Arabs who support this solution= zero.
What did you think that the past 60 years of war were about?
Not at all true.
Joe
Check out the shameless lying of an Israeli spokesman. The mendacity is at the same level as that of Joseph Goebbels.
Is anyone else wondering why there were so few IDF casualties.
Is it possible that they refused to fight other in the open where the Gazans are helpless against the jets and attack helicopters? Did they substantially rely on bombing and artillery to do their work for them as they wanted no part of fighting Gazans in the alleys of Gaza City?
What a shame that humanity has accepted "laws of war," and it is considered progress. Instead of say, all war is wrong and those commiting it are guilty of crimes against humanity.
Even more of a shame that those who write these so called laws ignore them constantly.
The parallel with the Algerian war is an interesting one and has been brought up countless times before. What it fails to take into account, however, is that the Algerians, when fighting the French, still had a country they could call their own, even if the administration was French. The Palestinians have nothing. Even their attempt to settle for a tiny fraction of their original homeland was continually undermined by new Israeli settlements. To repeat, the Palestinians have nothing. Thus the level of their despair is far greater.
The zionist cowards lost. This wasnt a 'war' in any sense but a massacre. Shooting fish in a barrel isnt fishing. The zionists lost the moral and ethical 'war' ages ago. Israel long ago lost its right to exist. These shameful atrocities committed by the U.S.-Israel tag team will be remembered for a long time.
Yes having laws of war is absurd. The point of war is to kill and destroy.
When I hear about these weapons i wonder about the human filth that designed them--they probably have good salaries and dont think for a second about the hell they cause.
Israel was founded a jewish supremacist state.
As long as they raise their children to believe jews are special and deserve special rights, there can never be hope for a settlement except through violence.
Despite the violence, I think the Palestinians, even Hamas, have been amazingly generous. They give up everything and get nothing in return.
Its also absurd to call the US an honest broker since it supplies arms to one side.
People should start using Israel in regular conversation like:
You are as barbaric as an Israeli.
Or
Your view of reality is as warped as an Israeli's.
You have the manners of an Israeli.
You are so violent and irrational, are you an Israeli?
Stop behaving like an Israeli and be civilized.
etc
"To be humane is to be cruel, vicious and unrestrained, like humans.
To be inhumane is to be compassionate, restrained, moderate, like non humans."
"You are as barbaric as an Israeli."
I agree. Check this out ...its been posted here on CD as well i think.
I cannot tell you how many emails ive got expressing nothing but disbelief,
anger and a host of unmentionable emotions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuOfmkH9q6I
Zionists are not Jews , Jews are supposed to be thoughtful respectful of humanity don’t pinch ,they make bargains every one wins
What we have in the Annexed Palestine Homeland is the dregs of European peoples Pirates and cut throats, disguised as jews
"Give me liberty or at least two shoes to hurl"
"you pathological liar, what were you raised to be an israeli?" Thank you Webber, this is a useful tool to remember. They have gotten away with their savagery for so long they're amazed that the times they are a'changin.
When they lost to Hezballah in '06 they started planning this "engagement" that is what they call it an "engagement". As poster above noted this was in no way a war as a war implies a bit of equity and there is nothing equitable about a drone dropping
bombs on citizens armed with only rocks.
The kelb ibn kelb zionist dog dirt will be a footnote in histoy along with the likes of Ghengis Khan, Vlad the impaler, and the conquistadors in south america, barbarians whose cruelty was unmatched until deathdealing duo of USA/Izrael.
I'm outraged at the killers and causers of all this unnecessary blood shed & death.
You won't hear this on the televised American/Israeli Empire's news:
In recent, highly publicized confrontations, Hamas soldiers valiantly fighting to defend their freedom, met fierce resistance from Israeli militants, backed by Obama's vast "terrorist network."
And then to remind us of the barbarity of the region, Hamas tortures by blinding and shooting the legs of those suspected collaborators being interrogated, before executions. Kind of makes waterboarding seem pretty tame in comparison. My point is that Hamas, the Israeli govt., our govt., most govts.who stray are representative of our darker sides because in reality governments are not living breathing entities, it is the people animating that non living, non breathing entity that does the evil. "We were just following orders" was the excuse at Nuremburg, but the order was given by a human being, not the government. It is always a member of the society that commits the atrocity.
What must come of this is that war is an obscenity against humanity and must not be tolerated. Sugar-coating it with "rules" and "spin" simply justifies it. Ultimately, no rules apply in the perceived exigency of circumstances and atrocities are inevitable. The only war is absolute war. That so and so was wronged and must be avenged is rhetoric. At the end, there always might have been a better way. I shudder at nazis and the holocost, but it is now the basis of new abominations which must commit the perpetrators to everlasting hell. More millions of corpses must not be rendered the legacy of the victims of that evil.
I am anxiously awaiting a call, a near time date, for national actions aimed at expressing our opposition to Israeli occupation, ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, No doubt - such public actions will surely include the unabashed participation of principled Jews along side the larger mass of Americans. Waiting on politicians to take meaningful action, like envoy Mitchell, is not enough. AIPAC will gun down any and all elected voices that forward anything like an honest assessment of the ongoing tragedy. It is reasonable to believe that the American people will finally question the U.S. government's mega billion dollar funding of Israel.
Governments that exist to serve their national constituencies, sue for peace when their people are sustaining intolerable losses.
"Governments that exist to serve their national constituencies, sue for peace when their people are sustaining intolerable losses."
Do Governments that indulge in genocide and perpetrate these intolerable losses deserve any legitimacy in the fraternity of Nations ? Do we ostracize, shun and boycott these Governments until they remedy the situation or do we encourage, coddle and arm them ??
Does our government exist to serve it's national constituency? If so, why did the previous administration favor the needs of corporations who helped place it in office at the expense of the citizenry they "serve"? Why is it none of our business what many of their actions were (executive privilige) (and in Cheney's case just none of our business) if our government exists to serve it's national constituency? We don't even have control of our government during normal business! God only knows what would happen if we were being overrun by a nation who obviously hated us, and saw us as sub- humans; would we give up like France in WWII, or fight like the Soviets at Stalingrad; or like the Palestinians of Gaza? Israel rules the Middle East with support and supply by the U.S.. They have high tech weaponry and a nuclear arsenal. They are the only game in town and scorn the Arabs and Persians read: Muslims. Muslims are treated as the dogs and the Zionists are their masters. Here, one more time, I am tempted to blame government, or religion, but every action is implemented by a human being., We are responsible for our fellow humans. America is not responsible for Israel, Americans are responsible for Israelis. Israel is not responsible for it's action against Gaza(Palestine), Israelis are responsible for their actions toward Palestinians. The responsibility is always on the human's shoulder. Who hung after Nuremburg, Germany, or Germans?
If/when Hamas achieves it's dream---using Iranian missiles to do significant damage to Tel Aviv--- the Israeli counter-attack will demonstrate that there is, indeed, a military solution.
So how would you characterize what just happened in Gaza ? Was it an israeli attempt at a military solution or were the tanks and bombs practice runs for target practice ?
One can only wish Hamas had the ability to bomb the hell out of Tel Aviv because that will inject some balance in this genocide.
I'd characterize it as "a warning."
I can't believe what pathetic losers and posers you all sound like. Hamas hides behind civilians and then cry "atrocity and genocide". You would do well to remember there has been evil done on both sides. If I was israeli though I would be sick and tired of cowardly attacks on civilians in my country. There is nothing honorable about suicide bombers blowing their self up on a bus full of women and children. Extremist rightwing Jews are a great part of this problem with their settlements I agree but extremist Muslims on the other side are causing the most harm to their people.
Americans need to pull their money out of any entity which supports the back-stabbing terrorist Jews-only State. Zionism is Nazism. They are practicing murder and genocide against the Palestinians until just as they did against our boys on The USS LIberty. Israel and their sayanim here in America can kiss my all-American ass.
Here we go !!
The zionists are back on the board ..... it didnt take more than an hour !!
Zionist my ass. I just try to read some history and look at news from both sides. I have no horses in either race. I have compassion for the common man and women from both sides like my President and I can see that both sides are wrong. I just happen to think that hamas is more wrong over all then Israel.
Oh how so? You may want to get off your high horses.
Your not listening Mr. winning ticket,I don't have a horse in this race and could care less if not for the trouble "Muslim extremists" are causing for the rest of the world. I conceded the point that nut job "Jewish Extremists are causing a lot of the problem, but that does not pardon are explain the rockets and suicide bombers. Read a little history, if the " Grand Mahdi" had not lied and spread so much hate full propaganda back in the forties there would not have been a "Palestinian Exodus". So you want to side with Hate full extremists who have spread lies, hate and terror to the whole world for over sixty years. Have at it, but I believe your misguided.
How very mature. Please give me a rational fact based argument instead of this Zionist crap.