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International Community Must Stop Gaza War
The international community should immediately intervene in Gaza and end this war.
It is imposing an intolerable price on civilians, killing more than 500, many of them innocent children, injuring 2,700 people and making daily life, which was already dire, all but impossible.
The images of this immense suffering gravely alarm the Arab and Muslim world, inciting hatred against Israel - and by extension, against its defender, the United States.
Hamas's rocket shelling of Israeli citizens is also morally indefensible, useless and provocative. There are much better ways to resist the oppressive Israeli siege of Gaza and the wider occupation.
For Israel, going after Hamas militarily is counterproductive, even in the short to medium term. Being a grassroots movement, Hamas is extremely resilient. It has the potential to regenerate its political muscle, no matter the damage it suffers.
Regardless of how regressively Hamas - formally known as the Islamic Religious Movement - governs or how unrealistic its rejection of Israel is, Palestinians are rallying around it because of Israel's aggression.
Hamas won a democratic Palestinian election in January 2006. After achieving the electoral right to govern all Palestinian territories, Hamas was unfairly ostracized and undermined by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
When Hamas was denied access to political power, more Palestinians identified with it, in defiance of external intervention.
When the United States and the EU imposed an embargo on Gaza, more Palestinians rallied to the side of Hamas.
In its autocratic rule over Gaza, Hamas has nevertheless shown discipline and offered social services and provided local security. Hamas's rival party, Fatah, and its leaders in the Palestinian Authority, rule the West Bank as a separate entity from Gaza with dubious legitimacy bestowed by Israel.
The international community must allow Palestinians to shape the character of their governance.
For too long political Islam has been considered a threat to the West and its allied Arab regimes. Trying to protect Arab regimes from political Islam has consistently failed in Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
Muslims will have to discover, through trial and error, without colonial meddling, how to apply their faith in governance.
Reconciliation of Hamas with Fatah is a crucial precondition for negotiating lasting peace with Israel. Will Barack Obama facilitate the reconciliation among Palestinians in a creative way, or will he - like George Bush - try to divide the two? And will Obama restrain Israel from more aggression, or will he reflexively side with Israel, regardless of its cruel policies?
Obama must recognize that war is futile.
He must recognize that the siege of Gaza is a form of collective punishment, which violates the Geneva Conventions.
He must reconcile the competing Palestinian factions.
And he must make Israel safe.
Countenancing this war will not accomplish any of these goals.
- Posted in
41 Comments so far
Show AllGovernments won't do anything that isn't in Israel's favor, so the Occupation will continue even after a Gaza truce is called. The best way to show disgust for the Occupation and Israel's apartheid policies is to boycott all Israeli goods and pressure institutions to divest. It worked in South Africa (Israel's ally under white rule) and it will work in Palestine!
Making the US goal of "Full Spectrum Dominance" by all military means(space included)the central underlying reason for a good deal of the worlds conflicts a lot of what appear to be events taking place in isolation begin to draw strikingly similar responses from the US in particular and in terms of any meaningful action Europe,United Nations and the Security Council.Thus whilst laying the blame squarely on this vulgar American dilusion, I think it only fair to point out the hippocracy of Europe that shows outrage on the surface (a convenient must given the outrage of its population)whilst choosing to do nothing lest it upset its good standing with the US.Someone go wake up David this giants starting to become a real boor.
Good luck boycotting Israel. :-)
Thanks. You'll be surprised when Israel loses its economy as it already lacks a middle class.
LOL. The shoes thing is hilarious. They look so damned silly when they aren't toting weapons.
Oh. It won't be stopped. As for it being genocide. You need to look up what that means. :-)
Have a nice day Gaza!
It is time to expose trhe facade that the USA is the champion of democracy. It has consistently created, sustained and sponsored terrorist states around the globe since 1945 (examples: Chile under Pinochet, South Africa under Apartheid, Iraq under Hussein when it suited US interests, Iran under the Shah and Afghanistan under the Mohajedin and Taliban,and numerous despots in Asia). The US army still occupies most European countries never having withdrawn since World War 2. What is shocking is that this global empire of terror remains essentially unchallenged. It is really time to shake of US shackles once and for all.
Interestingly is the manipulation of international law. Thus far only Yugoslav and African leaders have been charged over the last twenty years, It is time to charge leaders in the USA and Israel with War Crimes. It is also time for citizens around the world to challenge the global media monopolies who churn out misinformation on behalf of the USA and its surrogates.
The US kills democracy and kisses dictators!
Venezuela just cut the emergency oil shipments that have been heating the homes of the poorest in the US northeast.
Unintended blowback is a bitch, ain't it?
Walk in peace.
My government? I'm a Canuck.
And since Stephen (Mini Me) Harper prorogued (shut down) our parliament when he was about to lose a confidence vote for cutting equalisation payments for the opposition parties, reducing the staus of women, and acting to take away government unions right to strike, there has been no official word on the atrocities happening in Gaza.
But I am certain that Harper is cheering the Israelis on from the comfort of his tax-payer paid for residence at 24 Sussex Dr.
I applaud Chavez. Any man who survives two US CIA backed coups/abductions deserves some serious kudos.
Walk in peace.
Galen, in response to the numerous demonstrations in Canadian cities the official word from Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon is expressed concern but Israel has to right to defend itself whereas Hamas provoked the violence with rocket attacks.
I wrote the Minister clarifying his misconception and expect a reply early 2010.
The international community definitely needs to do something. I would suggest organizing a military force that would go into Gaza and destroy Hamas once and for all. They are not just threatening the lives of the Israelis and Palestinians, but lighting fires that could engulf the entire region. Obviously they cannot be stopped by negotiation or peaceful tactics. Anyone can see that. Those type of efforts have been made extensively and have not worked. So clearly it's time for military action. It's time the international community took a stand for what's right, and act to prevent Hamas from endangering any more civilians. With sufficient military force they can be taken out permanently, and it's time to do so. Delay will only cost more innocent people their lives.
Wow.
Commit genocide to stop terrorism.
With that thinking we should sterilise all those who don't meet our standards of intelligence and behavior so they don't breed anymore.
Oh, wait. That was already tried. In Germany, the US, Canada and other 'enlightened' Western nations. It was called 'Eugenics'.
I have a better idea. Cut the oil supplies to the industrialised nation and wait for the machine to run to a shudderinhg halt. No production, no weapons for ANYONE to use.
Mikep, by even suggesting such an event you prescribe, even in jest or a lame attempt at satire, you reveal yourself to be a bigot worthy of leading the KKK.
mikep - Take a look at The Other Side of the Story - Palestinian mothers, dead or alive, with their dead, wounded or alive children. Dangerous Monsters all, of course. Also observe the pictures of those "dangerous" Hamas rockets. They are crude, almost tin-can, silly looking, and essentially ineffectual. So far in two years, at the most, 14 Israelis have been killed, likely from falling into a cracked sidewalk or a hole in the meadow. Then take a look at what a sophisticated army and airforce can do to devastate and destroy a whole area, including the people, white phosphorous burns and all.
www.palestinian.ning.com/forum/topics/the-other-side-of-the-story
Then go to www.ifamericansknew.org and read the history synopsis and look at the maps.
Then kindly take a look at the four maps of Palestine/Israel from 1947 through 2005 on the one-page flyer. The Zionist Israelis never intended to live side by side as one nation or two separate nations. The green dots plus a little tiny strip of green where 1.5 million Palestinians are being squeezed to death is what's left of their homeland for them, and since it is now 2009, probably there are far fewer green dots. If Zionist Israel has its way, the Palestinians will be gone. It's been this way for 60 years, the relentless pushing out of the Palestinians from their own homeland or killing them and destroying everything they have. That, my friend, is GENOCIDE.
And their partner has been my country who vetoed 99-plus sanctions against Israel and just vetoed calls for a cease-fire in the Security Council. And that to me is past disgusting.
Now if you can, step back, clear your mind.
If intruders came into your house and stuck you and all your family into the cellar and once in a while threw you a bone or two and a little soup, sometimes gave you water, sometimes not; sometimes turned out the lights for days, gave you nothing to clean up with, even though there are no toilets in the cellar, and etcetera ... and when other relatives of the same family came to dislodge your and your family's captors and return to you at least part of your home, which you and your family have agreed to ... amazingly, but the captors just laugh: WE want it all, so they immediately attack those who speak for you and they attack you and your captive family in the cellar ... and when they run out of weapons, they just make a phone call and a very rich Uncle sends an arsenal and wads of money to keep them comfortable as they go about their grisly business ...
I have always been a fair person, mikep. A sense of justice burns like a flame within me and always has.
And it doesn't matter to me ... black, white, green, orange or yellow ... what race, culture, what religion ... it is how people treat and respond to each other that is important.
But I do read and read and read, all sides. My conclusion is that the above little story is the basic, essential one.
I have read the diary entries of those who have governed Israel. Many were not nice human beings. Savage, arrogant, cruel, and so limited in their humanity and spiritual development what they wrote made me cry. It is under their leadership, their propaganda that Israel has become a terrorist state whose trump card of WAH WAH WAH, we are victims ... remember The Holocaust ... increasingly has become a disgustingly transparent, feel-sorry-for-me ploy, the type of ploy used by any super-neurotic person who prizes their internalized victimhood above all else and makes everyone else pay.
Many of the original Zionist leaders fled The Holocaust. Many of them were and are not practicing Jews.
A backlash is going to happen. What Zionist Israel is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza ... and do look at the pictures ... is creating tremendous anger in the bellies of many, including me.
I am fully aware of and in touch with Jews who are against the policies of the ZIonist Israeli government. They are afraid there will be a backlash. There likely will be ... or just in the course of events and time, justice will prevail ... because it works that way. In my reckoning, it may be all over in just a few years given the environmental emergency that is looming and all the horrible things we do to each other or watch and let pass.
In all fairness, I also have to say that I am fully aware of, but not in touch with, Islamic extremists who, I believe, are limited as human beings with their own indoctrinations and insanities. All they seem to want to do is terrorize. Hatred and the need for revenge are fatal diseases to the heart and the soul.
When Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in Israel step in to set up medical clinics or bring food or supply social services as best they can to hurting people, that means their humanity is intact. And there is common ground for negotiation and change. But it won't happen if the leadership of Israel is compromised mainly of militant brutes, regardless of how well-tailored their suits are.
Anyway, mikep ... We are human beings first and all the labels second. And maybe it would be good if you started there.
peace
/cm
"When Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in Israel step in to set up medical clinics or bring food or supply social services as best they can to hurting people, that means their humanity is intact."
No, it means they understand propaganda/policics juat as well as the anybody else.
Fascist ideologies often use a myth of victimhood to rally the masses behind their cause. Hitler talked of a stab in the back, poor Germany you see was a victim...
I am with you MikeP. However, if there is an international force that can enforce an end to weapons smuggling and rocket firing in exchange for a stop to hostilities and an end to the blockade, I would go for that and I think Israel would as well. There is some talk of this.
First priority is to end rocket fire into Israel.
Second is to stop arms coming into Gaza.
Third is an end to the blockade.
At that point simply declare Palestine a state and be done with it. After that, anything you have to do to them is not in terms of an occupier but as an equal state. That gives the Palestinians a choice of peace of equals or to be crushed by Israel. Both ends make me as happy so I think they should go for it. Israel can't loose.
I agree. Let them loose already. Let them have Hamas as their Gov't as well. Let's get this over with. Let Hamas arm it's new State and try to invade Israel. I'll enjoy watching the Israelis slaughter these bastards. Hamas has only one reason for existing and all u need to do is read their own documents to see what it is. It's to KILL Jews and destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic Republic.
I hear thorazine is good for your condition.
Actually cyanide would better for Blutofacist's condition.
" or to be crushed by Israel."
All you learned from the Holocaust is dreams of the "final solution," nice... :(
The U.N. should occupy Israel and depose it's government for gross violations of human rights including but not limited to collective punishment, I corrected your talking points posts Zionist shills, you're welcome.
p.s. What happened to your friend "steeelgrey?" Did he get bored and wonder off to digg.com or a spate of instant messaging?" You guys aren 't going to win if you have the attention span of gnats you know, smirk.
"All the talk about the qassam rockets and the so-called 'Hamas infrastructure',(the new phrase that is supposed to indicate a threat to Israeli security) is merely a diversion. What really worries Israel is the prospect that Obama will 'sit down with his enemies'--as he promised during the presidential campaign--and conduct talks with Hamas. That would put the ball in Israel's court and force them to make concessions. But Israel does not want to make concessions. They would rather start a war and change the facts on the ground so they can head-off any attempt by Obama to restart peace process."
Separating the Truth from the Hype: The Gaza Bloodbath
http://www.counterpunch.com/whitney01062009.html
The international community includes us. To me, that means, the "bottom up" pressure that Neve Gordon speaks of (on DemocracyNow yesterday, www.democracynow.org and I'm going to read his article on CD). We each can do something, each of us is important, as Howard Zinn points out in his great speech played on Jan.2,2009 on DemocracyNow and the transcript is there. Read it. Please.
What international community? A silly, meaningless phrase.
You know something? You're right. The international community only refers to the Western nations and then maybe a few sprinkles such as China, Russia, and Japan. Most of Africa and south Asia are often excluded from the definition.
The Israel Rules article is very good.
This point especially:
Because Israel came into existence in the shadow of the Holocaust, and because it was immediately attacked by Arab states bent on destroying it, it has become an eternal victim in America's eyes. The historical truths of Israel's creation, above all the fact of Palestinian dispossession, simply cannot compete with the tragic, beautiful myth of an embattled people, the survivors of one of the worst genocides in human history, returning to live in their historic homeland. The enduring power of this myth is understandable. The idea that history's "ultimate victims," as the late Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said sympathetically called the Jews, created their own state by expelling its native inhabitants, is appalling. It seems almost cosmically wrong: A story this dark should not, cannot, close without a happy ending.
**This idea has been eroded over time though.
Eventually you start to question the idea of seeing the enemy as a devil.
It does get repugnant when Peta puts up a sign saying the Holocaust On your Plate and jewish/human extremists vandalize it because they feel it is offensive, while ignoring(perhaps deliberately) that the word holocaust refers to the sacrifice of animals in ancient Hebrew religion.
The Israel story is similar to animal research.
No matter how much animal torturers say its good, they can never escape the fact that in addition to lies(you need humans for human drugs) you are claiming to be compassionate by engaging in extreme cruelty and selfish regard.
That's what Israel has done.
Blah blah blah blah... Israel's creation isn't any myth. The myth is that all these Jews suddenly appeared from nowhere and kicked the Pals out. The truth is far more interesting , but the Pals and their peanut gallery on the left in hear prefer the lies being handed out endlessly by the Pals and the rest of the Arab press, Govt's etc. Believe what u want. If the Pals had any brains they'd have figured out that violence to achieve their ends has only begetting more violence. Maybe, they should take a page out of ML King and Gandhi and try non-violence for a change, instead of using their children as suicide bombs and missiles. None of this has moved Israel a inch closer to a settlement has it? The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The insanity continues.
If I told you that Germany ought to give the Jews a state of their own that's owed to them, would you accept that?
They have s STATE it's called ISRAEL or haven't you been paying attention. I'm not arguing about whether Israel has a right to exist it exists . It doesn't need my ok or your ok or Hamas' ok to exist. When are you folks going to stop this silly line of reasoning, as if it's a real argument. Only Hamas and it's friends like Iran waste their time bothering with such ideas. Israel is a fact get over it already!!
No, we're not talking about stolen Arab land. I'm talking about Germany giving a portion of its OWN land to the Jews which you FAIL to acknowledge. You can keep acting like a rightwing asshole and crying victim for the Israeli zionist nazis ruining it for the Jews but even the Jews in Israel can't stand their own misleader zionist nazis giving them a bad rap. Israel is a FRAUD get over it already or watch your poor Israelis live in fear thanks to your utter pro-nazi ignorance !!
Pals eh? Tell me exactly how that is any better than "Kike?" Dehumanize much right wing thug? All you will harvest with dehumanization and bigoted slurs is real genuine hard core anti Semitism. Which is quite literally suicidally stupid when Jews are vastly outnumbered in the word. I think you want to rethink this "Pals" slur bucko.
Israel too does the same stupid shit over and over again too on a vastly more destructive scale, what do you think you are going to harvest by painfully killing dozens of kids and bombing U.N. schools other than people who hate you and won't hesitate to kill your civilians? The ONLY possible peaceful solution is for Israel to retreat to the green line and allow for the creation of Palestine.
Do Zionists really desire peace or is the land grabbing status quo 100% satisfactory to Israel leadership? IMO Israel's elected leadership desire peace about as much much as Hamas does and perhaps even less with the incentive of land grabbing involved.
You are right Blutodog. The insanity continues -- from your sociopathic posts that is.
Some posters on this site brought up the issue of Europe's silent complicity. If the author expects the international community to do squat, he's dreaming. It takes time to change the international community's snobbish ways. Plus, the US is given unlimited veto power at the UN so the US is the biggest offender that needs reforming. The EU will follow suit since they're potatoes compared to the US.
The Palestinians were not responsible for the holocaust, so they should not be paying the price for Israel's vengeance and paranoia. Furthermore, proportionality is an international law--not a subjective mesurement. What Israel is doing in Gaza violates both the law of proportionality and the strictures against collective punishment. If anyone wants to argue that Israelis do not have to abide by international law because of their unfortunate historical past, then we'd all better be prepared for anarchy, since many other ethnic and religious groups have been oppressed historically. The fact is, Israel is playing politics--it's not about the rockets at all. Only to morally degenerate individuals could those pitiful rockets be an excuse to massacre an entire population. In fact, the protests all over the world testify that people are disgusted with Israel's overkill and its pathetic sense of victimization. People are disgusted with Israel's continued theft of Palestinian land, its continued rejection of peace proposals, and its continued provocation in the Middle East. Israel's narcissistic criminality is putting all of us in danger. The world must demand accountability from this rogue nation.
oh please. do you even know what 'proportionality' means? let's say I and someone else get into fisticuffs and he pulls out a set of keys to blind me with. Then lets say I pull out a weapon to disable him with. Even if my weapon is greater or if I use it to a greater effect, my response was still 'proportional.' He can't say afterwards "I was only trying to gouge your eyes out, and you rendered me a paraplegic."
Let me guess you probably believe this crap too:
"Cruelty and Violence in Deuteronomy
"The Lord destroyed them before them" -- the general treatment of the people who were supposedly displaced by the Israelites. 2:21-22
All nations shall be terrorized by the followers of Yahweh. 2:25
God hardened the heart of the king of Heshbon and so that he could have him and all of his people killed. 2:30
At God's instructions, the Israelites "utterly destroyed the men, women, and the little ones" leaving "none to remain." 2:33-36
The Israelites, with God's help, kill all the men, women, and children of every city. 3:3-6
When going to war, don't be afraid. God is on your side; "he shall fight for you." 3:22
God destroyed the followers of Baalpeor. 4:3
God brought the Israelites out of Egypt "by war ... and by great terrors." 4:34
If someone makes an image of anything (like a bird or flower) then God will destroy the entire nation. 4:25-26
If you worship the wrong god, God will get jealous and kill you. 6:15
God instructs the Israelites to kill, without mercy, all the inhabitants (strangers) of the land that they conquer. 7:2
If you do show any mercy to such strangers, "give your daughters to any of them, or "take" any of their daughters, then you'll get God so angry that he'll "destroy thee suddenly." 7:4
God will kill those who hate him. 7:10
God commands his people to "consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity on them." 7:16
God will send hornets to kill your enemies, "for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible." 7:20-23
"If thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods ... ye shall surely perish." 8:19-20
God is "a consuming fire" that destroys people. 9:3
"The blood of sacrifices shall be poured out ... and thou shalt eat the flesh." Isn't this the sort of thing that Satanists are accused of doing? 12:27
After God kills those of other faiths, be sure to reject their beliefs and do not learn about them. Otherwise God will have to kill you too. 12:30
Prophets and dreamers are to be executed if they say or dream the wrong things. 13:1-5
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/dt/cr_list.html
Didn't your mama ever tell you an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind and 10 eyes fro an eye 10 times as fast?
And your bar fight analogy is totally off it's more like Israel is kicking the shit out of someone in a wheel chair because the person in the wheel chair spit on them after the shit kicker stole the wheel chair guys wallet.
The US must, perforce, be AWOL on this issue. If Obama were to criticize the Israeli government in even the mildest and most diplomatic way, he'd be crushed like a cockroach and powerless as president. It's a sad fact of American politics, but there it is.
Best would be to let the EU, which is more balanced and less bloodthirsty, handle it. With our militarism and disregard for international law, as well as our domestic political and media biases, we must cede the high ground to our betters.
Alex
GAZA, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Israel pressed on with its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday by shelling houses and a school run by the United Nations, killing 82 Palestinians, the majority women and children, in the eleventh day of violence.
Wow, just like Sabra and Chatila except this time the Jews are massacring women and children