THE WAR IN GAZA

But what of Israel's right of self-defense? It exists, but it doesn't apply.

Israel, when it conquered the occupied territories in 1967, could have established a sovereign Palestinian state. This would have made the Palestinians, not a subject people at the mercy of their conqueror, but an independent people, responsible for their own acts and for keeping the peace with other sovereign states. Had the Palestinians then attacked Israel, Israel would have had the right to respond in self-defense.

But Israel didn't do that. Instead, it kept the Palestinians at its mercy, and its mercy didn't materialize. Israel embarked on a settlement policy that amounted to a declaration of war on a helpless population. The settlements were part of a project to take the Palestinians' land, all of it, for the use and enjoyment of the Jewish people. Of course Israel did not explicitly say it was going to take from the Palestinians the very ground on which they stood. But the settlements kept spreading, mopping up an increasing share of vital resources, and behind them was a settler movement, hugely powerful not only in the occupied territories but in Israel itself. This bunch of coddled fanatics, many of them American, quite openly proclaimed their determination to secure the whole of Biblical Israel for exclusively Jewish use. The Israeli government backed these racial warriors with unlimited military protection and extensive financial support.

These trends continue to the present day. Sure, Israel got the settlers out of Gaza, and I'm convinced that even Ariel Sharon, not to mention his successors, truly desired to resolve the conflict by withdrawing from the occupied territories and allowing something like a Palestinian state. But my convictions have no weight against what any reasonable Palestinian, or any reasonable human being, has to conclude: that given the continued strength of the settler movement, the continued popularity of the Israeli right, the continued military protection of the West Bank settlements, their continued expansion, and the Israeli government's all-too-obvious readiness to fight for whatever is politically popular to the last drop of Palestinian blood... given all this, the Palestinians are still faced with a mortal threat. They are still faced with a sovereign whose intentions, if not entirely clear, clearly countenance alternatives leading to an extreme humanitarian disaster for the Palestinians, and perhaps to the entire expropriation of most Palestinians' necessities of life.

This means that Israel is the aggressor in this conflict, and the Palestinians fight in self-defense. Under these circumstances, Israel's right of self-defense cannot justify Israeli violence. Israel is certainly entitled to protect its citizens by evacuation and other non-violent measures, but it is not entitled to harm a hair on the head of a Palestinian firing rockets into Israeli cities, whether or not these rockets kill innocent civilians.

Self-defense gives you the right to resist attacks by any means necessary, and therefore, certainly, by the only means available. The Palestinians don't have the option of using violence which hits only military targets - apparently even the Israelis, with all their intelligence data and all their technological might, don't have that option! But suppose a bunch of thugs install themselves, with their families, all around your farm. They have taken most of your land and resources; they're out for more. If this keeps up, you will starve, perhaps die. They are armed to the teeth and abundantly willing to use those arms. The only way you can defend yourself is to make them pay as heavy a price as possible for their siege and their constant encroachment on your living space. You're critically low on food and medical supplies, and the thugs cut off those supplies whenever they please. What's more, the only weapons available to you are indiscriminate, and will harm their families as well as the thugs themselves. You can use those weapons, even knowing they will kill innocents. You don't have to let the thugs destroy you, thereby sacrificing your innocents (including yourself) to spare theirs. Since innocents are under mortal threat in either case, you needn't prefer the attackers' to your own.

This may not be the most high-minded conclusion. However it's a conclusion we are forced to accept - we who very clearly countenance the killing and maiming of civilians in situations not nearly so precarious as what it is to be a Palestinian in the conquered, shrinking occupied territories. The thugs should keep their families from harm by ceasing their onslaught and withdrawing from the scene. Israel's obligation is similar. It must defend itself at the least cost to others. It should keep its families from harm by giving the Palestinians complete control of their external borders and allowing the creation of a Palestinian state. After this, if Israel is attacked, it can respond. Before, its response is not legitimate self-defense but continued aggression.

This is not about good and bad arguments for Palestinian resistance. It's about whether the defenders of the Palestinians want to vent, or whether they want to at least try to make a difference. If the bad or evasive arguments are effective, fine. My feeling is, they're not.

http://www.counterpunch.org/neumann01132009.html

It's Time for Your Check-Up

Bend Over Professor Dershowitz

By FRANKLIN LAMB

Beirut.

"Israel is leveling Gaza to strike at Hamas, just as they pulverized south Lebanon to strike at Hezbollah. Yet in both cases civilian populations were attacked, countless innocents killed or injured, infrastructure targeted and destroyed, and civil law enforcement negated. All this was, and is, disproportionate, indiscriminate mass violence in violation of international law. Israel is not exempt from international law and must be held accountable. It is time for the UN to not just call for a cease-fire, but for an inquiry as to Israel's illegal actions." " US Congressman Dennis Kucinich, 12/29/08

Typically, within the first ten days or so of enrolling in an American law school, in this observer's case, Boston University School of Law, a student will begin to receive from professors or seasoned upper classmates, plenty of gratuitous but well intentioned advice. One bit that still rattles around in my brain came from our Law School Librarian, Mr. Taylor.

More than once, during my three year stint, I heard the sometimes crotchety Mr. Taylor, a brilliant former Boston trial lawyer, intone, with sometimes lavish flair to law students in the Pappas Library trying to concentrate on writing their Briefs for the Homer Albers Moots Court Competition:

"Future lawyers! Remember well! If, God forbid, some miserable wretch on this green earth should have the misfortune or exceedingly poor judgment to hire you to represent them in Court, heed this!

“If you find yourself arguing a case before a skeptical judge or jury and the law is clearly against you, for Christ's sake jump up and down and argue all the facts you can think of in your client's favor!"

Then Mr. Taylor would invariably add, "On the other hand my dears, if the facts of the case are clearly against you, for Christ's sake jump up and down, but this time ignore or deny every single material fact and argue only the law. Look the judge or jury straight in the eye, with tears in yours, lower your voice and softly rant about the technicalities of the law and how the very survival of Western Civilization, which came to us, after all, with our mothers milk, depends on strictly applying it in your client’s favor".

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, in his latest Arab-phobic, ultra-Zionist screed, in last week's Wall Street Journal in defense of Israel's ongoing slaughter in Gaza, having neither the law nor the facts in his favor, figuratively at least, just jumps up and down and rants.

In his January 2, 2009 article in the Wall Street Journal entitled 'Israel's Policy Is Perfectly Proportionate', Professor Dershowitz defends Israel's operation "Molten Lead" and while doing so consistently misstates the facts and the law.

Alan Dershowitz: "Hamas knew that Israel would never fire at a home with civilians in it"

Fact Check: On the contrary, Hamas and every person over 7 years old in the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, as well as in Lebanon and Palestine know that Israel will for sure "fire at a home with civilians in it." And also ambulances, convoys fleeing a war zone with prior UN and IDF approval and waving white flags, homes with only five children and their mother inside as they did in Nabysheet, Lebanon on July 19, 2006, destroying the family of my friend Abu Mohammad Chokr. History has shown that is what Israel does regularly and why it is increasingly a pariah state.

Virtually every human rights organization including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and relevant UN Agencies, the European Union, objective Israeli and international investigative journalists digging beneath the mainstream media headlines has documented hundreds of cases of Israel targeting " a home with civilians in it". No fewer than 234 cases of firing on civilians in South Lebanon alone during 2006, and hundreds of others in Palestine. In the past week in Gaza (29 December 2008- 6 Jan 2009), Israel fired on more than 54 homes with civilians in them.

Alan Dershowitz: "Terrorists firing at Sderot are so proud of their actions that they sign their weapons".

Fact Check: Goodness Professor, since the days of cave men, the armies of Greece, Rome, Genghis Khan, to cowboys in the American west notching or 'signing' their six-guns and rifles, one imagines virtually every army in history has been done this. We do know the 'most moral', 'elite' and 'purity of arms' guys and gals in the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) do it as well. Yet it is a bit less sinister for lonely scared fighters to sign their weapons as a 'security blanket' than for the Public Information unit in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to herd Israeli youngsters onto buses, as was done in 2006 in Lebanon, to visit IDF artillery bases and be given felt pens and told to sign the 155 mm cluster bomb rounds containing US supplied M-24, M-77 bomblets, before they are fired into South Lebanon in to kill and maim fellow school children.

And indeed, sorry to be indelicate, but it is also a bit more civilized to sign one's weapon than the traditional practice of the Israeli forces entering civilian houses in numerous villages in South Lebanon in 2006 (they did the same this in during their wars against Lebanon in1978, 1982, 1993, and 1996" and rubbing their faeces over walls, inside water tanks, in pillows, beds etc poisoning wells and booby trapping children's toys (apparently it's an Occupation thing that warrants psychological study).

Alan Dershowitz: "Since Israel ended its occupation of Gaza, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets"

Fact Check: Israel never ended its occupation of Gaza. Following the September 2005 dismantling of its illegal colony/settlements, Israel maintained nearly total control of Gaza's borders, airspace, territorial waters (preventing most fishing), electricity, life-lines and economy, turning it into a sealed prison resembling the Warsaw Ghetto, according to UN Special Rapporteur, Richard Falk.

Palestinians living in Gaza have not only the right but the obligation to resist Israel's continuing illegal occupation. Indeed, the very existence of Gaza is a historical reminder of those hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes to Israel. Gaza is a Palestinian refugee camp"all of it. More than 80% of its inhabitants were victims of Zionist terrorism that pushed them off their land"many from Askalaan (Ashkelon), their heritage from that now Jewish town nearly erased.

[read the rest at]

http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb01072009.html

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And with all these talents, you want them to "bury their talents" in a sea of Gentiles?

Do you mean you are in favour of keeping them out? A sea of Gentiles is better than being surrounded by people who hate you.

I know which I would prefer. History is bunk.

Last week, the military censor ordered local and foreign media in Israel to blur the faces of army commanders in photos and video footage of the Gaza war for fear they could be identified and arrested while travelling abroad.

Israeli media reports said the military had been advising its top brass to think twice about visiting Europe.

Some Jews may just need a Jewish state/society to optimize his/her existence. Not all Jews are as willing to live in a Gentile (aka, Christian) culture as I have done.

“….What will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster, ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints. This will have severe consequences for our long-term future, our standing in the world, our chance of achieving peace and quiet. In the end, this war is a crime against ourselves too, a crime against the State of Israel.”

Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist

NO MATTER WHAT ISRAEL DOES...NO MATTER WHAT THE PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP DOES...there will NEVER be peace in the Middle East so long as the state of Israel exists...and any Arabs live there.

NO MATTER WHAT ISRAEL DOES...NO MATTER WHAT THE PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP DOES...there will NEVER be peace in the Middle East so long as the state of Israel exists there...and any Arabs live there.

But I still think that there can be peace, as long as the other countries in the region are willing to leave Israel alone and to reign in their proxy warriors, groups like Hamas.

In the Gaza Strip people are returning home -- or to the rubble that was once their home. Many are blaming Hamas for the destruction because the militants hid among civilians and attracted Israeli fire. Yet no one dares to speak out openly.

"I used to support Hamas because they fought for our country, for Palestine," says Sadala. Hamas stood for a new start, for an end of corruption, which had spread like cancer under the moderate Fatah. In the 2006 elections Hamas won the majority with their message of change, said Sadala, who earned a living in the building business. Gesticulating wildly, the 52-year-old surveyed the ruins of the bedroom: "That is the change that they brought about. We were blasted back 2,000 years."

"When Hamas came to power, they came to our aid with packages of groceries," says Abu Abed. The 60-year-old's sons, all of whom are trained hospital nurses, have been without work for years. That is true of many in the Gaza Strip. Now Abu Abed stands before the rumble of the house where he lived with four generations of his family. All that remains are the ground floor pillars. The Israeli navy had its eye on the building from the very beginning of the war. After all, its clear view of Gaza City and the sea would have provided a good base for Hamas.

"I've changed my mind about Hamas," Abu Abed says. "I can't support any party that wages a war that destroys our lives." He is particularly pained by the fact that Hamas is still selling the cease-fire as a victory.

"Who has won here?" he asks and points to the debris that was once his home.

One of his neighbors weighs in: "Many people are now against Hamas but that won't change anything," he says. "Because anyone who stands up to them is killed." Since they took power Hamas has used brutal force against any dissenters in the Gaza Strip. There were news agency reports that during the war they allegedly executed suspected collaborators with Israel. The reign of terror will go on for some time, says the neighbor who doesn't want to give his name. "There will never be a rebellion against Hamas. It would be suicide."

As Hail, in his mid-30s, sat on his porch and thought about what to do a man came by: He was from Hamas and had left something in Hail's home. He let him in and the man then emerged with a bullet proof vest, a rocket launcher and an ammunitions belt. An hour later a fighter with Islamic Jihad called to the door, then disappeared onto the roof and reappeared with a box of ammunition. "The abused civilians' homes for their own purposes. That is not right," Hail says with disgust while trying to remain polite.

Par acte de baptême j'appartiens à l'église chretienne et évangelique, mais ma pensée n'a jamais sympathisé avec les croyances d'aucune religion, et après avoir vecu en bon payen, je desire aussi mourir sans que le saçerdoçe soit convié à mes funerailles. J'exige que ces dernières soient aussi peu couteuses que possible. En outre je defends à qui que ce soit de prononcer un discours sur ma tombe. Si je meurs à Passy, ce sera aussi dans cet endroit qu'on doit m'enterrer. Si je meurs à Paris je desire trouver ma modeste sepulture dans le cimetiere Montmartre.

§ 7e " Je demande que mon convoi soit aussi modeste que possible, et que
les frais de mon enterrement n'excèdent pas le montant ordinaire de celui
du plus simple bourgeois. Quoique par acte de baptême j'appartienne à la
confession luthérienne, je ne désire pas que le clergé de cette Eglise soit
convié à mon enterrement, je renonce même au ministère de tout autre
sacerdoce pour célébrer mes funérailles. Ce désir n'est pas dicté par quelque
velléité d'esprit fort: depuis quatre ans j'ai abdiqué tout orgueil philosophique,
et je suis revenu aux idées et aux sentimens religieux: Je meurs croyant en
Un Dieu Un et Eternel, Créateur du monde, et dont j'implore la miséricorde
pour mon âme immortelle. Je regrette d'avoir dans mes écrits quelquefois
parlé de choses saintes sans le respect qui leur est dû, mais j'étais plutôt en-
traîné par l'esprit de mon époque que par mes propres propensions. Si j'ai,
à mon insu, offensé les bonnes moeurs et la morale qui est la vraie essence de
toutes les croyances monothéistes, j'en demande pardon à Dieu et aux hommes.
Je défends qu'aucun discours, ou allemand ou français, soit tenu sur ma tombe.
En même tems j'énonce le désir que mes compatriotes, quelqu'heureuses
que puissent devenir les destinées de notre pays, s'abstiennent de transférer
mes cendres en Allemagne; je n'ai jamais aimé à prêter ma personne à des
momeries politiques. La grande affaire de ma vie était de travailler à l'entente
cordiale entre l'Allemagne et la France, et à déjouer les artifices des ennemis
de la démocratie qui exploitent à leur profit les préjugés et les animosités
internationaux. Je crois avoir bien mérité autant de mes compatriotes que des
Français, et les titres que j'ai à leur gratitude sont sans doute le plus précieux
legs que j'aie à conférer à ma légataire universelle.

You apparently didnt read what I wrote, you seem to have read what you wanted to see.

maybe the people of Gazawill have had enough of Hamas,

Maybe this will finally be the breaking point that causes Hamas to lose power or respect from the Gaza citizens.

And anyone who thinks that this latest war Israel waged on Hamas will result in more Arabs willing to tolerate the existence of Israel...than with more Arabs absolutely committed to the destruction of Israel...

...really needs several large, black cups of coffee.

ASIDE: Don't get pissed at me. I am not on the side of terrorists. I would give anything to see both the people of Israel and the Arabs in that area live in peace and harmony. BUT THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN...and no matter what you think, it is not ONLY the fault of the Arabs.

Get the state of Israel out of there

I do however think that as long as the other nations in the region refuse to do anything to control the militant groups operating from their soil, that they bear a part of the blame.

But, as long as groups like Hamas exist, with their sole goal the destruction of Israel, then the Israelis must do what they have to do to protect themselves.

and put it where?
I have seen suggestions made to put it in the US, but that isnt feasible and everyone knows it.
But lets assume for a minute it is.
Where in the US would you put Israel?
What would you do with the people already living there?

Also, would the Israeli's be allowed to use a "scorched earth" policy before they left the Middle East?
Would they be allowed to destroy everything they have built and let the Palestinians start over from scratch?

And what would stop groups like Hamas from following the Israeli's and starting more violence?

So, I do not think Israel is blameless, nor do I think they are totally at fault.

But, as long as groups like Hamas exist, with their ONLY GOAL the total destruction of Israel, then Israel has a right and a duty to defend themselves.

And I am not convinced Hamas is in business to destroy the state of Israel...just to get it out of the Middle East. Two completely different things.

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

Imam Yousif al-Zahar of Hamas said in his sermon at the Katib Wilayat mosque in Gaza that "Jews are a people who cannot be trusted. They have been traitors to all agreements. Go back to history. Their fate is their vanishing." Ref IHT 1 April 08
Sheik Yunus al-Astal, a Hamas legislator and imam, in a column in the weekly newspaper Al Risalah in 2008 discussed a Koranic verse suggesting that "suffering by fire is the Jews' destiny in this world and the next." Astal concluded "Therefore we are sure that the Holocaust is still to come upon the Jews.Ref IHT 1 April 08
"We will not rest until we destroy the Zionist entity" stated Hamas leader Fathi Hammad in Gaza on Friday January 2nd 2009 - ref -- BBC 2 January 09

In a sermon aired on Hamas' Al-Aqsa television, cleric Yunis Al Astal stated, "Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam.
"I believe that our children, or our grandchildren, will inherit our jihad and our sacrifices, and, Allah willing, the commanders of the conquest will come from among them"

He maintained that Rome would become, ""an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread though Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, even Eastern Europe." Ref- Fox 14 Apr. 2008

I've been thinking New Mexico...or South Dakota. In either place, things could be built to simulate holy areas of the old land.

PART YOU DIDN'T COVER: But if the Jews want a peaceful existence...then they gotta get the state of Israel out of the Middle East...where it should not have been installed in the first place.

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there will NEVER be peace in the Middle East so long as the state of Israel exists

That, in a nutshell, is the stance of those countries and groups that hate Israel.
And that is why Israel is constantly fighting.