A few words.
1. If Israel has completely withdrawn from Gaza, as Israel apologists are so fond of saying, then Israel does not have the right to control Gaza’s borders or unilaterally coordinate and deliver humanitarian aid. Either you acknowledge that Gaza is under your control, or you disengage from the coast. Either Gaza is a hostile foreign entity and the coast is a closed military zone, or you’re claiming ownership of the territory.
2. If rockets are still being fired at Israel from Gaza, then the blockade is not working, and another strategy needs to be developed. I don’t care that rocket attacks increased before the blockade was started; the point is that they’re still happening, and the harm to Palestinian civilians vastly outweighs the benefit to Israeli civilians, which means that the blockade is a net negative.
3. How exactly does sending aid to Gaza de-legitimize Israel? If I drive some canned goods twenty minutes up the 405, am I de-legitimizing Los Angeles? Explain that one to me, because I must be pretty fucking stupid not to get it.
4. Who is this a “life and death” situation for? Who is “us?” Hamas’s rockets are dangerous, but last I heard, no one seriously believed they were going to wipe Tel Aviv off the map.
5. A recent New York Review of Books article stated that “for several decades, the Jewish establishment has asked American Jews to check their liberalism at Zionism’s door, and now, to their horror, they are finding that many young Jews have checked their Zionism instead.” I have no interest in this brand of Zionism. No interest at all. Bye.
I cannot emphasize point 3 enough.
Some of my thoughts on this conflict:
BOTH Israelis and Palestinians are deserving of basic human rights. Israel was founded only after the human rights of Jews (and others) were abused in ways words cannot even describe. Unfortunately, in the founding this country, people were involuntarily removed from their land that had been in their families for years--not decades, but centuries. This seems like a wonderful and horrible demonstration of Good Intentions Gone Awry.
Some of the actions of Israel over the past decade are reminiscent of the way the early third Reich slowly, methodically stripped rights and ultimately citizenship from the Jews in the mid 1930's. I am not saying that Israel is comparable to the Third Reich, but their actions this weekend are, in my view, unnecessarily offensive in the military (or sport) sense, and offensive in the "How dare you" sense. Israel should exist; but I also believe whole-heartedly that the Palestinians are in dire need of a state of their own. The diaspora of on group should never have created a diaspora of another, that that's what's happening. Ever since the incarnation of the state of Israel, it's been under attack. Is it simplistic to believe that a Palestinian state would create the longed-for Peace in the Middle East? I think it is simplistic. Yet I do believe it would create a little more peace and rest for the poor civilians who are either victims of the police-state or terrorists groups. But I think what Israel did was pretty crappy.
I leave you with a quote from Joseph Conrad:
"The terrorist and the policeman both come from the same basket." [The Secret Agent, 1907]
2 comments:
Amy Goodman (I think---I'll check my podcast horde) had a guy on recently who talked about how Israel worked with South Africa in support of apartheid. It was a very interesting edition. I wonder if the complicated history of the area plays into the general public's lack of interest in the matter?
it was Amy Goodman! here is the first of the 2 parter she did on a new book about Israel and South Africa! it looks interesting!
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/25/israel
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