“The World Just sat by”: An Interview with Dahr Jamail

Dahr Jamail is an award-winning, independent journalist who reported live from Baghdad for eight months in 2003. He is considered one of the best sources on War in Iraq. Recently, he returned to The Middle East, to Syria. While in Damascus, the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah began. Jamail left immediately for Beirut and sent daily dispatches from his Iraq-dispatches website. I received the chance to speak to Jamail about what he saw during this 34-day conflict in the middle East.

Christopher Brown: Dahr Jamail, it seems that in the media, this whole conflict’s narrative started when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed several others, when in fact this was not the case. Can you speak about this?

Dahr Jamail: Yes it’s very clear and it’s quite well documented that there were meetings between Bush and Netenyahu out in California over a year in advance of this. Also, other documented truth we could look to would be The Project for the New American Century (PNAC). Anyone can get online, go to that website and read their plans for the Middle East and it states very clearly there as well as in another document called a clean break, a similar document to the PNAC where they talk about redrawing the lines in the Middle East and how they are going to go about it. Iraq is the first step, the next step will be Lebanon; and then the next step Iran, and then after that Syria. It is mentioned and well documented in those sources that Israel would be going into Lebanon.

Now also other things we could look at is this is simply what occurred by the Hizbollah’s operation in early July, as the pretext is simply a fabrication. Because in reality these types of squirmishes on the border between Israel and Hizbollah, were a regular occurrence. Hizbollah had fired rockets into Israel; they had attacked Israeli troops before. So why did they wait for this particular time to launch this massive collective punishment war of aggression against Lebanon? There are several factors that all point really clearly that this was a policy that they were waiting to enact and simply waiting for the right pretext to justify what they did.

CB: As the conflict mounted in the region, we here in the West received information in regards to Israeli suffering by rockets fired by Hizbollah and interviews with many innocent Israelis who had to hide out in bomb shelters. But only rarely did we get any first hand accounts about innocent Lebanese victims and they’re troubles. Could you speak more on the corporate media’s lack of fairness and accuracy regarding this conflict?

DJ: Yes that is a really good point. The media coverage of this war of aggression by Israel against Lebanon, I would say, is almost as bad as the media coverage that is happening in Palestine, in Gaza, and the West Bank. Where it’s so incredibly biased. I would go so far as to say that the coverage of this war was even worse than the corporate media coverage that I’d seen of the US invasion of Iraq. It is off the charts in terms of its bias and omissions in things along those lines and we can sight example after example. For example, all the assumptions, the heavily biased assumptions, Western corporate media makes that Hizbollah is a terrorist organization. Well, they’re only referred to as a terrorist organization by the US, Israel, and the UK. Whereas in all of the Middle East, including in Lebanon, a country where they have they’re base, they are seen as a legitimate political party, a grassroots organization that employs over a quarter of a million people fully engaged in infrastructure projects like hospitals, schools and social welfare programs.

And now after the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, Hizbollah enjoys over 90% support from the people of Lebanon, which is really off the charts compared to the number prior to this invasion, which was around 40 or 50%. That means that now, and this of course is not being broadcast in the corporate media, Hizbollah is enjoying the majority support of the Christians, The Druze, and Sunni Arabs. Whereas prior to this there was only a minority support from these groups.

Then we can just look at the coverage of the casualties; I bring up Hizbollah being referred to as a terrorist organization over and over in the corporate media. When we simply look at the statistics. We have over 1,300 Lebanese killed by the Israeli war of aggression, over 90% of those civilians. And then we look at the other side where roughly 150 Israelis died over 50% of those were soldiers. So just looking at that statistic alone, whose is the terrorist organization, or more specifically who is the terrorist state?

And now, throughout the Middle East, Israel is being seen as the terrorist state rather than Hizbollah being in any way as a terrorist organization. And now, even in Lebanon, Hizbollah is being seen as the rightful defenders of Lebanon against Israeli aggression. And this is being underscored again with Israel breaking the ceasefire agreement by the UN when they launched a commando raid into the Bekka Valley, which was fought off by Hizbollah. Israel lost at least one soldier.

But, nevertheless, Israel, once again, broke the truce agreement; the UN resolution that they initially had been quite happy with; a resolution that even prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to call President Bush, after the UN resolution was penned up and backed by the US, and thank him for keeping Israeli interests in mind.

But that wasn’t clearly good enough for Israel. We’ve seen time and time again Israel doesn’t have any regard for international law. And how is this being portrayed in the coverage? Where is the talk of war crimes? Where is the talk of the Geneva Conventions being broken time and time again by Israel when they’ve hit civilians; they’ve hit medical infrastructures, they’ve hit the ambulances, and really don’t even try to hide this. Where is that in the coverage of this conflict?

CB: You mentioned the casualties of the Lebanese people. Although Hizbollah controls the South, Israel’s bombing campaign extended far into the North of the country as well. Could you talk about what you saw on the ground while covering this conflict?

DJ: Yes. There are two really important points. The first is; this wasn’t just an attack on Southern Lebanon and Southern Beirut where Hizbollah is known to have the majority of its support, but it was the collective punishment of the entire country. Really, something that just amazed me in Lebanon watching the entire country being bombed into pre-industry while the World just sat by and the UN and European countries just sat and watched and really didn’t do anything to stop them from carrying out this war crime.

We’re talking about the Northern Border being hit; the city of Biblos being hit which is a predominately Christian city; the cities up in the mountains, which are the Christian and Druze areas of Lebanon being hit repeatedly; over 70 bridges being bombed; over 80 roads being bombed; milk factories, pharmaceutical plants, paper factories all being bombed; total collective punishment. Where all of Lebanon’s ports as well as airports were bombed, electrical structure all of this being bombed. Every one of these a violation of the Geneva Convention, and every one of these fits the definition of collective punishment.

And then if we look at the targeting, the deliberate targeting, of civilians I was really horrified to see pretty quickly, from reporting from Lebanon, that this deliberate targeting of civilians and medical infrastructure, it wasn’t something that was happening here and there. I quickly saw that this was a pattern: The pattern was that people would try to huddle in their homes from Israeli bombs, and if they were lucky enough not to have their homes bombed, Israeli warplanes were leafleting villages telling people to leave. Then when they got in they’re cars to leave; while flying white surrender flags, holding pillowcases or sheets out the windows so as not too be bombed, they were being hit.

And then when the Lebanese red cross or the Lebanese Civil Defense ambulances tried to reach these people, they were being bombed. And then often times, secondary ambulances were sent help the first ambulances that were hit, they to were being bombed, this is something that I can speak to after interviewing people in Qana the day after the massacre there that killed 37 children and 24 other adults, who were very much elderly people.

That attack occurred at 1am, and the Lebanese Red Cross, from the nearby city of Tyre, who tried to reach them, got the first call at 5am and dispatched two ambulances, they were nearly bombed and had to turn back. So they waited until about 7am and tried again, and they were nearly bombed again and were kept away from Qana and had to turn back.

And they weren’t allowed to reach Qana until 9am. So because of them being kept away, which were the exact words used by the Red Cross people that I interviewed; people who were in those ambulances who said; ‘We were kept away by the Israeli military. And if we had been allowed to reach there when we first received the call, maybe we could have saved the lives of a few more people.’

And this was the type of story I ran into repeatedly from those civilians and Red Cross workers. They felt they were being attacked deliberately, civilians home were being destroyed; they were outraged; ‘Why are they hitting civilians if they want to attack Hizbollah, okay, but why are they hitting civilians?’ and this is what I was hearing the entire time I was there.

CB: The US and Israel constantly stated that Syria and Iran needed to stop sending weapons to Hizbollah. And the corporate media picked up this refrain. But there was no mention from any Western country, or Middle Eastern country for the US to stop sending munitions to Israel. What are your thoughts on this?

DJ: This double standard and this bias, and I would go so far as to call it this hypocritical racism, I think this falls under the “coverage” of this war; why weren’t media outlets asking the question; ‘Well if Israel and the US are accusing Iran and Syria of supplying Hizbollah, then what position are they in to do so?’


They are the ones who are supplying Israel with their fighter jets. Israel has the second largest fleet of F-16s on the planet second only behind the US. Israel has been the single largest recipient of foreign aid since the early 1970s every single year. Right now, they are receiving over 2 billion dollars, and possible over 3 billion dollars every single year, either in grants, direct aid, or military hardware in the form of: F-16s, cluster bombs, jet fuel, tanks, laser guided weapons, white phosphorus weapons, all this was used very extensively in Southern Lebanon, and sometimes even in Southern Beirut.

The hypocrisy is really hard to understand. No media outlets in the West, none of the major ones that I know of, have ever criticized the US for supplying this unbridled financial, political and economic support for Israel. While certainly Hizbollah is using rockets from Iran, and is probably getting other aid from Syria as well. But the bottom line is that Israel is getting direct military aid unquestioned from the US as well as helpful political and diplomatic aid from the EU by their silence. And none of this is ever questioned.

CB: You speak about the silence that permeated World leaders and their governments had about Israel’s onslaught upon the Lebanese people. Why was it that the folks in Congress here in the US condoned Israel’s right to defend itself but never spoke of Lebanon having the same right after it became clear that this was not about rescuing two soldiers, but more about bombing all of Lebanon?

Where was the outcry of the disproportionate use of force from Congress concerning Israel actions?

DJ: Well I think this is when we have to look squarely at the fact that the US government and most of the US media is so heavily influenced by Jewish lobby groups like APAIC. And it’s long past time that people in this country look squarely at this and see that their politicians are essentially owned by these Jewish lobby groups. This is not my opinion, this is fact.

Anyone can get online, do a little bit of research and pull up US politicians and which lobby groups they’re taking campaign contributions from and I challenge anyone to find more than a handful of politicians, and I mean single digits, who have not taken some aid from Jewish lobby groups. And we are talking about Republicans and Democrats alike. Everyone is being financed by them and therefore everyone is beholden to them and the lobbyists pull the right strings the politicians move in the right direction.

And those directions are in complete compliance with whatever the wishes of the State of Israel might be at the time. And that’s why, during the first week of this war in Lebanon, that there was something like a moment of silence in the US House. Where all the politicians stood up and had a moment of silence for poor little Israel. Poor little Israel the only nuclear power in the Middle East; poor little Israel with the fourth most powerful army in the World, only second to that technologically the United States it’s supplier, its Grandparent if you will, as far as military support.

And this is the problem is that we have a government that will not act in the best interests of the United States. They act, instead in this entangled relationship of: What are the best interests of the State of Israel? And that trumps anything else, even following international law; even following the best policy for the United States, as opposed to what’s the best policy for Israel. And if the United States gets entangled in this mess and loses standing in the eyes of the World powers by its unbridled alliance for Israel, then that’s okay.

And that is what is going on and that is what light has to be shown and has to be criticized heavily and we need massive reform there. And of course the calls that will come out will be: ‘well that’s anti-Semitic, that’s anti-Israel.’ Well, we just need to be prepared for that, those will come.

And it’s not anti-Semitic because in reality this alliance of violence is detrimental to both the security of the US and Israel. This policy we’re watching is complete insanity and at the end of the day it is really going to jeopardize the existence of the State of Israel, not Iran, not Lebanon, not Hizbollah, not Hamas but this lunatic policy of this unbridled, this complete disregard for international law, this in the end is going to jeopardize the existence to the State of Israel far more than any perceived threat that could exist. And any US politician that doesn’t agree with that, and act appropriately, and make appropriate changes, they probably shouldn’t be in office.

CB: At the beginning of the war, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz enjoyed approval ratings in the 90s from the Israeli public. But since it’s conclusion, those ratings have dropped to below 50% for both men.

Reserve soldiers sent a letter to Olmert questioning the purpose of this war. Other soldiers acknowledge that Hizbollah resistance fighters fought bravely in the face of superior firer power.

Faced, with very low approval ratings and an upcoming mid term election in November, President Bush claimed victory for the State of Israel. Is the US public buying any of this, or is bush and Co., merely grasping at straws?

DJ: Well, we have to look at the actions and what happens on the ground as opposed to rhetoric and the propaganda coming out of the US and Israeli governments, especially regarding this situation. And if we simply look at the facts; Israel stated goals for this war against Lebanon were:

1. To pressure the Lebanese people and the Lebanese government to turn against Hizbollah. To disarm them and push them away from the border with Israel. That was one stated goal. Clearly a dismal failure over 90% of the Lebanese and most of the Lebanese government support Hizbollah now more than ever before. And certainly have no intention of disarming them or moving them away from the border with Israel.

2. To disarm Hizbollah and that, of course, did not happen and the UN appears unlikely to make strides in that direction and that of course means that most people in Lebanon don’t want Hizbollah to disarm either. This probably the only thing keeping Israel from occupying Southern Lebanon at this point.

3. To have they’re prisoners released. And they are no closer to having that happen then they were before they started dropping bombs over Lebanon from North to South and East to West.

4. If anyone is stupid enough to look at those killed by each side as an indication of who won, that is really going to be misleading. Because clearly Israel killed over 1,000 civilians in Lebanon as if that is some sort of a victory. But if we look at that statistic, over 50% of the people that Hizbollah killed in South Lebanon were Israeli combat soldiers not civilians. I think that is the more important statistic.

And really the most important indicator we should probably look at is perception in the Middle East and around the World as to who won this. And I think that one of the solid indicators of who people think won this is what was sighted in the Israeli press; less than 50% of Israelis approve of the job Olmert is doing where less than two weeks ago his approval rating was around 90%.

That shows that even the people of Israel are very much aware of the fact that Israel lost this war; they did not come close to achieving their directive; and instead they have turned everyone in the Middle East against them; they have shown the true face of Israel; that it’s a State that is willing to sponsor terrorism to kill civilians on a massive scale, and still not achieve it’s goals.

And in fact now, I feel that Israel and they’re own security are in much greater danger now than they were before conflict. This myth of Israel having this all-powerful undefeatable military is gone. Just like what happened to the US in Iraq. Where a few thousand people with Kalishnakovs and RPGs can bog down the most powerful military on the planet and are winning that war; well the same thing happened in Israel.

At the height of they’re ground invasion the last 24 hours of their ground invasion into Southern Lebanon, they lost 40 troops in 24 hours. And they did leave Lebanon with they’re tail between their legs. And it really just shows that this shock and awe air campaign is really useless in a guerrilla war. They can drop tens of thousands of bombs on Southern Lebanon and they still can’t get in there and hold one city, even six miles into the country.

So it’s really shown they’re military is not capable of protecting their own civilians; they are not successful at waging an invasion against another country; and now at the end of all of it, Israeli citizens feel that less secure now then they did before this ever occurred. And I think that that should be the strongest indicator, especially when we look at the stated goals of Israel at the beginning of this war.

CB: Currently there is a fragile cease-fire in place. Is it your opinions that this will hold or what do you feel is in store for the future?

DJ: I don’t think this cease-fire will hold because of what we have spoke of Israel encroaching into Lebanon again. At a time of they’re own choosing and a completely unprovoked. We can talk about that present tense. Already this cease-fire has failed and at any time Israel might…maybe even as we speak…they could be breaking this cease-fire agreement again. And I think that’s why it will fail.

Because Israel has complete disregard for UN resolutions. We only have to look them breeching, I’m not sure how many, UN resolutions regarding what’s going on in the occupied territories. We need to remember that the first one to break this cease-fire was Israel and they’re may come a point when Hizbollah does respond and then the corporate media will begin to place the blame squarely on Lebanon’s shoulders.

I’m going to use a crude analogy to get my point across; I use to play basketball and I was always taught that if you ever get fouled, don’t foul you’re opponent back.

Because the one who responds is usually the one who is going to get caught. And I think it’s kind of the same thing here. It is critical that Hizbollah not respond if they can at all avoid it. Because the media is so biased and the international community is so biased; if they do respond we could have another repeat of what we just saw now and probably something much worse and more sustained. Because I really don’t see Israel leaving this aside and not doing anything. They will continue to provoke until Hizbollah responds and then we will again see and all out war.

August 22 , 2006

"You Cannot Promise Victory, Produce a Humiliating Defeat and Stay in Power"

Israel Must Win

By GILAD ATZMON

“The ceasefire in Lebanon was holding by a thread last night after Israel sanctioned a commando raid in the east of the country. Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, said Israel had violated the truce, and he was 'deeply concerned' about it.”

The Guardian

For those familiar with Israeli aggression, the IDF violation was no surprise at all. For a week or so, every Israeli cabinet member and military official promised publicly that it is just a question of time before there is a ‘second round’. Indeed, they must come up with something. Since the end of the hostilities, all Israeli political analysts and polls suggest that Israel’s political and military leadership failed completely. If elections were to be held soon, both Labor and Kadima would simply disappear. It is no secret that with each passing day, Olmert’s and Peretz’s popularity continually slumps to new lows. Jerusalem Post.

One may wonder whether the Israelis are changing their spots, do they stop approving Olmert’s policies just because peace is what they really prefer? The influential political commentator Ari Shavit provided an answer two weeks ago. Mr Olmert, so he says, had ‘failed shamefully’ and should resign. Shavit continues, "You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power." As I mentioned more than once before, the Israeli politician has to cope with a demanding, bloodthirsty crowd.

This realisation throws some light over the reasons behind the failed Israeli operation in Lebanon just three days ago. Israelis are simply desperate to win. But it may also explain why Israeli government decided to expand its military operation pretty much at the same time it accepted the UN ceasefire resolution. Olmert knew that he must serve his voters with what they interpret as a clear-cut victory. This would mean either some severe form of revenge with lots of Arab casualties or a significant land invasion. Olmert, his ‘national unity’ government and the army leadership have to do something that would cover up four weeks of disastrous military campaign that failed to serve the Israeli public with even a single second of glory.

Indeed, the IDF military offensive doctrine is grounded on one basic axiom that was defined by David Ben Gurion in the early fifties: whatever it takes, Israel must always win! This axiom is indeed very powerful, yet, in reality, the Israeli army can’t provide the goods anymore. In the last three decades the Israeli army is constantly being beaten time after time by enemies that are getting smaller and smaller.

Yet, one may mention that the IDF isn’t very original in being defeated. The IDF fails exactly where the American army has been failing since Vietnam. Shockingly, the IDF has managed to copy every possible American mistake. It religiously adopted the new American military philosophy of a ‘compact highly sophisticated fighting force’. Undeniably, this very doctrine is very effective in producing some gigantic collateral damage i.e., war crimes. Yet, in the long run, it fails miserably in wining wars. The new American military doctrine may win a battle or two but no more than that. In the most recent years it has been totally beaten in Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza and obviously in Lebanon.

Though the early stages of the Israeli campaign in Lebanon looked very much like the first few days of the second Gulf War (major air assault on civilian infrastructure and populated areas), there is at least one major noticeable difference. While America can stand and even ignore international criticism referring to its own war crimes, it isn’t willing to suffer much international criticism for Israeli atrocities. While in the early stages of the war America was rushing to provide Israel with air convoys loaded with its most lethal conventional arsenal, we have learned towards the last week of the war that the American administration changed its mind, it suddenly refused to provide the IDF with a shipment of cluster bombs because it “would endanger the civilian population”. Seemingly, there is a limit to what the Americans are willing to do for their ‘closest friend’ in the Middle East.

This is exactly where the Israeli limbo is. In order to maintain its status as a winning regional super power, Israel needs the blind support of America (politically, financially and logistically). Yet American blind support can be grunted to Israel only if the Jewish State is indeed a regional super power to start with. Olmert and his government are fully aware of this very complexity. They know that without being a regional super power in the first place, they have nothing to offer their almighty American brothers. Israel is crucial for the strategy of the Americans as long as it can wipe out all its enemies in six days at the most. The way things appear now, the Israeli Army is basically defeated by the two smallest nations in the Arab world, the Palestinian and the Lebanese ones.

As much as it clear to the Israelis, it is clear to the Americans that unlike the bold Hezbollah, the IDF soldier has lost his will to fight. The IDF is a spoiled, confused and tired army that is specializing solely in terrorizing civilian populations while being engaged in constant tactical withdraw. This Israeli Army is not trained to win wars anymore. Instead, its tank battalions are mainly engaged in daily shelling of schools and hospitals. Its Air Force uses the best American fighter planes to flatten neighborhoods and shoot deadly rockets at cars in the streets of Gaza. Its command units are expert in abducting democratically elected middle-aged Palestinian politicians. The IDF is basically a heavy army specializing in merciless regional bullying. Yet, it cannot win a war, and as such it has nothing to offer the American empire.

But the Israeli military defeat has some further implications. Israel without a victorious army, has nothing to offer to world Jewry either. It can never present itself as the ultimate cosmic Judeo bunker. It is pretty shocking to prospect the relative silence of the infamous Zionist media shield. While just six weeks ago the loud supporters of Anglo-American interventionism were still pushing for democracy in the Arab world and beyond, they were enthusiastic about killing in the name of human rights and about Israel being the only democracy in the Middle East. Somehow, since the war began, since Israel revealed once again its murderous tendencies and Hezbollah proved to be the new Robin Hood, these voices are caving in. Many among the global Zionists do already understand now that the Anglo-American assault on the Arab world just suffered a major blow. Some of them probably grasp that it is just a question of time before more and more Europeans and Americans join the sacred battle against the Americanized Global Zionism, i.e., neo-conservatism.

The recent victory of the Hezbollah therefore must be realized as a major event with some global implications. While the Hezbollah regards itself a paramilitary organization concerned mainly with some local issues having to do with Israeli expansionism, it has managed to cause a serious blow to neo-conservatism as a political praxis as well as a philosophy. It has beaten the Zionized Anglo-American worldview. Standing up to Zionism and Americanism, it is the Lebanese, the Palestinians, the Iraqis, the Afghanis and the Iranians who happen to be at the vanguard of the war for humanity and humanism. For those who are yet to be convinced that this indeed the case, I will mention that the fact that it is Iran who rushed to pay 3 billion dollars to rebuild Lebanon after the destruction made by ‘American interventionism’ leaves no room for interpretation. While America spreads destruction and death all over the world, it is Iran and the Hezbollah that offers a new beginning.

Olmert knows very well that if Israel doesn’t win this war, it is global Zionism that is defeated, he knows as well that without the backing of global Zionism, Israel is basically a dead entity. Olmert knows that without America, it won’t take long before Israel turns into an historic event. Israel will have to win its mighty regional power status whatever it takes. Israeli is indeed in the very eye of the neo-conservative storm. And the Hezbollah is threatening something far greater than just the Jewish State. As the Israelis keep telling us, the fight in Lebanon will resume soon and every European leader knows it.

Even now, they all know who is going to be the aggressor when violence spreads again in the region. They are all clever enough to hesitate about whether they want to send their soldiers to the region. They know that if Israel must win, it is better to stay out of its way.

Gilad Atzmon was born in Israel and served in the Israeli military. He is the author of two novels: A Guide to the Perplexed and the recently released My One and Only Love. Atzmon is also one of the most accomplished jazz saxophonists in Europe. His recent CD, Exile, was named the year's best jazz CD by the BBC. He now lives in London and can be reached at: atz@onetel.net.uk

Doves of prey

Israel's belligerent doves should pause to ponder one small question: If they - famous
peace lovers - have turned into doves of prey after deaths of 100 Israelis, then what do they suppose is going through the minds of doves, hawks alike who have suffered 1,000 casualties, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, and scores of pounded villages?

By B. Michael
YNET
August 12, 2006



One hundred dead Israelis - undoubtedly a horrendous figure - and a flock of local and
noisy doves have turned into a flock of angry battle doves.

Almost overnight, the calls for peace and moderation have been abandoned, replaced by
loud and angry preaching calling for the pounding, crippling and destruction of the
enemy.

One hundred dead, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, dozens of shelled homes
- and the doves have become falcons.

What about them?

It`s interesting, because the Palestinians have been suffering similar measures of
death and
destruction almost every month. And they, as they have been told over and over again,
should learn from all this death and suffering and turn into doves. They are being
told to
abandon their anger and hatred, and instead nurture love of mankind and pacifism.

And the Lebanese? They too have had a fair share of death and destruction, several
times
greater than the suffering Israel has had to endure. And they too are being asked to
reach
the ultimate conclusion from the horror they have endured, namely that the time has
come to
turn into doves. They have even been told repeatedly that we shall not cease to
strike at
them, until they make an about-face, until they become doves, until they love us.

Strange. The Palestinian and Lebanese people are being asked to surmise that it is
worthwhile becoming a dove after experiencing death and suffering. However, Israeli
doves
allow themselves to surmise the complete opposite from death and suffering: that
they ought
to become birds of prey.

Strange, but perhaps this conduct can be attributed to the difference in mentality,
and may
just be another sign of the dove`s soft flesh and feeble spine.

The lesson of the death

Owls on the other hand, as well as all other intelligent creatures, learn from all
the above
(and from the lessons learned in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ireland, Spain, Algeria and
Palestine
etc.) that bombs and tanks are not necessarily the best teachers of politeness,
courtesy and
love of mankind. Death and suffering only brings more death and suffering. Relentless
brutality only brings more relentless brutality.

Aggressive recklessness only brings more aggressive recklessness. That`s how it is
here,
that`s how it is there and that`s how it is everywhere.

Israel`s belligerent doves should pause to ponder one small question: if they - the
famous
peace lovers - have become doves of prey after the death of 100 Israelis, then what
do they
suppose is going through the minds of those doves and hawks alike who have suffered
1,000 deaths, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, and scores of villages almost
wiped off the face of the earth.

But how dare I compare? We are the chosen people, and they are just Arabs.

Food for thought

Who are those people fighting us in Lebanon ? Who are those determined youngsters, the
fanatics impassioned by their faith and hatred?

They are eighteen-year-olds, twenty-year-olds, and twenty-five-year-olds or perhaps
even
thirty-year-olds. They were born in the last century, towards the end of the 70`s
and the end
of the 80`s. They are the sons of the previous war. They are the offspring of occupied
Lebanon in 1982, children of the trampled south during the first war in Lebanon,
frightened
children of humiliated parents who grew into bitter men, full of burning hatred.

We also tried knocking some sense into their parents by bombing them. Their families
were
also driven out of their homes, hoping they would wander to the capital and pressure
the
government to disarm the militia of the time (Palestinian). Their villages were also
pounded,
flattened and cleansed.

The generation that grew out of that era is the same generation fighting us now. And
twenty
years from now - if we allow the Olmerts , the Peretzes, the Halutzes and the Ramons to
continue ruling us - we shall find ourselves fighting the generation that is growing
up now.

A somewhat hollow argument

We say they `hide among civilians,` that they `use them as human shields, those lowly
cowards.` We say, `Those who allow them to do so should pay the price.`

This is a somewhat hollow argument coming from the mouths of officers and leaders whose
headquarters are located in the heart of Tel Aviv. And not far from there in the
midst of a
prestigious neighborhood, there`s a type of military airport. And in a handsome
building in
the capital, in the heart of the city, there`s a large military base, where cannons are
reportedly, often positioned so close to the settlements that schoolchildren wander
over
there during their breaks.

But these arguments sound all the more hollow coming from a country that invented the
`settlement undertaking.` An undertaking whose sole purpose was to send civilians,
including women and children, to perform a military assignment par excellence: gaining
control over territory, the expulsion of the residents and annexation of the spoils
to the
mother country. A classical assignment by a conquering power.

This is all being carried out under a contrite and sanctimonious civilian pretext. I
would,
therefore, like to make myself heard loud and clear: No one asked for my permission
before
building the Kiriya (Tel Aviv military headquarters), I didn`t give my consent for
building the
Schneller Camp, and as far as I am concerned, let all the settlements be abandoned
as of
now.

And even though I am being used as a human shield, many leaders and sacred weapons
are hiding behind me, and I am paying the taxes for the curse of the settlements and
the evil
of the occupation, I insist: my blood is no different from the blood of Lebanese
citizens, and
cannot be shed. And hopefully, all those who dare harm us, will find themselves
paying the
cost. Either before a local adjudicator or an international one, whatever comes first.

The Thirty Three Day War

August 17, 2006

From Mania to Depression

By URI AVNERY

Tel Aviv.

Thirty three days of war. The longest of our wars since 1949.

On the Israeli side: 154 dead--117 of them soldiers. 3970 rockets launched against us, 37 civilians dead, more than 422 civilians wounded.

On the Lebanese side: about a thousand dead civilians, thousands wounded. An unknown number of Hizbullah fighters dead and wounded.

More than a million refugees on both sides.

So what has been achieved for this terrible price?

"GLOOMY, HUMBLE, despondent," was how the journalist Yossef Werter described Ehud Olmert, a few hours after the cease-fire had come into effect.

Olmert? Humble? Is this the same Olmert we know? The same Olmert who thumped the table and shouted: "No more!" Who said: "After the war, the situation will be completely different than before!" Who promised a "New Middle East" as a result of the war?

* * *

THE RESULTS of the war are obvious:

* The prisoners, who served as casus belli (or pretext) for the war, have not been released. They will come back only as a result of an exchange of prisoners, exactly as Hassan Nasrallah proposed before the war.

* Hizbullah has remained as it was. It has not been destroyed, nor disarmed, nor even removed from where it was. Its fighters have proved themselves in battle and have even garnered compliments from Israeli soldiers. Its command and communication stucture has continued to function to the end. Its TV station is still broadcasting.

* Hassan Nasrallah is alive and kicking. Persistent attempts to kill him failed. His prestige is sky-high. Everywhere in the Arab world, from Morocco to Iraq, songs are being composed in his honor and his picture adorns the walls.

* The Lebanese army will be deployed along the border, side by side with a large international force. That is the only material change that has been achieved.

This will not replace Hizbullah. Hizbullah will remain in the area, in every village and town. The Israeli army has not succeeded in removing it from one single village. That was simply impossible without permanently removing the population to which it belongs.

The Lebanese army and the international force cannot and will not confront Hizbullah. Their very presence there depends on Hizbullah's consent. In practice, a kind of co-existence of the three forces will come into being, each one knowing that it has to come to terms with the other two.

Perhaps the international force will be able to prevent incursions by Hizbullah, such as the one that preceded this war. But it will also have to prevent Israeli actions, such as the reconnaissance flights of our Air Force over Lebanon. That's why the Israeli army objected, at the beginning, so strenuously to the introduction of this force.

* * *

IN ISRAEL, there is now a general atmosphere of disappointment and despondency. From mania to depression. It's not only that the politicians and the generals are firing accusations at each other, as we foresaw, but the general public is also voicing criticism from every possible angle. The soldiers criticize the conduct of the war, the reserve soldiers gripe about the chaos and the failure of supplies.

In all parties, there are new opposition groupings and threats of splits. In Kadima. In Labor. It seems that in Meretz, too, there is a lot of ferment, because most of its leaders supported the war dragon almost until the last moment, when they caught its tail and pierced it with their little lance.

At the head of the critics are marching--surprise, surprise--the media. The entire horde of interviewers and commentators, correspondents and presstitutes, who (with very few exceptions) enthused about the war, who deceived, misled, falsified, ignored, duped and lied for the fatherland, who stifled all criticism and branded as traitors all who opposed the war--they are now running ahead of the lynch mob. How predictable, how ugly. Suddenly they remember what we have been saying right from the beginning of the war.

This phase is symbolized by Dan Halutz, the Chief-of-Staff. Only yesterday he was the hero of the masses, it was forbidden to utter a word against him. Now he is being described as a war profiteer. A moment before sending his soldiers into battle, he found the time to sell his shares, in expectation of a decline of the stock market. (Let us hope that a moment before the end he found the time to buy them back again.)

Victory, as is well known, has many fathers, and failure in war is an orphan.

* * *

FROM THE deluge of accusations and gripes, one slogan stands out , a slogan that must send a cold shiver down the spine of anyone with a good memory: "the politicians did not let the army win."

Exactly as I wrote two weeks ago, we see before our very eyes the resurrection of the old cry "they stabbed the army in the back!"

This is how it goes: At long last, two days before the end, the land offensive started to roll. Thanks to our heroic soldiers, the men of the reserves, it was a dazzling success. And then, when we were on the verge of a great victory, the cease-fire came into effect.

There is not a single word of truth in this. This operation, which was planned and which the army spent years training for, was not carried out earlier, because it was clear that it would not bring any meaningful gains but would be costly in lives. The army would, indeed, have occupied wide areas, but without being able to dislodge the Hizbullah fighters from them.

The town of Bint Jbeil, for example, right next to the border, was taken by the army three times, and the Hizbullah fighters remained there to the end. If we had occupied 20 towns and villages like this one, the soldiers and the tanks would have been exposed in twenty places to the mortal attacks of the guerillas with their highly effective anti-tank weapons.

If so, why was it decided, at the last moment, to carry out this operation after all--well after the UN had already called for an end to hostilities? The horrific answer: it was a cynical--not to say vile--exercise of the failed trio. Olmert, Peretz and Halutz wanted to create "a picture of victory", as was openly stated in the media. On this altar the lives of 33 soldiers (including a young woman) were sacrificed.

The aim was to photograph the victorious soldiers on the bank of the Litani. The operation could only last 48 hours, when the cease-fire would come into force. In spite of the fact that the army used helicopters to land the troops, the aim was not attained. At no point did the army reach the Litani.

For comparison: in the first Lebanon war, that of Sharon in 1982, the army crossed the Litani in the first few hours. (The Litani, by the way, is not a real river anymore, but just a shallow creek. Most of its waters are drawn off far from there, in the north. Its last stretch is about 25 km distant from the border, near Metulla the distance is only 4 km.)

This time, when the cease-fire took effect, all the units taking part had reached villages on the way to the river. There they became sitting ducks, surrounded by Hizbullah fighters, without secure supply lines. From that moment on, the army had only one aim: to get them out of there as quickly as possible, regardless of who might take their place.

If a commission of inquiry is set up--as it must be--and investigates all the moves of this war, starting from the way the decision to start it was made, it will also have to investigate the decision to start this last operation. The death of 33 soldiers (including the son of the writer David Grossman, who had supported the war) and the pain this caused their families demand that!

* * *

BUT THESE facts are not yet clear to the general public. The brain-washing by the military commentators and the ex-generals, who dominated the media at the time, has turned the foolish--I would almost say "criminal"--operation into a rousing victory parade. The decision of the political leadership to stop it is now being seen by many as an act of defeatist, spineless, corrupt and even treasonous politicians.

And that is exactly the new slogan of the fascist Right that is now raising its ugly head.

After World War I, in similar circumstances, the legend of the "knife in the back of the victorious army" grew up. Adolf Hitler used it to carry him to power--and on to World War II.

Now, even before the last fallen soldier has been buried, the incompetent generals are starting to talk shamelessly about "another round", the next war that will surely come "in a month or in a year", God willing. After all, we cannot end the matter like this, in failure. Where is our pride?

* * *

THE ISRAELI public is now in a state of shock and disorientation. Accusations--justified and unjustified--are flung around in all directions, and it cannot be foreseen how things will develop.

Perhaps, in the end, it is logic that will win. Logic says: what has thoroughly been demonstrated is that there is no military solution. That is true in the North. That is also true in the South, where we are confronting a whole people that has nothing to lose anymore. The success of the Lebanese guerilla will encourage the Palestinian guerilla.

For logic to win, we must be honest with ourselves: pinpoint the failures, investigate their deeper causes, draw the proper conclusions.

Some people want to prevent that at any price. President Bush declares vociferously that we have won the war. A glorious victory over the Evil Ones. Like his own victory in Iraq.

When a football team is able to choose the referee, it is no surprise if it is declared the winner.

Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is one of the writers featured in The Other Israel: Voices of Dissent and Refusal. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch's hot new book The Politics of Anti-Semitism. He can be reached at: avnery@counterpunch.org.

Birth Pangs of a new Christian Zionism? Sounds more like a miscarriage

Bellow is a link to an article on Christian Zionism. At present this is the new lobby arm that is throwing it's whole heart into glorifying Israel and demonizing Arabs. Of course, it would be nice to find out what they're views are on the sufferring of Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi and Palestinian Christians.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060814/new_christian_zionism

"Look What You've Done!"

August 16, 2006

AIPAC Congratulates Itself on the Slaughter in Lebanon

By JOHN WALSH

"My fellow American," Howard Friedman, President of AIPAC, begins his letter of July 30 to friends and supporters of AIPAC, "Look what you've done"! After warning that "Israel is fighting a pivotal war for its life," by which he means Israel's wanton slaughter and all-out destruction in Lebanon, Freiedman condemns "the expected chorus of international condemnation of Israel's actions" and Europe's call for "a cease-fire immediately." Then he exults: "only ONE nation in the world came out and flatly declared: Let Israel finish the job. . That nation is the United States of America--and the reason it had such a clear, unambiguous view of the situation is YOU and the rest of America Jewry." (All emphases in the original here and below.) Here I must take issue with President Friedman since I bet that most Jewish Americans, in contrast to the AIPAC crowd, were horrified by the slaughter in Lebanon. In fact if anyone other than President Friedman wrote this, he would be accused of fabricating a Jewish plot and labeled a nutty conspiracy theorist and scurrilous anti-semite.)

"How do we do it"? President Friedman asks a little further on. The answer is "decades of long hard work which never ends." Not only is it hard work--but it's eternal. However, President Friedman is not content with generalities and gives us some of AIPAC's trade secrets. Here are two notables:

"AIPAC meets with every candidate running for Congress. These candidates receive in-depth briefings to help them completely understand the complexities of Israel's predicament and that of the Middle East as a whole. We even ask each candidate to author a 'position paper' on their views of the U.S.-Israel relationship--so it's clear where they stand on the subject." (Would it not be great to see these "position papers"? I wonder how many candidates would release them? And what do the candidates get for all this effort? A pat on the back?)

"Members of Congress, staffers and administration officials have come to rely on AIPACs memos. They are VERY busy people and they know that they can count on AIPAC for clear-eyed analysis.. We present this information in concise form to elected officials. The information and analyses are impeccable--after all our reputation is at stake. This results in policy and legislation that make up Israel's lifeline." (Another way to read this is that the pea-brained hillbillies who make up most of the Congress can be led by the nose if the memos are simple enough. Testimony to this fact enters my mailbox, as I write, in the form of a must-read interview with Noam Chomsky, which details just how distorted the discussion of Israel and the war on Lebanon has become in the U.S.)

President Friedman's letter continues with more headliners: "Unfortunately, our work has just begun"! "Hizballah must be defeated." And finally, "The war is a diversion"!!!! This last section argues that the war in Lebanon is a "distraction," to "divert attention away from Iran's nuclear weapons program"! (In case you haven't noticed President Friedman loves exclamation points, which leads one to wonder whether a good dose of lithium might not be in order.) But this "analysis' is hopelessly confused since Israel started the war on Lebanon using a minor border skirmish as an excuse - as Chomsky points out in the interview alluded to above. It leaves one wondering about AIPAC's analyses. Are they "clear-eyed" as Friedman claims, or wild-eyed?

President Friedman closes with the exhortation: "Now is the time for us, American Jews, to stand up and tell our elected officials that they must demand Iran halt its pursuit of atomic arms." In other words, next stop Iran if AIPAC can swing it. And in that lies a great danger. The Bush administration is losing ever more of its base and only the neocon establishment and AIPAC remain securely in its camp. (Even some of the born-agains are deserting.) With the November elections coming, Rove and Bush desperately need AIPAC support, and so they may be even more susceptible than usual to its demands for going after Iran. Indeed this is a dangerous time.

John Walsh can be reached at john.endwar@gmail.com.

He thanks President Friedman for much of the material in this article, which is taken directly from his latest fundraising letter to AIPAC supporters and members.

Gaza Watch #12: Elderly Palestinian and His Son Killed when IOF Bombard their House

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
16 August 2006

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed an elderly Palestinian and
his son in Khan Yunis in the early morning hours of Wednesday, 16
August 2006, when an IOF plane leveled their house with a bomb. IOF
did not give them sufficient time to evacuate the house; and they
were killed during the evacuation. In addition, a second son and two
neighbors were moderately injured by shrapnel.

PCHR's preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately
01:00 on Wednesday, an Israeli security officer called Abdel Hadi
Hasan Radwan Sha'ath (31), who is an activist in Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades, on his mobile telephone. The Israeli officer told him to
evacuate his house as it will be bombarded in a few minutes. Sha'ath
was not in the house at the time of the call; and he called his
family to inform them of the warning.

The house consisted of 3 stories and was built on an area of 180
square meters. It was located in the densely-populated Sheikh Naser
area in the eastern part of Khan Yunis. The household started to
evacuate the house at night and in the dark as electricity was cut
off the area at the time.

During the evacuation, Israeli security called Mustafa Sha'ath (36),
a brother of Abdel Hadi, who is also an activist in Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades. They informed him that the house will be bombarded in a
few minutes.

Fifteen minutes after the first call and as the household were
evacuating, an IOF plane dropped a bomb on the house, destroying it
completely. Hasan Radwan Shahin Sha'ath, the 69-year old owner of
the house, and his son Ibrahim (45) were killed. Their bodies were
found 10 meters away from the house. They were killed by cement
blocks shattered by the bombardment. In addition, three civilians
were injured. One of the injured is a second son of the dead house
owner. The injured were taken to Naser Hospital in Khan Yunis, where
their injuries were listed as light to moderate. The injured are:
Abdel Rahman Hasan Sha'ath (35), Abdallah Nizar Abu Taha (29), and
Mohammad Suliman Mustafa Sha'ath (35). In addition, five nearby
houses sheltering 10 families of 75 members sustained damage by the
bombardment.

PCHR strongly condemns the IOF killing of Palestinian civilians in
the Gaza Strip, and the destruction of their property. IOF
disproportionate use of force places the lives of civilians at
additional risk during these operations, which are a form of
reprisal and collective punishment against Palestinians, a violation
of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Centre

confirms that indiscriminate aggression will inflict additional
damages on civilians and civilian property. The prior knowledge that
these attacks will cause civilian casualties and destruction of
their property is a violation of the convention, and a war crime in
the first protocol additional to the convention. The Centre reminds
the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention of: -
  Their obligations under article 1 of the convention to ensure
respect of the convention under all circumstances;

-       Their obligations in article 146 of the convention to pursue
suspects of committing serious violations of the convention, noting
that these violations are war crimes according to article 147, as
specified in the first protocol additional to the convention

Three Worst Men

There were three men competing to see who the worst one in the world is.

The first one attacked a woman and raped her so savagely that she fainted. He turned
to the others and said, "I am the worst one of all."

The second man stepped up and beat her until her teeth fell out and she bled from
her nose and ears until she was almost dead.  He turned to the others and said, "No
one can be worse than me."

The third one stepped up, smiled coldly, and said, "No, I am the worst one even
though I just stood by and watched, because this woman is my sister.

The woman here represents Lebanon and Palestine.
The first man is Israel.
The second is America & the West.
The third is the Arab world that stood by and did nothing.

To failure's credit

By Gideon Levy
Haaretz
13 August 2006


The bad (and predictable) news: Israel is going to comeout of this war with the lower hand. The good (and surprising) news: This ringing failure could spell good tidings. If Israel had won the battles in an easy, sweeping victory of the kind Israelis prayed so much for, it would have caused enormous damage to Israel's security policies. Another slam-bam win would have brought disaster upon us. Drugged with power, drunk with victory, we would have been tempted to implement our success in other arenas. Dangerous fire would have threatened the entire region and nobody knows what might have resulted.

On the other hand, the failure in this little war might teach us an important lesson for the future, and maybe influence us to change our ways and language, the language we speak to our neighbors with violence and force. The axiom that "Israel cannot allow itself a defeat on the battlefield" has already been exposed as a nonsensical cliche: Failure might not only help Israel greatly but, as a bonus, it might teach the Americans the important lesson that there is no point in pushing Israel into military adventures.

Since 1948's war, Israel has only achieved one sweeping military victory on its own, in the Six-Day War. There is no way of imagining an easier and sweeter victory. Israel's "deterrent capability" was restored - and in a big way - in a manner that was supposed to guarantee its security for many years. And what happened? Only six years went by and the most difficult war in Israeli history, theYom Kippur War, took place. Hardly deterrence. On the contrary, the defeat in 1967 only pushed the Arab armies to try to restore their lost honor and they managed to do so in a very short time. Against an arrogant, complacent Israel enjoying the rotten fruits of that dizzying victory, the Syrian and Egyptian armies chalked up considerable achievements, and Israel understood the limits of its power. Maybe now, this war will also bring us back down to reality, where military force is only military force, and cannot guarantee everything. Afterall, we are constantly scoring "victories" and "achievements" against the Palestinians. And what comes of them? Deterrence? Have the Palestinians given up their dreams to be free people in their own country?

The IDF's failure against Hezbollah is not a fateful defeat. Israel killed and absorbed casualties, but its existence or any part of its territory were not endangered for a moment. Our favorite phrase, "an existential war" is nothing more than another expression of the ridiculous pathos of this war, which from the start was a cursed war of choice.

Hezbollah did not capture territory from Israel and its defeat is tolerable even though it could have easily been avoided if we had not undertaken our foolish Lebanese adventure. It is not difficult to imagine what would have happened if Hezbollah had been defeated within a few days from the air, as promised from the start by the bragging of the heads of the IDF. The success would have made us insane. The U.S. would have pushed us into a military clash with Syria and, drunk with victory, we might have been tempted. Iran might have been next. At the same time we would have dealt with the Palestinians: What went so easily in Lebanon, we would have been convinced, would be easily implemented from Jenin to Rafah. The result would have been an attempt to solve the Palestinian problem at its root by pounding, erasing, bombing and shelling.

Maybe all that won't happen now because we have discovered first-hand that the IDF's power is much more limited than we thought and were told. Our deterrent capacity might now work in the opposite direction. Israel, hopefully, will think twice before going into another dangerous military adventure. That is comforting news. On the other hand, it is true that there is the danger the IDF will want to restore its lost honor on the backs of the helpless Palestinians. It didn't work in Bint Jbail, so we'll show them in Nablus.

However, if we internalize the concept whereby what does not work by force will not work with more force, this war could bring us to the negotiating table. Seared by failure, maybe the IDF will be less enthusiastic to rush into battle. It is possible the political echelon will now understand that the response to the dangers facing Israelis not to be found in using more and more force; that the real response to the legitimate and just demands of the Palestinians is not another dozen Operation Defensive Shields, but in respecting their rights; that the real response to the Syrian threat is returning the Golan to its rightful owners, without delay; and that the response to the Iranian danger is dulling the hatred toward us in the Arab and Muslim world.

If indeed the war ends as it is ending, maybe more Israelis will ask themselves what we are killing and being killed for, what did we pound and get pounded for, and maybe they will understand that it was once again all for naught. Maybe the achievement of this war will be that the failure will be seared deeply into the consciousness, and Israel will take a new route, less violent and less bullying, because of the failure. In 1967, Ephraim Kishon wrote, "sorry we won." This time it is almost possible to say, it's good we did not win.

Gaza Watch #11: Israel's Gaza count...so far

Xinhua
13 August 2006


Israel had carried out 190 airstrikes and fired 3,500 artillery shells on the Gaza Strip within the last 44 days, according to a Palestinian official report published on Saturday.

The report, issued by Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) department of Statistical Quality Control, detailed all Israeli army attacks on the Gaza Strip over the last 44 days.

"Israel carried out 768 different kinds of attacks on theGaza Strip during the period between June 28 and August10," said the PLO report.

Israel launched an air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip on June 28, three days after one Israeli soldier were abducted by Palestinian militant groups during across-border attack.

According to medics in Gaza hospitals, 200 Palestinians, including 40 children, were killed and 600 others were injured during the Israeli offensives dubbed "SummerRains".

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat warned of political and human disasters as a result of the ongoing military air and ground operations against the Gaza Strip.

Israel said that the operations were aimed to free the captive soldier Gilad Shalit and halt Palestinian militant groups' rocket attacks against Israel.

Gaza Watch #10: Palestinian deaths rise amid fear of worse to come

By Nidal al-Mughrabi/Reuters
The Guardian
11 August 2006

Last month was the deadliest in the Gaza Strip for nearly two years, a Palestinian research group said yesterday, as Israel's six-week offensive against militants in the territory led to a surge in killings. The Palestinian Monitoring Group said 151 people were killed in the strip in July, the highest total since October 2004, when 166 people died. The majority of those killed were civilians.

"The spiralling civilian casualties caused by Israeli actions throughout the region serve to strengthen extremists, weaken peace advocates and exacerbate the conflict," said the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, commenting on the findings.

From late June, when Israel launched its offensive, until August 8, at least 170 Palestinians were killed, of whom 138 were civilians and a quarter children, the monitoring group said. Other reports have put the death toll at 200.

When the offensive was launched, Israeli warplanes bombed and partly destroyed Gaza's only power plant and also hit several bridges. The flow of fuel, food and other essential supplies was also repeatedly interrupted. The United Nations says the densely populated territory is now facing some of the worst humanitarian conditions in years.

In a report this week the UN said more than 70% of the 1.4 million population was reliant on emergency assistance to meet food needs and the price of essential goods, such as flour and sugar, had risen by between 15% and 33% this year. Waste treatment in the northern strip has reached a "critical point", threatening to flood populated areas with sewage and spread infection.

Another Letter

Dear President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert,

As we continue with the drumbeat coverage of the Israeli Occupation Forces ongoing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, the World's eyes are transfixed on the escalation of violence In Lebanon.

Along with others I have sat and watched the coverage of suffering that Lebanese people and Israelis have endured.

I have wondered when all of this will be resolved? Why not have an immediate cease fire now President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert? Why not stop the killing now rather than keeping it going? Why drive deeper into Lebanon and cause more death and destruction not only for the Lebanese, but also for the Israelis as well?

Do you honestly think that by destroying the entire infrastructure of Lebanon as well as Gaza and The West Bank that people will throw up their hands and say: "Oh all right you win, I know when I am beat!" is this what you think might happen?

It's wishful thinking if you ask me. Destroying a grassroots movement like Hezbollah or Hamas has never been successful in the past and there is no need to think that it will be now. What you may very well be doing is to ferment the seeds of anger not only of the Shia and Sunni in the region but the Christians and Druze as well.

It concerns me when I hear statements from Israeli Generals that they have much work to do in order to stop Hezbollah and Hamas. What of the innocents? What of the three-month old baby who was wounded yesterday by Israeli tank shells? What about the almost 100 Israelis that have died? There are hospitals in Gaza that are completely overwhelmed with injured men, women and children. What is the point of bombing any car in Tyre if you see one on the roads, you do realize that there are many in that city who did not have the means to leave after you kindly dropped leaflets warning them to go? And if this were not enough, the media due to the ongoing battle ragging in the North of Israel and Lebanon, the media have turned a blind eye to what is happening in Gaza.

I've heard the same tired expressions for the last several weeks. We are fighting against terrorists, we want Syria and Iran to stop funding weapons to Hezbollah. well, why not start Mr. Bush by stopping military aid to Israel? And please don't bring up the whole anti-Semitism thing because it's really not anti-Semitic to call out a government on indiscriminate bombing of innocents.

Oh and before I finish, I know Hezbollah might hide amongst civilian populations, but even Amnesty Intl and Human Rights Watch say that is no reason to still drop the bomb in the region of where the civilians are.

So, I'll leave you two now to mull this over for the maximum allowed five seconds and then I'm sure your the lovely Zionists and Christian Zionists will begin their rants, but it doesn't bother me.

I am reminded of what the singer Michael Franti once sung about:

"You can bomb the World to pieces
but you can't bomb the World into Peace."

Sincerely,
Christopher Brown

"I Know it is a Terrible Solution"

Encounter at an Israeli Checkpoint

By MAGAN WILES

Hawara Checkpoint, Palestine.

Underneath his green helmet, his eyes are clear and large and blue and when he tells me about seeing his little brother blown up by a suicide bomber, he does not look at me. "I'm so sorry," I say, and I mean it.

"Oh yeah, I bet you are."

We have been at his checkpoint all morning, negotiating and pleading with him and his fellow soldiers to allow sick people, pregnant women and young children to pass through the long line of Palestinians waiting to leave Nablus, a wait that is averaging two hours today. We are annoying to him. He knows why we are here, what we stand for.

"No, I mean it, I'm so sorry, my heart is broken for you." I say it and I mean it and my eyes are filling with tears thinking about my little sisters, how much I love them, what it would be like to see someone kill them. My eyes fill with tears as I think about what I would (want to) do to someone who blew up my little sister.

He is surprised a little, to see me cry for him and he says, "I know this is a terrible solution"--he gestures toward the checkpoint where a hundred Palestinians are packed like so much cattle into narrow gangways, waiting their turn to have their IDs checked, their bags searched, their shirts lifted, their pockets patted. Some of them do this every day. They have been waiting two hours today. It is very hot. There is another checkpoint 2 miles down the road.

"I know this is not the solution," he says again.

"This is not making you safer," I say. "99% of the people that come through here are not interested in hurting you, but when you treat them like this everyday, you make them want to hurt you."

"I know. I know the conditions are terrible. I know they are frustrated. I know people should not live like this. But what else can we do? Last month we caught 5 people with bomb packs."

I am doubtful of this--it seems highly unlikely that a self-martyr would try to just walk through Hawara checkpoint, notorious for its thorough and extravagant security procedures, its unbending and merciless soldiers. There are many other checkpoints out of the city that are easier to pass through, not to mention the path over the mountains. But it doesn't matter--he is expressing to me that although he realizes that innocent people are suffering, he doesn't care because he believes this checkpoint keeps him and his people from suffering.

It is hard to argue with this. It is hard to argue about suffering with a Jewish person. I cannot reason with his heart, so I try to reason with his head.

I tell him that the bombings are reactionary, not an offensive. The profile of a self-martyr is very similar to a grassroots activist in the USA--college educated, middle class upbringing, promising future, interest in social justice and politics. I tell him about a girl whose family I met, a college girl who was engaged to be married in a couple months, a girl who went into a supermarket in Tel Aviv and blew herself up. Her family had no idea she was going to do this. Why would she want to do this? I think about it all the time. What would make me do that?

The longer I live in Palestine, and get a taste of what it's like to be Palestinian, the more I understand. When you are Palestinian, you know no one has respect for your life, and you start to lose it yourself. You see soldiers kill people and imprison people without any explanation given, without any repercussions.

You know they could do this to you and your family at any moment.
You know they could come destroy your house at any time, because you know a lot of innocent people this has happened to.

You see them building a wall in your country, and you see them illegally confiscating land from your friends and neighbors in order to do it.

You see them putting up checkpoints inside your country, not on their borders but inside your country, and they tell you when you can and can't leave.

You see that the world is OK with this, because no one seems to be stopping it, and it has been happening for 50 years.

You see that all people from Israel are obligated to serve as soldiers, and you see a chance to not only take out a few of these potential or past soldiers who are committing these crimes against you and your people, you also think that if you do this, maybe the world will pay attention to what's happening to your home.

You see that there is not much of a life for you or your children anyway.

You think that maybe this is the best thing you can do for your people. Maybe you are wrong, but you cannot keep living like this.

You cannot bear the thought of always living like this. The soldier is quiet. I have been talking a long time. He is listening to me. He is uncomfortable. I keep talking.

I tell him I don't condone suicide bombings. I think it's horrible. But I understand it. I don't think it's any less horrible than shooting missiles at people, blowing up hospitals, or forcing almost a million civilians to flee their homes. I think suicide bombings happen because of the Occupation. I don't think the Occupation is happening because of suicide bombings. I think if the Occupation ended, the bombings would stop, because Palestinians would have hope. They would have something to live for. I think if the Palestinians were given the right to a peaceful and just existence by Israel, Israel would be rewarded with peace by Palestine. You cannot oppress people and expect them not to resist. If you use violence to oppress people, they will use violence to resist it.

My president told me that attacking and occupying Iraq would keep me safer. He was wrong. It made people hate me more, it made more people want to hurt me, because I have killed thousands of innocent people in the name of my personal safety. I don't know what should've been done after September 11th. I don't know what should've been done after the Holocaust, after any of the tragedies of our time. I do know that what we do, what the United States and Israel has done, just perpetuates the evil that causes these tragedies to happen.

I don't think that my president is occupying Iraq because he is concerned for my safety; I don't think Olmert is occupying Palestine because he is concerned for the Israelis' safety. I think there are larger things at work, men fighting over money and power and land, and we are all victims of it. We are told that we need to be afraid of each other. We are told that people are trying to kill us--our whole lives we are told this. The Arabs, the Russians, the Japanese, the Native Americans--who is trying to kill us, who the enemy is--it changes every few years. People wanting to kill you is scary, so when someone tells us they can keep us safe, we believe it, and we do whatever they ask us. I tell this soldier that he is a victim of it, too, that he is being used, that his real enemy is not the Palestinians, but rather the men at the top who wage war for profit. I ask him what would happen if we all stopped being afraid of each other. If we all saw each other as brothers instead of distant strangers (thank you, Tupac).

He looks at me a long long time. I am starting to cry again, because I've just told him everything inside my heart and his face is still as hard as stone. I'm embarrassed and I leave. I look back and he is still looking at me.


Magan Wiles is an actress who teaches Theater of the Oppressed to young people through the Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Gaza Watch #9: Almost half the fatalities in Gaza in July were civilians

B'Tselem
5 August 2006

In July, the Israeli military killed 163 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 78 of whom (48 percent) were not taking part in the hostilities when they were killed. Thirty-six of the fatalities were minors, and 20 were women. In the West Bank, 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in July. The number of Palestinian fatalities in July was the highest in any month since April 2002.

Of the incidents B'Tselem investigated in Gaza over the past month, the organization has identified four cases in which Israel may have committed grave breaches of the laws of war. A total of 15 Palestinian civilians were killed in these incidents, including 7 minors, the details of which are as follows:

Air Force missile hits group of youths, killing six On 12 July 2006, a group of youths sought shelter from IDF bombing. Ten of the youths went and hid in a big pit. A missile fired from by an Air Force plane hit the pit, killing six of the youths, five of them minors: Mahmmuadal-'Asar, Ibrahim a-Nabahin and Ibrahim Qatush, age 15, Ahmad Abu hajaj, age 16. Salah Abu Maktomah, age 17 and Hassan 'Abeid, age 18.

IDF fires two shells at residence and kills four members of the family On 21 July 2006, a few members of the Hararah family went onto the roof of their house in the a-Sheja'iyeh neighborhood in Gaza City to watch tanks advancing toward the neighborhood. One of the tanks fired a shell at the house. It hit the staircase and killed Muhammad Hararah, 45, the brother of the owner of the house. Almost immediately afterwards, another shell was fired at the same spot, killing the mother of the family, Sabah, 45, and two of her sons, Muamen, 16, and 'Amer, 23.

Air Force missile hits horse-drawn cart killing a woman and her grandchild On 24 July 2006, two youngsters left their family's farm in the Beit Lahiya area after shells had fallen on the farm's land. They went by horse-drawn wagon and on the way picked up two of their family. A missile, fired by an Air Force plane, made a direct hit on the wagon, killing Khairieh al-'Attar, 58 and her grandchild Nadi al-'Attar, 11. Another member of the family, Shadi, 14 was injured.

IDF tank shell lands next to housing project, killing three civilians. On 24 July 2006, an IDF fired a shell that fell next to the a-Nada Towers, a housing project located in the northern Gaza Strip. The shelling killed three civilians, one of them a minor: Saleh Naser, 14, Sadeq Naser, 33, and S'adi Na'im, 29.

The IDF did not issue a statement regarding any of these cases, nor acknowledge that these civilians had been killed. It is unclear why, in these four cases, the Israeli military fired at unarmed civilians and at residential apartments. According to B'Tselem's investigation, there were no armed Palestinians or weapons stored in any of these locations.

Even if the armed forces did not intend to strike civilians, as senior IDF and government officials state repeatedly, B'Tselem's investigations raise a grave concern that these attacks were launched without taking due caution and without verifying that the targets were not civilian structures, as required by the laws of war.

Furthermore, according to the principle of proportionality, it is forbidden to carry out an attack, even against a military object, with the knowledge that it is liable to cause injury to civilians that is excessive in relation to the military advantage anticipated from the attack. Thus, even if the killing of the 15 civilians in these four incidents resulted from their proximity to armed Palestinians or to weapons, the magnitude of the"collateral" harm to civilians raises the grave concern that the attacks were disproportionate.

B'Tselem has requested the Judge Advocate General to ordera Military Police investigation into the circumstances of these cases, and if the suspicions are validated, to prosecute the persons responsible.

Gaza Watch #8: Woman and Child Killed by IOF Bombardment in Beit Hanoun

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

1 August 2006

PCHR is concerned over the around-the-clock artillery bombardment by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) against the north of the Gaza Strip. This bombardment has cost the lives of tens of Palestinian civilians, and forced hundreds of others to leave their homes.

The latest victims of IOF bombardment were a Palestinian woman and child, who were killed in the afternoon hours of 1 August 2006 in the Nada Buildings area, west of Beit Hanoun. PCHR's preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 13:40 on Tuesday, 1 August 2006, IOF stationed to the east of the northern district of the Gaza Strip fired several artillery shells at the Nada Buildings area, west of Beit Hanoun. One of the shells fell near building #8. Shrapnel from the shell killed the child Aref Ahmad Abu Qeida (14). The child was in his grandfather's house near building #8.

Three other civilians were injured, including a woman from Rafah who was visiting relatives in the area. This woman, Mervat Fayez Abu Sharikh (24), was pronounced dead one hour after reachinga hospital. The two others who were injured are Sami Abbas Darabeih (43), who sustained shrapnel wounds in the chest, and Eyad Sabri Jendeyya (30), who sustained shrapnel wound in the right hip. It is noted that the Nada Buildings area has become a daily target of IOF artillery shelling.

IOF announced last week that it will directly target the area. As a result, most of the area residents left their homes. Palestinian casualties fall on a daily basis in the area. For more information regarding the events in the Nada Buildings area, refer to PCHR's weekly report for last week. PCHR strongly condemns the IOF killing of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the destruction of their property. IOF disproportionate use of force places the lives of civilians at additional risk during these operations, which are a form of reprisal and collective punishment against Palestinians, a violation of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Centre confirms that indiscriminate aggression will inflict additional damages on civilians and civilian property. The prior knowledge that these attacks will cause civilian casualties and destruction of their property is a violation of the convention, and a war crime in the first protocol additional to the convention. In the Center's view, the complacency of the international community and the High Contracting Parties of the 4th Geneva Convention and their failure to take effective steps to stop Israeli war crimes has been a supporting and encouraging element for Israel to continue perpetrating additional war crimes against Palestinian civilians.

The legal cover provided to Israel by the US, which purposely hinders International Humanitarian Law, and the conspiracy of silence by Europe encourage Israeli to continue to perpetrate war crimes unchecked, placing it above international law. The Centre reminds the High Contracting Parties of:- Their obligations under article 1 of the convention to ensure respect of the convention under all circumstances;- Their obligations in article 146 of the convention to pursue suspects of committing serious violations of the convention, noting that these violations are war crimes according to article 147, as specified in the first protocol additional to the convention

Who are the real terrorists in the Middle East?

By
Oren Ben-Dor

What exactly is being defended? Is it the citizens of Israel or the nature of the Israeli state?

Published: 26 July 2006

As its citizens are being killed, Israel is, yet again, inflicting death and destruction on Lebanon. It tries to portray this horror as necessary for itsself-defence. Indeed, the casual observer might regard the rocket attacks on Israeli cities such as Haifa and my own home town, Nahariya, as justifying this claim.While states should defend their citizens, states which fail this duty should be questioned and, if necessary, reconfigured. Israel is a state which, instead of defending its citizens, puts all of them, Jews as well as non-Jews, in danger.

What exactly is being defended by the violence in Gaza and Lebanon? Is it the citizens of Israel or the nature of the Israeli state? I suggest the latter. Israel's statehood is based on an unjust ideology which causes indignity and suffering for those who are classified as non-Jewish by either a religious or ethnic test. To hide this primordial immorality, Israel fosters an image of victimhood. Provoking violence, consciously or unconsciously, against which one must defend oneself is a key feature of the victim-mentality. By perpetuating such a tragic cycle, Israel is a terrorist state like no other.

Many who wish to hide the immorality of the Israeli state do so by restricting attention to the horrors of the post-1967 occupation and talking about a two-state solution, since endorsing a Palestinian state implicitly endorses the ideology behind a Jewish one. The very creation of Israel required an act of terror. In 1948, most of the non-Jewish indigenous people were ethnically cleansed from the part of Palestine which became Israel. This action was carefully planned. Without it, no state with a Jewish majority and character would have been possible. Since 1948, the "Israeli Arabs", those Palestinians who avoided expulsion, have suffered continuous discrimination.

Indeed, many have been internally displaced, ostensibly for "security reasons", but really to acquire their lands for Jews. Surely Holocaust memory and Jewish longing for Eretz Israel would not be sufficient to justify ethnic cleansing and ethnocracy? To avoid the destabilisation that would result from ethical inquiry, the Israeli state must hide the core problem, by nourishing a victim mentality among Israeli Jews.

To sustain that mentality and to preserve an impression of victimhood among outsiders, Israel must breed conditions for violence. Whenever prospects of violence against it subside, Israel must do its utmost to regenerate them: the myth that it is a peace-seeking victim which has "no partner for peace" is a key panel in the screen with which Israel hides its primordial and continuing immorality.

Israel's successful campaign to silence criticism of its initial and continuing dispossession of the indigenous Palestinians leaves the latter no option but to resort to violent resistance. In the wake of electing Hamas - the only party which, in the eyes of Palestinians, has not yet given up their cause - the Palestinian population of Gaza and the West Bank were subjected to an Israeli campaign of starvation, humiliation and violence. The insincere "withdrawal" from Gaza, and the subsequent blockade, ensured a chronicle of violence which, so far, includes Palestinian firing of Kasem rockets, the capture of an Israeli soldier and the Israeli near re-occupation of Gaza.

What we witness is more hatred, more violence from Palestinians, more humiliation and collective punishments from Israelis - all useful reinforcement for the Israeli victim mentality and for the sacred cow status of Israeli statehood. The truth is that there never could have been a partition of Palestine by ethically acceptable means. Israel was created through terror and it needs terror to cover-up its core immorality.

Whenever there is a glimmer of stability, the state orders a targeted assassination, such as that in Sidon which preceded the current Lebanon crisis, knowing well that this brings not security but more violence. Israel's unilateralism and the cycle of violence nourish one another. Amidst the violence and despite the conventional discourse which hides the root of this violence, actuality calls upon us to think. The more we silence its voice, the more violently actuality is sure to speak.

In Hebrew, the word elem (a stunned silence resulting from oppression or shock) is etymologically linked to the word almut (violence). Silence about the immoral core of Israeli statehood makes us all complicit in breeding the terrorism that threatens a catastrophe which could tear the world apart.

okbendor@ yahoo.com

The writer teaches the philosophy of law and political philosophy at University of Southampton

Gaza Watch #7: Israel's secret war: the humanitarian disaster unfoldingin Palestine

By Anne Penketh in Gaza City

A 12-year-old boy dead on a stretcher. A mother in shock and disbelief after her son was shot dead for standing on their roof. A phone rings and a voice in broken Arabic orders residents to abandon their home on pain of death. Those are snapshots of a day in Gaza where Israel is waging a hidden war, as the world looks the other way, focusing on Lebanon.

It is a war of containment and control that has turned the besieged Strip into a prison with no way in or out, and no protection from an fearsome battery of drones, precision missiles, tank shells and artillery rounds. As of last night, 29 people had been killed in the most concentrated 48 hours of violence since an Israeli soldier was abducted by Palestinian militants just more than a month ago. The operation is codenamed "Samson's Pillars", a collective punishment of the 1.4 million Gazans, subjecting them to a Lebanese-style offensive that has targeted the civilian infrastructure by destroying water mains, the main power station and bridges.

The similarities with Israel's blitz on Lebanon are striking, raising suspicions that the Gaza offensive has been the testing ground for the military strategy now unfolding on the second front in the north. In Gaza, following the victory of the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas in January, Israel, with the help ofthe US, initiated an immediate boycott and ensured the rest of the world fell into line after months of hand-wringing.

Israel has secured the same flashing greenlight from the Bush administration over Lebanon, while the rest of the world appeals in vain for an immediate ceasefire. The Israelis, who launched their Lebanon offensive on 12 July after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah fighters, intend to create a "sterile" zone devoid of militants in a mile-wide stretch inside Lebanon.

In Gaza, Palestinian land has already been bulldozed to form a 300-metre open area along the border with Israel proper. And in both cases, the crisis will doubtless end up being defused by a prisoner exchange. With Lebanon dominating the headlines, Israel has "rearranged the occupation" in Gaza, in the words of the Palestinian academic and MP, Hanan Ashrawi. But unlike the Lebanese, the desperate Gazans have nowhere to flee from their humanitarian crisis.

Before Israeli tanks moved into northern Gaza, yesterday, 12-year-old Anas Zumlut joined the ranks of dead Palestinians, numbering more than 100. His body was wrapped in a funeral shroud, just like those of the two sisters, a three-year-old and an eight-month-old baby, who were killed three days ago in the same area of Jablaya. In the past three weeks, the foreign ministry and the interior ministry in Gaza city have been smashed, prompting speculation that Israel's offensive is not only aimed at securing the release of Cpl Gilad Shalit, or bringing an end to the Qassam rocket attacks that have wounded one person in the past month and jarred the nerves of the residents of the nearest Israeli town of Sderot."At first we thought they were bombing the Hamas leaders by targeting Haniyeh and Zahar," a Palestinian officialsaid, referring to the Palestinian Prime Minister and theForeign Minister. "But when they targeted the economy ministry we decided they wanted to completely destroy the entire government."The only functioning crossing, Erez, is closed to Palestinians who are almost hermetically sealed inside the Strip.

As the local economy has been strangled by donor countries, Gaza City's 1,800 municipal employees have not been paid since the beginning of April. Families are borrowing to the hilt, selling their jewellery, ignoring electricity bills and tax demands and throwing themselves on the mercy of shopkeepers. Western officials say they hope the pressure will coerce Hamas into recognising Israel but the Palestinians believe the real goal is the collapse of the Hamas government -six of whose cabinet members have been arrested, the rest are in hiding.

The signs on the ground are that Israel's military pressure is proving counter-productive. There is the risk of a total breakdown of the fabric of society at a time when the main political parties, Fatah and Hamas, are at each other's throats. "The popularity of Hamas is increasing," says the Palestinian deputy foreign minister, Ahmed Soboh, from the comparative safety of his West Bank office in Ramallah.

The situation has become unbearable for Gazans, says Nabil Shaath, a veteran Fatah official who is a former foreign and planning minister. Through the window, small fishing boats are anchored uselessly in the harbour, penned in byIsraeli sea patrols. All mechanisms for coping are being exhausted. Mr Shaath, who had a daughter, Mimi, late in life, says that he tried "laughter therapy" with his five-year-old at home in northern Gaza. "Every time there was a shell, I would burst out laughing and she would laugh with me. But then the Israelis occupied everything around us, and there were tanks, and shrapnel in the garden, and she saw where the shells were coming from, and she was terrified. So Mimi now gets angry when I laugh."

Only a few miles away, on the other side of the border, the Israeli army says it is taking pains to minimise civilian casualties. Hila, a 21-year old paratrooper who is not allowed to give her last name, says the Hamas fighters in Gaza - like Hizbollah in Lebanon -deliberately mingle with the civilian population as a tactic. Weapons are stored in the upper storeys of houses where families live downstairs, she says. "The terrorists deliberately choose places where we can't retaliate." But these places are being hit. And Mr Shaath is scornful of the disproportionate Israeli reaction to the Palestinian rockets. Five Israelis have been killed by the 10km range Qassams since 2000.

Mrs Ashrawi believes Samson's Pillars are no closer to falling. "Israelis think they are searing the consciousness of the Palestinians and the Lebanese with abranding iron. But if people have a cause they will never be defeated."