The disparity between Israel�s
public narrative and its actual intents cannot possibly be any more palpable
than in the current Gaza onslaught following the capture by Palestinians of an
Israeli solider near Gaza in a daring June 25 raid on a military post.
"Anybody who calls this
operation disproportionate has no clue about the facts on the ground. We have
been attacked and bombarded for months and weeks,� Yitzhak Herzog, the Israeli
cabinet secretary, said, responding to what some media described as �an
increasing international concern� over the Israeli reinvasion of parts of the
Gaza Strip and the subsequent high death toll.
Shortly after Herzog made his
comments, the death toll among Palestinians as a result of the Israeli action
rose to 52, mostly civilians. However, numbers can hardly communicate the
humanitarian crisis underway as a result of the Israeli siege and bombardment.
The Israeli official was reiterating
a new mantra adopted by the Israeli government, aimed at silencing any serious
criticism of the Israeli military and its deadly practices in Gaza. Such
rebuttal however, seemed overly exaggerated, considering that no serious, or at
least meaningful international criticism of the Israeli raids in Gaza, dubbed
by the ever-poetic Israeli army as �Summer Rain.� The Israeli one-sided war was
exasperated by the fact that Palestinians have been under a long economic siege
which was tightened even further with the election of Hamas to power last
January.
The Gaza Strip, a stretch of land
that hardly exceeds a few kilometers in length and is much smaller in width has
always been the home of the poorest of Palestinians, with living conditions
that speak of utter misery, and can only be compared to the poorest countries
in the world, despite Gaza�s highly educated population.
Israel insists that its operation
is not intended to harm the civilian population, but to root out for good the
so-called terrorist elements that use the civilian infrastructure to attack
adjacent Israeli towns with rockets. It also says that it will not cease its
�military activities� in the area until its captured soldier is returned home
safely and without conditions.
Israel�s demands, without proper
context, sound reasonable, to say the least. Israeli and US media commentators
agree; their overall assessment is: Israel doesn�t want to set a precedent by
giving terrorists an incentive to carry on with their acts of terror, and Israel�s
favorite mantra, any democratic country would do precisely what Israel has done
to secure its citizens.
Again, the historic role of the
media, that of completely acknowledging and sympathizing with Israeli concerns,
while regularly disregarding Palestinian concerns as unworthy, continues to
grow with equal force and tenacity. Thus the only relevant context, as far as
the Western media is concern, is that context instructed by Israel, who, in
turn, wishes to convince everyone that the above demands are indeed the real
reasons behind its bloody Gaza onslaught.
If the military�s intentions are
indeed to �root out terrorists,� as Israel tirelessly asserts, then why insist
on pursuing the same detrimental policies � those of siege, isolation and overt
militarism -- that deprive Palestinians of any sense of hope that Gaza could
finally become an economically viable, truly independent polity? Why push
desperate Palestinians -- through endless assassinations and targeting of
civilians in broad daylight -- to embrace vengeful notions and
counter-violence?
I say, �notions� because the
so-called Palestinians rockets, as ominous as they may appear on television,
are yet to claim one Israeli casualty for over a year, while the Israeli
military has killed over 150 Palestinians in the last two months alone.
But how about the captured
soldier? Is that not a legitimate grievance? It would be if it were not Israel
who insisted on creating utterly perilous circumstances under which it places
not just its soldiers, but also its civilians. For example, Gilad Shalit -- no
matter how harmless the photos Israel deliberately provides of him to the media
-- was taking part in a murderous mission aimed at exactly that, murdering
Palestinians. In the seven weeks prior to Shalit�s capture, the number of
Palestinians killed at the hands of the Israeli military -- i.e. Shalit�s
equally innocent looking colleagues -- approached the 100 mark.
Shalit however, was a soldier,
trained to physically and mentally endure difficult moments. But how can one
explain the transfer of nearly half a million Israeli civilians to the Occupied
West Bank and East Jerusalem -- in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention?
How could any responsible �democracy� endanger its own population by placing them
in a war zone, while providing Palestinians with every reason to seek revenge
and retaliation for their heavy losses at the hands of the Israeli military?
It�s rather odd that the Israeli
government is painting this rosy media image for Israel, as a nation that would
go to great lengths to save the life of one man, while it puts the life of
hundreds of thousands of its people in great danger, notwithstanding the total
disregard for the life of all Palestinians. If Israel�s actions send any
message, it�s one filled with hypocrisy and racism.
But what does Israel exactly want?
Is its bloody show in Gaza aimed exclusively at the toppling of the Hamas-led
government? Or is it directed at the international community to further
demonstrate that Palestinians are no peace partners? Or perhaps it�s a message
to Israelis themselves, to those who were doubtful that a civilian government
with little military history -- particularly Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his
Defense Minister Amir Peretz -- can prove equally ruthless?
It�s not clear where this Israeli
experiment is heading. But what is hardly unmistakable is that by maintaining
low intensity warfare in Gaza, Israel is creating the perfect cover for its
army bulldozers to partition the rest of the West Bank and Jerusalem, in
accordance with the second phase of Olmert�s Disengagement Plan: which intends
to slice up the West Bank into various enclaves with no physical continuity,
and place its population under an effective, long term, collective incarceration
in Bantustan-like areas, to be allowed or denied movement at the behest of an
Israeli solider. The plan is being actualized in record time, yet few seem to
notice, a reality that Israel will strive to maintain.
Despite the tragic events
unfolding in Gaza, the truth is Gaza never was and will unlikely be
strategically relevant to Israel�s expansionist objectives. Gaza at best -- as
has been the case for generations -- is simply grounds for Israeli military
experimentations, and at worst, a mindless killing field, where Palestinians
are forced to �learn� the same lesson, time and again. Indeed, the current
Israeli military �operation� in Gaza is keeping true to expectations.
Ramzy
Baroud is a US author and journalist, currently based in London. His recent book,
�The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People�s Struggle� (Pluto
Press, London), is now available at Amazon.com. He is also the editor-in-chief
of the Palestine Chronicle.