The Israeli struggle against Hamas is one that is taking place more so in the media than it is on the ground. Every publication that considers itself to be informed is weighing in on one side or the other, trying to convince its audience that it, above all, knows right from wrong and supports the correct side. The Israelis are portrayed as land-hungry war mongers who will kill men women and children just to make life hell for those who live in Gaza (I'm obviously oversimplifying). Palestinians, on the other hand, are portrayed by the Israeli sympathizers as being terrorists and shunning peace time and a gain. For the Israelis this struggle was a last resort after all other options were exhausted. So the question is, who is right in all of this?
I think that the answer lies somewhere between all of the propaganda that we see and read in the news. The Palestinians want peace, but they aren't willing to agree to all of Israel's terms. Israel probably doesn't need this war since it takes international focus away from their dealings with Iranian nuclear ambitions, but they felt it was necessary to stop the incessant Hamas rocket attacks. Many argue that Israel, and by default the rest of the international community, needs to recognize Hamas as the legitimately elected government of Gaza, and to a certain point I agree. They were elected democratically, which is exactly what the US government wanted (democratic elections, not Hamas to be in power).
This conflict basically boils down to the Palestinian people accepting the consequences of their actions. I believe that Israel is completely justified in their incursion because of the daily rocket attacks on its soil. I believe that the Palestinian people had a choice during the last elections and they made the choice of Hamas- full well knowing that Hamas was a militant group who would use combative tactics against Israel. Therefore they are now, unfortunately for the innocent bystanders, living with the consequences of those actions. It boils down to the old adage that you reap what you sow. The people of Gaza voted in Hamas and Hamas did what they always do. Israel retaliated and no one should really be surprised. I therefore am going to go ahead and side with Israel on this one. The media has chosen who it supports, and now so have I.
13 comments:
If terrorists had blown up a New York apartment complex in 2005, would Americans deserve it for having re-elected Bush? Do civilians that elect militaristic leaders deserve to die?
Or another scenario: let's say McCain had beaten Obama. 6 months later, the Republican Party leads America to war with Iran. 6 months after that, there's a major terrorist attack against American cilivians. Do they deserve it? Just "reaping what they sow?"
And this isn't even getting into the fact that Hamas only won 42% of the popular vote.
It does not matter who deserves what. Hamas is threatening Israel's very existence and America's interests. Does not matter if they are democratically elected, people support them or not, or how much good and bad they do. They have to be dealt with and unfortunately in a human conflict, people from both sides are going to die. The sad thing is; dry and wet burn together. The good things is that using technology, civilian casualties are by far less than before. However in cultures like Hamas's, people dying does not have any significance in the conflict and they might actually prefer a higher number so it even makes it harder to minimize the destructive effects of this conflict.
No, obviously they don't deserve to die, but they had to know that there would be consequences to their actions. To be sure, Israel is fighting one hell of a humanitarian war. They drop leaflets before bombings and call areas that are going to be attacked to give them time to leave. Compare that to Hamas, who hides behind the innocent civilian population with the goal of increasing collateral damage for propaganda. So you can criticize Israel all you want for asserting their dominance, but I'd much rather have a country with a government like Israel's in the Middle East than one with a government like Hamas.
I too would rather be governed by Israel than Hamas, no doubt. But there's a reason that Palestinian governments have gotten more radical and desperate every decade.
Yes there certainly is, and I agree that Israel needs to do a better job, but blaming them for all of the problems and, frankly, terrorist and petty tactics that Hamas uses is quite unfair.
Tactics are beside the point. Obviously Hamas was going to resort to terrorist tactics, they're so heavily outgunned that that move was inevitable. The real question is why the Palestinians moved to armed conflict in the first place. If you look at the events that led up to the intifada, it's pretty clear that peaceful negotiation was completely failing the Palestinians. Fatah was a massive failure: not only did they fail to prevent further Israeli encroachment, they were also very corrupt.
I can't blame Israel for Hamas being a terrorist government. But I can blame Israel (in part) for creating the conditions in which 42% of Palestinians decided that Hamas was their best option. Obviously the Islamic nations that keep supplying Palestinians with rockets are also part of the problem, as frankly so is America. But the overwhelming issue is the ongoing abuse of Palestinians by Israel.
Mark, if Israel is fighting "one hell of a humanitarian war", why have they barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza? I guess they're wary of unfair coverage by heavily biased news agencies, right? That pesky Human Rights Watch just wants to make trouble...
They're breaking out the white phosphorous now: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28615688/
That shouldn't be surprising, since Israel already used white phosphorous in Lebanon in 2006. Hopefully this time they can refrain from leaving cluster bombs everywhere.
Don't be fooled by the hype, there's no such thing as a humanitarian war. Especially when one of the objectives is to intimidate the population, to hurt them so much that they don't dare vote for Hamas again.
You have to admit that they're doing a fine job of trying to minimize civilian casualties. I do not support the use of white phosphorous so that should probably stop. But I'm saying that they aren't employing anywhere near the dirty tactics that Hamas uses.
And sure terrorism seemed like the logical next step for the Palestinians, but they should have known better. It doesn't work. And now that they've seen for years that it doesn't work, the logical next step is to try peaceful negotiation. Or try something else. They need to take responsibility for their actions and solve their problems. Of course Israel doesn't respect them, they strap bombs to their chest and blow them up in a crowded marketplace. Who could respect an enemy like that? Most of the Palestinian population doesn't even remember the homeland before Israel moved in. It's time for a change.
What makes you think terrorism doesn't work? It's working in Iraq, and in Afghanistan. It's probably the only military tactic that works against an overwhelmingly powerful opponent, in an urban setting.
"They need to take responsibility for their actions and solve their problems." Looks like their biggest problem is rebuilding Gaza. Which is going to be tough under an economic blockade, and with Israel attempting to block Hamas from participating in the rebuilding effort.
"Until Gaza has continual access to the outside world, any real reconstruction will be impossible. A senior EU official said no aid would be spent rebuilding buildings and infrastructure while Hamas remained in control."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-was-demolished-in-three-weeks-rebuilding-it-will-take-years-1451411.html
"You have to admit that they're doing a fine job of trying to minimize civilian casualties."
Palestinian Dead: 1300, including 400 women and children.
Israeli Dead: 13. 3 of them civilians.
Israel has also been caught using Tungsten bombs (Dime bombs) in Gaza. Check out the burns on this woman's face:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/tungsten-bombs-leave-israels-victims-with-mystery-wounds-1418910.html
In conclusion: don't give me that 'humane war' bullshit. On top of all this, Hamas was still firing rockets into Israel as Olmert declared the ceasefire. So what the hell did the whole invasion accomplish?
"Most of the Palestinian population doesn't even remember the homeland before Israel moved in."
Which homeland is that? The land taken in 1947, or the land taken in 1967, or the land gradually taken every year since?
"It's time for a change."
It's a nice slogan, but a bit vague for this discussion. Save it for the plebs.
Blockade was the result of them voting for Hamas, for them to realize that they cannot bring anything they want. Since 1947, Arabs never let a reasonable truce to be achieved. It's a two way things. At every step, they gave Israel the excuse for expansion. Israel is insecure and aggressive and it has every right to be. Demanding Israel to stop because it's stronger and have a much more favorable death toll is not reasonable.
Please don't say bombing school buses is the only logical outcome. There have always been partisans and urban warfare against stronger force and none were like these and as brutal as these.
What they achieved is fear and weaker opponent. Israel wants to keep them weak because you have to realize that they are scared of their lives. I don't blame Jews for that! Palestinians also don't seem to find an smart way out of this.
Look we can make excuses for Hamas and the Palestinians all day long, but at some point they are going to have to stand up and bring themselves out of this mess on their own. Israel obviously isn't going to do it for them and the Arab world isn't much help. Sure they have been taken advantage of, but no one can say that their tactics haven't warranted a response by Israel.
I don't get your point about giving the casualties? Would it make you happier if Hamas killed more Israeli civilians?
And we do need a change. You're right another ceasefire proves that nothing was accomplished by this war. which is why we need a change. But I think this change is going to have to come from the Palestinians. What incentives does Israel have for a strong Palestinian neighbor, as stephan said? Anytime the Palestinians have ever come together they just use that to attack Israel so of course the Israelis don't want that.
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