----- Original Message -----
From: The Nation Magazine
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 10:49 AM
Subject: Civilians Under Attack
Dear EmailNation Subscriber,
The Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has exploited the
capture of Army Corporal Gilad Shalit to restore the country's diminished
deterrence against militant Palestinian factions, to break the elected Hamas
government and to impose its unilateral territorial solution on the West
Bank. But, as Marwan Bishara writes, when the dust finally settles, Israel's
offensive against the besieged territories--and now Lebanon--will have left
the region with more destruction and death and the Israeli government with
the same strategic deadlock.
Editor's Note: This analysis was updated to reflect Israel's July 12 attacks
on civilian populations in Lebanon.
Israel on the Offensive,
by Marwan Bishara
The Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has exploited the
capture of Army Corporal Gilad Shalit to restore the country's diminished
deterrence against militant Palestinian factions, to break the elected Hamas
government and to impose its unilateral territorial solution on the West
Bank. But when the dust finally settles, Israel's offensive against the
besieged territories--and now Lebanon--will have left the region with more
destruction and death and the Israeli government with the same strategic
deadlock. That's why instead of lashing out against their neighbors,
Israelis must end the vicious cycle of provocations and retaliations, and
pursue meaningful negotiations to end the occupation.
The Olmert government bases its campaign against Palestinian civilian
infrastructure on three fallacies: that Israel does not initiate violence
but retaliates to protect its citizens--in this case a captured soldier;
that its response is measured and not meant to harm the broader population;
and that it does not negotiate with those it deems terrorists.
But Israel's offensive did not start last week. The three-month-old Israeli
government is responsible for the killing eighty or more Palestinians, some
of whom were children, in attacks aimed at carrying out illegal
extrajudicial assassinations and other punishments. Hamas has maintained a
one-sided cease-fire for the past sixteen months, but continued Israeli
attacks made Palestinian retaliation only a question of time. (Palestinian
factions not under Hamas's control had been firing home-made rockets across
the border off and on during this period--almost always with little or no
damage or casualties--but these factions maintained that the attacks were in
response to Israeli provocations.)
Since the beginning of the intifada in September 2000, repeated
Israeli bombardments and targeted assassinations against Palestinians have
aggravated the violence and led to Israeli deaths. In fact, according to the
US academic Steve Niva, who has been documenting the intifada, many major
Palestinian suicide bombings since 2001 have come in retaliation for Israeli
assassinations, many of which occurred when the Palestinians were mulling
over or abiding by self-imposed restraint.
To give three examples: On July 31, 2001, Israel's assassination of
the two leading Hamas militants in Nablus ended a nearly two-month Hamas
cease-fire, leading to the terrible August 9 Hamas suicide bombing in a
Jerusalem pizzeria. On July 22, 2002, an Israeli air attack on a crowded
apartment block in Gaza City killed a senior Hamas leader, Salah Shehada,
and fourteen civilians, nine of them children, hours before a widely
reported unilateral cease-fire declaration. A suicide bombing followed on
August 4. On June 10, 2003, Israel's attempted assassination of the senior
Hamas political leader in Gaza, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi, which wounded him and
killed four Palestinian civilians, led to a bus bombing in Jerusalem on June
11 that killed sixteen Israelis.
Although Israel's provocations don't justify suicide bombings, they
demonstrate how its deterrence has lost its effectiveness and why the source
of terrorism lies first and foremost in its aggression and occupation. In
this context, affected Palestinian civilians see themselves not as
"collateral damage" but as victims of state terrorism.
As for the nature of its "retaliation," one could hardly refer to
Israel's destruction of the civic infrastructure of 1.3 million Palestinians
as "measured." The Israeli army began last week's offensive on the Gaza
Strip by bombing bridges, roads and electric supplies, and by arresting
nearly one-third of Hamas's West Bank-based parliamentarians and ministers
(according to the Israeli press, the security services are holding the
elected Palestinian officials as bargaining chips with Hamas).
The nature of the Israeli offensive is to punish, overwhelm and deter
with disproportionate force, regardless of the suffering of the general
public. Cutting off basic services of the Palestinians is not only
unjustified, it is collective punishment of a civilian population--illegal
under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The asymmetry between Israeli and Palestinian firepower mustn't be
translated into asymmetry between the value of Israeli and Palestinian life.
The Palestinians have captured one Israeli soldier, but Israel holds more
than 9,000 Palestinian prisoners, about 900 of whom are under
"administrative detention," i.e., without trial. It has held some of these
prisoners for longer than three years. Those in the international community
calling for the IDF soldier's release need to address, at minimum, the
ordeal of Palestinian women and children in Israeli jails.
The Israeli government, like any other, has the right and indeed the
duty to protect its people, but not at the high expense of the Palestinians,
whose government's credibility also rests on defending its people. The use
of military force to scare and overawe a civilian population for political
ends--in this case, to pressure the Palestinian Authority or undermine the
Hamas government--is the very definition of state terrorism.
In its thirty-nine years of occupation, Israel's attempts to tame or
intimidate the Palestinians have instead led to their incitement and
radicalization. Isn't it time for Israel to change course? After all, in a
minuscule territory where the longest distance separating an Israeli and
Palestinian area is no more than nine kilometers, Israelis will never be
secure if the Palestinians are utterly insecure.
That's why Israel's harsh responses to Palestinian militancy have
generally increased, not reduced, the threat to Israelis. While from 1978 to
1987 eighty-two Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks, that figure
jumped to more than 400 the following decade. And in less than two years of
the second intifada (September 29, 2000, to May 29, 2002), more than 450
Israelis and 1,250 Palestinians were slain, mostly civilians on both sides.
Lastly, regarding its refusal to bargain with "terrorists," Israel's
previous dealings with Lebanon's Hezbollah paint a different picture.
Israel's bombardment of Beirut's electric generators and its Operation
"Grapes of Wrath" in 1996, which led to the Qana massacre, failed, like many
other operations, to deter the Lebanese resistance, which eventually forced
Israel to negotiate through a third party with those it deemed "Islamist
terrorists" and release hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners from
its jails in exchange for the remains of dead Israeli soldiers.
The ongoing saga has once again demonstrated the absurdity of
unilateralism as a viable and secure solution. And yet, the Olmert
government is using the kidnapping of the soldier to undermine the historic
agreement Hamas has reached with PA President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party
over a unity government and de facto recognition of and negotiations with
Israel, its sworn enemy.
Whether we like it or not, Hamas, like Hezbollah, is mostly a
byproduct of an oppressive occupation, not the other way around. That's why
refraining from excessive use of force and concentrating all efforts on a
negotiated end to the occupation is paramount. Otherwise, Israel will only
increase Hamas's popularity and push it back to clandestinity and war.
***
Michael Zinzun - Funeral Services
Funeral Services for our Comrade Michael Zinzun will be held Saturday,
July 15, 2006. The location is: Metropolitan Baptist Church, located
at 2283 North Fair Oaks Avenue, in Altadena, California. The time of
the service is 1:00pm. All Power To The People!
***
Limited Number of Tickets Available for a
Special KPFK Benefit Screening of Sir! No Sir!
This Saturday July 15th in Pasadena, CA
KPFK Radio is hosting a Special Benefit Screening of the
award-winning documentary Sir! No Sir! in Pasadena THIS
SATURDAY morning, July 15th at 11am.
Filmmaker David Zeiger will be present for a Q&A following the
screening. KPFK's Sonali Kolhatkar will moderate!
This screening offers a chance to support KPFK, the local Pacifica community
radio station in Southern California, and a rare opportunity see the film on
35mm on the big screen and meet the David Zeiger, the film's Director.
WHEN: Saturday July 15th at 11am--Doors open at 10:00am--be early to get
tickets (cash only) as there are a LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS AVAILABLE.
WHERE: Laemmle One Colorado Theater, 42 Miller Alley, Old Town Pasadena, For
map, directions and parking information visit
http://www.laemmle.com/viewtheatre.php?thid=9
DONATION: $30 a pair, $15 for single, supports KPFK. Cash only - pay at the
door - first come, first served. LIMITED TO: 70 pairs
And check out www.sirnosir.com to buy the limited edition DVD starting July
15th.
*************************************************************************************************************
Sir! No Sir! got TWO THUMBS UP!® from Ebert & Roeper. Find their review and
many other reviews of the film at our website:
http://www.sirnosir.com/home_filmpress_current.html
"Sir! No Sir!" combines exceptional artistry and insightful analysis with
great story telling. This is no facile agitprop piece, but a careful
dissection of a growing military rebellion that permanently altered American
society, but has largely been forgotten. ~ International Documentary
Magazine
Nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary
Audience Award Best Documentary--Los Angeles Film Festival
Jury Award Best Documentary--Hamptons International Film Festival
Seeds of War Award--Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Jury Award Best Film on War and Peace--Vermont International Film Festival
Nominated for a Gotham Award and International Documentary Association
Award
***
Sunday, July 16, 11am-4pm Blvd Music FREE Summer Festival-
Veterans Park-4117 Overland Ave. At Culver Blvd., Culver City.
See fine local and nationally-known performers in a great 5 hour
variety show: Robby Longley, Dawn Hummer, Rick Shea,
Bernie Pearl, Bob Jones & Mr. Pete, Matt Cartsonis, Ed Munter,
Cerves McNeil, Chad Watson, Bruce White, Harris Levey, Blvd Staff
and Teachers, & More. Folk, Blues, Country, Jazz, Pop, plus humor.
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