schizophrenia
Prior to demonize Israel and to bomb Gaza, Hamas has been supported by Tel Aviv, to counter the PLO. And with today's raid, the Jewish state will only strengthen the Islamist movement.
By Uri Avnery *
Uri Avnery (Hebrew: אורי אבנרי , Helmut Ostermann original name) (Beckum, September 10, 1923) is an Israeli journalist and peace activist.
Just after midnight, the Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera was broadcasting news of events in Gaza. Suddenly the camera was framed up at the dark sky. The screen was black background, you could not distinguish anything. But there was a sound you could hear: the sound of warplanes, a frightening, terrifying roar. It was impossible not to think about the tens of thousands of children in Gaza who were feeling at the same time, that sound, paralyzed by fear, waiting for the bombs from the sky.
"Israel must defend itself against rockets that are terrorizing our city in the south," said the Israeli spokesman.
"The Palestinians must respond to killings of their fighters in the Gaza Strip, "said Hamas spokesman.
To be exact, no cease-fire has been stopped, because no cease-fire was ever started.
The main requirement of any ceasefire in the Strip Gaza must be the opening of the passages. There can be no life in Gaza without a steady stream of supplies. But the borders have not been opened, if not a few hours every now and then.
Block and a half million human beings by land, sea and air is an act of war, just as the launch of the bombs or rockets.
paralyzed life in the Gaza Strip: eliminates most of the sources that create jobs, brings hundreds of thousands on the verge of death from starvation, stops the majority of hospitals, destroys the distribution of electricity and water. Those who have decided to close the passages - under any pretext - they knew that there would be no real cease-fire in these conditions. This is the main thing.
Then there were small provocations aimed deliberately to provoke the reaction of Hamas.
After several months during which Qassam rockets have barely seen, an army unit was sent to the Strip "to destroy a tunnel that came close to the border fence." From a purely strategic point of view, would had more sense ambush on our side of the border.
But the purpose was to find a pretext to put an end to the cease-fire, in a way that would allow to shift the blame to the Palestinians.
And so it was, after several smaller actions of this kind, in which several Hamas fighters were killed, Hamas responded with a massive launch of missiles, and, behold, the ceasefire has come to an end.
All have blamed Hamas.
What is the purpose?
Tzipi Livni announced openly: to overthrow the Hamas government in Gaza.
The Qassams are served only as pretext. Overthrow the Hamas government? Sounds almost like a chapter excerpt from the "March of Fools." After all, it is no secret that the Israeli government was to support Hamas in the beginning.
When questioned on this, the then head of the Shin-Bet, Yakakov Peri, who responded enigmatically:
"We did not create us, but we do not have prevented its creation." For years the occupation authorities promoted the Islamic movement in the occupied territories. Any other initiative was rigorously suppressed, but their activities were allowed in mosques. The calculation was simple and naive at the time the PLO was considered the main enemy, Yasser Arafat, the Satan.
Movement Islamic preaching against the PLO and Arafat and was therefore seen as an ally.
Abu Mazen, a "plucked chicken"
With the explosion of the first intifada in 1987, officially renamed itself the Islamic movement Hamas (the Arabic acronym for "Islamic Resistance Movement") and joined the struggle. Even then, the Shin-bet did not move a finger against them for almost a year, while members of Fatah were killed or imprisoned in large numbers. Only a year after Sheik Ahmed Yassin and his colleagues were arrested.
Since then, the wheel has turned. Hamas today is the Satan, and the PLO is considered by many in Israel almost a branch of the Zionist movement.
The logical conclusion for a government in Israel interested in peace would have been to make major concessions to the Fatah leadership: an end to occupation, the signing of a peace treaty, the founding of the state of Palestine, the withdrawal within the 1967 borders, a reasonable solution to the problem of refugees, the release of all Palestinian prisoners. This would certainly have stopped the rise of Hamas. But logic has little influence over policy. Nothing like this has happened.
the contrary, after the killing of Arafat, Abu Mazen, who has taken his place, has been defined by Ariel Sharon a "plucked chicken."
Abu Mazen has not been granted a minimum operating margin of politics.
negotiations under American auspices, have become a joke. The most authentic leader of Fatah, Marwan Barghouti, was sent to prison for life. Instead of a massive release of prisoners, there were "signs" mean-spirited and offensive.
Abu Mazen has been systematically humiliated,
Fatah has taken the form of an empty shell, and
Hamas scored a resounding victory in Palestinian elections - the most democratic elections ever held in the Arab world.
Israel has boycotted the elected Government. In the ensuing battle
internal Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip.
And now, after all, the government of Israel has decided to "overthrow the Hamas government in Gaza."
The official name of the war is "lead time", two words from a children's song about a toy of Hanukkah. It would have been more appropriate to call it a "war of elections."
Even in past military actions were undertaken during election campaigns.
Menachen Begin bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor during the campaign of 1981.
When Shimon Peres said that it was a gimmick election, Begin raised his voice to rally the following: "Jews really believe that I could send our brave sons to death, or worse, to be taken prisoner by the animals, just to win the election? ".
Begin won. But Peres is not Begin.
When, during the campaign of 1996, ordered the invasion of Lebanon, all were convinced that it was a gimmick election. The war was a failure, Peres lost the elections and Netanyahu came to power.
Barak and Tzipi Livni are now using the same old trick.
According to surveys, the expected victory of Barak earned him five Knesset seats. About 80 Palestinian deaths for every seat. But it's hard to walk on cadavers.
success could evaporate in an instant, when the war began to be considered a failure by public opinion in Israel.
For example, if the rockets continue to hit Beersheba, or if the ground attack leads to a heavy toll on Israelis. A scientific experiment
The moment has been carefully chosen from a different point of view. The attack began two days after Christmas, when American and European leaders are on vacation. The calculation: even if someone wanted to try to stop the war, no one would give up to the holidays. This has ensured several days without any external pressure. Another reason which makes the appropriate time are the last days of Bush's stay in the White House.
It was expected that this idiot bloodthirsty enthusiastic backing the attack, as indeed it did.
Barack Obama has not yet begun his tenure, and thus has an excuse to remain silent: "There is only one president." This silence does not bode well for the term of Obama. The basic line is: do not repeat the mistakes of the second Lebanon war. This was repeated incessantly in every news and talk shows.
But the fact remains that the war in Gaza is a almost identical replica of the second Lebanon war.
The strategic concept is the same: to terrorize the civilian population by constant air attacks, sowing death and destruction. The pilots are not at risk, as the Palestinians do not have a flak. The calculation: if all the infrastructure that permit life in Gaza are literally destroyed, and then you get to total anarchy, the population will rise up and overthrow the Hamas regime.
Abu Mazen will then come to Gaza in the wake of Israeli tanks.
In Lebanon, this calculation did not work. The population bombed, Christians included, rallied around Hezbollah, and Nashrallah became the hero of the Arab world. Something similar will probably happen again this time. The generals are experts in using weapons and moving troops, not in mass psychology.
Some time ago I wrote that the blockade of Gaza can be understood as a scientific experiment, aimed to discover how you can starve a population before it bursts.
This experiment was carried out with the generous help of Europe and the United States. So far failed. Hamas has become stronger and the cast of Qassam longer. This war is a continuation of the experiment by other means. Could it be that the army "has no alternative" if you do not regain the Strip, there is no other way to stop the Qassams, except that - contrary to government policy - to reach an agreement with Hamas. When will the mission of the earth, all depend on the motivation and the ability of Hamas fighters than Israeli soldiers.
No one can predict what will happen.
Day after day, night after night, Al Jazeera broadcasts images of horrible: pieces of mutilated bodies, crying relatives searching for their loved ones among the dozens of dead bodies, a woman who raises her child from under the rubble, doctors in no uncertain trying to save the lives of the wounded. In millions are seeing these horrifying images, day after day. These images will be imprinted in their minds forever. A whole generation
cultivate hatred.
This is a terrible price, we will be forced to pay long after the other effects of war have been forgotten in Israel.
But there's another thing that you are instilling in the minds of these millions, the image of the corrupt Arab regimes and passive.
Viewed by the Arabs, a fact is binding on all others: the wall of shame. For the half million Arabs in Gaza who are suffering so terribly, the only opening to the world that is not dominated by Israel and the border with Egypt. Only from there can get the food that allows life, from there came the drugs that save the wounded. At the height of the horror that the border remains closed. The Egyptian army has blocked the only access to food and medicines, while surgeons operate without anesthetics. For the Arab world, from end to end, have echoed the words of Hassan Nashrallah: "Egyptian leaders are complicit in this crime, they are collaborating with the" Zionist enemy "that seeks to break the Palestinian people."
One can assume that he meant not only Mubarak but also all the other leaders, the Saudi King to the President of the PNA.
If you look at events throughout the Arab world, if you listen slogans, we can deduce the impression that their leaders are seen by many as pathetic at best, at worst as petty collaborators. This will have historic consequences. A generation of Arab leaders, a generation steeped in secular Arab nationalist ideology - the successors of Nasser, Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat will be put-off stage. In
Arab camp, the only viable alternative is the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism. This war is an unfortunate omen: Israel is losing a historic opportunity to make peace with the secular Arab nationalism. Tomorrow may be ahead of an Arab world uniformly fundamentalist Hamas a thousand times bigger. translation Nicola Vincenzoni
From "Il Manifesto" of Sunday, January 4, 2009 page 16
* From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Uri Avnery (Hebrew: אורי אבנרי , Helmut Ostermann original name) (Beckum, September 10, 1923) is an Israeli journalist and peace activist.
He emigrated to Palestine with his family in 1933 and was forced to live in extreme poverty, and to abandon his studies. In 1938 he entered
nell'Irgun, far-right organization commanded by Menachem Begin and responsible for some terrorist attacks against the occupying British army but also against Arab enemies. Disagreeing with this second approach, the young left the Irgun in 1942.
was then forced to attend the first Arab-Israeli war and was wounded twice, recounted the atrocities suffered by the Palestinians in a book entitled "The downside". From this point on will continue to fight for peace.
After working briefly at the Ha'aretz newspaper, founded a new magazine, the Haolam Haze, who promoted some important negotiations with the Palestinian leadership.
Later he founded the movement Gush Shalom peace (Hebrew: שלום גוש , "the block of peace"), who led up to today.
in 1982 created an important interview with Yasser Arafat. Repeatedly banned and censored, Avnery continues to be one of the most active peace within the Jewish state.
Retrieved from "http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uri_Avnery"
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