Israel Vows to Keep Firing on Palestine

What else is new?!

I don't know if I even believe the official reports out of the New York Times on this subject anymore. Every time I read a story like this about Palestinians shooting rockets at Israel, JUSTIFYING Israel's MASSIVE response, I consider the source of the story. I used to think that Israel was a client state of the US, but I am beginning to see that, no, the US is a client state of Israel, no matter WHICH way the MONEY flows. It's not about the money, necessarily. It's about US foreign policy, middle east strategies, who is in Washington DC calling the shots, behind the scenes. I have heard news reports from sources other than American and Israeli during other conflicts such as this (same sh*t, different day...) and the reports are markedly different. Generally what I find is that the US and Israel exaggerate beyond all credibility Palestinian actions and couch the language so as to dehumanize and de-legitimize ANYTHING the Palestinians do, even if it is a young kid simply lobbing rocks at an Israeli soldier.

Israel is the sacred cow of our time. No one seriously interested in public office in this country, can dare BREATHE a word against Israel. Just as in the beginnings of settlement on this continent, no one dared breathe a word against the Crown in England. You were a loyalist or you were a Revolutionary. Before the revolutionary idea caught on most people were still loyal to King George and the idea of the Monarchy. These days, people would consider it a revolutionary idea, to questions out loud Israel's actions, Israel's legitimacy, Israel's "security" in the Middle East.

I supported Barack Obama as everyone who knows me is aware, but I was taken aback when he came out and stated in the strongest terms, that Israel and it's agenda was sacrosanct, basically. He had even stronger words of support than even some right wing neo-cons. I realize he had to come out and say SOMETHING signaling his alliance with Israel, especially in the face of those idiotic attempts to link him to Islam via "Barack Hussein Obama" etc. But what about Palestine?

What about the Palestinians? How long can the world's people just shrug this off? This whole two state solution idea is way past time to come, but even if that is the eventuality, how will the Palestinians avoid becoming just a state "in name only"? How will they be essentially sovereign? Is that possible and does anyone even care, other than Hamas?

Professor Juan Cole who runs a very informative website called "Informed Comment" had this to say today (excerpt):

The outbreak of hostilities affects Americans, since al-Qaeda hit New York and the Pentagon in some important part over the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians. The airstrikes and large death toll also present a challenge to the incoming Obama administration, which may find peace-making more difficult now.

The UN Security Council held a special evening session on Saturday and issued a call for an immediate ceasefire. The attacks drew a furious response from the Arab world. Egypt, which has collaborated with Israel in blockading the Gazans, branded its partner's air strikes "murder." The US, which for some odd reason holds an irrational hatred of the Palestinians, branded the dead Gaza policemen "thugs" and blamed the massive aerial strikes solely on Hamas, the fundamentalist Muslim party that controls Gaza.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, outgoing president of the European Union, issued among the more measured responses: "The President of the Republic expresses his lively concern at the escalation of violence in the south of Israel and in the Gaza Strip. He firmly condemns the irresponsible provocations that have led to this situation as well as the use of disproportionate force. The president of the republic deplores the significant loss of civilian life and expresses his condolences to the innocent victims and their families."

Sarkozy "requests an immediate cessation of rocket fire directed at Israel as well as of Israeli bombardment of Gaza, and he calls on the parties to exercise self-restraint. He reminds everyone that there is no military solution to Gaza, and demands the implementation of a durable truce."

This statement, which I seem to be the only news source to present in full in English, seems to me to be the best issued by any head of state on this particular incident, and shames the insensitive and one-sided statement issued on behalf of the US by Gordon Johndroe.

Israel blames Hamas for primitive homemade rocket attacks on the nearby Israeli city of Sederot. In 2001-2008, these rockets killed about 15 Israelis and injured 433, and they have damaged property. In the same period, Gazan mortar attacks on Israel have killed 8 Israelis.

Since the Second Intifada broke out in 2000, Israelis have killed nearly 5000 Palestinians, nearly a thousand of them minors. Since fall of 2007, Israel has kept the 1.5 million Gazans under a blockade, interdicting food, fuel and medical supplies to one degree or another. Wreaking collective punishment on civilian populations such as hospital patients denied needed electricity is a crime of war.

The Israelis on Saturday killed 5% of all the Palestinians they have killed since the beginning of 2001! 230 people were slaughtered in a day, over 70 of them innocent civilians. In contrast, from the ceasefire Hamas announced in June, 2008 until Saturday, no Israelis had been killed by Hamas. The infliction of this sort of death toll is known in the law of war as a disproportionate response, and it is a war crime."

I agree and if you would like to really research the subject and study the history, I suggest you peruse Professor Cole's excellent website:

http://www.juancole.com/