Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert came out and publicly
stated something that every unbiased observer of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
has privately known for many years: that, to the Israeli oligarchs, the life
of an Israeli citizen is "more important" than that of a Palestinian.
Speaking of the recent mass murders by the Israeli army of Palestinian civilians
in Gaza (murders which Olmert blamed on Hamas beause of the continued firing
of harmless 'qassam' rockets
at the Israeli town of Sderot ) Olmert said:
"I am deeply sorry for the residents of Gaza, but the lives, security and well-being
of the residents of Sderot is even more important."
Of course, Olmert's comment, and the deep-seated racism at the heart of Israeli
politics that it seems to expose, can be rationalised with the
claim
that it is not unreasonable that an Israeli Prime Minister would be more concerned
about
the lives of Israeli citizens than those of the Palestinian 'enemy'. After
all, this is "war", is it not? Well, yes and no. Yes, if your
definition of "war" is:
- to dispossess an entire people from large parts of
their land
- shepherd them into refugee camps
- exile others and refuse them
a right to return
- manipulate international opinion via the mainstream press
and demonise the dispossessed people as terrorists when they resist your
brutal measures against them
- deprive them of any real means to resist yet when they do manage to strike
back, portray them as being a greater source of evil than you
- isolate them from any international aid and begin a
process of slowly making their lives into a living hell
- periodically
murder them, including many children to an average of 600 per year and
then lie about it and ensure that their suffering is played down in the international
mainstream press.
When stating
his belief that Israeli citizens were inherently more worthy than their Palestinian
brothers and sisters,
Olmert made the comparison
between the people of Gaza and the inhabitants of the Israeli town of Sderot
who, as stated, have been making a lot of noise about their suffering from
rockets fired by the palestinian resistance. The important details,
which are as usual ignored by the mainstream press, are that,
in the 9 day period from June 14th - June 23rd this year, 14 innocent Palestinian
civilians were murdered by the IDF as part of the effort to stop the firing
of rockets at Sderot. Yet in the past 5 years, just
5 Israeli citizens have
been killed by such rockets, despite the fact that hundreds have been fired.
The simple fact of the matter is that , if the
Israeli government was truly only concerned with protecting Israeli citizens
and bore no visceral, racist hatred towards Palestinians, then we would surely
be much further along the road to a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. But it is hard to convince anyone that your primary goal is defence
when:
- your air force fires 1,000 missiles per week at a 7x30 mile strip of land
(Gaza) that is home to over 1.4 million impoverished people (Palestinians),
50% of whom are under the age of 15.
- 3012 Palestinian Civilians have been killed by Israeli Occupation Forces
forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the beginning of the
Palestinian uprising (Intifada) in 2000.
- 22,750 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli Occupation Forces in the
Gaza Strip and West Bank in the same period.
And all of this when:
- in the same period approximately 700 Israeli civilians have been killed
as a result of Palestinian attacks
- during all of 2005, just
six Israeli Occupation Forces were killed by Palestinian resistance fighters
Yet the Israeli government does a very good job of convincing the whole world
that it is the victim in the conflict. How can this be? Israeli control of
the press? Could that ubiquitous "conspiracy theory" actually be
closer to a conspiracy fact? I don't really care, all I want is for someone
to explain to me how, in a situation where there is massive evidence that 1.4
million completely isolated Palestinian civilians in the Gaza strip are being
systematically murdered and starved by the state of Israel with its shiny 21st
century military and all the tax dollars and support America can muster, somehow
the entire
world believes
that those 1.4 million dispossessed are "evil terrorists" and "only
have themselves to blame".
Somebody, please tell me how it comes to pass, if not by control of the mainstream
press, and very significant control at that.
In fact, save yourself the bother, here's how it happened:
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9 Israeli children’s deaths were reported in the headlines or first
paragraphs of AP articles on the Israel/Palestine conflict in 2004, when
8 had actually occurred.
During the same period only 27 out of 179 Palestinian
children’s deaths were reported. Additionally, Palestinian children
made up a disproportionately large number of Palestinian deaths in general.
Children’s deaths accounted for 21.8% of the Palestinians
killed, while children’s deaths accounted for only 7.4% of Israelis
killed during this period. 22 times more Palestinian children
were killed than Israeli children.
AP reported on 113% of Israeli children’s
deaths in headlines or first paragraphs, while reporting on only 15%
of Palestinian children’s
deaths. That is, Israeli children's deaths were reported at a rate
7.5 times greater than Palestinian children’s deaths. |
You might want to consider this one also, and realise that, if the BBC "favors Israel", then American networks are positively "in love" with Israel:
BBC news 'favours Israel' at expense of Palestinian view
Dan Sabbagh,
Media Editor
BBC News
May 3rd 2006
The BBC’S coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict implicitly favours
the Israeli side, a study for the BBC Governors has concluded.
Deaths of Israelis received greater coverage than Palestinian fatalities, while Israelis received more airtime on news and current affairs programmes. The references to “identifiable shortcomings” surprised BBC News executives, who are more used to accusations that their coverage is routinely anti-Israel. [...]
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Gaza power station destroyed by Israeli Air Force |
In any case, within a few days of Olmert's remarks about the Palestinian
people and their lack of innate worth, Olmert himself
clarified exactly how he feels about Palestinians by way of his
response to the capture by the Palestinian resistance of a single Israeli
soldier.
Enshrined in article
four of the third Geneva convention is the right of
a people to physically resist the invasion and occupation of their land by
a
foreign power. Nowhere in the world do we find a clearer example of an unjust
and
illegal occupation and oppression of a land and its people than in the Israeli
annexation and occupation of Palestine. On the morning of Sunday June 25th,
Palestinian
resistance fighters, using a tunnel they had dug under the border fence with
Israel, launched an attack on an Israeli army check point on the southern
border of the Gaza
strip. Such
IDF check points are an integral part of the Israeli military apparatus that
is being used to terrorize and oppress the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip
including the denial of basic provisions like food and water, and as such,
are
legitimate military targets. The Palestinian attack left 2 IDF soldiers
dead with one, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, taken prisoner. Three Palestinian resistance
fighters were also
killed.
The Palestinians currently holding Cpl. Shalit have made it clear that their
goal is a prisoner exchange. Israel is currently detaining, or rather interning,
thousands of Palestinians, many of them innocent civilians. Among
them are women and small children. Indeed, the three militant groups who
claimed responsibility for the capture of Cpl. Shalit have stated that they
would release him in return for the release of Palestinian women and children
under the ago of 18 held in Israeli jails. Sounds like a reasonable offer,
right? Unsurprisingly,
Israel refused the offer. Ffalling back on the much-used "we don't deal
with terrorists",
Olmert stated that there would be no negotiations - either Shalit is handed
over, or the residents of the Gaza strip would suffer the dire consequences.
Now, I know what you are thinking: all of this seems to suggest that Israeli
politicians and military advisors don't want their
precious soldier back, that they want to use him as an excuse to attack Hamas
and the people of Gaza and maybe start a war with Syria. Heck, you might
even be thinking that the Israeli military and government actually knew that
a Palestinan attack by tunnel in that area was planned, and maybe
decided to allow it to happen to create a crisis. Indeed, it is very possible
that one or other (or both) of these scenarios is very close to reality.
The initial response by the Israeli government to the capture of Cpl. Shalit
was to escalate the standoff and bomb the main power station and several
bridges (two days ago)
in Gaza, cutting
off power and water to most of the 1.4 million people living
there. Palestinian workers have said it may take up to 6 months to repair.
No power, no water, for 6 months. But before you decide on the appropriateness
or otherwise of such an 'opening salvo' that punished 1.4 million people
in one go, including 700,000 children under 15 years of age, let me just
update you on the conditions, imposed by Israel, in which Gazans were living
even before this latest aggression.
For close to 60 years, through its original and continuing theft and occupation
of Palestinian land, the Israeli government has been in flagrant violation
of international law. Repeatedly over that time, the Israeli army has, and
continues to engage in what are clearly crimes against humanity in its attempts
to utterly extinguish any form of Palestinian resistance and therefore the
inherent right of the Palestinian people to oppose Israeli government barbarism
and murder.
The
forced migration and ethnic-cleansing of Palestinian
civilians from their homes and property in 1948, referred to as the Nakba of
Palestine, led to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to
neighboring countries and various countries around the globe. The State of
Israel was established on Palestinian towns and villages that had been cleansed
of their original inhabitants. Palestinian civilians were scattered and Palestinian
refugees came to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria. Most of these
refugees continue to live in refugee camps, including 8 camps in the Gaza Strip.
These refugees lost their property, land, homes and livelihoods and were therefore
subjected to a state of poverty, deprivation and exposure.
- 1967 constituted a continuation of the sequence of poverty and deprivation
for Palestinians. IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) occupied the Gaza Strip and
West Bank. This occupation was accompanied by uprooting of more Palestinians
and the creation of more refugees. As a result, the state of poverty and deprivation
was exacerbated.
- IDF imposed a number of policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including
the annexation of Jerusalem. These policies included the issuing of a series
of military orders that facilitated the confiscation of hundreds of thousands
of dunums of Palestinian land and control of Palestinian resources, particularly
water resources. These policies ensured Israeli
control over the consumer and production sectors of the Palestinian economy,
making it a market for Israeli products and a source of cheap labor. In
addition, a heavy tax system was imposed, which led to a decrease in the
income of Palestinians.
- The living standards of Palestinians decreased at the end of 1987 after
the eruption of the popular uprising (Intifada) in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories. This led to an increase in poverty among civilians. IDF imposed
restrictions on Palestinian labor in the Israeli market, resulting in the loss
of work for tens of thousands of laborers, who now joined in the ranks of the
unemployed.
- In 1991, living standards in the Occupied Palestinian Territories deteriorated
further due to outbreak of the Second Gulf War. A large number of Palestinians
lost work in the region as a result. Many families depended on money transfers
from expatriates, particularly those working in the Gulf states (Iraq). In
addition, monetary transfers from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
to the West Bank and Gaza Strip decreased due to the loss of funding from Gulf
states.
- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was established in 1994 after the
signing of the Oslo accords between the PLO and the government of Israel. The
accords were based on the Declaration of Principles signed in Washington in
1993. Palestinians were soon disappointed, however, when the economic prosperity
expected from the peace agreement was not achieved, especially in light of
international promises to establish a developed Palestinian economy. Contrary
to promises made, IDF continued to strengthen its control over Palestinian
natural resources, as well as control over all border crossings linking the
Occupied Palestinian Territories to the outside world or to Israel, and control
of the movement of goods and individuals.
- In 1996, IDF introduced policies of comprehensive closure and siege of Palestinian
territory. IDF isolated the West Bank and Jerusalem from the Gaza Strip, depriving
Palestinians of geographical contiguity. In addition, IDF prevented thousands
of Palestinian laborers from reaching their work places in Israel, resulting
in the increase of unemployment rates. The living standards of tens of thousands
of Palestinian families deteriorated and poverty rates increased.
- On 29 September 2000, the "Al-Aqsa Intifada" erupted. Since
then, IDF have imposed a comprehensive closure on the Occupied Palestinian
Territories, which has led to a halting of economic exchange and which has
paralyzed economic and production sectors. More than 120,000 Palestinian
laborers from the Occupied Palestinian Territories were prevented from reaching
their workplaces inside Israel as a result of closure. In addition, thousands
of Palestinians employed in the local market became unemployed due to the
closure of workshops and factories, which were affected by the closure policy
or were damaged/ destroyed by IDF. Unemployment rates reached unprecedented
levels, which further exacerbated the poverty problem in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
- From September 2000 to the end of 2005, the number of Palestinian civilians
killed by IDF and Israeli settlers reached 2,936, including 651 children and
106 women. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were injured. The injured included
8,662 injured people from the Gaza Strip, including hundreds who now suffer
from permanent disabilities.
- IDF carried out extensive destruction of Palestinian property. This destruction
included the bulldozing of agricultural land, demolition of agricultural and
industrial establishments, as well as destruction of infrastructure. PCHR documented
the bulldozing and uprooting of over 31,699 dunums of agricultural land in
the Gaza Strip, comprising approximately 20% of the agricultural land in the
Strip.
- IDF actions and the comprehensive closure affected the living standards
of Palestinian families. Unemployment reached unprecedented levels, resulting
in raised poverty rates. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS)
indicates that the percentage of Palestinian families living under the poverty
line increased to more than 64% from the beginning of Al-Aqsa Intifada to April
2001, meaning that over two million Palestinians were living under the poverty
line. The geographical distribution of these impoverished Palestinians was
55.7% in the West Bank and 81.4% in the Gaza Strip.[2]
- The Special UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories classified families living on brink of a humanitarian disaster.
He indicated that the main reason behind this situation was the strict security
procedures imposed by IDF on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, since
the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada on 29 September 2000. The
Rapporteur indicated that acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip was on the
same scale as that seen in poor countries of the Southern Sahara
Given the fertile nature of Palestinian land, such comparisons
were startling.
More than 22% of Palestinian children under
the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition, including 9.3% suffering from acute
malnutrition, 13.2% suffering from chronic mal-nutrition and 15.6% suffering
from acute anemia. It is expected that this will lead to long-term
negative effects on the physical and cognitive development of many of these
children. More than half of Palestinian families
eat one meal a day only. Food consumption in Palestinian families
dropped by 25-30% per person, especially protein intake. The number of Palestinians
living under extreme poverty multiplied threefold since the beginning of
the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
- PCBS also indicates that the percentage of families that face extreme difficulties
in obtaining healthcare for children during the Intifada is 41%, 32.1% in the
Gaza Strip and 44.6% in the West Bank. Anemic children in the 6-59 months age
group, 41.6% face extreme difficulties in obtaining healthcare.
- International organizations, including humanitarian organizations working
in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, foresee catastrophic humanitarian
effects in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in general and the Gaza Strip
in particular. World Bank estimates indicate that unemployment is expected
to rise to 40% in 2006 and to 47% by 2008. The economic and social situation
will be more acute in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, where unemployment
and poverty rates are high and work is dependent on the PNA civilian and security
branches. Some organizations estimate that unemployment in the Gaza Strip will
reach 60%. Other estimates point to poverty rates in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories rising to 67% in 2006 and to 74% by 2008.
- International organization data indicate that the policy of closure imposed
by the Israeli government on the Occupied Palestinian Territories has led to
the loss of nearly two-thirds of the international aid donated to Palestinians
since the establishment of the PNA.
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Israeli soldiers pray before entering Gaza
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At present then, having cut off electricity and water to a people already
suffering
terribly and who possess no effective means of defending their lives or the
lives of their children, the Israeli military has begun shelling
the Gaza strip under "Operation Summer Rain" (of bombs). Palestinians
have fled the
areas being occupied by the Israeli
military which is poised to launch a wholesale invasion of Gaza, during which,
we can be sure, many Palestinians will be killed as "collateral damage" for
which Mr Olmert will undoubtedly shed crocodile tears. At the same time, Olmert's
government is apparently seeking to escalate the matter by ordering Israeli
(American-financed) jets to overfly the home of Syrian President Assad in an
act of unmitigated belligerence which, coincidentally occured just a few hours
after U.S. ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones, stated that
the problem behind the Israeli hostage crisis is in Syria, at the home of Hamas's
exiled political supremo Khaled Meshaal, who Israel and America claim is being
sheltered by the Syrians. The Syrians, for their part, activated their air
defences and claim to have forced
the Israeli jets to flee.
But before you start to think that there is more to this than meets the eye,
I would like to remind you that the Israeli government would like to remind
you that all of this is about one thing and one thing only - bringing a poor
Israeli boy home to his parents. In saying this, I am not dismissing the life
or plight of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, but as a soldier, he knew the risks involved,
however small, in participating in the maintenance of the brutal
oppression of the Palestinian people. In "war" (
however inappropriate that term is for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) there
are soldiers and there are civilians. What Cpl. Shalit probably had not bargained
for however, was that his life would be used by Israeli politicians in an opportunistic
attempt to settle their regional and 'internal' problems once and for all.
What I want you to ask yourself is what the details of this conflict, and
the current escalation over the capture of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, say about the
value that Israeli politicians assign to the lives of Palestinian civilians,
simply as a people, and what, if any, parallels with events in Europe from
1939-1945 come to mind.
I am also waiting on someone to explain to me what mechanism exists to ensure
that the details of the conflict, particularly those damaging to Israel, are
systematically denied to the international community, and how it is that Israel
can possibly be promoted in the mainstream press as the 'victim'. Perhaps an
indicator is to found in a very relevant
recent news story that you surely also somehow missed. It concerns Dana
Olmert, the daughter of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who created
a stir recently when she joined 200 demonstrators outside the Tel Aviv
home of Dan Halutz, the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, to protest
the murder of those 14 Palestinian civilian adults and children who were accidentally
murdered by the IDF as they went about their job of "fighting terrorism".
The abovementioned Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Dan Halutz is an
interesting guy. In August 2002, he ordered the Israeli airforce to drop a
one tonne bomb on an occupied apartment block in Gaza where, he claimed, a
Hamas member was living. The Hamas leader was killed, along with 14 innocent
civilians. When hearing of this "collateral
damage", Halutz told his
top gun crew:
"Guys, you can sleep well at night. I also sleep well, by the way. You aren't the ones who choose the targets, and you were not the ones who chose the target in this particular case. You are not responsible for the contents of the target. Your execution was perfect. Superb. And I repeat again: There is no problem here that concerns you. You did exactly what you were instructed to do. You did not deviate from that by so much as a millimeter to the right or to the left. And anyone who has a problem with that is invited to see me."
When questioned by a reporter about the morality of the strike and about the feelings of a pilot when he drops a bomb, Halutz stated:
"That is not a legitimate question and it is not asked. But if you nevertheless want to know what I feel when I release a bomb, I will tell you: I feel a light bump to the plane as a result of the bomb's release. A second later it's gone, and that's all. That is what I feel."
There you have it then. To the Israeli oligarchs, the death of Palestinian civilians is "superb", and they feel nothing when they kill women and children. What more can I say - either someone does something about these sick pyschopaths, or they, and their kind in Washington and around the world, will destroy us all.
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