Completely aside from the merits of
the grievances on the two sides, one side is militarily omnipotent and the
other side crouches helplessly in fear
by Richard Falk
The media double standards in the West on the new and tragic Israeli
escalation of violence directed at Gaza were epitomised by an absurdly
partisan New York Times front page headline: "Rockets Target Jerusalem;
Israel girds for Gaza Invasion" (NYT, Nov 16, 2012). Decoded somewhat, the
message is this: Hamas is the aggressor, and Israel when and if it launches
a ground attack on Gaza must expect itself to be further attacked by
rockets. This is a stunningly Orwellian re-phrasing of reality.
The true situation is, of course, quite the opposite: Namely, that the
defenseless population of Gaza can be assumed now to be acutely fearful of
an all out imminent Israeli assault, while it is also true, without
minimising the reality of a threat, that some rockets fired from Gaza fell
harmlessly (although with admittedly menacing implications) on the outskirts
of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. There is such a gross disproportion in the
capacity of the two sides to inflict damage and suffering due to Israeli
total military dominance as to make perverse this reversal of concerns to
what might befall Israeli society if the attack on Gaza further intensifies.
The reliance by Hamas and the various Gaza militias on indiscriminate, even
if wildly inaccurate and generally harmless, rockets is a criminal violation
of international humanitarian law, but the low number of casualties caused
and the minor damage caused, needs to be assessed in the overall context of
massive violence inflicted on the Palestinians. The widespread non-Western
perception of the new cycle of violence involving Gaza is that it looks like
a repetition of Israeli aggression against Gaza in late 2008, early 2009,
that similarly fell between the end of American presidential elections and
scheduled Israeli parliamentary elections.
There is the usual discussion over where to locate responsibility for the
initial act in this renewed upsurge violence. Is it some shots fired from
Gaza across the border and aimed at an armoured Israeli jeep or was it the
targeted killing by an Israeli missile of Ahmed Jabari, leader of the
military wing of Hamas, a few days later? Or some other act by one side or
the other? Or is it the continuous violence against the people of Gaza
arising from the blockade that has been imposed since mid-2007?
The assassination of Jabari came a few days after an informal truce that had
been negotiated through the good offices of Egypt, and quite ironically
agreed to by none other than Jabari acting on behalf of Hamas. Killing him
was clearly intended as a major provocation, disrupting a carefully
negotiated effort to avoid another tit-for-tat sequence of violence . . .
Refeef Ziadah, 'We teach life, sir', December 11, 2011
[In the past few days we have witnessed, yet again, the "American
superpower" groveling at Netanyahu's feet. When Netanyahu decided to again
murder the Palestinian women and children of Gaza, to further destroy what
remains of the social infrastructure of the Gaza Ghetto, and to declare
Israeli war crimes and Israeli crimes against humanity to be merely the
exercise of "self-defense," the US Senate, the US House of Representatives,
the White House, and the US media all promptly declared their support for
Netanyahu's crimes.--Paul Craig Roberts, "Puppet State America," paulcraigroberts.org,
November 19, 2012]
[The Muslims as terrorist, Islam as a religion of violence and hatred, the
Jew as eternal victim, the Holocaust as a unique historical event, the
uniqueness of which is echoed in the political manifesto of 'manifest
destiny' and 'exceptionalism' of the United States of America, the 'good
guys" of World Wars I and II, constitutes the current propaganda pastiche
determining the limits of politically correct discourse. Any criticism
against Israel is automatically translated into anti-Semitism and criticism
of the United States is unpatriotic or even treason.--Lynda Burstein Brayer,
"The Absolute Right of Palestinian
Resistance," counterpunch.org, November 20, 2012]
[It is an ongoing assault on the Palestinian people. And especially the
people of Gaza, which began a very long time ago and the plan is to
effectively get rid of them as an entity.--An Interview With John Pilger: "Israel's Gaza Rampage: It's Not Just War,"
counterpunch.org, November 21, 2012]
[US President Barack Obama ... came up with this: "There is no country on
earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside
its borders.... Obama's drones do rain Hellfires from Pakistan to
Yemen--Pepe Escobar, "Obama the
Pivot," atimes.com, November 22, 2012]
[ . . . three Israelis were killed in the fighting from Nov. 13 to Nov. 19,
compared with 95 Palestinians. Looking all the way back to 2006, an
estimated 47 Israelis have lost their lives in such fighting, compared with
2,879 Palestinians.--Alexander Reed Kelly, "Counting the Gaza Dead," truthdig.com, November 22, 2012]
BBC Question Time, November 22, 2012
[The draft resolution blocked by the United States explicitly condemned all
acts of terrorism and violence towards civilians, reaffirmed the right of
all states to live in peace within secure and recognized borders, and called
for an immediate and durable ceasefire. It reiterated that the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict could only be resolved through peaceful means
and called for an immediate resumption of a substantive bilateral
negotiating process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.--Stephen
Zunes, "Abetting Murder in Gaza," fpif.org, November 26, 2012]
[First, you are a Gazan, wondering why your Mediterranean stretch of land
hasn't been turned into the seaside paradise it could be -- with a vigorous
fishing trade, sustainable agriculture, holiday tourists frolicking on the
beautiful beaches, and a healthy Palestinian state partly funded by abundant
natural gas supplies beneath the Gazan soil. Why instead it feels like a
high-security prison camp, garroted by Arab-hating Israelis to the North and
disinterested Egyptians to the South? Fulminant crews of IDF praetorians are
prepared to confiscate your water and food and electricity at the slightest
offense. Your people are a perpetual pariah on the global stage, like a
troublesome relative at the holiday dinner, prone to revealing family
secrets nobody wants to hear. And now this. The leader of Hamas, negotiating
an extended ceasefire with Israel, is assassinated by... Israel. You find the
level of hypocrisy staggering. Then you hear that supposed friend of the
Middle East, Barack Obama, tell the world that he supports Israel's right to
defend itself. Evidently your people have no such right.--Jason Hirthler, "An
Exercise in Cultural Empathy: From Gaza to the Hindu Kush,"
counterpunch.org, November 27, 2012]