A New Showdown In Gaza?

Prime Minister-designate Benyamin Netanyahu, while experiencing a difficult path to his future leadership in a series of failed coalition talks with the likes of Kadima and Labour, has revealed a glimpse into his future policy this past weekend by warning the International Aid community that no money or aid will be allowed to flow into devastated Gaza until militant rocket firings from the area cease entirely. 

Flying the face of Gaza reconstruction meetings taking place in Sharm e-Sheikh today - with attendees to include the new Secretary-of-State of the United States Hillary Clinton - the group of representatives covering over 80 countries are expected to announce an aid package in the billions to help relieve the humanitarian crisis and to provide much needed infrastructure and services updates crucial to the viability of a Palestinian state in the region. 

International Development Secretary of the United Kingdom, Douglas Alexander, an attendee at the meeting today, stated:

“There is a desperate need for tough restrictions on the supply of goods to be relaxed. Gaza needs money, fuel and construction materials, and whilst these goods are turned away at the borders, repairs to homes, water systems and the electricity network will remain impossible. Israel must do the right thing and allow much-needed goods to get through to those men, women and children who continue to suffer.”

As Netanyahu attempts to appease right-wing elements that will prove critical to his ability to form a coalition comprising at least 61 Knesset seats, his recent rhetoric will likely intensify. Although the various conservative ideological parties such as Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu have pledged initial support to a Likud-led government, Netanyahu needs to prove his ability to stand up to the International community and satisfy a slew of right-wing agenda points - all converging on the question of a Hamas-led Gaza Strip. Perhaps the only subject in agreement across these disparate parties is the case for eliminating Hamas all together - a goal that can only be achieved in direct opposition to current international pleas for a lasting ceasefire. 

Even more damaging for Israel, this afternoon the UK Guardian reported the international criminal court is considering whether the Palestinian Authority is justified in demanding a potential war crimes tribunal against Israel for their recent actions in Gaza. 

The combination of today’s reconstruction meetings in Sharm e-Sheikh and the recent news from the international criminal court will no doubt strengthen Netanyahu’s resolve, entrenching the would-be leader further in both a political battle for supremacy and an international stalemate that will exist long after the ruling coalition is decided.

Fatah Enters The Fray

Now that we have reached the month ‘anniversary’ of the bloodshed in Gaza, let us review the political implications of the now (failed) attempt of Israel to depose Hamas in the disputed region. Not only has the death count exceeded 1,200 Palestinians (an enormous percentage of which have been confirmed by all major International Aid Agencies as civilian women and children), but the fragile ceasefire is all but a mirage - with the dramatic introduction of Fatah’s military wing (the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade) claiming responsibility for Wednesday night’s rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. 

As expected, news coverage is beginning to tire of the images and repetitive daily updates of Gaza militants firing rockets into Israel/of the Israeli response (always overwhelming and disproportionate), and of the cries of NGOs and aid workers declaring an ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Bo-ring. 

What is perhaps ‘new’ and important to recognize, is the participation of the predominantly West Bank-based Fatah Party in the recent rocket attacks emanating from Gaza. Long viewed by the West as the ‘legitimate’ Palestinian faction and led by a recognized leader in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah is universally regarded as the only partner capable of continuing the almost non-existent peace process. In other words, the West’s preferred partner is turning militant. Not only that, the desired (and Western cultivated) belligerence between Hamas and Fatah is clearly melting away.

This leaves Israel - and the fate of the Middle East - in a precarious situatuon indeed. With Fatah’s military wing aligning with Hamas (perhaps signifying a precursor to a similar accord between the factions’ political segments), Israel is becoming surrounded. Worse, the West’s chosen partner (puppet?) is turning against them - and in the process, eliminating a key leadership with which to negotiate peace. 

It doesn’t take a soothsayer to predict what will happen next. A wider Intifada? Or perhaps a wider regional Arab conflict?

Sadly, both are becoming more probable.

How We Witness This War

Writing this post somewhere over the Atlantic en route to the United States with a few European newspapers spread around me, I can’t help but wonder what Americans are being told, or what they truly know about the disaster that is unfolding in Gaza. My original intention when I opened my laptop was to create a massive list of Human Rights violations, war crimes, and links to the articles I have just read highlighting the ongoing and irrefutable evidence of Israeli war crimes that are occurring all over Gaza - and have been for almost 3 weeks.

However, there is something about long-haul flights that prohibits the obvious and begs deeper consideration of the greater situation at hand and what as modern world citizens we are witnessing - and perhaps more urgently, how we are witnessing it.

I have been fortunate enough to have been granted access to two major newsroom broadcast centres in the past few years - CNN’s kinetic news floor in Atlanta, and the sombre and always proud newsroom of Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar.  I often juxtapose the stark difference between these two newsrooms as a larger metaphor for their divergent approaches to journalism and media responsibility.

The comparison is not difficult - CNN remaining firmly an ‘American’ news source with reporters camped well outside of Gaza (alongside almost every news organization in the world) - and Al Jazeera, deeply embedded within Gaza and providing the  most accurate picture of what is actually happening inside the heart of the conflict. But the metaphor extends well past access, with the nuances of the newsrooms providing a small glimpse into the greater (and divergent) approach to the trade.

In the Atlanta newsroom, you would be forgiven for believing you had stepped onto a Hollywood film set, with stylists, make-up artists, and yes, even a hairspray-attendent on call to adjust the appearance of the news-readers at any (and every) possible break. In Doha, by contrast, the feel is very technical (with plenty of lights and equipment) but given the relentless pace of their task, there is an unmistakable air of calm - of deep purpose. So laid back are the Al Jazeera presenters and support staff, that I was amazed I was even witnessing a live broadcast. Even more amazing when one considers the (now proven) military targeting of Al Jazeera offices in Baghdad and Kabul that makes even working in the Doha office a plausible hazard. As I walked around the Al Jazeera complex in Qatar, I was repeatedly struck by the devotion to journalism that is evident at almost every turn (from the quotes stenciled on the walls - including comments from Gandhi and Bob Dylan) to the outdoor monument to fallen journalists from around the world, proudly perched between the English and Arabic broadcast centres.

Media is about presentation. It is about appearance and delivery. It is also about journalism - a vocation while often (and easily) denigrated by outliers such as paparazzi and the tabloid press - remains a very necessary force for both good and evil.

As I cross the Atlantic and tonight will be watching CNN, Fox News or similar, I know the American people will not be receiving the entire story about the crisis in Gaza, much less the history of the conflict which is so crucial to understanding its solution. Rather, the sound-bites and news flashes I will witness will be choreographed, finely-tuned to fit within 90 or 120-second windows, and metaphorically, covered in make-up and hairspray. None of the raw images, the unrehearsed stories and desperate appeals - however disconcerting - will be allowed.

As we in Europe protest, and enjoy a wide array of press dispatches from across a broad spectrum of classically ‘conservative’ to overtly ‘liberal’ sources, our leaders remain hand-strung to truly voice what most of Europe is feeling about Gaza - fearing a stark departure from U.S. Foreign Policy, and carefully plotting the best path forward with a new administration only 4 days away.

So as citizens, where does the real power lie? Unfortunately not with Europeans, but most certainly in the hands of American citizens. We have seen the UN fail conclusively over the past week, issuing Resolution Order 1860, which aside from making a few news bytes, has done little to change Israel’s course in the war on Gaza. We have also seen a number of European leaders ‘demand’ an immediate ceasefire, calls that have been met with outright disdain from an Israeli leadership who have absolutely no fear of international criticism, save that heretofore un-voiced by America. With the full and blind support of the United States (a phrase that is even more poignant when one considers the media available to ordinary Americans), Israel will never back down from its desire to eradicate Hamas, regardless of the mounting civilian casualties and clear violations of human rights we know is occurring. The key is the United States, and the power rests firmly in the hands of its citizens.

We have witnessed a unity in America over the past year that has taken even the harshest cynics by surprise. The election of Barack Obama proved Americans can not only galvanize toward a new direction, but can swiftly act when a decisive moment is at hand.

And never has that been more required than right now.

I will keep an open mind this weekend as I thumb through the New York Times and Washington Post, hoping to find commentary or opinion pieces that match the European mood. But I cannot hold out hope that Americans will learn the truth about Gaza, its history, and most importantly, their vital place in stopping the bloodshed from CNN or Fox or ABC or NBC. Without news organizations such as Al Jazeera (which most Americans unfairly connect to images of Bin Laden crouched in a cave wagging an ominous finger at the U.S.), the truth will be very hard to come by here.

So perhaps this is a job for all of us.

If you see an American today, please pass this on. I intend to keep very busy doing just that over the next few days.

Mocking The UN (and us)

On Friday, following almost two weeks of relative inaction, the United Nations Security Council finally drafted UN Resolution Order 1860, a crucial directive  calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli Defense Force withdrawal, transfer of crucial supplies to the region, and humanitarian aid to devastated Palestinians whose appalling situation is nothing short of catastrophic.

Early on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert not only renounced Resolution 1860 outright, but criticized the United Nations and the international community for demanding a ceasefire of Israel before its ’security goals had been met’. In a moment of prescient irony, Prime Minister Olmert went on to claim that ‘what is acceptable for every other country in the world is barely accepted when it comes to Israel.’

And in that regard, the man definitely has a point.

At last count, Israel has either flagrantly disregarded or flat our ignored at least 66 UN Security Council Resolutions in its brief 60 years as a nation - tallying an impressive ratio of more than 1 UN Resolution ignored per year of existence. Bravo.

In this regard Israel leads the Middle East and not surprisingly - the rest of the world - in UN Security Council Resolution belligerence.

Just to help elaborate on what an important number ‘66′ actually is, it is important to note that Iran has been issued 24 UN Resolutions since the United Nations was formed, and prior to the first Gulf War, Iraq amassed a whopping total of 14 Security Council Resolutions. For both Iran and Iraq these ‘excessive’ Resolutions not only led to stringent and crippling UN Sanctions, but in the case of Iraq - the ‘moral justification’ for regime change and the disastrous invasion of the country.

It’s truly amazing the United Nations has time for any other Global business as the drafting of Israeli Security Council Resolutions must surely keep them inundated. What do you suppose would happen if say Libya or North Korea or even Syria had 66 outstanding UN Resolutions that were arrogantly ignored, rejected, and lampooned by their Heads of State? What would our leaders then decry?

So Mr. Olmert is indeed correct. What is demanded of every other country in the world is not demanded of Israel.

Or perhaps put in simpler terms - why should a bully who goes unpunished cease being a bully?

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CODA: A Quick List of the 66 UN Resolutions (woops, make that 67 now) which have been ignored since Israel’s formation in 1948. Note to the reader, you may want to get a sandwich and beverage:

1. Resolution 111: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people”.
2. Resolution 127: ” … ‘recommends’ Israel suspends its ‘no-man’s zone’ in Jerusalem”.
3. Resolution 162: ” … ‘urges’ Israel to comply with UN decisions”.
4. Resolution 171: ” … determines flagrant violations’ by Israel in its attack on Syria”.
5. Resolution 228: ” … ‘censures’ Israel for its attack on Samu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control”.
6. Resolution 237: ” … ‘urges’ Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees”.
7. Resolution 242 (November 22, 1967): Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area. Calls on Israel’s neighbors to end the state of belligerency and calls upon Israel to reciprocate by withdraw its forces from land claimed by other parties in 1967 war. Interpreted commonly today as calling for the Land for peace principle as a way to resolve Arab-Israeli conflict
8. Resolution 248: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for its massive attack on Karameh in Jordan”.
9. Resolution 250: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to refrain from holding military parade in Jerusalem”.
10. Resolution 251: ” … ‘deeply deplores’ Israeli military parade in Jerusalem in defiance of Resolution 250″.
11. Resolution 252: ” … ‘declares invalid’ Israel’s acts to unify Jerusalem as Jewish capital”.
12. Resolution 256: ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli raids on Jordan as ‘flagrant violation”.
13. Resolution 259: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation”.
14. Resolution 262: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for attack on Beirut airport”.
15. Resolution 265: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for air attacks for Salt in Jordan”.
16. Resolution 267: ” … ‘censures’ Israel for administrative acts to change the status of Jerusalem”.
17. Resolution 270: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for air attacks on villages in southern Lebanon”.
18. Resolution 271: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem”.
19. Resolution 279: ” … ‘demands’ withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon”.
20. Resolution 280: ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli’s attacks against Lebanon”.
21. Resolution 285: ” … ‘demands’ immediate Israeli withdrawal form Lebanon”.
22. Resolution 298: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s changing of the status of Jerusalem”.
23. Resolution 313: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel stop attacks against Lebanon”.
24. Resolution 316: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon”.
25. Resolution 317: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to release Arabs abducted in Lebanon”.
26. Resolution 332: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s repeated attacks against Lebanon”.
27. Resolution 337: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for violating Lebanon’s sovereignty”.
28. Resolution 347: ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli attacks on Lebanon”.
29. Resolution 3379: “…’establishes’ Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination”.
30. Resolution 425 (1978): ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon”. Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon was completed as of 16 June 2000.
31. Resolution 427: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon”.
32. Resolution 444: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s lack of cooperation with UN peacekeeping forces”.
33. Resolution 446 (1979): ‘determines’ that Israeli settlements are a ’serious obstruction’ to peace and calls on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention”.
34. Resolution 450: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon”.
35. Resolution 452: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories”.
36. Resolution 465: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel’s settlements program”.
37. Resolution 467: ” … ’strongly deplores’ Israel’s military intervention in Lebanon”.
38. Resolution 468: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to rescind illegal expulsions of two Palestinian mayors and a judge and to facilitate their return”.
39. Resolution 469: ” … ’strongly deplores’ Israel’s failure to observe the council’s order not to deport Palestinians”.
40. Resolution 471: ” … ‘expresses deep concern’ at Israel’s failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention”.
41. Resolution 476: ” … ‘reiterates’ that Israel’s claim to Jerusalem are ‘null and void’”.
42. Resolution 478 (20 August 1980): ‘censures (Israel) in the strongest terms’ for its claim to Jerusalem in its ‘Basic Law’.
43. Resolution 484: ” … ‘declares it imperative’ that Israel re-admit two deported Palestinian mayors”.
44. Resolution 487: ” … ’strongly condemns’ Israel for its attack on Iraq’s nuclear facility”.
45. Resolution 497 (17 December 1981) decides that Israel’s annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights is ‘null and void’ and demands that Israel rescinds its decision forthwith.
46. Resolution 498: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon”.
47. Resolution 501: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to stop attacks against Lebanon and withdraw its troops”.
48. Resolution 509: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel withdraw its forces forthwith and unconditionally from Lebanon”.
49. Resolution 515: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel lift its siege of Beirut and allow food supplies to be brought in”.
50. Resolution 517: ” … ‘censures’ Israel for failing to obey UN resolutions and demands that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon”.
51. Resolution 518: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel cooperate fully with UN forces in Lebanon”.
52. Resolution 520: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s attack into West Beirut”.
53. Resolution 573: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel ‘vigorously’ for bombing Tunisia in attack on PLO headquarters.
54. Resolution 587 ” … ‘takes note’ of previous calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and urges all parties to withdraw”.
55. Resolution 592: ” … ’strongly deplores’ the killing of Palestinian students at Bir Zeit University by Israeli troops”.
56. Resolution 605: ” … ’strongly deplores’ Israel’s policies and practices denying the human rights of Palestinians.
57. Resolution 607: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel not to deport Palestinians and strongly requests it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
58. Resolution 608: ” … ‘deeply regrets’ that Israel has defied the United Nations and deported Palestinian civilians”.
59. Resolution 636: ” … ‘deeply regrets’ Israeli deportation of Palestinian civilians.
60. Resolution 641: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s continuing deportation of Palestinians.
61. Resolution 672: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for “violence against Palestinians” at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.
62. Resolution 673: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to cooperate with the United Nations.
63. Resolution 681: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s resumption of the deportation of Palestinians.
64. Resolution 694: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s deportation of Palestinians and calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate return.
65. Resolution 726: ” … ’strongly condemns’ Israel’s deportation of Palestinians.
66. Resolution 799: “. . . ’strongly condemns’ Israel’s deportation of 413 Palestinians and calls for their immediate return.
67. Resolution 1860 (9 January 2009) called for the full cessation of war between Israel and Hamas.

The Wider War

Too little too late? Early on Thursday, four rockets were fired from Southern Lebanon into Israel, sparking the all too predictable wider response from the Arab world to the ongoing massacre in Gaza. With Egypt remaining strictly behind U.S. reigns, and Jordan showing no signs of significant international pressure, militias in the south of Lebanon have vented their frustration in, perhaps, what is the beginning of a much larger conflict - an ideological war that Israel surely must have expected.

It is difficult to imagine the crusading triumvirate of Olmert, Barak, and Livni not charting a cause/effect scenario should hostilities and (predictable) civilian casualties in Gaza mount - as they continue to defy international pleas and expected U.N. directives for an immediate ceasefire.

With the death toll now exceeding 700 (which Palestinian medical sources say includes 219 children, 89 women, and over 3,000 wounded) and with the air strikes and ground offensive resuming after just a 3-hour ‘humanitarian halt’, perhaps the only word of hope and solace that can possibly emanate from the carnage we are relentlessly witnessing on TV, and across the internet - is the hope of awareness.

Awareness of how and why this conflict began.

Awareness of the brazen and reckless attitude of Israeli military commanders who continue to disregard both international aid stations and the stipulations of the Fourth Geneva Convention dealing with the protection of non-combatant civilians during wartime.

As we know, the media-driven ‘15 minutes’ moves rapidly, particularly when the news is of Palestinian suffering - but the world is slowly beginning to see the trends and perhaps, the true face of Israel who stands defiant in their cause to not only disregard civilian life, but to potentially ignite a much wider Middle Eastern crisis. A crisis whose casus belli was a vain political gesture timed specifically to assure the survival of two of the ‘triumvirate’.

With a two-front conflict now almost certainly unfolding, providing the momentum to agitate even more militant factions from across the region, the question is not: will the world see Israel’s action for what it truly is?

But rather, what will the world now do about it.

Why Gaza Matters

With the death toll steadily rising in Gaza, the number of Israeli strikes shows no sign of slowing. In fact, earlier today, Israel rejected International calls for a 48-hour ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ saying such a prospect was ‘unrealistic’. Capturing the ‘lead story’ in most international media broadcasts (BBC, CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera) since the crisis began on Saturday, during the past 24 hours we have seen that prized media position slip to second or third billing - in one case trailing such important news flashes as the fate of a rowdy England footballer or the rundown of the top ten music albums of 2008.

Perhaps for that reason, Gaza matters a little more.

Rather than wade into the readily available raft of facts and figures on the number of bombs dropped, casualties predicted, or estimated shortages in medicines and supplies (the mainstay of traditional reporting), it is critical to recognize just ‘why’ the situation in Gaza is important. As the media tires of what is sure to be a long and protracted story with fewer truly ‘unique’ angles, let us drop the trivial rhetoric of who fired what object at whom first, who refuses to recognize the other’s rights, or even who is morally correct in their belligerence.

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?”  - Mahatma Gandhi

The situation in Gaza matters not for what it empirically describes - conflict, devastation, passion and outrage - but functions as a microcosm of the most basic of human dramas enacted daily by nations, movements, groups and even individuals: the desire for freedom, control, and self-determination.

In the ongoing struggle to realize this human right - a situation wholly taken for granted by most of us in the West - the Palestinian people of Gaza have appealed repeatedly to the international community, their leaders, and eventually to hardline movements to embody and carry on this struggle. Regardless of the paths, the betrayals, and the ongoing disappointment, the 1.5 million Gazans living in the largest ‘open air’ prison in the world have chosen to endure; they have made the ‘choice’ to survive. Perhaps for that reason, Gaza matters a little more.

Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor and founder of Logotherapy discovered freedom existed even in the darkest corners of the concentration and extermination camps of Nazi Germany during the Second World War. As he wrote in his defining work, Man’s Search for Meaning:

“Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

For Frankl, the existential choice of freedom lies beyond prisons, boundaries, and even the limits of the human body. In his eyes, this ‘ability to choose one’s attitude’ no matter how limited the choice appears, is the true path to freedom. Through it all, we in the West who regard ourselves as ‘free’ perhaps have a great deal to learn from the Palestinians - who at this moment are suffering and fighting and dying and surviving.

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”  - Albert Camus

Perhaps for that reason, Gaza matters a little more.

Deja Vu All Over Again

As the third day of extensive military operations continues in Gaza (and with the death toll now officially climbing well above 300) it is time to ask ourselves some tough questions as key witnesses to the media and information frenzy swirling around Gaza and Israel. This site attempted to answer a few of these obvious questions yesterday - the ‘how’, the ‘when’, and the ‘why’ of the Israeli offensive.

As we sit on the sidelines of this current Middle Eastern debacle, we should be asking ourselves another central question - have we not seen this before? And if so, how is it possible to remain silent when - in hindsight - many of us recoil at having been misled in the past?

Since the theme this weekend has been ‘war games’, bruised earth has put together the following matching game, with the objective of naming the conflict the following facts describe (no peeking until the end):

1. After years of Western-induced blockade, the inhabitants of ‘Country A’ experienced shortages in food, medicine, sanitation and basic subsistence on a massive scale - having been called a ‘humanitarian disaster’ by the United Nations and resulting in the slow death of thousands.
2. Ignoring calls from the International community to relieve the ‘blockade’ inflicted above, the beleaguered nation (barely able to feed its own citizens) was then accused of possessing massive stockpiles of offensive weapons making them a menace to their ‘peace loving’ neighbors.
3. Nuclear and technologically superior Western states (most notably the United States and Israel) refused to recognize the current dominant political structure of the besieged, isolated, and starving population - publicly denouncing them as criminals, thugs - and claiming the populace would certainly be thankful for a decisive and sudden ‘regime change’.
4. A lopsided, totally illegal action (denounced by the U.N. and major NGOs around the world including Human Rights Watch and the International Red Cross) then ensued costing a disproportionate number of civilian deaths and casualties, with the invading forces performing advanced ’surgical strikes’ designed to hit and isolate only ‘military targets’.
5. In time, the action was unmasked for the political and commercial endeavor for which it was designed - causing the Western media and its consumers to re-think their position on freedom, responsibility, and democracy.

Have we not lived through before - and just 5 years ago?

And by only slightly refocusing the lens of the media and the carefully stage managed information we are now receiving about Hamas, Gaza, and the threats to Israel is the same scene - the same perverse script - not being replayed but with different actors?

In no way condoning the actions of Hamas in its (rather pathetic) attempts to strike back at Israel with homemade rockets , it is important to realize the difference between ’small-arms’ mortars designed to travel a few kilometers and whose damage to date has been extremely minor - and a cold, calculated, methodical campaign by a technologically superior force using F-16’s, Black Hawk Helicopters and Cruise Missiles whose ’surgical’ targets thusfar have now included devastating a university in a major city centre.

How does this keep Israel safe? How does a population who has been starved, deprived, caged and demoralized for years react to being bombed consecutively for over 72 hours without a break? The ‘invented threat’ of Saddam Hussein was no different than that of Hamas - a fiction for which anyone even partly hypnotized, will certainly regret when they awake.

When that occurs, we can all look back and enjoy the intelligence of hindsight. Or we can refocus that lens now before the final similarity becomes our reward:

6. Growing anger and disgust by Arab and Muslim peoples throughout the world will intensify the calls by hardline religious groups  to resist the West using increasingly destructive and desperate measures - making us all unsafe, fearful of each other, and ultimately less human.

Totally Predictable War Crimes

As the official death toll in Gaza from Israel raids has now passed 280 dead and over 700 injured, the U.N. has at last made a statement asking for “an immediate halt to all violence”, while Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour stormed into a U.N. Security Council meeting Saturday, demanding U.N. increase their condemnation of Israel for the unprecendented attacks, stating: “There is no justification for punishing 1.5 million in the Gaza Strip because of the actions of a few.”

In response, Hamas has launched over 110 rockets into Israel since Saturday - an act that can in no way surprise Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is using that fact to further commit further strike forces into Gaza. With tanks poised on the border of Gaza (and building in number overnight), there is no doubt a full scale ground invasion is only hours away.

Instead of pounding through the grim stats, let’s instead take a look at the timing of this attack.

Keeping in mind the (harmless and pathetic) rocket attacks have been emanating from Gaza for almost 8 years, why does Israel now - during the last week of December - feel actions are now necessary? And why on so ghastly a scale? Let us look at both the strategic political and tactical military reasons.

From a political standpoint, as Israel is only 2 months away from an election, and with the sagging prospects of withering Kadima party and specifically Tzipi Livni who has been steadily losing ground to the hawkish contender, Benyamin Netanyahu - the attacks can clearly be seen in their in their strategic context - a method of enhancing Livni’s ‘credentials’ prior to the election in a country where heavy-handed treatment of the Palestinians is a near ‘requirement’ of assuming the gravitas of Israeli high office.

Strategically justified - check.

From a tactical military standpoint, Israel is playing out a very transparent game of cause and effect - a ‘war game’ where all moves have been predicted, measured, and decided before they are made. With Hamas (again, predictably) firing more rockets, Israel will claim the ‘moral justification’ for further strikes - leading to the ground war and devastation Israel desires. Is anyone unclear what it means to ‘design’ a moral war. I thought we had removed the blinders from the international media following the Bush administration’s hapless search for WMD’s in Iraq following the invasion in 2003?

Tactically justified - check.

The only loser in this ‘war game’ (aside from the almost 1,000 Palestinian casualties of course) is perhaps Likud Leader Binyamin Netanyahu whose ‘call to action’ has now been sounded by his opponent Tzipi Livni - though I’m sure he’ll find a way to denounce the ‘restraint’ the current adminstration is showing in its actions to date.

And so the game continues.

Appeal For News From Gaza

As the holidays have come to a close, Israel has wasted no time in beginning their military devastation of Gaza. Early reports have over 200 Palestinians dead as a result of early morning air strikes by Israeli F-16s on both military and civilian targets. Without a doubt this is one of the bloodiest dates of the conflict to date and all but ensures continued hostilities in the region for a long time to come.

Over 100 tons of bombs and explosives have already been dropped by the Israeli Air Force on Saturday alone and reports continue to hint toward a massive ground operation set to commence in coming hours.

Rather than repeat the news stories now flooding the Web, bruisedearth is appealing to those on the ground in Gaza and Israel. Please send ANY information, stories, or updates you can and we will post them immediately.

Please either reply below or on our ‘Contact‘ section on the nav bar above.

Finally, please read the excellent piece on ei by Ali Abunimah calling for organised action in the face of the ongoing devastation yet to come in Gaza.

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18:57 GMT

“Israel is not targeting Hamas alone. Israel is targeting the whole Palestinian population, which has left 200 families with dead sons, husbands and fathers.

“Gaza is left today with nothing, no bread, no oil, electricity and medication even to treat the injured people.

“This criminal attack is directed at the will of the Palestinian people. It’s an effort to break the Palestinian demand for freedom, independence and justice.

“Israel is responsible for this escalation. There was a ceasefire that everybody respected, including Hamas, and it was Israel that violated that ceasefire … to prepare the ground for this bloodshed which Israeli politicians are using as their form of competition in the Israeli elections.

“This is a criminal act, unprecedented, unacceptable and Israel would not have dared to go this far if it were not for the silence of the international community at these inhuman crimes.

“It’s impossible to equate Hamas with Israel. All the rockets Hamas have shot have not killed a single Israeli till today.

“During the same year of the so-called Annapolis peace process, Israel killed 546 Palestinians, including 76 children, more than half of them in the West Bank.

“The aggression is from one side. Israel has probably the fourth-largest military in the world, it is the fourth-largest military-exporter in the world, it has nuclear heads.

“Today, it used 60 sophisticated jet fighters in Gaza who have nothing to defend themselves with.

“Israel wants this escalation to break the backbone of the Palestinian people, but they won’t break us.”

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15:20 GMT

“Such hypocrisy!! Rockets continue to fall into Israel even now and the world still says, “stop!” What do they want?? Do they want Israel to burn to the ground? Do they want Tel Aviv to quake under the rain of rockets like southern Israel has for the past year?? The world wants peace only when a hard line Islamic party that is known for brutally murdering any one who stands in its way is in control.

“I say take out the cowards firing rockets from the houses of civilians in Gaza!!

A Democratic State Silencing the UN

Not coming as a surprise given Israel’s traditional handling of the media, United Nations Envoy Richard Falk was promptly denied entry to Israel on Sunday night following his recent comments characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank as  ‘crimes against humanity’.

On Monday the International Herald Tribune reported that Falk was held at gunpoint late on Sunday by Israeli immigration services when attempting to enter Israel via Ben Gurion airport and was promptly loaded on the next available flight to Geneva. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has described Falk as ‘unwelcome’ in the State of Israel.

A significant statement that has gone grossly under-reported throughout the media was issued on Tuesday by United Nations Human Rights chief Navi Pillay who accused Israel of “unprecedented and deeply regrettable” treatment of a UN investigator.

Accoring to Pillay, “[Falk's] UN mobile phone was confiscated, making further contact between the UN and Professor Falk impossible until after his subsequent deportation to the United States on Monday. ”

She went on to state that “special rapporteurs do not require a formal invitation by the Israeli authorities in order to carry out official missions to the occupied Palestinian territories. It is the responsibility of states to cooperate with the independent UN experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. That is an important principle.”

What kind of ‘democracy‘ can Israel claim to be if it openly silences United Nations Representatives by denying them access to the country?

As a key member of the UN’s Human Right’s Council, Falk’s treatment on Sunday should not only serve as a clear indication of the punishment Israel metes out to uncooperative International Aid Organisations and Journalists who do not play ball ; but should raise alarm with both the UN  Security Council and Western Leaderships as a further sign of Israel’s increasing evolution into a media-controlled, and undenialably fascist rogue state.

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UPDATE (12:07 GMT)

Count on Al Jazeera to bring immediate news on the situation, with an excellent interview with Falk. Please watch below:

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