[Peace-discuss] Article and letter in this morning's NG

Sun Jul 27 12:03:46 EDT 2014

very good indeed.

On 07/27/2014 10:08 PM, David Green via Peace-discuss wrote:
> Thanks to Niloofar for her invaluable contribution to this morning's 
> paper, and to Mort Brussel for his timely letter. I link to the 
> letter, and paste Niloo's article below.
>
> Since the mainstream media won't do it, it's up to us to inform our 
> fellow citizens
>
> DG
>
> http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/2014-07-27/gazas-misery-not-being-reported.html
>
> During Israel's recent assault on Gaza, President Barack Obama, 
> Congress and the American media have been sounding off the mantra of 
> "Israel's right to defend itself" against rockets from Gaza — a 
> self-evident right, if Israel were indeed the innocent victim of a 
> military aggression, and not its perpetrator.
>
> The right to self-defense actually belongs to the Palestinians, who, 
> as the indigenous population of Palestine, have been subjected to 
> ethnic cleansing since 1947-8. This project will continue unless the 
> U.S. stops vetoing U.N. Security Council resolutions against Israel's 
> illegal actions — so far, 42 such vetoes.
>
> As of July 25, Israel's bombing campaign and the more recent addition 
> of a ground offensive have killed 800 and seriously wounded 5,500 
> Palestinians — 80 percent being unarmed civilians, including 200 
> children. The Israeli government and the Obama administration have 
> been explaining away the high civilian casualty by accusing Hamas of 
> using civilians as human shields, and placing their military 
> installations among civilians.
>
> They know well, though, that having the world's highest population 
> density, Gaza cannot afford its refugee and local populations 
> residential neighborhoods. Moreover, as Israeli journalist Amira Hass 
> writes, Israel itself has its military headquarters in civilian areas.
>
> There is ample evidence to confirm that Israel's political and 
> military strategists are not just after militant Islamists and their 
> military installations, but use their war machine to instill terror in 
> the hearts and minds of children and adults trapped in these killing 
> fields.
>
> Norwegian physician Dr. Mads Gilbert, who has been treating the 
> injured in Gaza, describes the extreme damage that Israel's U.S.-made 
> dense inert metal explosives — DIME — inflict on their victims:
>
> "People are torn apart. I mean, they're split at their mid-level. They 
> lose their arms and legs, and they're killed. They're charcoaled by 
> the burns, if they are hit by these DIME explosives," he said.
>
> In addition, the Israeli army, which boasts of the precision of its 
> targeting, has killed many civilians who could not have been mistaken 
> as militants: Nine young men were torn into pieces and 15 more wounded 
> as they were watching a World Cup game in a beachfront cafe on July 9. 
> On July 16, four small children who were playing on the beach were 
> killed by two rounds of bombing. The civilians, who had taken refuge 
> in a U.N. school, were denied time to leave before the school was 
> bombed, killing tens.
>
> All this is nothing but terrorism, and America is its financier and 
> sponsor.
>
> Besides loss of life and severe injuries, the destruction of the 
> remaining infrastructure from Israel's bombings during the winter of 
> 2008-09 and the one-week assault in 2012 will further harm the health 
> and the ability of Gazans to make a living. People have irrevocably 
> lost the use of 60 percent of their agricultural land. The vast 
> majority of their chicken coops, their only flour mill, water tanks 
> and sewage-treatment facilities are targeted and destroyed; so is most 
> of their electricity-generating capacity.
>
> The harsh maritime, aerial and ground blockade that Israeli leaders 
> have maintained over Gaza since 2007 has made it next to impossible 
> for the people to acquire the needed material to fix damages to the 
> infrastructure.
>
> In addition, the blockade has been depriving the Gazans of the 
> nutrition they need to sustain themselves. Gisha, an Israeli 
> human-rights organization, has documented that in 2008, Israeli health 
> experts had calculated that in order to prevent malnutrition, 170 
> truckloads of food should be allowed into Gaza — less than half the 
> number of trucks entering Gaza with foodstuff before the siege. The 
> Israeli officials have lowered this minimum to 67, doubled the number 
> of trucks filled with empty-nutrient foods, and have drastically 
> reduced the amount of milk, fruits and vegetables allowed into Gaza.
>
> A Red Cross report leaked in 2008 concluded that "chronic malnutrition 
> is on a steadily rising trend and micro-nutrient deficiencies are of 
> great concern."
>
> Before the start of the current military campaign, 80 percent of 
> Gazans were dependent on humanitarian aid to survive. Given this dire 
> situation, it shouldn't be hard to understand the level of anger and 
> hatred toward Israeli policymakers.
>
> Now Hamas is being blamed for rejecting the cease-fire "plan," drafted 
> by Egypt's military rulers without input from Hamas. Hamas correctly 
> maintains that a brief cease-fire and return to the status quo is 
> meaningless. They point to the cease-fire of November 2012, which was 
> to lead to the easing of the Gaza siege but was ignored by Israel with 
> the usual impunity.
>
> This time, Hamas says, they will only accept a cease-fire based on the 
> recognition of the short-term demands of Palestinians. Among those are 
> the permanent lifting of the Israeli blockade, the extension of the 
> small zone imposed on Gaza fishermen, placing international forces at 
> Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt, and non-interference of Israel 
> in the formation and workings of the Palestinian unity government, 
> which has the blessing of the Quartet (representatives of the U.N., 
> U.S., EU and Russia).
>
> Without due pressure, Israeli policy-makers will not accept these 
> conditions, which are within the framework of international law and 
> past consensus. The key to the success of this first step toward a 
> just peace between Palestinians and Israelis is the U.S., which is 
> still unwilling to be an honest broker.
>
> This situation leaves Americans with only one ethical option: To 
> persist in our demand that our government end its unconditional and 
> destructive support of Israel, and/or to join the boycott, divestment 
> and sanction campaign until Israeli Jews decide to join the 
> international community and live in peace with their Palestinian cousins.
>
> In the meantime, we have no right to deny the right of Palestinians to 
> resist the siege and the occupation through whatever means that are 
> still at their disposal.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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