OPINI: PERILAKU POLITIKUS AS

Opinion: American Politicians and Complicity to Murder

by Ali Alarabi
18/01/2009

One cannot help it when watching droves of American politicians from all colours and stripes repeating the Israeli PR offensive that goes along with war on Gaza in asking the rhetorical question: "what would you do if someone is firing rockets at your own house" to feel how misinformed, or even deceptive those politicians were.

American politicians are repeating the Israeli lines without bothering or considering what the Palestinians have to say about this war that was imposed on them and is destroying them right now. It was US President-elect Obama who set the tone for the Israeli PR during his visit amidst the election campaign last year when he cornered himself and said it in Israel.

Obama has subsequently remained conspicuously silent during the initial wave of Israeli attacks, signaling his approval of what’s happening in Gaza thus becoming hostage to his own words in defending Israel’s “right” to attack Gaza.

To say that the reason for the Israeli assault on Gaza, which cannot be described other than a Massacre, is because Hamas fired its useless rockets, which is more of harassment than a military threat, is misleading and disingenuous at best. Israeli politicians used Hamas rockets to jockey for a better position in the upcoming election and to show the Israeli electorate who is tougher and who can silence those harassing rockets.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israel has reached over a 1000 at the time of writing this article. Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on densely populated civilian areas is illegal and in clear violation of International Humanitarian law, IHL. Article 51 of the First Additional Protocol that states that an attack is indiscriminate and therefore prohibited by International Law.

Even when Israeli politicians claim that there were Hamas fighters present in civilian areas that too is legally prohibited for Israel to attack those areas, as they will end up killing scores of civilians. Historically, Israel has in past armed conflicts with Arab states and the Palestinians resorted to bombing civilian areas and launched indiscriminate attacks killing innocent civilians.

On April 8, 1970, Israel bombed the Bahr el Baqr children school south of Port Said in Egypt killing 46 school children. Israel claimed then that the Egyptian Army had used the school as a military site. The same happened in the same year when Israel bombed a civilian factory in Abu Za’abal area killing 80 Egyptian workers. That too it was claimed by the Israelis to have been a military site.

Over two years ago, in 2006, Israel bombed and killed over a hundred Lebanese civilian refugees who took shelter in a compound in south Lebanon. Yet again, Israel also claimed that Hezbollah fighters used the UN compound. None of Israel’s claims were found to be true, including its latest attack in Gaza that destroyed a UN-run school that was packed with horrified refugees killing over forty young children.

Hamas too was trying to have a better negotiating position at the table with Israel through its rockets. What Hamas wanted was, and still is, for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza from land and sea that choked the life of 1.5 million Palestinians, turning their life into and endless desperation.

Israel wants Gaza under Hamas to be quite, deprived of its homemade rockets while Israel itself is not doing anything in exchange by way of letting up. If Hamas or any Palestinian group dare to violate or challenge Israel’s terms or even harass Israel, Israel will in turn use, or threaten to use the full might of its army as we see in this case.

Therefore, keeping Gaza locked into a tight siege is important for Israel and its supremacy in the region hence surrounding the strip with a wall and army units, controlling those inside and those out, thus keeping the entire Palestinian population in Gaza hostage to the Israeli leaders’ whims. Exactly like a prison or Ghetto, or both.

This controlling environment, coupled with Israeli violence or threat of using it for any ‘bad behaviour’ on the part of Hamas or the Palestinians in general, including those in the West Bank, has turned the Palestinians into slaves to the Israeli masters.

Israel cannot expect the Palestinians to remain quiet while watching their piece of land taken away from them bite-by-bite, and inch-by-inch, including their water resources.

Resistance to the Israeli occupation is a legal right and a legitimate choice, particularly in the absence of a fair and just peaceful settlement that takes into account the Palestinian refugees’ right of return, with Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Without this, peace will remain just a pipe dream.


Ali Alarabi writes on the Middle East and is a member of the Arab Writers Group syndicate, he can be reached at: alialarabi1@aol.com

(The Tripoli Post)