By
Aditya Ganapathiraju
January 5, 2009
Israel launched a devastating military campaign against the Gaza strip last weekend in what many have called the one of the bloodiest since 1967.
After a week of aerial bombardment and a recent ground invasion, more than 500 Palestinians, including 75 children, have been killed. Those killed were “mostly” civilians, local human rights groups said. There are more than 2,300 men, women and children wounded.
Four Israelis have been killed as a result of Hamas rocket fire since Dec. 27, according to Ha’aretz.
The Israeli attacks have sparked protests worldwide in more than a dozen countries and hundreds of protests across the United States, including more than 500 people rallying in Downtown Seattle on Saturday.
Assaf Oron, a former Israeli Defense Forces soldier, current human-rights activist and faculty at the UW, and whose family lives within range of Hamas rockets, blasted the recent Israeli attacks as “cynical, idiotic, corrupt, deeply immoral and cowardly.”
U.S. leaders, including President Bush, have largely supported the strikes, blaming Hamas. Obama issued a “no comment” press release at first, with a spokesman later supporting the Israeli actions.
The United States blocked a UN Security Council Resolution that called for “an immediate ceasefire and for its full respect by both sides,” saying it was “unbalanced” and “one-sided.”
Israeli leaders justified the attacks as a response for firing of homemade rockets by Hamas militants towards nearby Israeli towns.
However, Ha’aretz reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered preparation for the strike over six months ago as Israel was negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas and was involved in “misleading of the public.”
An Israeli military attack in the strip broke the cease-fire on Nov. 4, 2008, which prompted retaliation with a barrage of rocket fire from Hamas, according to the Israeli press.
Barak said in August that the truce had been a success and that an invasion of Gaza, which is currently under way, would not stop rocket attacks and would only lead to a situation in which they “control another people against their will,” according to an Aug. 11 BBC report. Some have questioned the rationale for the scale and timing of Saturday’s attacks, especially considering the predictable consequences of emboldening extremists and marginalizing moderates.
“[T]he ferocity of Israel’s assault on the crowded Gaza Strip is partly to be explained by the imminence of the vote” for Prime Minister, said the Financial Times editorial board. Tzipi Livni and Barak both “fear being labeled weak and seem to be trying to out-hawk the irredentist Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Based on Israeli officials’ comments, retired Middle East intelligence officer Col. Pat Lang argued that “Israel’s goals in Gaza are essentially psychological,” to show that they’re willing to “inflict great damage and numerous casualties” to dominate the region.
Jerusalem Post columnist Herb Keinon argued that another of the Gaza attack’s “unstated goals” is for “pure anarchy” to “sweep Hamas from power.” Israel “wants to encourage anarchy that would threaten the organization,” Keinon said.
By that measure, the strikes, which have targeted much of the infrastructure responsible for order like “every known police station” in the dense strip, fire stations, a university, nine mosques and a radio station, have been a success.
Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery warned however, that with the images of “heaps of mutilated bodies … a woman pulling her young daughter from under the rubble, [and] doctors without medicines trying to save the lives of the wounded,” Israel’s attacks may lead to “Hamas multiplied by a thousand.”
Reach columnist Aditya Ganapathiraju at news@dailyuw.com.
11 Comments
#1 Rabs
on January 5, 2009 at 12:04 p.m.(Redmond, WA | Unverified Name)
Is this news, or is it an op-ed? Just a point to make here - "home-made rockets" are deadly. Israel doesn't need to wait until hundreds are killed - especially since Israel has air raid sirens and bomb shelters that minimize her losses, in contrast with Hamas, which deliberately fires the rockets from densely populated areas so they can ratchet up their casualty numbers, gaining world sympathy.
Remember - this is not a sports game, where numbers count. Just because Israel has less dead does not mean it is automatically in the wrong whatever it does. Think logically here, unlike this morally unbalanced writer.
#2 Realist
on January 5, 2009 at 1:54 p.m.(Berkeley, CA | Unverified Name)
Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005 as the Palestinians demanded, but instead of upholding the terms of the peace deal that came with the withdrawal, the Palestinians used Gaza to launch over 7000 rockets into Israeli civilian centers.
There are many people who claim that Israel is using excessive force in response to the rocket fire from Gaza, and that Israel should use a proportional response. If Israel truly used a proportional response, then it would fire 7000 rockets into the civilian centers of Gaza, just as Hamas has fired 7000 rockets at Israeli civilians.
Instead, Israel is carrying out very specific strikes on buildings used to launch the rockets, and sending in ground troops to minimize unnecessary losses.
What the author of the article forgets to mention is that of the approximately 500 Palestinians killed, more than 3/4 of them have been Hamas fighters actively engaging the Israel Defense Forces. The reason that some "civilian" buildings in Gaza have been destroyed is that Hamas uses them to launch rockets into Israel. When Hamas uses Mosques and other buildings to launch attacks on civilian populations, they loose the right to call those buildings civilian centers, and the buildings become legitimate targets in an effort to stop the killing of Israeli civilians.
#3 Conor T. Reed
on January 5, 2009 at 3:29 p.m.(None, NY | Unverified Name)
I think the author is absolutely correct in their assertions.
For many people in the United States, the Israel/Palestine conflict seems like a disorienting, muddled affair that only experts can dissect. It's no coincidence that in our country, whose government supplies Israel up to $8 billion a year, we are given a pitiful excuse for journalism on what is actually happening there.
Right now, many people are clearly seeing that Israel's F-16s and tanks and US-backing make the situation far from an equal one. Palestinians are being bombed indiscriminately. Hamas, a political party that was democratically elected, provides political as well as medical and food services for Palestinians. For the NYTimes or any other news to report that Israel is bombing only "Hamas military targets" actually means hospitals and food banks are being bombed.
For anyone who is outraged with the Israeli state of Hate that is killing scores of innocent, starving, and until now forgotten people in Gaza and the West Bank, join a protest happening in cities near you, write articles like this one to your local paper, and stand up to those who say Israel is justified in its daily slaughters.
#4 Spencer
on January 5, 2009 at 3:30 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name | UW Community)
Realist (which is quite the misnomer) - do your homework. Israel is saying 75% are Hamas fighters, while even relatively conservative news agencies are saying 25% are women and children alone. It's probably much higher. Furthermore, your argument neglects the fact that while Hamas loses the ability to call buildings civilian centers, this doesn't mean that killing civilians is even remotely justified. And your argument about proportional responses nicely exposes your ignorance. Look at Gaza on a map. It's tiny. It has higher population density than Detroit. And thanks to Israel, it constantly suffers from shortages of food, fuel, clean water, medical supplies, and other necessities. So don't claim that Israel's actions are even mildly comparable to those of Hamas.
Furthermore, have either of you actually considered why Hamas has popular support and why they oppose Israel? It's no secret - Israel rapes the populations of Gaza, the West Bank, South Lebanon, the Syrian Golan Heights, etc.. If a regime was taking my land, denying health care and education and basic rights to my family and friends, and constantly inflicting violence and destruction for no reason, I'd probably be pretty pissed too. And I suspect that most people who are supporting Israel would also feel this way.
Rabs - you should probably also do your homework. Add up the number of civilians Israel has killed in other areas in the Middle East, the number of lives they destroy through their disgusting repression of the Palestinians, and the children they're currently murdering in the Gaza, and I think you'll see where the moral imbalance lies.
#5 Love
on January 6, 2009 at 1:40 a.m.(Ramat Yishay, Israel | Unverified Name)
Assaf Oron is "cynical, idiotic, corrupt, deeply immoral and cowardly" Lets hope he will never be admitted to Israel again.
#6 James
on January 6, 2009 at 7:15 a.m.(Rochester, NY | Unverified Name)
The idea that Hamas is firing rockets from crowded civilian areas justifies Israel is completely ridiculous. Look at a map of Israel and how small the Gaza Strip is. 1.4 million palestinians were kicked out of their homes and shoved into the Gaza Strip. The entire Strip has a population density half that of New York City.
In other words, the entirety of the Gaza Strip is a crowded civilian area. Hamas would be firing rockets from crowded civilian areas no matter where they fired rockets from and Israel would still use that as an excuse to slaughter people.
It might be better to look at why Hamas is firing rockets into Israel in the first place, or more importantly, how an organization like Hamas got democratically elected to lead the people of the Gaza Strip. This is because the Gaza Strip is basically a giant prison. Nobody (except foreigners) is allowed out of the country and are trapped in a confined space with insufficient food or medical supplies.
You say Israel is justified to fight a war against Gaza for the actions of it's elected government (Hamas). Well then why isn't Gaza just as justified? Why is Hamas, the legitimately elected government of the Gaza Strip, not justified in fighting a war against the country that has walled the Palestinians in and cut off food and medical supplies(which they do even when Hamas stops firing rockets)?
#7 Steve Leigh
on January 6, 2009 at 8:54 a.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name | UW Community)
Excellent article, Aditya! Is Palestinian resistance to Israel justified? Of course! The Zionist movement used military force to seize the land of the Palestinians in 1947-8 , drove out 100's of thousands and will not let them or their descendants return to the land. They created a state that gives first class citizenship only to those of a particular religion---and invites any and all of that religion to be citizens , while still denying citizenship to the expelled Palestinians. Israel is not just another state. It is a colonial settler state based on dispossion of the original inhabitants . It is an apartheid state that expanded in 1967 to occupy yet more Palestinian territory. It should not be defended in any of its actions! This is not even to speak of the recent history in which Israel has laid seige to Gaza, constantly restricting import of food, medicine etc. and cutting off electricity. Does Israel have the "right" to defend itself from Hamas?
Does the robber have the "right" to defend himself from the victim that he just robbed and shot? Who's side should we be on? It is the responsibility for all reasonable people in the U.S. to demand that the U.S. government stop all its aid to the apartheid state of Israel! Join the rally on campus against the Israeli invasion of Gaza--noon on Thurs Jan 8 in front of the Hub.
#8 Maryrose
on January 6, 2009 at 3:46 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
I would like to commend the author of this article for drawing attention to what is happening in Gaza.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian areas issued a statement that "The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war."
It is not taking sides when one has consistent positions on human rights and international law. As an American Jew, and a Tikkun Jew not a Zionist Jew, I cannot remain silent.
History shows that the world once stood silent while Jews in Europe were slaughtered. The saying "Never Again," to me, means never again to any people and not just referring to the Jewish people. If we haven't learned that lesson from the horrors of the concentration camps, then we have lost our humanity.
The Jews of Europe jumped out of the fires of Germany on to the backs of the innocent Palestinians. We must atone.
Thank you Mr. Ganapathiraju for this excellent article.
#9 haris425
on January 9, 2009 at 11:49 a.m.(Redmond, WA | Unverified Name | UW Community)
Thank you Mr. Ganapathiraju! Excellent Article indeed. We need more people like yourself spreading the truth on what is going on in Gaza. It is clear what the Intentions of the stae of Israel are. By not allowing food, water, medical treatment, and taking out ambulances they are further prooving their intentions to commit genocide on palestinians and continue to occupy the little land they have left. Also, as US citizens, indirectly, we have been supporting Israel as our Tax dollars are used for their military campaigns. I encourage all of you to contact our washington state senators and write to them that we should stop funding $8B to that state yearly.
#10 AZell
on January 9, 2009 at 5:05 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
How disappointing that groups of people so quickly jump on the Palestinian side based on error-ridden articles like Gnapathiraju's. Is it a surprise that are president-elect Barak Obama holds a VASTLY different view after having spent time learning about the situation? I don't think so. Maybe that's the best advice--take some time to educate yourself about the situation before you take an opinion article dressed up like a news article to be truth. Here's to hoping peace reaches the region sooner rather than later.
#11 shak
on January 12, 2009 at 8:17 p.m.(Riverside, CA | Unverified Name)
Thanks for the nice article.
Poeople need the truth. But the whole US MEDIA controlled in favor of only one partly.
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