Wednesday, December 31, 2008

"Israel's" Failure to Learn

By Nir Rosen

When George Bush, the US president, first entered the White House as the commander-in-chief in 2001, Palestinians were being killed in the al-Aqsa intifada.

Eight years later, as Bush prepares to leave office, Israel is carrying out one of the largest massacres in its 60-year occupation of Palestine.

The US, then and now, strongly backs Israel's offensive, justifying it as being, in fact, defensive.

An Israeli general recently threatened to use military force to set Gaza back decades in much the same language used before the invasion of Lebanon in 2006.

But despite the Israeli devastation of Lebanon, Hezbollah emerged victorious and the Shia resistance and social movement emerged a hero to the Arab world.

Israel is about to make the same mistake with Hamas.

Its notion of a truce with Hamas was that the Palestinians would quietly accept the siege. Israel would deny them the basic means of survival, let alone the basic means to create a functioning society.

If the Palestinians attempted to resist, they would be crushed.

As in Lebanon, Israel should have learned years ago that military might cannot crush Palestinian resistance movements.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stupidity is doing the sme thing over and over and expecting different results. The cycle of retaliation doesn't work. I spent the past summer in the occupied West Bank where I attended demonstrations protesting the occupation and colonial settlements being built on Palestinian lands. I stood among demonstrators and faced tanks and armed Israeli soldiers who had rolled large coils of barbed wire across the road and aimed guns at the unarmed men, women and children who pleaded with soldiers for dialogue. Peaceful protests by Palestinians, Internationals and Israeli citizens are increasing. Yet, Israel supported by the US, persists in heavy bombardment in response to the relatively few who, out of sense of hopelessnes created by the occupation, respond with rockets. It is Israel that creates suicide bombers and provokes rocket firings into Israel. Yet, increasingly, there are grass roots movements for peaceful resistance by Palestinians and supporters from around the world including Israelis who seek a just solution.

Anonymous said...

poor hamas--they are getting what they deserve--tee hee

Anonymous said...

You say the relatively few, who are responding with rockets! It only takes one to be under attack! If the Palestinians really want peace. All they have to do is destroy Hamas themselves! And guess what happens Israel quits being attacked and Israel quits attacking! But the problem is the Palestinians are all to welling to let Hamas operate in their territory.

Anonymous said...

Israel mistake is giving land to get any kind of peace. They should take out every terrorist they can get their hands on! That is the only way to deal with a terrorist!