An Alternate Witness

Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

--Albert Einstein

We are witnessing right now what BBC World is calling the worst attack on Gaza in the history of the conflict in terms of casualties, not even a week after the end of a 6 month truce.

UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk has this to say:

Against this background, it is especially painful for me, as an American Jew, to feel compelled to portray the ongoing and intensifying abuse of the Palestinian people by Israel through a reliance on such an inflammatory metaphor as 'holocaust'...

...and has even gone so far as to use the word "genocide."
In fact, I can't begin to put this in words as well as he, Sabbahblog and others are doing, but I do want to contribute my two gersh/cents.

I don't dispute Israel's right to defend its citizens. This was part of my dilemma over the 2006 Lebanon War, because there was an immediate threat to innocent Israeli lives, and it was legitimately hard to distinguish purely military targets. The population density in the Gaza Strip makes it even harder to distinguish military targets, which is precisely why, after the publicity beating Israel got after the 2006 Lebanon War, I should think they would want to be more careful about civilian casualties. One Israeli was killed, so the only appropriate response was to kill 350 Gazans and injure over 1000 more? Come on, Ms. Livni!

If "the people of Gaza do not deserve to suffer" for what Hamas does, as PM Olmert said in today's press conference, where is the proof of that? It's not suffering to be under a strangling blockade of even basic food and medical supplies since June 2007? It's not suffering to never know when Israeli planes, tanks or troops will attack?

Ehud Barak said the IDF only "... attacked only targets that are part of the Hamas organizations [and will] make an effort in order to avoid any unnecessary inconveniences to the people of Gaza." Is that why they bombed a university? It's not an "unnecessary inconvenience" to allow no food, water or electricity over the border for weeks at a time?

And what, exactly, is all of this supposed to accomplish? Does Israel really think that cutting off aid and basic necessities and raining down bombs on the Gaza Strip will make Palestinians more sympathetic to Israel? Do they really think that by killing hundreds of Gazans, this will make them stop retaliating on Israeli citizens? This is the very epitomy of what Albert Einstein was talking about when he defined stupidity!

Though I have to give Israel kudos for their timing. What with the Christmas season, the global economic woes, and the US administration in transition, hardly anyone is paying serious attention to what's going on over here. This much, at least, shows definite cunning!

I try, in this blog, to be eloquent, to say things that are well considered and meaningful, but I just feel so frustrated and impotent today. I did take some food donations to Books@Cafe today to be sent to Gaza. Apparently, only Jordanians are being allowed into the Gaza Strip to deliver aid. I guess Israel is worried about what the UN and Red Crescent might have to say about the conditions of people there. Certainly Israel displayed their unhappiness with the comments of Richard Falk which I mentioned above when they denied him entry to the Gaza Strip.

There was some talk on BBC today about the lessons UIsrael has learned from the 2006 Lebanon War, and I can think of a couple they failed to mention. Apparently Israel learned that there's nothing the international community is ready or able to do to actually stop Israel's actions. I feel, too, like they've taken a page from George W. Bush, who legitimized the Pre-Emptive Strike Doctrine that, for lack of a better word, completely fucked up Iraq, and now seems to be allowing Israel to do the same to the Gaza Strip.

I'm no Juan Cole or Richard Falk; I know that the words I put here won't reach many people or make much difference, especially as disjointed and incoherent as this rant is, but I feel compelled to publish something, anything to express my outrage and frustration.