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January 04, 2009

A transcendental irony

Irony of ironies: Israel's first aknowledged military death in the invasion of Gaza was a resident of the Giv'at Ze'ev settlement in the Occupied West Bank, and which is one of the land grab areas Israel hopes to exclude from any negotiations via The Apartheid Wall (more at Firedoglake).

Deepening the irony is the fact that on March 9, 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved the construction of 750 new homes in Giv'at Ze'ev under the Agan Ha'ayalot project, a direct violation of the "road map" peace plan Israel agreed to. However, President Bush reportedly gave secret permission to then-PM Ariel Sharon to expand West Bank settlements. Thus, Olmert maintains that the expansion of Giv'at Ze'ev does not contravene his "road map" obligations because they are allowed via a pre-existing agreement.

Meanwhile, there are reasons to question the much-vaunted Israeli attempts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. Via WaPo:

Near sundown, Israel dropped leaflets on northern Gaza warning residents to evacuate their homes, as witnesses reported heavy movement of troops and tanks massed on the border. The leaflets read: "Area resident, as a result of the acts undertaken by terror activists in your area against Israel, the IDF is forced to respond immediately and operate in this area. For your own safety, you are asked to leave the area immediately."

It was unclear where the residents were supposed to go; Gaza is tiny, and no part of the strip, home to 1.5 million people, has been spared from attack. Border crossings have been sealed for everyone except 220 foreigners and a small number of Palestinians in need of immediate medical help. (emphasis supplied)

Israel claims that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza and offers as proof the fact that they are allowing supplies into the territory. But allowing supplies through a border checkpoint does not automatically mean that those supplies can be distributed during an ongoing military campaign in one of the most heavily populated areas on the planet. Those supplies do no good to civilians who can't reach them.

That said, I wholeheartedly agree with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that Hamas "bears a heavy responsibility in the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza". They clearly do... as does Israel.

Demonstrating the supreme folly of Olmert, Hamas is busily eliminating Fatah members even as they continue to take on Israel. The sigificance of which is quite simply the profoundly ironic repetition of history - Israel militarily takes on a Palestinian entity which then comes out of the conflict stronger than they were before.

If Israel truly wanted to weaken Hamas then they would befriend them. Just look at how Fatah has been weakened as Israel treated them as legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people!

Posted by Kevin at January 4, 2009 12:48 PM