http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7801657.stm
We know that Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza have been hostile for some time over cross-border rocket fire, embargo, and retaliatory attacks. Israel, the US, and Fatah have done all they can to oust Hamas, yet they doggedly continue to hold power (could it be that some suffering Gazans actually prefer them to the corrupt Western crony alternatives?). Tired of the bloodshed that seems to accomplish nothing, Israel and Hamas agreed to a truce in June that persisted more-or-less violence-free until December. But now hostilities have resumed, with Hamas firing dozens or hundreds of rockets into southwest Israel, and the IDF launching a devastating bombing campaign that will probably preceed a ground incursion.
As usual, Israeli casualties total a whopping 1 civilian, and Palestinian deaths are 225 (plus 700 wounded), including some women/children. Gaza is one of the most densely-populated areas in the world. Hamas compounds are situated near hospitals and apartments; there's no way around it. Unless you're using a scalpel, you are going to kill innocents when you strike. Israel knows this, but insisted on such heavy bombing. Aid workers say they haven't seen such carnage in Gaza since the 1967 War. But I suppose that hundreds of poor Muslim lives don't count as much as a single Israeli. Speaking of that, did you find it strange that during the Mumbai terror attacks, the 6 Jewish victims seemed to get 80% of the press coverage vs. the hundreds of South Asians that also died? Most US news outlets even listed them by name, paying more respect than is customary even to American soldiers who have died in Mideast combat. Fair and objective for sure.
As Arab states used the Yom Kippur holiday to mount a sneak attack on Israel, maybe now Israel has chosen this Christmastime to destroy Gaza, while the West is preoccupied with gift wrapping and doorbuster sales. Plus the transitioning US government (the few left who aren't on holiday) is too busy with the economy and administration succession to do anything. And we all know they would just diplomatically shield Israel anyway, Obama included. The double-standard exceeds even the most paranoid, anti-Zionist expectations. Just imagine if we punished Israeli aggression to even a fraction of how we routinely deal with Arab dictators! To show that he was tough on foreign policy, Clinton breached the UN mandate and bombed Baghdad after a supposed "plot to kill former president Bush" surfaced. Dozens died. A while ago Israel razed Lebanon to the Stone Age, last year they bombed an alleged Syrian "nuclear site" without imminent threat or evidence, and this week they are laying waste to an already starving and suffocating Gaza. All we get from Washington and the UN is a "plea for calm". Or if anything, they blame Hamas rockets for instigating the whole mess (Hamas is not innocent, but Israel does account for over 90% of deaths in this war). Basically, the official State Department stance is: there can only be peace when Hamas/Palestinians lay down their arms and agree to all Western conditions. To them, peace equals surrender - brilliant diplomacy as usual.
And this isn't really about Hamas rockets, anyway. If it was, there would be no point for the IDF to bomb Hamas political offices on the Mediterranean coast (the part of Gaza furthest from Israel and not cointaining rocket sites), which they are doing. Additionally, there is a huge election coming up in Israel next month. The current ruling party is trailing in the polls to the more hardline oppostion led by ultra-right hawk Benyamin Netanyahu. Some Israelis are demanding tougher action on the panic-driven rocket threat. Yet others worry that Israeli attacks can't stop the rockets anyway, and may even provoke harsher Hamas retaliation. And that is true; no matter how many buildings they bomb and how tightly they squeeze the Gaza border, somehow people will find a way to smuggle in and launch rockets, because they are that pissed off and fanatical (Israeli policies made it so). But regardless, the scandal-plagued Olmert regime is trying to do something desperate to deflate Netanyahu's charge. It's just sadistic that they choose to end hundreds of lives in order to score some political points. But being an American, who am I to talk?
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