Israel Detains Palestinian Ministers
Knocks out Electricity to Half of Gazans
Half of the Palestinians in Gaza, who were already living pretty miserable lives after decades of marginalization and brutalization by the Israelis, were left without electricity yesterday.
Palestinian officials like Saeb Erekat rejected the idea that knocking out electricity for hundreds of thousands of people is targeting a "terrorist infrastructure." In fact, destroying electricity generation capability interferes with water purification. Palestinian children will die because of this, from drinking unpurified water. And what crime did Palestinian toddlers commit, to be murdered in this way?
The Israelis escalated the crisis by detaining Hamas government ministers. The likelihood is that the captors of the Israeli soldier are freelancers. This wasn't something plotted out by the Haniyeh government, which, in fact, recently granted a huge concession on the issue of potentially recognizing Israel.
PM Ismail Haniyeh called for the United Nations Security Council to intervene.
The ministers detained are members of a freely and democratically elected government. I can't imagine under what legal authority the Israelis have arrested them. But everyone in the Middle East can see exactly what "elections" and "democracy" amount to. Bush's promises have never seemed so hollow.
Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, called for the US to get involved as an honest broker. Well, I suppose miracles do happen.
I am upset about the renewed crisis in Palestine because it is an emotional issue and will spill over into Sunni Arab Iraq. It is likely that pro-Palestinian Sunni guerrillas will kill some US troops specifically to avenge the people of Gaza. This is one reason I am complaining about the massively disproportional character of the Israeli response. It has the potential of further endangering American lives in the region.
And, it is counter-productive. The Israelis can't get back their soldier by destroying electricity plants in Gaza. They can't get more security by depriving Palestinians of security.
PS Jeff Morley at WaPo does a fine piece on the beach bombing background to the current round of violence.
posted by Juan Cole @ 6/29/2006 12:33:00 AM
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9 Comments:
Prof. Cole I have to sincerely thank you for your stance on the latest crisis in Palestine.
Have a (rhetorical) question. Why when the Zionists capture a Palestinian including elected representatives it is an arrest and when the Palestinians do the same it is hostage taking and kidnapping ? Here we are after all talking of a soldier and not a civilian (i.e. not in uniform).
The sorry story of all this is that for the West, Palestinians – all of them – are anyway terrorists whatever the (enemy) objective targeted, be it civilian or military. The EU dared calling for restrain from both parties and in particular the Palestinians !?!?
Henceforth if there was no "suicide bomber" to vilify it would have been something else (which was the case anyway pre-Camp David)... Make you wonder.
If a "Christian" – looking at the sad state of affairs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Sudan, etc. – cannot swallow it any-longer, it makes you wonder what is the state of mind of a "Muslim"
It seems to me more than likely that after this cycle of (neo)colonialism has ended, the liberated people will pursue this time all the Western leaders responsible for such outrages. In the 60 Nations which acceded to their independence were just happy to do so... I believe it will not be the case this time round, indeed not only the West (which is teaching – sic – the Iraqis) can institute (impartial – resic) Tribunals of the victors !
The State department still continues on its virtual reality show. Comments from Dr Rice:
We'll talk about how the international community can support the new Iraqi Government, the first democratically elected government in Iraq that really now has asked the international community for its support and I think the G-8 can make a firm statement about that.
We should talk about Afghanistan and how we can support Afghanistan. We should also talk about democracy and the importance of democratic development, whether it is in Russia itself, where we hope that Russia would enhance its commitment to democratic development, but also in places like Belarus and places that have yet to see a democratic future. And so it's a broad and important agenda. I look forward to meeting with my foreign minister colleagues.
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/68407.htm
Juan - You wrote: "The likelihood is that the captors of the Israeli soldier are freelancers. This wasn't something plotted out by the Haniyeh government..." Freelancers, really? Haniyah government, actually? I think it would have been more accurate to say that "factions" within the "fractious" Haniyah "authority" (Hamas is no more a functioning government than is the Red Crescent...) were responsible for the disasterous attack. This in no way condones the Israeli response.
"The likelihood is that the captors of the Israeli soldier are freelancers."
"By way of deception; thou shalt do war." - Mossad motto
Dr. Cole wrote:
"The ministers detained are members of a freely and democratically elected government. I can't imagine under what legal authority the Israelis have arrested them."
and FriendlyFire added:
"Israel is breaking Geneva Conventions. Where are the MSM?"
The simple truth is that Israel's activities all along have been illegal and in contravention of the principles outlined in the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions.
Rather than argue against the Zionist machine, let us try to defend it. It's more fun this way.
Israel can arrest duly elected officials of the Palestinian Authority because Nazis murdered millions of Jews in Europe.
It is acceptable for Israel to take land from Palestinians because several thousand years ago, God gave this land to all Jews. It is the Palestinians' own fault that they foolishly tried to live in a region where someday Zionist settlers would return to claim what is rightfully theirs.
When taking land and water from Palestinians who present resistance, Israel, regrettably, must sometimes kill them.
Israel also regrets the deaths of over a thousand Palestinian children who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, namely in a sniper's bulls eye centered on the child's head at the time or another regrettable juxtaposition.
The EU, the UN and the US should not criticize Israel for taking land from people who legally own it, farm it and depend on it for their livelihood, because it is only a small sliver of land and besides, Darfur and Rwanda happened and the EU, the UN and the US did not step in to prevent those instances of genocide. Israel should not be singled out for special adverse treatment until all other instances of genocide have been corrected.
Israel receives billions of dollars in direct and indirect aid every year because Israel has a special relationship with the United States.
Palestinians who carry guns are militants and may be shot on sight because Israel has no negotiating partner for peace on the Palestinians side.
Israelis who carry guns are righteous and honorable because Israel has the moral high ground.
Israel is an honest broker of the peace and the truth. Examples of cover-ups and distortions are brought to light by anti-Semitic extremists.
Palestinians can never be trusted to tell the truth, or when they expose the rare example of a media bias, it is overplayed. The repeated instances of over-reporting of Israeli deaths (where one death is reported repeatedly giving the impression of a higher death toll) and the under-reporting of Palestinian deaths (where they are simply not reported at all) are all singular events, and it is proof of anti-semitic press that this issue is even raised.
Even though our nation was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, we should overlook this idea when considering Israel because otherwise, we are being anti-semitic.
OK - satire mode off.
If we want peace in the Mideast, Israel must be held accountable.
Thank you Dr. Cole for providing this forum.
Regards,
I agree....please look at my diary on my blog and daily kos. I argued essentially what you said.
here's the site:
www.unscriptedandunedited.blogspot.com
thanks
agree...
Perhaps
it would be best
if we found some people
one from the Nicobar islands
another from central Chad
maybe an Aleut
and maybe a child of world class "protective parents"
who've never heard of IsraPalestinael,
or even monotheistic religions
For only they could be detached enough
to not deal
with the situation
with any emotion
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