Another Day in the Middle East
by
Rifat Audeh
I viewed with great horror - as I usually do- the
news the other day in the Occupied West Bank & Gaza of the
Middle East. Thinking of my family and friends in the area: 16 more
people killed.
The news was that a suicide bomber killed 7
Israelis, and Israel struck back by killing 9 Palestinians in the
occupied territories. As it was relayed across the media, the
suicide attack was described as "terrorist", the Israeli
attack as "retaliatory".[1]
While being an opponent of killing civilians in any
conflict or war anywhere in the world, this author is a strong
advocate of finding the root-cause of a peculiar situation. It is
because of the mass-media's skewed view of this root-cause, that
makes the relay of events here particularly disturbing.
To
better understand this tragic conflict, one must ask what would
drive a person to undertake a suicide mission? What type of tragedy
and desperation would force oneself to leave his/her loved ones
behind and give up their own life? Then one must note the frequency
of these suicide attacks in the Middle East. Hence, what is driving
so many people - relatively speaking- to embark on the same path
again and again? It would be shallow and naive to attempt to explain
the history and proportions of this conflict in a few lines. Yet one
must start to consider the historical facts of the situation. Here I
quote the Israeli writer Baruch Kimmerling: "Since 1967,
millions of Palestinians have been under a military occupation
without any civil rights, and most lacking even the most basic human
rights. The continuing circumstances of occupation and repression
give them, by any measure, the right to resist that occupation with
any means at their disposal and to rise up in violence against that
occupation."[2]
Truly and sadly enough, this Israeli
occupation has utilized many forms in repressing the Palestinians. '
Administrative detention' is one, in which Palestinians are arrested
for indefinite periods of time, without charges and without trial.
[3]
Demolition
of homes is also commonplace, with the most recent wave of
demolitions being in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza. This
demolition of homes is done arbitrarily by the Israeli government,
without any requirement of proof that the inhabitants committed any
offense. The Palestinians' land is routinely confiscated and
settlements are built upon it, which also contravenes international
law.
[4]
The Israeli occupation has put the Palestinians in a
state of siege, by blocking the roads and digging trenches around
the cities, effectively preventing people to travel from town to
town, but more importantly from getting to work.
The
bulldozing of thousands of olive trees, which constitute the
livelihood of many Palestinians, has also contributed to their
impoverishment. The Palestinian economy has reached an all-time low
and unemployment levels have rose to 48% . [5]
Young men are rounded up frequently in Palestinian
villages and detained. These detainments, that may last for hours on
end, include severe beatings and standing against walls with arms
raised above head at gunpoint.
The systematic torture of Palestinians in Israeli
prisons, the daily humiliations at checkpoints and invasion of homes
are more examples of life under occupation.
A whole
nation is being punished for the expansionistic passions of another.
As Robert Fisk of The Independent stated: "They (i.e. the
Israelis) have made the Palestinians so crushed, so desperate, so
humiliated that they have nothing to lose."
[6]
So after 34 years of illegal military occupation,
over 60 UN resolutions, and thousands of Palestinians killed,
wounded, deported and permanently disabled, the Israelis still
maintain that they are the victims of Palestinian terror. Yet until
Israel withdraws from the West Bank & Gaza, and until the
Nazi-like aggression against the Palestinian people ends, the cycle
of bloodshed will continue.
Notes:
[1]
See the report of Time
magazine's 'Tit-for-Tat Strikes Highlight the Depth of
Israeli-Palestinian Strife' of Friday May 18, 2001. www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,127056,00.html
[2]
Haaretz, March 27, 2001 Title: The right to resist, www.haaretz.co.il
[3]
See www.btselem.org,
B'tselem is an Israeli Human Rights organization.
[4]
See www.btselem.org,
B'tselem is an Israeli Human Rights organization.
[5]
See World Food Program Emergency
Report No. 09 dated March 2, 2001. www.wfp.org/ereport/2001/0302.htm
Palestinian Territory & The New York Times: Palestinians in a
State of Siege by Allegra Pacheco. March 16, 2001.
[6]
When Journalists refuse to tell
the truth about Israel by Robert Fisk, The Independent, April 17,
2001. www.independent.co.uk
Source:
by the same author:
