---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <[email protected]>
Date: 25 July 2014 15:44
Subject: JUST Media Statement - THE GAZA MASSACRE - The underlying motives
Dear Friends,
Peace!
Below is the latest article by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar for your reading
pleasure.
*THE GAZA MASSACRE ---- THE UNDERLYING MOTIVES.*
By Chandra Muzaffar
Massacre has become a habit. Every two or three years, Israel launches a
massive military assault upon largely unarmed Palestinians in Gaza. It did
this in December 2008 to January 2009. It did it again in November 2012. On
each occasion hundreds of Palestinians are murdered and thousands more
maimed.
Every time, Israel claims the moral high ground for its brutal, barbaric
action. It blames Hamas, an important component of the Palestinian
liberation movement, for the present cycle of violence. It alleges, without
an iota of proof, that Hamas was responsible for the kidnapping and killing
of three Israeli teens on 12 June 2014. Hamas has denied any involvement.
The death of the teens --- a despicable act --- provided the justification
for a large-scale operation against Hamas and other so-called militants.
Israeli authorities arrested a number of activists including those who were
released earlier.
While the global media has highlighted the killing of the Israeli teens, it
has ignored a critical bit of background information that may have a
connection with the tragic episode. On 15th May 2014, the Israeli army
killed two unarmed Palestinian teens and wounded a third. The media has
also failed to provide a context to this unconscionable murder of children
in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Between 29 September 2000 and 23 June
2014, 1,523 Palestinian children were killed by Israelis as against 129
Israeli children killed by Palestinians. It is also worth noting that
between the two dates, 6,876 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli
occupiers compared to 1,110 Israelis by Palestinians.
If the media has concealed these statistics from the public, it has also
presented a rather distorted picture of how the present violence had
unfolded. It is mainly because of the huge emotional torrent unleashed by
the anti-Arab venom spewed by some politicians and religious personalities
in the wake of the killing of the Israeli teens that some Israeli settlers
may have killed a Palestinian teen and burnt his body on the 2nd of July.
This incident --- not unexpectedly --- provoked thousands of Palestinians
to launch angry protests in not only Gaza but also the West Bank. The
Benjamin Netanyahu regime retaliated with harsh punitive measures including
missile strikes and the collective punishment of entire communities.
It is against this backdrop that one should look at the primitive rockets
launched by Hamas against targets in Israel. It is true that these rockets
have generated some fear among segments of the Israeli population but they
have not resulted in any deaths. On the contrary, they serve as "evidence"
for Netanyahu to convince the world that Israel is under threat and is
forced to defend itself and to protect its people. This is why one wonders
whether as a strategic option the rockets serve a purpose.
If anything, the rockets have helped to divert attention from the underlying
motives for Israel's current aggressive offensive. What are these motives?
One, the offensive, ostensibly directed at Hamas, actually demonstrates
Israel's overwhelming military power in the region. Its neighbours are
reminded at regular intervals that no one should try to trifle with West
Asia's most formidable armed forces. The projection of power in this manner
is consistent with Israel's singular obsession with its security. For the
nation's security, in the Israeli psyche, is equated with its ability to
dominate the region, militarily. Hence its opposition to any other state in
West Asia possessing even the remotest capacity to produce nuclear weapons.
Besides, Israel is determined to show friend and foe that it is above the
law, that the norms that apply to other states bear no relevance to it. It
is "exceptional" because the Jews are a "chosen people."
Two, the need to project its power is all the greater at this moment in
view of the reconciliation agreement reached between Hamas and its rival
Fatah on the 23rd of April 2014. Israel perceives a united Palestinian
liberation struggle as a major threat to its agenda of domination and
control through the strategy of divide and rule. If, as a result of a
Hamas-Fatah unity government, Gaza and the West Bank are brought together,
the Israeli plan of keeping them apart --- and weak --- will be thwarted.
Three, the Netanyahu regime is also worried that more and more people
especially in Europe are beginning to appreciate the justice of the
Palestinian cause as reflected in the growing support of big corporations
and universities for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign
against Israel's post -1967 occupation of Palestinian land. In order to
check this trend, Netanyahu is once again playing the victim card
especially with Europe in mind: Israel is still under a grave threat, its
survival is at stake. Do not abandon Israel.
Four, playing victim has acquired a new urgency in light of a recent
development. There is a strong possibility that Iran will come to some
understanding soon with the US and other big powers on its nuclear
programme. As we have hinted, for Israel, an oil-rich Iran with a strong
scientific base and a clear Islamic ideological orientation, is a challenge
to its security, read dominance. It explains why it has gone all out to
foil Iran's rapprochement with the US in particular. The present offensive
which attempts to link Hamas's rockets with Iran is both an endeavour to
make Iran look like the culprit and to underscore Israel's vulnerability.
Since the motives reveal an extremely myopic perspective on Israel's
interests, all the more reason why an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is
critical. Though there have been calls for a ceasefire from the United
Nations Security Council to NGOs, the parties involved especially Israel is
not prepared to heed. Perhaps NGOs and other civil society groups all over
the world should be more vocal and more persistent in demanding an
immediate cessation of conflict.
Needless to say, a ceasefire in itself is not a solution. There will
continue to be massacres of this sort in the future unless the fundamental
cause of the Israeli-Palestinian/ Arab conflict is addressed. It is widely
accepted that the root of the conflict is Israeli occupation of
Palestinian/Arab land. It is because of their situation--- their
dispossession ---that Palestinians and other Arabs are sometimes even
prepared to resort to violence in order to restore their dignity.
This is something that the Israeli elite and its backers in the West should
understand. As it has been said on numerous occasions, there will be no
security for Israelis unless there is justice for the Palestinians and
other Arabs.
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is President of the International Movement for a Just
World (JUST).
Malaysia.
15 July 2014.
International Movement for a Just World
JKR 1258, Section 5
Jalan Telok off Jalan Gasing
46000 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
03 7781 2497 (Phone)
03 7781 3245 (Fax)
www.just-international.org
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Peace Is Doable
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