I write this article to Western readers across the social and political spectrum as the Israeli war machine continues to massacre my people in Gaza. To date, almost 1,000 have been killed, nearly half of whom are women and children. Last week’s bombing of the UNRWA (UN Relief Works Agency) school in the Jabalya refugee camp was one of the most despicable crimes imaginable, as hundreds of civilians had abandoned their homes and sought refuge with the international agency only to be mercilessly shelled and bombed by Israel. Forty-six children and women were killed in that heinous attack while scores were injured.
Evidently, Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 did not end its occupation nor, as a result, its international obligations as an occupying power. It continued to control and dominate our borders by land, sea and air. Indeed the UN has confirmed that between 2005 and 2008, the Israeli army killed nearly 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children. For most of that period the border crossings have remained effectively closed, with only limited quantities of food, industrial fuel, animal feed and a few other essential items, allowed in.
Despite its frantic efforts to conceal it, the root cause of Israel’s criminal war on Gaza is the elections of January 2006, which saw Hamas win by a substantial majority. What occurred next was that Israel alongside the United States and the European Union joined forces in an attempt to quash the democratic will of the Palestinian people. They set about reversing the decision first by obstructing the formation of a national unity government and then by making a living hell for the Palestinian people through economic strangulation. The abject failure of all these machinations finally led to this vicious war. Israel’s objective is to silence all voices that express the will of the Palestinian; thereafter it would impose its own terms for a final settlement depriving us of our land, our right to Jerusalem as the rightful capital of our future state and the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes.
Ultimately, the comprehensive siege on Gaza, which manifestly violated the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibited the most basic medical supplies to our hospitals. It disallowed the delivery of fuel and supply of electricity to our population. And on top of all of this inhumanity, it denied them food and the freedom of movement, even to seek treatment. This led to the avoidable death of hundreds of patients and the spiralling rise of malnutrition among our children.
Palestinians are appalled that the members of the European Union do not view this obscene siege as a form of aggression. Despite the overwhelming evidence, they shamelessly assert that Hamas brought this catastrophe upon the Palestinian people because it did not renew the truce. Yet we ask, did Israel honour the terms of the ceasefire mediated by Egypt in June? It did not. The agreement stipulated a lifting of the siege and an end to attacks in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Despite our full compliance, the Israelis persisted in murdering Palestinians in Gaza as well as the West Bank during what became known as the year of the Annapolis peace.
None of the atrocities committed against our schools, universities, mosques, ministries and civil infra-structure would deter us in the pursuit of our national rights. Undoubtedly, Israel could demolish every building in the Gaza Strip but it would never shatter our determination or steadfastness to live in dignity on our land. Surely, if the gathering of civilians in a building only to then bomb it or the use of phosphorous bombs and missiles are not war crimes, then what is? How many more international treaties and conventions must Zionist Israel breach before it is held accountable? There is not a capital in the world today where free and decent people are not outraged by this brutal oppression. Neither Palestine nor the world would be the same after these crimes.
There is only one way forward and no other. Our condition for a new ceasefire is clear and simple. Israel must end its criminal war and slaughter of our people, lift completely and unconditionally its illegal siege of the Gaza Strip, open all our border crossings and completely withdraw from Gaza. After this we would consider future options. Ultimately, the Palestinians are a people struggling for freedom from occupation and the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital and the return of refugees to their villages from which they were expelled. Whatever the cost, the continuation of Israel’s massacres will neither break our will nor our aspiration for freedom and independence.
The writer is the Prime Minister of Gaza
http://youngfoxredux.blogspot.com/2009/01/take-walk-through-gaza.html
bastards
Totally Unrelated question;
Saker,
what is your opinion about “bunker buster” bombs? Are they effective? is there a practical counter? Couldn’t Israel use them to destroy all the Hizbullah bunkers without loosing a single man?
And if a bunker is so deep as to be impervious, how can you fight from it?
Thanx
@Lysander: bunker busting munitions do exist and they do the following: with a good guidance system then impact upon a designated target, penetrate to a specific depth thanks to a delayed fuse, and detonate. That’s it. If you know where to hit, and if the target is not too deep (less than 10 meters of reinforced concrete for non-nuclear devices) or too heavily protected, you can destroy it.
But first you need to FIND the target.
In modern warfare, as a general rule, the following rule is true: “if they can see you, you are dead”.
So the best way to defeat the enemy is to hide and not present a target. That is what Hezbollah does so well: it hides form sight, it does not present a target, it disperses its forces, it fights autonomously, it has redundant communications, etc.
Basically, what good are bunker busters if your enemy does not depend on the depth of his bunkers for survival?
Bunker busters are great to destroy aircraft in protected storage. They are good to hit some communication node. But the real important stuff will be either hidden REALLY deep or dispersed.
Believe me, there ain’t nothing out there that Israel has not already used from the air. Little good did it do them.
HTH, cheers!
VS
Thanx!
I feel better now. But we heard so much about the Hizbullah bunker system in ’06. With air conditioning, fire positions, etc. Even if the Israelis didn’t know of them at first, they must have traced them as soon as they received fire.
Unless, of course, those bunkers were a great exaggeration and that mostly Hizb fought above ground in 3-5 man teams and inflicted damage with longer range anti-tank weapons?
@Lysander: bunkers can be great, really. I once spend several weeks buried under *hundreds* of feet of granite in a huge bunker which served as an Army HQ in case of war. Neat stuff, really.
But in Lebanon the bunkers would be much smaller, used as weapons caches, tunnels, medical posts, etc. I am sure that these bunkers helped Hezbollah, but that is not why the Israelis lost. Nor a ‘super advanced’ Russian antitank weapons. The Israelis lost because of Hezbollah’s fighting spirit and combat skills. But mainly, the Israelis lost because they are crappy soldiers.
Take away all of Hezbollah’s bunkers, and they *still* will win, trust me,
Cheers!
VS