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Gaza under fire

Published 08 January 2009

Every war Israel has waged since 1948 has had the same objective: expulsion of the native people and theft of more land. But why are we in the west silent on this truth?

Palestinians mourn their dead in the wake of the Israeli strike on a UN school in Gaza

Gaza under fire

"When the truth is replaced by silence," the Soviet dissident Yevgeny Yevtushenko said, "the silence is a lie." It may appear that the silence on Gaza is broken. The small cocoons of murdered children, wrapped in green, together with boxes containing their dismembered parents, and the cries of grief and rage of everyone in that death camp by the sea can be witnessed on al-Jazeera and YouTube, even glimpsed on the BBC. But Russia's incorrigible poet was not referring to the ephemera we call news; he was asking why those who knew the why never spoke it, and so denied it. Among the Anglo-American intelligentsia, this is especially striking. It is they who hold the keys to the great storehouses of knowledge: the historiographies and archives that lead us to the why.

They know that the horror now raining on Gaza has little to do with Hamas or, absurdly, "Israel's right to exist". They know the opposite to be true: that Palestine's right to exist was cancelled 61 years ago and that the expulsion and, if necessary, extinction of the indigenous people was planned and executed by the founders of Israel. They know, for example, that the infamous "Plan D" of 1947-48 resulted in the murderous depopulation of 369 Palestinian towns and villages by the Haganah (Israeli army) and that massacre upon massacre of Palestinian civilians in such places as Deir Yassin, al-Dawayima, Eilaboun, Jish, Ramle and Lydda are referred to in official records as "ethnic cleansing". Arriving at a scene of this carnage, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, was asked by a general, Yigal Allon: "What shall we do with the Arabs?" Ben-Gurion, reported the Israeli historian Benny Morris, "made a dismissive, energetic gesture with his hand and said, 'Expel them'".

The order to expel an entire population "without attention to age" was signed by Yitzhak Rabin, a future prime minister promoted by the world's most efficient propaganda as a peacemaker. The terrible irony of this was addressed only in passing, such as when the Mapam party co-leader Meir Ya'ari noted "how easily" Israel's leaders spoke of how it was "possible and permissible to take women, children and old men and to fill the road with them because such is the imperative of strategy. And this we say . . . who remember who used this means against our people during the [Second World] War . . . I am appalled."

Every subsequent "war" Israel has waged has had the same objective: the expulsion of the native people and the theft of more and more land. The lie of David and Goliath, of perennial victim, reached its apogee in 1967 when the propaganda became a righteous fury that claimed the Arab states had struck first against Israel. Since then, mostly Jewish truth-tellers such as Avi Shlaim, Noam Chomsky, Tanya Reinhart, Neve Gordon, Tom Segev, Uri Avnery, Ilan Pappé and Norman Finkelstein have undermined this and other myths and revealed a state shorn of the humane traditions of Judaism, whose unrelenting militarism is the sum of an expansionist, lawless and racist ideology called Zionism. "It seems," wrote the Israeli historian Pappé on 2 January, "that even the most horrendous crimes, such as the genocide in Gaza, are treated as discrete events, unconnected to anything that happened in the past and not associated with any ideology or system . . . Very much as the apartheid ideology explained the oppressive policies of the South African government, this ideology - in its most consensual and simplistic variety - allowed all the Israeli governments in the past and the present to dehumanise the Palestinians wherever they are and strive to destroy them. The means altered from period to period, from location to location, as did the narrative covering up these atrocities. But there is a clear pattern [of genocide]."

In Gaza, the enforced starvation and denial of humanitarian aid, the piracy of life-giving resources such as fuel and water, the denial of medicines, the systematic destruction of infrastructure and killing and maiming of the civilian population, 50 per cent of whom are children, fall within the international standard of the Genocide Convention. "Is it an irresponsible overstatement," asked Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and international law authority at Princeton University, "to associate the treatment of Palestinians with this criminalised Nazi record of collective atrocity? I think not."

In describing a “holocaust-in-the making”, Falk was alluding to the Nazis’ establishment of Jewish ghettos in Poland. For one month in 1943, the captive Polish Jews, led by Mordechaj Anielewicz, fought off the German army and the SS, but their resistance was finally crushed and the Nazis exacted their final revenge. Falk is also a Jew. Today’s holocaust-in-the-making, which began with Ben-Gurion’s Plan D, is in its final stages. The difference today is that it is a joint US-Israeli project. The F-16 jet fighters, the 250lb “smart” GBU-39 bombs supplied on the eve of the attack on Gaza, having been approved by a Congress dominated by the Democratic Party, plus the annual $2.4bn in warmaking “aid”, give Washington de facto control. It beggars belief that President-elect Obama was not informed. Outspoken about Russia’s war in Georgia and the terrorism in Mumbai, Obama has maintained a silence on Palestine that marks his approval, which is to be expected, given his obsequiousness to the Tel Aviv regime and its lobbyists during the presidential campaign and his appointment of Zionists as his secretary of state and principal Middle East advisers. When Aretha Franklin sings “Think”, her wonderful 1960s anthem to freedom, at Obama’s inauguration on 20 January, I trust someone with the brave heart of Muntader al-Zaidi, the shoe-thrower, will shout: “Gaza!”

The asymmetry of conquest and terror is clear. Plan D is now "Operation Cast Lead", which is the unfinished "Operation Justified Vengeance". This was launched by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 when, with George W Bush's approval, he used F-16s against Palestinian towns and villages for the first time.

Why are the academics and teachers silent? Are British universities now no more than “intellectual Tescos”?

In that same year, the authoritative Jane's Foreign Report disclosed that the Blair government had given Israel the "green light" to attack the West Bank after it was shown Israel's secret designs for a bloodbath. It was typical of new Labour's enduring complicity in Palestine's agony. However, the Israeli plan, reported Jane's, needed the "trigger" of a suicide bombing which would cause "numerous deaths and injuries [because] the 'revenge' factor is crucial". This would "motivate Israeli soldiers to demolish the Palestinians". What alarmed Sharon and the author of the plan, General Shaul Mofaz, then Israeli chief of staff, was a secret agreement between Yasser Arafat and Hamas to ban suicide attacks. On 23 November 2001 Israeli agents assassinated the Hamas leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud and got their "trigger": the suicide attacks resumed in response to his killing.

Something uncannily similar happened on 4 November last year when Israeli special forces attacked Gaza, killing six people. Once again, they got their propaganda "trigger": a ceasefire sustained by the Hamas government - which had imprisoned its violators - was shattered as a result of the Israeli attacks, and home-made rockets were fired into what used to be called Palestine before its Arab occupants were "cleansed". On 23 December, Hamas offered to renew the ceasefire, but Israel's charade was such that its all-out assault on Gaza had been planned six months earlier, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Behind this sordid game is the "Dagan Plan", named after General Meir Dagan, who served with Sharon during his bloody invasion of Leba non in 1982. Now head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence organisation, Dagan is the author of a "solution" that has brought about the imprisonment of Palestinians behind a ghetto wall snaking across the West Bank and in Gaza, now effectively a concentration camp. The establishment of a quisling government in Ramallah, under Mahmoud Abbas, is Dagan's achievement, together with a hasbara (propaganda) campaign, relayed through mostly supine, if intimidated western media, notably in the US, which say Hamas is a terrorist organisation devoted to Israel's destruction and is to "blame" for the massacres and siege of its own people over two generations, since long before its creation. "We have never had it so good," said the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Gideon Meir in 2006. "The hasbara effort is a well-oiled machine."

In fact, Hamas's real threat is its example as the Arab world's only democratically elected government, drawing its popularity from its resistance to the Palestinians' oppressor and tormentor. This was demonstrated when Hamas foiled a CIA coup in 2007, an event ordained in the western media as "Hamas's seizure of power". Likewise, Hamas is never described as a government, let alone democratic. Neither is its proposal of a ten-year truce reported as a historic recognition of the "reality" of Israel and support for a two-state solution with just one condition: that the Israelis obey international law and end their illegal occupation beyond the 1967 borders. As every annual vote in the UN General Assembly demonstrates, most states agree. On 4 January, the president of the General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto, described the Israeli attack on Gaza as a "monstrosity".

When the monstrosity is done and the people of Gaza are even more stricken, the Dagan Plan foresees what Sharon called a "1948-style solution" - the destruction of all Palestinian leadership and authority, followed by mass expulsions into smaller and smaller "cantonments", and perhaps, finally, into Jordan. This demolition of institutional and educational life in Gaza is designed to produce, wrote Karma Nabulsi, a Palestinian exile in Britain, "a Hobbesian vision of an anarchic society: truncated, violent, powerless, destroyed, cowed . . . Look to the Iraq of today: that is what [Sharon] had in store for us, and he has nearly achieved it."

Dr Dahlia Wasfi is an American writer on Iraq and Palestine. She has a Jewish mother and an Iraqi Muslim father. "Holocaust denial is anti-Semitic," she wrote on 31 December. "But I'm not talking about the World War II, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [the president of Iran] or Ashkenazi Jews. What I'm referring to is the holocaust we are all witnessing and responsible for in Gaza today and in Palestine over the past 60 years . . . Since Arabs are Semites, US-Israeli policy doesn't get more anti-Semitic than this." She quoted Rachel Corrie, the young American who went to Palestine to defend Palestinians and was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer. "I am in the midst of a genocide," wrote Corrie, "which I am also indirectly supporting, and for which my government is largely responsible."

Reading the words of both, I am struck by the use of "responsibility". Breaking the lie of silence is not an esoteric abstraction, but an urgent responsibility that falls to those with the privilege of a platform. With the BBC cowed, so too is much of journalism, merely allowing vigorous debate within unmovable, invisible boundaries, ever fearful of the smear of anti-Semitism. The unreported news, meanwhile, is that the death toll in Gaza is the equivalent of 18,000 dead in Britain. Imagine, if you can.

Then there are the academics, the deans and teachers and researchers. Why are they silent as they watch a university bombed and hear the Association of University Teachers in Gaza plead for help? Are British universities now, as Terry Eagleton believes, no more than “intellectual Tescos, churning out a commodity known as graduates rather than greengroceries”?

Then there are the writers. In the dark year of 1939, the Third American Writers' Congress was held at Carnegie Hall in New York and the likes of Thomas Mann and Albert Einstein sent messages and spoke up to ensure that the lie of silence was broken. By one account, 2,500 jammed the auditorium. Today, this mighty voice of realism and morality is said to be obsolete; the literary review pages affect an ironic hauteur of irrelevance; false symbolism is all. As for the readers, their moral and political imagination is to be pacified, not primed. The anti-Muslim Martin Amis expressed this well in Visiting Mrs Nabo kov: "The dominance of the self is not a flaw, it is an evolutionary characteristic; it is just how things are."

If that is how things are, we are diminished as a civilised people. For what happens in Gaza is the defining moment of our time, which either grants war criminals impunity and immunity through our silence, while we contort our own intellect and morality, or it gives us the power to speak out. For the moment I prefer my own memory of Gaza: of the people's courage and resistance and their "luminous humanity", as Karma Nabulsi put it. On my last trip there, I was rewarded with a spectacle of Palestinian flags fluttering in unlikely places. It was dusk and children had done this. No one had told them to do it. They made flagpoles out of sticks tied together, and a few of them climbed on to a wall and held the flag between them, some silently, others crying out. They do this every day when they know foreigners are leaving, in the belief that the world will not forget them.

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217 comments from readers

newarkhero
08 January 2009 at 10:48

The author of this article labels Hamas a democratic government? I recall just a few weeks ago how they were killing their political rivals in bloody attacks. This article is full of logic holes and is clearly is a lip service piece of shock-value journalism for an author who's celebrity status is waning. Israel forcefully deported thousands of their own jewish people just a few years ago and razed their homes down to give way to Gaza's development. This is not about hatred or racism on Israel's part. This is about an ethnic minority surviving in the midst of an Arab world intolerant of its existance and the broader support of antisemites and pro islamist media such as yourselves.

pete999
08 January 2009 at 11:11

I always find that hurling your opponents out the window really enhances that democratic legitimacy Hamas has earned so well...

I'm amazed an article so full of half truths, lies and distortions can get through, perhaps the NS struggles to afford editors these days. I will just ask one question though, if every Israeli war is about territory then where are the settlements in the Siani and pleasure resorts on the Suez canal?

ometepe08
08 January 2009 at 11:15

The essence of the article is correct.

It shouldn`t be necessary for these arguments to be repeated, but for the Israeli hold over Western media.

I am no friend of Islam or Arabs, but the truth must be faced.

Claddach
08 January 2009 at 11:17

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a war, and it won't be over until someone wins. If Mr Pilger chooses to take the Palestinian side, so be it. Many writers and intellectuals chose Nazism and many more Communism. They were as wrong as Pilger is wrong now. His usual over wrought hysterical interpretation will make as much difference as a ‘’Der Stuermer’’ editorial. It will encourage the fanatics and Islamofascist sympathisers and be seen for the nonsense it is by the sane. The only certainty is that Israel (and the US) will prevail and Islamic fascism will be defeated.

Gerry Myer
08 January 2009 at 12:13

Foreign Secretary Milliband on the BBC1 TV 10pm News for 7th January stated that the conflict all started with Hamas firing rockets into Israel. How wet behind the ears is it possible to be? Like ometepe08, I am no friend of Islam, or indeed of any religion, but I have taken the trouble to learn the history of the Israelis-Palestine saga. When the Israeli propaganda machine refers to Hamas as "terrorists" it conveniently forgets the atrocities of the Stern Gang - the original Jewish terrorists.

Pilger is correct: we are fed a highly partisan account of the Middle East. Blair 's remedy is to stop the trafficking of arms across the Egyptian-Gaza border but these are mere peashooters compared with the military hardware lavished on Israel by the USA, about which he makes not a murmur.

If there is to be a "two state solution" then there must be extensive restitution of land to the Arabs or permanent peace will be an illusion. However, as in the partition of India, a 2-state solution would be an admission that the bigotries founded of religious differences have triumphed, and the festering wound will never heal completely.

If there is to be any hope for our species, humans have to learn just that; we all belong to a single species. The only truly successful end to this war would be the creation of a single secular state with equal rights and obligations for all citizens.

Law
08 January 2009 at 12:16

The criminal and murderous bombing of civilian areas

by the IDF does not absolve Hamas of deliberately

targeting civilians. Nor are they democrats. They have

shown themselves to be capable of behaving in a

thoroughly undemocratic fashion even if

democratically elected.

Hamas are a nadir in 60 years of Palestinian political

leadership. To fully expose Israeli abuse they should

pursue a strategy that exposes Israeli violence, land

theft and thuggery in the face of non-violent

resistance.

Tim Gopsill
08 January 2009 at 12:17

To Newarkhero:

To call the Hamas government 'democratic' in this context means simply that it was democratically elected. Pilger makes this perfectly clear. You can acknowledge that without condoning what it does -- the world is full of democratically-elected governments that do not behave democratically once they take power - unless you are wilfully blind to it.

Hamas's victory was validated by election monitors and was considerably more solid and transparent than both of George Bush's, for instance.

Of course you are not alone in this deliberate oversight. Pilger is right that the bulk of reporting and commentary that does the same is seriously misrepresenting the position.

rado
08 January 2009 at 12:33

can anyone explain to me, since there are no rockets being launched and NO sucide bombers, why Israel has not left the West Bank? A world without Zionism - what a wonderful world indeed!!

OrwellianUK
08 January 2009 at 12:46

Claddach - how can you be so completely upside

down in your judgement? It is the Israeli policy of

genocide; well documented albeit supressed which is

the Nazism here. John Pilger does not 'take the

Palestinian side' as you dishonestly claim - he merely

does what he has always done - speak out for the

poor and helpless when they are being oppressed

and murdered by the brutality of the

Military/Propaganda machines of the Powerful.

I can guarantee you, that if what is happening in Gaza

were happening to a Jewish community somewhere

in the world, Pilger would be the first to condemn it

and reveal the historical truths censored by our media.

If you truly want examples of facism, you need look no

further than US foreign policy and Israeli policy

towards Palestine. Contrary to your unqualified

assertion, this is not a war. It is an organised and

gradual genocide by the 4th biggest military power on

the planet backed by the largest, against one of the

poorest societies in the world.

Or perhaps you are choosing to be wilfully ignorant in

believing the US/Israeli/UK propaganda which far

outweighs anything Hamas can manage and which

follows a simple rule:

Their violence: 'Terrorism'

Our violence: 'Defending Democracy'

Read George Orwell's 1984 and this will become

evident.

pilger
08 January 2009 at 12:58

"A world without Zionism - what a wonderful world indeed!!"

Indeed. I do enjoy how it's somehow... Unacceptable to be anti-semitic in this day and age. Let's be clear- Judaism is a belief, like Christianity, Islam, racism, homophobia, and all these other beliefs that the world needs less of. Im anti-semitic. Why? Because their book is aggressive, violent, and anti-everyone else. Sorry! Try reading it.

FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 13:01

# Law, what a self-righteous hypocrite you are. From the comfort of your home, you dictate what is and is not appropriate for the victims of decades of violent oppression. Israeli abuse has already been "fully exposed" since 1948 and earlier but you certainly seem to want it cut and dried as well, uhh. A typical craven legalist avoiding your own culpability in supporting the travesty of justice by the UN which allowed it and continues to accept it.

BTW, there has also been another Gaza topic running for the past few days "Israel's targets in Gaza" http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2009/01/israel-targe...

Gideon Polya
08 January 2009 at 13:32

Excellent article by John Pilger.

The evil LYING by the racist Zionist (RZ) Apartheid Israelis is revealed by their claim that they are devastating Gaza because of "Gaza missile terror" - this is a further example of the racist Zionist (RZ) "terror" Big Lie .

Testament to the success of this remorseless racist Zionist (RZ) LYING - at a Melbourne lunch party last Sunday 11 Australians (all professionals variously in law, medicine, teaching, librarianship, academia, accountancy or engineering) gave estimates of the number of Israelis killed by Gaza missiles ranging from 10 to 200,000 (the REALITY from official Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs data: TWENTY EIGHT (28) in 8 years).

The 21st century "annual homicide rate" in deaths per million of population is 0.5 (Israelis from Gaza missiles), 15 (Israelis by Israelis), 56 (Americans), 100 (Americans by guns), 164 (Palestinians killed violently by Israelis), 200 (African-Americans), 473 (Citizens of Detroit, Michigan, USA) and 902 per million (annual Palestinian non-violent deaths through war criminal, Geneva Convention-violating Israeli-imposed deprivation).

The US Air Force should flatten Detroit because the "annual homicide rate" in Detroit is ONE THOUSAND (1,000) times that of Israelis from Gaza rockets and mortars? (For details and discussion see "Zionist Lie & Gaza Massacre. Lunch Exposes pro-Zionist Media Lies over Israeli Atrocities": http://mwcnews.net/content/view/27683/42/ ).

The "Indigenous"/"Invader" reprisals "death ratio" was 10 million/2,000 = 5,000 (1857 Indian Mutiny and aftermath), 335/33 =10 (1944 Hitler-ordered Nazi Ardeatine Massacre in Rome) and (latest data) 702 Gaza Palestinians /6 Israelis killed by Gazans = 117 (current OBSCENE Gaza Massacre by Apartheid Israel) (see "Indigenous"/"Invader" death ratios in Indian Mutiny (5,000), by Nazis (10) & Israeli Gaza Massacre (117) " : http://gideon.sulekha.com/blog/post/2009/01/indigenous-invad... ).

Mephisto
08 January 2009 at 15:39

At last John Pilger puts down in words exactly what all right thinking people know to be true. I can't believe that Israel is still getting away with this. What will it take for our Governments to do the right thing?

FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 15:51

Mephisto: "At last John Pilger puts down in words...".

Premiere of Pilger's 'Palestine is still the issue' - Electronic Intifada, 10 September 2002:

"...John Pilger's documentary 'Palestine is still the issue' had its premiere today in London at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. After showing their latest film, both Pilger and his producer Christopher Martin appeared on stage and took questions..... Pilger wrote in the New Statesman, 'if you got your news only from the television, you would have no idea of the roots of the Middle East conflict, or that the Palestinians are victims of an illegal military occupation.'

The film sees Pilger return to the Middle East, twenty-five years after first reporting from the region, to ask why Palestinians are still refugees in their own land and to explore the effects of the Israeli occupation on the day to day lives of ordinary Palestinians..... http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article655.shtml

Palestine is Still the Issue - a documentarey by John Pilger (52 min.):-

"...what the occupation did for us..... it reduced us into enemies..."

"...occupation has become the cancer that is eating the lives of both people..."

"...this is a huge bluff of the Israeli establishment..... that every criticism of its policies is anti-Semitism..."

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1259454859593416473

JANUARY -

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- A boat carrying international peace activists and medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip was turned back and damaged by the Israeli navy..... (scroll down for pics).....

"Sudanese Sami al-Hajj, right, a cameraman for the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera Television who spent six years in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay before being freed earlier this year, is welcomed after arriving aboard the vessel SS Dignity, from the group Free Gaza, in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon..." http://sweetness-light.com/archive/mckinney-aid-to-terrorist...

Miriam
08 January 2009 at 15:56

I suppose it is to be expected that anything Pilger writes will be targetted by po-Zionists. The article is very timely and a much needed summary of the events that have led up to this latest round of Israeli murder in Palestine - especially given that the narrative is so frequently dated from a point well beyond the genesis of the problem. Thus, the alleged breaking of the ceasefire by Hamas rockets conveniently ignores that it was Israel who broke it first of all on the 4th of November. Ditto with its attack on Lebanon. Israel first kidnapped civilians but when IDF soldiers were kidnapped in response, it howled in outrage and the world media followed suit. Thus the Israelis were 'detaining' while the Lebanese were 'kidnapping'. See how it goes?

FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 16:00

Quote: "Israeli officials said Hamas had also acquired dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles with an even longer range. Many feared it was only a matter of time before the nuclear installation at Dimona, 30km east of Beersheba, falls within Hamas's sights. Dimona houses Israel's only nuclear reactor and is believed to be where it stores warheads for its nuclear missiles..." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24866270-...

Cybertiger
08 January 2009 at 16:15

Gerry Myer accurately said,

“The only truly successful end to this war would be the creation of a single secular state with equal rights and obligations for all citizens.”

Jackasses led by jackals (and vice versa), the Israeli democracy repeatedly sabotages any chance of a two state solution, leaving the one state solution as the final default. A tragedy of idiocy, the Jewish Nation is surely the epitome of cruel stupidity.

writeon
08 January 2009 at 16:20

There's not just a 'war' going on in Gaza, though an attack on this scale by state with a massive and sophisticated military machine, a real army, navy and airforce, against a lightly armed militia, which is more of less defenceless, can hardly be described as a war or even a battle in the conventional sense.

What this crime resembles, is the vicious attack by the ruthles and well-armed, SS and regular German Army on the corageous Jewish resistance forces inside the Warsaw Ghetto, and it'¨ll probably have the same historic and symbolic significance. Gaza may be flattened and Hamas destroyed, but Israel will lose morally. It's like the 300 Spartans fighting against the Persian host. They lost, but they still won and their sacrifice is still remembered, turning into an history and legend.

Eventually, maybe not right now, but eventually the corrupt kings and generals that we support in the Arab world will be thrown out by their own people, one way or another, and the slaughter in Gaza will be remembered.

Then Israel will only have two friends in the whole world, the United States and it's massive nuclear arsenal. That's the future for Israel. It's creating and nuturing a tidal wave of hatred, which is only kept in check by a handful of crooks in the Arab countries who've sold out their own people for gold and power.

If Israel's leaders were intelligent they'ed make a peace deal with the Arabs now, before the tide of hatred becomes totally uncontrolable and sets the entire region on fire. Israel's military supremacy won't last for ever, so it's stupid to rely on it for security. War won't make Israel secure, only peace will.

The logic of Israel's policies are leading towards Israel eventually being 'forced' to use it's nuclear weapons in a bitter and terrible war of survival. The thought of Israel, of all people, wiping Arab cities off the map, unleashing a holocaust, slaughtering milllions, is just too perverse and horrible to imagine.

Cybertiger
08 January 2009 at 16:33

Law said,

“To fully expose Israeli abuse they should pursue a strategy that exposes Israeli violence, land theft and thuggery in the face of non-violent resistance.”

Non violent resistance may have defeated the British in India but it will never, ever end the lawless Israeli occupation of Palestine. If there were an end to Palestinian violence, then Israel would always provoke it, as a prelude to resisting a non violent, fairly negotiated end to Israeli land thieving.

Hugo Chav
08 January 2009 at 16:43

Why are people still support Israel's action. Are they blind - or just inhuman?

sara
08 January 2009 at 16:43

Thank you Mr John Pilger,

I was suffering for days trying to express my feelings when I watch TV.I wish I could write and be honest as good as you SIR

sara
08 January 2009 at 16:48

Thank you SIR for this article, wish Politicians could have a mind and aheart like yours

Dave
08 January 2009 at 18:05

I don't believe Israel can be expected to sit by and do nothing whilst their neighbour keeps firing missiles at their citizens. If we take Hamas at their word, and the same degree of military superiority lay with them, in the absence of external intervention would Israel not be wiped out?

Rhythmist
08 January 2009 at 18:09

Gerry Meyer "Blair 's remedy is to stop the trafficking of arms across the Egyptian-Gaza border but these are mere peashooters compared with the military hardware lavished on Israel by the USA, about which he makes not a murmur" :

The tunnels into Gaza are reminiscent of the tunnel that formed Sarajevo's only lifeline while under siege from Serbian forces. This tunnel was tiny (i know, iv walked down what's left of it), Bosnians were forced to haul any food supplies they could through this, with very little oxygen/ light.

If people are sceptical as to whether these tunnels are providing Palestinians with food, heres and extract from an email i recieved from a journo. working in Gaza, dated 17/12/2008:

"[...]when you consider that Gaza is being kept alive through the smuggling of food, fuel and medicine through an exploitative industry of over 1000 tunnels running from Egypt to Rafah in the South. On average 1-2 people die every week in the tunnels. Some embark on a humiliating crawl to get their education, see their families, to find work, on their hands and knees. Others are reportedly big enough to drive through" Ewa Jasiewicz

If these tunnels are closed, then the Palestinians will loose the only routes into their homes that dont have the Israeli military in the way.

The mere fact that Tony Blair is a peace envoy to the Middle-East after what he did in Iraq is sickening.

pugnax
08 January 2009 at 18:20

God bless the courageous Jews who cry out against cruel Zionistic violence and sophistry (even here in America-- to some extent). Why are there not more of them? And God bless John Pilger and his intellectual and moral clarity. (As an agnostic, I concede the "God bless" is strictly figurative ... but it conveys my feeling.)

Dan
08 January 2009 at 18:39

Excellent, another master piece from Pilger.

Dan
08 January 2009 at 18:46

Here is an account of Norwegian doctor in Gaza.

Israel intentionally targeting civilians.

"I've seen one military person among the tens -- I mean, hundreds -- we have seen and treated. So, anybody who tries to claim this as sort of a clean war against another army are lying"

Listen to his interview here:

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Norwegian_doctor_in_Gaza_Israe...

bmaque
08 January 2009 at 20:22

I totally endorse the sentiment expressed by Pugnax; right now, Jews who have the courage to stand up and speak out at what is being done in their name are at the top of the moral totem pole in my opinion. For me, only the courage of Jews with a determination to shatter the lies and carnage perpetuated in their name,can help counteract the outrageously lible of anti-semitism that is cynically used to respress critcism of Israel within the western media. Imagine the enormous impact someone like Stephen Speilberg could have on shattering public perception in the US if he had the courage to take the initial venom that would be flung at him. I suspect there are many liberal-leaning Jews in the US who are uncomfortable at what is going on but frankly, to call a spade a spade, with genocide taking place in their name, they need to do more than just wring their hands in silent protest.

bmaque
08 January 2009 at 20:53

As a seperate post, I'd like to say that it appears blatantly obvious that Isreal needs perpetual wars. It's only through showing off the shinny new (lethal) toys donated by Uncle Sam each year, that it can somehow justify the billions of tax dolars foxed out by American tax-payers each year. Dollars that are used to bolster the Israeli war machine, dollars which are soaked in blood. Its only be perpetuating the myth of imminet destruction that they can sell this lie. The truth is; Isreal is arguably the most dangerous, agressive and reckless state in the world today. Like a child with a chip on its shoulder given licence by the school bully to vent its malice and voilence on others. Remove the bully from the equation and what will see is a vulnerable, insecure child, fightened of the retribution that might be coming its way and knowing that sympathy will be thin on the ground. It's not a case of if things will change, its a question of when.

writeon
08 January 2009 at 22:46

I don't think that perpetual wars benefit ordinary Israelis, but they do benefit the most reactionary and nationalist elements among the political leadership. But of course they are really criminals who are prepared to slaughter hundreds of Palestinian civilians for temporary political and electoral advantage, to show how tough and resolute they are, to show what real leadership is, and what real leaders are made of. They are totally cynical and very dangerous individuals, that should be charged with warcrimes. They actually like creating an atmosphere, a seige mentality in Israel, patriotic fervour, as this splits and undermines opposition to the rule of the nationalists.

What's tragic is that 'peace' with the Arabs is possible. The Arab nations, Fata and Hamas have all agreed, more or less, on a strategy of acceptance and recognition of Israel inside it's pre-67 borders. This is a good deal. Israel shouldn't be too greedy.

But the Israeli politicians aren't really interested in a half-way just peace. They want total surrender and are dreaming that they can eventually drive all the Palestinians and the Israeli Arabs out, one way or another, by making life hell for them, like in Gaza and the West Bank. This is an insane policy, seemingly designed to create perpetual war. Injustice on such a collosal scale, taking all of Palestine, leaving the Palestinians cowed, caged and crushed in tiny reservations, won't succeed in weakening them, it will only make them stronger and more determined to take back their historic homeland, even if it takes a thousand years.

amarita
08 January 2009 at 22:47

If anyone denies these are crimes against humanity, they are truly despicable:

http://portail.islamboutique.fr/gaza2008/

Claddach
08 January 2009 at 23:03

If you Google the terms "John Pilger and debate or even "John Pilger" and debate isn't it interesting how many "hits" you return. I'm not talking about the references when Pilger refuses to debate, which is often, or the mentions of debate in other articles, but the lack of any 'face to face' debates. That is when Pilger is debating his point of view with another person. Or even on a discussion panel being questioned in a studio debate. There's not one example. I'll leave that to your own prejudice to decide why this is so. I think I know why.

Pencils
08 January 2009 at 23:24

Weird that no-one sees fit to comment on a comment, signed 'pilger', where he explains why he is an anti-semite. Does anyone really believe that John Pilger wrote this? For once this is a post on which our editor could profitably exercise his well-honed deletion skills.

Having said that, I fully endorse the argument of that comment. While I too am against any religion, though, I think it also important to point out the unarguable superiority of universal religions like Christianity and Islam over a religion that offers salvation only to ( or at least with a heavy bias to) those of a particular descent.

ikotubo
09 January 2009 at 00:14

By adopting this over-indulgent attitude towards Israel, Western leaders have created a demonic entity which will one day turn round to haunt them.

Surely, whatever they think of Palestinian lives, it cannot be right for these leaders to condone the killing of UN and Red Cross workers! And it's not as if such atrocities only started in Gaza. It started with the murder, in 1948, of UN Envoy, Count Bernadotte and his staff, for daring to propose a peaceful resolution leading to a two-State solution. The fact that Count Bernadotte had personally negotiated the release of over 30,000 concentration camp inmates (mostly Jews) was not enough to save him.

In recent times, we have, of course, witnessed: the massacre of 17,500, almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon; 1,700 Palestinian civilians killed in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians; etc. Even the Nazis did sometimes respect the Red Cross!!!

What do these people really have to do to attract international condemnation - and more importantly, the punishment of those concerned? Or are Western leaders really wedded to the frightening idea of Israelis being "God's chosen people," and therefore beyond reproach? Can you all imagine what this world would be like today if world leaders had chosen to indulge a certain advocate of the same ideology, namely, Mr Hitler?

alhagar
09 January 2009 at 01:27

A few years ago I would have

felt this commentary extreme.

Not any more

Claddach
09 January 2009 at 02:10

FOR decades, Israel's history shows a general pattern: its neighbours attack, Israel responds, Israel wins the war, and the world rushes to ensure that its victory is limited or nullified. If, as sometimes happens, the diplomatic process really improves the situation and provides progress for peace that, of course, is beneficial.

Yet Israel's experience has shown that international promises made in return for its material concessions are often broken.

In order to resolve this crisis, the international community must co-operate in the removal of the Hamas regime. It is an illegal government, brought to power by an unprovoked war against the Palestinian Authority (PA), which was the internationally recognised regime in the Gaza Strip. Hamas may have won the elections but it then seized total power, suspended representative government, and destroyed the opposition. Sound familiar?

Moreover, Hamas is a radical terrorist group that openly uses anti-Semitic rhetoric and actively seeks to wipe Israel off the map.

lavinia moore
09 January 2009 at 02:39

What a superb article John!

I remember when I was still a child, battling with my father over numerous issues, and hearing him say over and over again " That is the way it is".

That is the way thing are.

Meaning, you cannot do anything about it.

My answer then is the same answer I give now.

It may be how things are but it does not have to be that way. because it is down to us- us human beings, us citizens, us men and women of the world.

It is up to us.

We can choose to leave things as they are, or we can do what we can to change things.

Speaking up is a first and a necessary step.

Having the courage to speak up against those who abuse their power is a necessary step.

thankyou John.

sweety
09 January 2009 at 02:45

We cannot grasp your perverse reality, juvenile obsessiveness like Gazza's past fans. If you say lives are important at this very moment the Tamil's are losing far more civilians past and present, your silence is so illustrative. Your Mc.Brand pick and mix politics is so alien to Fabian beliefs!

loyaltothetruth
09 January 2009 at 06:25

Just a few point for all of you with selective memory here please explain to me why if isreal wantsto steal land in the gaza strip as john pilger says, did isreal pull all its settlement and troops out of there more then three years ago. Kind of irrational behavior wouldn't you say.

geninue question by the way I await you're attempt to justify such a absurd position.

Riaz Ahmad
09 January 2009 at 10:08

Murder of Palistinean children although carried out by Israel has full approval of the western governments, it became more than obvious the way America, Britain and France behaved during the UN resolution.

PlanetStarbucks
09 January 2009 at 14:50

loyaltothetruth wrote:

"Just a few point for all of you with selective memory here please explain to me why if isreal wantsto steal land in the gaza strip as john pilger says, did isreal pull all its settlement and troops out of there more then three years ago. Kind of irrational behavior wouldn't you say".

Chomsky answers this (to no doubt paraphrase his poorly here) that there are two reasons for this. The first is that the Gaza strip is insignificant and nothing more than a crumb on the side of Israel (as far as Israel is concerned). The second and crucial point is that by leaving Gaza Israel seems to be offering peace to the Palestinians as it is giving them land, free of Israel (a blind man can see through this sophistry but still). More importantly do you rememeber when the Jewish settlers were dragged out of their homes by Israeli soldiers? Chomsky contends that this act, brought into every home by the media showed the pain that Israel went though, a pain that they can never repeat again (by evicting settlers from the West Bank).

I'd search for what he actually wrote as he shows the propaganda model of Israel perfectly in this one example.

EJH
09 January 2009 at 15:08

Some people I know who could be categorized as being on the same "side" as John Pilger have said that they do not like his style, that he is too "shrill". Shrill he may be, but sometimes that is just what is needed. I, for one, am grateful that there is at least one voice out there that we can depend on to tell the truth and not to hold anything back.

http://theunpeople.blogspot.com/

Krisco
09 January 2009 at 16:11

Thank you Mr Pilger for some serious and honest reporting. You ask:

“If that is how things are [referring to Israeli genocide over 60 years], we are diminished as a civilised people.”

We may be diminished as a civilised people. However, that will never erase from my perception of Israel & the US as the two most despicable, uncivilised, barbaric, savage, cowardly nations ever to have visited us on earth. There had better be a hell for these to burn in.

Cybertiger
09 January 2009 at 16:17

"Some people I know who could be categorized as being on the same "side" as John Pilger have said that they do not like his style, that he is too "shrill". "

If you want 'shrill', you only have to pop over to listen to 'Mad Mel' at the Spectator. Ugh!

http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/

PS. Take some ear plugs if you should be foolhardy enough to venture in the monster's lair.

ausaf
09 January 2009 at 16:34

Brave article...

In nearly all debates in media, many people forget that

Palestine was snatched from its people...

Only a genuine sense of truth and justice can lead us

anywhere fruitful.

Lets not forget that an oppressed people have a right

to resist, and resist by all means, esp if others have

repeatedly failed them...

FreedomLand
09 January 2009 at 18:18

FALSE FLAG operations in Gaza and israel.....

What if :-

(a) the UN aid truck drivers were set up to go into Gaza (co-ordinated) then shot up by the IDF so that the UN could use that as an excuse to not deliver any more relief supplies to Gazans? That would then effectively be a blockade to starve the Palestinians/Hamas into submission!

(b) The rockets fired into Israel were neither from the Palsetinians (as claimed by the IDF) nor Hezbollah but fired by arrangement by the IDF to widen the conflict and give them an excuse to both crush Hamas entirely and to attack Lebanon if they can before the new Obama administration takes office in the USA?

US Senate supports Israel's Gaza incursion - "When we pass this resolution, the United States Senate will strengthen our historic bond with the state of Israel, by reaffirming Israel's inalienable right to defend against attacks from Gaza, as well as our support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process..." http://uk.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUKN08534236

writeon
09 January 2009 at 18:56

Ordinary people, that is people with little real power, in Europe, in the United States, in the Middle East - even in Israel, don't have much influence on how their leaders act, we'd have to live in functioning democracies for that.

Americans want their government to be balanced and evenhanded in relation to the conflict, after all that's only fair, elementary justice; yet the people are ignored. The Congress in the United States is overwhelmingly suportive of Israel, because they've been bought. Congress is Israeli occupied territory. It's hard to think of another example in history where such a small country, Israel, has had such influence over a great power like the US. It's only really understandable if one defines Israel as, de facto, a part of the United States, the 52nd state in all but name.

Britain is just as bad. Why doesn't Westminster represent the views of the British people? Surely no one would seriously argue that UK citizens support Israel and the savage attacks on Gaza? Then why are most UK politicians so supportive of Israel?

It's because we don't really live in a functioning democracy anymore. Democracy is an illusion, that is rule by the people. In Britain the people don't rule and never really have. Democracy is contained, controlled and managed and the political class is highly unrepresentative of the British people, especially on the issue of the conflict in Palestine/Israel.

What I don't understand is why British Muslims are so passive about what's happening in Gaza, what's the matter with them? Why aren't those rich and influential Muslim supporters of Labour not speaking out loud and clear? Why aren't there demostrations outside the BBC and the major newspapers demanding that they, at the very least, report truthfully about the slaughter in Gaza?

OrwellianUK
09 January 2009 at 19:01

Claddach - you keep spouting the same nonsense myths about 'defending

itself' and 'Israel Responds' that Israel propagates to justify its State Terror

violence, that are only believed by such foolish souls as you.

Contrary to what you say, it is Israel who constantly breaks promises. It has

never once negotiated in good faith, and neither has the US. It was Israel

who struck first on November 4th 2008, beginning this crisis and it was Israel

who struck first in 1967. It is almost always Israel.

Also untrue is the assertion that Hamas 'seized control'. In actual fact, the

corrupt and Israeli co-opted Fatah attempted a coup with CIA backing and

Hamas was forced to defend its position.

It may also surprise you to know that their have been widespread protests by

Jew and Arab Israelis alike in Israeli cities nationwide, disgusted at what is

happening to their country, and tired of the endless cycle of violence and

state lies.

Of course little of this is reported in Western media, but simply airbrushed out

of history. If you want to believe the Propagandised Racist lies of a Military

Junta Terror State like Israel, that is up to you.

FreedomLand
09 January 2009 at 20:31

British Gas, Israel set to freeze Hamas out of $4b. Gaza gas deal - "Undeterred by Hamas's takeover of Gaza, Israel and the British gas firm BG are set to press ahead with a $4 billion project to drill for natural gas off the Gaza coast..."

Cabinet okays change in law to reopen British Gas talks, Jan 28, 08 - BG nixes plans to sell Israel natural gas: "According to the original bilateral arrangement between Israel and the PA, some 60 percent of the revenues from the sale of the gas would have gone to BG; 30% to BG's partner in the deal, the British energy company CCC; and 10% of the revenue, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, was to be designated for the PA's Palestinian Investment Fund, under the auspices of the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas..."

British Gas to arrive..., Jan 17, 07 - "The EMG Group, owned by businessman Yossi Maimon and Egypt's national oil company, is supposed to supply natural gas to the IEC [Israel Electric Corporation]. The Yam Tetis consortium, owned by the Delek Group and US-based Noble Energy, Inc., has already signed a series of contracts for the supply of natural gas from the gas field that was discovered off the Ashkelon coast..."

BG, Israel to proceed with Gaza gas deal, Jul 6, 07- "Both Israel and BG intend that until the PA is able to remove Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip, the money will be held in an international bank account... Neither side wants the money to go to fund terror- related activities."...

Infrastructure Ministry... doesn't know anything about an "understanding" between BG and Israel regarding payments to the PA... Hamas... intends to ask for changes in the agreement with BG, Bloomberg reported..... "It is unreasonable that the owner of the gas, Palestine, gets 10% only," Mohammed al- Madhoun, the director of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya's office, told the Palestinian Information Center..."

Search: British Gas gaza on JPost site.....

FreedomLand
09 January 2009 at 20:42

Despite Sharon's refusal to agree to such a deal, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resurrected the negotiations with BG, and invested quite a lot of energy in trying to reach a deal over the purchase of the gas...... The prospect of an Israeli gas purchase may have played a role in influencing the Olmert cabinet to avoid ordering a major IDF ground operation in Gaza, even though there have been at least 1,000 rocket and mortar attacks against southern Israel since the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007.....

With his controversial statements, Ya'alon is continuing to make headlines. "The British government seems to have pinned much of its Middle East policy on the successful outcome of British Gas negotiations with Israel. A September 18, 2007, report in the Arabic al-Quds newspaper noted that the British government views Gaza's natural gas reserves as central to 10 Downing Street's 'economic road map' for the Middle East. Tony Blair's position, first as prime minister and now as the very active Quartet envoy for Palestinian Economic Development, has been that the Palestinian Authority's share of the gas sale proceeds, which could reach well more than $1 billion, could serve as the economic fuel to jump-start the Palestinian economy and advance the peace process," .....

He further emphasizes that all the plans to bypass Hamas in Gaza are futile: "British officials have expressed confidence that the gas proceeds can bypass Hamas and benefit the Palestinian public by being deposited and monitored in international bank accounts. Israel also has proposed paying for the gas in goods and services. However, these assessments are mistaken. A gas transaction with the Palestinian Authority will, by definition, involve Hamas. Hamas will either benefit from the royalties, or it will sabotage the project and launch attacks against Fatah, the gas installations, Israel - or all three." http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/915151.html

writeon
09 January 2009 at 22:24

What's happening in Gaza reminds me of the onslaught on Iraq, a war of choice, an agressive war, a criminal attack on a defenceless people based on more lies. Once again a Western army lauches a blitzkrieg against a weak Muslim enemy. Once again our lies are monsterous and our hypocracy monumental.

It's truly shameful what's done in our name, in the name of democracy, prostituting the very word in the service of war and terror. Once again, like in Iraq, it's the West who are the real terrorists, the true experts in terror, the masters of slaughter, the people who really know how to shed blood, rivers of it. Shameful, truly shameful.

But how do we remove these decadent and corrupt, bloodthirsty and pathetic people from political power. It will never really happen through the ballot box, that is an illusion. That era, the era of bourgeois democracy is definitively over. We are slowly moving towards a form of dictatorship or facism, call it the corporate anti-democratic state.

And the coming depression will only accelerate the process of rolling back prosperity and democracy and our civil rights, and this is necessary because there is going to be more war and more blood shed, a new age of militant, Western imperialism, shrouded in a veil of cant and lies about human rights and spreading the benefits of democracy around the world, and of course the biggest lie of all, that we are under attack from terrorists, which is why we need to send huge armies across the world to occupy oil and gas fields.

Carl Jones
09 January 2009 at 23:16

How do you like the NS tactic of OVER PUBLICATION...its boring, and repiticious. While Gaza is important. Few of these NS articles are aiming in the right direction. We NS readers already know whats going on in Gaza. We want serious journalistic investigation into the NWO and their complicity....we want to know why the BBC and MSM are sooo biased in favour of Israel.

On January 3th Correlli Barnett wrote "A medel for Blair? No, he should be on trial for war crimes" in The Daily Mail...tonight on BBC 2`s Newsnight, Gavin Esler asked (war criminal) Tony Blair to comment on "WAR CRIMES" committed by Israel......GAVIN ESLER, can you bloody believe it, yes you can, this is the NWO controlled BBC!.LOL

I tried to post a link to a David Icke article, but the NS...maybe the Dark Forces", censored/blocked it. You can find the article at "rense.com", google rense and scan down the main page....when you read Icke`s article, you will understand why they CENSORED IT, and then you will understand the complicity of NWO governments, in their support of Israeli war crimes.

As an illustration of the Newstatesman`s avoidence of difficult journalism, you will note that the last NS article on finance/the economy, was on the 18th of December 2008....................

..............................................enough said.LOL

writeon....you seem to be repeating what I said two years ago?

Ergo
10 January 2009 at 03:56

Palestinians have been oppressed for over sixty years

as a matter of course, so why should it's standard of

democracy be higher than for instance the US? Three

thousand died in 9/11 and as a consequence two

perfectly unrelated countries have been devastated.

Americans have lost many civil liberties as a result as

well, in the application of the Patriot Act. Two million

people, disproportionately black, are imprisoned,

some for minor infractions and many innocent people

have been "legally" executed.

Israel's 1.5 million Arabs are second-class class

citizens and many Israelis have admitted they would

not like to live next door to them.

The fear and hatred of Muslims is palpable, and

seems to justify this horrendous crime against them.

Israel was well aware of the fundamentalist nature of

Hamas when they funded and encouraged them.

Why was that? It makes you think that this has all been

part of a long-range plan. When oppressed, all people

mass together and often used religion as a solidifying

tactic. But blaming Gazans for their own destruction is

simply beneath contempt.

Israel has used methods in Gaza, in this assault and

previously, that were once associated with fascism

only. It makes you wonder what terrible things the

future may hold.

loyaltothetruth
10 January 2009 at 04:24

Thanks for the reply PLANET STARBUCK but you still fail to answer my question the first line in pilger atricle is that the purpose of all wars "started" by isreal are to steal more land.

Choamsky "It's so because I say so" allegation of a incredibly complicated piece of Machiavellian manipulation by the isreally still doesn't provided any credence even if true, to how this war is going to expand isreal terrirorty.

Do you really think after pulling there settlements out they are now going to put them back in gaza.

If not how can you not agree that pilger word, are another one of his customary pieces of exaggerated anti-western pro any one else bullshit.

Ergo
10 January 2009 at 04:26

Loyaltothetruth - some pullout by Israel. The

intelligence drones have never ceased their fly-overs,

causing post-traumatic stress disorders, especially in

children, and hearing loss. Why pay for boots on the

ground when you can oppress electronically? And, it

may be cynical to suggest it, but besides the show of

cooperation at the cost of pain to their own (while

increasing West Bank settlement) wouldn't a pullout of

settlers from Gaza be in order if this assault had been

in the cards for some time?

Gazans have been deprived of basic necessities -

electricity, water, food , medicine, freedom from

constant fear, for the last 18 months as a direct

response to Hamas' win in the elections of 2006.

It was then, coincidentally, that they were designated

"terrorists", that convenient phrase that makes

illegitimate the resistance of those oppressed who do

not have a state. Six hundred children were shot at

Israeli checkpoints between 2000 and 2005.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been imprisoned and

many black-mailed into cooperating with the

oppressor. Hence the infighting and violence. The

same would be the case anywhere, and has been, in

fact. This is not provocation? This is not and

infringement of the truce?

loyaltothetruth
10 January 2009 at 04:57

To add some other problem with this article it alleges that the isreally are committing genocide that simply is not true.

Now I know all youre blood boiling at this moment youre thinking about the destruction power death of children and thinking how can that not be genocide. Well it simply isn't how ever much you might hate what isreal is doing it is clearly not trying to wipe out palestince population of gaza.

You can call it aggressive war, illegaly, barabarous or even murder but it is not genocide. The isreal are clearly not trying to rack up a body count of gaza civilian they have fired thousand of rockets mortars shells and bullets into one of the most heavily populated area on earth but killed only 700 people if there intent was to wipe out the palastince people they could kill tens of thousand but they have not.

How ever much you might want to attack the isreal that does not justify you or pilger miss using and twisting that term for you political end.

taghioff.info
10 January 2009 at 05:03

There are 2 points here that Pilger raises that are decisive

1) Hamas were democratically elected

2) They are calling for a settlement along 1967 lines, which is recognised by the vast majority of states as the just solution under international law.

The Israeli offensive is a last-ditch attempt to avoid such an outcome before the new regime comes in, they are desperate, and I think Obama is going to give them a hard time for it, at the very least behind the scenes.

Why? Because the Middle East in general and oil in particular is becoming a strategic liability, Israel is in trouble and it knows it.

And indeed, where are the academics?

FreedomLand
10 January 2009 at 06:03

Gaza: international plan hatched to bring back Fatah - "A plan to create a new foothold in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority and to bring in international monitors was being drawn up by diplomats yesterday as a UN ceasefire call was dismissed by both sides.....

The plan would allow a return of the authority, led by the secular Fatah faction, to the territory 18 months after it was expelled by the Islamist Hamas..... being negotiated as part of the Egyptian peace initiative, announced by President Mubarak after talks with President Sarkozy of France..." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/arti...

FreedomLand
10 January 2009 at 06:23

# Ergo: "...drones have never ceased their fly-overs, causing post-traumatic stress disorders, especially in children, and hearing loss..."

Then there are the politicians (and judiciary) who want to create a social epidemic of mental depression from their incompetent or uncaring Machiavellian policies and dishonest/ egotistical dealings/lack of action..... to be further able to manipulate people by exhausting them and depriving them, uhh.

Ergo
10 January 2009 at 06:51

Loyaltothetruth - The great Israeli human rights

advocate, Ilan Pappe, believes that the correct term for

Israeli policies is genocide. He assesses the number

of Palestinians killed, mostly in Gaza in 2006 (from

B'Tselem figures which he thinks may be

underestimated) at 660 and combined with deaths

and injuries from this offensive and others can't

possibly be justified by the need for self-defense. He

believes the plan is to so constrain Palestinians in the

West Bank (partly using the fate of Gaza as example)

as to make gradual transfers to Jordan and elsewhere

a viable and little noticed policy. Palestinians would

no longer exist in their own land as the distinct people

they are. This is a very sad state of affairs. I believe

that considering Jewish history, and the

understandable need to establish a homeland, the

onus has been on western governments to insist on a

solution based on fairness and humanity.This they

have not done, to their shame and everlasting

culpability.

Cybertiger
10 January 2009 at 09:11

Astonishingly, taghioff said,

"I think Obama is going to give them a hard time for it ..."

As Rahm Emanuel's little puppet? You CANNOT be serious. Like Dubya, Obama offers 'hopelessness', not 'hope' or even 'change'.

JMR
10 January 2009 at 10:16

The issue here is that we have forgotten that we are people. Until someone can establish some commonality then the killing will continue. We must endeavour on all fronts to seek to understand and talk - to simply resort to arms on either side is just perpetuating the mess. We cannot talk of right and wrong here - both sides feel they have justification. The first and only true recourse stage is a ceasefire. The UN needs to seek a ceasefire immediately.

FreedomLand
10 January 2009 at 10:39

JMR: "The UN needs to seek a ceasefire immediately..."

Thye've already "sought one", JMR -and didn't get it, uh. What does that mean for the credibility of the UN Security Council? All now cunningly manipulated by the tail that wags the USA dog.....

Cybertiger
10 January 2009 at 11:12

"Thye've already "sought one", JMR -and didn't get it, uh. "

They did get a ceasefire ... but Israel chooses to ignore it.

Israel is out of control. We live in a lawless world. Israel, like the US, shows complete contempt for international law and the United Nations ... business as usual.

Cybertiger
10 January 2009 at 11:14

"They did get a ceasefire ... but Israel chooses to ignore it. "

The US abstention at the UNSC acted as a green light for Israel to continue the killing. Israel is out of control.

FreedomLand
10 January 2009 at 11:44

Cybertiger, I was referring to a ceasefire, not a call to have one. A ceasefire only exists when it is implemented by the aggressor refraining from its attacks.

The UN is now merely a paper tiger unable to deal with a tiny country of 7 million. But then, they weren't any better in East Timor (Timor Leste) a decade ago, either, and have thus failed miserably to learn from their errors.

Now, Hillary Clinton will be US secretay of state in a week and can promptly go in" under sniper fire" herself to sort things out!?!? At least she'll be better than "the face that sank a 1,000 ships" (Condi Rice), duh.

But this is the ceasefire that was not and yet is but is not - and it goes hand in hand with the covertly arranged timely blockade of Gaza cleverly (stupidly - its the same for the UN) arranged by "co-ordinating" an aid convoy which was then thoughtfully shot up by the IDF.

That is kind of like the UN arranging a surrender of forces from one side in East Timor before. They were disarmed then marched out from their protective compound under a UN flag and accompanied by a UN commander only to be all slaughtered on the road by the opposing side.....

Claddach
10 January 2009 at 11:53

Pilger uses the slimy technique of quoting other anti-semites to cover his oily tracks. This is the late great Conor Cruise O'Brien on bigots like John Pilger. So far as debate about Israel is concerned, said O'Brien, it is an indicator of antisemitism "if your interlocutor can't keep Hitler out of the conversation ... feverishly turning Jews into Nazis and Arabs into Jews". A Jew hater who panders to the many other Jew haters and anti-semites who buzz blindly around the NS comments.

adambr
10 January 2009 at 13:48

Why are the academics and teachers silent? Are British universities now no more than “intellectual Tescos”?

No, but the papers dont give a shit what they think and would rather quote the tesco chairman. Of course, he imports all his fresh herbs from israel.

Nilsey105
10 January 2009 at 14:19

When your own children make a comment such as,

" these acts on the children of Palastine by the Israelis are the acts of the scum of the world", it makes you think they are being radicalised not by my attempts but they are now making judgments of their own.

And so it will be in most households throughout the world. Israel has very few sympathetic voices from the outside world and the likelyhood of gaining any is remote.

This war has much to do with what John Pilger has described above. It has little to do with missiles being fired by the Palastinians.

If the Israelis are so worried about these nearly useless weapons why dont they shoot them down with their own anti missile systems?

What is of more significance is the posability of Hamas becoming the major beneficiary of any gas exploration deal with the UK company British Gas.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680

Any benefits accrued towards the Palastine people from these gas reserves, the Israeli's are demanding payments be made in goods and services and not hard cash. Reason being they dont want Hamas buying armaments to protect its borders. I am sure funding for arms can be found from other parts of the world without having to use the gas funds.

The crimes the Israeli's commited in 1948 by blowing up the King David Hotel and murdering the British High Commandand & innocent workers, was the creation of modern terrorist activity and tactics.

They have blood on their hands and are now caught up in a never ending vortex of murder and brutality that puts them alongside the worlds worst of all time.

The israeli's have taken the mantle, from the USA, as the most hated nation on earth.

FreedomLand
10 January 2009 at 14:38

Nilsey105, you seem to be the only other person aawke to this "great game" being schemed by British Gas and their partners in crime, the US-based Noble Energy. The media have been totally silent on it everywhere - except Israel and Egypt. Some interesting stuff on the Haaretz and JPost sites over the past year or so.....

Dec 30, 2008 - Crude oil rises after Israeli attacks on Gaza roil Middle East: "The Yam Thetis partnership, which includes Houston-based Noble Energy Inc. and Delek, said all terms have been met to supply Israel Chemicals Ltd. with natural gas..... Crude oil rose as much as 12% after IAF air strikes raised concerns that supply from the Middle East, the world's largest producing region, may be disrupted..."

Nilsey105
10 January 2009 at 14:48

BG has another partner, CCC, its registered as a Greek company owned by Lebanese families but the Israeli media state its a UK company . LOL

Nilsey105
10 January 2009 at 14:52

The Israeli's are determined to get control of the gas.

One of the ways is to have international peace keepers stationed in The Gaza Strip.

The more obviouse way would be to remove all Palastinians from Gaza and proclaim Gaza part of an expanded Israel.

Nilsey105
10 January 2009 at 15:01

It looks like the international diplomats, whatever that means, are searching for a way to overthrow Hamas.

Back to the days of 1974 in Chile.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/arti...

writeon
10 January 2009 at 16:45

unfortunately I believe this current conflict in Gaza is only the beginning of a far bigger and infinitely more bloody war that's looming over the horizon. The real target isn't really the poorly armed Hamas militia in Gaza. This is merely a battle in the struggle against Iran, which is the real enemy.

Israel and the United States both want to attack Iran, but finding an excuse and a way to do it, that's the problem. In influential circles in the United States, the same lunatics that invented Iraq as a 'threat' and dreamt up weapons of mass destruction, Iran is seen as the real enemy and the final obstacle to total US and Israeli dominance of the Middle East and its riches. Everyone else has more or less surrendered and become 'moderate' or 'pragmatic' - only Iran is left outside the control of the US empire and its allies.

Achieving regime change in Iran is the ultimate goal and destroying Hamas is only a step along the way. After Gaza, there's Lebanon to consider, but all roads in the Middle East lead to Iran.

With the Middle East subdued and its natural resources under firm control, a prize of unimaginable value, we can really begin to exploit it's oil and gas reserves for our benefit.

Then once the Middle East is secure and subjugated we'll have the resources to tackle the next enemies on our list - Russia and China. After the Middle East we'll move into Central Asia and take over that areas oil and gas reserves. And it's not only oil and gas, Eurasia has vast untapped resources that we want to get our hands on. In the United States it's no secret that the empire that controls the Eurasian heartland is seen as the empire that'll probably control the entire planet in the 21st. century.

So the West is starting a long and bloody journy in Gaza, a journy into infamy, endless war and ultimately hell for all of us.

Nilsey105
10 January 2009 at 19:51

I fear you are correct writeon. Lets hope it isnt so.

gez pearce
10 January 2009 at 20:27

Write on

I fear you are correct.

A good analysis.

Clad

"This is the late great Conor Cruise O'Brien on bigots like John Pilger. So far as debate about Israel is concerned, said O'Brien, it is an indicator of antisemitism "if your interlocutor can't keep Hitler out of the conversation ... feverishly turning Jews into Nazis and Arabs into Jews"."

Strange analysis because don't you do the same

Arab into Nazi.

Actually both are wrong.

Isrealis are not Nazis nor the Arabs.

Both are intolerant set of fools who base their relationships on which son of abraham they descended from.

Secular education and federated near middle east type EU are the ways forward.

Kydor
10 January 2009 at 20:28

Mr. Pilger, why do you leave out of your arguments the fact that in the Gaza strip and off-shore British Gas has discovered considerable reverves of oil and gas??!!! Israel does not want that to fall in the hands of Hamas or any other palestinian Authority.

In the terrible messy discussions about assassination spree in Gaza only Mike whtiney mentions this probable chief motive for the war. How is that possible? Did you know that? And if so, why do you keep slilent about it? What irritates me no end in the discussions with pro-war supporters is the total denial of the etnic cleansing, expropiation of palestinian houses and land around 1948 and the disposessioning of land and houses on the West Bank by israeli landrobbers. They only want to talk about the Hamas rockets and not about the endless murdererous incursions in Gaza territory and the strangulation tactic of the Israeli army on land, at sea and in the air.

It reminds me of the trial of a thief in which the latter pleaded guilty to stealing a piece of rope - without mentioning thatt the other end of the rope was tied to a cow. Not talking about the cow in the room makes the whole discussion a mere flippancy.

This is a shameless display of willfull ignorance

Nilsey105
10 January 2009 at 21:14

Kydor

do you have a link to the Mike Whitney article were he discusses the extraction of Gas off the coast of Gaza, please.

pete999
11 January 2009 at 02:33

Pierre.

Who are those 5/6 million racists you speak of?

I can think of no countries in the middle east with 5/6 million people save Israel. Are you calling for their deaths? Or merely that they should move to another country?

If its the former then words cannot express my contempt. If its the latter then you are a fool of the highest order.

If you meant some other country than Isreal then please let me know exactly what you meant and I will be happy to apologise.

If not then congratulations, you outdo Mr Pilger.

loyaltothetruth
11 January 2009 at 04:15

To ERGO you seem to be arguing against a lot of point I never said I never mention a military pullout a truce or palestinan infighting.

I said that there is no evidence nor reasonable suppostion that can be made that isreal is going to steal palestian land in the gaza strip as pilger states infatically given that they already pulled there settlements out there 3 years ago and a resettlement is just not politically feasible either in isreal politics or internationallly.

secondly youre statement "wouldn't a pullout of

settlers from Gaza be in order if this assault had been

in the cards for some time?" the answer to both question is no that highly irrational but convient conspiracy theory reasoning were by you slot any information you don't like into the " they have been planing this all along column" the gaza settlements were well defended and there is just no theory I can think of or heard of as to why or how the isreal could have been planing this war 4 years ago before the hamas election to government or there takeover of gaza.

jednightingale
11 January 2009 at 06:43

The recent distressful events from Gaza would not be

taking place if the following points would be true:

1) Hamas stopped their violation of the Geneva

Convention as perpetrated by their indiscriminate

rocket attacks on Israeli civilian populations

2) Hamas would resign its aim to destroy Israel as

stated in their charter

3) Hamas would allow the International Red Cross to

visit Corporal Shalit as specified by the Geneva

Convention

4) Egypt would stop allowing the illegal contraband of

weapons into Gaza via Egyptian tunnels

5)The West would impose sanctions on Gaza and

stop providing them with endless "humanitarian" help

unless Hamas stops their terrorist actions - the West

should stop supporting Gaza as an endless welfare

state.

6) Hamas would stop using schools, mosques, and

other civilian locations to launch their rocket attacks

on Israeli civilians thus provoking Israeli military

retaliation that incurs more innocent Palestinian

casualties

7)The EU, UN and other demonstrators would start

demonstrating across the world demanding that

Hamas stop its rocket attacks on innocent civilians in

Israel

Jed Nightingale

NYC

Amihai
11 January 2009 at 07:14

Hamas commits war crimes and crimes against humanity: the way out:

Persistent reports tell of Hamas's leaders hiding in the basement of the Shifa Hospital of Gaza, using the civilians in this medical facility as human shields, a form of war crime.

Also, similar reports, based on photo documentation, accuse Hamas's armed forces of stockpiling weapons and explosives in mosques, in schools and in people's homes and firing them from schoolyards and the yards of medical facilities, which also amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

And of course, Hamas's exclusive targets for many years have been population canters in Israel – the blue colour towns of S'derot, Netivot, Ashqelon, Ofaqim, Beer Sheva and Ashdod and the collective and cooperative farming communities and their residents, of southern Israel - also considered war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israel has been seeking an accommodation of peaceful co-existence with its Arab neighbours, in Gaza and elsewhere. But Israel, as any other country, can not permit its citizens to be targeted day in and day out, especially when the declared goal of the attackers is to erase the Jewish state of Israel – a UN member state – off the face of the earth and with it the Jewish civilization in this national homeland of the Jewish people (read Hamas's Charter!!!).

At present, Hamas must loose its will and motivation to fire at Israel and Israelis, and most of the means with which it conducts its war machine against Israel's civilian population must be eliminated. In addition, all illicit weapons and explosives must cease from making their way into Gaza. And of course, without Gilad Shalit coming back home this conflict will not come to an end.

On a longer term, the demand of the UN, EU, US, Russia, PA presidency and Arab states of Hamas must stand if it wishes to be part of any peace process: Cease all acts of terror and violence against Israel and Israelis and the preparations for such acts, adhere to previously signed agreements with Israel, and recognize Israel's right – a UN member state – to exist.

Israelis have never sought anything beyond an accommodation of peaceful co-existence between Arab and Jew, between it and its Arab neighbors.

Can Israel's neighbors rise to the occasion and seek the same goal??

jednightingale
11 January 2009 at 07:16

Out of curiosity I decided to read a bit on John Pilger.

Interesting to see that when he addresses the

Palestinian refugee problem he is completely blind to

the expulsion and dispossession in 1948 of 800,000

Jews across the Muslin world (Iraq, Syria, Egypt,

Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, etc). Let us

recall that the only a dozen Jews are left in Baghdad,

an important Jewish cultural city where Jews lived for

more than two thousand years. Let us also recognize

that most of the Jews from Arab lands resettled in

Israel after 1948 as a result of being thrown out of their

native lands. I guess that only Palestinians have the

right to be categorized as refugees. Forget about all

the refugees from Europe after WWII that had to move

as a result of changes of borders. Interestingly

enough, they and their descendants seem to be living

fruitful and productive lives and have not been living

on endless welfare provided by the largesse of the UN

and EU.

nawawimohamad
11 January 2009 at 09:27

Those so-called Christians supporting Israel are not Christians at all, they are hypocrites. The bombing by Israel do not discriminate between Muslims and Christians in Gaza. How how can they profess to be Christians when due considerations are not taken into perspective on the fate of their fellow Christian brothers and sisters in Gaza?For those who put on blind eyes on the Christians in Gaza, please be reminded that there are Christians there. Blair after recent conversion to Catholic has no feelings towards fellow Christians in Palestine. Blair and the like thereof are just not Christians and are giving bad name to Christianity.

gez pearce
11 January 2009 at 09:38

Jed you make some good points.

Although I would ask you 2 questions.

1. Why did MOSSAD support Hamas in it early stage of development so it could undermine FATAH. Did they not create their own monster.

2.Interestingly enough, they and their descendants seem to be living fruitful and productive lives and have not been living on endless welfare provided by the largesse of the UN and EU.

Has Isreal recieved any money or arms free of charge from the US ?.

proudlyleft
11 January 2009 at 10:18

Nothing will cost Australia, alas. And nothing will cost USA. The costs have been for the past three centuries borne by Asians (including Palestinians) and Africans in Asia and africa. And it appears that this will continue another three centuries, given the stupidity of Asian and african leaderships (ref Hamas stupid rockets et al) and the hypocrisy of Western leaderships...

FreedomLand
11 January 2009 at 11:01

Poor Amihai, the real trinity of the Abrahamic peoples was Judaism, Christianity and Islam. That was usurped by Zionist nationalism (since the 1890's) and, in the name of an exclusively Jewish state, grabbed the land shared by their Christian and Islamic brothers and sisters (1948).

Now, two thirds of Palestinians are forced to live abroad so that "Jews have a right to enter Jerusalem". But lets not forget that Arabs and non-Jewish Caananites/Phoenicians also have long had that "right" that right for their own reasons, some Christian and some Moslem - and certainly ethnic as fellow Semites.

writeon
11 January 2009 at 11:08

More simplistic 'isms' added to the pot of cant and hypocracy, very impressive. Now we've got 'Christianism', along with 'Islamism' and 'Progressivism'.

What strikes me about nearly all the pro-Israeli comments is how bursting with primative, nationalist, militant, propaganda they are. There's never an honest attempt to see the conflict from the other side, to understand why the Palestinians have refused to surrender, why they cannoot surrender and accept subjugation on Israel's terms, and whey they fight back against occupaition and ethnis cleansing.

The attacks and invasion of Gaza are blatant and massive warcrimes of the first order. Hamas is guilty of illegal activities too, but it's the collosal scale of Israel's crimes, their ability to slaughter so many Palestinians with such ease that pushes Hamas' pin-pricks into virtual insignificance in coparison.

And these pro-Israel comments are so simplistic, with a naivete that shocking. Do these people really believe the propaganda they present with such wide-eyed and wild innocence? They seem to be so credulous when it comes to Zionist propaganda and the foundation myths of the Israeli state. Surely no one believes in their countries national mythology anymore? History seems to indicate that this kind of faith is always grossly misplaced. Why should Israel's nationalist mythology be any different?

Scepticism in relation to a country's ruling elite, especially in wartime, has to be the starting point, simply because rulers always lie and wars are almost always based on simplifications, nationalist rhetoric and falsehoods.

Yet Israelis seem extraordinarily gullable when it comes to their political leadership in times of war. Normally they are sceptical and understand they are being screwed by a bunch of criminals on the make, just like everyone, everwhere. But saddle-up the charger and wave the sabre, and suddenly the usual liars become spotless heroes, brave patriots.

But it's not true. They are still lying!

FreedomLand
11 January 2009 at 11:47

# Amihai: "Hamas commits war crimes and crimes against humanity: the way out..."

I have answered you on the "Afraid to sleep, afraid to wake" Gaza topic at http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2009/01/gaza-israeli... as it is the same post.....

# proudlyleft: "Nothing will cost Australia, alas. And nothing will cost USA..."

Oh, it will, #proudlyleft, because the UN security council was effectively snubbed by Israel's refusal to honor the ceasefire. They either have to do something fast or be seen as a laughing stock among nations. Thus Australia's PM and deputy PM and opposition leader (see the pic) have also effectively snubbed the UN by their actions today - http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200901/r329306_1482404.jpg

Additionally, the USA has effectively made a fool of the UN security council by covertly and overtly (statement by some US senators) agreeing with Israel's now-illegal actions in continuning to pursue its war crimes. That puts the USA in an embarrassing position itself as well, especially considering its past odious actions in Iraq and with Guantanamo and its "renditioning" secret black flights of kidnapped prisoners to third party countries.

Amihai
11 January 2009 at 13:13

I find it interesting to observe the way in which three elements in society come together whenever the focus of public discourse shifts to Israel: Christianism, Islamism and Progressivism; each representing the political and only political manifestation of a very legitimate religion or ideology.

Seemingly, there is little or no relationship among these three elements but one: the venom with which each has been perceiving, dealing and perpetuating, some for many centuries, of the Jewish people and its civilization of Judaism. But for political correctness, this hate can't be expressed directly, hence the substitute: Zionism – the non-violent national liberation movement of the Jewish people – and Israel, the nation-state of the Jewish people and this people's most important achievement during the 20th and 21st centuries.

One way to describe the common denominator of this phenomenon is racism, anti-Jewish racism – formerly known as anti-Semitism - manifesting itself in this un-holy trinity of Christianism-Islamism-Progressivism.

It appears, very sadly, that this social illness will never pass from this world…..

antileft
11 January 2009 at 14:13

"More simplistic 'isms' added to the pot of cant and hypocracy, very impressive. Now we've got 'Christianism', along with 'Islamism' and 'Progressivism'"

As usual, writeon, youre wasting space by fiddling with words. If everything is so simplistic why dont you actually say something profound for once?

"What strikes me about nearly all the pro-Israeli comments is how bursting with primative, nationalist, militant, propaganda they are. There's never an honest attempt to see the conflict from the other side, to understand why the Palestinians have refused to surrender, why they cannoot surrender and accept subjugation on Israel's terms, and whey they fight back against occupaition and ethnis cleansing."

Yes indeed. What strikes me about nearly all the pro-palestinian comments is how bursting with primative, nationalist, militant, propaganda they are. There's never an honest attempt to see the conflict from the other side, to understand why the Israelis have refused to surrender, why they cannoot surrender and accept subjugation on the palestinian's terms, and whey they fight back against occupaition and ethnis cleansing. Simplification? Yes of course it is. You wrote it. And yet my version works as well as yours. You simplify things too- you just do it from the other perspective.

"But saddle-up the charger and wave the sabre, and suddenly the usual liars become spotless heroes, brave patriots."

Indeed.

antileft
11 January 2009 at 14:19

You know writeon, your comments generally follow the following path:

First you call the argument held by others simplistic (without explaining details). Then you pointlessly kill time by playing with words and ponder what they mean without actually explaining what they mean or using them. Then you make some apocalyptic exaggerations which are complete simplifications, then you end with some poetic gibberish which doesnt mean anything at all. I love how you call others simplistic but when anyone asks for your actual opinion you say "oh it's too complicated to explain here!" or better yet "I dont have an opinion!" Great. Perhaps you should stick to poetry and leave politics to people with opinions??

Nilsey105
11 January 2009 at 14:37

antileft

You, pot, kettle, black. get the drift?

I have yet to see an original comment from you. All you can do is attempt to rattle people. You need to grow up

and desist from acting the school yard bully.

writeon
11 January 2009 at 16:34

All forms of nationalist mythology, the folktale about who we are as a people, where we came from, how we got our land, who are enemies are; have usually had only the most meagre connection to historical or objective reality. Nationalist mythology is a form of tribalism gone beserk, but it's a very useful form of madness.

Nationalism cuts the world into two, them and us. The good and the bad. Nationalism is an attempt to simplify complex reality, usually based on the concept of ethnic purity and the land of our fathers which is always under attack and has to be defended to the death.

Nationalists of both the 'left' and the 'right' use the same language of fear, fear of the 'other' the 'outsider' to gain and keep power, whilst they rob the treasury. For them the gold is as important as the blood. It's sickening how they always manage to pay themselves so well for their patriotism and service to their homeland.

Nationalism is based not on sense but on an emotional attachment to some peice of land, to the nation state, to an ideal, a utopia, usually based on ethnic purity and the idea of cleansing the holy land of the 'unpure' who taint our very existance by their presence.

writeon
11 January 2009 at 16:51

The simplistic attitude to the conflict in Gaza and in the rest of Palestine/Israel, is that one side is exclusively wrong and the other exclusively right. That one side has a just cause and the other side doesn't. That one side is good and the other bad. That one side has God on their side and the other the Devil. That some forms of killing are valid and 'defensive' whilst others are 'terrorism' and killing for the sake of killing and a proof of barbarism and savagery.

I only kill civilians, men, women and children, by 'accident' not intention. I drop a thousand pound bomb on a house and am surprised by the massive destruction that rains down on the crowded street.

But what happens if both peoples' histories are equally true seen from their different perspectives? What if there is no absolute 'right' or 'wrong'?

Is saying - if only things were that simple - really such a simple statement? Is saying that the conflict is complex, contradictory and steeped in competing historical visions and versions - really simplistic? Is saying that something is complex and their are differing perspectives, the same as saying they are simple? I do not believe so. Neither do I believe any rational person can think so.

FreedomLand
11 January 2009 at 17:54

Now that you have had your little Sunday afternoon rant, #writeon - and have thus also tacitly accepted that you have also been posting here as #Amihai, perhaps we can at last look at the reasons that Israelis/Jews have long maintained an "exclusively wrong/exclusively right" attitude themselves?

As mere runaway Egyptian slaves, they had a desperate need to build a credible ideological foundation for themselves wherever they ended up. Of course, "God on their side" sounded so right and made it all so simple and then they just had to add some embellishment from other religions in the region and 'hey presto' - we are "the chosen ones", duh. Sadly, they are still on the run and still making up egocentric fantasies wherever they end up.

So much for your "complex, contradictory and steeped in competing historical visions..." age-old drivel, then. As far as I know, sacrificing fatted calves was only ever an excuse to have a feast, a f$@k and a good time. The Jews were no different from anyone else. The only trouble is that they came to believe their own bullsh!t. So, on to nationalism and more rabid excuses based on finger-pointing and, as you say, "Its either them or us!".

Pierre
11 January 2009 at 18:09

Lets suppose the Jews influence in the US was no greater than the average American, Does anyone really think that the Middle East would be such a tinderbox as it is presently.

Would the Palestinians be free, would the current massacre be occurring?

Amihai
11 January 2009 at 19:01

"Lets suppose the Jews influence in the US..."

So, your problem is with the Jews after all, isn't it?

And I thought this is racism, anti-Jewish racism. Am I wrong?

writeon
11 January 2009 at 19:08

Freedomland,

I honestly don't understand what you are talking about. What do you mean? Could you say it again on more simply for me please, then maybe I'd have a chance of replying.

Why do people use the word 'rant' wrongly, when what they appear to mean is something else entirely, like I don't agree with what you're saying. A comment on the style of facist intellectuals and how they use language is not a rant, a rant is something different entirely. Why can't people make an attempt to use language properly? It isn't that hard. In fact it it illustrates an ability to think and express ideas clearly and logically, calmly, with sense, which is the opposite of ranting.

pete999
11 January 2009 at 19:20

Ah Pierre, you didnt answer my question.

Which 6/7 million 'racists' wouldnt the world miss?

Are you calling for the destruction of Israel and the death of everyone in it?

writeon
11 January 2009 at 19:30

I'd better use very simple language and short sentences so I won't be accused of not saying anything, whatever that is.

Why against the odds is Israel apparently losing this latest war against the Palestinians? Time is of the essence. For decades the Israelis have adopted the military tactic of the Blitzkrieg, wars fought quickly, decisively, maximum concentration of fire-power, all over in days.

But Hamas and Hezballah have refused to play the Blitzkrieg game, they have chosen the Stalingrad model, which negates the power of Blitzkrieg. Drag the battle/war out for as long as possible, until Israel gets tired and the casualities mount up. It's a kind of war of attrition where great sweeps with armour and bombing don't count, especially in an urban fortress environment or the mountains of southern Lebanon which were also turned into a fortress.

What makes Hamas and Hezballah formidable is there willingness to fight and die in greater numbers than Israel is prepared to sacrifice. All they have to do is clearly remain undefeated and survive, for them to claim victory and a defeat for Israel. These militias are a match for Israel because they are forcing Israel to fight on their terms on the kind of battlefield Israel doens't like.

Obviously Israel could choose to flatten and totally destroy Gaza City and win the war against Hamas, but the cost in civilian lives would be enormous. The damage to Israel's image would be enormous and it just might spark a revolt in Egypt or Jordan which would totally alter the strategic situation in the region. Imagine the military dictatorship in Egypt overthrown, that would be a massive strategic defeat for Israel.

Just like in Lebanon Israel's leadership has fately over-estimated its power and under-estimated the opposition. Destroying a disciplined militia which is integrated into the civilian population of Gaza, means destroying Gaza, and it's doubtful even Israel would dare risk the consequences of doing that.

Nilsey105
11 January 2009 at 20:17

writeon

Less than 2 hours ago on BBC world news, the Israeli spokesman, Mark Regev, stated, the Israeli cabinet has dissenters amongst its numbers as to how much further the offensive should proceed. Most wanted to cease almost imediately, whilst the leading dissenter, the deputy Prime Minister wanted to continue the conflagration and totally destroy Hamas.

Both you and i would , i think , agree that if they choose the latter then the entire world will be against them and that i war to end all wars may ensue. Nations from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans would become embroiled in a battle against Israel.

A decision as what action to proceed with by the Israeli government SHOULD be a no brainer.

You beg the question as to why Israel are not winning the war. To me its the same reason they have lost so many on previous occassions.

They fail to comprehend the notions of solidarity and martyrdom. When resistance is all that a people have to bind them against the dark forces then and only then will they overcome those dark forces. The Israeli people should know this from their own life experiences moreso than most.

Pierre
11 January 2009 at 20:52

Given the conduct of the Palestinian Jews and their supporters it's requires that decent people speak out against these Nazi facsimiles.

writeon
11 January 2009 at 21:00

Nilsey105,

Yes, I've heard these rumours too. Even before the offensive against Gaza there was supposedly opposition in the government because of the risks involved. But some militants wanted to erase the stain on Israel's military reputation which the 'defeat' or lack of 'victory' in Lebanon had caused.

Of all the reasons for attacking Gaza the rocket 'excuse' was the least important. Destroying Hamas, internal Israel politics, teaching the Palestinians a lesson, all of these reasons were of greater importance. We don't care if they hate us, as long as they fear us. Only this doesn't work against people who are ready to die, sacrifice or welcome martyrdom in service of their people and beliefs. Creating such an enemy should be dreaded, because in this kind of asymetric warfare, even winning against such a foe means you lose. It's a bit like the legend of the 300 Spartans fighting the Persians.

Israel's problem is going to be how to put a spin on yet another defeat or lack of victory against an Arab militia which is diciplined and dedicated, which doesn't run away, that isn't afraid, and perhaps mostly importantly is ready to die for the cause.

Once again Israel will ramp up the propaganda machine to try to convince the world that it didn't fail, a hopeless task. This failure to crush Hamas will also have consequences inside Israel and people will inevitably begin to ask questions about whether war really is the answer to Israel's problems. One can argue that it is, but that only works if one wins and is seen to win decisively. Anything other than total victory is a defeat for Israel and will only empower the Palestinian and Arab resistance and the militants. Israel's arrogance, belief in brute military strength and war, rather than compromise and peace, is counterproductive and demonstrably so.

Cybertiger
11 January 2009 at 22:15

Nilsey105 said,

"A decision as what action to proceed with by the Israeli government SHOULD be a no brainer."

And someone else said,

"Men and nations behave wisely ... once they have exhausted all the alternatives."

Of course, that's Israel to a tee - the ultimate, bumming no-brainers.

PS. Who made that quote? Answers on a postcard to the exhausting but far from exhausted - 'blonde bombshell', her ladyship, the lovely, the bombing Israeli, Tzipi Livni.

gez pearce
11 January 2009 at 22:16

I don't think Carter brought down the Shah , he did that himself. Carter was a decent man who did stand up to the Russians over Afghanistan.

You will find that most of the US money given to Isreal has been spent on blowing up other human beings. If that is good use I suppose it depends on your perspective.

About 100 times the palestinians ever had, perhaps building schools that provided secular education might have been better spent.

As they if in my country whatever.

gez pearce
11 January 2009 at 22:20

By the way jed it was your hero Reagan who sold or gave arms to the Mullahs in Afghanistan and Iran.

gez pearce
11 January 2009 at 22:24

Sorry Jed but my grammar was awful, too much claret.

What I eamt to say was

the money given to Isreal was 100to 1000 times the money given to palestinians, perhaps if the money had been spent on building schools that provided secular education, the money might have been better spent.

As they in say in my country whatever.

gez pearce
11 January 2009 at 22:25

meant to say

sbahour
11 January 2009 at 22:53

No Other Option?!

By Sam Bahour

http://epalestine.blogspot.com/

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/10/no_other_opt...

jednightingale
12 January 2009 at 05:20

To Gez Pearce,

BTW, Regan was no hero of mine. Regarding the aid

that the US has provided Israel over the years, it was

better spent than all the money that has been shipped

to the Palestinians. Read Edward Said's book on the

Oslo Peace Talks and you will get an earful of

complaints on how corrupt Fatah and Arafat were with

the moneys that were earmarked for the Palestinian

people. I will also add that the Palestinian

leadership have shot themselves in the foot for the last

sixty years. In 1948 they decided not to abide by UN

resolutions and instead decided to go to war and drag

other Arab countries into the conflict resulting in a

defeat. In 1967 they joined Egypt and Syria in calling

for the destruction of Israel and were defeated once

again. In 1991 they supported Saddam Hussein in his

conquest of Kuwait which brought their residency to

and end in various Arab countries. In 2000, Arafat

walked out on the Camp David talks and the

Palestinians got very little since then. Hopefully,

Abbas will bring some political maturity and sense into

the Palestinian agenda.

Cheers

Jed Nightingale

jednightingale
12 January 2009 at 05:39

Just a note to inform readers that John Pilger's

historical narrative on the origins of the Israeli -

Palestinian conflict quotes several episodes of

Jewish massacres against Palestinians (Deir Yassin,

Lyddia, etc) but fails to mention that the same book

describes just as carefully the massacres of Jews by

Arab gangs during that same war (Gush Etzion,

Hadassa doctors massacre on the road to Jerusalem,

etc). Clearly, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a

complex one in which anyone can decide their own

specific filter to color the picture they want to illustrate.

Pilger also fails to address the issue that 800,000

Jews were "ethnically cleansed" from the Arab and

Muslin world (e.g. Iraq, Libya Morocco, Egypt, Syria,

Yemen, Aden, Iran, Tunisia, etc). I guess that he

knows how to use only the Palestinian/Arab filter.

Reporters with such biases are quite worthless and

readers should abandon reading them because they

will never get an unbiased view. BTW I recommend

that readers pick a copy of Benni Rosen's book and

decide for themselves how complex this conflict is.

Amihai
12 January 2009 at 06:20

Senior Hamas officials in Gaza are hiding out in a "bunker" built by Israel, intelligence officials suspect: Many are believed to be in the basements of the Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City, which was refurbished during Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Shifa, the coastal strip's largest hospital, was built while Gaza was under Egyptian rule, before 1967.

During the mid-1980s the building underwent massive refurbishment as part of a showcase project to improve the living conditions of residents.

Millions were invested in the project, which was overseen by Shmuel Goren, the coordinator for activities in the territories at the time.

The Israeli civil administration in the territories constructed the hospital complex's Building Number 2, which has a large cement basement that housed the hospital's laundry and various administrative services.

During a cabinet meeting a week ago, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said senior Hamas officials found refuge in the hospital basement because they know Israel would not target it, due to the patients in the upper floors. Palestinian sources told Haaretz that not all the senior Hamas leaders are hiding in one place.

Rather, they have spread out, and some are constantly changing locations. Some of the bunkers they are using were linked by tunnels Hamas built in recent years.

Interesting, to say the very least, don't you think?

antileft
12 January 2009 at 09:15

"This is the 'style' of the facist 'intellectual' a style taken from the shock tatics of the right in the United States, pure demagogery from start to finish."

It's fascist to say something which has a meaning?! Fascist, and, strangely, American, and right wing?! How on earth is demagogery a characteristic of america or the right?! You think lefties are never demagogues?! Have you ever heard castro or chavez speak?! Honestly, writeon, and you complain about israelis being unable to criticize their own side! HA!

You know, writeon, being a demogogue doesnt mean that you actually say anything. Generally its the opposite. For example- youre a demogogue. You ramble on and on like castro/chavez/obama/ etc etc but what do you (and they) say? NOTHING!

"Why are opinions so important? Opinions without any intelligence or knowlege, what are they really worth? But of course it's not the actually content that's important, it's the opinion that matters."

No, writeon, content is important. Because without content, youre not actually expressing opinions, are you?! And this is the problem! You never actually say anything! Sure, you say nothing nicely. Its all very poetic. But most of the time YOURE NOT ACTUALLY SAYING ANYTHING!!! Hey, of course if your opinion is lousy Ill pick you up on that, but the problem with your posts is that the opinion isnt even present. Hey, idiots like the one above might be impressed. Im not.

"And words, such simple things, don't matter either, because language isn't important, not really, what' important is the blasting opinion without sense or real meaning. Historically this is how facists use language. They debase it and demand that their purile understanding of words and concepts, like 'freedom' and 'democracy' and 'terrorist' are the only ones that are valid and acceptable."

And here we are yet again- discussing what words mean. Blah blah blah. It doesnt mean anything at all does it?

antileft
12 January 2009 at 09:22

I just LOVE this by the way:

"Rightwing facists want to play dictator all the time, it's practice for them for their future careers as bullying braggarts."

Right, so you think that right wingers are somehow MORE LIKELY to be dictators?! You know writeon, the last time I checked, communists are the most likely to be dictatorial. Arent they?! In that they never allow democracy. EVER. At least the right has been known to have an election here and there.

The other damn annoying thing about your posts is that you never actually bother to answer any questions. So debate is impossible anyway. And as I told you before- questions are the root of debate. Without them, youre just speaking. Just rambling. Like any demagogue. Prime ministers questions is only workwhile because theyre QUESTIONS (or should be) rather than speeches. You should learn to answer them- maybe if you tried, youd realise how some of the very few opinions you share with us are actually wrong.

writeon
12 January 2009 at 11:59

Short sentences, easy words, easy concepts, not too hard to understand - 'saying something.'

I want you to, I demand, that you use words and language the way I think you should, on my terms, using my definitions, otherwise your not 'saying anything'. You must debate and answer my questions, otherwise you're not 'saying anything.' Why don't you answer the question idiot, moron, fool, your pathetic, all of you commie lefties, stupid! It's so simple. Have you stopped beating your wife? Answer 'yes' or 'no', say something?!

'Say something' I understand and can demolish with ease, because I'm not only a braggart, brutish and crude, a hectoring bully, I'm also arrogant and incredibly rude, but I've a right to be like this because I'm staggeringly intelligent compared to commie,leftie, softies - who never say anything, the way I do. I say the first thing that comes into my head on occasion, but then, I'm brilliant and have lots of questions you have to answer,so we can debate, even though there's no point, not really, because I already know the answers, all possible answers to my carefully selected and formulated questions. Say something!

Unless you agree to my demands about the debate and the ground rules, the definitions, your not 'saying anything'.

Mark
12 January 2009 at 12:43

The UK and USA Governments and media are under Zionist control.

In the US there is AIPAC and in the UK there is Friends of Israel.

writeon
12 January 2009 at 12:46

Back in the real world, a world away from personalised and individualised indulgences about 'me' and 'I' and 'you', the conflict in Gaza drags on and on. I'll try to 'say something' simple, someting any 'fool' can comprehend as they read it and move their lips at the same time.

Supposedly there's a 'debate' inside the Israeli cabinet about how to proceed, should one push on into the heart of Gaza, and accept the vast loss of civilian life that's bound to ensue, or should one pull back and just declare 'victory' and a job well done?

But if the rockets keep being fired and Hamas has not been taught the 'lesson' president Perez wants to give them, can one really say one's won? Who will be credulous enough to believe this spin. Hamas have an earier task, all they have to do is survive in their bunkers and when the Israel tanks leave fire a few rockets and on their terms and in the eyes of the Arab world it's they who will be seen as 'victorious'.

The collective 'lesson' or punishment of Gaza's civilian population in order to force them to turn away from Hamas because the price is too high in blood and destruction, is a very high-risk strategy from Israel's side. Just as Hamas and Hezballah have developed an effective military strategy for fighting Isreal's blitzkrieg, they've also developed an alternative 'moral' or propaganda strategy.

With some justification Israel has always been succesful in portraying itself as a 'peace loving, innocent, victim, surrounded by vicious and powerful enemies. Little David against the giant Goliath. Generally people outside the Middle East agreed and therefore sympathy and understanding was on Israel's side, especially in the West and the USA.

This was a very powerful narative.

However, paradoxically, Israel's massive military success, it's nuclear arsenal, it's booming economy, it's vibrant culture - in vivid contrast to the Palestinians in their pathetic and ghastly camps, where the only 'success' they really have is surviving

writeon
12 January 2009 at 13:05

The Palestinians survive and they've got the highest birthrate in the world, especially inside the Gaza Ghetto. Inside Israel proper the Israeli Palestinians, what strange term, have a very high birthrate too. Already their are probably over one and a half million of them and in thirty years, as they often have seven or eight children, they will probably be the majority ethnic group in Israel. This is a demographic timebomb for the state Israelis like to call 'Jewish'. What happens to the 'Jewish' state when the Palestinians are in the majority, will their be a final solution to this problem?

Say something! So those Israelis taking part in the assult on Gaza should perhaps consider their future prospects carefully. With a Palestinian majority inside Israel in a generation they could be the ones in political control, after all Israel isn't just a 'Jewish' state, it's a democracy. How will a future Palestinian president of Israel, head of the army, or justice minister, regard the Israeli politicians and generals who order the attacks on Gaza and such massive loss of life? Will they be able to sit back and enjoy their pensions in comfort, looking after their roses, playing with their grandchildren, or do they risk being put on trial for warcrimes in the new 'Palestinian, Jewish' state of Israel?

Anyway, Israel, with it's massively powerful army, that's won so many wars, so famously, cannot convince the world that it's under threat and that it's still little David. Little David has clearly grown up into Goliath, compared to the Palestinians. No ammount of propaganda from Israel can convince people that the reality they can see with there own eyes is false.

A new narative is taking over and in it it's the Palestinians that are little David. The roles are being reversed. And arrogant Goliath who talks about teaching David a lesson he won't forget had better wise up and soon. Of course Goliath could decide to turn himself, in suicidal funk, into Sampson.

writeon
12 January 2009 at 13:28

So Hamas and Hezballah have shown the entire Arab world that resisting and fighting back is possible. That one doesn't have to accept capitulation and occupation. This is the real 'lesson' people all over the region are learning, even though the 'price' is high. But historically people have been prepared to pay an incredibly high price for what they perceive as 'freedom' and 'justice'. The 'oppression' of a people usually has the opposite effect than the one the 'oppressors' calculate. History seems to illustrate this over and over again.

Hamas is sending message to Israel a kind of dare. To stop us you'll have to level Gaza and kill us all, we know you can do that, but do you dare? Can a 'peace loving' nation, a democracy, Israel really 'win' against opposition like Hamas, a political/religious, mass movement, that's so well integrated and popular within Palestinian society? What are the consequences of unleashing a 'holocaust' on Hamas from Israel's side, especially with the entire Muslim world watching? Haven't Hamas, with their willingness to fight, not surrender and die in such large numbers for their political/social/religious beliefs, blunted Israel's sword?

So Israel's cabinet has a real dilemma. Send the tanks into Gaza and kill thousands of civilians, men, women and children, win the battle but ultimately lose the war, the long war. Destroying Gaza won't destroy Hamas or weaken it, it'll only make it stronger and more dangerous, creating thousands of martyrs and ultimately damning Israel as a state and a democracy.

Nilsey105
12 January 2009 at 13:46

Whilst the United Nations passes resolutions for the curtailment of hostilities and unaminously, with the exception of the USA decision to abstain, the US military is busy seeking out a merchant carreir to deliver over 900 containers of munitions to the Israeli port of Ashod.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L9736369.htm

writeon
12 January 2009 at 15:45

Nilsey105,

This is of course, arguably, an attempt to tie the hands of Obama and severely limit his ability to attempt any sort of change in US policy towards the Middle East conflict. He will become locked into the same fruitless course.

There are United Nations resolutions which are used to support Israel and ones that can be safely ignored, apparently one can have it both ways.

For example, the Palestinians who were etnically cleansed and driven from the homes in the various wars over the last sixty years, have the right in international law and according to UN resolutions to return to their homes inside present day Israel and not just inside the occupied territories.

So if the Palestinians accept Israel's right to exist, surely in fairness, in the spirit of compromise and good faith, Israel should accept the right of the Palestinian refugees to return home. Or do some UN resoultions and aspects of international law, only apply in relation to some people and not to others?

Naturally, if the Palestinian refugees returned to the homes, which they have a right to in law, they would automatically, at a stroke, become the majority ethnic group inside Israel. But I suppose that's just the way democracy works, the majority rules, and the view of the people are paramount. Wonderful thing democracy and Israel is a shining beacon of democracy in the Middle East, as we are continually told, a legitimate democracy and state.

Obviously this demographic and democratic scenario will never be allowed to happen. Israel will never, ever allow the Palestinians to claim their right to return to their homes, farms and villages. Complying with international law and UN resolutions would mean the end of Israel as a 'Jewish' state and the end of the Zionist dream. Israel would become the New Palestine.

So Zionism seems set on a collision course with democracy in Israel. Can Israel be both Zionist and democractic at the same time? The answer would appear to be - no it can't. If I

Nilsey105
12 January 2009 at 16:20

"....and Israel is a shining beacon of democracy in the Middle East, as we are continually told, a legitimate democracy and state."

David Miliband has just said near the exact words in his report to the House on the present situation in Gaza.

However the rhetoric towards Hamas shows no recognition that they are a legitimate democratically elected political body .

Hamas for Miliband, if not for the whole British government, are just a terrorist organisation.

Why he should use this type of hawkish language, when he is allegedly attempting to secure peace and some form of legitimation and recognition by Hamas of the state of Israel, i find extremely hard to comprehend.

But then i recall his dealings of the Georgia debacle.

pete999
12 January 2009 at 16:38

Writeon and Antileft.

Ever considered doing a sitcom together?

writeon
12 January 2009 at 17:10

Pete999,

Real people are dying in Gaza, so I'm not really in the mood for humour. I feel guilty and self-indulgent and somewhat ashamed that I allow myself to enage in 'debates' or oblique comments so lacking in quality or importance and I keep kicking myself for my weakness in not ignoring such rubbish. I'll have to do better. Whoops, I'm not 'saying anything' again! I don't even have an idea what 'not saying anything' means, really. I don't even know what the alternative 'saying something' means!

One tries to 'say something' but that's not good enough, because the 'something' is wrong. It doesn't 'say' enough. The language and words one uses don't 'say anything', yet one is attacked for asking what the right, magic words are, the ones that 'say something' I'm lost. It seems so contradictory and to lack internal logic or sense.

One is criticised for wanting to define or use words and concepts properly, by someone who says the words one's using are wrong and don't 'say anything'. This implies one should use other words, or no words, or words the right way. I'm confused. If we don't use words, how do we communicate? So it really is all about words and how they are used!

But of course it isn't just about words, it's about power and forcing others to bow to one's will, or refuse to bow down and acknowledge one's inferior status and intelligence.

And all the while, back in the real world, children are being blown to pieces with bombs, shameful, really shameful.

FreedomLand
12 January 2009 at 17:21

pete999: "Writeon and Antileft. Ever considered doing a sitcom together..?"

Uhh, the fake state of Israel IS the sitcom the Americans had to have - along with Guantanamo, Cuba and a host of other long-running sores. But with Israel, that IS the outcome of having your thinking done for you offshore.

This is a common failing both of American and Westerners in general and it applies mostly to religion and philosophy in this case. Apart from that, Amerika only ever became great by importing great minds to do the science. The rest was merely the killing off of the indigenous population and the exploitation of also-imported slave labor.

But here we come right back to # writeon's(?) comment about why is it that one race should be chosen for vilification over another. As we know, many Africans were/are smarter, better people than their slavers. They were not simply 'grass to be trodden'. The same goes for the Arab and Levantine peoples but instead, we have a biased viewpoint grown in the West and cleverly fed by the world's new Lilliputian master race.

writeon
12 January 2009 at 17:23

Nilsey,

What Miliband means, not that he really knows or understands, is that Hamas are uncivilised savages, beyond the pale. This of course is to accept Israel's perspective on the Middle East 100%. There is no criticism of Israel's attack on Gaza, or the massive loss of civilian life. Hamas, the weaker party, is responsible for all the deaths, even though they are so poorly armed and are not invading Israel with an army.

Why do all, or nearly all, Western governments dance to Israel's tune? Why are we allies of Israel? Why are we allowing ourselves to be drawn into a confrontation with the Muslim world? Why do we even care what happens to Isreal? It's a tiny, not particularly significant place, it should be boring, yet the entire world seems to revolve around Israel. Don't Israelis ever want to be boring and dull, or do they like being the centre of attraction and interest?

pabelmont
12 January 2009 at 17:28

Israel's a democracy? Well, sort of, but, then, so was the Soviet Central Committee. Ordinary soviet citizens did not have a meaningful vote.

(We so recently hopeful Democrats are now wondering whether USA voters have a meaningful vote, as Obama makes ready to continue USA imperialist projects including support for Israel.)

But, again is Israel democratic? When Israel expelled (and/or refused to re-admit) 750,000 Palestinians in the 1947-50 war, it was doing more than stealing land and acquiring "geography without demography". It was denying the VOTE to a huge portion of the people entitled (by general custom) to live within Israel's pre-1967 territory.

If the Palestinians (again) become a majority (of voters, not merely of citizens), be prepared to see the voting/citizenship rules change or to see the expulsion of these new voters.

Cheers, democrats all!

FreedomLand
12 January 2009 at 17:50

writeon; "Why do all, or nearly all, Western governments dance to Israel's tune? Why are we allies of Israel? Why are we allowing ourselves to be drawn into a confrontation with the Muslim world..?"

Back to those unanswered questions again, # writeon, eh?

In 2006, it was a Christian leader concocting some resurrected garbage about a past 'holy' Byzantine empire and once again smearing the Turks as evil. The fact that they spent ages assiduously growing their own empire and becoming great and noble in their own right was meaningless in the face of such bigotry.

That takes us back to the religious fantasies as well as prejudices of the white Western European and his/her tiny religious/spiritual minds. In the Christian religion, one would have to assume that the reason the Jews appeared in its bible was NOT that they were Christians or that Jesus was "a Jewish rabbi".

The problem is, however, that IS exactly what has been fancifully construed by limited knowledge about an essentially West Asian religion's origins and the utter ongoing ignorance of Western religious thought. Thus Jews have been seen as Jesus' people - and then that has been completely usurped by the latecomer Russian and European Jews to Israel who have little or no relationship with the Roman Caananite puppet state of 2,000 years ago.

In so doing, the Westerner has for centuries blindly accepted the word of the Jews, whether Semites or not, as an accurate Christian pre-history, and has equally blindly filtered out the culture, knowledge and wisdom of the other 700 million people of the region. The reason for that is squarley based on age-old prejudice from the days of the Crusaders as well as the more recent Byzantium.

Red Shift
12 January 2009 at 19:56

Silence isn't the same as denial.

I don't think its about silence, I think its about too much noise, so much no one can hear anything.

Even if they are listening.

writeon
12 January 2009 at 23:07

Democracy and Zionism do they go together? The Israeli electoral commission has just banned two Arab parties from taking part in the coming general election.

Democracy in action in the Middle East's only democracy, or the beginning of the end for democracy in Israel?

What were the crimes of the two arab parties? Seemingly they were too critical of Israel's attack on Gaza and the resulting slaughter of civilians, taking part in anti-war demonstrations, calling for equal, democratic and civil rights for all of Israel's citizens regardless of ethnic background!

But the established 'Jewish' parties regard them as 'traitors' and 'terrorists' and a 'threat to the Jewish identity of Israel'! This would appear to be a grossly undemocratic attempt to disenfrachise around 20% of Israel's citizens. How will the democracies of the West react I wonder? And what will happen when half the population of Israel are Palestinians? Then they'll really be a 'threat' to Israel's Jewish identity!

Nilsey105
12 January 2009 at 23:34

writeon

" How will the democracies of the West react I wonder?"

One thing is for certain, they wont treat it as it should be. And that is the way they treated a similar denial to the people of South Africa. Apartheid is what the Zionist State is perpetrating.

writeon
12 January 2009 at 23:36

Pete999,

Was I intense? You should see me when I really get intense. I melt lead.

I'm was just feeling irritated with myself for getting involved again in such rubbish. I don't want to be some pricks drug of choice, bollocks to that! It's pathetic, futile and a waste of space and time, especially when important things are happening. It's self-indulgent to get lost in 'personalities' when the world is catching on fire. I feel ashamed of myself and very foolish. I'm not important.

What's important then? That the West is still the master of slaughter and Israel is part of the West, so we are allies. Our money, our weapons, our support, our understanding, our responsibility, our shame, our crime.

Isn't the essence of traditional Western imperialism our massive history and ability to slaughter millions one way or another? Our colonial wars were always disproportionate, a hundred to one, quite normal for us. Genocide and robbery on a planetary scale! And we talked about the whiteman's bloody burden, to civilize a bunch of ungrateful savages.

Every time the natives won a battle it was defined as a massacre, whilst we won great victories against the savage hords, talk about double-standards and hypocracy.

I must admit the political leaders we've got make me want to vomit. Miliband brings me out in hives. Our silence on Gaza makes us complicit in a form of genocide, yet we have the gall to call Hamas 'terrorists' and agressors, yet we do all the killing and bombing. Our killing is good killing and theirs is bad, because they mean and like to kill and we don't. Democracies don't do genocide! How convenient, what a wonderful get out of jail card. What power as ones disposal. Just call yourself a democracy and one can get away with mass murder! It makes one sick to ones stomach!

That's me moving slightly towards intense. Hope I'm 'saying something'! Though it's only words and nowhere near enough what really needs to be said and done.

Nilsey105
12 January 2009 at 23:37

And so your leading question should be;

Apartheid and Zionism do they go together?

Nilsey105
13 January 2009 at 00:28

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/13/letters-israel-rall...

FreedomLand
13 January 2009 at 07:23

But, to continue towards a reasonable and workable solution.....

Both Russian Jew Ehud Olmert and US whackeroo, George Bush, are now outgoing heads of state. It would therefore be a useless tragedy to continue to acknowledge the political mess that they have both gotten the West into as in any way valid. That means that the USA has to acknowledge some of its shortcomings and do something to make up for that. Ceasing to provide military aid to an out-of-control monster would be a start. That could then be re-directed to financing a UN military mission to re-establish a fair equity for the oppresses and deprived peoples of what was once always an equal state for Christian, Moslem and Jew.

But, obviously, the Egyptians cannot run things as they ahve been part of the problem in their game-playing with Israel and their corrupt links with the USA. Their military aid should also be revoked forthwith and that used to help fund a genuine UN misssion. Saudi Arabia, a kingdom, not a democracy, should likewise have its teeth drawn by having its US military aid withdrawn as well. That measn that the Turks will have to step in and take on that role that they are actually most capable of as UN peacekeepers. But who is going to help them come to terms with the Kurds? Maybe Iraq and Iran.....???

mfundo
13 January 2009 at 08:26

I am a black South African, and I lived through apartheid. Zionism is apartheid on a grand scale. We were also called terrorists when we resisted oppression and humiliation. But we didn't derive our right to resist from the so called international community. We resisted because we wanted to live with dignity and freedom. The brave Palestinian people will never surrender, because their living conditions wont allow them. Defenders of oppressive regimes are not a new phenomenon either. These are people who have mortgaged their humanity for obscure legality. LONG LIVE GAZA! THANK YOU MR PILGER for continuing what you were doing during our struggle for freedom.

Xolani

writeon
13 January 2009 at 09:30

Gaza. Another day, another warcrime.

Turns out the Israelis have been deliberately targetting mobile clinics in Gaza. That means destroying them. Clinics paid for with money from various government, non-government and church groups from Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

There's now demands from these countries for compensation from the Israeli state,whilst anti-Muslim politicians argue that the bill should be sent to Hamas as it's their fault.

As the West moves out of the democratic era towards something that resembles a form of totalitarian fascism, we are abandoning fundamental principles and attitudes and ideals which have characterised our civilisation, at least in theory, though not always in practice for centuries.

Today, increasingly, our leaders don't even feel they have to pay lip service to these principles, but can question them openly. What are some of them?

The return and systematic use of torture as a form of terror. The thrashing of the concept of a just war. The disproportionate use of force. The targetting of civilians in warfare. The use of seige tactics to starve the enemy into submisssion. The undermining of the concept of national sovereignty and the ideas behind the Treat of Westphalia. Imprisonment with trial. Assassination of opposition leaders. Summary executions. Illegal spying on peaceful protestors. Censorhip and control of the press. The undermining of fundamental democratic principles. The weakening of parliamentary oversight and restraint on the executive. The return of the strongman leader. The rise of 'monarchy'. The emergence of, de facto, one party states. The end of the 'opposition' inside Parliament. The growth of the strong, security state. The return of private armies. The attack on rationality and reason itself. The growth of superstition and 'witchcraft'...

Sorry, a long list and unfortunately it's growing!

zak
13 January 2009 at 09:37

Well done Mr Pilger. In the face of the quite vicious zionist propaganda machine your article is courageous and brave. Many websites and articles speaking out against Israeli action have somehow disappeared off the Interned, email accounts hacked and saboutaged. Whilst people like you aren't afraid to write the truth, more eyes will be opened to this horror. Thank you.

writeon
13 January 2009 at 09:55

Why is any of this important? Simply because freedom, democracy, liberty, justice, human rights, the rights of man, all the things we've taken for granted in the West for decades are under sustained attack and are being undermined. It's a process that's happening at different speeds in different areas, but the trend is unmistakable. We are becoming far less free, slowly the doors are being closed.

About the only area were we are allowed 'real freedom' to choose is in the marketplace for goods and services, but even that is closing-down as the slump/depression takes hold and the age of consumerism draws to an end. But of course to achieve this level of 'freedom' one needs employment and money, otherwise one's 'freedom' is severely limited. So across the board our freedoms are being limited and systematically eroded.

Democracy, even in its bourgeois form, which is arguably better than most others, at least for Westerners, is under threat, not from the non-existant terrorist network determined to destroy us, but from within, from our own leaders. Whether it's a 'conspiracy' or not is probably irrelevant, what's important is that it's happening.

It's happening because the kind of democracy we have isn't compatible with the new imperialism of the West. Our political leaders, in order to fulfill their goals, which are mostly economic and strategic, the maintenance of Western hegemony and our way of life, have to turn themselves into warcriminals. Iraq was a perfect example of this change in strategy. A classic, old-school, imperialist warcrime on a massive scale, collosal destruction and hundreds of thousands of civilian dead, our losses minimal, managebale.

But slaughter, warcrimes and lying at this level breeds opposition in what's left of democracy, and therefore democracy itself is a threat to the imperial project. What's happening in Gaza is part of the same war the West is engaged in. It's about power and control of the world, markets and resources.

writeon
13 January 2009 at 10:19

Sorry, I should have written 'imprisonment without trial' and I left out one of the most important and symbolic of all our precious freedoms which is under direct attack - the principle of Habeas Corpus, which has been at the heart of most of our civil rights for a almost a thousand years.

Dave
13 January 2009 at 13:31

Ironic that in the UK it seems to be the unelected house of Lords that is the principle barrier to the further erosion of our rights.

rightofleft
13 January 2009 at 16:50

J P asks

"Every war Israel has waged since 1948 has had the same objective: expulsion of the native people and theft of more land. But why are we in the west silent on this truth?"

Simple; That is not the truth.

a.m.r.
13 January 2009 at 17:24

In electing Hamas to government, the Palestinians elected a group that is dedicated to the elimination of Israel and of all Jewish presence from the Muslim world, and which sees all attempts at negotation and peacemaking as contrary to their essential goal (all according to their official charter. Their public rhetoric in Arabic is often more violent and explicit.)

The Palestinians elected a group that's existentially in an uncompromising war of elimination with Israel, and has backed up their rhetoric with suicide-bombings, mortar attacks, rocket attacks, snipings and shooting, all directed against Israeli civilians.

This attitude of "no recognition of Israel, no negotiation with Irsael, no peace with Israel" has been more or less constant since Israel's foundation, and the murderous attitude to the Jews predates that, going back at least to al-Husseini's Nazi-inspired and aligned leadership of the Palestinian Arabs in the 1930's. It should be noted that al-Husseini eliminated, often violently, his moderate Jewish-friendly Palestinian Arab rivals for power, setting the scene for more brutal and enforced anti-Jewish actions.

To those who say that Palestinians are driven to violence against Israeli civilians because they have no other means of resistance, being so much weaker, it needs to be pointed out that the violence against the Jews in Palestine started long before any Jewish violence against the Arabs, and when the Jews were in a far weaker state.

If the Palestinian Arabs had accepted the 1947 Partition plan (or the 2000 peace offer), they would have had their national state. Instead, they chose war and attempted to 'drive the British into the sea, and the Jews into their graves'.

If the Palestinian Arabs and neighboring states had not started the 1948 war against Israel, the present Palestinian refugee problem would not exist - no Palestinians had been displaced until they tried and failed by war to destroy Israel and take the Jewish homes and lands.

writeon
13 January 2009 at 20:14

a.m.r.

That is an extraordinarily partisan and one-sided view of the history of the conflict over the last sixty years. Do you really believe that easy and comforting version of history? I suppose you do.

I wonder if you were a Palestinian whether you'd believe the exact opposite view with the same certainty and conviction. You probably would. Palestinians do believe another and contrary historical narative exists and is perfectly valid and reflects the real truth of the conflict.

So you are right and they are wrong about Palestine's history and pretty much everything else pretaining to the conflict. When two peoples disagree so fundamentally and fight wars over a disputed territory who is normally in the right?

What I mean is, the situation in Israel/Palestine is not really unique in all human history, is it? There have been wars for thousands of years, there are wars being fought today and wars will unfortunately occur in the future; so do we know with certainty why all these wars were fought, who started them and why, and who was 'right' and who was 'wrong'?

If the answer is 'no' there is a great deal of uncertainty, controversy, partisanship, victors history and losers history; why then should the history of the conflict between Jews and Palestinians be any different? Is this conflict so exceptional, unique, so special and the facts so clear, obvious and incontrovertible, contrary to all other conflicts throughout history, that one can be so certain, so sure, about the rights and wrongs of this one?

I don't think the story, the history of this conflict is so simple, so black and white at all. In fact the extremist, chauvinist, bellicose, ultra-nationalist mythology, is more than likely to be untrue and false, as these types of naratives usually are. Furthermore, my study of wars and conflicts has lead me to be very sceptical indeed of the heroic, nationlist narative, which more often than not is revealed to be a useful fiction when examined closely.

gez pearce
13 January 2009 at 20:16

Amr

It is not as simple as Jews good Arabs bad or vice versa.

Remember in Muslims and Christians, presenting a series of formal complaints to the British authorities on 26 July 1928 because of terrorist attacks by Jewish terrorists

During the war

There were terrorist attacks by the Irgun and Lehi, unofficially backed by the Hagganah on Arab civilians, British officials, British forces, international delegates (e.g. Comte Bernadotte), and strategic installations. This caused severe damage to British morale and prestige, as well as increasing opposition to the mandate in Britain itself, public opinion demanding to "bring the boys home".

Remember far more British soldiers were killed by Jews than Arabs

World public opinion turned against Britain as a result of the British policy of preventing Holocaust survivors from reaching Palestine, sending them instead to Cyprus internment camps, or even back to Germany, as in the case of Exodus 1947.

The US Congress was delaying a loan necessary to prevent British bankruptcy. The delays were in response to the British refusal to fulfill a promise given to Truman that 100,000 Holocaust survivors would be allowed to migrate to Palestine.

Because Britain wanted to keep to the mandate.

This did not help the situation.

To say that the Arabs were too solely to blame for the situation is a little naive.

Nilsey105
13 January 2009 at 20:24

writeon

Your final paragraph.

You mean figments of someones imagination such as weapons of mass destruction?

jednightingale
13 January 2009 at 22:28

To the Turkish demonstrators and prime minister that are so concerned with the Gaza crisis. Where were you when Turkey invaded the Kurds in Iraq? Here is a article form a few months ago....

Jed Nightingale

NYC

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Another Iraq invasion?

Political tensions boil in Turkey as thousands call for war against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, and the White House scrambles to stop it.

By Maximilian Popp

Oct. 24, 2007 | ISTANBUL, Turkey -- The mood in Turkey is becoming increasingly jingoistic as thousands take to the streets, calling for war against the Kurdish rebel organization PKK and an invasion of northern Iraq. But Baghdad has promised to curb the Kurds.

Anger drives them onto the streets, anger provoked by the images of dead soldiers shown on Turkish television. Thousands of demonstrators walk along Istiklal Caddesi, or Independence Avenue, Istanbul's longest shopping street. They are calling for war: war against the Kurds, against the PKK, against Iraq. "We have waited long enough," reads one poster. "Allah wants this war," is the message on another.

People have been protesting throughout the country since Sunday evening, after it was revealed that rebels from the Kurdish separatist organization the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had killed 12 Turkish soldiers in eastern Turkey. It is mainly young people who take to the streets, with Turkish flags in their hands, whistles in their mouths and hatred in their eyes.

"We have waited long enough," says Erkan, a young car mechanic from Istanbul. "It's time to strike." His face is pale and his right hand is clenched in a fist. "We are all Turks, we are all soldiers!" he calls. Many of the demonstrators sympathize with the right-wing youth organization the Gray Wolves. Their message.....

writeon
13 January 2009 at 22:34

Nilsey105,

I wasn't thinking specifically of weapons of mass destruction, but that seems to fit the bill.

I try to remain calm, rational and reasoned, because I'm afraid of what happens when we become swept away by our emotions and the frezy of war, anything, Anything can happen, and that scares me.

Though I must admit it's getting harder. All this senseless killing, all the lying, the propaganda, the with us or against us, the partisanship, the chauvanism, the patriotism, the tribalism... It makes me angry at the same time that it leaves me cold.

You see, I don't really have a country anymore and I don't have a flag I'd be willing to die or kill for. My family had a lot of soldiers in it, a lot of different wars, sometimes they even fought against each other!

Just my immediate family covering only the last hunderd years, has people from so many different countries joined together. My wife's even 'worse' she can trace her ancestors back over a thousand years, people with money, land and position can do that. It makes me very sceptical of the ideology of nationalism, also my 'class' always seemed cynically wedded to power and fortune before country, after all one can make money anywhere and the fighting was for the 'peasants' who really didn't have anything much to lose - except their lives.

Strange mix really. Soldiers, mostly from Austria, money, land and the younger ones who seemed to have dreamt of revolution before they joined the family 'firm' and became responsible. Now it's nearly all gone. The soldiers and the rest. It's like a soap. A microcosm of the destruction of Europe. So much waste and so much loss, and for what exactly?

writeon
13 January 2009 at 23:07

Nilsey105,

There are an awful lot of not very bright people around here. They seem as diciplined and gullable as soldiers going over the top towards the wire and the machine guns. Ours not to reason why, ours but to do or die, bollocks to all that! Patriotism for the lobotomised, humbug and cant. A nightmare fairytale for children.

Bringing up every warcrime, atrocity, massacre, genocide and slaughter; doesn't make what's happening in Gaza less horrific and criminal! If anything it makes it more, not less, understandible as a warcrime because it puts it in it's true historical perspective. The next in a long, long, line of horrors.

And saying that there have been other cases of attempted genocide in history, like the Warsaw Ghetto and Guerenica, doesn't make Israel's actions more legal, moral, right or just, on the contrary, it only leads ones thoughts towards comparing Israel to the infamous butchers of the past.

Put simply, for the intellectually challenged, two wrongs don't make a right!

And Gaza is happening now, before our eyes. It's not history, it's now. It's not somewhere else, it's here and now. Most of the comments supporting the assault are an insult to ones intelligence. Anyone with half a brain can see that one side is incredibly powerful and armed to the teeth and agressive, and the other side is barely able to defend itself because they don't have a real army or proper weapons. They're a militia trapped inside a city which is slowly being destroyed by a powerful, modern army, navy and airforce.

Desparately trying to justify the unjustifiable, lying abot the truth, perverting language, won't work when reality is staring the world in the face. It's possible for Israel to fool itself, but it's failing miserably to fool the world!

Nilsey105
13 January 2009 at 23:33

writeon

Some elements of the British people would have the world believe that only the Brits themselves can be legitimate supporters of the underdog. If one takes this as gospel then its a denial of all of humanity possesing empathy towards the downtrodden, the underdogs of the world.

If this was a war of proportionality, equal weaponry, etc played out on a field of battle away from any urban areas where innocent children and ordinary citizens could be hurt, then i believe most of the dissent stated in the comments here would not be written.

Lots of people would say oh let them fight it out. But the reality is not like that and people see the reality for what it is. Mass murder on both sides but its out of all proportion in favour of one side and not the other. And one side has weapons of mass destruction.

Lets hope they are never used.

Amihai
14 January 2009 at 12:09

"Zionism"

Do you mean Judaism, but afraid, for political correctness, to spew hate at it thus Zionism becomes a good substitute?

Well, as a matter of fact, Judaism is the civilization of a people, of the Jewish people, and it has been around for nearly 4,000 years. The cradle of this civilization of course is that geographic area called Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) and its members have been the Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish people, depending on the historic period to which one refers.

Political Zionism – as opposed to historic Zionism that has been the affinity of the Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish people to the land of Zion and Jerusalem from time immemorial – is a product of 19th century ideology. It is, in other words, the non-violent national liberation movement of the Jewish people to re-establish its nation-state in Eretz Israel (Land of Israel), and in this, Zionism is simply another component of Jewish civilization, or Judaism.

The greatest achievement of Zionism, and Judaism, during the 20th and 21st centuries has been indeed the re-establishment of the independent of Israel. Before passing any judgment, I strongly suggest that critics Google for and read Israel's Proclamation of Independence, 14 May 1948, and try to appreciate Israel's hope and aspirations regarding the Jewish people but also Israel's Arab neighbors.

I challenge any here to show me a similar peaceful and progressive document that has ever been issued by Israel's Arab neighbors!!!

Amihai
14 January 2009 at 12:33

Sir/Madam,

There are constant references in these threads to "Zionism". Hoping to clarify the essence of this political ideology and by so doing contributing to the depth of the discussion regarding this concept, I have noticed that my post did not go through and was not published.

Question: Is this the way in which to conduct a "free exchange of information, knowledge and ideas" or is it simple manifestation of partisanship?

Thank you for sharing with me and others your response.

Amihai

Peaceful
14 January 2009 at 12:55

Clearly people are still shouting down anyone who dares speak against the Israel Regime. So much for freedom of speech?lol.

Thank you for such a truthful and honest article. There will always be those who repress anyone who stands up to bullies, and I just want you to know that you have much support.

The Gaza Massacres are a reality and anyone who has been following the injustice from the start or been inside Gaza will be able to tell you the truth about the dire situation Gazans have been in for the last 60 years.

Keep telling people Mr Pilger,, for its only when brave people like you stand up to the bullies in teh world that we can learn the truth of its state.

I have no doubt teh next comments will be attacking me as a hamas supporting anti-semite terorist . In fact, I am neither. I am just a human who believes in justice. Go ahead put me down.

Amihai
14 January 2009 at 13:40

"I am just a human who believes in justice".

That is very legitimate, indeed. I would only hope that this believer does so based on facts and not based on cooked TV images, and the facts are:

Persistent eyewitness reports and photographs tell of Hamas's leaders hiding in the basement of the Shifa Hospital of Gaza, using the civilians in this medical facility as human shields, a form of war crimes.

Also, similar reports, based on photo documentation, accuse Hamas's armed forces of producing weapons and explosives and stockpiling them in mosques, in UN managed schools and in people's homes and firing them from kindergarten yards and the yards of medical facilities, which also amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

And of course, Hamas's exclusive targets for many years have been population canters in Israel – the blue colour towns of S'derot, Ashqelon, the universities of Beer Sheba and Sapir, and the collective and cooperative farming communities and their residents, of southern Israel - also considered war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israel has been seeking an accommodation of peaceful co-existence with its Arab neighbors, in Gaza and elsewhere. But Israel, as any other country, can not allow for its citizens to be targeted day in and day out for years by those whose declared goal is the erasing of Israel – a UN member state – off the face of the earth and with it the Jewish civilization in this national homeland of the Jewish people (read Hamas's Charter!!!).

When Hamas looses its will and motivation to fire at Israeli children in their kindergartens – some of which have been hit while the toddlers have been sheltered, thus survived - and most of the means with which it conducts its war machine against Israel's civilian population is eliminated; when all illicit weapons cease to make their ways into Gaza; and when Gilad Shalit is home, only then this conflict will come to an end.

writeon
14 January 2009 at 13:43

Amihai,

I, if it's me you are referring to, am not, repeat, NOT! anti-semetic and never have been, and I am not going to change now. I don't equate Zionism with Judaism. Part of my family was based in Austria and they were Jews. My wife is half-Jewish herself. I really resent being labelled, or it's implied I'm anti-Jewish, or that I'm an enemy of Israel. There are prominent Jews all over the world and in Israel, who are just as concerned about the changing character of Israel, what this could lead to and how dangerous it is for Israel itself and the region as a whole.

Charters, constitutions, documents, treaties... these are all very interesting... but, but, but, they are not realities on the ground, they are not tanks on the ground either, and Israel's tanks say more about Israel, in the eyes of the world than words, however peaceful or progressive or noble. One can read the constitution of the Chinese Communist Party and it sounds absolutely wonderful, but it doesn't have much to do with reality. You must know this, surely. Declarations and constitions are, in one sense, only words, and most often say virtually nothing about the real nature of the society they 'reflect.'

I'm fully aware of the hopes and aspirations of the Jewish people. They have rights too. But why do so many Jews take it opon themselves to speak for all other Jews? Why so much generalisation? Why the stereotype that all Jews are nationalists? Why the idea that one can lump all Jews together and characterise them? Jews and being Jewish is an incredibly flexible concept, as is the concept of Israeli.

The social and economic structure of Israel is highly complex and diverse. I think elements inside Israel use the conflict with the Palestinians politically to strengthen their position and divert attention from political and social tensions inside Israel. This is normal for ruling elites throughout history, why should Israel be any different?

writeon
14 January 2009 at 14:01

amihai,

I was just wondering. I'm not demanding that you reply, but I'm curious. Around 20% of Israel's population are still Palestinians. In two or three decades they will probably become the largest ethnic group in Israel. How will Zionism, Israelis, the Jewish state, deal with this 'demographic timebomb'?

This isn't meant to be a trick question I assure you. I think both Zionism and Israeli democracy will be challenged to its core by this development. How can Israel remain a Jeswish state, ruled by and for Jews, if it contains a Palestinian majority? I've asked this question several times, here and elsewhere, and as yet nobody has attempted to answer me. This odd as the supporters of the current version of Israel don't usually hold back when confronted, or when they perceive that Israel is being criticised. It's not as if one can simply ignore this fundamental change in Israel's demography for ever. That would be very unwise.

I think the ultra-right in Israel will never accept a Palestinian majority, not matter what, and they will try to alter this potential fact on the ground by any means necessary. I mean violence, terrorism, war and ethnic cleansing. They are already talking along these lines as anybody who knows anything about Israel knows.

Is ultra-Zionism, Israeli democracy, Israel's Jewishness compatible with a Palestinian majority and democracy itself?

chris37uk
14 January 2009 at 14:22

"freedom, democracy, liberty, justice, human rights, the rights of man, all the things we've taken for granted in the West for decades are under sustained attack"

Indeed there are, from Islam, which is set to be a huge threat to us all

writeon
14 January 2009 at 16:26

Chris37uk

Typical. A selective, clipped, distorted version of what I wrote. Islam isn't attacking us in the West. Show me where exactly. Where are the Muslim armies rampaging through central Europe? Is an Islamic fleet sailing up the Thames and bombarding London? Are Arab pilots dropping bombs and strafing Birmingham?

Islam isn't a direct military threat to us all. This is pure propaganda rubbish, and you must know this. We are attacking Muslims all over the place, killing them in enormous numbers. Over the last fifteen years we have been responsible for the deaths of literally millions of Arabs, comparable to a half Holocaust!

We've got three Western armies involved in three agressive occupations and wars at the moment; in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza. We're attacking Pakistan, we've attacked Somalia, we're threatening Iran with a nuclear strike - isn't that enough!?

Yet you allege is us who are under sustained attack now and in the future. What rubbish! Don't you have any shame? Israel's killed about 800 women and children in Gaza and you write this crap. Think about this if the slaughter in Gaza was extrapolated to the UK and a brutal, cruel and vicious Muslim army was pounding defenceless British cities we'd be talking about 60,000 casualties, 60,000! This puts your ridiculous remarks in perspective I think.

Of course, if we keep on attacking Muslim countries and slaughtering them in such vast numbers, we are talking about genocide here, a new holocaust, democracies lead by warcriminals committing warcrimes on a massive scale; eventually the enenemy will find a way to hit back at us for a change. The vultures of death will visit our homes and cities for a change and we will only have ourselves to blame. Blood will beget blood.

a.m.r.
14 January 2009 at 16:28

gez pearce: "It is not as simple as Jews good Arabs bad or vice versa. "

Nor is it as simple as Pilger's "Israelis bad, Arabs good".

gez pearce: "World public opinion turned against Britain as a result of the British policy of preventing Holocaust survivors from reaching Palestine, sending them instead to Cyprus internment camps, or even back to Germany, as in the case of Exodus 1947."

How did world opinion react when, directly after the Holocaust, the Palestinians and neighboring Arabs in 1948 tried to kill the Jewish survivors who'd taken refuge in Israel?

gez pearce: "To say that the Arabs were too solely to blame for the situation is a little naive."

They are not to blame for the 'situation' ie. the large presence of Jews in Middle East, and the re-establishment of the state of Israel.

They are responsible for their rejection of compromise or peaceful co-existence with the Jewish state, and their violent campaigns against the same (1948 war, 1967 war, 1973 war, the PLO's two Intifadas, the PLO's attacks from occupied Lebanon (over 100,000 civilian Lebanese killed by the Palestinians during their 8 year occupation) and Hezbollah's campaign from Lebanon.

At any point they could have chosen the path of peaceful nationhood (side by side with Israel) but they didn't.

It's true that in the face of the constant Arab rejection, violence and war, the Israeli attitude hardened, though not monolithically, to the less-than-pleasant point where it now resides. True, but not altogether surprising.

Amihai
14 January 2009 at 16:38

"'freedom, democracy, liberty, justice, human rights, the rights of man, all the things we've taken for granted in the West for decades are under sustained attack'. Indeed there are, from Islam, which is set to be a huge threat to us all".

Sadly, this assault amounts to that of Islamism (please note, not Islam!) on liberal democracy. Hamas in Gaza is only one manifestation of it, and this is precisely the context within which it must be viewed.

I feel very sad and sorry for the civilian Muslim population that is being used by Hamas and pays the price for this ideological/military assault.

KSaber
14 January 2009 at 16:54

The majority of people in the USA and Canada get the news and opinions from TV and major newspapers. These are increasingly controlled, through senior managers, editors and publishers, by pro-Israelis. These media outlets censored a lot of the carnage that is happening every day in Gaza and downplayed the protests against it that happened, and is still happening, in many parts of the world.

It is a sad and almost hopeless case. The hold is strong, and even the mere mention of the power this group is having on the media, book publishing, movies, academia, not to mention politicians, will earn you all kind of accusations. It is left only to brave and dedicated journalists such as Mr. Pilger (and others) to provide a glimmer of decency in these increasingly troubled times

writeon
14 January 2009 at 17:05

This is only a detail, but I think it's interesting. Repeatedly we hear in the media that Israel's population are solidly behind their political and military leadership in relation to their policy of destroying Gaza and Hamas. Sounds very impressive, on the surface. I've heard a figure of 80% mentioned several times, remarkable.

Where do these statistics come from exactly? How is such a high figure possible when around 20% of Israel's population are Palestinians? Have they been asked too? Are we really to believe that the Palestinians in Israel, an oppressed minority, support the attacks on their own people in Gaza in anything like the same numbers that the Jewish Israelis do? How is this possible?

From what I can gather, no Israeli Palestinians support the terror bombing of Gaza, so how on earth does one arrive at the extraordinary figure of 80%? Subtract the Palestinians, 20% of the population, and the figure of 80% support is mathematicaly impossible. Also, it would mean that 100% of Israelis are behind their government's murderous policies. This is not simply not possible. But what it does show, is how information about the conflict coming out of Israel is manipulated propaganda, but then we're getting used to this by now aren't we?

writeon
14 January 2009 at 17:26

Amihai,

This is ridiculous, unfair and plain wrong! You are repeating a 'mistake' by Chris37uk, when he deliberately cut the end off of one of my sentences and therefore misquoted me. And you have now quoted him, misquoting me again! This is very dishonest. But it does show how the militant, nationalist ,defenders of Israel, the 'Israel right or wrong' crowd work and think. Any means, fair or foul, in the defence of Israel.

But you don't care or give a damn, do you? Truth and honour are alien concepts to you. All that matters is defending your side anyway you can. It's a war of words, not a rational debate or exchange of ideas, and examination or attempt to find out the truth. Truth doesn't matter, only winning does, by any means necessary.

But the tactics you us only unermine your case because they are so false and primative and so easily refuted. So not believing a word you write should be ones starting point, or at the very least profound scepticism.

In fact this should be our starting point in relation to everything our ruling Western elite says. Start from the premise that what they are saying is distorted, unreliable, lies; after all they have a proven track-record of lying, especially about the reasons for going to war, and the leadership of Israel is exactly the same, a gang of corrupt liars.

And the conservative, nationalists, are so credulous, they actually believe this flag-waving, patriotic, rubbish. They seem pre-programmed to obey like robots, not to question, reflect and think!

I've a theory about this, called the paradox of the fool, but I'll leave that for another day.

Cybertiger
14 January 2009 at 18:31

"I've a theory about this, called the paradox of the fool, but I'll leave that for another day."

writeon: you write well and perceptively about criminal Israel. You've got it right: please keep on writing, writeon.

Khadeeja
14 January 2009 at 21:08

Rightofleft

Israel's success is entirely dependent on it's slick manipulaion of the media, and being one step ahead at all times. How on earth can American and UK citizens form proper judgements when they are consistently deprived of true factual evidence. On every news channel there is only one point of view and that is Israeli. John Pilger is right when he says that Israel is in the final stages of its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. See IfAmeriansknew.com and Press TV.ir (unless it's been bombed again for non-zionist perspectives)

Excellent article, John

sashko_1
14 January 2009 at 21:54

I'd like someone to educate me because my degree IR obviously hasn't. This is what the 'international community' teaches us all:

1-Israel has the right to defend itself, yes they are maybe a little heavy handed, but what are a few innocent Palestinians really? We'll tell them to tone things down, maybe arrange a summit.

2- The Serbs are evil, they have no right to defend themselves against the Albanian mafia, in fact we'll bomb them to let them know they can't, oh and then we'll install the same criminal as the government of a piece of land we confiscated from them.

If that's the world we live I pity us all. Unfortunately it is.

Mr Pilger if I'm ever PM I'll make you minister of truth.

Peace Freak
14 January 2009 at 23:42

To better understand the background to the current

situation, EVERYONE first needs to watch this video title: Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: Media &

the Israel-Palestine Conflict - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-

6604775898578139565

Peace Freak
14 January 2009 at 23:55

To better understand the background to the current situation, EVERYONE first needs to watch this video title: Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565

Peace Freak
14 January 2009 at 23:57

As that link appears broken, please use this link: http://tinyurl.com/74qmto

lulu
15 January 2009 at 00:50

What a truely FOUL article by a truely foul man. hitler was democratically elected; what does that prove. the people of gaza signed up to a bloody regime and they got it with a government that has scant regard for their lives, any democratic policies, let alone any one in the west. pilger and his supporters should live in Iran or any number of despotic regimes that he is obviously better suited to than the west. unfortunately for him he wouldn't be able to bleat such nasty illogical arguments. only a couple of weeks ago Hamas were murdering their own people and just brought in a new reform allowing them to dismember tany one who breaks their law. please opilger save your career, take your nasty followers and go and live far far away from us. how hard to stomach for him that israel which really is a democracy doesn't do the same.This article is full of logic holes and is clearly is a lip service piece of shock-value journalism for an author who's celebrity status is waning. Israel forcefully deported thousands of their own jewish people just a few years ago and razed their homes down to give way to Gaza's development. This is not about hatred or racism on Israel's part. shameful anti semitism and pro islamist media dressed up.

writeon
15 January 2009 at 07:29

Lulu,

So It's acceptable and 'logical' to compare Hamas to Hitler, but not the attacks on Gaza with the Nazi onslaught on the Warsaw Ghetto?

So Israel's a shining beacon of demcracy which has expelled hundreds of thousands of its own people and refuses to allow them to return to their homes, which have subsequently been illegally occupied.

Israel is a 'democracy' but in reality only for it's dominant ethnic group, Jews. And this dominance, is guaranteed, at least for a couple more decades, by artificially excluding millions of Palestinians from the democractic process by keeping them in refugee limbo.

It's interesting that Lulu, who apparently is a great democrat, wants Pilger to shut up and not exercise his democratic right to criticise 'peace-loving' Israel, and move far away to Iran, along with those sheep that agree with him where they'ed all receive their just deserts from the despotic regime that doesn't allow dissent.

Well, that's clear then, it's so entertaining to have a civics lesson in the characteristics of democracy from someone with Lulu's level of understanding.

Joe Feld
15 January 2009 at 07:31

As an historian I am disappointed by this article. After World War I empires were broken up and nationalities were allowed self deterination. The League of Nations gave the Palestine Mandate to Britain with a view to setting up a Jewish homeland. 77% of Palestine was given by Britain to create Transjordan, now the Kingdom of Jordan, with 23% left for the Jewish homeland. Inside this 23% Israel has been trying to set up a Palestinian state.Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat 98% of what he asked for. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi and even the other Palestinian leaders advised him to accept, but he chose to declare another intifada. Ariel Sharon pulled out of Gaza and gave it to the Palestinians, who then elected Hamas terrorists. Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon -- and Hezbollah moved in. In every other case of refugees -- including about 750,000 Jews pushed out of Islamic lands beginning in 1948 -- efforts were made to resettle refugees, but for 60 years the UN and the 20+ Arab countries have kept Palestinians in refugee camps. Israel occupied land in defensive wars -- but then returned land in return for peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Israel tried to give Gaza back to Egypt, but Egypt refused to take it back!

writeon
15 January 2009 at 07:57

Sashko,

The Serbs were 'Evil' per definition. Everything about them was 'Evil'. Everything they did was 'Evil'. The ground they walked opon was 'Evil'. Everythhing they got they deserved and brought it all opon themselves because they were 'Evil'.

Some people and countries are just 'Evil' and can do no 'Good', others are not, they are 'Good', and can,in fact, do no 'Evil'. And even if the do commit acts of 'Evil' its for a 'Good' cause. The West is 'Good' and everyone else is not.

One can actually prove this emperically for oneself. You don't have to believe me. Go to the archieves and check for yourself. All one has to do is go and compare the media coverage of the wars in Kosovo and Georgia, with the attack on Gaza. Here, the armies doing the killing and the civilians doing the dying are portrayed in wildly differing ways. It's not subtle and it's not nuanced, and it's vulgar and obvious, to anyone who can read and see and it's lobotomised.

The Russians and Serbs are almost as 'Evil' as Hamas. They like killing civilians and don't care how many. They are clearly the agressors. The use of the word 'genocide' to describe their actions is everywhere.

In complete contrast, virtually no one in the British media has compared Israel's attack on Gaza with 'genocide', this would probably end their careers. To even suggest that Israel is guilty of warcrimes, or blatantly illegal activity, is deemed 'anti-Semetic', even though Israeli leaders openly and repeatedly admit to policies that are warcrimes. Only they are so ignorant and arrogant that they don't even bother to hide it. They think they are safe and have a free pass because they are 'Western democrats', and 'democrats' can get away mass murder and warcrimes, because we are 'Good' and not 'Evil'!

Joe Feld
15 January 2009 at 07:57

As an historian I find this article quite misleading. After World War I and the break up of empires, nationalities were given a right of self-determination. The League of Nations gave Britain a mandate for Palestine that included the setting up of a Jewish homeland. Out of that mandatory Palestine Britain gave 77% to create Transjordan, now the Kingdom of Jordan, leaving 23% for the Jewish state. The Jewish state was to include the West Bank and Gaza. During World War II the Arabs supported Hitler against Britain, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem spending the war in Berlin, helping organise Muslim SS divisions, pushing the Final Solution, stopping Jews from being allowed to travel to Palestine -- even when approved by Hitler. Inside Palestine the Arabs pushed Britain into closing the gates to European Jews fleeing Nazism. A third of British Empire forces in North Africa were Muslims [not necessarily Arabs] and Britain couldn't risk the knock on effect of an uprising of Muslims in Oalestine. It is no surprise there was some bad feeling towards Palestinian Arabs after World War II, and no surprise many left when Israel was declared an independent Jewish state. They were seen as Nazi collaborators. There were millions of displaced persons in the years following World War II, including about 750,000 Jews pushed out of Islamic lands from 1948 onwards. Only the Palestinians remain in refugee camps because the 25+ Arab states won't integrate them. Israel tried to give Gaza back to Egypt, who refused to accept it. Israel later left Gaza unilaterally, expecting the PA to take over. Instead Gaza elected Hamas terrorists. Israel left southern Lebanon and Hezbollah terrorists took over.

Joe Feld
15 January 2009 at 11:24

write on: 20% of Israeli citizens are Israeli Arabs. Aside from being exempt from military service they are no different from any other Israelis. Although their birthrate is higher than secular Jewish Israelis, it is similar to the Haredim or ultra-religious Jews. I don't see Israeli Arabs going from 20% to more than 50%, and in any case one hopes each generation will be more Israeli and less Palestinian. Quite a large percentage of Jewish Israelis come from Arabic countries and mainstream Jewish and Arab Israeli youth share the normal Western youth 'culture' for want of a better world. Jews and Arabs are both children of Abraham!

Pierre
15 January 2009 at 15:41

The decent people in the World are without a leader,

No Churchill to see through and speak out against the Worlds primary Cancer.

Nazi Germany was popular with many countries at the onset particularly the US, Joe Kennedy,Prescott Bush, The Rockefeller's etc. all were in their pocket.

The bully has only his might to prevail,

If their was legitimacy to the Jews cause the supporting governments would not be frightened to test that support with a referendum on their support for the massacre/Holocaust taking place in Palestine..

ali8ea
15 January 2009 at 17:52

Joe Field

Thanks for showing the world how much the israeli de-humanises the Palestinians as your comments show. Why don't you share the information of the 68 women who have given birth at israeli checkpoints in the Gaza and West Bank prison camps whilst in labour. 34 babies and 4 women died because the israel army animals would not let them through to gain access to the correct medical help.

You are good at sharing your distorted views on the history of how the jews were given all and the Palestinians who lived there had their land confiscated and were left with nothing, but you cannot share the history of the innocent babies and women who died?

The majority of jews who live in israel are European immigrants. Most of these are encouraged to settle on Palestinian or Syrian land that keeps being annexed by israel.

Lets look at populations. 1912 - Jews 40000, Palestinian 367000. 1925 - Jews 120000, Palestinian 598000.

So how did 83% of the population lose 75% of their land, and counting, to 17% of the jewish population?

writeon
15 January 2009 at 18:18

Dear Joe Feld,

Your entitled to your version of history. As a historian I'm sure you're aware of the other and alternative historical views of the same period you refer to. At this late stage, when so much blood has been unecessarily spilled, do you really want me to 'contradict' everything you've written with a long list of other sources? Would another, less 'conservative' or 'establishment' perspective on the conflict over Palestine/Israel, bring back the dead or remove the scars? I'm sick of it all, sick of all the killing, the destruction, the pain, the slaughter, the fear, the suffering, the hate, the bitterness, the exploitation, the cost in humanity, lives and tainted souls. It's all too much.

I keep thinking about my grandmother and my three aunties lying in the ditch with bullets in the back of their heads. Did the Nazis that shot these helpless women think they were a threat? When one gets to the stage of killing defenceless women and children,what's next? There is clear and powerful evidence that Israeli snipers are shooting women and children in Gaza. Can one blame that on Hamas too? What happens to a young Israeli soldier that deliberately targets a child running across a road, what happens to his soul? The sniper is probably hundreds of metres away firing a special, high-powered snipers rifle. He can't really see the expression on the child's face. He doesn't know it's name. He pulls the trigger and the child falls to the ground. Struck down almost like the angel of death had flown past. When one get's to this stage, what comes next? Every time the sniper pulls the trigger he's also killing a piece of himself.

writeon
15 January 2009 at 18:40

Dear Joe Feld,

I'm only writing this because... I'm writing it for the future, not the present. Perhaps someone will pull this article and the posts out of a box in the cellar of ruined building and read it and not think that every Westerner supported savage imperialism, wrapped in nationalist rhetoric and bathed in blood. If there's no dissent, no opposition, our corrupt leaders, who not only rob us blind, will lead us to more wars and total destruction, when David changes into Sampson and brings the entire tempel down on the Philistines and this time his own people too.

Joe, you say you're an historian. It's strange then that, when talking about the period after WW2, you say that the Palestinians 'left' Israel, whilst the Jews 'were pushed out' of Muslim countries. Interesting difference and choice of words. I you sure you're a historian?

Your comments about the 20% of Israel's population that are Palestinians. I've been to Israel and the Arabs I met never called themselves Israeli Arabs. They regard themselves as Palestinians stranded inside Israel. If you don't believe me go and visit one of their miserable villages and ask.

They are treated very differently to other citizens of Israel indeed. They are at the very bottom of the social pile. They are almost an underclass. At present the main political parties in Israel are trying to undermine their political representation and disenfranchise them. They are increasingly regarded as the enemy within and enemies of the state, because they don't accept the structure of the state, their role as a permanent underclass in their own land. But then this is their historic role as defined by the Israeli state.

You seem unaware of their birthrate, it's one of the highest in the entire world, and because they are so poor it's likely to stay that way for years, by that time, in twenty or thirty years they will form around 40%, or probably substantially more, of Israel's population.

gez pearce
15 January 2009 at 18:48

“gez pearce: "It is not as simple as Jews good Arabs bad or vice versa. "

Nor is it as simple as Pilger's "Israelis bad, Arabs good". “

Now I did say vice versa

“gez pearce: "World public opinion turned against Britain as a result of the British policy of preventing Holocaust survivors from reaching Palestine, sending them instead to Cyprus internment camps, or even back to Germany, as in the case of Exodus 1947." “

How did world opinion react when, directly after the Holocaust, the Palestinians and neighboring Arabs in 1948 tried to kill the Jewish survivors who'd taken refuge in Israel?

The jews committed as many atrocities as the Arabs at that time.

gez pearce: "To say that the Arabs were too solely to blame for the situation is a little naive."

They are not to blame for the 'situation' i.e. the large presence of Jews in Middle East, and the re-establishment of the state of Israel.

Isreal created many of these situations. They invaded the Lebanon and allowed their Christian allies to carry out some nasty atrocities. They treated the Palestinians as second class citizens (race and education acts) ac , took their land, divided them by setting up HAMAS, set up settlements in disputed lands.

At any point they could have chosen the path of peaceful nationhood (side by side with Israel) but they didn't.

The first terrorists in the region were the Irgun and Hagannah. In fact modern terrorism has its roots in those organizations. At Sandhurst when dealing with IRA terrorism, you are taught that the IRA used the tactics first used by these Jewish thugs.

Also Joe Feld, you quite rightly mention the appalling Mufti but you forget to mention many of the leaders of the Irgun were so anti British they made pacts with the Nazis.

The Palestinians are not innocent but neither are the Israelis. .

domspiral
15 January 2009 at 20:16

I will do my best in life to boycott everything from this brutal country! Today's destruction of the United Nations headquarters is just another example of their diregard for anyone but themselves. Its a shame we have had to endure the policies of the pathetic politicians in the West for the last 10 years epitomised by Tony Blair, the pace envoy who has just received an award from George Bush for amongst other things 'his contribution to world peace'!! All this whilst Gaza burns, disgusting!!

Nilsey105
15 January 2009 at 20:19

The Pentagon has suspended the delivery of a shipload of munitions to Israel after international concern that it could be used by Israeli forces in Gaza.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/15/pentagon-munitio...

Gideon Polya
15 January 2009 at 21:26

Fundamental to the CONTINUATION of the current Apartheid Israeli Gaza Massacre (reprisals of 1,100 killed so far versus ZERO Israeli deaths from Gaza rockets in the preceding year – and war crimes as analyzed by outstanding Jewish American lawyer and President of the US National Lawyers Guild, Professor Marjorie Cohn: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/27707/42/ ) is Zionist and pro-Zionist LYING.

Similarly, CONTINUATION of carbon pollution (that threatens non-Europeans of the World with climate genocide and may be impossible to stop: http://www.green-blog.org/2009/01/13/good-and-bad-climate-ne... ) and of the racist, genocidal Bush Wars (9-11 million excess deaths, 1990-2009: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/25184/42/ ) depends upon pro-Zionist and Zionist-backed neo-con and Bush-ite LYING as set out in “Gaza. Lying and Climate Genocide”: http://www.green-blog.org/2009/01/15/gaza-lying-and-climate-... ).

Of these genocidal atrocities, the Palestinian Genocide (post-invasion excess deaths 0.3 million), the Bush wars, 1990-2009 (9-11 million excess deaths so far) and prospective Climate Genocide (Professor James Lovelock FRS predicts only 500 million [guess who?] will survive this century due to unaddressed man-made global warming) it is the LATTER (over 6 billion non-European deaths) that is clearly the most horrendous.

The lying, genocidal racist Bush-ites (RBs) and racist Zionists (RZs) should be urgently exposed, prosecuted and sidelined in public life (as have been the racist Nazis, neo-Nazis and the KKK; indeed outstanding Jewish American philanthropist and Holocaust hero George Soros has demanded “de-Nazification” of Bush America) – they represent a major threat to Muslims, to decent anti-racist Jews and to the whole World in their anti-Arab anti-Semitic support for horrendously deadly, racist, genocidal US and Israeli state terrorism and for a “might is right” Culture of Lying that pre-empts rational risk management in the Climate Emergency.

notinmyname
16 January 2009 at 04:07

Let's focus on what's going on. 4 Israeli soldiers captured, Israel trashes Lebanon. Since 2005 2-4 Israelis have been killed by Gazan rockets--Israel attacks Gaza. Civilians pay the price, and their relatives will be only too willing to put the boot in if they have the chance--Israel is living on time it has borrowed at a steeper and steeper rate with each assault. Hamas is like the Taliban--a facist organization who only a few of the above letter writerts would like to have ruling them. However, they were, like the Taliban and Hizbolah, elected as much for being seen as less corrupt as for any policies. So where that leaves us is a)Hamas is to be condemned--for racism, stupidity (must they keep firing rockets to no effect--to prove they can't hit a barn?), for religious bigotry and for anti semitism; b)Israel is also to be condemned for attacks that are incresingly careless, vastly disproportionate, and frankly racist in many ways. No IDF personnel have ever been imprisoned for killing UN personnel, civillians, US servicemen, journalists, demonstrators or others. For a boycott to be effective it should focus on who supplies oil and other necessities to Israel--not buying Jaffa oranges and Israeli biscuits is fine, but won't stop the war. At the same time buy Palestinain products. So we need websites to identify Israeli goods and companies who supply Israel with oil, and to identify Palestinian products.

Israel needs to be held criminally responsible for attacking UNWRA and other humanitarian aid agencies, such as the two clinics they flattened yesterday, the UN school the day before. Israel should also stop insulting our intelligence by trotting out the same tawdry denials, excuses and rationalizations. Yes, they spent much time on fine tuning their PR campaign in advance of the war (see Guardian article). But we're tired of it--it's old. Try truth, Israel.

Cybertiger
16 January 2009 at 08:02

aflatoon
16 January 2009 at 08:07

this human tragedy must stop and stop without delay..israel was the creation of western powers.it is their responsibility to solve the conflict and solve it amicably . it is a failure of western diplomacy that peace is not coming to the land of abraham and jesus. grabbing the lands of others by destroying their poor living abodes and killing innocent citizens seems so brutual in this modern era.are we reverting to the days when might was the only righti?

aflatoon

writeon
16 January 2009 at 09:10

It's interesting that my last few comments, criticising and rebutting, Joe Feld, and his very partisan veiws about 'history' have vanished into the ether. Rather odd. Especially the parts about Israeli snipers targetting children in Gaza.

Nilsey105
16 January 2009 at 14:07

The elder statesman of British Parliamentry Jewish MPs Gerald Kaufmann, has just vehemently attacked the Israeli government for their hostilities towards Palastine.

He called them barbaric and likend their war mongerring to Nazism.

I am sure the peive will be shown again throughout the day on BBC World News. Channel 601 on Virgin Media.

writeon
16 January 2009 at 17:15

Gerald Kaufmann is a proud Jew, and why not? There's a lot to be proud of. A strong, rich and varied culture. A culture that didn't need armies or even a country to in order to flourish and prosper.

Kaufmann also represents the kind of Jewish culture my family represented back in the old country. Jews carried their culture around with them in their hearts and their minds. It was their intelligence, spirit, knowledge and values that made them successful.

This is an enormous subject to get into but nationalism can be a real curse for a people when it gets out of hand. We in Europe know all about this. After all we've spent a century ripping ourselves to pieces, sacrificing on the alter of nationalism, doing our best to destroy an entire continent.

We've been forced by circumstances and sense to look at the entire ideology of nationalism again, and break it down, pull it off its thrown, replacing it with cooperation and integration, stumbling, but what's the alternative given our bloody and destructive past?

What frightens me, and Gerarld Kaufmann and many other liberal, leftwing and secular Jews, is the growth of nationalism in Israel. It not just nationalism. It's worse. The extreme right in Israel, which is growing in power, is fundamentally racist and anti-Arab. If the rest of the world doesn't make it's position clear and demand a just solution to the Middle East conflict, the extreme right in Israel are eventually going to gain power. I'm talking about a fascist/religious government, based on nationalist/racist ideology, armed to the teeth, at war with its neighbours, oppressing the Palestinians, and controlling between two and three hundred nuclear warheads. The last fact alone should make us wake up to the incredibly dangerous situation we face.

If a 'democratic' Israel government, including the Labour Party, can launch an attack on defenceless Gaza, slaughtering so many civilians and get away with it, what would a gang of religious, fascists do?

Ted Schrey
16 January 2009 at 20:29

I can't say it any better and clearer than OrwellianUK did in the post of 08 Jan, '09 at 12:46, to wit: "Their violence: Terrorism. Our violence: Defending Democracy". I remember the incident of a while back, of a young Palestinian woman walking up to a young Israeli woman, embracing her and detonating explosives strapped to her own body. I won't even bother to emphasize the pathological cowardice of armed men hiding among the civilian population and firing from there.

Pekay
17 January 2009 at 03:39

The silence emanating from the worlds most populous nations, India and China, is deafening. Even at the height of the apartheid regime in South Africa, these nations registered hardly any protests at all, or perhaps made some feeble nopisess, despite their citizens domiciled there being treated as scum. Pity Obama who appeared to offer some hope has succumbed to his political masters, and like the "village idiot" his predecessor has been aptly described promises more of the same.

I have never hated anyone but I can't help but feel extreme anger that a people that was once subjected to the greatest indignities now choose to inflict the same on another group of people, and with such hatred. If I were a Palestinian i am sure my sole objective would be to destroy the the Zionist agenda, and if terrorism is the only option left to me so be it. Call me a terrorist , call me whatever you like, but you kill my family then I will kill you! Simple as that, especially when you know that there is no one who really cares.Hatred begets hatred.

writeon
17 January 2009 at 09:24

There seems to be a radical new policy adopted here. Before comments went in automatically and were only moderated or censored afterwards. Now, comments go into limbo and await their judgement, some apparently vanish altogether, apparently victims of 'political censorship.' But why? What's the point? Of course this debate is really heated and highly partisan, but the 'paradox of the fool' has a way of revealing this partisanship for what it is - military propaganda, so why bother to censor at all?

Cybertiger
17 January 2009 at 10:40

"Now, comments go into limbo and await their judgement, some apparently vanish altogether, apparently victims of 'political censorship.'

And it's strange that some comments go straight into limbo land and others don't. Very odd censorship! Why do they bother?

Cybertiger
17 January 2009 at 11:03

"... but the 'paradox of the fool' has a way of revealing this partisanship for what it is - military propaganda, so why bother to censor at all?"

writeon; the censor permitting, please tell us more about the 'paradox of the fool'. It strikes me that the New Statesman is being jerked around by this propaganda machine and made to look deeply foolish.

azad
17 January 2009 at 11:14

Israel must fight with hamas because they are want this

Cybertiger
17 January 2009 at 11:22

"Especially the parts about Israeli snipers targetting children in Gaza."

Remember these children and how they were killed ...

http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2000.html

... and the remember the asymetry of childhood deaths ... and the utter impunity enjoyed by the killers for the vast majority of these killings.

writeon
18 January 2009 at 09:00

Surely if one is going to remove, moderate or 'censor' comments, which are critical of Israel or Western policies, but by no stretch of the imagination could be defined as racist or anti-Jewish, or anti-Israel, there should be a list of words published which one isn't allowed to use, and certain concepts and subjects, metaphors or analogies, that in relation to Israel are deemed beyond the pale, then we'd all know where we stood ans we could then tailor our comments accordingly.

writeon
18 January 2009 at 11:53

the censorship filter seems to cut in when one uses more than 200 characters (or about 30-35 words). This would appear to be a 90% reduction in freedom of speech filter mechanism, which is about par for the course in Democracyland these days.

Fabrizio
19 January 2009 at 16:21

I did find John Pilger´s excellent article only to-day.

New Statesman, and Mr Pilger, thank you for printing this.

The other day, Radio Sweden had a report from Ramallah, with interviews with well-known politicians Ms Hanan Ashrawi and Moustafa Barghouti. Ms Ashrawi was adamant, now Israel has passed a border; no Palestinian politician, however "moderate", will sit down at any negotiating table with representatives of Israel.

In Gaza, Israel has probably achieved a Pyrrhic victory.

jednightingale
19 January 2009 at 22:46

Does anyone know what Ms Hanan Ashrawi and Moustafa Barghouti had to say when rockets were being fired indiscrimately from Gaza onto Israeli civilian ceners before this whole conflict exploded three weeks ago? By any chance did they condemn this violation of the Geneva Convention?

Jed Nightingale

New York

Cybertiger
20 January 2009 at 08:06

Another posting pilfered by the infernal Yiddish cybersoldier!

Fabrizio
20 January 2009 at 09:46

Mr Pilger:

Thank you for this article. However, I have one question.

You write: "It beggars belief that President-elect Obama was not informed. Outspoken about Russia’s war in Georgia and the terrorism in Mumbai, Obama has maintained a silence on Palestine that marks his approval, which is to be expected, given his obsequiousness to the Tel Aviv regime and its lobbyists during the presidential campaign and his appointment of Zionists as his secretary of state and principal Middle East advisers."

1) As far as I have seen, both Barack Obama and John McCain held speeches at AIPAC during the presidential campaign. Certainly, both candidates did say just what AIPAC stalwarts expected to hear. But anything else would have caused an uproar from the Jewish-American society and subsequently great damage to their campaigns. Don´t you think that they made some eloquential trickery in their speeches to give a possibility to do something else, when elected?

2) After the thorough exposure of the Israel Lobby by John J Mearsheimer and Stephen M Walt in 2007, can anyone to-day be ignorant of the Lobby, AIPAC etc?

Anyway, let us see what President Obama will do about the Middle East.

Brum
20 January 2009 at 11:58

To see what is happening in Gaza saddens and fills me with despair. That this annihilation of the Palestinian people is happening in front of our eyes and we as Westerns with powerful governments don't see fit to intervene and stop it. Instead we are only too quick to justify Israelis actions and allow them to continue.

How what is happening can be justified when you see the babies and children covered in blood stained clothes dead or dying and no aid can get to them, is beyond reprehensible.

Why would you need to bomb whole areas of civilians with Jet fighters and tanks when these people have no more than homemade rockets, which the western media has stated on numerous accounts.

We should thank “John Pilgner" for allowing us to see the other side of the story that the other media bosses find difficult to air or print. Please continue as I feel we need more people like you, who can be the voice for truth and justice.

Cybertiger
20 January 2009 at 13:10

"Anyway, let us see what President Obama will do about the Middle East."

Zilch for the Palestinians: Rahm Emanuel will see to that.

cafecremesa
20 January 2009 at 14:33

A intelligent and well percieved article. Pilger certainly undertands the conflct, a great deal more than most Western commentators. I look forward to his next analysis.

I'd like to add that certain members of the Jewish community are doing Judiasm a great diservice by flooding articles and youtube posts with very racist and inaccurate statements. Such a shame.

jednightingale
20 January 2009 at 21:51

John Pilger - Poor Historian

For some reason, John Pilger seems to have fallen prey to the same narrowminded narratives of history as many other journalists and historians. His comment son the massacre of Deir Yassin more than sixty years ago focuses only on the crimes committed by Israelis during a Civil War period that was started by Palestinians after the UN partioned Palestine into a Jewish and Arab states. He completely fails to mention that immediately after Deir Yassin, Palestinian irregulars massacred a team of 77 doctors, nurses and medics heading for the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. Sadly enough, the tit-for-tat military actions during the Civil War period (Nov 1947 - May 1948) attempted to shape the groundwork for the impending Arab invasion that took place in May 1948. If Mr. Pilger has done his readings of that era, he might recall that armies from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan were poised to "throw the Jews into the sea".

Jed Nightingale

New York

Fabrizio
21 January 2009 at 10:17

jednightingale 19 Jan at 22:46:

Israel´s razing of Gaza was planned months before, and would surely have happened rockets or no rockets from Hamas. As anyone could see, they were eager to do it while W was still in office. And they were quick to end it before President Obama took office.

And 20 Jan at 21:51: No wonder the Arabs want the Israelis to disappear - the Zionists have been harrassing and killing the Palestinians, stealing their land etc., since the unfortunate founding of the state of Israel in the area.

By now, the UN should realize that the decision to locate Israel in former Palestine Mandate was wrong, because natives there never approved of it. The UN decision must be reversed - it is time to start looking for another place on the globe for Israel. But only after making sure that the area in question is not already inhabitated, or that native people there would accept it.

jednightingale
21 January 2009 at 15:55

To Fabrizio,

Please acknowledge that after the cration of Israel, 800,000 Jews from Arab lands were displaced and dispossesed from Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Morroco, Iran, etc. As a matter of fact, where exaclty are you suggesting that they should be resettled? Also regarding your accussation of Israel's Gaza planning of the recent incursion, it would never happened had the Hamas government not started for the Nth time in eight years more rocket attacks onto Israeli civilian centers.

A piu tardi.....

Jed Nightingale

New York

Fabrizio
21 January 2009 at 21:09

To Jed Nightingale,

Expelling the Arabs "so oder so" is the Zionist policy ever since Israel was founded; in fact it was one of the cornerstones of leading Zionists at the time, i. e. Benjamin Grün, later known as David Ben-Gurion. See "The Israel Lobby" by John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt, p 92 and following.

Israel´s cruel policy against Palestinians also is intended to create miscontent, thereby provoking desperate hostile acts against Israelis, in order to give Israel an excuse for further attack. As you put it yourself, "for the Nth time".

"where exaclty are you suggesting that they should be resettled?" Of course there is a problem here. What I am saying is that such a relocation must be made only with the consent by natives in possible areas - which should have been made by the UN in the first place in 1947. How about the state of New York?

Historical places in Palestine, central to believers in Judaism, Christendom and Islam should be put under international custody, open to everyone.

Kurus
22 January 2009 at 08:55

The theft of Palestinian land started in 1895 and continues.

Pilger is absolutely correct, every terrorist outrage by Ziofascists is about the theft of land and the expulsion of the people of that land.

Kurus
22 January 2009 at 09:00

Each day the NS becomes more and more like the Guardian, where comments linking Islam to the Nazis or use of the term Islamofascists is considered acceptable, but should any comment link Jews to fascism, it is instantly removed.

franmol
22 January 2009 at 09:44

once again a fine article by a great journalist. i wonder how many of the contributors here have ever actually been to the middle east? i notice many that quote historical events as " told " to them by a biased media whilst sitting in the comfort of their own living rooms and offices. i have served at "ground level" with the UN in Lebanon during the 80's and witnessed the Israeli " hammer " tactics in that place, using tanks, heavy artillery and bombers against defenseless civilians in the already squalid refugee camps. the slaughter that took place in Sabra and Shatila were two of many crimes committed there by the Israeli government of the time. driving by the camps in the aftermath of the attacks we were only allowed to glimpse as we were ushered away from the scenes. but we saw enough. i can only describe what we saw as a hellish scene. we were not permitted to enter the camps to give aid to any who may need it, we were, after all just UN soldiers. soposedly there at the request of the Lebanese government, but in reality it was Israel who called the shots, literally. in the 18 months i spent there i came to know the Lebanese as ordinary decent people just trying to get along with life under difficult circumstances. i am still amazed to this day that after all that they had been through, they never lost their cultural dignity. their kindness and hospitality is one of only a few fond memories from then. the same can be said of the people i met while in Israel. but one thing that struck me about the people i met in Israel, and it bears a striking resemblance to ordinary Americans... and that is an embedded sense of fear of the Arab. a fear that in many cases borders on paranoia. these fears that are firmly embedded in the collective psyche of any nation can be "heightened" by the propaganda machine when justifying atrocities such as Sabra and Shatila. we must judge by what we see, not by what we are told.

Scott
29 January 2009 at 21:37

thank you - the news is quietly forgetting Gaza and this

article clearly sets out the full awfulness of the truth -

Israel has no place in the world, they make me sick.

Kiwi Wahine
30 January 2009 at 05:49

You are correct, Mr. Pilger, the silence of Gaza is being broken. We are learning that Hamas is killing and torturing dissidents (gouging both eyes out is poular), that in fact there were no refugees in the school the IDF allegedly bombed (confirmed by UN Head John Ging) and Hamas hijacked the first aid convoy into Gaza. We are also hearing, from Palestinians themselves, about how they were being used as human shields, their houses used for rocket pads and how they would be shot if they refused. Ambulances being used to ferry Hamas militants instead of injured civilians. What we have not seen are skeletal Palestinians resembling those found in WW2 death camps. They all seemed pretty plump when interviewed on television.

Hamas has hijacked the UN who turn a blind eye to their hideous activities. 23,000 locals work for the UN in Gaza, most allied to Hamas. Ging and Guness, like you, seem to have Stockholm syndrome - they should be removed from their positions immediately. People like this enable terrorists like Hamas and are complicit in the deaths of civilian Palestinians.

I hope that when the official death toll is released, it will be like that of Jenin. The Palestinians claimed 1500 dead, but after the UN and NGO's had done their official count it appeared that only 58 people were killed (obviously 58 too many), most were young teenage fighters and about 14 were civilians.

Two years ago the Palestinians spent 1 million on a new media centre. One wonders if the television reports coming out of Gaza are the same Pallywood images we saw coming out of Jenin - a lot of actors carrying the same dead children to hospital with the cuddly toy posed on the rubble.

As a mother I grieve for all those dead children but having seen Palestinian propaganda for years on our televisions I would really like to know what is true and what is not true so that I can grieve for those who did actually die. And I don't think, given today's media, we will ever know.

Mark
05 February 2009 at 18:40

America, are you truly free?

Are your eyes shut or do they see?

Do you worship as you see fit

Or based upon a cultural writ?

Your mind programmed and unable to think

The potion mixed in your bottle for you to drink

As a child with no chance for another point of view

You worship what your parents place in front of you

Buttressed by the message from our government

That only certain people to heaven will be sent

We are called a Judeo-Christian society

Full of virtue and steeped in piety

Ignoring a vast difference in belief

With a blindness that offers no relief

To those who wonder about such a marriage

With the Jews and Christians in the same carriage

Of favor from the Lord for Israel

While excluding their brother, Ishmael

Born of the same father from the book

But, somehow separated and forsook

Removed from the mainstream of spirituality

Commonality with Abraham is the reality

To father a nation of believers in our Lord

Yet with Islam we have created much discord

To what end when the Koran clearly respects

A belief in Jesus which the Torah rejects

Yet, you do not know this in your blind condition

Believing only that Zionism is the solution

Not knowing why you even believe in this destiny

That creates death to Muslims and their progeny

Why America, can you not see our other brother

The Muslim who merely wants to restore order

To the word of God as sent to Moses, David and Jesus

Brought by Muhammed, so that the idolators may leave us

And let us all worship freely and rightfully so

One God, for us all, as history will show

Do not be fooled by those in power

Who demonize others who will not cower

In the face of a fabricated mandate

Claiming to speak for God and not hesitate

To kill and destroy all who do not believe as them

While intimidating you with accusations of anti-semitism

Wake up America and know you are not free

Your mind accepts their decree

They control what you know and believe

Open a different book and see if you can conceive

How the truth can be so distorted

And your view of another can be so contorted

Do not be afraid to open your mind

This is the only way for you to find

That God is there for us all

Look in your heart, to find the call

Meg
07 March 2009 at 20:15

Meg, UK

newarkhero: If you had done your research you would

have discovered that Hamas killed the Fatah

members because the PA had given Israel intelligence regarding Hamas artillery. Israel gives

concession and blackmails the PA to sell out their

rivals Hamas. This is what the Zionists wants, the two

Palestinian factions to be at war against each other. If

Hamas and Fatah came together, they would be a

challenge to Israel which is why the real terrorists, the

Zionists, will stoop to any level to buffer any resistance

against them.

I admire John Pilger because he is one of the rare

ones who is not taken in by Israeli propaganda and

can see the pure ethnic cleansing going on before the

eyes of the world, who do NOTHING.

If you had your home bulldozed, land stolen, make

prisoner and refugee in your own land, restricted of all

basic human requirements to live, you would pick up

whatever weapon you can to fight back and resist in

protest, just like Hamas. Do you expect them to sit

back and do nothing?

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John Pilger, renowned investigative journalist and documentary film-maker, is one of only two to have twice won British journalism's top award; his documentaries have won academy awards in both the UK and the US. In a New Statesman survey of the 50 heroes of our time, Pilger came fourth behind Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. "John Pilger," wrote Harold Pinter, "unearths, with steely attention facts, the filthy truth. I salute him."

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Gaza under fire

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