Gaza Crisis: Analysis from Phyllis Bennis

In the past two days US backed Israeli bombs have killed more 300 people, injuring 900 in Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis was already building because of a blockade which has prevented food, cooking gas, and medical supplies from entering Gaza. This is a city of 1.5 million people and these bombs are paid for with US tax dollars. 56% of the population of Gaza are children.

The Bush administration’s response to this violence is inadequate. The US funds the Israeli military (last year alone, $2.5 billion) and is therefore complicit in this violence. We must demand a change in US foreign policy. Please read on for analysis by middle east policy expert Phyllis Bennis for analysis of the current crisis:

The Gaza Crisis: December 2008
By Phyllis Bennis
Institute for Policy Studies
28 December 2008

The death toll in Gaza continues to rise. The carnage is everywhere - city streets, a mosque, hospitals, police stations, a jail, a university bus stop, a plastics factory, a television station. It seems impossible, unacceptable, to step back to analyze the situation while bodies remain buried under the rubble, while parents continue to search for their missing children, while doctors continue to labor to stitch burned and broken bodies back together without sufficient medicine or equipment. The hospitals are running short even of electricity-the Israeli blockade has denied them fuel to run the generators. It is an ironic twist on the legacy of Israel's involvement in an earlier massacre - in the Sabra and Shatila camps, in Lebanon back in 1982, it was the Israeli soldiers who lit the flairs, lighting the night sky so their Lebanese allies could continue to kill.

But if we are serious about ending this carnage, this time, we have no choice but to try to analyze, try to figure out what caused this most recent massacre, how to stop it, and then how to continue our work to end the occupation, end Israel's apartheid policies, and change U.S. policy to one of justice and equality for all.

The Israeli airstrikes represent serious violations of international law - including the Geneva Conventions and a range of international humanitarian law.

The U.S. is complicit in the Israeli violations - directly and indirectly.

The timing of the air strikes has far more to do with U.S. and Israeli politics than with protecting Israeli civilians.

This serious escalation will push back any chance of serious negotiations between the parties that might have been part of the Obama administration's plans.

There is much work to be done.

Violations of International Law

The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip violate important tenants of international humanitarian law, including violations of the Geneva Conventions. The violations include both obligations of an Occupying Power to protect an Occupied Population, and the broader requirements of the laws of war that prohibit specific acts. The violations start with collective punishment - the entire 1.5 million people who live in the Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of a few militants.

Israel's claim that it is "responding to" or "retaliating for" Palestinian rocket attacks is spurious. The rocket fire as currently used is indeed illegal - Palestinians, like any people living under a hostile military occupation, have the right to resist, including the use of military force against the occupation. But that right does not include targeting civilians. The rockets used so far are unable to be aimed with any specificity, so they are in fact aimed at the civilians who live in the Israeli cities and towns, and so are illegal. The rocket fire against civilians should be ended - as many Palestinians believe, because it does not help end the occupation, but also because it is illegal under international law. However, that rocket fire, illegal or not, does not give Israel the right to punish the entire population for those actions. Such vengeance is the very essence of "collective punishment" and is therefore unequivocally prohibited by the Geneva conventions.

Another Israeli violation involves targeting civilians. This violation involves three aspects. First, Israel claims the airstrikes were targeted directly at "Hamas-controlled" security-related institutions. Since the majority Hamas party controls the government in Gaza, virtually all the police departments and other security-related sites were hit. Those police and security agencies are civilian targets - not military. They are run by the Hamas-led government in Gaza, an institution completely separate from Gaza's military wing that has carried out some (though by no means the majority) of the rocket attacks. Second, some of the attacks directly struck incontestably civilian targets: a plastics factory, a local television broadcasting center. And third, the incredibly crowded conditions in Gaza, one of the most densely populated sites in the world, mean that civilian casualties on a huge scale were an inevitable and predictable result. Such targeting of civilian areas is illegal.

The U.S. is also directly complicit in the violations of the Geneva Convention inherent in Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel's actions - keeping Gazans locked in the Strip; closing the border crossings to almost all fuel, food, equipment and other basic humanitarian goods; preventing UN and other international human rights monitors and journalists from entering, and more - have all been backed and supported by the U.S. and others in the international community. The resulting humanitarian crisis - reaching catastrophic proportions even before the current air attacks - is partly the responsibility of the United States.

Still another violation involves the disproportionate nature of the military attack. The airstrikes have killed at least 270 people so far, injured more than 1,000, many of them seriously, and many remain buried under the rubble so the death toll will likely rise. This catastrophic impact was known and inevitable, and far outweighs any claim of self-defense or protection of Israeli civilians. (It should be noted that this escalation has not made Israelis safer; to the contrary, the one Israeli killed by a Palestinian rocket attack on Saturday after the Israeli assault began, was the first such casualty in more than a year.)

Key human rights officials, particular the UN's Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Professor Richard Falk, as well as Father Miguel d'Escoto, President of the General Assembly, have issued powerful statements identifying Israeli violations of international law as well as the UN's obligations to protect the Palestinian population. (Falk statement) But so far there has been no operative response from the UN Security Council. The Council statement, issued 28 December, was completely insufficient, essentially equating the culpability of the Occupying Power and of the occupied population for the violence that has so devastated Gaza. And the statement makes no reference to violations of international law inherent in the Israeli assaults, or in the siege of Gaza that has so drastically punished the entire population. There is a clear need for the General Assembly to step in to reclaim the UN's role of protecting the world's people, certainly including the Palestinians, and not just responding to the demands of the world's powerful.

U.S. Complicity

The United States remains directly complicit in Israeli violations of both U.S. domestic and international law through its continual provision of military aid. The current round of airstrikes have been carried out largely with F-16 bombers and Apache attack helicopters, both provided to Israel through U.S. military aid grants of about $3 billion in U.S. taxpayer money sent to Israel every year. Between 2001 and 2006, Washington transferred to Israel more than $200 million worth of spare parts for its fleet of F-16's. Just last year, the U.S. signed a $1.3 billion contract with the Raytheon corporation to provide Israel with thousands of TOW, Hellfire, and "bunker buster" missiles. In short, Israel's lethal attack today on the Gaza Strip could not have happened without the active military support of the United States.

Israel's attack violated U.S. law - specifically the Arms Export Control Act, which prohibits U.S. arms from being used for any purpose beyond a very narrowly-defined set of circumstances: use inside a country's borders for self-defense purposes. The Gaza assault did not meet those criteria. Certainly targeting police stations (even Israel did not claim Gazan police forces were responsible for the rockets) and television broadcast centers do not qualify as self-defense. And because the U.S. government has confirmed it was fully aware of Israeli plans for the attack before it occurred, the U.S. remains complicit in the violations. Further, the well-known history of Israeli violations of international law (detailed above) means U.S. government officials were aware of those violations, provided the arms to Israel anyway, and therefore remain complicit in the Israeli crimes.

The U.S. is also indirectly complicit through its protection of Israel in the United Nations. Its actions, including the use and threat of use of the U.S. veto in the Security Council and the reliance on raw power to pressure diplomats and governments to soften their criticism of Israel, all serve to protect Israel and keep it from being held accountable by the international community.

Timing of Israel's Attack on Gaza

The Israeli decision to launch the attacks on Gaza was a political, not security, decision. Just a day or two before the airstrikes, it was Israel that rejected Hamas's diplomatic initiative aimed at extending the six-month-long ceasefire that had frayed but largely stayed together since June, and that expired 26 December. Hamas officials, working through Egyptian mediators, had urged Israel to lift the siege of Gaza as the basis for continuing an extended ceasefire. Israel, including Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni, of the "centrist" (in the Israeli context) Kadima Party, rejected the proposal. Livni, who went to Egypt but refused to seriously consider the Hamas offer, is running in a tight race for prime minister; her top opponent is the further-right Benyamin Netanyahu of the officially hawkish Likud party, who has campaigned against Livni and the Kadima government for their alleged "soft" approach to the Palestinians. With elections looming in February, no candidate can afford to appear anything but super-militaristic.

Further, it is certain that the Israeli government was eager to move militarily while Bush was still in office. The Washington Post quoted a Bush administration official saying that Israel struck in Gaza "because they want it to be over before the next administration comes in. They can't predict how the next administration will handle it. And this is not the way they want to start with the new administration." The Israeli officials may or may not be right about President Obama's likelihood of responding differently than Bush on this issue - but it does point to a clear obligation on those of us in this country who voted for Obama with hope, to do all that's necessary to press him to make good on the "change" he promised that gave rise to that hope.

Obama and Future Options

The escalation in Gaza will make it virtually impossible for any serious Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at ending the occupation. It remains uncertain whether sponsorship of an immediate new round of bilateral negotiations was in fact on Barack Obama's initial post-inauguration agenda anyway. But the current crisis means that any negotiations, whether ostensibly Israeli-Palestinian alone or officially involving the U.S.-controlled so-called "Quartet," will be able to go beyond a return to the pre-airstrike crisis period. That earlier political crisis, still far from solved, was characterized by expanding settlements, the apartheid Wall and crippling checkpoints crippling movement, commerce, and ordinary life across the West Bank, and a virtually impenetrable siege of Gaza that even before the current military assault, had created a humanitarian catastrophe.

So What do We Do?

The immediate answer is everything: write letters to Congressmembers and the State Department, demonstrate at the White House and the Israeli Embassy, write letters to the editor and op-eds for every news outlet we can find, call radio talk shows, protest the U.S. representatives at the UN and their protection of Israeli crimes. We need to engage with the Obama transition process and plan now for how we will keep the pressure on to really change U.S. policy in the Middle East. We should all join the global movement of outrage and solidarity with Gaza. There are a host of on-line petitions already - we should sign them all. The U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation is compiling action calls on our website - www.endtheoccupation.org. We have to do all of that.

But then. We can't stop with emergency mobilizations. We still have to build our movement for BDS - boycott, divestment and sanctions, to build a global campaign of non-violent economic pressure to force Israel to comply with international law. We have to challenge U.S. military aid that scaffolds Israel's military aggression, and U.S. political and diplomatic support that prevents the UN and the international community from holding Israel accountable for its violations. We have to do serious education and advocacy work, learning from other movements that have come before about being brave enough to call something what it is: Israeli policies are apartheid policies, and must be challenged on that basis.

We have a lot of work to do.

Phyllis Bennis is a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. Her books include Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer in FAQ format which many will find useful for education work in this urgent period. (www.interlinkbooks.com)

Thanks to Josh Ruebner of the U.S. Campaign for some of the background on U.S. military aid.

Comments (10)

Denise

Melissa,

I am so very grateful that you did such a phenomenal job on this blog post. I have been wanting to cover it, words keep becoming overwhelmed by the sheer horror I feel and have felt for so long over the atrocities that are occurring now and have been going on for so long. I am outraged that the Israeli government continues its monstrous acts of violence on whomever they choose, and that the United States has remained complaisant in their wrongdoings, even in-so-much as supplying them with the weapons to use in their slaughtering of innocent people. Always maintaining their own innocent and always managing to place blame on Hamas or even mere Palestinian laymen. I could drone on forever on this topic. I honestly pray that people around the world will unite against this ongoing nightmare and somehow our own government will eventually pry itself out from under the thumb that keeps us in our current and past mo.

Posted by Denise | December 29, 2008 7:38 PM

Posted on December 29, 2008 19:38

One more thing, I hope that many many people will read this post and others available in similarity and wise up to the situation. There should be an overwhelming outcry from any human being with a soul. Even many Israeli's are protesting their own government for its warring tendencies.

Posted by Denise | December 29, 2008 7:43 PM

Posted on December 29, 2008 19:43

Nora Thomason

George Bush, Dick Cheney and their neo-conservatives are accountable for the carnage in Gaza and the West Bank since the end of 2000.

Most of you (if you were old enough to be following the news in 1998, 1999 and 2000) will remember that there was a long period of semi-peacefulness between Israel and Palestine during the Clinton administration. As long as Clinton was trying to hammer out negotiations between the sides, Israel was successfully chided into stopping its violence and aggression - and the long suffering people of Palestine were given just enough hope to go on.

It was in September and October and November of 2000 that the current slaughtering of the Palestine people began with impunity. Why? Because the Israel leaders could see that Bush was winning the election and that Clinton was now a lame duck. Once Bush won in November, the Israel violence against the Palestine people escalated and has remained escalated every since.

Is see this very horrific slaughtering of innocent people in the ghettos of Palestine as just Israel's last gasp of impunity while Bush is still president. They know that with Bush out of office in three weeks, they will not be able to do all this killing as easily, so they are doing their last Hoorah's before Bush leaves.

It's obvious. In comes Bush and in comes the violence. I've been sick about this since the fall of 2000.

Posted by Nora Thomason | December 29, 2008 7:59 PM

Posted on December 29, 2008 19:59

Nora,

While I agree to a certain point that there was a minimal decorum while Clinton was in office between those two particular factions, Israel, especially under Ariel Sharon (who was nicknamed Monster) was doing unspeakable experiments with chemicals on their own people. I had a dear friend from Lebanon who came to the U.S. due to the crimes committed against the the Lebanese people while Sharon was Prime Minister. The killing of thousands of refugees in tents with bulldozers while people slept. The list goes on and on. I believe that Carter had been trying to lead negotiations prior to the passing of Yasur Arafat, and still today Carter continues to speak out even prior to and during the election of Hamas. We label Hamas terrorists, but I am not too sure that their main objective isn't to squelch some of the murderous acts committed against the Palestinians. After all in the past three days while three Israelis have lost their lives, over 300 Palestinians have been murdered and over 900 wounded.
The following is an excerpt that I think sums Israeli beliefs even today (some, not all): Sharon's behavior conformed to an old Israeli military doctrine, "one that was originally enunciated by Israel's founding Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, before Israel was even a state. In his Independence War Diary, under the entry for January 1, 1948, Ben-Gurion wrote: "...Blowing up a house is not enough. What is necessary is cruel and strong reactions. We need precision in time, place and casualties. ...[we must] strike mercilessly, women and children included. Otherwise, the reaction is inefficient. At the place of action there is no need to distinguish between guilty and innocent."

Why this ruthlessly inhumane doctrine? What was the "reaction" that Ben-Gurion was seeking? The principle is simple: make the property owned by the Palestinians uninhabitable, and make their lives so miserable, and instill in them such fear that the inhabitants will leave, so Israel can eventually appropriate the property for itself. As we have seen above, Israel employed the venerable tactic to great effect throughout much of the War of Independence."
Since the Palestinians have stayed the course, now it appears that Israel is reverting to genocide. Yes, they have become more emboldened under Bush I agree, but I do not believe this is their last "hoorah." But how I wish I thought that were true. Even during our elections, every candidate seemed to have to prove themselves under the eyes of the Jewish people. They have so many high dollar lobbyist and well placed officials in our country that I can't really see a way clear short of a miracle. Look alone at their nuclear capabilities - that is enough to scare any country straight, because I don't think they would hesitate under certain circumstances to utilize those weapons. We have helped over many decades create what they have become. So it seems easier and more responsible to our government to agree with them and turn our back to the Arab nations that have suffered from their horrendous acts.
This is one topic that I feel very passionate about and I apologize if I have come across as anything but professional!! Truly!

Posted by Denise | December 29, 2008 10:28 PM

Posted on December 29, 2008 22:28

Melissa, thanks for your posts - and, Denise, thank you, too, for your knowledge and your passion. I don't disagree with either one of you. My heart has been breaking for such a long time about the Palestinian people.

In the 1930's when Jews were forced from their homes in Germany and Poland and placed first in walled ghettos, this is so similar to what the Israelis have done to the people of Palestine whom they have taken land and homes from. They have forced them into the least inhabitable places and forced them from their homes. Now the Israelis have walled off Gaza and West Bank and have denied even the delivery of food, medicines and survival supplies to the imprisoned people inside the walls. And, now, as if the theft of their homes, the imprisonment and apartheid of them was not enough, now the Israelis are killing them while they sleep.

Enough. I don't know how much more my heart can break.

Posted by Nora Thomason | December 29, 2008 11:26 PM

Posted on December 29, 2008 23:26

mtuckey

Thanks Denise and Nora for your comments. I share your grief and anger. Sadly, I don't think we can expect things to improve under Obama:

Here is the Obama transition team's plan for Israel (from change.gov):

" * Ensure a Strong U.S.-Israel Partnership: Barack Obama and Joe Biden strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship, and believe that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America's strongest ally in the region. They support this closeness, and have stated that the United States will never distance itself from Israel.
* Support Israel's Right to Self Defense: During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria's involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He and Joe Biden believe strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens.
* Support Foreign Assistance to Israel: Barack Obama and Joe Biden have consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. They defend and support the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and have advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met. They have called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems. "

You will note it does not mention any support whatsoever for the Palestinian people.

Please write to the Obama transition team at and ask that they revise their policy to recognize the human rights of Palestinians.

Phyllis Bennis is right, we have work to do.

Posted by mtuckey | December 30, 2008 2:31 PM

Posted on December 30, 2008 14:31

Ran Kohn

“ The violations include both obligations of an Occupying Power to protect an Occupied Population” Israel is not occupying the Gaza strip Hamas is! Can we stay with the facts?
“violations start with collective punishment” how does one separate Hamas fighters from the population when Hamas insists in imbedding itself within the population. Since, Hamas is doing just that as the PLO and Hezbollah as done in Lebanon does that imply that they are allowed to fire at Israel but Israel must not fire back because of collateral damage?
“But that right does not include targeting civilians. The rockets used so far are unable to be aimed with any specificity, so they are in fact aimed at the civilians who live in the Israeli cities and towns, and so are illegal. The rocket fire against civilians should be ended - as many Palestinians believe, because it does not help end the occupation, but also because it is illegal under international law. However, that rocket fire, illegal or not, does not give Israel the right to punish the entire population for those actions. Such vengeance is the very essence of "collective punishment" and is therefore unequivocally prohibited by the Geneva conventions.” Is it legal or is illegal for the Palestinians to fire rockets. Again Israel has withdrawn completely from Gaza why do you insist on saying they are occupied. Or do you mean that they are occupied by Hamas? Where do you get the data that Israel is specifically targeting civilians? After all we are daily hearing about the fact that mostly fighters have been targeted, tunnels and Hamas infrastructure. Are you just a propaganda act for Hamas? Where is your journalistic honesty?

Posted by Ran Kohn | December 30, 2008 8:02 PM

Posted on December 30, 2008 20:02

Ran,

Thank you for your comments. Though I did not write the piece you are responding to, I did post it and I agree with it and I will try to answer to the spirit of your questions.

To the central question of whether Israel is “occupying” Gaza, I would say yes, they are occupying Gaza. Israel controls the borders, flow of food, medicine, humanitarian aid, and people. For the past two months, they’ve blocked food from entering Gaza, which in my opinion is another war crime. They’ve blocked journalists and human rights observers from entering Gaza. So basically, you could think of Gaza as a giant prison, with Israel serving as prison guard.

Is it also illegal for Hamas to fire rockets at Israeli civilians. I believe Phyllis addressed that point.

I stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people because the Palestinian people are being oppressed. The Israeli people are not being oppressed. If they were I would stand with them. The Israeli government has set up an apartheid-like system where some living within its contested borders have civil and human rights and others do not. For years Israel has bombed Gaza whenever it pleases. It destroys houses and builds settlements without any regard for the indigenous people who live there. It also conducts summary style executions. The Palestinians live in a police state.

I do not condone Hamas’s violence; I think their rockets are ridiculous. I believe the Palestinians are better served by non-violent resistance. On the other hand, I have sympathy for anyone who has lived under occupation for sixty years.

This is not to say that I don’t have sympathy for Israeli citizens who have lost their lives to these rockets. At the moment, however, those concerns are overshadowed by my concerns for the 1.5 million people who live in Gaza.

I have one other reason for speaking out and that is that the US government funds the Israeli military, our tax dollars support this illegal bombing. If for no other reason then to protect our own interests, I believe the US needs to change its foreign policy and start recognizing the human rights of the Palestinian population. This kind of belligerence and disregard for international law conveys the message that to have power in this world you must behave like a rogue state. I do not see very much of a difference between rogue states and terrorists.

If we are serious about the “war” on terrorism, we might look at the ways in which our own actions fuel terrorism.

Posted by mtuckey | December 30, 2008 11:52 PM

Posted on December 30, 2008 23:52

I appreciate the answer and I hope you permit me to respond. With regard to occupation: The fact is that your definition of occupation is not a legal definition of occupation. Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip period end of story. Gaza shares borders with Israel and Egypt so your argument that Israel controls Gaza’s borders is also not true. If your definition were to apply than Egypt is also the occupier since it borders Gaza and the border is closed. Egypt is just as capable if not more so of providing food and supplies to the people of Gaza—it is therefore disingenuous to focus on Israel as the occupier. Gaza is in a prison of its own making. Yes they voted for Hamas but Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of another state—Israel is Israel obligated to maintain it? Actually Israel has been providing both food and medical help even during this war to its sworn enemy. When has any power provided their enemy with food and medicine during the war? Not us.
Phyllis Benner in her letter to the NY Times equivocated about the Hamas rockets she wrote “it may be illegal”. In fact it was that statement that got me started checking her out. I think we all know very well what the US government would do if rockets landed in Texas from Mexico or New York from Canada. I don’t think we would even be negotiating this matter; we would simply go in and demolish, as in carpet bomb everything in sight and then we would consider a discussion--maybe. Just in case you consider the US as not a good example there is always Russia and Grozny and the Europeans’ benign neglect of Moslems being killed by Christians in the former Yugoslavia until the US stepped in.
As for your statement that: “you stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people because the Palestinian people are oppressed. The Israeli people are not oppressed.” Really. Let me understand this, Israel removes itself and its settlements from the Gaza strip. Hamas takes over and instead of building and improving the Gaza strip decides it needs to send rockets into Israel; rockets that have no guidance and therefore have no purpose other than to terrorize Israelis. May I direct you to You Tube where you can watch video after video of children scattering and running away from kindergartens and schools into bunkers? The Palestinians and Israelis are oppressed and they are oppressed by rejectionist groups like Hamas whose charter calls for the elimination of the state of Israel. By the way I do fault Israel for not negotiating with Hamas (but let’s be clear Hamas does not want to negotiate with Israel). Although I understand that Israel is not interested in negotiating its elimination I think talking is better than shooting.
The US government does not fund Israel. American aid to Israel is aid to the American Military Industrial Complex; that is, every dollar that goes to procuring American weapons goes to American companies that provide the weapons. While we are on the subject of funding; I hope you are mindful that every time any of us gets into a car we are funding the very people who fund terrorism around the world. Hamas gets its weapons from Iran every time a suicide bomber commits his/he crime against humanity by blowing himself/herself up, his/her family receives a check; in the past it came from Saddam Hussein in Iraq now it comes from the ayatollahs in Iran. Iran gets its money from us. You are right we help fuel (literally) terrorism by our own actions.
I have written to friends about the need for Israel to right now go to the Arab League (most of the members of the Arab League do not share your concern for Hamas) and work out a deal for a Palestinian state to be announced right after Israel finishes with Hamas. My suggestions in this area are:
1. End of hostilities in Gaza followed by immediate withdrawal of Israeli military and introduction of Arab forces from Turkey, Morocco and Saudi Arabia to police Gaza. I want a Middle Eastern solution not an American or European solution.
2. Announcement of a Palestinian State on all lands occupied by Israel in the aftermath of 1967 war.
a. Exceptions: Golan and Shaba Farms- which Israel and Syria need to negotiate. Will not be difficult if Palestinian sign off on their state.
b. Jerusalem- Old city to have special international status or shared between Palestinians and Israelis. With Palestinian capital in Arab district, Jewish district jurisdictionally stays with Israel and UN moves its headquarters to Jerusalem (this last will prevent anyone from attacking Israel giving Jews further security to disarm nuclear arsenal within 10 years).
3. Palestinian refugees. There were as many Jewish refugees from Arab countries in 1948 as there were Palestinian refugees in 1948. The Jewish refugees were integrated into Israel and other countries they settled in. The same has to be with Arab refugees they can neither demand nor expect to return to their former homes anymore than the Jews can expect to return to their former homes in Europe or the Arab world.
a. Exception:
i. West Bank communities to be emptied of its Jewish population and an equivalent number of Arabs from Israel leave Israel to occupy them and Jews move back to Israel.
I think this plan addresses all but the maximalist demands on both sides.

Posted by Ran Kohn | January 6, 2009 11:32 AM

Posted on January 6, 2009 11:32

postroad

It would be foolish to engage in a lengthy arguement with this speaker. Suffice it to note that if the US supplies arms to israel, where then does Hezbollah and Hamas get its weapons from? And though we do give Israel much money yearly, what nation gets 2nd most aid from us?

Hamas was "elected" into power. So, too, Hitler party in 1933. Hamas has (still) in its governing mandate the utter destruction of Israel. Does that not matter?

Yes. Israel plabnned ahead. Didn't Hezbollah armn for years? Didn't the US plan for each and every contingency since messing up in 1940?

All the blame is here put on the US. What of the arab states supplying money, weapons, etc?

Why is the US always wrong and the suicide killers ok?

Posted by postroad | January 6, 2009 6:37 PM

Posted on January 6, 2009 18:37

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