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First of all, I feel awful for the Palestinians. They've been victimized by all sides for a long time. Kept in poverty and ignorance by their own corrupt government (who routinely took foreign aid, kept it for themselves, and told the populace that no one was helping them). Raised on hate and propaganda. Treated as (at best) second-class citizens by the Israeli government when they live in Israel. Cut off from water and power when they live in Gaza. Forced through intense security screenings at numerous checkpoints... It's coming at them from all sides.
So they're angry. They live hard lives and have few options. It's entirely understandable. And yet... it makes it hard to do right by them. A cousin of mine tried to make up for some small part of it by hiring Palestinians. Honest work at fair pay. Tried it year after year. And every single one of them ended up stealing from him and running away at the worst time, leaving him high and dry.
Partly due to that anger, and partly due to guns and power and corruption... Hamas got elected to power in Gaza. Hamas, internationally recognized as a terrorist organization. Hamas, whose charter states up front that one of their top objectives is to wipe Israel off the map. Hamas, which other Arabic governments (including the Palestinian Authority, which is in charge of the West Bank) publicly disapprove of. Hamas, which has little, if any, patience for negotiation (and no room, if they won't even accept Israel's right to exist and the Jews' right to live).
Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel. Into innocent farming towns. Shelling them, day in and day out. Since the moment the most recent cease-fire ended. So Israel took action.
Now, there are those who say that the Israeli response has been disproportionate. It does seem that way, when you just look at the numbers. But it's more complicated than that.
In a way, it's always been Israel's problem. The news used to be about Israeli soldiers shooting kids with machine guns. But look at the bigger picture. The kids were throwing rocks at people. Doesn't sound like much, but people were being seriously injured, sometimes killed. A rock, especially when thrown from something of a height, can kill. (When we visited, years ago, a rock thrown at our car for no reason blew out a tire and could have killed us all.) So the Israeli military/police were sent to do their jobs... protect innocent civilians. It should be noted that Israel has a mandatory draft. Which means that most of their foot soldiers are barely more than kids themselves. People fresh out of high school. Sent out to serve and protect. Armed with machine guns, because they're soldiers and their job is also to stop terrorists and other attacks. But, for those patrolling the city, they were machine guns with rubber bullets. Kids started throwing rocks at the soldiers. Some were hospitalized. Some were killed. The kids, hearts filled with hate, heads filled with propaganda, refused to listen to reason or to back down. So soldiers responded in the only way they could... by firing a few shots with rubber bullets. To defend themselves and the civilians around them. And the picture the world saw? A soldier firing a machine gun at a scruffy poverty-stricken child.
What Israel is doing now is working to take out Hamas's ability to fire rockets over the border. To terrorize and kill innocent, defenseless civilians. But Hamas is clever. Tricky. They keep their rockets in civilian buildings. In homes. In mosques. In hospitals. In schools. And they fire them from heavily populated buildings. They use the innocents around them as human shields, forcing anyone who tries to stop them to rack up a heavy toll of collateral damage. Some of those civilians support the cause, help out, willingly put themselves in the line of fire. Others... have no choice in the matter. Not when there's nowhere else to go (Egypt has closed its borders to refugees) and the terrorists have all the weapons and power.
And they play to the media. They've been known to exaggerate the damage and the death tolls.
And, too... Hamas doesn't have a formal military force. They're terrorists. Which technically means that their troops are civilians themselves. With the fear and confusion and secrecy and all... it's hard to say where the lines are between fighters, collaborators, and innocents. I'm sure Hamas is claiming every dead body as a civilian, every target as innocent.
The situation isn't right for anyone. There are thousands of years of hatred and killing and wrongs on both sides. Israel can't allow terrorists to strike with impunity. But when they strike back, they can't avoid the innocents who are deliberately put in the way as human shields. And those innocents are trapped. Victimized by all sides.
The current military effort is designed to protect Israelis, to destroy Hamas's ability to launch those rockets. The targets are military. Weapons caches, launching sites, weapon transportation routes. But Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. And the terrorists are using that to full advantage. What would you have Israel do?
As for Obama... he's said that he'll have a statement when he's in power. Unlike with other situations, Bush has actually spoken up on the issue. He's stated, in no uncertain terms, that Hamas is a terrorist organization and that Israel has the right, the necessity, to defend itself. There isn't a vacuum for Obama to step in and fill.
And, really... what place do we have in this? We're not the international police, whatever some may think. We can try to help. We can, within limits, stand up to injustice. We can, as we have, try to broker peace and aid the downtrodden. But we're not in charge. It's not our place to act as parents to a pair of long-squabbling children.
So they're angry. They live hard lives and have few options. It's entirely understandable. And yet... it makes it hard to do right by them. A cousin of mine tried to make up for some small part of it by hiring Palestinians. Honest work at fair pay. Tried it year after year. And every single one of them ended up stealing from him and running away at the worst time, leaving him high and dry.
Partly due to that anger, and partly due to guns and power and corruption... Hamas got elected to power in Gaza. Hamas, internationally recognized as a terrorist organization. Hamas, whose charter states up front that one of their top objectives is to wipe Israel off the map. Hamas, which other Arabic governments (including the Palestinian Authority, which is in charge of the West Bank) publicly disapprove of. Hamas, which has little, if any, patience for negotiation (and no room, if they won't even accept Israel's right to exist and the Jews' right to live).
Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel. Into innocent farming towns. Shelling them, day in and day out. Since the moment the most recent cease-fire ended. So Israel took action.
Now, there are those who say that the Israeli response has been disproportionate. It does seem that way, when you just look at the numbers. But it's more complicated than that.
In a way, it's always been Israel's problem. The news used to be about Israeli soldiers shooting kids with machine guns. But look at the bigger picture. The kids were throwing rocks at people. Doesn't sound like much, but people were being seriously injured, sometimes killed. A rock, especially when thrown from something of a height, can kill. (When we visited, years ago, a rock thrown at our car for no reason blew out a tire and could have killed us all.) So the Israeli military/police were sent to do their jobs... protect innocent civilians. It should be noted that Israel has a mandatory draft. Which means that most of their foot soldiers are barely more than kids themselves. People fresh out of high school. Sent out to serve and protect. Armed with machine guns, because they're soldiers and their job is also to stop terrorists and other attacks. But, for those patrolling the city, they were machine guns with rubber bullets. Kids started throwing rocks at the soldiers. Some were hospitalized. Some were killed. The kids, hearts filled with hate, heads filled with propaganda, refused to listen to reason or to back down. So soldiers responded in the only way they could... by firing a few shots with rubber bullets. To defend themselves and the civilians around them. And the picture the world saw? A soldier firing a machine gun at a scruffy poverty-stricken child.
What Israel is doing now is working to take out Hamas's ability to fire rockets over the border. To terrorize and kill innocent, defenseless civilians. But Hamas is clever. Tricky. They keep their rockets in civilian buildings. In homes. In mosques. In hospitals. In schools. And they fire them from heavily populated buildings. They use the innocents around them as human shields, forcing anyone who tries to stop them to rack up a heavy toll of collateral damage. Some of those civilians support the cause, help out, willingly put themselves in the line of fire. Others... have no choice in the matter. Not when there's nowhere else to go (Egypt has closed its borders to refugees) and the terrorists have all the weapons and power.
And they play to the media. They've been known to exaggerate the damage and the death tolls.
And, too... Hamas doesn't have a formal military force. They're terrorists. Which technically means that their troops are civilians themselves. With the fear and confusion and secrecy and all... it's hard to say where the lines are between fighters, collaborators, and innocents. I'm sure Hamas is claiming every dead body as a civilian, every target as innocent.
The situation isn't right for anyone. There are thousands of years of hatred and killing and wrongs on both sides. Israel can't allow terrorists to strike with impunity. But when they strike back, they can't avoid the innocents who are deliberately put in the way as human shields. And those innocents are trapped. Victimized by all sides.
The current military effort is designed to protect Israelis, to destroy Hamas's ability to launch those rockets. The targets are military. Weapons caches, launching sites, weapon transportation routes. But Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. And the terrorists are using that to full advantage. What would you have Israel do?
As for Obama... he's said that he'll have a statement when he's in power. Unlike with other situations, Bush has actually spoken up on the issue. He's stated, in no uncertain terms, that Hamas is a terrorist organization and that Israel has the right, the necessity, to defend itself. There isn't a vacuum for Obama to step in and fill.
And, really... what place do we have in this? We're not the international police, whatever some may think. We can try to help. We can, within limits, stand up to injustice. We can, as we have, try to broker peace and aid the downtrodden. But we're not in charge. It's not our place to act as parents to a pair of long-squabbling children.
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This mindless hate. The fighting. The killing. The endless violence. And every time it looks like peace is on the horizon, the extremists make a move to ensure that it won't happen.
It's amazing, too, what some people can be led to believe. Rumors and lies and poorly photoshopped "evidence," and they take it as undeniable truth.
All this bloodshed, hatred, poverty, suppression... everything, for what? A tiny slice of barren desert. Without even any oil. But it's where they've always lived and always fought. It's the "holy land" and a "holy war." And the ruins there get more ruined all the time... *sigh*