Tuesday, April 18, 2006
The Uses of Violence
For days now, the Israeli government has been shelling the Gaza Strip. Over 30 people have died, including 3 children; over 90 people have been wounded.
This is 'in response' to Palestinian militants firing home-made Qassam rockets into Israel - into land that was illegally seized by Israel, that is. The Israeli response - mass artillery shelling of populated areas - is another instance of collective punishment. Combined with an economic blockade that is causing severe food shortages, things are getting desperate. So desperate that Islamic Jihad responded and sent a suicide bomber to Tel Aviv. Nine people died.
Gush Shalom activists demonstrate against the Israeli bombardments
The Implications In Palestine
Over and over again, the Israelis provoke violence as a means to discredit the Palestinians. The Israelis are not risking a response, but hoping for a response. It gives them their raison d'etre: the creation of a greater Israel, and all the political and economic control that entails. As James Moore, an analyst for the Canadian military argues,
So do we... - anti-Zionist Hasidic Jews
The "resulting anarchy" is a convenient prop for ethnic cleansing. And, as at least one observer has argued, Sharon was a little impatient - any time the violence died down, he'd order another 'targetted assassination' and the cycle would begin again. It may seem grotesque for the Israeli government to sacrifice its own citizens to pay its blood debt to Zionism. But that's a small price for a Greater Israel.
The Implications Back Home
News of the shelling passed nearly unnoticed in western media. Certainly it never made the front page. But the suicide bomb was everywhere. There was usually a sentence at the end that "Hamas officials have defended the blast as a justified response to Israeli military strikes against the Palestinians"; but, as Margaret Evans of the CBC assured us, the strikes were only targetted at terrorists. Best of all, the new Israeli government can surprise everyone by appearing moderate; in response to the bombing, they have "decided against a large-scale military operation in an attempt to avoid escalating violence." Of course they have - the military operation has already been going on for weeks, there's no need for another.
" ...a long-standing view--the Orientalist view... denies Arabs their right to national self-determination because they are considered incapable of logic, unable to tell the truth and fundamentally murderous." - Edward Said
What bothers me about these reports is their underlying ideology. It's infuriating that the western media repeats the official position without question, but this is hardly surprising, given their political liberalism, and swallowing of a whole raft of Zionist lies (Palestinians are equally responsible for terror, the Occupation is a regrettable necessity, Palestine is a 'land without people', etc.)
But these kinds of misrepresentations wouldn't work, if we saw Palestinians and Israelis as equals. That we in the west accept these explanations at face value is sign of a deep-seated racism. It becomes understandable that, completely out of the blue, a Palestinian would kill 9 people. That he'd kill himself doing it is the key to the self-referential logic: he's crazy, so he kills himself. He kills himself, so he's crazy.
Animals can be killed without conscience - Palestinian relatives of Yasser Abu Jarad, 25-year-old, who was killed by Israeli tank shell, mourn during his funeral in Beit Hanon in the northern Gaza Strip April 9, 2006
Palestinians become sub-human, near-animals to be managed, tolerated, and culled when necessary. Without that racism, none of these media portrayals would make any sense at all. We might have to ask ourselves, "Why are Palestinians so desperate that they blow themselves up?" And we might have to confront some very difficult answers - what Edward Said called "the blind arrogance of the imperial gaze."
This is 'in response' to Palestinian militants firing home-made Qassam rockets into Israel - into land that was illegally seized by Israel, that is. The Israeli response - mass artillery shelling of populated areas - is another instance of collective punishment. Combined with an economic blockade that is causing severe food shortages, things are getting desperate. So desperate that Islamic Jihad responded and sent a suicide bomber to Tel Aviv. Nine people died.
Gush Shalom activists demonstrate against the Israeli bombardments
The Implications In Palestine
Over and over again, the Israelis provoke violence as a means to discredit the Palestinians. The Israelis are not risking a response, but hoping for a response. It gives them their raison d'etre: the creation of a greater Israel, and all the political and economic control that entails. As James Moore, an analyst for the Canadian military argues,
the IDF's strategy of increasing the pressure on him [Arafat] through assassinations, retaliatory attacks, limited incursions and the like could accelerate the downward spiral into anarchy in the PA-controlled territories. The outline of this deteriorating "cycle of violence" is disturbing. Harsher Israeli tactics will accentuate Palestinian feelings of insecurity and dissatisfaction with the PA's impotence. They will increasingly turn to the radical Islamic and nationalist forces that are seen to be the only ones fighting against the occupation. ... With no effective PA crackdown on the militants, the shootings and terror attacks will continue, provoking even stronger Israeli retaliation. ... Israel may be forced to reoccupy the PA areas, if it has not already done so, if only to contain the resulting anarchy.
So do we... - anti-Zionist Hasidic Jews
The "resulting anarchy" is a convenient prop for ethnic cleansing. And, as at least one observer has argued, Sharon was a little impatient - any time the violence died down, he'd order another 'targetted assassination' and the cycle would begin again. It may seem grotesque for the Israeli government to sacrifice its own citizens to pay its blood debt to Zionism. But that's a small price for a Greater Israel.
The Implications Back Home
News of the shelling passed nearly unnoticed in western media. Certainly it never made the front page. But the suicide bomb was everywhere. There was usually a sentence at the end that "Hamas officials have defended the blast as a justified response to Israeli military strikes against the Palestinians"; but, as Margaret Evans of the CBC assured us, the strikes were only targetted at terrorists. Best of all, the new Israeli government can surprise everyone by appearing moderate; in response to the bombing, they have "decided against a large-scale military operation in an attempt to avoid escalating violence." Of course they have - the military operation has already been going on for weeks, there's no need for another.
" ...a long-standing view--the Orientalist view... denies Arabs their right to national self-determination because they are considered incapable of logic, unable to tell the truth and fundamentally murderous." - Edward Said
What bothers me about these reports is their underlying ideology. It's infuriating that the western media repeats the official position without question, but this is hardly surprising, given their political liberalism, and swallowing of a whole raft of Zionist lies (Palestinians are equally responsible for terror, the Occupation is a regrettable necessity, Palestine is a 'land without people', etc.)
But these kinds of misrepresentations wouldn't work, if we saw Palestinians and Israelis as equals. That we in the west accept these explanations at face value is sign of a deep-seated racism. It becomes understandable that, completely out of the blue, a Palestinian would kill 9 people. That he'd kill himself doing it is the key to the self-referential logic: he's crazy, so he kills himself. He kills himself, so he's crazy.
Animals can be killed without conscience - Palestinian relatives of Yasser Abu Jarad, 25-year-old, who was killed by Israeli tank shell, mourn during his funeral in Beit Hanon in the northern Gaza Strip April 9, 2006
Palestinians become sub-human, near-animals to be managed, tolerated, and culled when necessary. Without that racism, none of these media portrayals would make any sense at all. We might have to ask ourselves, "Why are Palestinians so desperate that they blow themselves up?" And we might have to confront some very difficult answers - what Edward Said called "the blind arrogance of the imperial gaze."
