Friday, July 14, 2006
Why is Israel in Lebanon?
I knew something was up when I kept seeing the photo of Gilad Shalit, the kidnapped Israeli soldier, in the news. I thought, "That's interesting, I've never seen any family photos of Palestinians." Sure enough, 74 deaths in Gaza and 50 in Lebanon later, no family photos of anyone. Funny who gets to be human in this war, and who gets to be a statistic.
Humanize this - Palestinian victims of an Israeli bombing
Sure, Israel had this planned beforehand. Shalit's own father said his son was being used as a political pawn and called for troops to leave Gaza. But no, Israel must 'respond to the aggression', and liberal-minded commentators can throw up their hands about the 'cycle of violence'.
That cycle of violence has a starting point. And according to every report in western media I've read, it goes like this: "Militants captured an Israeli soldier, in reponse to Israeli shelling, which was in response to militants firing Qassam rockets." Every single report I've heard stops with the damned Qassams. Never what prompted them: the Occupation. The murders Israel committed while Hamas maintained a ceasefire. Not to mention collective punishment, the systematic brutalization of an entire people.
Palestinian rockets
Turn it around. Palestinians shells kill children on a beach 'by accident'. Palestinian tanks invade Israel and murder 70 Israelis. Palestinian planes bomb Israel's airports. Would George Bush tell Israel to deal with its militant problem, like he told Hamas and Hezbollah?
So why is Israel doing this now? I don't know. But I'd urge people to read Jonathan Nitzan's work on the weapondollar-petrodollar coalition. He calls mid-east conflict 'energy wars', because they drive the price of oil higher. Today, oil hit a record high of over $78 per barrel. Oil analysts were honest: investors are afraid, and therefore they'll pay more:
Israeli rockets
I love that - "somehow get resolved", as if it's all just an act of fate. Capitalism is a system: every political act benefits someone in charge. War is made by people: it's the product of deliberate strategies set in motion by a military-capitalist bloc including Israel, the U.S. and oil companies. This isn't a conspiracy or a cabal: it's just good business. Someone's making a killing off all this. But you can bet it's not the Palestinians or Lebanese.
Humanize this - Palestinian victims of an Israeli bombing
Sure, Israel had this planned beforehand. Shalit's own father said his son was being used as a political pawn and called for troops to leave Gaza. But no, Israel must 'respond to the aggression', and liberal-minded commentators can throw up their hands about the 'cycle of violence'.
That cycle of violence has a starting point. And according to every report in western media I've read, it goes like this: "Militants captured an Israeli soldier, in reponse to Israeli shelling, which was in response to militants firing Qassam rockets." Every single report I've heard stops with the damned Qassams. Never what prompted them: the Occupation. The murders Israel committed while Hamas maintained a ceasefire. Not to mention collective punishment, the systematic brutalization of an entire people.
Palestinian rockets
Turn it around. Palestinians shells kill children on a beach 'by accident'. Palestinian tanks invade Israel and murder 70 Israelis. Palestinian planes bomb Israel's airports. Would George Bush tell Israel to deal with its militant problem, like he told Hamas and Hezbollah?
So why is Israel doing this now? I don't know. But I'd urge people to read Jonathan Nitzan's work on the weapondollar-petrodollar coalition. He calls mid-east conflict 'energy wars', because they drive the price of oil higher. Today, oil hit a record high of over $78 per barrel. Oil analysts were honest: investors are afraid, and therefore they'll pay more:
"We haven't even taken into account a potential hurricane in the United States, so getting to $80 and beyond this summer seems quite inevitable," [analyst Victor] Shum said. "But if these Middle East events somehow get resolved, prices could also drop sharply."
Israeli rockets
I love that - "somehow get resolved", as if it's all just an act of fate. Capitalism is a system: every political act benefits someone in charge. War is made by people: it's the product of deliberate strategies set in motion by a military-capitalist bloc including Israel, the U.S. and oil companies. This isn't a conspiracy or a cabal: it's just good business. Someone's making a killing off all this. But you can bet it's not the Palestinians or Lebanese.
