My attempts late last night and early this morning at describing the meaning of Gaza and the plight of its people have all ended with neither coherence nor completion. Words fail. I could find no mind or talent or technique equal to the task. So much needs to be done yet so little has been done for the people of Gaza. The resolve isn’t there and one favoured nation is allowed a free hand to do as it pleases without regard to any reasonable sense of proportion. There has been no semblance of fairness or justice. The failure to address the needs of those who call the Gaza Strip home is a failure of the resolve of the international community to bring to book a belligerent military power in the Middle East. You cannot be allowed to live and act unchecked as though you are alone in the neighbourhood. As though only you have the right to live and act. As though you alone are entitled to make all the decisions. As though only you have the right of survival. My attempts to write about this has ended with a mere whimper of a prayer – Please God, overturn the effects of tragic wrongful history and let there be justice, peace and humanitarian aid for those who suffer so hopelessly.
For the rest, dear readers, if you care at all, please invest time to read for yourself:
- Some history and background on the Gaza Strip, Gaza: The Basics
- A Time.com report on Gaza, one year after the Israeli three-week offensive in Gaza that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and damaged or destroyed more than 50,000 homes: Gaza Still Suffers
- The Executive Summary of the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict: HUMAN RIGHTS IN PALESTINE AND OTHER OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES
God have mercy.
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:00 am
Source: American Family Association (http://by126w.bay126.mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0)
By now you are aware of the confrontation between Israeli naval forces and a Turkish flotilla off the coast of the Gaza Strip.
What you have not heard is the truth from the mainstream media.
Here is the truth:
* Israel cannot allow ships to go directly to Gaza for security reasons. Innocent Israeli families are threatened daily with missile attacks launched from Gaza, and Israel must make sure weapons are not being smuggled into Gaza in “humanitarian” cargoes. Israel offered to offload all humanitarian supplies on board this ship and deliver them to Gaza.
* These Turkish ships know that the U.N. will deliver any and all humanitarian supplies after first examining shipments to make sure they contain no weapons. Thus it appears they deliberately provoked this incident for propaganda purposes.
* Israeli commanders were attacked and beaten by the “humanitarian” workers on this ship who were armed with iron bars and knives. One soldier was thrown off an upper deck and fell thirty feet to the deck below, sustaining significant injuries to his head.
* Israeli soldiers repeatedly told each other “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” as they rappelled to the surface of the ship. They fired only as a last resort and in self-defense.
* According to the Weekly Standard, the organization behind this flotilla belongs to the Union of Good, which was created for the specific purpose of transferring tens of millions of dollars a year to Hamas-controlled entities in the Gaza Strip and whose leaders have been designated by our State Department as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Today is the day to stand with Israel. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and our only reliable ally in the region. And Christian America owes a spiritual debt to Israel for preserving the time-honored moral standards which are the foundation of our nation.
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I agree completely with Mr Goh’s comments.
The issue is not what happened to the flotilla. This incident merely highlights the suffering of the people in Gaza. The issue is the Gaza blockade.
Israel’s actions to blockade Gaza is unjustifiable. When you look at the details of the blockade you will realize that it does not merely block weapons, but makes it very very difficult to move goods and services through. While it is true that they still allow some humanitarian aid to pass through, basically, no proper trade can take place in this situation, therefore the economy cannot develop, which is the key to improving the livelihood of the people in that area and therefore reducing the hold of terrorism, anger, frustration, hatred and violence
I do not support Hamas attempts to attack civilians in Israel. Terrorism against civilians is never justified. But two wrongs do not make a right. I believe Israel can safeguard its borders and find ways to defend its citizens without humiliating and depriving a whole community of people.
Talk to any aid worker who has worked in Gaza, and they will tell you that the Israeli soldiers and authorities rule by humiliation and intimidation.
Allen Tan cites the Weekly Standard which is well known for being a far-right wing, pro-Israeli lobby, and hence does not present an objective and an unbiased opinion.
I think the closing quote from the article is morally reprehensible: “Today is the day to stand with Israel. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and our only reliable ally in the region. And Christian America owes a spiritual debt to Israel for preserving the time-honored moral standards which are the foundation of our nation.”
This quote suggest that because a nation shares your political ideology or system, you can ignore all immoral actions taken on their behalf. A democratic system does not necessarily mean that the country acts in a morally upright way. Most countries in the world act in their own selfish interest; in the case of Israel the result is the suffering of the Palestinians.
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:30 pm
both sides are equally guilty. so easy to take just one side as right and condemn the other. both are equally guilty of atrocities. there are no easy answers to the middle east problem. to just support one side at the expense of the other ignore the complexities of the real issues involved – both sides are killing each other. the only way forward is both sides got to give and take.
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
On one hand the Middle East countries wanted to support the Palestinians, but on the other hand, why can’t those Islamic countries give a piece of land to their brethren? Their contry sizes are many hundred times bigger than the land of Israel.
June 4th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Account of what happened in Mavi Marmara.
Be sure to watch all 3 videos.
1. Turkey leads the nations in a war of condemnation against Israel
Have you ever heard of a nation who sends its commandos into battle with Paintball guns? Well Israel did. The elite soldiers sent to take control of the Flotilla ships were sent with paintball guns on board. Clearly they were not planning for violence but only crowd control. There was no resistance on five of the ships and there were no injuries.
But, they were utterly surprised by the well-prepared reception they received on the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara.
It was a set up.
All during the voyage, the activists vowed they had no weapons and that they would only use passive resistance if stopped from reaching Gaza. But, all along they planned a well coordinated, and equipped, attack on the soldiers. The soldiers were viciously attacked with hammers, metal pipes, knives, and even live fire. Amazingly the commandos showed extreme restraint and continued to use paintball guns until two of their comrades were seriously hurt from live fire. Only then did they use the pistols they were carrying along with them. “They prepared a lynch for us,” said one of the soldiers; “we feared for our lives,” others recounted. (These are well-trained commandos!)
Watch the videos and understand what really happened on the Marmara; hear and see the testimony of a commando who participated in the raid. See the truth for yourself.
Just click on this link to JUSTtheTRUTH a web page I created with some videos. Caution: They are not easy to watch!
http://web.me.com/oferami/JusttheTruth/What_happend_on_the_Marmaris.html
Yet, Turkey has called Israel a terrorist state, has charged that Israel has lost all legitimacy and said the raid was “murder committed by the State.” Abbas of the PA called the raid a “slaughter” and Hamas leader Haniyeh appeared on Al-Jazeera television to condemn the “brutal attack.”
To be honest, it’s hard to take the self-righteous hypocrisy of these entities. Why did Turkey allow the Flotilla in the first place? Why did Turkey back the IHH – Insani Yardim Vakfi – (“Humanitarian relief fund”) knowing very well that it is a radical Islamic organization with deep connections to known terrorist organizations? Why did Turkish authorities fail to check the boats and the people before they embarked on this deliberately provocative journey?
Officials from the Turkish Customs Directorate said all passengers that boarded the Mavi Marmara ship were screened and that not a single passenger was in possession of any weapon.
Apparently, their screening methods are lax:
Should not the nations condemn Turkey for pushing the Middle East dangerously close to a terrible war? Should not the nations rebuke the NGO which instigated this crisis? Should not the head of IHH, the organizer, be put on trial? Shouldn’t the UN Security Council call upon the Arab nations in the Middle East to put pressure on Hamas to lay down its terrorist agenda to annihilate Israel, disarm itself and remove any need for a siege?
Ofer Amitai
Israel Center
June 4th, 2010 at 11:16 am
I have pasted below a reflection I put on my blog on Wednesday (02 June)
700 ON THE FLOTILLA: WHAT DO YOU CALL THEM?
I read and re-read Goh Keat Peng’s commentary on the situation of the people who live on the Gaza strip, and the way they are treated. I share his sense of frustration. It’s very difficult to know what to make of the situation.
The difficulty the media and media personalities have in deciding what to call the 700 people on the “flotilla” is worth noting. The labels which have been applied to the 700 are “activists,” “passengers,” “volunteers” and “victims.”
One of them, Matthias Chang, is a close ally of Tun Mahathir. Matthias was recently found guilty of contempt of court in Malaysia. Another, Mohd Nizar Zakaria is a serving Member of Parliament (BN-Parit) in Malaysia. Dr Rani Osman, a PR State Assemblyman is there too. I hope they return safely; don’t want more elections.
It’s hard to have the moral clarity of Mahathir or Najib, both of whom have condemned the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and the boarding of the Mavi Marmara in International Waters by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) this week, with casualties.
According to the New Straits Times of 1 June 2010, Mahathir and Najib’s award-winning (whatever happened to that story?) wife Rosmah raised funds for the expedition. Ships were bought, converted and stocked.
Mahathir’s views on Jews are well known. Mahathir is no friend of justice: recall the sackings of judges and the Lingam inquiry. Najib is no friend of impartiality: recall he’s an unrepentant vote buyer. Also, this pair’s understanding of “international waters” when it involves petroleum is different from their understanding of what such waters mean when it involves Israel’s declared aims with respect to it’s security.
The sad reality is that there are many people who hijack humanitarian causes to further their own goals. Just consider the name “Freedom Flotilla” (per Mahathir). The core message of the expedition is freedom, not humanitarian aid.
My reflection on the “flotilla” event is fed by these gleanings:
•Gazans put up posters of PM Erdogan and Turkish flags to welcome the force.
•The boarders of the Mavi Marmara were disciplined, trained Israeli soldiers.
•The boarders primary weapon was paint guns.
•The boarders expected “light resistance” from “volunteers.”
•The boarders did not begin by unholstering or discharging their handguns.
•The boarders suffered casualties.
•The resisters were Turkish men – who typically have served in the military.
•The resisters used bats, knives, pepper spray and slingshots.
•The resisters succeeded in causing serious injury to the boarders.
•The resisters suffered casualties not consistent with passive resistance.
•The resisters are receiving medical treatment in Israeli hospitals.
•The Egyptians responded by lifting their blockade of aid to Gaza.
The governments of the members of the expedition force are “working” to bring them home. Some are probably preparing grand welcomes for the “heroic” returnees. [Perhaps this is why Israel is quickly sending them all home.]
Both the Israeli and the International media are roasting the Israeli armed forces and the Israeli government. Relations between Turkey and Israel have been shattered; this probably would have occurred even if the expedition force had suffered no casualties, since Turkey seems to be somewhat deeply involved in this expedition.
According to the NST article, “Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Perdana Global Peace Organisation planned the Freedom Flotilla a year ago. It bought three ships – two to ferry passengers and one for cargo – for the Gaza trip.”
What have the Gazans gained from all this? What will the Israelis do with the cargo?
The sponsors of the blockade-busting expedition force got money, bought ships and supplies; they launched 700 people against a professional force. Are these people activists, passengers, volunteers or victims?
[http://write2rest.blogspot.com]
June 4th, 2010 at 11:33 am
allen, you should read the history of the israeli war of independence and the aftermath of it. the war created hundreds of thousands of refugees who were bottled up in different places. i don’t have the figures offhand but i did a talk once on this. none of the arab neighbourng countries then (back in 1948) wanted the palestinian refugees. many of these refugees remained living for years in the same refugee camps in jordan, lebanon, syria etc.
the arab countries offer no solution to the palestinian brethren either. today, egypt also imposed a blockage on their border with gaza. as i said earlier, there is no way forward unless everyone give and take.
yitshaq rabin gave israeli land away in exchange for peace. he was shot dead by his own fellow israeli, from the far right. those land and cities given in exchange for peace have remained – bethlehem, hebron, west bank in plo’s hands. if you ever been there, you can see the contrast in living standards. power lies in the upper echelons in plo or hamas, the people down below suffers.
the middle east problem is complicated, compounded with religion thrown in. it is a political problem firstly and should be settled at that level. but lines are blurred because of race and religion.
June 4th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I got an inkling of the extent of my ignorance when I read David K Shipler’s Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land.
June 8th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
A very perceptive article by the intelligence analyst George Friedman:
“The Turkish Flotilla to Gaza”
The Palestinians have long argued that they are the victims of Israel, an invention of British and American imperialism. Since 1967, they have focused not so much on the existence of the state of Israel (at least in messages geared toward the West) as on the oppression of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Since the split between Hamas and Fatah and the Gaza War, the focus has been on the plight of the citizens of Gaza, who have been portrayed as the dispossessed victims of Israeli violence.
The bid to shape global perceptions by portraying the Palestinians as victims of Israel was the first prong of a longtime two-part campaign. The second part of this campaign involved armed resistance against the Israelis. The way this resistance was carried out, from airplane hijackings to stone-throwing children to suicide bombers, interfered with the first part of the campaign, however. The Israelis could point to suicide bombings or the use of children against soldiers as symbols of Palestinian inhumanity. This in turn was used to justify conditions in Gaza. While the Palestinians had made significant inroads in placing Israel on the defensive in global public opinion, they thus consistently gave the Israelis the opportunity to turn the tables. And this is where the flotilla comes in.
The Turkish flotilla aimed to replicate the Exodus story or, more precisely, to define the global image of Israel in the same way the Zionists defined the image that they wanted to project. As with the Zionist portrayal of the situation in 1947, the Gaza situation is far more complicated than as portrayed by the Palestinians. The moral question is also far more ambiguous. But as in 1947, when the Zionist portrayal was not intended to be a scholarly analysis of the situation but a political weapon designed to define perceptions, the Turkish flotilla was not designed to carry out a moral inquest.
Instead, the flotilla was designed to achieve two ends. The first is to divide Israel and Western governments by shifting public opinion against Israel. The second is to create a political crisis inside Israel between those who feel that Israel’s increasing isolation over the Gaza issue is dangerous versus those who think any weakening of resolve is dangerous.
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100531_flotillas_and_wars_public_opinion?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100531&utm_content=GIRtitle&elq=a1c5f9d2cd8f4e70b327b88165cb3b63
June 8th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
As always when the topic is on Israel-Palestinian relationships, poeple tend to complicate the analysis by mixing facts, truth and opinions.
One simple example is when I told a Muslim friend that Israel may one day bomb the nuclear facilties in Iran. He then said, if Israel has the right of nuclear weapons, why should not Iran have its own?
Sounds fair, right? But there is a huge difference between a man using a knife for defense and a man holidng a knife (the current Iranian president)swearing he will wipe away all peoples of a certain race and religion living netx to them.
“A democratic system does not necessarily mean that the country acts in a morally upright way. Most countries in the world act in their own selfish interest; in the case of Israel the result is the suffering of the Palestinians.”
CL’s quote above is just too simplistic. Which country in the world does not act in their own self-defense? Perhaps the free elections in Palestine that brought Hamas into power is a morally upright democracy? What can we learn from the Gaza/Palestinians? To suffer silently and love your enemies or to suffer and take up arms?
The only way to win the public relations war for the Palestinians is for a pacifist such as a Gandhi to arise and take up peaceful resistance. That man also needs to condemn all violence from all sides.
The fact that no such Palestinian is willing to do so speaks volumes about their political motivations, egged on by the world to push Israel into the brink of submission.
June 9th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Both Ishmael and Isaac were the descendants of Abraham. But Isaac was loved for being the promised heir, and whereas Ishmael was rejected. Resentment and revenge against their brethren were their agenda. Thus there shall be no rest.
If you look at the book of Revelation, you will see that Israel shall be attacked. Even an army of 200 million from the East will march into Israeli land. Is the time at hand now? It’s coming. Very soon prior to this we will see the Antichrist from EU to take control over Israel.
Is it all fated? Well God knew these before men were created and warned us beforehand. What can we do? Just pray for the peace in Israel and Jerusalem.
July 1st, 2010 at 4:59 pm
It is probable that God does not take sides. Only his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Both sides have committed atrocities. War is war and evil is evil. But God has his own purposes. During the American Civil War in which more than 600,000 lives perished, Abramham Lincoln has this to say:
Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”