ISRAEL AND GAZA

As we enter the seventh decade of the struggle between Israel and the refugees of Palestine, who are allied with their brothers, the non-refugees of Palestine, who live in the West Bank under Israeli military scrutiny and colonization, while another very large group of Palestinians watch quietly, as citizens of Israel who are holding their breath in fear they may have to one day live under Arab rule and lose everything they have achieved since 1948, the world continues to condemn Israel for causing civilian casualties. As we are approaching real war that may shortly involve Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and yes the Palestinians, refugees, occupied and suppressed (but armed) West Bankers, apprehensive and fearful Israeli Arabs, both Muslim and Christian whose numbers have been vastly diminished by emigration compelled from fear of Islamic extremism which has reduced Arab Christian populations in the Middle East by 2/3s in the past century, the vexed question of who is civilian and who is not will become more prominent. Outside of Israel I do not hear many voices condemning the bombardment of Israeli towns by rocketing, nor was there much objection to Hizbullah shooting 4000 rockets into Israel, many filled with ballbearings. As an introduction to this topic I offer the following post from an Australian blogger on site who is having difficulty identifying who is a civilian in Gaza. Personally, I doubt if there is one until he or she becomes a casualty. Not that they are all fighters, they are not. Many of them are bystanders with nowhere to go and nobody to protect them from violence if they express any objection to Hamas or any of the other gangs.

Liveblogging the Conflict: Sat/Sun Feb 29-Mar 1

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Aussie Dave

The IDF launched it’s Gaza military operation last night, with 2 IDF soldiers killed and 5 wounded until now. The fighting has been fierce, with IDF soldiers being met with heavy gunfire from palestinian gunmen (mainly from Hamas), who used rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles against the troops. IAF planes have been providing air support for the troops, launching missiles at the terrorists during the fighting. One soldier was killed when a terrorist threw an explosive device towards him, and the second soldier was killed during a gun battle.

43-47 palestinians have reportedly also been killed, which, according to palestinian sources, includes civilians. According to Ynetnews, most of the terrorists killed were from Hamas, but also included members of Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees. It is truly a united effort to bring Israel to her knees.

As usual, I am finding it difficult to find a consistent number of palestinian civilians killed. From the Israeli news sites, Ha’aretz reports 10 civilians, Ynetnews 12 (based on a lower figure of 43 palestinians killed), and JPost 16. From the palestinian sites, Ramattan reports 45 dead, the majority of which were civilians. While I do not doubt civilians have been killed, remember we are at war here. Also remember the Hamas quote I blogged yesterday:

“We will not play into Israel’s hands. If and when the operation is launched, we will combat it with no more than 20 percent of our manpower. The remaining 80 percent will wait for the Israelis inside Palestinian territory to fight under the conditions that we are familiar with and to show that are forces are still there..”

The terrorists are operating within civilian areas, many times with the actual assistance of these civilians, and more often than not with their tacit approval. Brace yourselves for the palestinian propaganda offensive going into overdrive, including stories about civilian deaths, many of which may not be true. Here is an example:

Earlier Friday night, the Palestinians reported of four people killed in IDF strikes in the Strip, including a one-year-old baby. However, there were conflicting versions over the circumstances of the child’s death.

At first, the Palestinians accused the IDF of attacking the baby’s house, but later reported that the house was hit by a stray rocket fired by the Palestinians from within Gaza.

Also brace yourselves for “Israel-Nazi” comparisons. Already today, both PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshal have compared Israel’s defending herself to the holocaust. In fact, Abbas said our military campaign is “is more than a Holocaust,” which disappoints me since he is somewhat of an expert on the subject.

Meanwhile, another 5 Israelis were wounded in two separate strikes on Ashkelon, with terrorists launching approximately 50 rockets at southern Israel over the course of the day.

Don’t make any mistake about it. We are at war (and have been for a while now).

I will, as usual, endeavor to liveblog the conflict as it ensues.

I have no idea who Aussie Dave is. He might be a creation of Israeli propaganda. I doubt it since Israeli PR is among the world's worst, but he is expressing my view that the debate created in the world press is largely a construct. This conflict is going to become very nasty, far beyond its normal level of terrible, vile and persistent.