Israel and Palestine go at it again

After a series of massive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip the IDF finally moved ground troops into the Gaza Strip on Sunday. It's fair to say that this has been roundly condemmed by just about every democratic government in the world. The French president Sarkozy and the Czech Foreign Minister (the Czech Republic currently holds the EU presidency) are currently in the Middle East pushing for a ceasefire. The US took a more pro-Israeli line with soon to be replaced President Bush stating that Hamas are to blame. Ehud Olmert has rejected calls for a ceasefire taking the view that if a ceasefire is negotiated then it will give Hamas the impression that they can continue their rocket attacks against Israel unabated.

The first point to consider here is whether Israel is under threat from Hamas. Hamas does want to wipe Israel from the map. This is something that can be clearly seen in their charter or covenant. This is of course a completely ludicrous thing to state in a political group's charter. Israel has the right to exist and I don't think many would disagree despite the fact that they drove Arabs away through the same terrorist tactics that they are now trying to combat.

Here's some history - In the post war British Mandate of Palestine, Menachim Begin and Yitzhak Shamir (who went on to be Israeli Prime Ministers) were terrorists who carried out bombings (King David Hotel) and political assassinations (UN Peace Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte).

Hamas are very unlikely to accept a two state solution and until they do Israel will continue to blockade and bomb the fuck out of the Gaza Strip and Hamas will continue to launch rockets at southern Israeli towns. Hamas govern a tiny amount of land. This area has been blockaded by Israel for the last 18 months. All border crossings are closed and economic supplies are heavily restricted. Israel has been trying to starve Hamas for over a year. Gaza's residents are completely dependent on food aid, about 400 trucks worth a day. The hospitals in Gaza are poorly staffed and poorly supplied. This is not punishing the Hamas government, it is punishing the 1.4 million residents of Gaza. Reading this I defy anyone to suggest that the actions of the Israeli government are not directly radicalizing the Gazan population. If someone locked you in your bedroom for 18 months you would definitely try to kick the fucking door down.

The Israeli government is deluded thinking that military action is the corect course of action. Hamas are of course terrorists and have carried out sickening attacks on civilians, but so have Israel. One only needs to listen to what the Red Crescent are saying and what Gazan doctors are saying. Then Israel come out and say that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza (I heard this on a BBC TV interview with the foreign minister herself, I apologise for not being able to provide a reference).

If I could think of an analogy it would be the one of Bloody Sunday, an injustice performed by the British Army in Derry, Northern Ireland. This act was to prove to be the PIRA's biggest recruiting drive ever. Israel performs at least one of these events every year. Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on British television that Israel was doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties which is of course impossible in an area as crowded as the Gaza Strip. Also it does not explain them using this -






That is an airburst white phosphorous artillery shell, my time working in a bomb disposal team with a lot of ex-squaddies taught me that using one of these in a densely populated urban area is not a good way to limit civillian casulaties.

These actions are gonna make life a lot harder for Israel AND Palestine.