There is more to be shocked about than just Israel’s disproportionate reaction in Gaza. Consider:
Israel builds roads that are only for Israelis to use; no Palestinians allowed (Route 443 for those who don’t know), notwithstanding that that road was originally designed for Arab use. Israel continues building settlements in the West Bank, many of them on land legally owned by particular Palestinians, but all of them built on land never given to Israel. Israel routinely denies building permits to Palestinians while giddily passing them out to israel Jews. Israel builds a “fence” on Palestinian land (mostly, we certainly can acknowledge--and often--if news reports are to be believed--through scarce and valuable Palestinian farmland and olive groves). Israel fences in the Gazans (controlled by the now radicalized, but fairly elected Hamas)--perhaps easier to bomb them when necessary. Israel closes off the points of entry for goods and exits for Palestinian produce, slowly choking the Gazan economy to death and starving its people of essential needs. And even if Qassams rockets are launching from Gaza, how to explain Israel’s conduct of nightly raids in the West Bank (that ain’t Gaza folks) and the reported 1787 Palestinians killed in the West Bank by the IDF from 2000 to mid 2008 as a result?
What can we say about the continued colonization by Israel settlers in the West Bank in violation of international law without a blush. Sure, the Qassams are bad, but surely there are enough bad actions to go around.
If the Palestinians fight back with their severely limited abilities, why is this worse than the systematic destruction of an indigenous people by the actions of the Israeli government?. Why must the Palestinians just submit? Why can’t they just go away? Isn’t that what Israel really wants? |
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