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Last update - 08:58 25/10/2009
As occupier, Israel must face up to Goldstone report
By Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Palestinian, occupation 

Goldstone was born in June 1967. I am not referring to the judge from South Africa, but to his report, or more precisely, the notion that Israel needs a synonym for the soul-searching it must carry out after 42 years of occupation. In the 575 pages of the report that is loaded with details, names, numbers, a list of weapons, interrogation methods and articles of international law, three paragraphs hide among the conclusions on pages 521 and 522, numbered 1674 to 1676. Here lies the explanation for the tragic results of Operation Cast Lead.

In those paragraphs Goldstone uses the term "continuum" to establish that the operation cannot be understood on its own without assessing it as part of a chain of events, which also includes the complete closure of the Gaza Strip for three years, the policy of razing homes, the arrests, the interrogations and torture, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In short, Operation Cast Lead is not an "incident." It is a link in a chain as old as the occupation itself.

The equation Israel is demanding - between those wounded in the Gaza operation and those wounded in Sderot, between the Qassams and the F-16s, between the mortars and the tank that killed three of Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish's daughters, between Hamas and Israel - betrays a poor understanding of the report's essence. Goldstone puts the symptom under the microscope and derives the illness. The result is a textbook whose title should have been "A manual for the occupier in the fifth decade."
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Unfortunately for us, the publication of this tome, not its content, has given rise to competition between Israel and other countries: The issue that concerns Israel is no longer the shocking description of the events, but if and where the report will be deliberated, and who will vote for or against. Israel has a score to settle with everyone except itself. Israel is fighting against the microscope.

And the medicine? That, too, is typical. After blaming the messenger, there is a need to look for a real culprit, who has already been found. The occupied and their violent messengers are to blame. They are the ones who attack from schools and mosques, who carry bombs in ambulances and who dare to oppose the occupation using unacceptable means, leaving no option but to kill them without discrimination. If this is so, then it is not the nature of warfare that needs to be changed but the laws that limit it. To legalize the illegitimate war. And a strategy to this end is taking shape called "asymmetric warfare" - an army against groups, an army against civilians; all that is left is for an army of legal experts to develop new legislation and provide new legitimacy to kill indiscriminately, sending Goldstone to the trash bin.

It is interesting that only after the Goldstone report has the question of the laws of warfare been raised. Why was there no initiative after tragic strikes like the one in the southern Lebanese village of Qana? Why not after the Israeli bombing that produced the story about the "slight shudder on the wing" that brought down an apartment building housing civilians in the Gaza Strip? Why not after the no-limits bombing of Lebanon? In part because at that time there was still a sense of clarity that there must be an uncompromising standard to establish what is and is not allowed, and that this distinction cannot be blurred. But this distinction is increasingly becoming blurred. Were it not, a commission of inquiry would have already been set up in Israel, not to impress the world's nations after the publishing of a condemning report, but to bolster the standards of humanity.

One more matter is puzzling. Why has the issue been directed against Israel and not, for example, the United States or Britain? Many Iraqi, Afghani and Pakistani civilians - their numbers are uncertain - have been killed in indiscriminate bombings by foreign armies. No official international investigation committee has been set up to examine the conduct of the U.S. or British armies. The reason is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan enjoy international legitimacy, to some extent in the eyes of the local people. More importantly, the occupation in Iraq has a defined termination date. The Israeli occupation, on the other hand, gives off signs of being eternal. Disgust at this is powerful enough to affect even our friends.

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      1.   Israel does not occupy Gaza 02:14  |  Paul Freedman 25/10/09
      2.   Time To Disengage From the Occupation 02:57  |  Matthew 25/10/09
      3.   Not a continuum 03:37  |  bill 25/10/09
      4.   One of the finest Haaretz articles ever penned... 03:41  |  BBSNews 25/10/09
      5.   Paul is Confused 04:39  |  Matthew 25/10/09
      6.   #1 Paul Freedman - This is BS. You mean to tell me that if 04:44  |  Neutral 25/10/09
      7.   Paul Freeman, see page 78 of the Goldstone Report... 05:09  |  BBSNews 25/10/09
      8.   #1 What a laugh, Paul Freedman 05:25  |  Johnboy 25/10/09
      9.   What occupation? 05:53  |  Stating the obvious 25/10/09
      10.   #1 Paul Freedman 06:40  |  FRED 25/10/09
      11.   pre occupied with preconceptions 07:21  |  peter rouget 25/10/09
      12.   #1 In your imagination Paul Freedman! 07:59  |  Maureen Ann 25/10/09
      13.   Stuck in Neutral #4 08:03  |  Peer Williams 25/10/09
      14.   observation 08:05  |  potobac 25/10/09
      15.   Neutral? Yeah, right 08:06  |  SDHD 25/10/09
      16.   We left Gaza in 2005. We don`t occupy 1 inch of it. 08:15  |  Jewish State 25/10/09
      17.   #1 paul freedman, you completely missed the gist 08:21  |  eric 25/10/09
      18.   "Jewish state", that`s a lie, see page 78... 08:37  |  BBSNews 25/10/09
      19.   the story tells of a woman ... 08:59  |  Stem Cell 25/10/09
      20.   #1 09:15  |  Milo 25/10/09
      21.   PRECISELY NOT! War crimes need no "context". 09:21  |  Robert 25/10/09
      22.   This should be REQUIRED READING... 10:01  |  Esther 25/10/09
      23.   On the contrary, Robert #17... 10:08  |  Esther 25/10/09
      24.   Plenty of time to prepare for this. 10:26  |  Welshman 25/10/09
      25.   #1 Paul Freedman 12:13  |  Chrtis Linthwaite 25/10/09
      26.   #9 This occupation, Stating the obvious 12:29  |  Johnboy 25/10/09
      27.   why hasn`t Iraq and Afghanistan 13:52  |  cool 25/10/09
      28.   The last country who should give goldstone credibility is Israel 14:00  |  zionist forever 25/10/09
      29.   And one more thing, Paul #1 14:31  |  Nahman Umani 25/10/09
      30.   To Arabs all Israel is "occupied territory" 15:01  |  Joseph 25/10/09
      31.   OK, but what is the reason for the occupation? 15:34  |  Lee 25/10/09
      32.   Presuming Israeli war crimes, forgetting Hamas` war crimes 15:40  |  Lee 25/10/09
      33.   Presuming Israeli war crimes, forgetting Hamas` war crimes 15:40  |  Lee 25/10/09
      34.   to zionist forever 15:54  |  kibishi 25/10/09
      35.   #21 Ignorant nonsense, Robert 15:55  |  Johnboy 25/10/09
      36.   Even EU and Solana say that what defines a war crime... 16:12  |  Lee 25/10/09
      37.   #35 jb the barrack room lawyer and the 1922 16:58  |  vhardman 25/10/09
      38.   Fred#10 17:50  |  arik 25/10/09
      39.   GOLDSTONEREPORT 18:20  |  AL 25/10/09
      40.   Johnboy -- the usual error by omission 18:24  |  SDHD 25/10/09
      41.   The following by the most moral army in the world--eh?? 18:48  |  Labhras 25/10/09
      42.   #32 Lee---no bias---just seeing is believing 18:54  |  Labhras 25/10/09
      43.   No way,Even Goldstone is distancing himself from his report.67 19:17  |  ks 25/10/09
      44.   #42 We All Saw? 19:24  |  Daniel 25/10/09
      45.   #26 Don`t let the facts get in the way 20:21  |  Stating the obvious 25/10/09
      46.   BBS EGYPT controlls its Sinai side of Gaza&Hamas is govt in Gaza 20:32  |  PETER SM 25/10/09
      47.   World wants ME peace now, see Hamas and Israel the blocking it 20:32  |  Bloodyscot 25/10/09
      48.   LEE Even Goldstone admitts his evidence is NOT of a level 20:56  |  PETER SM 25/10/09
      49.   another GosDep monkey 06:41  |  Miron 26/10/09
      50.   #11 So Israel`s ruling of the Palestinians 08:07  |  harvey 26/10/09
      51.   Re: Israel must confront its illegal presence in the territories 08:52  |  Dutch 26/10/09
      52.   # 1 Paul Freedman Israel does not occupy Gaza 11:21  |  Traude 26/10/09
      53.   #45 Words matter, Sto (2nd try) 15:32  |  Johnboy 26/10/09
      54.   #48 You are the only person making that claim, PETER 15:38  |  Johnboy 26/10/09
      55.   Israel does not occupy Gaza 23:42  |  Bill Silverman 26/10/09
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