Recent Updates: For Israelis, a sense of deja'vu (International Herald Tribune - Feb 2002)

                        A Palestinian donates his dead son's heart, to a dying Israeli ( CNN June 5,2001)              

    This is actually what has happened to the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza during the past few days and weeks. The population of these Palestinian areas became prisoners in their own country. A dozen Palestinian deaths a day, thanks to the Israelis. Over 300 seriously injured daily by their soldiers. In only nine days spanning 1st Oct - 10th Oct 2000. Israelis argue, "So why do they start throwing stones at us, we then have to shoot them in self defense...", ask this question to those whose houses have been demolished on their own lands and illegal settlements being done daily, whose places of worship have been desecrated and their whole life lies virtually under siege.

Every day now, scores of children are being wasted in a most shameless manner. The numbers may have already passed the threshold of 500, or was it 550? And as the Israeli tanks roll yet deeper into the heart of Al Quds, those who should have felt the pain of Palestine, as acutely as those who give their life everyday, are merely reduced to the pathetic situation of death-toll tellers.

Collective punishment. And Israel's Prime Minister was not even apologetic about saying to the press after the Sharm El Sheikh summit that this siege will continue until the violence [meaning of course the Palestinian uprising against Israeli excesses] stops.

Such collective punishment is illegal according to international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention, which was created to deal specifically with prolonged occupations specifically ban such collective action against a civilian population.

According to Palestinian sources this collective punishment was not restricted to the movement of Palestinians but it also included the banning - for a variety of reasons and excuse - of things like medical supplies and food supplies.

Movements of medical staff and vehicles were also affected. One Palestinian newspaper ran a photo of four ambulances awaiting approval to enter the Jordan river crossing. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said that 18 ambulances weren't working because Israeli soldiers shot at them. The Palestinian driver of the ambulance that was sent to pick up the 12yr-old boy Mohammad Durra was killed by Israeli snipers on 30th of Sep 2000.  

CNN.com writes an obituary while reporting the death of the kid, - "The slain boy's relatives freely acknowledged that he often joined other children from the camp in throwing rocks (notice the usage of the synonym for 'stones') at Israeli soldiers. His nickname was Mitwali -- a slang word in Arabic for little troublemaker, or scamp."  Any words that I might now say about the biased world media with lack of consideration or feelings for the cause of Palestine, might be an understatement.

         

[Left] : "Don't shoot" screams the boy's father. For 45 minutes, Muhammad's father tried in vain to shield him from gunfire as they crouched against a concrete wall near the Gaza Strip. The whole scene was caught on a video camera by a French cameraman.[Right] : Just moments after this picture was taken, boy lies dead, being hit by Israeli bullets. Father suffers an epileptic seizure on witnessing his son's death.  See: The Video footage of the tragedy on BBC

The nightmarish images of the child cowering in terror, alive one minute and slumped dead across his injured father's knee the next, should haunt the consciences of human beings everywhere. His life, torn from
him by American bullets from Israeli soldiers, counted for no more than "collateral damage" in a vicious and brutish orgy of violence launched by heavily armed Israeli troops on protesters armed with little more
than sticks and stones. From behind the armored body work of American armored cars, using American weapons supplied with American money, Israeli "heroes" fired on defenseless protesters to the apparent applause and approval of the Israeli population. Israeli spin-doctors have tried to paint a cynical Palestinian authority inciting its population to self sacrifice. Palestinian mothers voluntarily sending their children to be martyred thus forcing Israeli soldiers to defend themselves. As a tragic result, these Israel apologists claim, Palestinian casualties fall, and these children are sent to their death only when the cameras are on, so as to maximize the PR for Palestinians. How absurd. Blaming the victims is an easy way out but in reality it doesn't cut mustard. Outsiders don't realize that Israeli soldiers shoot Palestinians while on their own territory, protesting the illegal occupation. Palestinians didn't invade Tel Aviv, they were killed defending their land. Israeli occupation soldiers trying unsuccessfully to control the lives of three million Palestinians are the ones shooting at civilians revolting against occupation and demanding freedom and independence but the attempt to force the media to obey Israel's rules is now international. We must say that Israel is under siege by Palestinians (rather than occupying Palestinian land), that Palestinians are responsible for the violence (even though Palestinians are the principal victims), that Arafat turned down a good deal at Camp David (though he was offered just over 60 per cent of his land, not 94 per cent), and that Palestinians indulge in child sacrifice (rather than question why the Israeli troops have shot so many Palestinian children).

Were these children sent by their parents to die. Hardly. To believe that would be to hold racists connotations as if Palestinian parents love their children less than other parents.
The pictures (above) of the brutal killing of 12-year-old Muhammad Dura as his father was trying desperately to protect him belie this claim.

It was, as the Americans would say, a "turkey shoot." Perhaps it could be more accurately described as a massacre or pogrom. The Israelis would know about that; they have been at the wrong end of a few in
their time. So, have they learned anything from their history? It appears not. 

Israeli collective punishment of the Palestinian population has at least two immediate results. It unifies the people in an amazing way. No longer are there poor or rich, city people or villagers, Christians or Muslims, the entire Palestinian people become united as a result of the Israeli blockade and siege.

The second result of such collective punishment is the dramatic rise in Palestinian aspirations for returned independence and statehood. At times of relative quite, people often are divided as to the best way to move the peace process forward. While the desire for independence is always there, it becomes an urgent need when people see the way the Israeli occupation acts against Palestinians, while they see how they treat their own people including Jewish settlers who are fragrantly breaking the law.

Discussions in homes often centered on the absurdity of the situation. People commented on how Israel places a blockade and then begins negotiations with the Palestinians on what it will get in return for lifting this blockade. Such absolute lack of concern to a civilian population is not much different than what criminals do when they hold innocent people hostage and try and trade their release for money. About 180,000 Jews live in 140 officially recognized settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Most of the fighting in recent weeks, which has cost at least 125 Palestinian lives, has erupted at Israeli military outposts set up solely to protect Jewish settlements. "I think Jews are the God's chosen people," said Hillel Silvers, 23, an Arizona native who lives in a settlement near Nablus. "I want this to be my land. . . That's my dream." He added, "I think a Jewish life is worth more than an Arab life. If I have to kill an Arab to protect a Jew, I'll do it."

How does one explain this arrogance of Israelis? How to describe this condescending behavior of its leaders? Throughout its half century of existence, Israel has been told by the West, and especially by the United States, that it is more equal than others; that it has a special place among nations; and that all rules do not apply to it.

This 'privileged upbringing' has been embedded in Israel's ethos, starting from its very existence which became possible as a result of Palestinians' expulsion from their land. Ever since then, Israel has been groomed in the art of 'taking' not 'giving'.

It took Palestinian land, it grabbed one half of Jerusalem and then it snatched the other half. Each time it received a wink, a nod and a pat from America. Israel and its people grew up believing that it was their right to take, grab and snatch ­ and retain it with force, not with arguments.

Sprinzak, the political scientist, said of the settlers: "They believe they do what God wants them to do, and they don't see the Palestinian point of view at all." The struggle "will be determined to a large extent by who stays put. The Palestinians don't have any of the weapons the Israelis do, but they are ready to die for the cause of their homeland.

From every perspective, whether it is political or legal or moral, the issue is that of an oppressor and an oppressed; of an aggressor and a victim. It is this not-so-subtle difference which clouds people's thinking, especially in the West. It is Palestinians whose land has been taken, whose homes have been occupied, whose rights have been snatched and whose people have been killed. It is they who have been wronged, not the Israelis. And this has been recognized as such by the UN whose resolutions have demanded that Israel vacate occupied territories.

But then, we know who runs the media. Human rights simply don't exist for the Palestinians. If they did, it probably wouldn't matter much. It was Bill Clinton who said: "We shouldn't let considerations of human rights get in the way of trade with China." That was when there was a profit to be made. The Palestinians offer nothing but peace and want nothing but a place to live and worship, so what chance do they have?
The powerless will suffer. Because the powerful are able to make it so in their own self-interest. However, in the life of every Imperial power, there are defining moments. 

The death of a child, historically a small event, yet a personal tragedy, may yet prove to be the cusp where the balance of power begins to change. If the image of that cowering child, who in seconds passed beyond fear, lives in the Arab consciousness and provides a reason to struggle for a stable future nationhood, then his death will have some meaning. 

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