[News] The Facts About Hamas and the War on Gaza
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Tue Jan 13 12:02:42 EST 2009
http://www.counterpunch.org/
January 13, 2009
Seeing Through the Lies
The Facts About Hamas and the War on Gaza
By NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
The record is fairly clear. You can find it on
the Israeli website, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs website. Israel broke the ceasefire by
going into the Gaza and killing six or seven
Palestinian militants. At that pointand now Im
quoting the official Israeli websiteHamas
retaliated or, in retaliation for the Israeli
attack, then launched the missiles.
Now, as to the reason why, the record is fairly
clear as well. According to Haaretz, Defense
Minister Barak began plans for this invasion
before the ceasefire even began. In fact,
according to yesterdays Haaretz, the plans for
the invasion began in March. And the main reasons
for the invasion, I think, are twofold. Number
one; to enhance what Israel calls its deterrence
capacity, which in laymans language basically
means Israels capacity to terrorize the region
into submission. After their defeat in July 2006
in Lebanon, they felt it important to transmit
the message that Israel is still a fighting
force, still capable of terrorizing those who dare defy its word.
And the second main reason for the attack is
because Hamas was signaling that it wanted a
diplomatic settlement of the conflict along the
June 1967 border. That is to say, Hamas was
signaling they had joined the international
consensus, they had joined most of the
international community, overwhelmingly the
international community, in seeking a diplomatic
settlement. And at that point, Israel was faced
with what Israelis call a Palestinian peace
offensive. And in order to defeat the peace
offensive, they sought to dismantle Hamas.
As was documented in the April 2008 issue of
Vanity Fair by the writer David Rose, basing
himself on internal US documents, it was the
United States in cahoots with the Palestinian
Authority and Israel which were attempting a
putsch on Hamas, and Hamas preempted the putsch.
That, too, is no longer debatable or no longer a controversial claim.
The issue is can it rule in Gaza if Israel
maintains a blockade and prevents economic
activity among the Palestinians. The blockade,
incidentally, was implemented before Hamas came
to power. The blockade doesnt even have anything
to do with Hamas. The blockade came tothere were
Americans who were sent over, in particular James
Wolfensohn, to try to break the blockade after
Israel redeployed its troops in Gaza.
The problem all along has been that Israel
doesnt want Gaza to develop, and Israel doesnt
want to resolve diplomatically the conflict, both
the leadership in Damascus and the leadership in
the Gaza have repeatedly made statements theyre
willing to settle the conflict in the June 1967
border. The record is fairly clear. In fact, its unambiguously clear.
Every year, the United Nations General Assembly
votes on a resolution entitled Peaceful
Settlement of the Palestine Question. And every
year the vote is the same: its the whole world
on one side; Israel, the United States and some
South Sea atolls and Australia on the other side.
The vote this past year was 164-to-7. Every year
since 1989in 1989, the vote was 151-to-3, the
whole world on one side, the United States,
Israel and the island state of Dominica on the other side.
We have the Arab League, all twenty-two members
of the Arab League, favoring a two-state
settlement on the June 1967 border. We have the
Palestinian Authority favoring that two-state
settlement on the June 1967 border. We now have
Hamas favoring that two-state settlement on the
June 1967 border. The one and only obstacle is
Israel, backed by the United States. Thats the problem.
Well, the record shows that Hamas wanted to
continue the ceasefire, but only on condition
that Israel eases the blockade. Long before Hamas
began the retaliatory rocket attacks on Israel,
Palestinians were facing a humanitarian crisis in
Gaza because of the blockade. The former High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson,
described what was going on in Gaza as a
destruction of a civilization. This was during the ceasefire period.
What does the record show? The record shows for
the past twenty or more years, the entire
international community has sought to settle the
conflict in the June 1967 border with a just
resolution of the refugee question. Are all 164
nations of the United Nations the rejectionists?
And are the only people in favor of peace the
United States, Israel, Nauru, Palau, Micronesia,
the Marshall Islands and Australia? Who are the
rejectionists? Whos opposing a peace?
The record shows that in every crucial issue
raised at Camp David, then under the Clinton
parameters, and then in Taba, at every single
point, all the concessions came from the
Palestinians. Israel didnt make any concessions.
Every concession came from the Palestinians. The
Palestinians have repeatedly expressed a
willingness to settle the conflict in accordance with international law.
The law is very clear. July 2004, the highest
judicial body in the world, the International
Court of Justice, ruled Israel has no title to
any of the West Bank and any of Gaza. They have
no title to Jerusalem. Arab East Jerusalem,
according to the highest judicial body in the
world, is occupied Palestinian territory. The
International Court of Justice ruled all the
settlements, all the settlements in the West
Bank, are illegal under international law.
Now, the important point is, on all those
questions, the Palestinians were willing to make
concessions. They made all the concessions.
Israel didnt make any concessions.
I think its fairly clear what needs to happen.
Number one, the United States and Israel have to
join the rest of the international community,
have to abide by international law. I dont think
international law should be trivialized. I think
its a serious issue. If Israel is in defiance of
international law, it should be called into
account, just like any other state in the world.
Mr. Obama has to level with the American people.
He has to be honest about what is the main
obstacle to resolving the conflict. Its not
Palestinian rejectionism. Its the refusal of
Israel, backed by the United States government,
to abide by international law, to abide by the
opinion of the international community.
And the main challenge for all of us as Americans is to see through the lies.
Norman Finkelstein is author of five books,
including
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859844421/counterpunchmaga>Image
and Reality of the Israel-Palestine
Conflict,<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0520245989/counterpunchmaga>
Beyond Chutzpah and
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/185984488X/counterpunchmaga>The
Holocaust Industry, which have been translated
into more than 40 foreign editions. He is the son
of Holocaust survivors. This article is an edited
extract of the views of Finkelstein given at
<http://www.democracynow.org/>DemocracyNow.org.
His website is <http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/>www.NormanFinkelstein.com
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