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<a href="http://www.aljazeerah.info/10%20o/Extraordinary%20Precision%20The%20Logic%20of%20Israels%20War%20on%20Civilians%20By%20Ramzy%20Baroud.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.aljazeerah.info/10%20o/Extraordinary%20Precision%20The%20Logic%20of%20Israels%20War%20on%20Civilians%20By%20Ramzy%20Baroud.htm<br>
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</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=5>Extraordinary Precision:
The Logic of Israel's War on Civilians <br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>By Ramzy Baroud <br><br>
Al-Jazeerah, August 10, 2006<br><br>
</font> <br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>A Sky News newscaster, interviewing
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett on Sunday, July 30 demanded an
answer to this paraphrased question: if indeed Israel had precise
intelligence that a Hizbullah operative was present in the village of
Qana, in South Lebanon, how could it possibly fail to realize that the
area was also crowded with civilians? <br><br>
The question was prompted by Beckett’s insistence that while Israeli
attacks that victimize uncountable civilians like that in Qana which
killed scores, mostly children were "appalling", they
resulted from tactical errors, and were never deliberate. In fact, she
referred to the "apparent deliberate targeting" --as described
by UN secretary Kofi Annan of the UN peacekeepers compound in South
Lebanon and the killing of four unarmed observers, as a
"mistake." e <br><br>
In effect, Israel is hardly accused at least in the Western narrative
of the Middle East crisis, as exemplified in media coverage and political
discourse of deliberately targeting civilians, even among those who are
daring enough to describe Israel’s response to Hizbullah’s
"provocation" the capturing of two Israeli soldiers on July
12 as "disproportionate." <br><br>
Israel often acknowledges with "regret" the high civilian
tolls of its war; sometimes it goes as far as apologizing for such
unintended "mistakes." The Israeli government however is
adamant that it will continue to carry out such attacks; that it’s those
who "hide among the civilian population" which deserve the
blame, not Israel; that neither Hizbullah nor Palestinian resistance
groups seem to care much for the life of Israeli civilians, while Israel
does care for Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. In fact, and
ironically, according to various Israeli politicians and media pundits,
one of Israel’s objectives is to liberate its neighbors from the
suffocating grip of terrorists. An objective journalist is expected to
highlight both narratives, without pointing out the fallacies of one or
the other. <br><br>
Such "objectivity" has served Israel well, since facts on the
ground are hardly consistent with its claims. <br><br>
For example, out of nearly 4,000 Palestinians killed during the Second
Palestinian Uprising in the last 5 years the overwhelming majority
have been civilians, many of whom are children. Such figures are also
mirrored in much of the damage inflicted by Israel’s military machine
against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories: the great majority of
the wounded, the destroyed infrastructure, the confiscated land, the
razed orchards, the bulldozed homes, etc, have been overwhelmingly
civilian. Wednesday, July 26, was hardly a diversion from that norm, as
29 Palestinian civilians, many of whom were children as young as a few
months old, were killed in northern Gaza, all in the span of 24 hours.
<br><br>
As of today, including the Qana onslaught, the number of Lebanese
civilians confirmed dead has crossed the 750 mark; more than one third of
them are children, according to UN counts. Likewise, the destroyed
Lebanese infrastructure, not only in Hizbullah’s strongholds in the
south, but across Lebanon were built primarily for the benefit of the
civilian population. <br><br>
The handy excuse that Hizbullah and Hamas fighters launch their rockets
at Israel from civilian areas, no longer suffices. There is yet to be one
shred of evidence, one video or bit of satellite footage at least in
the ongoing war in Lebanon that confirms such an allegation. In fact,
it seems imprudent for Hizbullah’s fighters to expose their operations to
Israel’s informers, while they can safely fire from the numerous orchards
dotting the south region and quickly redeploy elsewhere. <br><br>
Concurrently, the "unintended mistakes" theory, promulgated by
Israel’s apologists read the Bush Administration, among others is
utterly inconsistent with claims promoted by Israel and its apologists
that Israel is the "most moral army in the world", and that
Israel uses the most advanced war technology to avoid harming civilians.
<br><br>
These allegations cannot all be accurate, all at once. If Israel is
indeed very "moral", then why does its army continue to repeat
the same "unintended mistakes", over and over again, for
decades? Is it possible that the killing and wounding of tens of
thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians as a result of those
"unintended mistakes" didn’t induce a very moral army to
reexamine its tactics and adopt a decisive change in military policy?
<br><br>
Wouldn’t that be the "moral" thing to do? (Note that the small
village of Qana was bombed by the Israeli air force in 1996, as civilians
were seeking shelter in a UN compound, killing over 100 people, including
many children and UN peacekeepers.) <br><br>
The second claim, that Israel strives to obtain high-tech (American)
weapon technology to minimize civilian casualties, is also fraudulent.
Once again, the numbers indicate the precise antithesis; denoting that
either the "fifth strongest army in the world" is so horribly
inept, that most of its military strikes result in blunders, or that the
killing of civilians is in reality part and parcel of Israel’s military
strategy. This latter assertion, in my opinion, is the true objective;
but why? <br><br>
Israeli officials may parrot to the media that Hizbullah (like Hamas) is
an outsider force that holds no legal legitimacy, and that its true
strength arises from its terrorist links to Iran and Syria. Conversely,
Israeli conduct on the ground gives evidence to a different conviction:
punishing the true party ordinary Lebanese that provide Hezbollah
with the needed support to sustain such costly military confrontations
with Israel, or ordinary Palestinians who elected Hamas to power.
<br><br>
Both Hizbullah and Hamas are homegrown; there should be little contention
over this. But they cannot be scrutinized divorced from their immediate
surroundings: Hizbullah emerged as a result of Israel’s frequent
bloodbaths in Lebanon and its members are comprised primarily of victims
of Israel’s past wars, while Hamas sprung from Palestinian refugee camps
in the Occupied Territories and has been sustained with the support of
the poorest segments of the population. <br><br>
Whatever strategic alliance they hold outside Iran, Syria or whomever
else that is willing to acknowledge their right to fight Israel is out
of a desperate need for a safe haven, financial assistance and a
political platform. <br><br>
Israel knows well that "destroying" Hizbullah and Hamas is a
losing battle they’ve tried this time and again, and have failed with
each attempt. What is needed now is a concerted effort to deprive the
leadership of these movements with the popular support that placed Hamas
at the helm of the Palestinian political equation and elected Hizbullah
to the Lebanese parliament. <br><br>
The Israeli tactics, however, are reaping a conflicting outcome, as both
Hizbullah and Hamas are emerging more powerful than ever before, widely
viewed as the only defenders of Lebanon and Palestine, as conventional
Arab governments have finally declared, and without reservation, their
military impotence and political bankruptcy. <br><br>
Regardless of its media utterances, Israel has committed yet another
colossal strategic error, comparable in magnitude and consequence to the
American debacle in Iraq. Indeed, both governments are fighting two
impossible wars, where civilians are killed with extraordinary
"precision." <br><br>
-Ramzy Baroud is a US author and journalist, currently based in London.
His recent book, The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a
People’s Struggle, is available at Amazon.com. He can be reached at
<a href="mailto:ramzybaroud@hotmail.com">ramzybaroud@hotmail.com</a>
<br><br>
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