| Topic: | Re:Peaceful march of Jews in London to support Israel...... | |
| Posted by: | Steven Rose | |
| Date/Time: | 17/12/23 20:17:00 |
| It is true that the the conflict in Gaza did not begin on October 7. But to pretend that the atrocity should just be seen as part of the ongoing struggle for Palestinian rights is morally bankrupt. It should not be necessary to repeat that Hamas did not just murder over 700 civilians on October 7 - they raped and mutilated women, they tied children together and burnt them alive, they desecrated the bodies of the dead and they sent the pictures of their horrible crimes back home to their families. What group fighting for human rights behaves in this way? The implication that Israel is at war with Hamas because the Israelis regard themselves as the 'Chosen Nation' is an absurd antisemitic trope. Prior to October 7 Israel attempted a policy of containment, characterised by quite a bit of stick and some carrots. Hamas and Islamic Jihad used to fire rockets into Israel, the Israelis used to fire back and so it continued for twenty years, a bit like the situation regarding Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Israelis also implemented a blockade of Gaza in order to prevent Hamas from using imports like cement in order to build their military network of tunnels, not to mention stopping arms imports. At the same time the Israelis tried to normalise relations. They granted around 18 000 work visa last year to enable people from Gaza to earn money in Israel. Kibbutzniks on the Southern border, some of whom were killed or taken hostage on October 7, even used to ferry patients from Gaza to hospital in Israel. All this stopped on October 7. The enormity of the atrocity, which Hamas has threatened to repeat, has made it impossible for Israel to allow Hamas to remain in control in Gaza. What country can tolerate the existence across its border of a terrorist organisation dedicated to the extermination of its people? A two state solution would be desirable. But the obstacle to peace is not, as some people imagine, just the refusal by Netanyahu's right wing government to dismantle the settlements on the West Bank. The real problem is the fear by many Israelis that even if an independent Palestinian state were created on the West Bank, the Palestinians would simply use it as a stepping stone to reclaim the whole of Israel, whose right to exist as a Jewish state they have never recognised. In other words, Israelis fear that the West Bank would become a terrorist state, just like Gaza, from which further attacks on Israel would be launched. |