The AP released this news from Gaza this morning. On the eve of the start of formal peace talks between Olmert and Abbas at the historic King David Hotel in Jerusalem,
Israel launches widespread Gaza operation
Tanks, bulldozers, and aircraft were reportedly involved. Four “militants” were killed.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip – Israeli tanks and bulldozers backed by attack aircraft moved into the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing four militants in the widest operation in the territory since Islamic Hamas forces wrested control in June.
The violence took place on the eve of the first formal peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians since early 2001. The Israeli military described it as a routine operation “against the terror infrastructure” in Gaza.
But the scene on the ground — bodies lying amid the rubble of a destroyed building, Israeli tanks pushing deep into Palestinian territory, schoolchildren scurrying for cover — looked anything but routine. Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to sabotage the peace talks.
Great beginning. And the point was?
According to Israeli spokesman, it was all about the “terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.” There is also one in the West Bank, according to Olmert. But nowhere in this article does it depict the reality on the ground in Gaza or the West Bank. Well, at least those killed were called “militants” rather than “terrorists,” which AP has not taken up as the preferred language for discussing the Palestinian occupation or the Gaza siege.
Then out comes the red herring, another excuse by Israel for not making peace:
Olmert and Abbas hope to wrap up a deal next year, but Olmert has warned that Israel cannot implement any agreement until Abbas regains control of Gaza and reins in militants there and in the West Bank.
Israel’s propaganda strategy to cast the Palestinians as terrorists was exposed in the documentary,
Peace, Propaganda, & The Promised Land (CLICK TO SEE).
Here are some excerpts:
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Founder & Executive Director, Tikkun Magazine: “When you have a population that is being occupied, when their fundamental human rights are systematically being denied, when they are not allowed to move from city to city and place to place, without a huge amount of harassment, when they are being subject to torture, when people are essentially in desperate conditions, it is not a surprise that they are going to be very, very angry. There is no understand by the public media, or the American media, what creates this circumstance. Israel occupies, people strike at Israel against that occupation. They use means I think are wrong means, namely, the terror, and then Israel imposes punishment on the entire people, which creates a climate which makes it easier to recruit.”
Major Stav Adivi, reserves, Israeli Defense Forces, Israel: “we have to understand that these (suicide bombings) are the effects of the occupation.”
Robert Jensen, Professor of Journalism, University of Texas-Austin: “In contrast to the international press, in American media, there is a reversal of cause and effect in that the occupation is framed as a response to the suicide bombings. All of the Palestinian actions are attacks and Israel actions retaliation, is meaningful. Retaliation suggests a defensive stance against violence initiated by someone else. It places a responsibility for the violence on the party provoking the retaliation. In other words, Palestinian violence like suicide bombings is seen as cause and the origin of the conflict. Since the September 11 attack on the US, Israel’s PR strategy has been to frame all Palestinian actions, violent or not, as terrorism. To the extent that they can do that they have repackaged the illegal occupation as part of the war on terrorism.”
News headlines: “This is Israel’s war on terrorism. F16s hit a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip this morning….The case the Israelis are trying to make: this is no different than what the US is doing in Afganistan (air attacks in the West Bank)…Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared on television tonight, that he was determined to root out what he called `the terrorist infrastructure.'”
Jensen, in particular, hits the nail on the head. So the myth of the Palestinian terrorist, who just happens to be fighting a long and incessant and brutal military occupation that the UN has called illegal, continues. And efforts at peace continue to be avoided by Israel.
During the second Intifada, the ratio of Palestinian to Israeli civilians killed was 5 to 1. In the past year, 457 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed compared to roughly 10 Israelis, and most of those were soldiers. That ratio now stands at 45 to 1. And as Israel’s occupation and colonization effort continues, more will die on both sides.
