Friday Night
Lights:
Game Time In Gaza
By Remi Kanazi
05 October, 2005
Countercurrents.org
Israel,
a Member State of the United Nations since May 11, 1949, is not exempt
from the rule of international law. On September 25, however, Israel
invaded the Gaza Strip, and fired missiles at a vehicle carrying two
purported "terrorists." This aggressive and extrajudicial
act is clearly against international lawi.e. The Geneva Convention
(ratified by Israel in 1951), which characterizes willful killings as
"grave breaches." Article 1 of the Principles on the Effective
Prevention and Investigation of
Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions states,
Governments shall
prohibit by law all extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions and
shall ensure that any such executions are recognized as offences under
their criminal laws, and are punishable by appropriate penalties which
take into account the seriousness of such offences. Exceptional circumstances
including a state of war or threat of war, internal political instability
or any other public emergency may not be invoked as a justification
of such executions.
The unarmed "terrorists" in question posed no immediate threat
to the state of Israel, yet Israeli forces have assassinated many such
individuals in this type of scenario. This is tantamount to an illegal
assassination of an unarmed Palestiniana civilian.
Suppose one was
to believe Israel in each instance in which it claims the "terrorists"
were armed in ground combat. How can Israeli forces possibly know whether
a militant is armed or not when firing 3 missiles from 300 yards away
into the streets of Khan Yunis? They simply can'tclearly disregarding
the lives of civilians that are in close proximity to the "target."
Shamefully, the American government applauds the pugnacity of Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and his "iron fist against terrorism,"
rather than condemning Sharon's firework display to show his competitor,
former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that he can hang with the
most savage of beasts.
On March 22, 2004
Hamas' spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was assassinated when an
Israeli helicopter gunship fired Hellfire missiles at his wheelchair.
Yassin, a quadriplegic since the age of twelve, and his two bodyguards
were leaving a mosque after morning prayers when they were "liquidated."
Six other civilians were killed in the assassination plot and many were
wounded, including Yassin's two sons, who saw their father murdered
in front of them. The only remnants left behind were Yassin's charred
wheelchair and the brown blanket that had once cloaked his shoulders.
Sheikh Yassin was
an unarmed civilian, who was peacefully leaving a mosque, but Israel
refuses to acknowledge the brutality of the matter. The extrajudicial
killing of Yassin was a high profile case which garnered international
attention. The majority of Palestinian assassinations go unreported.
According to MIFTAH, The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of
Global Dialogue and Democracy, from September 2000 to June 3, 2003 Israel
extrajudicially assassinated 243 Palestinians. More than 100 of those
killed were innocent bystanders and 31 were children. Prominent Israelis
have openly admitted to using this illegal policy, while some have gone
further to include innocent bystanders. Amnesty International (AI) documented
the comments of Israeli Air Force Commander Major General Dan Halutz
on Army radio about the assassination of Hamas activist Salah Shehadeh,
"we fired knowing his wife would be near him." AI revealed
additional statements Halutz made in a press briefing a year prior,
"from time to time, non-combatants are hit in our raids. This comes
with the layout of the operations. It is also sometimes the result of
errors in our estimations despite the precision of our weapons."
In the last 18 months Israel has continued to violate international
law and the Geneva Convention.
During the week
long offensive, entitled Operation First Rain, Israeli Occupation Forces
fired missiles into the Gaza Strip killing four Palestinians and wounding
many more. The injured included 31 civilians, and infrastructure, including
schools, bridges, roads and houses were targeted and destroyed. While
Israel claims it "disengaged" from Gaza, Israeli security
sources stated that Israel intends to, "take advantage of the momentum"
and further attack Hamas. The new situation Israel refers to when firing
missiles at Khan Yunis and Beit Hanoun is "post disengagement,"
in other words reengagement.
In the beginning
moments of the Israeli offensive, Hamas, in accordance to the Sharm
Al-Sheikh cease-fire, vowed to stop launching attacks on Israel from
the Gaza Strip. In a press conference Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar
stated, "Under our commitment to the national agreement, made in
Cairo, to a cooling down period until the end of 2005, the movement
announces it has stopped its operations from the Gaza Strip against
the Zionist occupation." The Sharon administration, however, isn't
looking for concessions or assimilation from Hamas, but rather its containment
as a political entity.
Democracy without
Hamas?
In the past, many
believed the rise of a political Hamas would work in the favor of Israel.
The perception: the radical Hamas would become the political mainstream
for Palestinians, increasing the ease of Israeli attacks on the "belligerent"
Palestinian population, while achieving the Israeli desire to further
annex Palestinian land. Sharon's administration quickly figured out
that the integration of a political Hamas could lead to international
legitimacy and force Israel to deal with an entity seeking far greater
concessions than the Palestinian Authority's ruling Fatah party. The
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported,
"according to political sources the fight against Hamas' participation
in the elections now tops Israel's agenda in its international relations.
The Foreign Ministry has reportedly instructed all its representatives
abroad to make it clear to foreign governments that Jerusalem is opposed
to Hamas' playing a part in the Palestinian political process."
These moves, however, fly in the face of the democratic process and
the will of the Palestinian people to elect their own government. The
remarks made by Sharon contradict his claim that Israel is "not
getting involved in Palestinian politics." Israel defines itself
as a "democracy," and further asserts that the state promotes
democracy regionallyi.e. for the independence of Lebanon from
Syrian occupation. Yet, one cannot support democracy only when it is
convenient, and oppose it when hardship is imminent. Palestinian Journalist
Khalid Amayreh, forthrightly declared, "If Israel is allowed to
choose Palestinian candidates, then the American vision of democracy
in the Arab and Muslim world would be called into question."
After a week of
Israeli bombardment and on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New
Year, Israel decided to halt air raids and extrajudicial executions
in the Gaza Strip "until further notice." Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's office stated on Sunday, October 1, "We have decided to
suspend the offensive operations that we launched last week in response
to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel." It is
comforting to know that Israel can "turn off and on" the switch
to terror when it deems appropriate. The Palestinian people have undeservingly
dealt with aerial assaults, assassinations, destruction of infrastructure,
and economic instability due to whims of the Sharon administration,
and its quest for "security." Yet, the Sharon administration
doesn't seem apologetic for the loss of life and the oppression the
Palestinian people faced due to the onslaught; hardly a justifiable
or humane approach in dealing with an occupied people.
The Future of Gaza
What will Palestinians
have to build upon if they are subjected to worsening third world conditions?
According to a B'Tselem report in March 2005, 77 percent of Gazans live
below the poverty line (1,003,000 people), while 23 percent are in "deep
poverty, meaning, that they do not reach the subsistence poverty line
even after receiving aid from international agencies." By the end
of 2004 the unemployment rate reached 39.4 percent. The level of poverty
and unemployment will continue to rise as the siege of Gaza intensifies.
The continuing brutality
of the occupation pushes Palestinians away from peace, and reminds them
of the seven years of failure that led to the second Intifada. While
Israel forgoes their responsibility to take care of the Occupied Territories
under international law, they cannot forgo the reality of the conflict.
Hamas will continue to integrate into Palestinian politics, and assassinations
and aggression against "targets" in Gaza will only infuse
more hatred and tension. For now, terror's light switch is turned off,
but it is only a matter of time before Israel decides to turn it back
on. Meanwhile, Palestinian life remains on edge and inconsistent. Those
in Israel must come forward and denounce the decisions of Ariel Sharon,
if not the switch to peace will remain off indefinitely.
** Remi Kanazi live in New York City as a Palestinian American freelance
writer. I am the founder and primary writer for the political website
www.PoeticInjustice.net.
He can be reached at [email protected]