Tuesday, April 02, 2024

Why Making Real Time Sense Of Israeli-Gaza War Is So Difficult -Part V

This is Part V on this topic.  Previously:

Preview:  GUERRILLA WARFARE - A brief discussion of guerrilla warfare, then you can watch the classic film on the Algerian war for independence from France:  The Battle Of Algiers.

Part I of this series is here.  It identifies and briefly discusses the following topics I think important to be aware of when confronting the Israeli-Gaza war.

1.  PROPAGANDA, MISINFORMATION, OBLITERATION OF TRUTH

2.  THE PROBLEM OF NETANYAHU 

3A.  HISTORIC ANTI-SEMITISM

3B.  THE HOLOCAUST


Part II is here.  It looks at:

4. GENOCIDE

5. ZIONISM

6. ISRAELI MISTREATMENT OF PALESTINIANS 

7.  TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL - PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI EDUCATION

Part III is here.  It covers

8.  RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS AND ISRAEL'S RIGHT WING TILT 

9.  IGNORANCE

10.  GUERRILLA WARFARE]

11.  FACTORING IN WHAT'S HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES

Part IV is here.  It focuses on Hamas.  Particularly the Hamas Declaration of 1988 and the update in 2017


PART V:  Is there any resolution?

The point of these posts was for me to get a better understanding of the context of the Israeli-Gaza war - more depth about the history, the players, the truth.  Posting what I found would share what I was learning with readers.  I wasn't looking for conclusions.   But I think I can at least make some observations, that could be thought of as tentative conclusions as of now.

Observation 1:  Resolution of the Israel-Gaza war will not come from the parties themselves

The parties here means Hamas and the Netanyahu government of Israel.  

Hamas wants to remove Israel from the land it now controls - West Bank, Gaza, and Israel itself.  They want to install an Islamic State with the laws coming directly from the Koran.  See previous post that looks at the Hamas Declaration.  

Netanyahu has been truculently anti-terrorist most of his life and sees all Palestinians as either complicit with Hamas, or potential Hamas members.  In addition, prolonging the war delays his removal from office and potentially facing the consequences of his corruption trials.


Observation 2.  Killing every last member of Hamas Won't Solve Israel's problems

Netanyahu has said he has to root out every member of Hamas.  It's his justification for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.  But the deaths and destruction the Israelis have wrought in Gaza is only sowing the seeds of future terrorism.  

The children who are experiencing this war are not going to say, "It's terrible, but we understand Israel needs to destroy Hamas."  There may well be many Palestinians who resent Hamas and who would feel oppressed in a Hamas controlled Palestine.  Some may even blame Hamas for the retaliation against Gaza.  But all will hold generational hatred for the people who have killed so many of their family members and destroyed their communities.  

Netanyahu's war may wipe out all the pre-war members of Hamas, but it ensures that every Palestinian has a lifelong animosity toward Israel and probably Jews as well. The survivors may not join Hamas, but they will support organizations that resist Israel's power over them.  They will never trust Israelis.  'Nakba' is still a rallying cry for Palestinians.  It refers to the forced expulsions of Palestinians in 1948.  The destruction of Gaza will be added to the generational hatred.  


Observation 3:  Netanyahu's war has used up any moral capital Jews may have still had as survivors of the Holocaust.  

Need I say more?  Netanyahu and his far right supporters in Israel have become morally equal to those who exterminated Jews in WW II.   

Observation 4:  Any lasting peace is now only possible post-Netanyahu and post-Hamas

And given Observation 2 there will be no easy path.  Israelis will have to radically change how they feel and think about Palestinians.  That will be very difficult.  Harder yet will be for Palestinians to trust Israelis.  

But there were reports of tens of thousands of Israelis in the streets calling for new elections and a cease fire.  

Mahmoud Abbas has formed a new cabinet in the West Bank.  I don't know the politics of the West Bank well enough, but he's been the leader for 20 years.  Probably new leaders need to take over before there is any meaningful change.  


Observation 5:  There has been conflict between Palestinians and Israelis since even before the State of Israel was created.  People have been trying to make peace for 70 years.  I'm not holding my breath for anything more than a temporary period of relative quiet until the next explosion.  

I have more observations on at least one more issue still being debated by people who range from totally ignorant to understandably biased to intentionally polluting the truth.  Those trying to bring more clarity to the issue are drowned out, attacked even, by those whose passions are amplified over social media, by Russian and Iranian trolls, by true believers of all stripes, and those using the destruction of Gaza as a righteous outlet of their own personal demons.  I agree that the war against Gaza that Israel is waging is horrific and should end, but then what?  

The topic I've begun working on, and which will probably be my next piece in this series, will look at the criteria for how to judge the claims of people to a section of geography in the world.  It's worth looking at, but my observations here suggest it's more an academic exercise than anything that will have any influence on anyone.  

2 comments:

  1. And may I say it? The USA, too, must really begin to look at its own history as an extension of the European colonization project -- slavery was only one part of it all. Subjection of indigenous peoples was essential to seize vast lands. There is a lot to pick apart in studying & understanding all this, but it's critical to build a peace in our little planet.

    And yes, Israel may have spent its (Holocaust) moral capital in its modern assertion of land-grant by god. But they miss one major fact: Palestinians also hold that ancient claim to these lands. I know, as someone who has returned to Europe, that I now look at all this differently.

    Too many in the 'New' World(s) don't (or won't) see their inheritance of this very 15th century (European) view of the world.

    There is much work to do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All the trouble Netanjerkoff gets is only what he deserves plus more.

    ReplyDelete

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