Leaders Lie, Civilians Die, and Lessons of History Are Ignored
The Independent. / Robert Fisk
29-Dec-2008 (4 comments)

We’ve got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don’t care any more—providing we don’t offend the Israelis. It’s not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel’s side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs—who, as we all know, only understand force.

Ever since 1948, we’ve been hearing this balderdash from the Israelis—just as Arab nationalists and then Arab Islamists have been peddling their own lies: that the Zionist “death wagon” will be overthrown, that all Jerusalem will be “liberated”. And always Mr Bush Snr or Mr Clinton or Mr Bush Jnr or Mr Blair or Mr Brown have called upon both sides to exercise “restraint”—as if the Palestinians and the Israelis both have F-18s and Merkava tanks and field artillery. Hamas’s home-made rockets have killed just 20 Israelis in eight years, but a day-long blitz by Israeli aircraft that kills almost 300 Palestinians is just par for the course.

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Maryam Hojjat

Kaveh Nouraee

by Maryam Hojjat on Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:34 AM PST

I agree with you in this respect.  Well said!


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Kaveh Nouraee

Good Article,...........

by Kaveh Nouraee on Tue Dec 30, 2008 09:07 AM PST

but it fails to address a very important element.

It was Hamas who instigated this latest bloodbath, following a ceasefire that they violated with regularity.

Hamas is not about to learn any lessons. Nor is Hezbollah, for that matter. While there is no doubt that the Israeli leadership is not blameless, the only solution is for Hamas and Hezbollah to be destroyed once and for all.

As long as the Israeli government, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority leadership continue to jerk each other off, this will never end.


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default

Robert Fisk, one of the few western journalists who "gets it"

by observer (not verified) on Mon Dec 29, 2008 09:28 PM PST

and is not afraid to speak his mind. He exposes the hypocracy of the Western leaders and media. One of a kind. Thanks fo posting.


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IRANdokht

This is a great article by a very smart journalist

by IRANdokht on Mon Dec 29, 2008 01:45 PM PST

let’s remember Hamas’s cynicism, the cynicism of all armed Islamist groups. Their need for Muslim martyrs is as crucial to them as Israel’s need to create them. The lesson Israel thinks it is teaching—come to heel or we will crush you—is not the lesson Hamas is learning. Hamas needs violence to emphasise the oppression of the Palestinians—and relies on Israel to provide it. A few rockets into Israel and Israel obliges.

Not a whimper from Tony Blair, the peace envoy to the Middle East who’s never been to Gaza in his current incarnation. Not a bloody word.

IRANdokht


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