The
gap between facts on the ground and Mideast coverage
in many mainstream US media is harmful to US public
interest. The fruits of Israeli militarism in the
past two weeks included over 500 Lebanese and Palestinian
civilians killed (including entire families), 20%
of Lebanese civilians displaced, over $4 billion
of Lebanese civilian infrastructure destroyed, and
whole neighborhoods flattened by US-supplied weapons.
The Israeli army (already 4th or 5th strongest in
the world) will see its budget increased by nearly
$500 million and the US is rushing delivery of aviation
fuels, bombs and munitions all funded buy the US
taxpayer. Meanwhile, 1/3rd of Israeli children and
2/3rds of Palestinians live below the poverty line.
Yet, many TV and newspapers simply regurgitate lies
generated in Tel Aviv and parroted by a well-funded
network of lobbyists for Israel in the media, on
Capital Hill, and in the White House.
The
fictional narrative goes something along the lines
that "the troubles started" when Hamas
"abducted" an Israeli soldier and Hezbollah
"kidnapped" two Israeli soldiers. As to
why this happened, it is argued that Hamas and Hezbollah
are fanatical terrorist groups genetically predestined
to make trouble unless crushed by massive military
force. But Israel is a colonial and occupying state
that has left 2/3rd of the 9 million Palestinians
as refugees or displaced people by a systematic
process of ethnic cleansing, land grabs, and attacks
on civilians, all perpetrated well before the establishment
of Hamas (acronym for Islamic Resistance Mo0vement)
in 1987. In fact, the first suicide bombing came
only in the mid 1990s after the massacre by an Israeli
settler of 29 worshippers in the Ibrahimi mosque
in Alkhalil (Hebron).
The
Israeli government (backed by the US) responded
to the massacre not by punishing the colonial settlers
but by rewarding them and punishing the native Palestinians
(clearing whole Palestinian neighborhoods to satisfy
the few settlers). In our visit to that ancient
city two weeks ago, we observed how 400 fanatical
colonial settlers (supported by nearly 4000 Israeli
occupation troops in the area) have displaced thousands
of native Hebronites and kept nearly a hundred thousand
as virtual prisoners. Hamas skirmished with the
occupation forces resulted in the capture of an
Israeli occupation soldier, an act of resistance
supported by all existing International laws (Gaza
is still occupied, even by UN standards). By contrast,
nearly 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners are
held illegally in Israeli jails. They were kidnapped
from their own homes and towns and illegally transported
to Israeli jails.
Similarly,
Hezbollah is an indiginous Lebanese resistance force
that formed AFTER the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
For those with short memories, it is important to
recall that tens of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians
(the latter refugees from 1948) were massacred by
the Israeli occupation forces and their proxies
in Lebanon in 1982 alone. Hezbollah earned wide
popularity and support among all sectors of Lebanese
society (including its Christian population) for
its success in ousting the Israeli brutal occupation
machine from most Lebanese territory. Ofcourse Israel
remains illegally occupying Gaza, the West Bank
(including East Jerusalem), the Sheba Farms, and
the Golan. Israel also continues to deny international
law by preventing Palestinian refugees from returning
to their homes and lands. All Arab countries agreed
in Beirut three years ago to a comprehensive peace
plan based on International law. As JFK rightly
pointed out "If we make peaceful revolution
impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable."
Why
does the US government refuse to call on its client
state to accept a ceasefire in Lebanon let alone
peace based on International law? Why does the US
veto UN resolutions critical of Israel even when
the vast majority of countries support such resolutions?
The reaction to a paper on the Israeli lobby by
two respected professors at Harvard and University
of Chicago (Mearsheimer and Walt) should give us
hints. There was a paranoid overreaction about this
research simply because it showed that Zionists
push their interests at the expense of US interests.
Hundreds
of millions around the world look in horror at the
US complicity in Israeli war crimes. Campaigns of
boycotts, divestments and sanctions on Israel by
civil society are now picking steam. Unless the
US government changes course and accepts applicability
of human rights and International law, US economic
interests around the world would also be effected
and we may be embarking on a perpetual war in which
everyone loses.
