Israeli strategy doomed to fail

It is no secret that rightwing policy breeds rightwing opposition. Such is true for the government of Israel that implements these policies and then castigates those who oppose them. Such was the case in 1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon which gave rise to Hezbollah. Such is true today which has given rise to Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza. Does the Israeli government truly believe that it can forcibly wipe out the entire resistance it created? From the looks of it, it certainly seems so.

Israel is currently trying to ignite another civil war in Lebanon by driving a wedge between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah. Israel is also dropping pamphlets trying to shift Lebanese public opinion against Hezbollah, most notably targeted towards the Lebanese minorities. They see this as an opportunity to throw Lebanon into political chaos, thereby minimizing Hezbollah’s threat against them.

However, the strategy is flawed in that resistance is not something that can be exterminated by force. You cannot bomb a mentality or an idea, so entrenched within the Lebanese society as a whole, into submission. If anything, force strengthens the resistance and is reflected by the Lebanese Defense Minister’s claim that the Lebanese army will join Hezbollah if Israeli ground troops are deployed. So much for turning the Lebanese government against Hezbollah.

Pakistan has used force against the rebels in its Balochistan province, but historically negotiations have kept the conflict in check. Even England has started to negotiate with the IRA. Negotiations are a key aspect in any external or internal conflict and Israel must recognize that for the good of its own people, otherwise they may celebrate a short victory now only to see the resistance build itself up again.

Copyright Aurangzeb Qureshi 2006

"The Insane Brutality of the State of Israel"

Atrocities in the Promised Land

By KATHLEEN CHRISTISON- former CIA analyst

Words fail; ordinary terms are inadequate to describe the horrors Israel daily perpetrates, and has perpetrated for years, against the Palestinians. The tragedy of Gaza has been described a hundred times over, as have the tragedies of 1948, of Qibya, of Sabra and Shatila, of Jenin -- 60 years of atrocity perpetrated in the name of Judaism. But the horror generally falls on deaf ears in most of Israel, in the U.S. political arena, in the mainstream U.S. media. Those who are horrified -- and there are many -- cannot penetrate the shield of impassivity that protects the political and media elite in Israel, even more so in the U.S., and increasingly now in Canada and Europe, from seeing, from caring.

But it needs to be said now, loudly: those who devise and carry out Israeli policies have made Israel into a monster, and it has come time for all of us -- all Israelis, all Jews who allow Israel to speak for them, all Americans who do nothing to end U.S. support for Israel and its murderous policies -- to recognize that we stain ourselves morally by continuing to sit by while Israel carries out its atrocities against the Palestinians.

A nation that mandates the primacy of one ethnicity or religion over all others will eventually become psychologically dysfunctional. Narcissistically obsessed with its own image, it must strive to maintain its racial superiority at all costs and will inevitably come to view any resistance to this imagined superiority as an existential threat. Indeed, any other people automatically becomes an existential threat simply by virtue of its own existence. As it seeks to protect itself against phantom threats, the racist state becomes increasingly paranoid, its society closed and insular, intellectually limited. Setbacks enrage it; humiliations madden it. The state lashes out in a crazed effort, lacking any sense of proportion, to reassure itself of its strength.
The pattern played out in Nazi Germany as it sought to maintain a mythical Aryan superiority. It is playing out now in Israel. “This society no longer recognizes any boundaries, geographical or moral,” wrote Israeli intellectual and anti-Zionist activist Michel Warschawski in his 2004 book Towards an Open Tomb: The Crisis of Israeli Society. Israel knows no limits and is lashing out as it finds that its attempt to beat the Palestinians into submission and swallow Palestine whole is being thwarted by a resilient, dignified Palestinian people who refuse to submit quietly and give up resisting Israel’s arrogance.

We in the United States have become inured to tragedy inflicted by Israel, and we easily fall for the spin that automatically, by some trick of the imagination, converts
Israeli atrocities to examples of how Israel is victimized. But a military establishment that drops a 500-pound bomb on a residential apartment building in the middle of the night and kills 14 sleeping civilians, as happened in Gaza four years ago, is not a military that operates by civilized rules.

A military establishment that drops a 500-pound bomb on a house in the middle of the night and kills a man and his wife and seven of their children, as happened in Gaza four days ago, is not the military of a moral country.

A society that can brush off as unimportant an army officer’s brutal murder of a 13-year-old girl on the claim that she threatened soldiers at a military post -- one of nearly 700 Palestinian children murdered by Israelis since the intifada began -- is not a society with a conscience.
A government that imprisons a 15-year-old girl -- one of several hundred children in Israeli detention -- for the crime of pushing and running away from a male soldier trying to do a body search as she entered a mosque is not a government with any moral bearings. (This story, not the kind that ever appears in the U.S. media, was reported in the London Sunday Times. The girl was shot three times as she ran away and was convicted to 18 months in prison after she came out of a coma.)

Critics of Israel note increasingly that Israel is self-destructing, nearing a catastrophe of its own making. Israeli journalist Gideon Levy talks of a society in “moral collapse.”
Michel Warschawski writes of an “Israeli madness” and “insane brutality,” a “putrefaction” of civilized society, that have set Israel on a suicidal course. He foresees the end of the Zionist enterprise; Israel is a “gang of hoodlums,” he says, a state “that makes a mockery of legality and of civil morality. A state run in contempt of justice loses the strength to survive.”
As Warschawski notes bitterly, Israel no longer knows any moral boundaries -- if it ever did. Those who continue to support Israel, who make excuses for it as it descends into corruption, have lost their moral compass.

Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession. She can be reached at kathy.bill@christison-santafe.com.

Eyewitness Testimony of US Rape, Murder of Iraqi Family

Free Arab Voice 02/07/2006

In a dispatch posted Saturday night, Mafkarat al-Islam submitted its correspondents' in-depth report on the rape and murder case in March that the American military have now been compelled to investigate... Mafkarat al-Islam noted that the number of rapes of Iraqi women committed by US occupation troops is already legion and continues to climb. Many women have been victimized within Abu Ghurayb and the other prisons; while many others have fallen prey to the rapists in American uniform who prowl the large prison that is occupied Iraq. But there is one case of rape that has come to the surface in recent days, which stands out for a savagery and brutality that goes beyond all bounds.

On an afternoon in March 2006, a force of 10 to 15 American troops raided the home of Qasim Hamzah Rashid al-Janabi, who was born in 1970 and who worked as a guard at a state-owned potato storehouse. Al-Janabi lived with his wife, Fakhriyah Taha Muhsin, and their four children - 'Abir (born 1991), Hadil (born 1999), Muhammad (1998), and Ahmad (1996). The Americans took Qasim, his wife, and their daughter Hadil and put them in one room of their house. The boys Ahmad and Muhammad were at school since the time the Americans invaded the home was about 2pm. The Americans shot Qasim, his wife, and their daughter in that room. They pumped four bullets into Qasim's head and five bullets in to Fakhriyah's abdomen and lower abdomen. Hadil (7 years old) was shot in the head and shoulder. After that, the Americans took 'Abir into the next room and surrounded her in one corner of the house. There they stripped her, and then the 10 Americans took turns raping her. They then struck her on the head with a sharp instrument - according to the forensic medical report - knocking her unconscious - and smothered her with a cushion until she was dead. Then they set fire to her body.

The neighbor of the martyred family told the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam: "At 2pm a force of Americans raided the home of the martyr Qasim, God rest his soul. They surrounded him and I heard the sound of gunfire. Then the gunfire fell silent. An hour later I saw clouds of smoke rising from the room and then the occupation troops came quickly out of the house. They surrounded the area together with Shi'i 'Iraqi National Guard' forces, and they told us that terrorists from al-Qa'idah had entered the house and killed them all. They wouldn't let any of us into the house. But I told one of the 'National Guard' soldiers that I was their neighbor and that I wanted to see them so that I could tell al-Hajj Abu al-Qasim the news about his son and his son's family, so one of the soldiers agreed to let me enter. "So I went into the house and found in the first room the late Qasim and his wife and Hadil. Their bodies were swimming in blood. Their blood had spewed out of their bodies with such force that it had flowed out from under the door of the room. I turned them over but there was no response; their lives were already gone." The neighbor continued his account: "Then I went into 'Abir's room. Fire was coming out of her. Her head and her chest were on fire. She had been put in a pitiful position; they had lifted her white gown to her neck and torn her bra. Blood was flowing from between her legs even though she had died a quarter of an hour earlier, and in spite of the intensity of the fire in the room. She had died, may God rest her soul. I knew her from the first instant. I knew she had been raped since she had been turned on her face and the lower part of her body was raised while her hands and feet had been tied. By God, I couldn't control myself and broke into tears over her, but I quickly extinguished the fire burning from her head and chest. The fire had burned up her breasts, the hair on her head, and the flesh on her face. I covered her privates with a piece of cloth, God rest her soul. And at that moment, I thought to myself that if I go out talking and threatening, that they would arrest me, so I took control of myself and resolved to leave the house calmly so that I could be a witness to tell the story of this tragedy.

"After three hours the [American] occupation troops surrounded the house and told the people of the area that the family had been killed by terrorists because they were Shi'ah. Nobody in town believed that story because Abu 'Abir was known as one of the best people of the city, one of the noblest, and no Shi'i, but a Sunni monotheist. Everyone doubted their story and so after the sunset prayers the occupation troops took the four bodies away to the American base. Then the next day they handed them over to the al-Mahmudiyah government hospital and told the hospital administration that terrorists had killed the family. That morning I went with relatives of the deceased to the hospital. We received the bodies and buried them, may God have mercy on them." The neighbor went on: "Then we decided that we must not be silent so we asked the mujahideen to respond as quickly as possible.

They responded with 30 attacks on the occupation in two days, bringing down more than 40 American soldiers. But our blood was still not cooled, so we decided to go to al-'Arabiyah satellite TV to tell them the story since it is a station that broadcasts in Iraq. But al-'Arabiyah paid no attention to us and said we were liars. They told us that their policy was to rely on official announcements issued by the American army, and that they were not able to get into a story over which they had no power. This was told to us by the al-'Arabiyah correspondent Ahmad as-Salih. So we went to local newspapers and they slammed the doors in our faces because we are Sunnis and the rape victim was a Sunni girl. But the Resistance fighters told us that God does not allow the blood of any Muslim to be lost, and they told us to patiently persevere and we would see such a punishment for the blood of 'Abir and her family, for the violation of the honor of our sister, a punishment that would make people's hair stand on end.

"I personally wasn't surprised that Umm 'Abir ['Abir's mother] came to me on 9 March 2006 and asked that 'Abir be allowed to spend the night with my daughters. She was afraid because of the way the occupation troops looked at her when she went out to feed the cows. I agreed to that because there was an occupation forces' command post just 15 meters from Qasim's house, God rest his soul. But frankly I thought it unlikely that anything would happen to the girl because she was only something like 16 and she was just a little girl. But I agreed and she spent one night at our place and then went back to her home in the morning. We had no idea that the occupation troops would carry out heir crime in broad daylight." The neighbor concluded: "The occupation troops came last Friday - that is, one day before the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent visited the scene of the crime - and asked the people of the area to exhume the body of 'Abir to conduct tests on it. And they also asked me to provide eyewitness testimony and I will go anywhere to make sure that justice is served." Mafkarat al-Islam was the first news agency to disclose the crime committed by US troops on that March day in al-Mahmudiyah.

http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/editorials/signs20060702_EyewitnessTestimonyOfUSRapeMurderOfIraqiFamily.php

Canada should speak out against injustices in Iraq

American brutality in Iraq continues to soar at an unprecedented rate. From Abu Ghraib to Haditha, and now the gang rape of an Iraqi girl, believed to be of only 14 years of age, while burning her family alive. Is there any semblance of morality left in the hearts and minds of people today? What possibly could a 14-year-old girl have done to deserve such a brutal end to her short life? Nothing justifies this heinous, cowardly act of cruelty.

From an American perspective, the recent brutalities reflect the frustration and hopelessness US soldiers are facing on the ground. From car bombs to improvised explosive devices (IED’s) to shadowy guerilla warfare, US soldiers are facing the impossible situation of bringing order to a country while occupying it. Hence, the soldiers are employing methods similar to those carried out during the Vietnam War. Does frustration, however, warrant the purposeful annihilation of innocent civilians? I would respectfully disagree.

Canada, as the upholder of civil rights and a model peacekeeping nation should stand up and speak out against the atrocities being committed in Iraq. Granted our conservative government may agree with the Bush agenda more than it might disagree, but such a case qualifies as a universal offence that should be strongly condemned.

From a women’s rights perspective Canadian foreign policy dictates that the protection and advancement of women's human rights remains a central foreign policy priority. Canada also has a strong legacy when it comes to the protection of civilians during armed conflicts. It is time for the Canadian government to stand up for its principles and take an active role in condemning the actions of US soldiers in Iraq rather than being just another American lapdog.

Copyright Aurangzeb Qureshi 2006

Israeli hostage crisis a case of double standards

"In western thinking, killing civilians from the air hardly counts. Detonating roadside bombs is 'terrorism;' dropping them from the air is 'counter-terrorism.'" - Eric Margolis

Israel’s aerial bombardments are supposedly in response to the capture of Gilad Shalit, the 19 year old Israeli soldier, but bombing the Palestinian’s will not solve the current crisis. Instead the bombings will only exacerbate an already tense situation. Why is it that Israel can hold Palestinian prisoners with impunity, but when Palestinians do the same, they are labeled terrorists? There is an obvious case of double standards at play.

Israel’s strategy of isolating and refusing to negotiate with a democratically elected government is not helping their matters. Negotiating a release of prisoners may plant the seed that may lead to further negotiations and potentially reduce tensions between both governments. The Palestinian government, on the other hand, must use open lines of communication instead of sending mixed signals regarding the captive soldier.

However, it seems Israel’s strategy of labeling the Palestinian government as “a gang of terrorists and criminals” works in their favour. By using the previous stigma attached with Hamas, the Israeli leadership can discredit the government in the eyes of the international community while continuing their imperialist quest. Unfortunately, such an approach will make the Palestinians more desperate leading to further violence and bloodshed.

Copyright Aurangzeb Qureshi 2006

I Remember...

A hypothetical account of someone who has just lost their mother.


I remember your comforting presence all this time,
The way your essence made the household shine.
I remember when creating a mess was a punishable crime,
And your sweet songs that would always rhyme.

In the hour of your passing I stand in illuminated solitude,
Trying to gather some sense of artificial fortitude.
My heart heavy with a foreign sadness,
Driving me to the brink of suicidal madness.

I remember the way you held out your hand,
And helped me build castles in the sand.
I remember you calming my fears when the airplane was about to land,
and how you always somehow made me understand.

I am devoid of emotion,
Lost in the midst of chaotic commotion.
I am descending into the abyss of eternal despair, I am beyond repair.
I struggle to fight the inevitable gravity,
Unable to break the laws of the theory of relativity.

I remember when you always came to my immediate defense,
Your reassuring attitude that always made sense.
I remember when you scolded me and I became bitter yet always tense,
Whatever you did for me, the gains were always immense.

It pains me that I took you for granted,
How did my psyche become so slanted?
During your last breaths I prayed for your revival,
Realizing how you were essential for my survival.

I remember how you acquiesced to my ridiculous demands,
Buying me clothes that were expensive name-brands.
And I remember how I still ignored your motherly commands,
And now in the twilight your tombstone stands.

Your love was always platitude,
But I never showed you any gratitude.
Even though I shall visit your grave every December,
I will forever,


Remember…

Copyright Aurangzeb Qureshi 2006

Little Child...

The journey of a Darfur non-arab african woman and her child to safety after being left behind by her tribe...
Little child do not cry,
The painful misery will pass us by
I am with you by your side
Your protector and your guide
We will endure under great duress,
And will flee this chaotic mess
I boldly promise we shall be free,
And live our new lives in peace and total harmony.

She walks barefoot on the searing sands,
Left behind by the other clans
Shielding her child from the piercing heat,
She is defiant, unwilling to accept defeat.
Tears of sweat pour down her face,
As she continues her rapid pace,
She moves forward with tremendous will,
As she listens to her child's unbearable shrill.

Little child do not cry,
The painful misery will pass us by
I am with you by your side
Your protector and your guide
We will endure under great duress,
And will flee this chaotic mess
I boldly promise we shall be free,
And live our new lives in peace and total harmony.

The soldiers of hell have destroyed her home,
Leaving her detached, defenseless, and alone.
Murdering and looting with demonic insanity,
The world has surely lost all semblence of morality.
Frightened yet strong, she escapes the carnage,
While the memories linger causing permanent damage.
With her only child she sets out on a desperate course,
One of sacrifice, resolve, and courageous force.

Little child do not cry,
The painful misery will pass us by
I am with you by your side
Your protector and your guide
We will endure under great duress,
And will flee this chaotic mess
I boldly promise we shall be free,
And live our new lives in peace and total harmony.

The child continues to beckon,
As she loses hope with every passing second.
She continues to battle and becomes overjoyed with grief,
She has reached her tribe, something beyond her wildest belief.
Tired and hollow she falls to the ground,
With her child by our side, healthy and sound.
She closes her eyes as all horrors cease,
Sister now, you may rest in peace.

Little child do not cry,
The painful misery has passed us by
I am with you by your side
Your protector and your guide
We have endured under great duress,
And will fled this chaotic mess
I boldly promised we shall be free,
And now you can live your life in peace and total harmony.


Copyright Aurangzeb Qureshi 2006