The scale of murder, and devastation
“Palestinian medical sources say at least 1,300 Palestinians were killed, nearly a third of them children, and 5,500 injured during the conflict.” [ BBC ]
“Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been left homeless and 400,000 people still have no running water, it says.” “Electricity is available for less than 12 hours a day, and 100,000 people had been displaced….A total of 50 UN facilities and 21 medical facilities were damaged.”
“Separately, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said on Monday that 4,100 homes were totally destroyed and 17,000 others damaged during the conflict.
About 1,500 factories and workshops, 20 mosques, 31 security installations and 10 water or sewage pipes were also damaged, it added.
The bureau estimated that the overall physical damage so far amounted to about $1.9bn (£1.4bn), including about $200m (£140m) of damage to infrastructure.”
“The worst-hit areas in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s three-week offensive look as if they have been hit by a strong earthquake, aid agencies say.” [ BBC ]
Heart of Darkness
“The Israeli army used white phosphorus, a weapon with a highly incendiary effect, in densely populated civilian residential areas of Gaza City, according to indisputable evidence found an Amnesty International fact-finding team which reached the area last Saturday.” [ Amnesty , BBC ]
NOTE: 2/1/2010 Israeli army admits usage of white phosphorus
The UN said that “according to several testimonies, on January 4 Israeli foot soldiers evacuated approximately 110 Palestinians – half of whom were children – into a single-residence house in Zeitoun, warning them to stay indoors. Twenty-four hours later Israeli forces shelled the home repeatedly, killing approximately 30. [Sydney Morning Herald]
While the vast majority of Palestinians were killed by conventional weapons, a Norwegian doctor, Erik Fosse, said injuries he had seen in Gaza were consistent with the use of Dime (dense inert metal explosive) bombs. “It was as if [patients] had stepped on a mine, but there was no shrapnel in the wounds,” he said. [Independent]
BBC catalogs some of the more troubling types of weapons used – Flechette shells (shells with nails), Tank shells (with high degree of inaccuracy), Drone missiles (atypically inaccurate or deliberate murder).
‘Wanton’ destruction of homes in Gaza. [BBC ]
The reasons
Israel’s stated reasons for the assault on Gaza were roughly the following – “that Hamas consistently violated the six-month truce that Israel observed and then refused to extend it; that Israel therefore had no choice but to destroy Hamas’s capacity to launch missiles into Israeli towns; that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, part of a global jihadi network; and that Israel has acted not only in its own defence but on behalf of an international struggle by Western democracies against this network” (LRB) and as part of ‘reaction’ or ‘response’ to violations of its borders. Dr. Siegman, professor with University of London, in the same LRB column, refutes these casually stated reasons, repeated ad infinitum in the news media, exposing both media’s complicity, and Israel’s wantonness in committing murder of 1300 plus people.
Some have argued that Israeli action was part of a strategy to pre-empt any doubts about Israel’s resolve to “protect” its territory, and punish even minor violations as a way to ward off imagined subsequent more major violations. One can draw of Tzipi Livni’s statement, the assault on Gaza “restored Israel’s deterrence …Hamas now understands that when you fire on its citizens it responds by going wild – and this is a good thing” as corroboratory evidence. However, the argument falters on a variety of grounds. Firstly, Israel carries a strong nuclear deterrent, and perhaps more powerfully, a superpower deterrent (America) – which pre-empts hostile countries or ‘hostile entities’ within countries from attempting anything. Secondly, most Arab nations have come around the idea of Israel, so no real or implied threat has been made.
From a strategic perspective, Israeli action may be seen as an effort to dent the nexus between Iran and Hamas. But, Israel’s continued allegations of a close nexus between Iran and Hamas (a Sunni organization) seem to falter under closer inspection. [Economist]
Most ‘independent’ analysts have argued that the assault was committed with forthcoming elections, due February 10th, in mind; a recent Ha’aretz poll revealed that Ehud Barak, the defense minister, profited the most. Albeit the most cynical of the explanations, it seems the most plausible for the following reasons – given massive political benefits likely to accrue for any significant military action, no real down sides – except if the invasion is ‘botched’ as in Lebanon in 2006 – the incentives to commit a large scale invasion, and little respect for Palestinian lives, are many.
A Selection of Published Analysis and Reflection about the Conflict
LRB also carries a selection of responses by a variety of political analysts and authors on Israel’s action in Gaza.
Roger Cohen writing for NYRB reflects – “I have never previously felt so despondent about Israel, so shamed by its actions, so despairing of any peace that might terminate the dominion of the dead in favor of opportunity for the living.”
