The war in Gaza

I've said before that I don't like to talk about politics on this site. I'd rather keep it politics-free and just show you what living in Israel is actually like. People tell me that they are surprised that we have highways. They don't expect to see modern shopping malls or tree-lined streets. And, where are all the camels? (I'd like to know that, too. I've only seen two camels the whole time I've lived in Israel, both in the Negev, and one of them was serving as a carnival ride.)

The thing is, it's hard to watch what's going on right now and NOT talk about politics. I mean, people are DYING! That's not just politics. That's a lot more, and I can't just ignore it here on StreamingIsrael, pretend that it isn't happening.

What is a "just war"? Seriously? When is it OK to kill anyone? And if killing bad guys means killing innocents at the same time, when is the price too high? You think that you know, and you think you can make that decision, but then it comes time to make that decision for real, and things get a little murkier.

Do you remember what it was like right after 9/11? Everyone wanted to run out and GET THOSE GUYS. People wanted vengance, they wanted to "make sure that this never happens again" and they wanted to "send a message" to terrorists everywhere. When the shock was over, and we had time to think about our actions, many Americans -- myself included -- started to question our reaction and the wars that followed. Questioning is good, and sometimes the answers are positive and sometimes negative. Most of all, the questioning helps us to make course corrections when we get hit with the same sort of decisions in the future.

Unfortunately, Israel didn't just have a 9/11, it lives through daily attacks. For years, Israelis have been living with the threat of rockets hitting their homes. Israelis in the North usually get hit by Katyushas, Israelis in the South get hit by Qassams. It's been pretty quiet in the North lately, thank heavens. Only, now, being in the South means you might get hit by a Qassam or a Grad or a plain ol' mortar. Whatever they can lob at you goes.

When the news outlets count up casualties in this war, they keep counting since Israel started bombing Gaza last Saturday. They completely ignore all of the killed and wounded from Gazan rockets and mortars in the past few years that Israel hasn't been bombing in Gaza.

We had a nice respite during the ceasefire. There were only a few rockets shot at the Western Negev from Gaza during that time. Did you catch that? It was a ceasefire and there were only a few rockets then. Some ceasefire, right? But, that's beside the point. The point is, we had a ceasefire, and when it was over, Israel said, "Hey Hamas, what do you say we extend that ceasefire for another 80 days?" and Hamas said, "No way, Jose".

OK, it didn't go quite like that, but the gist of it is that instead of accepting the ceasefire extension, Hamas started firing more, and longer range rockets at Israel. They jumped the gun a little, even, starting their amateur rocket club a few days before the ceasefire was officially over. We knew this was going to happen. OK, there were some silly, naive people like me who held out some insane hope that in the midst of the quiet, the people in the Gaza Strip might say, "Hey, we kinda like this quiet we got here. Instead of using our limited resources to build more bombs, why don't we use them to make more food for our kids?"

Let me give you an example of what they could be doing. Do you remember what it was like in Cuba during the 90's after the fall of the Soviet Union? It was hell on wheels for them. Fuel shortages, shortages of any supplies that had to come from off the island, and no trade to speak of because of the US blockade and trade embargo. So, you know what they did? They turned their front yards into vegetable gardens, and pioneered all sorts of amazing ways to get by on incredibly low resources.

Where are the Gazan victory gardens? Where are the Gazan biofuel-powered cars? Why, when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, didn't the people of Gaza insist on making their little strip a shining example of what Palestine could be?

I know for sure that there were some people who tried. I remember reading about a Palestinian man who moved back to Gaza after living in the US for many years. He openned a computer shop, and wanted to be part of making the New Palestine a reality. What happened to the people like him? Did they all get killed off or scared off by Hamas when they started killing all of the oposition?

I don't know, but I wish I did know who those people were, and I wish that I could partner with people like that to make their nation and mine stronger and better in peace, not war.

So, do I think that Israel's current operation in Gaza is just? Yes. Because a nation can not allow its territory to be constantly bombarded by an enemy next door. But do I think that ever last bomb dropped is a correct decision? No. Of course not.

But have you ever seen another nation's battles stand up to so much scrutiny? Could the Coalition's actions in Afganistan in late 2001 stand up to the same level of blow-by-blow analysis that any Israeli operation gets? Entire wedding parties got blown to bits by US bombs, not once, but on several occassions, because of faulty intel based on locals trying to take out rivals. Who was roasted for that? No one at all.

There will be errors in war. War is a messy thing. That's one of the reasons to avoid it, if you can.

So, why didn't Israel avoid this war? Why didn't the government sit at the table with Hamas? Well, let's consider that, shall we?

Does the US sit at the table and negotiate with terrorist organizations? No. So why do you expect Israel to do so? Hamas is on the US's list of terrorist organizations. It's not like Israel just made that designation up or something.

Let's just call them a political entity for now, though, since they were elected into power in Gaza. So, why not negotiate with them as a political power? And I ask you, how can you negotiate with someone who states unequivocably again and again that their main and final goal is to see your destruction. "OK, so, I'll just give you my arm, and I'll pretend to have had a stroke, and in exchange you don't kill me and we can just go on about our business, shall we?" Mmmm... no.

The fact of the matter is there are no easy answers. In cities around the world, protesters shout, "Israel out of the Territories", but Israel did pull out of Gaza, unilaterally and without any requirement of the Gazan people. And then Israel got a lot of international criticism for that. The Gazan people need Israel's support to be able to build, we are told, you can't just move out and leave them on their own. But, Israel does support them, actually. Israel gives Gaza tax money, fuel and electricity -- the latter two coming from sources in Israel that Hamas likes to target with rockets and snipers. Irony, eh? Money does flow into Gaza, by both legal and illegal means, and too much of it is being used to destroy and not enough to build.