There are two topics I almost never discuss on my blog: abortion and any Middle East conflict that involves Israel. The reason is that it's virtually impossible to have a reasonable, rational discussion about either topic. Almost everyone knows exactly where they stand on these two issues and most are so uncompromising that attempted dialogue is futile... there are only monologues.
I was trying to let the Israeli attacks on and imminent invasion of Lebanon go uncommented upon because pretty much everyone else in the world is screaming about the subject anyway. But with all I've heard and read, I can't let the subject pass.
The Israeli response to a pair of soldiers being captured/kidnapped is wholly over the top. For it, they have turning southern Lebanon into rubble are even shelling civilian areas in Beirut and the capital's airport. A good chunk of Israel's most moderate neighbor, which spent over a decade recovering from a long civil war, has been largely destroyed in less than a week.
The reaction to the military operation is typical. The US is backing Israel uncritically. The rest of the world is attacking Israel (which they see as a puppet of Washington) uncritically.
Granted, Israel hasn't turned southern Lebanon into a glass bowl like some extremists would like, but the overreaction is still sickening. Perhaps Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert feels the need to overcompensate for his lack of high ranking military credentials, but it's still sickening and will only embolden Hezbollah and support for it as the militants will appeal to Lebanese nationalism.
Still, the international response begs some important questions. Israel's actions drew worldwide condemnation and rightly so. Yet when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israeli civilian areas before the Israeli action, where was the angry international denunciations? Where were the calls for a ceasefire? Where was the fury with Hezbollah's wanton violence that killed civilians?
Furthermore, Israel has been widely excoriated for launching rockets into civilian areas. Some want them tried for war crimes under international law.
Yet, hardly anyone's saying a word about WHY they're targeting such places: Hezbollah is hiding there amongst the civilians. Using human shields is also against international law but I'm not sure I've heard one non-American or -Israel demand Hezbollah fighters be tried for war crimes. Why is that?
I've been very critical of Israeli actions in the past. They should withdraw from the occupied territories and recognize an independent Palestinian state. Until they do, they should stop the atrocious treatment of people living in the territories, treatment which sows the seeds that blossom into terrorism.
But it's absolutely despicable that, the US excluded, Israel always seems to get the entireity of international blame. There's plenty of condemnation to go around. But when a dozen Israeli civilians are killed by a Hezbollah rocket, people say they're occupiers so tough cookies. But when a single Palestinian or Lebanese civilian is killed, it's front page news around the world and the subject of countless infuriated blog entries (by people who insist they're not anti-Israeli but only ever criticize Israel). These people say they stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people who are subject to terrible oppression and arbitrary violence. And that's right and proper. But why will no one stand in solidarity with the Israeli people when they are subject to arbitrary violence? Why are their lives worth less?
Of course, I could also ask why international attention is always focused on the Middle East when dozens of Lebanese/Palestinians or Israelis die in a week, even though over a thousand die every day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with hardly any western media attention at all. Naturally, it's because the Arabs and Israelis have done a much better job than the Congolese on the PR front, selling their story to the western media and to various ideological groups. It fits into a neat little box: freedom fighter vs imperialist oppressor or civilized democrat vs terrorist. And with Israel so closely linked to the US government, it makes a perfect foil for avowed enemies of President Bush. People pick sides not based on morality or humanitarianism but based on which fits their ideological bent more closely.
Let's face it: far fewer people are affected by the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories or Lebanon than in the DR Congo or in northern Uganda or in Haiti or Sri Lanka or half a dozen other areas you've never heard of. And let's face it, the security of Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese does not affect Americans, Europeans, Moroccans, Pakistanis, Senegalese or tons of other places where people take this conflict so personally.
The opinions of most people on the Middle East conflict is not down humanitarianism or security. It's about people who already have an ideological axe to grind looking for a sharpening stone.
No comments:
Post a Comment