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Follow The Sequence Of Mideast Violence
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Published: March 9, 2008
Updated: 03/07/2008 06:44 pm
There is no symmetry between Israel and Palestinian extremists.
There are no shades of gray; there is no cultural relativism, no equidistant, conditional ifs and buts. There is no Israeli action followed by a Palestinian reaction. There is no egalitarian share of the blame and responsibility, and the sooner this fact is understood by the international community, the better.
Recent media reports about the plight of Gaza residents highlighted the fact that hunger, poverty, shortage of electricity and fuel in Gaza were the result of Israel's blockade on that Palestinian-controlled zone. As if Israel decided, out of the blue, to impose collective punishment on all Palestinians out of sheer evil. It was then easy for the world media to present rocket launching from Gaza as a natural, understandable, reaction of a frustrated, hungry population. Similarly, terror attacks against Israeli civilians are regularly presented by Palestinian spokesmen (picked up by "objective" journalists) as retaliation to the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
There is a difference between an arsonist lighting a building, and the fireman putting out the fire. There is no similarity between a robber who attacks his victim, and the policeman who attacks the robber in order to arrest him. Sure, both may use violence. But are they equally reponsible for it?
Too often, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may seem like a vicious circle of violence, a back and forth game of tennis, an eye-for-an-eye that ultimately leaves both sides blind and the international community apathetic at best - and anti-Israeli at worst - mistaking victim for aggressor.
It may be necessary to remind ourselves that in the Middle East, there is a sequence of events, not a cycle of violence. It is a continuum which can be stopped at a moment's notice, by the Palestinians, should they choose to do so or should they feel the necessary international pressure to do so.
In August 2006, Israel pulled out of Gaza. We dismantled our settlements, down to the last one. We redeployed our troops outside Gaza. We left Gaza to the Gazans - no occupation, no Israeli presence. Without our presence there, the Hamas terror organization staged a coup d'etat in June 2007, taking over Gaza from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Since then, they have launched over 5,000 missiles at Israel's southern region.
Remember: there was no occupation of Gaza. There was no blockade of Gaza. That was not retaliation. There was no symmetry, only terrorism. And yet, Israel did not react to that provocation. We did not invade Gaza, or reconquer any part of it. But after thousands of rockets landed on our towns, Israel decided that supplying the Palestinians with fuel, electricity and other basic needs isn't the best policy of self-defense.
A blockade was imposed. When Hamas blew open the border between Gaza and Egypt, they opened the door to a massive influx of arms, ammunitions and terrorists coming into Gaza. They also used the breach to allow terrorists to cross into Sinai and from there into Israel, where they will try to kill more of our citizens.
This is not symmetry. This is terrorism, launched against people whose only crime is being Israeli and wanting to live in peace and security.
Israel will defend itself against this latest wave of terror. Do not call it a cycle of violence. The violence will end when the Palestinian terrorists stop attacking us. If they renounce violence, there will be peace. If we renounce self-defense, Israel will cease to exist. No symmetry.
Ofer Bavly is Israel's consul general in
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( jonah ) on March 14, 2008 at 5:54 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Mr. Bavli
It is interesting the remark you are making on the simetry of relations. Since the so called palestinians doesn't show willingness to stand for their own State, inconsciently are driven to the destruction of existing states (anyone, it doesn't matter if jewish or not) in order to adjust to theirs own perception of reality.
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Posted by ( JackNelsonSteward ) on March 14, 2008 at 4:10 p.m.
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Posted by ( JackNelsonSteward ) on March 21, 2008 at 12:12 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Yes ... all the Palestinians have to do is stop fighting for the land that was violently taken from them.
How very generous!
Let us imagine, then, that you live here in sunny Florida alongside a minority population of people of a different religion.
Their holy books say the land is theirs. Your holy book disagrees.
A congress convenes and declares all your land theirs. You weren't consulted.
Their families and others of their religion move in and the government of the newly created state begins to put pressure on you and your fellow citizens. There are massacres of your people by the army of the new state.
You flee in terror.
Because you flee, they say you abandoned your land. You get nothing for it.
What do you do? Do you simply shrug and adapt yourself to your refugee status, living now in foreign countries in contitions approaching destitution?
If you fight: With what? They have a state army and airforce. They have the most sophisticated weaponry in the the world. They are backed by the most powerful military power ever.
Welcome to Palestine.
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Posted by ( danb ) on March 26, 2008 at 8:03 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
To Jack Nelson Steward.
You are obviously influenced by a lot of disinformation. I suggest you check your facts (the internet can help) so that at least your information is correct before you establish your (valid) opinion. An opinion that is based on wrong facts is simply not as valid.
I like the analogy you chose, but let's see if it fits the Israeli-Palestinian case.
1. "The land was violently taken from them"? When was there ever a Palestinian state? Whose land was taken? The West Bank was in Jordan's hands until 1967. Did they give the Palestinians a state? Nope. But they did launch a war against Israel in 1967, which they LOST. Israel captured that territory from Jordan. The same applies to Gaza, which was in the hands of Egypt. Who didn't give the Palestinians statehood and lost that territory to Israel in 1967.
2. Regarding holy books: I challenge you to find a SINGLE place in the Koran that says that the land which is today Israel, ever belonged to the Palestinians or should belong to them. A single reference would suffice. The truth of the matter is that the land was promised to the Jews in the bible, but never claimed by the Palestinians or Arabs in their holy book or indeed anywhere else until the middle of the twentieth century, 3000 years after the Jews had an independent kingdom there (capital was Jerusalem).
3. Flee in terror? The Arabs who attacked Israel in 1948 called on the Arab population to leave their homes so they will not be killed, and they were told they would later return. Oops! The Arab armies lost the war. Plan foiled. They weren't fleeing Israel. They were waiting for Israel to be destroyed.
4. You "forgot" to mention that there were more Jews fleeing persecution in Arab countries than Arabs leaving their houses in Israel. Why did you omit that?
5. Having said all that, and let's assume that all you wrote is historically correct (and it isn't), would that - in your opinion - warrant the indiscriminate killing of Israeli children? 1,000 Israelis killed in the last 7 years, almost all of them civilians - in your opinion that is all legitimate, right? Why is Hamas refusing to accept a two-state solution in which they will get part of the territory? Could it be because they are not interested in compromise, peace and independence? I wonder.
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Posted by ( JackNelsonSteward ) on March 28, 2008 at 8:39 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
The Internet is one of the poorest sources of information on the planet. Anyone can post anything at any time and it stays forever.
My information comes from Israeli historians. Footnoted and documented.
The entire claim of the State of Israel to the land it now occupies is based on the Bible. That is a religious, not a legal, text. It gives legal title to nothing. The claim is spurious in the real world.
The land was taken by force. Period.
I refer you to the World Atlas of 1941, where you will find the EXACT territory now claimed by the State of Israel shaded a delicate green and labeled "PALESTINE."
Your citing of the "indiscriminate killing of Israeli children" is one of the most dishonest and disgusting acts of demagoguery employed by apologists for the State of Israel. How dare you wave that in the face of the world and overlook the thousands and thousands of Palestinian children killed by live fire and cluster bombs and all manner of precision munitions supplied to the State of Israel by the United States of America and deliberatley employed by the army and air force of the State of Israel. How dare you continue to bleat about your thousands of Israelis when the State of Israel has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians apace. That is a vile tactic.
The State of Israel enjoys absolute military supremacy and continues to point to Palestinian tactics as if to portray itself as attacked by an equal.
I doubt that if someone had taken my homeland, driven me and my family out and massacred my people in refugee camps I would be terribly interested in compromise.
Would you?
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