ANALYSIS

Israel’s Aggression in the Middle East

During the recent G8 meeting, U.S. President George W. Bush was accidentally caught on microphone telling British Prime Minister Tony Blair, “See, the irony is what they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit", referring to the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.  But the real irony is that it is Israel that needs to be told to stop its war of aggression against the Palestinians and the Lebanese people. 

BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat

The on-going Israeli attacks on Lebanon are currently the subject of headlines of the Philippines’ major dailies, especially since some 30,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are working in that country.  The attacks against Lebanon were purportedly sparked by a July 12 attack by Hezbollah guerrillas on Israeli soldiers around the Lebanese border killing eight and capturing two Israeli soldiers. The attack by Hezbollah guerrillas, on the other hand, was in retaliation for Israel’s June 29 occupation of the West Bank and its detention of Hamas Cabinet ministers and lawmakers, and its July 12 attack on Gaza Strip, which raised the Palestinian death toll to over 70.

Israel claimed that the Palestinians escalated the attacks after Gaza militants launched a raid into Israel, last June 25, killing two soldiers and capturing Cpl. Gilad Shalit. But the raid was the first conducted by Palestinians after the armed wing of Hamas called off the truce last June 9 when members of a family in Gaza were killed by Israeli shelling. Four days later, Israel launched a missile attack killing 11 Palestinians. 

Reports also show that even before the armed wing of Hamas called off the truce, there had been a series of Israeli incursions into Palestinian communities beginning January 26 resulting in the death of 59 Palestinians and injury to 243 others. These attacks intensified after the March 29 takeover of the newly-elected Hamas government of Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh. From then till June 13, 2006, Israel fired a total 7,986 Israeli missiles and shells at Gaza Strip while a mere 455 Palestinian Qassams were fired toward Israel. 

This cycle of wars began when the process of carving out Israel from the land of the Palestinians commenced after World War 1. 

Before World War 1, Palestine, with a land area of 10,000 square miles, was part of the Ottoman Empire with 462,465 inhabitants in 1878.  The population was predominantly Muslim, numbering 403,795.  Others were Christians, numbering 43,659, and 15,011 Jews.  

In 1897, Theodor Herzl formed the World Zionist Movement that was committed to the establishment of a Jewish nation, citing biblical reasons.

From 1915-1917, Britain entered into three conflicting agreements.  First, it promised Husayn ibn Ali, patriarch of the Hashemite family, that if the Arabs revolted against the Ottoman Empire and sided with the British, it will support the establishment of an Arab state.  Second, it announced its support for the “establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.” Then, Britain entered into an agreement with France to divide the region.

Hegemony

Britain and France ruled over the region after World War 1. France annexed Syria, carving out Lebanon as a separate state with a slight Christian majority.  Britain annexed the areas which now comprise Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jordan.

In the 1920s, the Jewish National Fund purchased large tracts of land from absentee Arab landowners and evicted Arabs living in these areas.  The conflict over land sparked clashes between Muslims and Jews from 1920-1921 and 1928-1929. Because of a dramatic increase in Jewish immigration in 1933, the Arabs revolted from 1936-1939.  The revolt was crushed by Britain with the help of Zionist militias. 

On March 22, 1946, Britain relinquished control over Palestine to an Anglo-American Committee.  The Committee authorized the immigration of 100,000 Jews into Palestine on April 20, 1946. At the end of 1946, there were 1.3 million Arabs and 608,000 Jews in Palestine. The Jews, however, controlled 20 percent of arable land.

On June 29, 1947, the U.N. General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish and the other Arab.  Although numbering less than half of the Arabs, the Jews controlled 56 percent of the land.  Fighting between Arabs and Jews broke out after the partition.  But the Jews gained the upper hand.  On May 15, 1948, Britain evacuated Palestine and the Zionists proclaimed the state of Israel.    

Soon, the Arab states, particularly Egypt, Syria, Jordan, went to war against Israel.  Israel’s armed forces unleashed a brutal campaign causing the displacement of 700,000 Palestinian refugees. Israel eventually won and took control of 77 percent of the territory.

In 1964, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed to lead the struggle for an independent Palestine. Yasser Arafat was the leader of the largest group, Al Fatah, and served as PLO chairman beginning 1968.

Three years later, another war allowing Israel to capture the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.  In 1973, another war erupted resulting in a peace accord signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979.

Israel attacked Lebanon in 1978 and 1982 purportedly to pursue PLO guerrillas.  The PLO was forced to relocate to Tunisia from Lebanon after the 1982 invasion. Israel bombed the PLO headquarters in Tunisia killing more than 70 people.

Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1993 and 1996 supposedly to pursue Hezbollah guerrillas. But in 2000, Israel was forced to pull out of southern Lebanon.    

The intermittent wars showed Israel’s military superiority over the Arab states but this is because it enjoyed the military backing of the U. S. government.  Israel has been the No. 1 recipient of U.S. foreign aid.  Each year, it receives some $2.1 billion in military financing and $600 in economic aid.  It also receives one third of the total Economic Security Funds given by the U.S. globally.  Israel also benefits from offsets given by American arms manufacturers in exchange for deals involving co-production of weapons, transfer of technology, and other non-military related investments.

Palestinian resistance

Meanwhile, Israel established a military administration in Gaza Strip and the West Bank.  It imposed a curfew, undertook mass demolition of houses, arbitrary closure of roads, schools, and community institutions. Since 1967, over 300,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned without trial and over half a million tried by Israel military courts. Israel also built hundreds of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

In December 1987, the first Intifada or first mass uprising of Palestinians in the occupied territories erupted.  The demonstrators erected barricades and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers. Then Israel Defense Minister Yitzak Rabin ordered Israeli troops to smash the Intifada with “force, power, and blows.”  Israeli troops killed 1,000 Palestinians including 200 below the age of 16 from 1987-1991.

In 1988, the PLO in Tunisia came up with a political program, announced that it recognized the state of Israel, and renounced terrorism.  It also proclaimed an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  But it was only in mid-2000 and after painful negotiations with Israel that the Palestinian Authority was able to gain direct and partial control of 40 percent of West Bank and 65 percent of Gaza Strip.    

On September 28, 2000, Ariel Sharon visited the Muslim holy shrine of Haram al-Sharif with 1,000 guards.  This led to the second Intifada. 

On June 16, 2002 Israel began constructing the West Bank barrier. The wall is 700 kms long and made of a concrete base with a five-meter high wire and mesh superstructure. Rolls of razor wire and a four-meter deep ditch were placed on one side.

On Sept. 20, 2002, Israel besieged Arafat’s headquarters in Ram Allah, demolished his office complex, and confined him there. It also killed several Palestinian leaders. 

In February 2003, Israel made a series of incursions that led to the reoccupation of parts of Gaza Strip and West Bank. Two months later, Arafat was forced to step aside in favor of Mahmud Abbas.

But the war never stopped. In 2005, 22 Israelis and 235 Palestinians were killed. 

Meanwhile, severe restrictions and evictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians made them suffer in poverty. The Gaza Strip has 1.4 million people crowded into a mere 146 square miles. Unemployment affects about 50 percent, with 81 percent of the population considered poor.

Historical and recent events show that the conflict in Palestine is all about land. Israel constantly attacks Palestinians to expand its territory. Israel is waging a genocidal war against the Palestinians. 

During the recent G8 meeting, U.S. President George W. Bush was accidentally caught on microphone telling British Prime Minister Tony Blair, “See, the irony is what they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit", referring to the Israeli attacks on Lebanon. But the real irony is that it is Israel that needs to be told to stop its war of aggression against the Palestinians and the Lebanese people. 

If Bush does not stop its junior ally from its war path in the Middle East, then the voices of the freedom-loving peoples of the world must be heard. Bulatlat   

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

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