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The tide is turning

Jul 24,2014 - Last updated at Jul 24,2014

Not much can be said about Gaza that has not already been said.

The Israeli aggression on the densely populated, impoverished strip is both brutal and evil. Militarily, killing civilians with impunity is never acceptable, regardless of the pretexts, and is a crime against humanity. Those responsible in both the Israeli government and army should be brought to justice, like some lunatic thugs and warlords in Africa, the Balkans and all other parts of the globe where human rights are flagrantly violated.

Politically, the war on Gaza is part and parcel of an Israeli pattern of subversion of peace. Every time there is a pressure on Israel to come to the negotiating table and agree to hand back the Palestinian territories which it occupied and usurped in broad daylight, it launches an attack to divert attention from peacemaking.

It did this several times before when it attacked the Arabs in 1967, when it attacked Lebanon in the 1980s, when it attacked Hizbollah in the 1990s onwards, when it attacked Hamas before and now, etc. In the past, Israel attacked Tunisia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and other Arab countries for the same reason.

Norman Finkelstein is absolutely right in calling Israel a “lunatic” state.

The current attack on Gaza is primarily for the same reason. For years, the Israeli government has been using the Iranian nuclear issue as a pretext to open a war front against Iran. Now that it has failed to persuade the American government to go along, and now that the American government has adamantly decided (and rightly so) to use diplomacy instead of militancy in dealing with the Iranian nuclear affair, Israel has lost Iran as a pretext and decided to use its Hamas card.

Hamas is always convenient for Israel: A small, insignificant force that it can punish at a very little cost to itself and a very heavy one to the Gazans, whose life is hell right now.

Israel is militarily powerful, more powerful than it should be. Its leaders are power hungry. They disrespect and disregard human life and human laws. They rely on the US’ blind support and that of some European countries in order to wreak havoc in the region, violating international law cold-bloodedly.

There is a saying in Arabic: if you are shameless, you do as you wish. Israel is fulfilling all of its evil whims and wishes and imposing them on the Palestinians and Arab and non-Arab neighbours by force. And no one is holding it accountable.

So why not attack and kill at will?

But there is a price that Israel pays. And it is not the Hamas missiles. Rather, it is its growing negative image in the world.

When I was in the US in the early 1980s and visited some European countries during those years, a lot of people I met spoke of a peace-loving, tiny country called Israel, which simply wants to live and let live, an oasis of democracy surrounded by neighbours who want to throw it into the sea.

Uselessly, we tried to argue otherwise. Americans and many Europeans, because of the influence of the media and the work of many active Zionist and pro-Zionist organisations and groups in those countries, would not see Israel for what it is: a ruthless occupying force and a racist, apartheid entity.

Now in 2014 — and thanks not to our power of persuasion but to Israel’s own deviant, violent actions — many in America and Europe are beginning to see Zionism and Israel for what they are.

Nobody anywhere in the world, except the demented and the lunatic, will respect a country that kills civilians; that amasses so much weaponry and uses it at will; that disrespects human laws and human lives.

The significant outcome of the tragic events and atrocities committed against innocent civilians by a mighty military power is mounting international understanding of the nature of the Arab-Israeli conflict, sympathy, empathy and solidarity with the Palestinian people, and frustration with and disrespect of Israel.

From our  conversations with many people in the US and Europe, from what is written by experts and scholars, from what we read and see in traditional and untraditional press and media, Israel is no longer seen as this tiny, peace-loving democracy that wants to live and let live. Rather, it is the scourge of the region, and the cause of all violence and conflicts.

Simultaneously, the Palestinians and Israel’s neighbours, who are bearing the brunt of Israel’s reckless vision and actions, are no longer viewed as being bent on the destruction of Israel. Far from it, all of them — including the poor Palestinians — want nothing but a normal life and peace.

The fact of the matter is, the tide is turning, and not in Israel’s favour — thanks to its own reckless and criminal actions.

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