Friday, January 02, 2009
Jennifer Loewenstein: If Hamas Did Not Exist
A longtime reader of the Flyer writes to Counterpunch. [excerpt] Let us get one thing perfectly straight. If the wholesale mutilation and degradation of the Gaza Strip is going to continue; if Israel’s will is at one with that of the United States; if the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and all the international legal agencies and organizations spread across the globe are going to continue to sit by like hollow mannequins doing nothing but making repeated “calls” for a “ceasefire” on “both sides”; if the cowardly, obsequious and supine Arab States are going to stand by watching their brethren get slaughtered by the hour while the world’s bullying Superpower eyes them threateningly from Washington lest they say something a little to their disliking; then let us at least tell the truth why this hell on earth is taking place. ... Read If Hamas Did Not Exist
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What will it take to end the criminal silence of the ‘international community’?
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This is really the question isn't it? As a whole we are willing to accept this and myriad other atrocities believing that states have always done this and always will. So long as they exist they will oppress some group, or they wouldn't exist at all.
Having said that, I am baffled at how we collectively turn our backs on some groups when most of us would actively support their causes given the true facts of several cases which come to mind, like this most horrible of Israel's attacks on the Palestinian people.
I feel frustrated with the limits of what we can do here within a legal framework. We saw what happened as a response to the largest protest ever held before the invasion of Iraq. The war went on as planned. Not that we don't have the responsibility to let our opposition be known everywhere, but until we somehow cause meaningful disruptions of some sort we're just asking for favors from the people we allow to pretend to serve us. I don't recommend lying down in the street in small numbers, or storming a building in small numbers only to be arrested, so whatever else we do we have to keep up the patient explanation of the inadequacies of the global capitalist system and exploit it's weaknesses at every possible opportunity.
The very wealthy are indeed afraid of us always, but only at certain moments can we use it to as great an advantage as we could right now. The Israelis are surely exploiting this moment of transition to get what they can before the draw bridge goes up, more or less. They know most Americans wouldn't approve of what's taking place there if we were knowledgeable, and under Obama we may see some shift in policy. They know this and since Bush and the Neo-Cons are all on board with the slaughter of Arabs and the taking of their land, this may be IT for a while for this kind of cavalier large scale aggression by Israel if the US policy becomes more critical.
On the other hand, this could also be a good way for Obama to have handed him one of his many coming excuses for why things just can't be as idyllic as he promised on the campaign trail.
Like Ward Churchill said about getting Peltier out, regarding the Supreme Court and a specifically comment made by Justice Ginsberg, that we have to make THEIR cost of doing the thing WE don't like greater than the cost of doing what THEY don't want to do. That goes for a lot of situations. There's no case to be made to the Israeli state based on moral purity which will cause it to cease being what it is. It must be FORCED in whatever way to desist, to shrink or to be crushed.
We don't offer much help by simply writing blogs or demonstrating while continuing to pay taxes we know are used against the people of Palestine, as well as less well-know populations. But if these young Americans are really as brave as was said on the show last night maybe they'll become motivated to do more than write and talk about these matters. So this is why I do still participate in such conversations, because we at least have to pass the embers over to the next generations in hopes they might be more effective than ours have. Not that we haven't had victories, but they have primarily been won inside this insane political and economic system's accepted boundaries, not withstanding groups like the Panthers, AIM and others who haven't done the complete job of achieving justice, but have made great strides, and kept the flames of resistance alive.
I have said many times about Israle's last little war on Lebanon, that if it were a group like the KU KLUX KLAN who physically stopped our town from being overrun in an unjustified invasion by the neighboring country you might have to say OK, I hate those motherfuckers, but at least our houses are still here this morning. It's complicated, and as a secularist I would never support any religious state or those who would impose one. However when push comes to shove we often have to reconsider the most rigid of our political positions given the situation.
I tend not to believe all I hear about any Islamic groups in that region, and I know they are not monoliths. Any physical resistance to today's Israeli aggression should be supported, regardless of the differences is ideologies.
Remember Derrick Jensen's idea that if there's an axe murderer over our bed we don't wake our wives up and discuss what to do if one shows up tomorrow night, we act against this one now. And given that Hamas is there now, able and willing to resist, I have to offer my moral support to them in these days. If you are an American peace activist crushed by a Caterpillar driven by an Israeli (unsuccessfully stopping the machine by yourself)it definitely gets American sympathy, but when a group we don't understand very well can really stop the god damn thing too many of us are willing to accept the term terrorist, when we should embrace their desperate violence as the absolute proper response, or we should just shut the fuck up about it. There is no moral purity in a failed strategy.
I tend to ramble a bit, sorry if I drift some, but it's a blog, so I'll let it stand.
Allow me to say that I just spoke with a man from The West bank tonight, who was cutting up a huge pile of onions, so I had him stationary for several minutes as I waited for a pizza. And when he has more time he is going to explain in detail, and his limited English as he puts it why he doesn't support Hamas at all, even as I explained how I might have to be thankful that any group was there to defend my neighborhood. he doesn't see Hamas as an indigenous group of resisters but rather mostly people who come from other places. And what he hates mostly about them is that they are all people who don't think for themselves but only follow orders.
So in spite of my overall opinion given limited understanding, and desire to support groups who would stand up to the Israeli state and other states, this Palestinian man doesn't think Hamas is doing any favors for the residents of Gaza, who he says are really Egyptian. It sounds so complicated I am not sure an American like me has the right to have any say whatsoever, but ours was one of the countries that delt with European and even American guilt over what happened to Jews by committing crimes against humanity in helping to found a religious state on such a contested piece of ground.
I just felt I should say I don't blame Jews. If any group is to be blamed in this country based on religion it has to be the John Hagey types, the Christian Zionists. They are insane. It looks to me like Israel is a big TRAP for Jews. I know these crazy Christians, They surround us here. "Let's get all the Jews on Earth into one place... you know, for the big 'barbecue', wink... "The big barbecue".
That's just my impression... from hearing these wackies my whole life! Trust me, there is an element of that in the Xian Zionist agenda. They want to give them their big last chance to bathe in the blood before they bathe them in blood. Have you heard these Rod Parsley people? They want to bring own the ind times!
This Palestinian man didn't want to go into it where we could be heard by his Jewish employee (hmm, that's another complication in any stereotypes we might have about either ethnic group). CNN was on the TV as always, and of course all they are talking about is this horrible situation in Gaza.
So though I may imagine it's easy to support any group who claims to fight in your favor, I am not from there, and I can't imagine very well how it must be to be a Palestinian today. The man, who owns a restaurant we frequent, and makes the food himself with help, says he just wants to feed his family, and so he moved here. He was obviously shaken, hands shaking a little at times it appeared as I watched him cut all those onions. He mentioned the children who have been killed, the number, and was obviously upset as he spoke, naturally. I had expected him to say some things he didn't having already told me he doesn't think of Gaza as Palestine, but rather part of Egypt. He doesn't hate anyone, or want war, he makes this clear.
It may be hasty of me to assume Hamas is doing what is best for the Arabs who live there, I'll keep an open mind, but if I lived in the area I might have quite a different take than the man who makes the good pizzas.
I told him that when the next thing happens that makes ignorant Americans attack Arabs in our midst he can call me if he's nervous about sending his kids to school alone, or if we might perhaps organize a service to escort any of them around for a time, like after 911. Perhaps people might start treating Arabs and other groups badly, blah blah. I wasn't sure if he understood what I was saying, and he jumped in, "Yeah, yeah, it happened to me!". "Two weeks ago!"
Apparently a man from Chicago passing through came in and started asking him where he was from, and eventually asked him if he was here to "bomb us". "Get the hell out." he said to the guy when he finally could take no more. He's normally a very calm and patient man. I will share the perspective as I come to understand it better, but we all agree that Israel is committing crimes in Gaza, which cannot be justified based on the killing of Hamas members, period.
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