israel and egypt’s war on gaza

This war is not waged by Israel alone. Egypt is as much part of this aggression on Gaza as Israel is. First as a partner in the siege and now as the almost good-cop in a strategy aimed at changing the rules of the game with Hamas. Neither is this war being waged on Hamas. Gaza is a plot of land between 6 and 12 km wide and around 40 km long, inhabited by 1.5 million people, i.e. the density of 4000 people per square kilometer. When it gets bombed, its entire population is targeted.

But collective punishment, targeting family members,  destroying homes, uprooting people and their livelihoods, etc… is standard policy to this conventional army, frustrated by its ineffectiveness and unwilling to subject its soldiers to combat (!?). Goliath used the same methods of collective punishment in Lebanon in 2006. Goliath uses a more domesticated form of the same methods on a regular basis in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

What is most mind boggling in this war is neither Israel nor Egypt (or other Arab regimes), but the reaction of Israeli citizens. More voices have come out in condemnation of the war on Gaza than in the early days of the Lebanon war, but most just repeat the official line “we have no other choice”. Most reactions I have seen are a curious blend of the “civilized” feeling of sympathy for the people of Gaza and a joy at the killing. Illogical? Why, it makes perfect sense. See, the civilians being killed… that is the fault of Hamas. As for “the Khamas” being killed… that is the accomplishment of the IDF. Brilliant.

Violence has obviously NOT taken Israel a long way in resolving its problems and securing its borders. On the contrary, its policies have helped shaped its most serious adversary yet: Hizballah. But why learn from history, be it recent or ancient, when perpetual conflict has become your defining characteristic as a nation? As for the Egyptian government, that proverbial lid on a boiling pot, they have an interest in ending the war on Gaza as soon as Israel deems possible.

In the mean time, I add my voice to the voices of other bloggers calling attention to these atrocities.

 

earthly victory (convention on cluster munitions)

Today, around a 100 countries, including Lebanon, became signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. What came to be known as “the Oslo Process” was pushed to this conclusion by the Red-Green Norwegian government despite US lobbying to undermine the treaty. US officials have even accused Norway of buying nations off to join the process, according to Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch (Source: Klasvåpen – det umuliges kunst, documentary in Norwegian). In the same documentary, Norwegian foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, explains that the watershed in the process came after the summer war of 2006 — when Israel dropped more than a million cluster bombs over south Lebanon in the final days of the war. Israel, however, is not a signatory to the treaty. Neither are the three major arms producers China, Russia, and the United States.

That is not the only flaw in the treaty. By pursuing independent organizational channels, the Norwegian brokers evaded the situation where a veto in the UN or the dominant member in NATO could bring down the treaty. However, the compromise reached in Dublin earlier this year included an article allowing treaty signatories “to engage in military cooperation and operations with States not parties to this Convention that might engage in activities prohibited to a State party.” (Source: HRW)

Still, it is a step in what can only be a long and difficult process. Optimists are hoping that by ostracizing certain countries, the treaty will put pressure on them to eventually join. The United States obviously takes it seriously, least of all because it would need to remove its cluster munitions at several bases around the world. On another level — and I think of this particularly when I remember some of the chilling discussions on the “legality” of Israel’s cluster bomb dumping during the Lebanon war — at least now there is a minimum ethical line in writing.