Dec 30, 2008
Understanding Gaza
I am a regular reader of The Palestine Chronicle for information and analysis of the ongoing situation in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. I stumbled on these cartoons on their website and had to share because they speak volumes.
Before sharing the cartoons, I wanted to point out a couple of articles that are must reads:
Israel’s Belligerence and The Art of War
The savage brutality of the Israeli war machine (not the entirety of the Israeli population, certainly there are peace-loving human beings there) is mind-boggling. Israel often claims it has one of the world’s best and most “skilled” armies and air force. This propagandistic nonsense has been disproved most recently when Hezbollah humiliated their forces out of the South of Lebanon (with no air force and a fraction of the modern technology Israel enjoys).
It is a fundamental derangement of the Israeli mind that it relies on bombing unarmed, defenseless civilians to establish its military might and any sort of credibility in any “fight” it may have. Though herein is their biggest error, and what I hypothesize will cause a stinging military defeat of the “mighty” IDF by these unarmed civilians. Namely, they have violated one of the most fundamental tenets of the “Art of War” by Sun Tzu:
“When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.”
The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, is still required reading in military academies. It is timeless.
The above principle carries truth for if you completely surround an army, or a people, where they truly feel there is no way out, they will fight stronger, and harder, and to the death. It is in these situations that vastly smaller, or large but poorly equipped, armies can inflict incomprehensible damage on a foe. Many times, they can completely defeat that foe. Israel is violating one of Sun Tzu’s most fundamental tenets, you never surround a people, subjugate them, and leave no outlet. At some point, this entire population in Gaza will be willing to give their lives.
And all they have to do is walk.
Today’s slaughter of innocents in Gaza, with at least 230 reported killed in raids on “Hamas terror operatives” (as the Israeli military put it), amounted to “a mass execution”, said Hamas.
Can there now be any doubt who the real terrorists are?
The killing spree couldn’t have happened without the tacit approval of America, Britain and the EU. The political pea-brains that direct the pro-Israel western alliance were partying, gorging themselves on Christmas fare or binge-shopping while this massacre of hungry women and children and their despairing menfolk in Gaza was being planned and executed.
According to the US’s own definition of terrorism Israel is squarely in the frame. Under Section 3 of Executive Order 13224 “Blocking Property and prohibiting Transactions with Persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support Terrorism”, the term “terrorism” means an activity that involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life, property, or infrastructure; and appears to be intended:
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- to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
- to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
- to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, kidnapping, or hostage-taking.
The order and its definition of terrorism, signed 23 September 2001 by George W Bush, is used to outlaw and crush any organization, individual or country the US doesn’t like. The Israeli regime’s “amoral thugs”, as a British MP branded them, have plainly been terrorizing the Palestinians for the last 60 years.
The Cartoons
