Exterminating the Palestinians

After the recent Israeli-Hezbollah attack and counter attacks, the world stopped paying attention to that part of the region even though Israel continues to breach Lebanon’s territory and national security interest. Again and again Israel is at it in the same vicinity — methodically killing dozens and dozens of innocent Palestinian women and children. Today, Palestine is getting to be as perilous as Baghdad. The Palestinian territory, the world must know, is now Israel’s killing-field, their shooting range, a slaughterhouse. Sadly, Israel’s brutality and high-handedness is taking place unabated while the rest of the world watches in silence.

On Thursday November 8, 2006, 18 civilians — all belonging to the same extended family — were killed by what Israel claim to be “errant artillery.” Errant artillery? Really? What nonsense! Nothing could be more deliberate on the part of the Israeli government. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is simply playing the same game his predecessors played: systemic decimation of innocent Palestinians and their leadership.

President George Bush says he values human life, but he has yet to comment on the killings; and has yet to send condolence messages to the affected Palestinian families. If what happened to the Palestinians had happened to the Israelis the president and dozen pro-Israeli groups would have been on the radio and television and cable networks shouting, screaming, playing to the gallery and postulating about how treacherous the “terrorists” are and of how they are “derailing the peace process.” How sad that neither the president nor Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has condemned the killings.

For sure, the Israeli ambassadors to the Western world would have been on TV news and talk shows putting forth their own interpretation of history. Previous prime ministers would have been everywhere condemning the “perpetrators of these dastardly and inhumane acts.” CNN, FOX and other media outlets would have spent hours on end talking about and condemning HAMAS and other groups. Media houses and dozens of pontiffs and talking-heads would have bombarded us with the “sad and sorry life” of suicide bombers. The message would have been simple and unified: “we are the victims…the Arabs are bent on destroying us…we deserve your sympathy.”

This time and for the last couple of weeks, the Israelis have been doing the killings — killing toddlers, killing pregnant women, killing and maiming innocent men and women. The vast majority of the dead were not insurgents or militants. They were innocent civilians (sleeping or eating or simply minding their business). They stayed away, yet the bombs and bullets of the Israeli Defense Force got them, snuffed life out of their bodies and made rubbles of their homes and shelters.

The dead, while they were alive, had nowhere to hide. They were defenseless against Israeli tanks and against the Israeli apache helicopters. They were defenseless against the stinging-storms and the choking-smoke of Israeli artilleries. Is this the new world…the new world order…the killing of the weak and defenseless?