FW: [newprofile message:2429] Fw: The 2008 Gaza War -- Update

[Melinda Thompson]

I know some of you already get the New Profile emails, but these are some
interesting commentaries that I've not seen elsewhere. Talk about the 6
months of planning that went into this operation and public disinformation
leading up to it. And, of course, the IDF unilateral breaking of the
ceasefire.



Salaam, shalom, peace,

Melinda
301-593-0994



>
> [JPN Posting - List of Contents
>
> 1. Gush-Shalom report about the demonstration in Tel-Aviv.
> 2. ICAHD piece.
> 3. Ravid Barak Ha'aretz 'Disinformation, secrecy and lies: How the Gaza
> offensive came about'-
> 4. Gideon Levy Ha'aretz 'The Neighborhood bully strikes again'
> 5. Zvi Barel Ha'aretz 'Delusions of victory in Gaza'
>
> Gush Shalom reports that 1000 people took part in a spontaneous
> demonstration against the war yesterday outside the defense ministry in
> Tel Aviv, just at the point when 'war propaganda' supporting the attacks
> 'pours out of all the media and all the parties, from the extreme Right to

> Meretz.'
>
> The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions gives a lucid analysis of
> the motives for the war, claiming that it is in essence 'conflict
> management.' In other words it is about how to stop or at least minimize
> rocket attacks on Israeli territory without doing anything to change the
> fundamental injustices to which these attacks are a response, albeit a
> morally unjustifiable response. The press release helpfully distinguishes
> between the immediate trigger for the war (the rocket attacks) and its
> underlying cause.
>
> The remaining three analyses from Ha'aretz fill this distinction out. All
> three point to the importance of the Israeli military attack on a tunnel
> between Gaza and Egypt in early November, which killed at least 6 people.
> As Barel says, the IDF at that point 'unilaterally violated' the
> ceasefire, and it was this action that led to the increase in rocket
> attacks on Israel. In addition, Barak shows that Operation 'Cast Lead' had

> been planned for up to six months and cannot be adequately explained as a
> response to Palestinian military strikes, despite the morally abhorrent
> nature of these strikes. This trigger cannot be the underlying cause of
> the war. Thus the official justification for the war, that it is a
> response to the Palestinian attacks, is not convincing.
>
> Levy points out that even if the war had been caused by Palestinian
> attacks, it would still lack justification because of the staggering
> disproportion between those attacks (the tragedy of one Israeli killed)
> and the atrocious level of killing and destruction unleashed by the
> Israeli military (casualties will probably be more than 300 by the time
> you read this). Further, military forces are now openly attacking
> civilian and cultural institutions symbolic of Islamic life, bombing for
> instance the Islamic University in Gaza (see
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/29/2456004.htm?section=justin).
>
> But then what are the underlying causes? Neither Barel nor Levy can give a

> convincing answer since their fundamental outlook is that the war is
> 'unnecessary' - its aims could have been achieved by other means. As in
> many similar cases, this analysis rests on the plausibility of the
> assumption that Israeli planners really have these ends in mind, but are
> not smart enough to recognize that the war will not achieve them. It is
> also unclear whether ICAHD gives a convincing answer to this question, for

> rocket attacks could almost certainly have been stopped or at least
> minimized by diplomatic means, as Barel argues. Rather the Israeli
> government is pursuing a policy in which Israeli military actions, like
> the killings in the destruction of the tunnel in November, must be
> tolerated silently by Palestinians, while Palestinian resistance will be
> punished in monstrous disproportion. Alistair Welchman]
>
> Gush Shalom report on demonstration in Tel Aviv
>
> Saturday 27/12/08 "The War Belongs to Olmert - The Victims Belong to Us!"
>
> http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/events/1230482407
>
> Here they were again - the "first nighters, those who are ready to get out

> and demonstrate against a new war in its first hours, when war propaganda
> pours out of all the media and all the parties, from the extreme Right to
> Meretz, support the war.
>
> No organization called for the demonstration - but more than a thousand
> men and women gathered spontaneously in order to protest in front of the
> Ministry of Defense in Tel-Aviv, only a few hours after the murderous Air
> Force attack on the Gaza strip started.
>
> They were members of the divers peace organizations, from "Gush shalom"
> and the "Women's Coalition for Peace" to the "Anarchists Against the Wall"

> and Hadash. The police, apparently afraid that the protesters would storm
> the building in which the Minister and the Army High Command were
> conducting the war, took special precautions: the elite police commando
> unit was backed by mounted police. Reserves were hidden in side streets.
> At the beginning of the demonstration, some of the police confronted the
> crowd with loaded and pointed guns.
>
> "Barak, Barak, Minister of Defense - How many children have you murdered
> today?" shouted the protesters, whose slogans were backed up by drums.
> They were especially incensed by the Meretz Party statement the day
> before, which justified an attack on Gaza, and shouted: "Meretz, Meretz
> Party - Again for a War?" In the conversations among the protesters, the
> latest article of the writer Amos Oz, who has been awarded several peace
> and literature prizes, was mentioned. The article, which justified the
> military attack, was published at the head of the first page of the
> mass-circulation daily Yediot Aharonot.
>
> The protesters marched from the Cinemateque Square to the ministry.
>
> A day before the war, Gush Shalom activists took part in a smaller
> demonstration which took place in the heart of Tel-Aviv, in order to warn
> against the attack. This action was not reported in any of the Israeli
> media.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> ISRAEL: END THE ATTACKS ON GAZA IMMEDIATELY!
> ENTER INTO GENUINE NEGOTIATIONS TO END THE OCCUPATION NOW!
>
> A Press Release from The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
> (ICAHD)
> December 27, 2008
>
> http://www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu=5&submenu=1&item=646
>
> Let's be crystal clear. Israel's massive attacks on Gaza today have one
> overarching goal: conflict management. How to end rocket attacks on Israel

> from a besieged and starving Gaza without ending the impetus for those
> attacks, 41 years of increasingly oppressive Israeli Occupation without a
> hint that a sovereign and viable Palestinian state will ever emerge.
>
> Indeed, the Occupation, in which Israel controls Gaza under a violent
> siege which violates fundamental human rights and international law, is
> not even mentioned in Israel's PR campaign. Speaking to the international
> community, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni insists that no country would
> tolerate its citizens being attacked, a seemingly reasonable statement
> were it not for Israeli sanctions on Gaza supported by the US and Europe -

> sanctions that preceded the rocket fire on Israel - or the fact of Israeli

> Occupation in general. Solely focusing on the rocket attacks conceals the
> political policy that led to them: "The Hamas government in Gaza must be
> toppled," Livni has said repeatedly. "The means to do this must be
> military, economic and diplomatic."
>
> The responsibility for the suffering both in Israel and Gaza rests
> squarely with successive Israeli governments, Labor, Likud and Kadima
> alike. Had there been a genuine political process (remember, the closure
> of Gaza began in 1989), Israelis and Palestinians could have been living
> together in peace and prosperity already for 20 years. After all, already
> in 1988 the PLO accepted the two-state solution in which a Palestinian
> state would arise on only 22% of historic Palestine, alongside the state
> of Israel on the other 78%. A truly generous offer.
>
> In Israel, however, the effort is to hide its preference for control over
> peace. Framing its attacks as a response to rockets from Gaza, exploiting
> an immediate trigger to effectively conceal deeper political intentions
> and policies, does that. It also conceals Israeli violations of the
> cease-fire. The fact that the rocket attacks could have been avoided
> altogether through a genuine political process means that the people of
> southern Israel are being held hostage by their government as well. Their
> suffering, and the suffering of the people of Gaza and the rest of the
> Occupied Territories, must be placed squarely at the feet of the Israeli
> government.
>
> Israel cannot expect security for its people and political normalcy as
> long as it occupies Palestinian lands and continues its attempt to impose
> its permanent rule over the Palestinians by military force. We call on the

> Israeli government to end its aggression immediately and enter into
> genuine political negotiations with a united Palestinian leadership. We
> call on the international community to end its sanctions on Gaza
> immediately in accordance with international law, initiate an effective
> political process to end the Israeli Occupation and bring about a just
> peace - which reflects the will of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
>
> The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions is based in Jerusalem and
> has chapters in the United Kingdom and the United States.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Disinformation, secrecy and lies: How the Gaza offensive came about
> By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, Dec. 28th 2008
>
> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050426.html
>
> Long-term preparation, careful gathering of information, secret
> discussions, operational deception and the misleading of the public - all
> these stood behind the Israel Defense Forces "Cast Lead" operation against

> Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, which began Saturday morning.
>
> The disinformation effort, according to defense officials, took Hamas by
> surprise and served to significantly increase the number of its casualties

> in the strike.
>
> Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak
> instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six

> months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire
> agreement with Hamas. According to the sources, Barak maintained that
> although the lull would allow Hamas to prepare for a showdown with Israel,

> the Israeli army needed time to prepare, as well.
>
> Barak gave orders to carry out a comprehensive intelligence-gathering
> drive which sought to map out Hamas' security infrastructure, along with
> that of other militant organizations operating in the Strip.
>
> This intelligence-gathering effort brought back information about
> permanent bases, weapon silos, training camps, the homes of senior
> officials and coordinates for other facilities.
>
> The plan of action that was implemented in Operation Cast Lead remained
> only a blueprint until a month ago, when tensions soared after the IDF
> carried out an incursion into Gaza during the ceasefire to take out a
> tunnel which the army said was intended to facilitate an attack by
> Palestinian militants on IDF troops.
>
> On November 19, following dozens of Qassam rockets and mortar rounds which

> exploded on Israeli soil, the plan was brought for Barak's final approval.

> Last Thursday, on December 18, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the defense
> minister met at IDF headquarters in central Tel Aviv to approve the
> operation.
>
> However, they decided to put the mission on hold to see whether Hamas
> would hold its fire after the expiration of the ceasefire. They therefore
> put off bringing the plan for the cabinet's approval, but they did inform
> Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the developments.
>
> That night, in speaking to the media, sources in the Prime Minister's
> Bureau said that "if the shooting from Gaza continues, the showdown with
> Hamas would be inevitable." On the weekend, several ministers in Olmert's
> cabinet inveighed against him and against Barak for not retaliating for
> Hamas' Qassam launches.
>
> "This chatter would have made Entebe or the Six Day War impossible," Barak

> said in responding to the accusations. The cabinet was eventually convened

> on Wednesday, but the Prime Minister's Bureau misinformed the media in
> stating the discussion would revolve around global jihad. The ministers
> learned only that morning that the discussion would actually pertain to
> the operation in Gaza.
>
> In its summary announcement for the discussion, the Prime Minister's
> Bureau devoted one line to the situation in Gaza, compared to one whole
> page that concerned the outlawing of 35 Islamic organizations.
>
> What actually went on at the cabinet meeting was a five-hour discussion
> about the operation in which ministers were briefed about the various
> blueprints and plans of action. "It was a very detailed review," one
> minister said.
>
> The minister added: "Everyone fully understood what sort of period we were

> heading into and what sort of scenarios this could lead to. No one could
> say that he or she did not know what they were voting on." The minister
> also said that the discussion showed that the lessons of the Winograd
> Committee about the performance of decision-makers during the 2006 Second
> Lebanon War were "fully internalized."
>
> At the end of the discussion, the ministers unanimously voted in favor of
> the strike, leaving it for the prime minister, the defense minister and
> the foreign minister to work out the exact time.
>
> While Barak was working out the final details with the officers
> responsible for the operation, Livni went to Cairo to inform Egypt's
> president, Hosni Mubarak, that Israel had decided to strike at Hamas.
>
> In parallel, Israel continued to send out disinformation in announcing it
> would open the crossings to the Gaza Strip and that Olmert would decide
> whether to launch the strike following three more deliberations on
> Sunday - one day after the actual order to launch the operation was
> issued.
>
> "Hamas evacuated all its headquarter personnel after the cabinet meeting
> on Wednesday," one defense official said, "but the organization sent its
> people back in when they heard that everything was put on hold until
> Sunday."
>
> The final decision was made on Friday morning, when Barak met with Chief
> of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi, the head of the Shin Bet Security Service

> Yuval Diskin and the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Amos
> Yadlin. Barak sat down with Olmert and Livni several hours later for a
> final meeting, in which the trio gave the air force its orders.
>
> On Friday night and on Saturday morning, opposition leaders and prominent
> political figures were informed about the impending strike, including
> Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, Yisrael Beuiteinu's Avigdor Liebermen,
> Haim Oron from Meretz and President Shimon Peres, along with Knesset
> Speaker Dalia Itzik.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The neighborhood bully strikes again
> By Gideon Levy , Dec. 28th 2008
>
> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050459.html
>
> Israel embarked yesterday on yet another unnecessary, ill-fated war. On
> July 16, 2006, four days after the start of the Second Lebanon War, I
> wrote: "Every neighborhood has one, a loud-mouthed bully who shouldn't be
> provoked into anger... Not that the bully's not right - someone did harm
> him. But the reaction, what a reaction!"
>
> Two and a half years later, these words repeat themselves, to our horror,
> with chilling precision. Within the span of a few hours on a Saturday
> afternoon, the IDF sowed death and destruction on a scale that the Qassam
> rockets never approached in all their years, and Operation "Cast Lead" is
> only in its infancy.
>
> Once again, Israel's violent responses, even if there is justification for

> them, exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness,
> morality, international law and wisdom.
>
> What began yesterday in Gaza is a war crime and the foolishness of a
> country. History's bitter irony: A government that went to a futile war
> two months after its establishment - today nearly everyone acknowledges as

> much - embarks on another doomed war two months before the end of its
> term.
>
> In the interim, the loftiness of peace was on the tip of the tongue of
> Ehud Olmert, a man who uttered some of the most courageous words ever said

> by a prime minister. The loftiness of peace on the tip of his tongue, and
> two fruitless wars in his sheath. Joining him is his defense minister,
> Ehud Barak, the leader of the so-called left-wing party, who plays the
> role of senior accomplice to the crime.
>
> Israel did not exhaust the diplomatic processes before embarking yesterday

> on another dreadful campaign of killing and ruin. The Qassams that rained
> down on the communities near Gaza turned intolerable, even though they did

> not sow death. But the response to them needs to be fundamentally
> different: diplomatic efforts to restore the cease-fire - the same one
> that was initially breached, one should remember, by Israel when it
> unnecessarily bombed a tunnel - and then, if those efforts fail, a
> measured, gradual military response.
>
> But no. It's all or nothing. The IDF launched a war yesterday whose end,
> as usual, is hoping someone watches over us.
>
> Blood will now flow like water. Besieged and impoverished Gaza, the city
> of refugees, will pay the main price. But blood will also be unnecessarily

> spilled on our side. In its foolishness, Hamas brought this on itself and
> on its people, but this does not excuse Israel's overreaction.
>
> The history of the Middle East is repeating itself with despairing
> precision. Just the frequency is increasing. If we enjoyed nine years of
> quiet between the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War, now we launch
> wars every two years. As such, Israel proves that there is no connection
> between its public relations talking points that speak of peace, and its
> belligerent conduct.
>
> Israel also proves that it has not internalized the lessons of the
> previous war. Once again, this war was preceded by a frighteningly uniform

> public dialogue in which only one voice was heard - that which called for
> striking, destroying, starving and killing, that which incited and prodded

> for the commission of war crimes.
>
> Once again the commentators sat in television studios yesterday and hailed

> the combat jets that bombed police stations, where officers responsible
> for maintaining order on the streets work. Once again, they urged against
> letting up and in favor of continuing the assault. Once again, the
> journalists described the pictures of the damaged house in Netivot as "a
> difficult scene." Once again, we had the nerve to complain about how the
> world was transmitting images from Gaza. And once again we need to wait a
> few more days until an alternative voice finally rises from the darkness,
> the voice of wisdom and morality.
>
> In another week or two, those same pundits who called for blows and more
> blows will compete among themselves in leveling criticism at this war. And

> once again this will be gravely late.
>
> The pictures that flooded television screens around the world yesterday
> showed a parade of corpses and wounded being loaded into and unloaded from

> the trunks of private cars that transported them to the only hospital in
> Gaza worthy of being called a hospital. Perhaps we once again need to
> remember that we are dealing with a wretched, battered strip of land, most

> of whose population consists of the children of refugees who have endured
> inhumane tribulations.
>
> For two and a half years, they have been caged and ostracized by the whole

> world. The line of thinking that states that through war we will gain new
> allies in the Strip; that abusing the population and killing its sons will

> sear this into their consciousness; and that a military operation would
> suffice in toppling an entrenched regime and thus replace it with another
> one friendlier to us is no more than lunacy.
>
> Hezbollah was not weakened as a result of the Second Lebanon War; to the
> contrary. Hamas will not be weakened due to the Gaza war; to the contrary.

> In a short time, after the parade of corpses and wounded ends, we will
> arrive at a fresh cease-fire, as occurred after Lebanon, exactly like the
> one that could have been forged without this superfluous war.
>
> In the meantime, let us now let the IDF win, as they say. A hero against
> the weak, it bombed dozens of targets from the air yesterday, and the
> pictures of blood and fire are designed to show Israelis, Arabs and the
> entire world that the neighborhood bully's strength has yet to wane. When
> the bully is on a rampage, nobody can stop him.
>
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> Delusions of victory in Gaza
> By Zvi Barel
>
> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050460.html
>
> As of yesterday, politicians and the public at large have been enthralled
> by a new prospect: that of a wide-scale military operation in the Gaza
> Strip. Such a prospect answers all their heart's secret wishes: Avenging
> the rocket fire by Gazan militants, reclaiming Israel's prestige,
> delivering a fatal blow to Hamas, providing payback for Israel's 2005
> pullout from Gaza, sending a strong message to Iran, an implicit one to
> Hezbollah, and also showing the government's concern for its citizens and
> scoring some points with the electorate ahead of the elections.
>
> The public's imaginations are let loose as they chant a battle-cry.
> Fighter planes have already bombed dozens of targets in the heart of Gaza
> and tomorrow thousands of troops may storm its alleyways. On the third day

> the Israel Defense Forces might eliminate Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh,
> Mushir al-Masri and Mahmoud al-Zahar. It will seize the Hamas government's

> buildings and an army spokesman will display captured arm caches
> containing sophisticated missiles and thousands of guns to the press.
>
> At the same time commando units will free captured IDF soldier Gilad
> Shalit and return him to his parents alive and well. Then the slower more
> difficult operation will begin involving house-to-house searches and
> arrests of suspects. The press will lose its interest and calm will return

> to Sderot. Elections will be held on schedule and party leaders Tzipi
> Livni, Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu will fight over credit for the
> successful campaign in Gaza.
>
> This is an imaginary scenario because we're not being told the real one.
> Yet. It will only be revealed when a investigatory committee is
> commissioned to determine what really happened in Gaza.
>
> How many soldiers are expected to be killed in the first wave? How many
> months is the IDF expected to spend in Gaza, sweeping its houses and
> tunnels? How many Palestinian civilians will be killed? Will Gilad Shalit
> survive in such a scenario? Will Hezbollah remain passive during a Gaza
> offensive? How will the residents of the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt
> react? What about the new U.S. president? And Palestinian Authority
> President Mahmoud Abbas? Not that he really matters.
>
> According to the government, Israel has full legitimacy to take action
> against those who threaten its citizens. That is the reason the state was
> created and no other country would tolerate such attacks on its towns.
> It's a nice slogan, identical to that of Hamas: Why should Gazan citizens
> tolerate such a long and severe siege for so long? Can its leadership
> tolerate a succession of targeted killing against its leaders? And what of

> the killing of innocent civilians in air strikes? Hamas agreed to a
> cease-fire to end the violent dialogue.
>
> It should be remembered that Israel chanted the same slogans when the
> Second Lebanon War began, from which it came back badly bruised. The
> optimistic scenario did not materialize then and it is hard to believe it
> will now in Gaza. The legitimacy of the Lebanon war triumphed just as the
> war was lost.
>
> Unlike the Lebanon war, whose chief priority was to bring back the
> abducted IDF soldiers which encompassed the destruction of Hezbollah's
> military "infrastructure," the Gaza operation's motivation is different:
> Halting rocket-firing at the Negev and destroying Hamas' rule. A new order

> will be set up in the occupied territories and the PA, and Abbas will be
> brought back to Gaza under the Israeli military's aegis. Just before we
> get lost in this dream scenario let us examine reality.
>
> Six months ago Israel asked and received a cease-fire from Hamas. It
> unilaterally violated it when it blew up a tunnel, while still asking
> Egypt to get the Islamic group to hold its fire. Are conditions enabling
> the return of a ceasefire no longer available? Hamas has clear conditions
> for its extension: The opening of the border crossings for goods and
> cessation of IDF attacks in Gaza, as outlined in the original agreement.
> Later, Hamas wants the cease-fire to be extended to the West Bank. Israel,

> for its part, is justifiably demanding a real calm in Gaza; that no Qassam

> or mortar shell be fired by either Hamas, Islamic Jihad or any other
> group.
>
> Essentially, Israel is telling Hamas it is willing to recognize its
> control of Gaza on the condition that it assumes responsibility for the
> security of the territory, like Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon. It is

> likely that this will be the outcome of a wide-scale operation in the Gaza

> Strip if Israel decides it does not want to rule Gaza directly. Why, then,

> not forgo the war and agree to these conditions now?
>
>
> ................................................................
> --------
> Jewish Peace News editors:
> Joel Beinin
> Racheli Gai
> Rela Mazali
> Sarah Anne Minkin
> Judith Norman
> Lincoln Shlensky
> Rebecca Vilkomerson
> Alistair Welchman
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