Kicking the can down the street

It's a new year and sadly not much has changed with developments on ground in Gaza. Israel continues to bomb at will with impunity - and with the worlds deafening silence if not bold complicity in certain parts. I'm of course referring to Egypt,Jordan,Saudi Arabia and the EU. All seem to know their marching orders and no one has disappointed yet. On the political front in America it seems Bush has parroted his routine line of "we support Israel" and basically kicked the can down for Obama to deal with. Rice is not going anywhere to try to bring about a ceasefire. There is no real effort to pressure Israel to do anything and every one is content to watch Palestinians continue to get slaughtered. Obama for his part has remained shockingly silent through all of this - in essence kicking the can back to Bush saying "there is only one President" at a time. This would be comical if not for the fact people are getting killed and slaughtered by an unmerciful blitzkrieg style attack. The Arab world once again has been shamed to levels that should make every Arab with an ounce of dignity cringe at the leadership that exists today. I can't think of anything good to say about Egypt,Jordan or Saudi Arabia - and Syria for that matter. The anger from what I have been able to discern at the street level in these countries appears to be boiling over but not sure how it will manifest itself in the coming days, weeks or months ahead. These regimes are tenacious when it comes to clamping down on descent. Already there are reports Mubarak has been arresting Islamists and other activists who want to demonstrate publicly against Israeli action. In Saudi Arabia, there are similar reports - authorities have been arresting Imams who issued Fatwas against Egypt for not opening the Rafah crossing. In Jordan, head of security has been replaced and government there is clamping down on public protests against Israel by arresting dozens. In Palestine, in Ramallah, Abbas thugs were using batons against marchers who came out to show support for Hamas. The clamp down there and elsewhere in the Arab world is intensifying. I don't know if these efforts by these puppet regimes will succeed but history has not been kind to those who bet on their imminent downfall. As I said, these regimes are ruthless and will tenaciously hold on to power no matter what - and with the help of CIA and Mossad - not sure we can write them off just yet. Having said that, I do believe this time around something different is percolating beneath the surface on the Arab street. It's one thing in the past to be viewed as impotent against Israeli crimes - remain silent as Zionists massacre fellow Arabs and Muslims - but this time around the Arab regimes are viewed as aiding the Zionist enemy, complicit and working hand in hand with the likes of OBL and company (Olmert,Barack and Livni) and this factor does present a new dimension that before wasn't quite crystallized as it is now. Arabs know their leaders are corrupt stooges for imperial powers - doing their bidding - but never before has it been exposed so blatantly as the case with Egypt unwilling to open the Rafah border to aid or to allow Palestiniians out of harms way. This could be the straw that broke the camels back - and I'm hoping that is the case - but only time will tell.

The Landlord Has Gone Crazy Again!

It's not a happy occasion I return to blogging here after a long absence. It's another familiar scene of the "landlord has gone crazy". There comes a point where you have to start taking Zionists at their own words. There is no doubt Israeli leaders have acted irrationally, erratically and shown all the signs they are crazy but is it "crazy like a fox" or are we witnessing a failed state managed by crazy people following an even crazier ideology? I believe it's the latter. What is the logic in bombing Gaza back 20-30 years other than sheer insanity. What is the logic in bombing a university? Or educational ministry buildings? Before the bombing, you had up to 60% of Palestinians unemployed and many have an education. Now Israel has bombed the universities and educational infrastructure of Gaza and as a result will inherit a neighbor that still has high unemployment but one that is less educated? So what was gained in terms of military advantage or providing security for Israel in the long term? How does that solve anything?


As for the rocket attacks by Palestinian resistance fighters, their purpose and logic was to force Israel to end the siege. You can say it was futile and will prove to be too costly for Palestinians or say it's a ineffective approach but there is a logic to it. People under a genocidal siege will be faced with a catch 22 situation. If they don't resist, they will starve to death - or worse, become totally dependent on Israel, the UN and everyone else for survival - and that's worse than being dead. To have Israel decide how much food is allowed to enter Gaza, how much power people get a day or who gets to travel abroad or when the crossings are opened or not. This is modern day slavery. Therefore, while all options before the Palestinians are bad, there is common sense logic to the option of resisting the siege. As for Israel, no actions seems to make any sense - other than the view you have a bully on steroids acting out in the most vile, reprehensible and brutish manner. As we saw with the Lebanon war back in 2006, where 1,200 Lebanese civilians were killed, over a million cluster bomblets were dropped and massive civilian infrastructure damaged - and all for what? What is the logic in waging a war that devastated a country and it's people to only make a deal that was on the table before the war started? Olmert released the so called "terrorist" Kuntar to retrieve the bodies of Israeli soldiers. He knew they were dead before he waged the war. He killed 1,200 Lebanese and lost 300 Israeli's to retrieve 3 dead bodies?

Clearly Israel has proven over and over again it is a rogue regime. This genocidal action against Gaza recently is another example in a long line of Israeli war crimes. It's hard not to conclude Israeli society is sick as well where militarism and chauvinism is the unofficial religion of the state.


I will continue to add my thoughts on developments in Palestine. Let us all hope for all concerned that sanity does prevail.